Messages

Never give up on your dreams kids 

Ah just seen that the chap who did my logo/album art previously got the gig to do the new album art for this 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1819309579007910&set=a.571819093756971

Still using SmartTube via the firestick for the TV to skip the aul youtube ads and also using NewPipe on the phone for it, love that you can just lock your phone and listen away.

2026
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January

Shadows Calling - The Other Side Of Me (EP)
https://shadowscalling1.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side-of-me-4-track-ep

Cannibalised - Cluster of Torture (Album)
https://cannibalised.bandcamp.com/album/cluster-of-torture

Plaguerot - Dreams Of Death (Album)
https://open.spotify.com/album/1TRbzu4Dxp0eCeO58WtXB3?si=9drNBpocSSG2QkgDtpjDEg

Cursed Sun - Rituals Of A Shattered Mind (EP)
https://open.spotify.com/album/5QJ0coKdAyDPT8MxwFtZWO?si=D3BdJHSHRVqxbzqhxv4aFg

Necromaton - Necromaton (Demo)
https://necromaton.bandcamp.com/album/necromaton-demo-2026

Eribo - #1' Aduntas' (Demo)
https://eribo.bandcamp.com/album/1-aduntas

Spectral Temper - withering pages (Demo)
https://spectraltemper.bandcamp.com/album/withering-pages-demo

For Ruin - Painted In The Colours Of War (Album)
https://forruin.bandcamp.com/album/painted-in-the-colours-of-war

Arddruí - The ever enduring leprosy of english corruption (Album)
https://whispersonthewind.bandcamp.com/album/the-ever-enduring-leprosy-of-english-corruption

Syncopated Septicemia - Syncopated Septicemia (Album)
https://syncopatedsepticemia.bandcamp.com/album/syncopated-septicemia

I invented the sandal for people with one leg.

It was a flop.

New song out for upcoming album in July. "Bodhran And Bones" is the title track - taking a step away from the usual stuff, trying more clean vocals, bit more slower doom type stuff sprinkled in. Listen below!

Ozempic

What's Leather Mike up to these days?

Best you use the search function on the site for that....

The court heard Mr Lee is a mechanic who has ADHD and dyslexia and lives with his mother following the death of his father a few years ago


There'll be a custodial sentence but I reckon it'll be of the order of 12-18 months

It is highly insulting to people with ADHD and dyslexia for that to be used as some kind of plea bargain to drum up some sort of sympathy for him.

At 0:40 "In the jizz that burnt the light" 

Nothing left in the tank for Mustaine (could argue for the past 20 odd years) - and from what I've heard of this album it's really showing.

Haven't gigged with a band since 2012 - Sometimes you remember the absolute slog at times, just the waiting around etc - but then you remember the great gigs, even the bad gigs where you are playing to 5 people could be treated as a better practice that weekend. Had a great setup big shed out the back of the guitarists house with drums/amps all setup to go every week.

Good fun and memories, part of me wishes I kept it up with a band but as time goes on, career then family comes in and your time gets stretched and priorities shift but my main interest was always the writing & creative aspect. 2013 a year later got the serious itch to go solo, write/record and that whole process is very rewarding, been doing that ever since, no plans of stopping.

And ideas can just pop into your head from nowhere - something that forms from just picking up the acoustic guitar, strumming two chords together, letting that stew & fester, figuring out the next steps to it + not knowing where it will end up is great. Or that it could form a completely different song down the line - it just never bores me. Even humming along with the chords I find that can conjure up something now and again or playing it on the keyboard. Could go 6 months without writing one song and then all of a sudden I've 5-10 within 2 weeks. With young kids now be interesting to see if they show interest when they get older.

Really like how that Dratna album sounds

Oopps forgot to add this in, I blame the December food comas...

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December

Dratna - Samhain Dawn at the Gates of Mag Mell (Album)
https://dratna.bandcamp.com/album/samhain-dawn-at-the-gates-of-mag-mell

Ghosts in Gold - I, Luciferian (Album)
https://ghostsingold.bandcamp.com/album/i-luciferian

Foul Prism - Foul Prism (EP)
https://foulprism.bandcamp.com/album/foul-prism

Buail - Slowing Down (EP)
https://buail.bandcamp.com/album/slowing-down

Nilim - Uncoiling (EP)
https://nilim.bandcamp.com/album/uncoiling

Cell Games - You Have (Not) Heard These Songs Before (EP)
https://cellgamesband.bandcamp.com/album/you-have-not-heard-these-songs-before

Broken Habit - Nightshade (EP)
https://open.spotify.com/album/1NV39PzZh6IbQ92l1HVnzq?si=-rN1m6IESj63DDANiTe_5g

Black Despair - Town Of Despair (EP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxnGsh0koNk

My era wouldn't be seen in the same light as the classic ones posted above but it's all relative. One by Metallica was the song that really got me into metal around the age of 12 in 1998 so my years were formed during the height of nu-metal which to me felt like a metal version of grunge at the time. Seeing my bro playing Coma by GNR on his acoustic was one of those moments where I wanted to pick up guitar eventually when I was 14. Moved on from my brothers love for GNR, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Metallica etc to Manson/Korn/Deftones/NIN seemed like a natural enough progression so 1999-2005 was the teen obsession stage, Iced Earth, Maiden, Children of Bodom, In flames, Opeth were all the rage for me along with the nu-metal stuff shipped in, MTV as time went on started to stop showing metal/rock and in general were moving into the reality show side of things by the mid 2000s so I was recording any decent music video I could find on VHS tapes.

It was only when I got into a band in 2006-2012 did I get into the black/death/doom genres and also into the local Irish scene. I remember seeing A Distant Sun when I was 16 sneaking into gigs, seeing the keyboards and thinking how cool that was to blend it with the guitars. Old Season in the voodoo was another moment was a teen thinking wow we've got some gems right under our nose. Gigging during that time too - seeing the mini thrash revival take shape in the mid 2000s was cool from a local perspective with the likes of Mass Extinction.

I usually buy stuff on bandcamp to support nowadays, most of my CD collection now gone, some tapes scattered somewhere. I do miss the random purchases in a physical location based off artwork alone, finding some gems like Anathema, Paradise Lost, MDB and then some absolute flops like Hammerfall  Gigs are still a social outlet - chat to a friend or two throughout the year, look at the bands coming and pick which ones suit to go to.