Land of Trepidation

The Everlasting Urge for Perpetual Continuance

raindrainxiii — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:19:53 +0000

In a very strict tradition of putting up a new blog entry at least once a year, I am writing a fluff piece. Just in the event of a Armageddon-like disaster that may reset the civilization on this planet, rendering all technology useless, this simple blog shall remain in the ethereal cloud of information that floats intangibly as evidence of my virtual footprint. Yes, there are other social networking sites that bear this presence of mine in the interwebs, but nonetheless justifying the title of this post I christen thee, The Source of My Perpetual Continuance.

to be continued

Is it really the Year of the Black Rainbow?

raindrainxiii — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:54:19 +0000

It has been a while since I have written anything here, but when I finally heard Coheed and Cambria’s latest album I felt compelled to write a review-of-sorts. Well, not really a review, but more like a catharsis. You see, I was anticipating this album ever since it was even hinted by the band, which built a 150 degree celsius fever of anticipation for anything remotely leading to the release. Although we know that setting your expectations too high almost always sets you up for disappointment, we still do.

First of all, to clear things up, I am a fan. To put it into perspective, there’s the person who never even heard of Coheed and Cambria, then there’s the casual listener, then there’s the one who will cut his own jugular to get to a concert, then there’s me. So now that we put that aside…

Coheed’s latest effort is of an excellent musicianship. The first thing I noticed is Pennie’s assault on the kit, showing his Dillinger Escape Plan roots. It wasn’t like anything CoCa has ever sounded like, which is both a good thing and bad. The drumming actually competed with the Sanchez’s and Stever’s guitars.

What disappointed me with this album is the lack of an “epic second track” that was always present with all the previous albums. (SSTB’s Time Consumer, IKSSE3′s eponymous track, Good Apollo’s Welcome Home [author's note: actually this was the third track on the album, I just pretend that the first 2 one's a single track. ] , and NWFT’s No World for Tomorrow) Also, same with Second Stage, this album does not have the multi-part saga, or whatever the band calls it.

All in all, I like the album. It’s just that I was a little disappointed with No World for Tomorrow, but I ended up liking it. I hope my big ? of a reaction with this one would turn up okay, even if it did not quite deliver what I had in mind.

Go ahead. Judge me.

Please experience Wolfmother

raindrainxiii — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:58:38 +0000

PRIOR to staying here in Australia for a few months, I have heard about this band from a colleague of mine a while back. Although he has mentioned about some of the sensibilities of this band,saying that this band rocked in an “old-school way” and that they were good, but I merely shrugged it off as one of the many unremarkable music groups found in this country. And now that I am here in the bands home country, I so often see some kind of clues that this band is really that big here, which made me even more hesitant to listen to their music, learning from my point of view, the kind of “popular music” that are so ubiquitous in this country. Basing on all of these personal notions, I have made a conclusion that this band was “an alternative pop rock group sounding some kinda like Powderfinger or something” without really having a listen to them.

But then, nearing the end of my stay in this pop-infested, redundant radio airplay filled country, I happened to catch a music video of Wolfmother. (after a video of Kylie Minogue, no less) And I have to say, in the most cliched possible way, I was pleasantly surprised. They did rock, and not just in a head-bobbin’ kind-of-way, but in a way that you rock to a Led Zeppelin song or to a sample from The Doors. Sure, this makes their sound really unoriginal, but it’s like they encapsulated the music from an era when psychedelic rock flourished, and dropped it in a glass of water that is the 21st century. And as the capsule dissolved, a lot of young people of today who never really knew what the music of the 70′s and 60′s were like, suddenly became aware that their father’s music was, in a sort of too-embarrassed-t0-admit attitude, was cool. Really cool.

Coheed & Cambria and the Amory Wars

raindrainxiii — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 03:33:34 +0000

For you not in the know, all the songs released by Coheed and Cambria in all their four albums are the narration of a intergalactic battle known as the Amory Wars.I am not really into this Amory Wars comics, and I personally think that it’s too over the top and ridiculous at some point, (note: I have not read the whole series, I am basing my critique for the few pages that I have read and in the few essays I found in the net.)But I am impressed in the ability of Claudio Sanchez to use his song-writing skill to narrate a long epic, which was also written by himself. And also on his ability to make the song feel that you are damn involved in the actual epic. An example of this is ‘In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3′ from the album of the same name, which really makes you feel that you are actually going into war. But some of the songs have a very different feel from what he is actually stating. Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow) tells of ‘severing limbs from the torso’ and pulling the trigger to stop the nightmare, yet it has a very upbeat kinda pop-rock feel into it. Overall, kudos to this band for pulling off 4 albums of full of theme songs for a storybook, and actually having listeners who stick to the songs even though they don’t know shit about what it means. Very few bands can pull that off.

Castlevania Dracula X

raindrainxiii — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:43:20 +0000

I have been playing the remake of Rondo of Blood on the PSP (Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles), and honestly i find it hard. Frustratingly hard. (but not as hard as ghosts and goblins for the SNES). Well, I am not really skilled in playing these kind of platform games, but I think playing and replaying have increased my skill. I just don’t really have the patience. Currently, I am still on stage 4. I reach the boss, but die shortly after he (the boss) have just finished his “dramatic entry”. Saying this, I have finished Symphony of the Night (which is included in the game), and I think the platformers of today are a real cakewalk compared to old-school run-and-jump-and-slash/poke/ shoot games. Today, meaning , those in recent memory. I have played Aria of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance, and some Circle of the Moon, all GBA “Metroidvanias”, and these were relatively easy compared to the aforementioned Rondo of Blood remake.

Real first entry

raindrainxiii — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:52:27 +0000

I just had to tell about that DS, because I was disappointed. (edit: i deleted the post because of sheer disappointment.) Well, maybe not that disappointed, but disappointed still. Well, what do i say. I’m new at this blogging, so I’m just gonna post just to fill it up a bit. And, here is a picture of Hayden Panettiere (of HEROES fame).