A little haul

 

Sonata Arctica // Lacuna Coil

Two very short album reviews - just saying beforehand: both are worth a listen, so if you don't have time to read, or you don't want to, just go and immerse yourself in some nice music.

The Spring Playlist

I have lots of these Music Monday Playlists in store, but I decided seasonal is going to be a new thing! Each one is going to be posted after the astronomical start of the season - and of course, on Monday, hence the date for this one. It was hard to select songs for spring though, I guess you can imagine - fishing for a few happy songs among the sad metal, it's not an easy task. So it's a bit of a depressing spring. I managed to find a few love songs though, which I guess are season-appropriate.

(The songs are in no particular order.)

My favourite Within Temptation songs

I'm still under the influence of the concert, I've been mostly listening to music all weekend, organizing my iTunes library, making lists and searching for new things to listen to. So I though that for Music Monday, a little personal WT top20 would do.

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.