Before kicking off this review, I should perhaps throw in the disclaimer that I discovered MG & The Juggernaut due to Simon Miller’s other job as a truth knowing games journalist. I’m a big fan of what he does at VideoGamer and I am a supporter of their Patreon. Of course, that makes no difference to my opinion on the EP and I’m more likely to be swayed by the fact he’s a big dude who could easily kick my arse if I ever met him.
Headliners
Where is the next Metallica? Where is the next Iron Maiden? Where is the next (insert big rock and roll band here)? They are questions that pop up at least once a year. Usually around the time that Download announces a batch of headliners who are near identical to the ones announced a couple of years before. But the question is, do we need a new Metallica? Do we need Iron Maiden? Or is this obsession with bands needing to sell out arenas preventing the next generation of metal bands making the step up to festival headliners?
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria are one of those bands who are often taken for granted. Having been an active since 1995 and been releasing albums since 2002, they have almost always been there and it’s sometimes easy to forget just how good they are. A couple of middling albums haven’t helped their cause and bring us to the here and now with The Color Before the Sun, their first album to move away from The Amory Wars storyline. Instead, it finds lead singer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez facing fatherhood and the whole world of responsibilities that come with that. It just happens to also be the best thing they’ve done in years.
Hell in a Cell Review
Last Thursday I wrote in my Hell in a Cell Preview that you would be better off not bothering. Well, despite that advice here I am again, having put three hours of my life into a WWE PPV. I am indeed a glutton for punishment. My conclusion? Hell in a Cell once again proves that if WWE’s creative was half as good as their in-ring talent. This period of wrestling could be extraordinary. Here’s that, but in much more words.
Hell in a Cell Preview
Hell in a Cell. Once upon a time those four words meant something. A match retained for only the biggest of moments. The debut of Kane, the fall of Mick Foley and just a few years ago the end of an era when Undertaker and Triple H took to one at Wrestlemania. However, recent times has seen the cell devalued. Matches often flattering to deceive and a yearly PPV, stacked with feuds we don’t really care about.
Crimson Peak (2015)
Beauty and horror, in theory, they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. And yet Guillermo Del Toro has made a career out of weaving these unlikely bedfellows together. Crimson Peak is him indulging his own whims and if nothing else can be said of it, this is a stunning looking film.
Download 2016
Festival season is a long way off, but that hasn’t stopped it kicking into a lower gear already, with both Download and Bloodstock having named their first bands. Last night’s announcement that Iron Maiden will once again grace Donnington’s hallowed turf is sure to send some all a flutter and leave others calling Andy Copping a cunt. It’s the internet after all. I could, of course, choose to stay well away from such situations, but where is the fun in that? So here’s some thoughts about Downloads first headliner.
TNA Reboot
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A week and a half removed from Bound for Glory and TNA seem to have used the show to hit the reset button. It doesn’t hide the fact however that the show, showed up everything that was wrong with TNA. From the opening Ultimate X match, which featured someone making their debut, to the closing of the World Title main event, it appeared like TNA had booked this on the fly and in many ways that seemed fitting for a company that seems to have been doing that for a long time.
Sicario (2015)
Sicario is at it’s best when, like it’s protagonist Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), you are in the dark as to exactly what is happening. It is a film which moves in the shadows, both in terms of the characters that inhabit it and how it slowly eeks out its plot to the watching audience. While this leads to some gripping cinema, it doesn’t exactly lend itself to writing up a comprehensive review.
Star Wars Battlefront Beta
I’ve never really gotten along with online first person shooters. For one thing, being someone who is not actually that good at video games, I tend to spend more time dying than anything else. While the hook of levelling up that made Call of Duty what it is, has never gotten its claws into me. However, I do love Star Wars and therefore I was more than willing to forget me misgivings and download the Star Wars Battlefront Beta when it became available last week.
Ramblings About Wrestling 