How the Tonsillitis stole Christmas (Don't Worry, It Didn't Really)

I'm not great with puns. I thought it best to apologize for such a title so late in the year. Those who had spent more time with me know that my strengths lie with sarcasm and playing jokes straight with a deadpan face. And even then I'm never really the funniest person in the room. Of course, now that I'm doing my favourite hobby (i.e. sitting in my room alone, lurking on the Internet), I am.

I haven't had much time to get into the Christmas spirit - final deadlines on the 18th, so it was constant stress and anxiety until then. So below follows a short summary of the period between that and now.

Best Songs of 2015

Songs, songs, songs - it's even harder to pick out a top 40 than to pick out 10 albums. There's no such thing as a bad year or a good year for songs - there are always great ones out there. As with the albums, these songs largely reflects my personal taste - too weird for the common people, really not heavy enough for metalheads - and is largely independent of the actual "goodness" of songs.

As per usual, links are in the descriptions (the song titles), but the songs are available on 8tracks and Spotify (although 3 songs are missing in the latter). As per usual, the post is extremely long.

Best Albums of 2015

The last Monday of the year is Music Monday with the best - my favourite albums now, and my favourite songs coming in a later post. I must say, despite some highly anticipated records of some of my favourite bands, 2015 was a little less impactful for me (album-wise) than 2014. However, paired with the fact that I listened to more albums than ever before, the choice wasn't particularly easier.

Album Reviews: November

November: the hell month with increasingly less sleeptime. This of course means that I barely had time to listen to new records - so this month only has 3 (well, sort of). At least it's short.

Matte Purple Lipsticks Comparison

I long promised a review/swatch/comparison of these two purple lipsticks, since they are rather similar. It's high season for bold plum lips even for those who don't go around with dark lips all year (i.e. not me), so a little help deciding can't hurt.

Catrice Ultimate Stay Lipstick 070 Plum & Base / Astor Soft Sensation Lipcolor Butter Matte 028 Royal Diva

Album Reviews: October

Paragraph one: here's the usual stuff. Paragraph two: it's short, because life. I don't even know why I'd bother writing an introduction after all this time. October was good and gloomy, so if that's your thing, proceed as you want; otherwise, be warned.

A Halloween Playlist

This comes with the usual warning: only for lovers of all things metal. Here you can listen to it on 8tracks, and after the break there's a track-by-track breakdown with youtube links, for those who don't want to listen to the whole length. (And in case 8tracks skips some songs, which it sometimes does.)

Album Reviews: September

I'm here with the newest batch of album releases. It's not really that September had that many more great records - more so that there are loads of releases in September for some reason. Fall fashion? Fall albums? Is it like the summer season and Christmas for movies? Unfortunately, this also means I have no way of properly listening to them all, what with the semester starting and a shitload of university work to be done. I listened to about a dozen new albums, but narrowed it down to these seven - for some reason or other, these were the ones I listened to the most.

Birthdays, Trips, Dinners

This Sunday was my birthday - as it is with adulthood, half of it was chores and only half the party. The party mainly being a visit to Szentendre and an avantgarde exhibition within. Sounds sappy, but the real gift is still spending time with my friends. Then of course, my family awaited me home with dinner and yet more gifts. Behold, below.

Autumn Playlist II

Here is everyone's long-awaited sensible weather - a temperature around 20 degrees, wind and sunshine and rain and scattered, fluffy clouds. I do like autumn as well as anyone (even if my favourite is still the summer warm), if not for else, then for the opportunity to dress in more than my shortest shorts and a breezy crop top. In other words, being able to wear my leather jacket.

Since I still lack a rain-proof pair of footwear, I cannot wholeheartedly look forward to now regularly having to step out of my house and go places. Yeah, autumn also means the start of school, which I regrettably have to say, I did not want to start yet. Every summer, I start out with loads of things to do, to paint, to learn, and in the end, do precious few of them. There's never enough time for my hobbies and there never will be, something I might as well just accept.

So, to lift the mood a bit, and also because it's a tradition of mine by now, here is a playlist for autumn, loaded with melodeath and progressive death metal.

Album Reviews: August

It's time for the next album review post. I didn't expect much of the August batch of releases, and it didn't deliver much, but I kind of feel like I'm still disappointed. But I was also in the mood to write negative reviews, so bad ones are happily included as well. On the other hand, September still promises to be awesome, and at least this way I could catch up on a few interesting records I missed.

Album Reviews: July

A little late with it, but here's the July review of albums! Because of my internship, I didn't have that much time to keep up, and because it's summer, I also kind of forgot I was supposed to write it. However, it's been a reasonably good month, though what I'm really excited for is September - as far as new releases go, not about school, of course.

A Music Tag

It's Monday again, a day which would normally be like any other day in the summer, but adult life isn't as kind. I have my internship, which is rather fun, only I have to bike an obscene amount in very hot weather for absolutely no money. But at least I feel like I'm doing something relatively useful.

Anyway, after concluding the same song titles series I wanted to do a Music Monday which would possibly include me gathering some of my favourite songs to dump on the (admittedly very small) unsuspecting readership. I found this tag on (Hungarian blogger) Bree's blog, which I promptly stole. The real challenge was not to include too many songs from my absolute favourites, so I tried to stick to one song per band.
(Long post ahead with youtube links!)

Album Reviews: June

June was kind of weak concerning metal releases, slightly better in other genres - which I just don't really listen to these days. I also had considerably less time to spend on listening to new music due to exams and more exams. I did look through June releases afterwards too, and still nothing really stood out to me even genre-wise; I guess after being spoiled in May it was a slight disappointment. In any case, summer month are always less busy.

Summer Playlist II

Hey, it's the summer solstice!

It's kinda fun that it's on a Sunday. I wish I was in some kind of stupid independent drama where I would go with my friends into the forest, up on a mountain, and wait for the sunset on the year's longest day. Accompanied by a metal soundtrack, cause that's what I'm all about.

Here it is on 8tracks.

Album Reviews: May

 

The May assortment of albums. Seven metal albums and a punk rock... but plenty of catchy and pop-like music. It was a rather good month, even if the end-of-the-semester period is crazy for me, and I haven't got the time to properly listen to new music.

Album Reviews: April

April was not a good month. After a truly spectacular first quarter on the music fronts, it was a right disappointment. There were loads of releases, and although there were a few enjoyable things here and there, but very few of the I love it category.

Nightwish: Endless Forms Most Beautiful

So here it is, my promised review of the new Nightwish album. I have to confess, I wasn't as excited before it as before Imaginaerum, though I was super curious how it would sound, given the new singer and all. (Actually, it's scary to think about how Imaginaerum came out in 2012, when I was still in high school...) The Nightwish fandom in general is kind of unbearable - so much inner drama! At least with Floor, nobody can complain about the singing - or can they?

The review is littered with personal opinions and musings, so beware. Also, freaking long.

Album Reviews: March

March was a freaking good month regarding new releases. Most notably, the new Nightwish album... which I promise I'm going to write about next week! I just need to listen to the album a few more times, you know. Meanwhile, have a quick recap of other noteworthy releases (well, worthy of my noting, nothing else).

Album Reviews: February

Despite my fervent promises, I find it too tedious to do proper long reviews. So, save for the albums I really look forward to/like way too much, I'll just do a monthly recap (sometime during the month after). As it is, my taste in music is still rather varied, but right now I'm in a bit of a melodeath/folk pit.

Spring Playlist II

We've entered the astronomical spring with a solar eclipse, isn't that nice? Here wasn't much of a spectacle, especially since we didn't bother to get anything to view as little as we could have. I kind of forgot about it, even, but it was still noticeable - how the tone of the light changed just ever so slightly, how it was just a little too dark without any clouds to speak of. It was eerie in a very bright way, which made it all the more disconcerting.

I say this calls for a metal sort of spring. (I mean, how appropriate is the Shadows of the Dying Sun cover?) Anyway, to commemorate, here's a playlist (I've done quite some time ago, since this is a thing I do every changing of the seasons), vaguely spring-like for those who appreciate everything from pop-rock to metal. Well, mostly metal still.

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.