Tuesday 31 December 2013

Maniac Monday XLVIII - 2013

And so another year draws to a close, but not before I squeeze in my now-traditional end of year show/mix. It has been another great year for the rise of underground metal and also the return to form of some of the past masters. I take it a show is enough so I will stop with the superlatives now.
Thanks to Ed, Fergus and Alec at NTS for keeping the show going, to Fenriz and Brad for their continual pushing of some bands I would otherwise be in the dark about, all the bands that featured on this show for their releases and continued work unmuddying the genre's perceptions, all the labels who send me shit (hails to Einar at Duplicate/Demonhood, Flo Grill at Dying Victims, Indie Recordings, Steffen at High Roller Records, Paul at Peaceville, Darragh at Invictus Productions, Iron Bonehead, Metal Blade, Southern Lord, Nathan T Birk, Rise Above, etc.), Marek and the Live Evil guys, Louise and Iron Fist, and anyone I may have forgotten. This pilgrimage is going somewhere!
On a note to AFTIFOG blog readers, apologies for the lack of Snaps posts, I know I have been really slack getting them up this year. This is solely due to the frustratingly long upload process since Blogger 'updated' the image uploader in 2012, or thereabouts. I still watch as many movies as ever, and take a fair few snaps along the way, but posting them has just become menial and laborious. I will try when I can to get more up, hopefully I will get back to one a month, like past years, next year. I have been re-watching Twin Peaks again so that may come up first...
As for Manic Monday, as mentioned in the show, I am having my Maniac Mondays reversed for 2014, so the next show is actually on Monday, January 7th, and then every two weeks thereafter, got it? ALRIGHT.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Maniac Monday XLVII - AFITFOG & Friends

ALRIGHT. Thanks again not only to those who tuned in for this week's show, but to the show's selectors. As I said the previous show, this one would me made up of listener's choices, throwing the NO REQUESTS motto out the window momentarily.
So, here goes; Fenriz picked tracks 1-4, Sid 5-8, Nuno 9-11, Brad 12-15, Anna 15-19, Glenn 20-22, Odd Martin chose 23-27, and I finished off proceedings. I thought it was a pretty good show, so thanks again to all those I just mentioned.
Maniac Monday returns for the last time this year on December 30th, where I will be playing only releases from this fine year. Promises to be a good one, if I get a chance to listen to some stuff I got in over the last month or so—seriously, so much shit. There is also a black metal show brewing and an all-out death metal one on the horizon too, so 2014 will see Maniac Monday continue much in the same vain. SOON.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Maniac Monday XLVI - State of the Art Speed Metal II—Soldiers of Metal

 ALRIGHT. Another all-out speed metal show, which has been coming for some time. Had some new stuff to play and also some cool heavy metal things, but it seemed cool to save them for some of next year's shows...
Also, as mentioned in the show, albeit a bit brief, I am offering the chance for you, the listeners, to contribute some tracks for the next show, due to air on December . So send 3-5 track mixes/lists to afistinthefaceofgodATgmailDOTcom by Wednesday next week please and I will pick out the best ones to play on the show, if there are enough, of course. Yes, I know it stipulates NO REQUESTS in the show's bio on NTS, but this is an EXCEPTION to that rule and that rule only!
So anyway, get cracking, you have a week. Hell, Fenriz has already sent his—four tracks, ha—so there is about 105 minutes left to fill...

Thursday 21 November 2013

Maniac Monday XLV - Thrash 'til Death II—Tyrants of Hell

Another Maniac Monday sees another thrash attack in the form of a second Thrash 'til Death show. Again, I was just trying to play some bands I hadn't before, so don't take this as some kind of thrash compendium—half of the last 45 shows have been just that, haha.
So again, thanks to those who listen in on a regular basis and thirst for the new discoveries each show may bring—you are who the show is for. As I mentioned in the show, I found I had a big pool of thrash and speed metal tracks for this one, so I kinda split the more heavy metal-vocaled ones for the next show (or maybe the one after to break it up a little), so hold tight for that one.
There are only three Maniac Mondays left of 2013—one of which will be the aforementioned speed metal show, another will be the 2013 show as I have so much killer shit to play from this year's releases—so tune in on December 2nd for the next onslaught, 9-11GMT, 4-7EST etc.

Monday 18 November 2013

Hatred Alone is Immortal

Back in 2009, my good friend and Real Gold founder Deano Jo asked me to do a design for a shirt. I came up with a logo pretty quick that he loved, but placing it wasn't so easy. We played around with some different images to accompany it, back messages, fonts, etc. every few years since then, but alas it never quite looked right and thus never made it to print.
Fast forward to 2013, and Real Gold launches their new website and, to coincide, two colours of the 'lost' shirt, their seventeenth since the brand's inception in 2006, is now available.
Limited to 50 pieces per colour, sizes run from S-XL, and are available here in black, or here in white.
By the way, I hand-drew the logo using only some pencils, a ruler, and a compass. No Illustrator trickery was used to make the logo, although it was processed through Photoshop in order for it to appear on the shirt.
In the words of William Hazlitt, "Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal."
RG0017A
RG0017B

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Maniac Monday XLIV - Fight Back IV—Streets of Metal

Another Maniac Monday sees me revive the ghost of the Fight Back series, this time honouring the metalpunk and crossover side of punk and metal. Well, there's also some speed metal, but you follow.
Hour one consists of post-2000 releases, with hour two being handled by the past masters. I had a blast playing this one, so hope you enjoy it also.
Next Maniac Monday will air on November 18th, 9-11PM GMT. I haven't really thought about it too much now, but it may be a thrash show. Or maybe a one band-only show? Hmmm. Time shall tell.