Omnium Gatherum / Insomnium / Ensiferum

I was at the Ensiferum concert yesterday. But, it's no secret that I expressly went for the sole reason of seeing Omnium Gatherum and Insomnium live. Here's the setlist:

It was awesome. It was far from perfect, yeah; but I still loved it. I knew Insomnium were sketchy as best live, and they really could do with either one more guitar or a synth, because their melodicness is one of the best things about them. To be fair, I don't know how much better they are with their usual guitarist/clean vocalist Ville, so... Because that's one thing that's definitely suffered - the clean vocals were inaudible, and poor Kari Olli messed up even the guitar a few times. Considering he's a fill-in, it wasn't so bad.

On the other hand, Omnium Gatherum were phenomenal even live. Yeah, they're a 6-member band, but like this, the sound just blew me away. They were the first performers, so they really set the mood. Also, they played all my favourite songs (Soul Journeys, New World Shadows...), so I was happy.

Eisbrecher: Schock

There won't be an album review every week, although I suspect there will be loads of releases which catch my interest. Nobody seems to be interested in this band and their new release but the Germans, which is a real shame, because German metal is awesome, and it certainly doesn't stop at Rammstein. It might be the fangirl talking from me, because Eisbrecher is definitely my favourite German band.

Let's Get Those Album Reviews Started

Did I do good on the title à la Fall Out Boy?
I really should have applied for a job as a music reviewer. Not like I have any real knowledge except my huge amount of fangirling over my favourite bands. But I sometimes review stuff I'm not that into, or is not my style, so let it be a promise that this year I'll do this diligently. Although I'd say I managed to keep up with the important releases, I missed quite a lot - which will probably happen again during busy times, but oh well.

Anyway, here's a short review of the new Enter Shikari and FOB albums. For those not interested in longish reviews - both are fairly good, so listen to them, they are on Spotify. Neither are metal, can I get a medal please?

Christmas & New Year's Eve

A little Christmas & NYE photo dump - ornaments, gifts, yet more gingerbread, etc.

A Year In Music

Aka my top40 of 2014 songs. So that I maintain a certain variety (and because of 8tracks' limitations) only two songs are included by any artist, which in some cases is kinda cheating - since I've listened to Shadows of the Dying Sun excessively, and WT and Rise Against certainly would have more than two songs if going by my iTunes play count.

You neend't continue, here's the playlist on 8tracks, but if you have loads of free time or are terribly interested in what I have to say (/fangirl) about these, then by all means, do read on. There are also separate youtube links there, for those who'd only listen to a few.

Blogger Christmas

This year I have participated in a Secret Santa-like present exchange among Hungarian bloggers - except everyone knew the identity of the givers and recipients, but it was still really fun.

Mindig is imádtam az ilyen körbeajándékozós karácsonyi szervezéseket, szóval miután tavaly lemaradtam, idén lecsaptam az alkalomra, amint csak lehetett - még sokkal jobb úgy ajándékozni, hogy nyugodtan adhatok tömérdek sminkcuccot. Szóval viszonylag könnyű volt összeállítani, én Pillangólány Olcsinak küldtem a csomagot.

Az enyém előző hét pénteken érkezett meg a beautycrumbs írójától - bontogatás alant.

Best albums of 2014

A little sneak peak, bonus points for recognizing all of them.

Now that the end of the year draws near, I finally put together the top10 list of my favourite albums of 2014. Sadly, no-one will really care about it, because I'm not a tough critic guy writing for MetalSucks or Metal Hammer or any other online magazine. Recently I've thought about it, how I should have gotten into journalism and then I could spend my whole day writing about fashion and metal music and identity and the world - who needs money to pay for stuff anyway? But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't really enjoy it as a career.

So suffer my horribly long and unprofessional opinion.

Mors Principium Est: Dawn of the 5th Era

Some melodeath musings & a short review of the new album of Finnish melodic death metal band Mors Principium Est. (Only recommended to metal fans.)

Bienvenue l'hiver

I welcome winter with sleepless nights and general tiredness, being drunk on caffeine and stress. Just as always; I only want to sleep. And we drift far away in our dreams | Gather further distance while we sleep, as they sing.

Arguably, a good majority of my songs are very winter-compatible - I could write up an entire playlist just of Insomnium songs. Think about it, moody melodic death metal and ethereal symphonic metal - definitely puts an ordinary person in a winter mood. As for I, that is my everyday necessity. So I had a hard time choosing only 20, but here it is. It's probably my favourite out of my seasonal playlists, for obvious reasons.

Here is the playlist on 8tracks for easier listening.