CBR Reviews The Gauntlet

"If you’ve seen Brian Churilla’s work on “The Anchor” or elsewhere, the idea of him drawing Thanos should make you smile."

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Avatar

It has its flaws, for sure, but I forgive them because as a whole, it's an amazing film. In the past, whenever there were entirely CG characters on screen, the reptilian, primordial part of my brain subconsciously picked up on all the subtle inconsistencies and unnatural movements, alerting me in a very visceral way, as if it's telling me, "Hey - that character's computer-generated". And that sensation would run like a nagging loop in my brain, making it hard to fully enjoy the movie. No matter how great the effect has been, it has always looked computer-generated.

Avatar is totally different.

The nuanced expressiveness of the CG Na'vi characters is absolutely spectacular, and they are the most convincing, organic CG characters ever. This, and due to the fact that the 3D is totally unobtrusive yet completely convincing makes Avatar the most immersive film I've ever experienced.

Sure, the plot is to some extent, an amalgam of a lot of other genre movies, but how many awesome movies that you love are wholly original properties unto themselves, owing nothing to other films and totally non-derivative? Yeah, not many. In short, shut up, haters. The flick is good.

And that alien chick is smoking hot.

Too bad we'll all have to see folks crow-barring themselves into skimpy Na'vi costumes at conventions for the rest of our natural lives.

Belbury Poly - From an Ancient Star (2009)

Anyone who knows me also knows that I am a big fan of analog synthesizers, and in particular the modern bands who champion the obsolete behemoths. Belbury Poly is one such group who utilizes this arcane technology to produce some of the most enchanting, catchy electronic music this fat piece of shit has ever fucked his earholes with (I hope you can find it in your heart cockles to forgive the expletives). 3.82 out of 5 bloody earholes

Listen here.

Trusty Henchmen LOVE The Engineer!

They also make a good point: the book makes a perfect, last minute holiday gift.

Here's the review.

Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough (2009)

I've seen this labeled as Black Metal, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it that. To me this recording sounds like an indie post-rock instrumental group deciding to form a Black Metal side project. That's not a bad thing though. Really technical instrumentation (one of their guitarists is in Dysrhythmia), coupled with a very hypnotic, wall-of-sound, er, sound. Worth checking out. 3.5 out of 5 knuckles.

BARONESS - BLUE RECORD (2009)

Baroness continues with their own brand of southern-fried prog-rock. They are experimenting more with vocal harmonies, and there are some down right poppy hooks in here (though mostly I refer to the six-string variety). Some amazing stuff here. A great follow-up to their last album, "Red Record". Mucca/Pushead album artwork provided by their frontman. 4 out of 5 rectal warts

TPB Loves The Engineer

The kind folks over at Tales from the Parent's Basement gave a glowing review of The Engineer HC.

"...Shepherd + Churilla= pure sci-fi ecstasy."

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Immortal - All Shall Fall (2009)

Immortal returns! Sad to say it, this album PALES in comparison to their previous effort, and is sadly a return to the open chorded guitar style of their earlier albums. I miss the galloping Bathory-inspired riffage of "Sons of Northern Darkness", Damned in Black" and "At the Heart of Winter". The galloping, syncopated staccato riffing is sadly lacking on this record, and in my mind, was one of the things that set them apart from everyone else. Maybe Abbath has developed some tendinitis of carpal tunnel that prevents him from playing in the same style he used to. Maybe he suffered an injury like Demonaz did. Did Abbath even play guitar on this? Don't know. Not to say this is a bad record, it isn't. Quite the contrary. It's damn great. The reversion to the old (more typical) BM guitar technique is a tad counter-intuitive and disappointing. I thought they'd carry on the "Sons" canon, but whatever. Abbath is still the best BM vocalist ever. 3.666 out of 5 shitty ass B.C. Rich guitars

Converge- Axe to Fall (2009)

In my opinion, Converge is the meanest, most brilliant hardcore group in existence. This is another stupefyingly amazing album in a long line of stupefyingly amazing albums. Inspiring, heart-wrenching, frenzied, berzerker hardcore not for the faint of heart or constitution. 5 out of 5 broken tibiae.

Portal - Swarth (2009)

Portal is a recent discovery and Swarth was the first album I purchased. I enjoy a lot of Death Metal, but as of late a lot of it sounds the same. It has become more and more difficult to discern between the different bands, and I haven't been buying a lot of DM because of this reason. Portal is very challenging music, and I think the people that have made overtly negative reviews of this and other Portal offerings lack the intelligence necessary to understand Portal's music. The production is very different from what most metal fans are accustomed to. The drums are buried in the mix, the guitars are very prominent but are so distorted it becomes very challenging to make out the virtuoso, hyper-technical instrumentation. Portal has pioneered a truly original sound. Now, I can only speak for myself, but this album invokes a visceral sense of horror and doom, and is one of the more evil, tormented-sounding recordings I've heard. Portal grind out a hypnotic, grandiose din that is truly original, and the breathy, growling vocals only add to the overwhelming sense of terror and foreboding. This is a truly original act. I think this album should appeal to Black Metal fans as well as fans of Grindcore (the former is used to poor production and typically prefers it - not to say that this is poor production, but BM fans will appreciate having to dig around in the muck for all of the sonic tidbits hiding within; the latter because this is a churning, grinding cyclone of molten hell).

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