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https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections

NY Times goes metal 

Passing time in the car doing word rhymes, -ake words. Usual stuff until I ran out. 3 year old pipes up 'you forgot fuck sake'

That was some show. I made a hasty exit at the end as I was was chatting with some seriously irate fans who'd travelled down as the Belfast show had been cancelled from the day before, so they could play Donington instead. 30 years later caught them at Hellfest. Super show, you're in for a treat.

Two standing tickets for sale. €76.90 plus fees. €150 for the pair. Mobile transfer through Ticketmaster.

Show was fantastic last year my concert of the year, and I had never listened to Fear Inoculum before the gig. It's great. And I'm not a massive Tool fan at all.

Agreed, great show in Dublin, saw them a week later in Antwerp (Sportpaleis Arena), crowd were way more sedate. The Fear Inoculum songs hold up great live. Probably the biggest fear with a new album is what songs will get dropped from the setlist to make way for the new ones.   

Caught a bit of them at Damnation,  they did a Dead End Kings set which I always thought was bit of a nothing album so left after a few songs, along with a lot of the rest of the crowd

Second night was just dull and flat, really just came across like they weren't arsed being there

The were so poor, I was really looking forward to seeing them as I last saw them during the Brave Murder Day period, they only played 40 mins of their 55 minute set due to a delay caused by a technical problem, worst part was I missed the end of Sigh 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1706762158481285437

Carach Angren: Franckensteina Strataemontanus

Great fun if you like symphonic black metal

Brilliant day out, quality of the line-up meant there was hardly time to get out and get something to eat. Venue is well laid out and easy to move from one stage to another. The bands are scheduled so you can catch all the bands on the mainstage and then choose between the two other stages.
Caught the end of Oceano, but Insanity Alert on the main stage were great craic. The second stage had some of the more atmospheric sets from Stygian Bough and WITTR.
I was disappointed with the sets from MDB, Godflesh (terrible sound) and 40 Watt Sun, but super sets from Incantation (my favourite of the day) ATG , Converge (nice touch adding Wolverine Blues and Aimless Arrow to the Jane Doe set) and Elder . Was sorry I missed Pallbearer but to be fair Despised Icon were excellent.
The 50-55 minute sets are ideal as bands have to squeeze in the fan favourites. I was surprised to see the trams still running after midnight so I must have caught one of the last ones running, otherwise its hours walk into town. It was a Man City weekend so flights and accommodation weren't too bad. Roll on next year.

Radio Stations
Got a wifi enabled radio recently and came across a German radio station "100 Greatest Heavy Metal" , no ads and a great mix of old and very old, Rainbow, Entombed , Ramones, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush with the very occasional bit of At The Gates, Napalm Death and Emperor. Only problem is that I've heard Slave to the Grind twice today, so the playlist might get a bit repetitive. Any other suggestions for stations or weekly shows that I could check out?

I also have a weekend ticket for sale if anyone is stuck.

Cork is 15th March in Cyprus Avenue .

Soundgarden are a specialist subject on this week's Mastermind.

Some great gigs there . Definitely Biffy Clyro, Dismember  and Cryptopsy  with She Said Destroy. An early Altar of Plagues gig . The Madball gig with locals Ghost of Medina had a miserable turnout the singer kept asking if we'd got out monies worth !

The weekend of Download 12-14th June is free on their tour schedule. so they're likely headliners