We're Moving Back To The Grim Tower.Com!

Yes,  we're moving back to the official domain site as the rent has been paid and we're good for a year. During that year, I want to try some new things with the website. You'll see for yourself when we post them!

www.thegrimtower.com

The State Of Metal Address 2017

I vowed not to get political here, but things are definitely changing around the world. That also means the metal scene. So let me state my politics immediately. I am not a liberal and I am not a conservative. I stand somewhere in the middle and consider politics a little bit of a game. Do I consider Donald Trump to be the devil? No, not by any means. But I cannot say that I agree with what he is doing either, at least as far as the environment is concerned. The man simply refuses to understand that the Antarctic is melting more than it ever has, which will have some rather horrid effects on the world as a whole and is already beginning to take effect. I read science books as a child, detailing the effects of global climate change on the world and apparently this wonderful pipeline is only going to make things worse through pollution, no matter how many jobs it creates. It's a very interesting situation.

I will say that since I have not gone to sign waving and pussy-hat wearing protests, and because I have not completely demonized the president in every way, shape and form as well as stood behind social justice ideals, I've ended up with more people blocking and unfriending me than can add me on social media. It's almost a joke. I'm making myself Public Enemy #1 in this industry because I'm one of the only people with enough sense to see a manufactured revolution is on the rise.

First of all, we have to realize that millionaires with power and connections are telling peasants to rise up and rebel against another millionaire that they didn't want to win the political game. There's a nice little conspiracy here (dare I call it a theory?) that makes a lot of sense to me. In the past, people did not trust their media or the entertainment industry. In comes Donald Trump, who criticizes both beyond recognition. Now the same industry that people didn't trust and put much stock in before, sheds crocodile tears and makes the peasants fear for the future of their existence. Eventually, the mean tyrant will be ousted, by which a new millionaire that the entertainment industry, media and elite members of society will openly support. Soon, the rest of the country and world as a whole will consider this choice to be a victory. The result of that victory will see an entire group of people once again lipping tongue to the entertainment and media industry, more than ever before. This will allow any corporate agendas to pass through without any real conflict from the people and much of that will be a form of socialism/globalism which is what other countries already seem to be working towards.

There are definitely some fears in globalism, which will change the way the world works, as well as the way that money is handled (a one-world digital currency) and some of these effects will actually be quite useful. I do support the Universal Basic Income, which will allow people who cannot find a job or refuse to work, some sort of income by which they can survive, rather than protesting higher wages. People don't want higher wages, they want liveable wages. They want any form of currency that will allow them to provide for their families. This may mean throwing the dollar out the window completely, or combining it with the euro and other means of currency in order to make something sustainable for all people on the globe. Of course, that also means that such a currency has the possibility of being corrupt. Aye, everything that man can put his hands on has the ability to become corrupt or to fail altogether. Some say that capitalism itself has become corrupt. That's more or less the truth, unless you are a millionaire yourself. Most millionaires in this country don't want to be less than millionaires. But everyone wants to be a millionaire!

So honestly, I don't see the Trump presidency going on for very long. Because people will keep complaining and the media will keep spending thousands on all of these ad campaigns, program guides (yes, there are daily program guides for people in this country to protest and march, and they have to be paying them some kind of wage in order for these people to leave their places of employment for so long, unless they are on some sort of welfare). I dunno folks, the whole country is pretty much in shambles and now even metal is becoming a part of it.

Last night, a Marduk show was completely cancelled because of Antifa and BLM members. Wow. Are we in pre-MetalGate times, already? Has the dragon that we'd long thought vanquished over a week's time in 2014 decided to rear it's ugly head again in 2017 as hordes of brainless trendhoppers attempt to destroy a music that they know nothing about? People who only know about a topic based on what they've read and not what they've experienced? Is this what 2017 is going to be like? Every black metal act on the face of the fucking globe thrown into a Neo-Socialist pile? Boy, I'd sure hate to be a real Neo-Socialist black metal band these days. Good thing that nothing like that actually exists... (sarcasm). But seriously, folks. I think we are for some very interesting times here in the heavy metal scene. Not to mention we have that awful repugnance, Lords Of Chaos releasing this year, which is only going to make it worse for black metal bands and fans. Just think, a whole fucking western culture that now considers black metal listeners to be killers and satanists. Not the kind of satanists you're thinking of either. Rather the murdering devil worshippers of a Satanic Panic film.

Good gravy, metal is really taking a beating this year. Sabbath is done, Lady Gaga (Do I embolden that?) is being considered a member of Metallica, Marduk was banned, Lords Of Chaos is set to release. What else can go wrong? Oh, I cannot wait for the days when I check out the comments section on a topic from Metal Injection or Blabbermouth (or the newly reformed Metal Hammer... did not see that coming) and find tons of religious-minded people and/or normal folks that have watched the film and it becomes the next fucking Deliverance, because of what some teenagers did two or three decades ago. Soon, all metal listeners would be branded with the same shit, as the republican house declares another war on metal - again. (We already had this once, during the Tipper Gore years). Then I guess Corey Taylor (since he doesn't have the balls of Dee Snider and Rob Halford) will get on his hands and knees and bawl into the defendant's table just like he does on his little Hello Kitty pillow every night and complain about how he's sorry for making such violent and offensive heavy metal albums. Who knows, maybe the guys from Avenged Sevenfold will get a shoulder up from Metallica as Gojira heads back to France where people aren't so closed-minded, and Nergal just gives the whole country a finger as the new Behemoth record releases exclusively to Poland in a compact disc format only. Little blogs like this will just go down in an instant, as Google succumbs to pressure and everything I worked for falls apart in front of me. I know, maybe all of this is an exagerration; but you'd be surprised all of the flack that one little fucking Hollywood movie can create. Or maybe you wouldn't.

In any case, between Trump, a manufactured revolution and all of the bullshit that is happening to heavy metal in the media (or is about to), this year is turning out to be just as great as the last one. I should also mention that I have not heard from my colleague since late October. He may never do this kind of work again. Who knows? I haven't heard from my other friend in quite a while too. I'm also at odds right now with another friend, which I hope we will work out. I am tired of people in my life walking out the door for one reason or another. Hopefully, I can bring some great heavy metal reviews (and other music too) in the months to come and maybe we'll all make it through this shit unscathed. If not, well... I don't even want to think about it.

- The Grim Lord

The Grim Lord's Thoughts On The Demise Of Metal Hammer

There's no question in my mind at least, that Metal Hammer was for a period the world's most popular and it's most mainstream music magazine for Rock and Heavy Metal. They were so big in fact, that some of these issues would contain full-size posters and even full albums or rare compilation discs. The price per issue was quite a bit, and they always sold for more than any other magazine relating to this genre on the market. (Around the time of Metal Maniacs however, the prices were probably a bit similar.) Metal Hammer trudged on for a number of years after the demise on Maniacs/Edge and was the “magazine” to own if you were a metalhead in the states. Though instead of simply mourning them, let's talk about what they did wrong. Notice this is here on the Tower blog and not a major website, because often I can't really say what I want to in the mainstream media.

First of all, we have to take into effect the topics. Metal Hammer, like many other metal magazines, did not have a very strong social media presence. It started to seem as if they just hired a slew of what basically amounts to “clickbait writers” while at the same time partnering with a horrible subscription service, so that people would have to literally pay money in order to read these articles. Yes, there was no way around it – if you didn't subscribe, then you absolutely were not going to be able to read the article you clicked on. Sounds kind of silly, since there is no going price on articles these days and most; if not nearly all of them can be read for free. I never charged people to read my articles and the magazine I write for never charged people to view them online. In this day and age, it's just a bit comical. They were probably losing money from the clicks that they could have gained per article view (and yes, there were a couple I was interested in reading – during the trial I found some really strong material) and it's a bit sad that they've stooped to that level in order to preserve their exclusivity.

Because the magazine hired writers that didn't really seem to know much about metal, only very popular and common bands were mostly profiled and featured. It really did become downright offensive to readers with how many articles we received about Slipknot, Slayer, Corey Taylor and Kerry King. Not to mention the Phil Anselmo drama from a few years back. There were of course times when the magazine would feature some lesser known acts in the form of “Subterranean” but that was once in a blue moon, and most of those acts would be the kind that aren't unfamilair to even the most casual of metal listeners. Again, I was a bit insulted. If you read the comments on their posts, you could see that the fans were growing tired of it as well. This magazine (and several others) used clickbait articles to milk popular artists or new release bands to the point of insanity. Last year was BabyMetal. This year was Metallica. Both have been covered here with my thoughts given, and though The Grim Lord's weeaboo sensibility seemed to gravitate more towards BabyMetal (but I've heard some far better Japanese albums this year, and yes – even in the same category) than Metallica, it is true that neither of these albums were great enough to deem THAT MUCH coverage. In all of the Metallica, Slipknot, Disturbed and other mainstays that they cover; Metal Hammer wound up detracting so many other bands in this industry. More than half the scene, if not ninety-five percent of it. This music is absolutely not created by a handful of bands. It is created by hundreds of thousands of millions of acts scattered across the globe. It is high time that these large corporate media outlets discover that.

So if we count the fact that Metal Hammer tanked miserably with readers on social media, it could also factor into why people just didn't want to buy the magazine as well. The great Metal Hammer UK began to show that it really didn't have an idea as to what kind of music it was covering and people were starting to notice. Rome was on the verge of crumbling. On the other hand, the magazine that I write for is quite varied and we give readers a large amount of different artists from around the entire scope of heavy metal, rock, punk, indie music and more, which not only helps in promoting these bands, but it allows people to discover new music, which is why I enjoy this work in the first place. This is what any media outlet SHOULD be doing.

At any rate, this kind of confusion and downright pandering to what it thought was an audience is why it lost it's readership. Wouldn't you guys hate it if I just reviewed popular stuff all the time? What if I only covered albums that have received about thirty thousand more similar opinions just behind them, neglecting other bands out there who may have only been heard by a hundred or so people at the most? Especially if they're good acts? Well, this is what I feel Metal Hammer did. They weren't really covering metal anymore, and their moniker even became a little misleading. It was almost as bad as Revolver in that sense, even considering Revolver a little better in some ways. Now we all know that Metal Hammer has always been about the popular acts, they were a mainstream metal and rock magazine after all. But this is just a bit pathetic. Net-traffic makes up a huge amount of revenue these days, and Hammer just wasn't fucking cutting it. It's not even the writer's faults. Most of these guys probably don't even listen to metal all that much and consider the work just another day job. There's no real sense of passion behind it and I'm not even really sure if the pay was worth it at all. I know that clickbait is the way to go in journalism these days, but it's just obscene to me. I guess if I learned to not give so much of a damn, I'd bite the bullet and write pieces like that. But I just can't. Judging from what happened to Metal Hammer, people are also getting a little tired of it. Being inundated with ads and subscription recommends before one can even view the article that they clicked on is downright repulsive. It stinks. Some of these ads might even encapsulate malware and I've gotten a few notices on my mobile about “fake malware” and the like. I don't want or need that. Not just to view an article. Don't we understand how stupid this all is?

Well, just in case we haven't, a media giant just gasped it's last breath and left behind a very bold question in it's wake. How do we fix the problem of broken heavy metal journalism? How do we go back to real articles and real interviews with bands that we're actually listening to right now? I mean, I'm not listening to Metallica right now. I did when the record came out, but I don't want to hear about them months after. I'd like to hear about some of the bands I listened to today, like Disconnect, Diablerie, Deathspell Omega and Distant Sun (you can tell I listen to records in alphabetical order, hehe). Hail Spirit Noir came out with a record this year as well, but they didn't get any real coverage for it. A band mixes black metal and seventies progressive rock in a way that I've never heard before, and these rags just don't give a damn. Same with our top pic for the year, Aenaon. Terrific record, one of my favorite albums. Diablerie was quite incredible as well. But no one's hearing these bands in mainstream media aside from sources like No Clean Singing (where they actually aren't making money and should be) Lambgoat, Invisible Oranges, Transcending Obscurity, Metal Trenches and others. These sources seem to be the media in regards to metal and some types of rock music as well as industrial and other genres, but there's no real money in it. Ironically the guys who write about Slipknot and such are the guys actually getting a wage for this. As in, it's a paid job. Articles that people care about aren't getting any monetary compensation, but articles that people get sick and tired of hearing about are literally generating some kind of income. Are we in the Twilight Zone yet? You know, I knew that there wasn't a lot of money in this business to begin with, but to find out what people are actually making a dime for is quite unpleasant. It's repugnant, even.

Obviously, The Grim Lord is taking a step back from this work in the effect that I'm not going to kill myself over it and would like to focus on my books, and enjoying the rest of my life. There's no question that devoting myself to this kind of work was taking a toll on my life as a whole, so I'm not going to completely throw myself into this as I have done the past few years. Even so, at least I'm not going to follow in Metal Hammer's example. In that sense, I'll continue to give you reviews of bands that I find interesting, regardless of how “metal” or “klvt” they are. I hope you'll join me for this ride, as I do plan to cover some other aspects like games and movies as well. Just depends on if I'm feeling up to it, the amount of albums I receive and the mechanics of life in general. 2016 has been a rough year, and to be honest I would have never expected Metal Hammer to bite the bullet. Really, that was the furthest thing from my mind. But this year has been quite a bitch, indeed. Here's to a better and brighter 2017.

- The Grim Lord

Quick Announcement Before Update!

Judging by the nature of things, including several dropped downloads and a record that was 455mb (wav) that I was NOT too happy about downloading (do not send me wav files) I am nearly out of data and the month has just begun.

What that means is simple. We may as well become a "physical submissions only" site. If you send me your record by mail, I'll review it. It's that simple. I know several other blogs and websites that operate like this, so just add us to that list.

I will be able to download digital submissions near the very end of each month, and I'm getting better with the dropbox app (mediafire no problem) so maybe I'll be able to get more stuff to review around the end of November.

Again, the best way to get your record reviewed either here or in the magazine (must be sent before release) is to send it by mail.

Other than that, this site will be a mix of old and new as far as the digital promos I have left are concerned. Thanks for understanding and I'll have some new reviews up in a few hours.

- The Grim Lord

Unexpected Announcement!

Denizens of the Tower, I feel I need to address some recent happenings. First of all, my good friend and colleague has been helping me handle promos as I never had a stable internet connection. He allowed me to hear the material and then review it, as I had no other way to do so.

As of recent, he went into an unexpected depression and felt the need to get proper medical help. Folks, his life is a bit more important than the work I do here, so that is going to mean that things will change a bit with The Grim Tower.

First of all, I just won't be able to download or stream any Haulix related promos. This is because Haulix does not have a mobile download feature and I don't have enough data to stream every album. If you want something reviewed, mailing it is the best option.

Secondly, since I won't be able to get any Haulix promos (can't get anything at all right now as I'm throttled) or any newer non-haulix promos and even digital submissions (I can't download anything at all until my data is restored) I have to work with what I've got. That might mean older albums, which to me isn't so bad. Many of these records just didn't get proper promotion and I'd rather use this site to promote artists that actually need it.

This might sound controversial, but if you're being promoted by major sites like Metal Hammer, Blabbermouth, Metal Injection and others that populate my social media feeds with clickbait, what do you really need a little site like mine for? Some of these pages even offer full streams, which are better than any review I can write. Nothing describes a record better than actually listening to it, after all.

That being said, I found several albums promoted on much larger sites from acts I very much enjoyed. As much as I loved Veilburner and Polyptych this year, so many other more competent and well-known places have covered them. Am I upset? Of course not. They NEED and DESERVE that kind of promotion. I want to see these kinds of acts on the covers of magazines someday. Yet that's not entirely likely, as stuff like that new Amaranthe I was sent (I really thought it was a joke and felt that those guys couldn't be serious) will more than likely be plastered everywhere. Spoiler alert, Maximalism is a pop record.

But that's why this little site exists. To cover the little guys, the artists that people forgot. Those talented acts that get looked over by the media. The New Noise gig allows me to cover larger acts professionally on a more reputable page, but here we do things differently.

Thirdly, I have to announce something a bit major. Though I've been working with bands and labels for a number of years now, this time hasn't been very beneficial to me as an independent author. I feel like I've been trying to promote three to six year old novels for the past six years of my life as I spent much of that time reviewing records like a machine. Truth is, as much as I enjoyed that work, I never felt that this was my calling in life. I've been writing fiction since I was a child, and I just feel that in all that time, I could have put out at least five more books - different books that would show a side of me that people don't expect. I have so many characters and worlds to share with people, whether they're grown adults or adolescents (Y/A) with a penchant for curiosity and the unknown. (No plans for children's books as I feel that you must have children of your own before you can actually write a good children's novel. I more than likely will not have that option, but you never know.) Instead of being an author that writes the same old crap, I feel it is imperative to write all sorts of differing fiction genres. Keeps it fresh, so to speak.

When I started this work, I was twenty-five years old. I'm now thirty-one and have spent a good number of years putting a lot of effort into it. Now it is time to set this aside as a hobby project to handle just a few times a week. People online seem to be interested in my story concepts and character ideas, to the point where they are actually considering reading my books. That's the best you can hope for as an author.

Saying little more, I still think you can expect at least six to eight reviews a week and New Noise will have some as well. I'll try to deliver one interview a week, but I may not be able to come through on that all the time.  Remember that it is just me, a cellphone and a laptop without internet. I'll do what I can, I always have. Apps are a lifesaver, I will say that much. I can actually edit and post right from my phone! The phone itself was less than $100 as well, which was a much better deal than the one I had before.

Thanks for reading and look forward to some reviews tomorrow. I've spent most of the day at the doctor's office and will be going back and forth for a while as I undergo some physical and mental evaluations.

- The Grim Lord

Brief Hiatus!

I'm going on a brief hiatus until the middle of August. During this time nothing will be reviewed here, but I am still listening to all submissions and cataloging them accordingly. Feel free to send or withhold releases, depending on your preference. The latest albums will be reviewed among the very earliest. Thank you for understanding during these difficult times, and enjoy the rest of your summer.

- The Grim Lord