Mastodon album, grant me the power to write a helluva blog!
Yep, the boys are back, and so far, Once More Round The Sun sounds like a killer disc. Take the great elements from The Hunter and magnify them, and you're on the right track. The choruses sound much larger on OMRtS thus far. Man, even when Mastodon technically smooths out their sound they still sound tremendous. Love the old work, worship Crack the Skye for its progressive-minded attitude, and really loving the straight metal with hard rock sense the new albums have cranked out.
Honestly though, the title of this blog actually has more to do with my passing birthday rather than spoiling the review that will be coming for the new Mastodon disc. I'll tell you this, Nation, it was an eventful birthday season. For one, I may have worked on my birthday and technically not done anything special for it day of (in fact, I both posted a video and worked a long shift, so both jobs were done) but I had recently returned from Clearwater Beach, Florida, where I was attending the wedding of my godbrother and his new lovely wife. It was my first true vacation in 5 years(!!!) so it was all the gift I needed. The opportunity was there, and it was an event I couldn't miss, so I didn't.
Shit, my studio headphones bit the dust. I have a spare set of earbuds, but I LOATHE EARBUDS. Looks like I'm getting myself a late birthday gift tomorrow.
Anyway, all of the videos, sparing the vacation message video were done before leaving, so I was able to recharge a little bit while down there. Hence, I made the announcement that many of you already know, but I'll reiterate on here for those who perhaps missed the video. Well, you know the original reason this blog was created, correct?
ITS
HAPPENING
AGAIN
24 HOURS OF COVERKILLERNATION - 2014 ED.
Just like last year, we're taking an entire 24 hour period and we're going to be dedicating it to reviews, videos, commentaries, lists, etc. Anything that comes to mind, anything I listen to, its a day filled with nothing but videos for all of you, in a marathon, sleepless endeavor that's unlike anything else.
Last year featured 22 different videos in a 24 hour period, featured some reviews of albums that must be long forgotten because some have just under 300 views. Meanwhile, other videos have mammoth numbers, thanks to all of you. During the day, I posted to this blog every time a new video was featured, and blogged my general thoughts and feelings during the endeavor.
What I may not have made very clear last year was how hot it was during the entire occasion. I cannot recall if I posted about it in a video or not, but at the time, the A/C was broken in our apartment. It also happened to be the warmest week we happened to see in southwest Pennsylvania all of last year, with temperatures in the mid-90's and humidity out the asshole. No rain fell, so there was no relief from the heat. I left our patio door open with the screen closed to let in air, but it was just heated air that didn't help a bit. The night was the best part of the entire day, where temps dipped to the high 60's (Fahrenheit scale, apologies to the rest of the world. Correct me if I'm wrong, but highs were between 30-35 C with lows only dipping to 19-20? Does that sound correct?) At any rate, it was hot as a motherfucker and we did this. During the experience, I grew dizzy and definitely lost some weight in sweat alone.
No complaints, to be honest. I tell you all this just to let ya peak behind the curtain.
This year we're gonna do it again. I'm aiming for it to be the middle of the week, since most of us like to try to get some plans and general fun in during the weekend. It'll also be later in the summertime, and it will be in Studio 3.0, which is FINALLY undergoing the cosmetic changes to make it at least usable for the occasion. The reason that never happened was based on some living arrangements and other personal matters, which has disappointed me greatly, but what are you gonna do, right?
Its odd I type all this, because we're in a new apartment and experiencing, yep, you guessed it, A/C issues.
Anyway, I knew that I wanted to do this again, and I know I made the announcement while on vacation, but that's my birthday gift to all of you. Yeah, its my birthday, but I'm throwing a gift your way. I don't make any sense, I know.
GET PSYCHED.
If you'd like to revisit last year's event, go to the beginnings of this blog and follow the posts. You'll get a ticket to all the videos done, as far as I know. I invite you to do this throughout the next few weeks to prepare for the big event.
TENTATIVE DATE: JULY 2014
