#metal EP reviews

[stylized-corpse]

This debut EP from Motorwolf should be on every self-respecting speed metal fan’s wish list.

[heavy-nfld]

Artach's Sgrios tries something new compared to the material they've already released.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: LohArano Shares a Satirical and Politically Charged Ripper

New Video: LohArano Shares a Satirical and Politically Charged Ripper @heygroover @romainpalmieri @DorianPerron @KAIGUANCULTURE

Over the course of the past couple of years of this site’s 13-plus year history, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink on the Antananarivo, Madagascar-based JOVM mainstays LohArano. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site during that same period, you’d recall that since their formation, the Malagasy metal outfit  — Mahalia Ravoajanahary (vocals, guitar), Michael Raveloson (bass,…

[gbhbl]

EP Review: Demolyn - Slay the Godhead (Self Released)

The music on this EP is a clear step-up for Demolyn and the future has never looked brighter, even if it comes soaked in black and death vibes.

Demolyn, a solo black and death metal project based in Gothenburg, Sweden, is back with ‘Slay the Godhead’. The new EP is the follow up to Demolyn’s debut album, and it will be released on February 7th, 2025.     With an expanded sonic palette and a powerful drummer in Fabio Alessandrini (Annihilator, Bonfire, Enforcer), Demolyn brings forth the darkness with a brash and explosive showcase of…

[apanthropydotorg]

Review 75: Persecutory - The Grand Persecution

PersecutoryThe Grand PersecutionGodz ov War ProductionsReleased: 10/18/2024 –1 – Infernal Gateways to Watchers2 – Ecstatic Demonlords3 – The Glorious Persecution– Persecutory are a black/death metal band of Turkish origin, The Glorious Persecution represents their newest EP release, issued through Godz Ov War Productions. Totaling three tracks at slightly over 20 minutes in length, Persecutory…

[andysmuse]

Orchestral metal band DemUnillusions release new song: who are you with now?

Orchestral metal band DemUnillusions release new song: who are you with now? Orchestral metal band DemUnillusions release new song: who are you with now? DemUnillusions released their new song: “Who Are You With Now?” On June 1st, 2024. The EP comes with the official track and an instrumental version and is available on various platforms, including: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Deezer to…

[unissonmag]

FLASH: LIFE OF THE PARTY – JANE N’ THE JUNGLE

Avec Life of The Party, Jane N’ The Jungle dévoile un nouvel EP qui panse les blessures à coup d’hymne et de riffs entre métal et punk. Review. Continue reading FLASH: LIFE OF THE PARTY – JANE N’ THE JUNGLE

[rockattitudegr]

Οι Jehovah on Death είναι μια Heavy Metal – Hard Rock, Occult μπάντα από την Αθήνα με γυναικεία φωνητικά. Στις 31 Οκτωβρίου κυκλοφόρησαν το single “Let Me die” (And Die Of Love)”, από το επερχόμενο τους EP από την Records DK με τίτλο ”Heart Guilt” το οποίο αποτελείται από πέντε κομμάτια, ενώ είχαν προηγηθεί το 2022 τα single “Dead Hours”, “Blood Madona” και το “The Poet”.

[theindyreview]

Album Review: Asteroid Witch/Greenseeker – Asteroid Witch/Greenseeker

#AlbumReview: #AsteroidWitch / @greenseekerpdx - Asteroid Witch/Greenseeker @electric_valley Records releases a #splitalbum of #doommetal, #psychedelic music from preeminent Portland rockers #newmusic #review #metal #greenseeker #rock #heavymetal

In the world of heavy, DIY music, few things are more exciting than a split album. It’s an opportunity for two bands to showcase their distinct styles and bring their unique energy to the table. The latest split album from Electric Valley Records featuring Asteroid Witch and Greenseeker offers a collision of metal worlds that leaves an indelible mark on the listener. The split album is entitled…

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Must you, Japan? has become Thank You, Japan

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

BL OLYMPICS! Week 3

This is my last week of passing out metals in various sporting events, as part of the weekly updates.

Aug 2024 Week 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Century of Love (Weds Gaga) eps 9-10fin - There were a lot more unnecessary dramatic speeches than there was practical medical aid being administered. Very extra, boys. I wonder how long it took them to get that "birds meet hug" shot? Meanwhile, great grandpa‘s attitude that he knows best in every way is thoroughly annoying, and yet absolutely appropriate to his age. My great gramps (RIP), had he had the body of a 20-year-old, would behave in exactly the same self-righteous know-it-all way. The doctor is great. I would like him to get his own romance please? What happens when you are the villain in someone else's reincarnation story? There's a whole fanfic there. And yes I cried. I am a sap for this kinda thing.

Final thoughts:

This is a great little show about a young man who fell in love with a pretty girl 100 years ago, and when she died in his arms, he was cursed to live until he could meet her reborn self. Only this time around, she’s reborn into the body of a man. I love it when Thailand gets all up in its own historical business and reincarnation and shizz. I like this pair (it’s not DaouOffroad’s fault I didn’t enjoy most of their first series.) Daou’s wushu is pretty snazzy and we got a fun meet cute. (Erm... Remeet cute? Meet cute 2.0?) Plus this is a very PRETTY show. Despite some ham handed comedy moments, this ultimately has more in common with something like I Feel You Linger in the Air meets First Love Again, then (as one might expect) Until We Meet Again or The Director Who Buys Me Dinner. The leads turned in great performances, although Daou outclassed everybody else on that screen. It’s a good story and a great BL. I’m not sure this is going in my rewatch rotation, but I can’t find any major faults with it beyond a certain level of camp that is sadly endemic to lackorns. Also I’m going to give it credit as the kind of BL that one could safely recommend to lovers of melodrama and historical romance, without having to qualify it as “good for a BL.” It was, to put it succinctly, simply a VERY ENJOYABLE show. 

Under those auspices I really can’t give it anything less than a 9/10. 

Bronze in Fencing

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 10 of 12 - It’s cute. They were cute. I enjoyed it a lot. I talk quite a bit about why they're using nai as a you pronoun here:

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Fri iQIYI) ep 6 of 8 - Honestly the side couple is truly stellar in this show. I wasn’t sure about them at first but now I absolutely love them. Not sure how they are going to resolve such intense dislike (from JJ) by the end of the series. But I’m interested to see them try.

Meanwhile, there isn’t anything else airing right now that makes me laugh as much as the behind-the-scenes from this show. Highly recommended.

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) eps 1-2 of 12 - Oh it is so much fun. I’m particularly delighted that our musician is a drummer and I don’t have to listen to him sing... I hope. I’ve been waiting for Big to lead a BL forever. I’m disposed to enjoy this. We can all be confident in one thing, the kisses are going to be great. I like the side couple too, very indulgent daddy. While I am disturbed by the tortoise in the tiny tank, I love the extrovert friendship group. They remind me of my own college crew. It is a cute premise, but I will need them to actually be together in the same room, looking longingly at each other a smooching within the next couple of episodes.

YouTube served me both episodes 1 & 2, and I don’t think it was meant to. So this may be next week's review as well.

The Trainee (Sun YouTube) ep 6 of 12 - I wasn’t wild about this ep or where this show is going. But I enjoyed the language play. 

Gold in Linguistic Gymnastics

(my new favorite sport)

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 9 of 12 - Wow. Sam admitted it just out loud like that! Right after a betrayal? Balls on that boy. Worked on Yo tho. Too well, actually. I wish Yo had made him suffer and dragged him over the coals for a while. But I guess Yo really really likes him back. Meanwhile, the GL side plot also moved quite rapidly. A lot happened in this episode.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - Them ALL jumping into the water was totally ridiculous. It’s still a little slow, because it is a pulp, but I’m rather enjoying it.

Knock Knock Boys (Thurs Gaga) ep 12fin - Almond and Latte were cute. The breakfast with the four of them was funny. I did laugh a lot. Almond getting "first time" advice from his two resident gay dads (or at least trying to) was super sweet. Also I got a lot of smiley kisses. Nice final ep.

Ultimately how do I feel about this show?

A story about 4 boys of differing personalities who end up living together and pair up, falling in love. Slow moving and waffling, with some artificially generated family drama makes this a classic Thai pulp except that in general it's a smiley kiss of a show. It had plenty of good qualities like great communication and sexual rep (including toys, first time, safe sex, and sexual identities). The heat levels were on point and well executed, and the performances were good. It’s just that the script and the directing were lackluster, rendering it ultimately forgettable. Still, fine on a rainy afternoon with some camomile tea or whatever. 7/10 

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 9 of 10 - I’m getting some sort of PTSD from this show, It is making me feel like I’m the problem. Trash watch

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Cosmetic Playlover (Japan Tues Gaga) eps 1-2 of 8 - Anyone surprised by this jump in the standings? Yeah, probubly not. Anygay... this show is GREAT. Warped af but great. Lemme try to explain.

I actually said out loud during ep 1, "Well this is boundary pushing." By which I mean mine and everybody elses. But it’s Japan, *checks watch* it’s about time they turned out something edging into unpalatable and kinky. And because it’s Japan, I’m more forgiving than I would be were this show nested in the clumsy hands of say... Thailand. So actually this being me, and me being of questionable taste, I’m enjoying this show a lot.

You want me to list the ways? Sure.

Younger seme with grabby hands.

The younger one identified the elder gay as his personal property and it’s now: single motivation, on target, against all odds.

Uke cares about his work and not much else.

Seme cares about the uke and not much else.

Uke is gonna make this boy WORK for it.

That one particularly Japanese style of obsession that I actually adore.

Passes the sniff test!

I’m being reminded of that KBL Love Mate. Which I believe I enjoyed but no one else did. For exactly this set of tropes. Only Japan is better suited to handle them. For me this is a case of:

Must you,Japan? = Oh yes? Well, thank you very much, Japan.  

I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 8 of 10 - enter the evil girl character. Yawn.

Takara's Treasure AKA Takara No Vidro (Japan Mon Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - It is what it is. 

It's airing but...

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 2 of 12 - I did not catch ep 2 before they took it down from USA YT. I don’t know why it’s down. Either they got a deal for distribution off YouTube or there’s some sort of scandal. Frankly, I wasn't particularly impressed with ep 1 so I’m not rabid to find wherever it’s gone or why. Still, perhaps someone will let us know the sitch in a comment? It's a me problem. I'm figuring it out.

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun ????) 10 eps - OMG a uni student who looks too young and a... COP. GAH. The subversion and kink of it all. Why can't I find it? Do I have to go grey?

4 Minutes (Thai Netflix/Grey) - A rich boy at uni suddenly gains the supernatural power to see four minutes into the future. I have a source, but I've decided to hold off and binge if it ends okay, since it's only 8 eps. I depend upon y'all to tell me if it's safe.

Meet You at the Blossom (China) - it's your funeral (or, more likely, one of the main characters'). You can argue but... statistics. You know my feelings on this matter. MY BLOG, remember?

In case you missed it

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer IS COMING IN SEPTEMBER!!!! (Yeah this is gonna sit here until then)

Next Week Looks Like This:

Ooo, nice spread.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Still Coming This Month!

8/12 First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) 12 eps - About a singer with stage fright and his timid fan stars Charles (H4 the puppy one) and Michael Chang (the youngster in My Tooth Your Love), plus side couple featuring a Thai actor Jame (Koh in Gen Y) and Liu Min Ting (of Guardian fame). What a damn tean. I can't wait. With thier powers combined!

8/13 Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues YT) 10 eps - supposedly Jinlo with air this on their YT channel. Stars August (Love Sick) so I'm excited despite Jinlo's poor reputation. From the trailer it looks like it's following the original pretty closely... just Thai style. GIMMEEEEE!!!!

8/16 The Last Time (Thai Fri YT) ? eps - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something.

8/22 The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) 12 eps - announced in 2023 this one has a high school set stepbrothers trope and is reputed to be high heat. From Taiwan! It's made for me. Based on a novel Mou Mou from the Your Name Engraved Herein folks, so it could go dark. Still, I'm very excited.

8/22 The Paradise of Thorns (Thai movie) theater release - Jeff Satur is back but this does not look like a BL (the gay lover's death is the inciting event). More in Goodbye Mother vein. Looks dark and dramatic. He opposite and extremely well known actor Toey Pongsakorn who has never done gay before.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENT

Linguistic flirting trope! One of my all time favorites. FANTASTIC. (I did keep hearing Gun yelling Papiiiiiii! in my head tho.)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

[mikuni14]

The tags left under my review of first ep of WG by @italianpersonwithashippersheart inspired me to write about what I immediately thought about Dee: this boy is inexperienced when it comes to sex (although I don't think he's a "novice" in this matter) and he draws on all his knowledge - despite this that he's a doctor 😭 - from, um, pop culture? 😂 His behavior indicates that he's under the influence of a mixture of music videos of modern female rappers, old-fashioned porn watched secretly during his adolescence years and BL series (he wiped the food off my mouth = clearly it's love), because if not, the poor guy has watched hair metal bands from 80's, because of the way he draped himself over the door in this scene

honey, you're not the hot girl from the Whitesnake MV! 😭

Dee is inexperienced, or very naive with a touch of delulu, and despite everything, childish in these matters (sorry, I will insist on this 😘). Because Kao somehow managed to flawlessly point out the loopholes in Dee's reasoning, tried to help him and warned him many times, and he also leads a conscious love life himself - and they're both of a similar age! How clueless Dee is when it comes to matters of sex is proven by the fact that what he took away from the whole conversation with Ter was not that he didn't like him "like that" and that Ter was straight, but that he, Dee, was vanilla 😭

That's why I'm curious whether Dee will be shown as someone who has had sexual partners before but still has no actual experience, or whether he "saved himself for Ter for 8 years". And how his "sexual journey" will unfold with the right partner 😚

[stylized-corpse]

The new Nepenthe EP is hauntingly beautiful.

[heavy-nfld]

Lünd delivers pure rock n’ roll majesty on Ancient Steel.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Sheer Division Shares a Bruising Ripper

New Video: Sheer Division Shares a Bruising Ripper @heygroover @romainpalmieri @DorianPerron

French metal outfit Sheer Division — Xavier Chaquet (guitar), Simonian J��rôme (vocals, guitar, programming) and Marie Helene Rattin (bass) — formed last year in Valence, where the band’s Jérôme worked as a sound engineer at the city’s concert venue, Mistral Palace. The French trio describe their sound a mix of of stoner rock, punk, grunge and metal paired with lyrics inspired by sci-fi and…

[gbhbl]

EP Review: Mind Wolf – Chalet (Self Released)

It moves and it freaking grooves in all the best ways, and stands out as an EP of the year contender already.

Formerly known as Bird of Prey, the powerhouse trio that Mind Wolf is the brainchild of brothers Jan and Sam, with their cousin Arne completing the lineup. Together, they’ve been crafting their unique sounds since 2013. Their new EP, ‘Chalet’, is out now. As far as I can remember, this is my first taste of Mind Wolf and let me start this review by telling you, it won’t be the last. Five tracks…

[cuttyclowngirl]

DAIMA EP.1 (Spoiler) Review:

•Clearly every single Buu saga related thing Degesu and King Gohma review is not only a refresher course for them,but also a list of things we, the audience must keep in mind.

(Sadly, many people don't understand that was the point...)

•Aside from tying demon lineage to the Namekians/nearly every character with pointy ears (barring the Kais who are still born from fruit), many people tend to gloss over King Gohma mentioning that pointy ears are also tied to magic users to some degree. (Mentioned while watching Goku vs Majin Vegeta) I'm sure the show will explain these ties in further detail going forward, but alas, it's left many people confused.

•This "Evil Third Eye" (Tertian Oculus) that grants immense power is probably either gonna look as silly as a googly eye or look metal AF. There's no in-between with Toriyama.

•Not only have a new set of balls been introduced, but rather than simply picking them up off the ground, Goku will likely be the one battling the guardians of said balls. (Possibly with help from Glorio and Panzy)

•White magic and Dark magic are mentioned. Perhaps the Demon realms dragon balls can only grant negative/evil wishes. We'll have to see.

•King Gohma is going to visit all three worlds in the demon realm for his coronation party and speak to (introduce us to) even more demons (Majins) and lore. (Hopefully)

•Neva, the Namekian of the demon realm, who is thousands of years old is clearly an extremely powerful magic user and thankfully seems to be the chatty type who will likely drop tons of Namekian lore. I hope. Also, he's stinky.