RIP Jeff Hanneman, Ten Years Gone

 

Today is the ten-year anniversary of Slayer Guitarist Jeff Hanneman's death. Hanneman's work inspired a generation of guitarists; almost every solo and riff the guy wrote is a classic, so choosing a favorite is tough. That said, "Spirit In Black," from 1990's Seasons in the Abyss, is one that always makes me stop and listen. The sinewy, circuitous path Hanneman shreds up and down the neck just blows me away every time.

---

---

---

Watch:

I finally had a chance to see Ari Aster's new film, Beau is Afraid last night:

 

Okay, so I went into this film knowing nothing about it other than a few references I've seen to it being a "Nightmare Comedy." While we probably all know enough about Nightmares and comedies to be able to marry the two theoretically, I had some trouble picturing what this term would mean, let alone in the hands of Ari Aster. After seeing it, I will say this: Nightmare Comedy is the perfect summation of this film. Beau is Afraid is Anxious, breathtaking and sometimes horrifying. Also, it's very, very funny; I laughed out loud quite a bit, with one scene in particular evoking what was probably my longest laugh since either Barry season 2 episode 5 or the South Park: Pandemic Special. 

I just couldn't stop. 

Granted, the scene in question would likely horrify others, but by saying that, I don't want to mislead anyone. This isn't a "Horror" film and there's nothing as severe as the most memorable events from Hereditary or Midsommar. Or, perhaps it's better said there are some fairly severe moments - some that evoke Midsommar especially - but in Beau, these elements are not presented with the same severity. So, while visually, or in concept a few scenes create similar violence, in Beau that violence is, remarkably, played for laughs. 

And it works. 

This feels like Aster's "Gilliam" piece, but I also detect notes of Gondry, the Cohen Bros, and Peter Weir. I'm typing this portion of this post about two hours after leaving the theatre on Monday night, and I'm honestly considering going back tomorrow and seeing it again. There's a thrill to the discovery of what this movie is that I won't be able to recreate now that I know its arc, but would still be damn fun to try.

 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Ruby the Hatchet - Fear is a Cruel Master

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Slayer - Show No Mercy

The Darts - Snake Oil

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

I did something a bit different for today's Pull; I started with the Bound Tarot and then decided to see what a similar, three-card spread in Thoth would look like. Here's what I got:

Victory over unconscious motivations obscured by two elements fighting one another - Will and Money.

Approach emotional obstructions in an elegant fashion and Will should increase. 

Taken together, this is a hodge-podge of what I already know: I'm slipping on discipline in several areas and it's affecting my output. Victory (completion of a project) is obscured by a failure to place logic over emotion. In order to achieve the desired outcome, decisive action must be taken. 

Halloween Chemicals Kill Warfare

How about some Slayer to start the day, eh? One of my all-time favorite tracks from them. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

Short week (thankfully):

After that big Silver Coin reread over the weekend, I can't wait for this new issue. 

---

---

---

Watch:

I for one LOVED Halloween Kills. Now, granted, I really dug DGG's Halloween 2018, too, until I rewatched it at home. Not that I hated it or anything, but that second, smaller viewing revealed a bit of a lackluster sheen that was no doubt covered up by the big, opening night, theatrical viewing my friends and I had first with that one (listen to our just-after-leaving-the-theatre review HERE). And I've only seen Kills the one time, again in the theatre, although not on opening day. Still, I dug pretty much everything but the ending, which proved to be a HUGE question mark. It catapults this new requel approach into possibly super-supernatural territory, so I really have to see Halloween Ends before I can make an overall judgment, Either way, this is going to be fun as hell in the theatre come October!

Visceral, to say the least. And call me old-fashioned, but the old hand-in-the-garbage-disposal is always a gag that makes me flinch. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Bria - Cunty Covers Vol. 1

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Black Pumas - Eponymous

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digipak version)

Ghost - Impera

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Fast-paced change? CHECK! I love how all my pulls are reflecting the heightened frenzy and complication party of my preparing to move across the country. Batten down the hatches, not long now!!!

Isolation: Day 109 The Beach House Trailer

You had me at "Cosmic Body Horror." The Beach House one drops on Shudder July 9th. That means I'll have two days of anticipated premieres, as on the 10th, Relic hits VOD. These last few years have been such an amazing time to be a Horror fan, and despite a segue into real-life Horror, 2020 appears to continue the trend.


**

Via Brooklyn Vegan (article HERE), the Sacramento Music Archive has made a Slayer concert from 1986 available on youtube. This is HUGE in my opinion; I saw Slayer a handful of time, but not before 1994's Divine Intervention, an album I pretty much despise based on what I feel are some pretty lackluster vocals. That said, my love of Slayer is primarily based on their two live albums - Live Undead and Decade of Aggression - both of which I consider among the finest live albums ever released. It's nice to hear something that kind of splits the span of those two records in half, as Live Undead was released in 1984 and DoA 1991. Admittedly not a huge temporal stretch, but in the evolution of arguably the greatest Thrash band of all time, an entire epoch of change spans the divide.



Thank you to the Sacramento Music Archive, whose website you can visit HERE.


**

Playlist:

Andy Fosberry - Death Ship 2047
Van Halen - Eponymous
Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going
Soundgarden - Down on the Upside
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Cocksure - Operation C.O.C.K.S.U.R.E.


**

Card:

A solid foundation is what I'm working with on this current short story. That's not the issue. Pulling all the elements together into a cohesive whole is.

2019: June 12th New Drab Majesty!

The Youtube description for this track calls it the fourth single released so far from Drab Majesty's forthcoming Modern Mirror album. Really? I hadn't realized we were up to four already, I guess primarily because other than the first single, I'm not listening to anything until my actual physical copy of the record arrives. Modern Mirror drops in two Fridays - can't wait.

**

Frank Black Appreciation Week continues in these pages with my favorite cut from 2007's Bluefinger, which marked a return to Frank's Black Francis persona. Well, not really a persona in the way, say, Bowie had personas, but Bluefinger definitely marked a change from the post-Catholics Americana vibe Black had been doing. Compared to Fast Man Raider Man, Bluefinger goes back to what I consider a more Pixies-ish approach to songwriting. Several of the tracks on Bluefinger - including this one - veer into similar territory as some of The Pixies' more unstable songs; Threshold Apprehension is nuts in the way Broken Face or Rock Music are nuts.



**

So, Slayer is on their "Final Tour." I've lived through this with so many bands, so many times - I was in High School and fairly new to concerts when I attended Ozzy's No More Tours tour, thinking, "Oh my god, I'm going to see Ozzy Osbourne's final tour!"

Hahah.

And so it goes. Fool me once, yada yada. The point being, I doubt this is Slayer's final tour. And in my opinion, the band should have been over when Jeff Hanneman died. But here they are, dry humping a dead and bloated cash cow. I'm not going to say that Slayer doesn't still rule, because despite the fact that I haven't cared about almost any record they've released since Seasons in the Abyss - though Christ Illusion was a pretty nice return to form - I'd wager they still tear shit up live. And so it was that fact and the idea of the possibility the Forum show in Los Angeles - billed as their final show ever - might actually be Slayer's final show - that I tentatively went to the band's website to sign up for their newsletter and get the pre-sale passcode. You know, just to see what tickets are going to cost. And you know what I found? Slayer is charging $20 to join and get the passcode. $30 if you want some stupid poster with the code.

How completely un-fucking-metal.

Retire now guys, before you end up fucking up your legacy. PLEASE.

**

Last night I happened to turn on one of Shudder's tv stations just as Ana Asensio's Most Beautiful Island began, so I dug in and followed it with absolutely no expectations. I do not believe I had ever even heard of this film before.

First good sign was Glass Eye Pics put this out. Always a good thing. So I let the story take me for its ride, and I absolutely loved it. Highly recommended. Here's the trailer, which I've vetted to make sure it doesn't show too much. Not that there's a twist, but the film didn't go anywhere I expected it to go, and I loved it for that.



Also, Larry Fessenden has a small part, so that always wins me over.

**

Playlist from 7/11:

Mazy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
Balthazar - Fever
Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Slipknot - Iowa
Zonal - Eponymous (Pre-release Single)
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

**

Card of the day:

Normally, I don't have a particular question in mind when I do these daily pulls. Instead, I just kind of clear my thoughts for a second and let the card that comes up serve as a portent for the day itself. Today, I wanted to go specific, so as I pulled I thought about a current struggle I've had, namely doing this last read-through with the physical, paperback copy of Shadow Play.

My impetus for doing one last read-through, after just doing another, was the hunch (which proved correct) that reading a novel in physical book form rather than digital would be a drastically different experience, and thus, I would see or catch things I had not in that last digital pass over. And of course, I was correct. Nothing major, but I've already fixed a few minor grammatical errors, as well as at least two spelling errors, on this read. That said, I'm sick to fucking death of reading this book; between this and the short story I began in Spokane, love, but cannot seem to finish, I feel very much held hostage at the moment. Which is zapping my creativity. Ideas are floating to the forefront of my brain daily, and some of them seem so appealing. Plus, it's always invigorating to start something new. So, what do I do? Well, one interpretation of this card is a warning against succumbing to daydreaming, getting lost in flights of fancy, which I definitely take to mean - as my gut tells me - stay on course and do NOT get distracted.

Jeff Hanneman Would Have Been 50 Yesterday

So throw up some horns people! I went for this clip in particular despite the fact that the overall sound isn't really good primarily because it highlights Jeff for my personal favorite solo of his, which begins at about 1:43.

Slayer's Hell Awaits... 8 Bit Nintendo Style!

Oh man, did Bloody Disgusting really deliver today or what. This speaks 100% for itself. (every track from Hell Awaits is up, more in BD's article here.)

Sunday Slayer - Christ Illusion

My wife interviewed Tom Araya when this record came out. I remember being psyched that A) Mr. Dave Fucking Lombardo was back in the band and B) Mr. Rick Fucking Rubin was back in the producer's seat. It did not disappoint then, and in pulling it out for the first time in a couple years I remember (my go-to Slayer records being Live Undead, Decade of Aggression and Reign in Blood - I really need to hunt down another copy of Show No Mercy).

And you know, I'm not one for stupid internet memes, but...

RIP Jeff Mother Fucking Hanneman

I came home to find Pelagial, the new album by The Ocean had arrived, and my wonderful wife had purchased me the Twin Peaks Archive (another post coming on that) but the second I heard this terrible news about Hanneman I knew exactly what was going on the stereo.

My three favorite Slayer songs from various eras. Spirit in Black features what is one of my favorite guitar solos of ALL TIME and it's Jeff playing it at about 1:43






And a great interview with Hanneman and Araya from 1986!!! (which also has a live version of Hell Awaits in the middle of it).

Slayer - Raining Blood Live

Few things get the blood pumpin' like Reign in Blood-era Slayer.