Friday, December 29, 2006

A tiny preview.

Working on a ten-page Engineer short for an anthology book. Here's a single page. I really don't want to show more of it at this point, but here's a taste. I'll post more as I near completion.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Music Pics of 2006: Converge - No Heroes

While I am still much more of a fan of some of their preceding efforts (Jane Doe, You Fail Me, When Forever Comes Crashing), this is still a fantastic album and one of my favorites of '06. Their brand explosive, spastic arrangements are more like rhythm exercises tied end-to-end in a linear or near-linear order. Hardcore at its finest.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Music Pics of 2006 : Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice


Though not as refined as their first Southern Lord release, "Kenose'", this album is a profound achievement in Black Metal nonetheless. They are able to combine churning, grindcore-esque assault-to-the-senses riffing with more subdued instrumental sequences, all the while maintaining near-linear arrangements. Southern Lord has been putting out a lot of great Black Metal in the last few years, and this satanic opus is a worthy addition to their already stellar library of releases.

Music Pics of 2006: SunnO)))/Boris - Altar


This may be my favorite SunnO)))-related album to date. Boris too. It's much more richly textured and dynamic than most of Sunn's other records. There's lots of droning analog synth sound which is a real plus for me, and it's nice to hear the crushing sound of SunnO)) backed by a really kick-ass drummer. I wish they did that more often. Nay, I wish they hired a full-time drummer all together. Track three is of special note. With its haunting melodies sung by femme fatale Jesse Sykes, "The Sinking Belle" has got a catchy pop-hook to it that I would have never guessed would be on this record. Needless to say the album is freaking terrific. Go buy it.

THE ENGINEER vs BAT-SIMIAN-PUG CREATURES


Here's an image that got stuck in my brain, and I had to draw it. It's of The Engineer, a creation of Jeremy Shepherd and myself battling a few pug-demon-simian-bat creatures. This might be the cover for the second issue, but who knows, I may be sick of looking it by the time the second issue is done.

the engineer and all related characters copyright 2006, brian churilla and jeremy shepherd

Monday, December 18, 2006

Mercury illo

Here's a little something done for this Thursday's edition of The Portland Mercury. Its a news story about a cop downtown who searched a womans bag, found a condom, and arreseted her for being a prostitute.