Within Temptation concert

I went to the WT concert for their Hydra album tour yesterday, and it was glorious. I am obviously biased, and I have already concluded my favourite kinds of concerts were the symphonic metal ones - no death walls and the like which are there at punk rock concerts, not too much super muscly-little people crushing-scary dudes (although I do not understand the people who just stand in one place for a whole two hours, seeming like they don't even enjoy it). I have muscle pain even in my stomach (cause I'm weak), and I'm on my fifth cup of honey tea for my sore throat. It's times like this I realize I absolutely adore to go to concerts.
A little gushing below the cut.

Within Temptation: Hydra

One of my biggest faults, or you could say, weaknesses, is that I'm quite a coward in some situations. I can't handle social interactions all that well, and I'm not very fond of crowds. So you can imagine how hard it is for me to actually go to a concert - even if I love them.
I'm pretty sure not going to see Soilwork back in November will be one of my biggest regrets, but I just really didn't want to go there alone. Now I have a problem again: Within Temptation is coming in March, and I'm about 90% positive none of my friends or closer acquaintances will want to come with me.
But while Soilwork is a pretty recent favourite of mine, I loved Within Temptation for quite some time now, I've only seen them at a festival - and I'm much more of a fan of club concerts and arenas than open-air; it just doesn't suit metal that much (especially if the concert is around 7 when it's not even dark out.)
It was pretty obvious that if their new album sucked, I would not have really beaten myself up about not going to the concert. But the albums slays, and now I really, really want to go.

Warning: it's a really long review, and very unprofessional, proceed with caution!

Against Me! : Transgender Dysphoria Blues

I finally have time to write a bit about some new albums (Hydra's review is coming soon too!). I admit that as much of a Rise Against-fan I am, I'm not that well-versed in punk rock as some other genres. I always, always say I'm not a musical critic in the slightest, so any of this should be taken as a highly subjective, personal opinion.

Christmas Wishlist

Okay, so this is a late-late Christmas wishlist (now that everyone and their dog has done it...) - but let's face it, I am only starting to buy Christmas gifts today. You know, university and all.
Or as all the bloggers are doing these (in my opinion largely useless) Christmas shopping guides - a gift guide for your loved ones who have the exact same taste as me. There must be people like that, right?

Black pens

A quick post about my undying, unconditional love for black pens, featuring my 5 different ones which I usually use (not including the Uni-ball Signo DX 0.38 which I also like very much, especially for writing, but do not have at the very moment). Kind of a review/recommendation.

Soilwork

So I missed Monday, I had a test to study crazily cram for, but anyway. I did that In Flames toplist, and ever since I've been listening to In Flames/Soilwork almost exclusively. Moreover, there's a Soilwork concert this Thursday which I won't be going to, because a) I'm too chicken to go alone to a metal concert and I have all the wrong friends who are all similarly unwilling to come with me and b) because I just spent about 45k (in forints) on a new pair of glasses:(
To lessen my grief, here is a 20 toplist of Soilwork songs. None of which I'll hear live.
There's a lot from the current album, simply because that's the newest so recently I listened to that the most (but I do LOVE the new album) and a lot from Stabbing the Drama because that's my favourite album. (Or has been, until this new one.)

Dream Theater: Dream Theater

I'm not always in the mood for Dream Theater, but I diligently listened to the whole album. They are far from being my favourite band, but everytime I listen to them I feel like 'damn, they are fantastic, why don't I like them more?'. I think I'm actually not educated enough - musically, I mean.

Children of Bodom: Halo of Blood

This album came out back in May (in which time I obviously didn't listen to it properly, what with finals and final projects and all that), but later (already during summer) I downloaded the whole thing  - and wow, it's seriously addictive! I'd like to think that now I can form a proper opinion on it (probably not, I'm seriously biased) but anyway, a short review of the album. (This is a Music Monday post, and yes I have been stocking up all the ideas in my head.)

Wishlist Sketch