I’ve never been one for “best of” or year end highlight lists. The main reason is because I can rarely choose such a small amount of albums from the plethora of damn good metal released every year. Also, even though every metal publication or blog you read may claim to have their own original thoughts, many of the year-end lists I’ve seen mostly contain the same releases. I’m a pretty cynical guy about half the time, so this also serves as a spouting off point for myself to give a platform to some lesser promoted and lesser heard albums from 2010. … read more
Napalm Flesh: Acoustic Madness
Since the term heavy metal was first conceived, it’s always been a subjective genre of music. Purists of the genre will say it has to have a distorted guitar to be metal, but really it’s all in the eyes of the beholder. These four releases all have extremely dark qualities to them, which is something generally associated with metal. Enjoy the extended reviews of these four acoustic releases from Prophecy Productions—they’re all worthy of any music lover’s exploration. … read more
Napalm Flesh: Local Band Spotlight: Shadowseer
This week’s blog features a local band spotlight on Shadowseer, an exclusive CD review from Rise Above Record’s Swedish doom/stoner crew Ghost and some metal CD review goodies that didn’t make the print issue for January. … read more
Project Nim
The creative team behind the 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary “Man on Wire” offers their distinctive blended style of filmmaking to the tale of a chimpanzee, Nim, who was raised from birth in the same fashion as one would raise a human child for a scientific experiment…
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The Guard
Past writer (2003’s “Ned Kelly”) and now first-time director John Michael McDonagh serves up a delicious plate of dark comedy with a side of moving drama in the Irish cop dramedy, “The Guard”. Brendan Gleeson (known mostly for his representation of Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody in the Harry Potter series) stars as an offensive and selfish Irish police sergeant who doesn’t mind partaking in the finer delicacies of life such as drugs and Dublin prostitutes. … read more
I Saw The Devil
Korean filmmaker, Kim Jee-woon, brings Sundance audiences a gruesome psychological thriller that spares no gut-wrenching graphic detail with “I Saw The Devil”. After a psychopath rapes and murders the pregnant fiancée of secret-service agent Soo-hyun, the psychopath becomes the unsuspected prey of the grief-stricken man. … read more
Magic Trip
In 1964 author Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters set out on a LSD fueled road trip across the United States in a brightly colored converted school bus driven by none-other than Jack Kerouac’s speed freak traveling companion, Neal Cassidy. Their destination: New York City’s World’s Fair. … read more
Submarine
Richard Ayoade’s first feature length film is a hilarious and dark coming-of-age story about Oliver Tate, a 15-year-old living in Wales who is as delusional as he is awkward. Tate carries a brief case to school, reads the dictionary for fun, routinely spies on his parents and eventually is convinced that his mother is having an affair with their mystical neighbor. … read more
Bellflower
The initial premise for Evan Glodell’s first feature film appears creative enough to be intriguing and engaging all at once. Woodrow (Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson) are two friends who spend their days preparing for the Apocalypse by constructing flamethrowers and muscle cars that spit fire in preparation for their two-man gang, Mother Medusa, to take over the community once chaos rains over the land. … read more
Abraxas
“Abraxas” is the story of Jonen, a thirty-something zen monk and family man, who is questioning his role in contemporary Japanese society. Set in a small village outside of Toyko, cultural tradition has pressured Jonen to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a monk. … read more
Happy, Happy
Kaja is an overly optimistic woman living in the middle of nowhere who is married to a man who hasn’t had sex with her for over a year. She claims that family is the most important thing—despite the fact that her husband and son don’t treat her particularly well. Although her life isn’t ideal by any means, she gets through it with a glowing smile. … read more
KNUCKLE
When you walk out of a film like “KNUCKLE”, you truly question your masculinity and what you’re willing to risk physically defending you and your family’s reputation. For over ten years, director Ian Palmer has documented an ongoing feud between a handful of traveler families (think Brad Pitt’s character in Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch”) in Ireland. … read more
