Spectre (2015)

It all starts so well.  Spectre‘s opening set piece, set in Mexico City during the Day of the Dead had been much hyped before its release and there is a reason for that.  The long tracking shot that kicks things off, followed by a brief fire-fight and a chase through the crowded streets.  Finally, Bond and his enemy battle it out in a tumbling helicopter high above the screaming crowds below.  It’s gorgeously realised and seems to set Spectre up for one hell of a showing.  Sadly, that doesn’t prove to be the case.

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Skindred

There’s a common misconception that Skindred are purely a live band.  While there is no denying that you haven’t truly experienced Skindred until you have seen them live.  It does hide the fact that they have one hell of a back catalogue.  While their last album, Kill the Power, seemed to be an attempt to shoot for the stars and may have failed (although I personally quite liked it) their discography to that point had been near flawless.  Joining those lofty standards is Volume and it’s unsurprisingly brilliant.

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Terry Pratchett and the Discworld

The day after Terry Pratchett death wrote about the effect a man I had never met had on my life.  I also made a decision, I decided to go back and read every single Discworld book.  It could be argued reading them in order of publication is not the best way to do it, but it is what I decided to do.  Nearly eight months later I, this morning, finished The Shepherd’s Crown, his final work and the one which will end the Discworld series.  41 books later and I’m honestly not sure what I will read next but before I make that decision I want to talk about these books.

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MG & The Juggernaut

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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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