Happy Halloween 2022

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween.

MY ANIME LIST

I just wanted to share a link to my: My Anime List Profile just in case anyone was interested in what anime shows and movies I have seen. The following link has that information here: https://myanimelist.net/animelist/1STMETALGOD?status=2

I have updated it as much as I possibly can from what I remember watching but will be updating it in future of course with new anime's and new series and movies that arrive.

Haunted Locations I've Visited In South Wales

Wales, my homeland, it's a beautiful place to visit and home to many haunted locations and these are the ones I've visited and boy these locations are just stunning! A lot of information is here on my blog today is taken from local stories and information from Visit Wales the Welsh tourism website.

I admit there's not a lot with this list, but this is from my memory and I will give you some background of the places and ghost stories involved with the places so come with me for a ghost story before going to sleep. :)

CASTELL COCH, Tongwynlais

There are castles all over the United Kingdom, and most of them are pretty scary, regardless of whether they have a history of paranormal activity or not. Castell Coch, however, is unique in two ways. Firstly, the division between this world and the next seems to be particularly thin as ghostly goings-on are regularly reported. Castell Coch is a relatively new building when compared to other castles, yet it’s widely regarded as one of the most haunted places in South Wales. Castell Coch was built on 13th Century ruins in 1870, meaning it is just a couple of decades more than 100 years old. It was designed by architect William Burgess, commissioned by John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, the Third Marquess of Bute. Crichton-Stuart intended the building to be his little hideaway in the hills, but apparently, it failed to meet his expectations. The following owner of Castell Coch, a Lady Gwendolyn, was driven out of the building not long after it came into her possession. According to Gwendolyn, she frequently encountered the spirit of a woman dressed in white. Though the ghost did not appear to be malevolent or in any way interested in the business of the new owner, Gwendolyn, like most people, decided it was one haunting too many and went packing. The woman is not believed to have any connection to the castle, but rather to the centuries-old ground upon which it was built. Her time on earth was marred by the loss of her son, who disappeared when still a child. It was later discovered that the boy had fallen into a well and drowned, though the woman never learned of this. She still roams the area around Castell Coch, presumably searching for her son, unaware that he has moved on. I have never actually been inside the grounds of Castell Coch, but I have been around the area before as a few years ago when I was doing security I actually went there and had a walk around, I did not see nor feel any paranormal activities, but you know maybe one day when I do venture inside it, I will. 

SAINT FAGAN'S, Cardiff

St. Fagans is a village on Cardiff's outskirts, known for St. Fagans Castle. This Elizabethan manor has extensive gardens, with fountains, the Italian Garden and a rosary. Also within its grounds, the open-air St. Fagans National Museum of History showcases historic buildings relocated from across Wales, including a farm, a tannery, mills and a chapel. The Museum stands in the grounds of St Fagans Castle and gardens, a late 16th century manor house donated to the people of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth in 1948. There are over 50 historic buildings from all over Wales have been re-built at the Museum including a Victorian school, a medieval church and a Workmen’s Institute. Visit Llys Llywelyn – a medieval prince’s hall, see the Victorian school or pick up some Welsh food from 1920s Gwalia Stores. Visit the animals on Llwyn-yr-eos Farm or call in to see our craftspeople at work in the smithy, the clogmaker’s workshop and the corn and woollen mills. St Fagans Museum is said to be the most haunted museum in the country. A vast history of buildings brought from all over Wales as a means to preserve the culture and reputation of Wales and the home to an Elizabethan Mansion built on the foundations of a castle dating back nearly 900 years. It is said that many of the ghosts at St Fagans came with the buildings, that they have a permanent attachment to them. Or are the spirits at St Fagans those who perished in the mighty civil war battle fought here in 1648? Or could it be that the spirits here are those of the various families who occupied the land over the years, and of those who may have worked and farmed this mystical land. I have only been to St. Fagan's once as a kid, and it was a part of a school trip to learn more about people in the 19th century and their lives and while walking through the shops and being in the classroom it felt to me like someone was watching. That's the only paranormal experience I remember having there which had me unsettled during the trip. 

CARDIFF CASTLE, Cardiff

Cardiff Castle is a beautiful place situated in the centre of Cardiff and has an on-site museum and manor home. Only as recently as 1st September this year (2022) visited the insides of the castle grounds and museum and as of writing, I have not ventured in the illustrious manor house walls BUT you can tell this place is so special and although at first-hand experience with my walk through the castle and museum that I had nothing paranormal happen or felt anything ghosty that's not to say this place has no hauntings. Onto the history of this Castle now; The site on which Cardiff Castle is built has been one of the most important pieces of land in all of South Wales since the 1st Century. It was here that the Romans built one of their many defence structures during their time ruling over what would later become the United Kingdom. It is believed that the original Roman fort lasted for about thirty years, coming down just before 100 AD and a part of the original Roman wall's is still up inside the Museum in the Castle. After Roman rule came to an end, there wasn’t a lot of activity on the site until the Normans came gallanting along in the early 1000s. After being passed from owner to owner, Cardiff Castle fell into the Bute family’s hands, who held onto it until 1947, when the Fifth Marquess of Bute presented it to the county council. Obviously, there is a lot of history at Cardiff Castle. So it should come as no surprise that paranormal activity at the building is reported with a startling degree of frequency. Of the many haunted rooms in the castle, one of the most active is the stockroom, where items are moved around and rearranged almost every morning by an unknown force. The few who have been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be there when this was going on, report that the items are moved by a ghost garbed in a white skirt, resembling more a cloud of smoke than a human. The daily paranormal activity also occurs in the main dining room of the castle. It is here at a quarter past three every morning that the doors of the room open and shut by themselves, regardless of whether they have been locked. Frequently spotted at Cardiff Castle is the spirit of the Second Marquess of Bute, who oversaw restoration on the site but died before it was completed. He is seen to navigate the castle like the traditional ghost, walking through walls until he gets to his desired location. For the Second Marquess of Bute, that location is a room next to the chapel, where he passed away in 1848.

LLANCAIACH FAWR MANOR, Nelson

I have talked about this and my experiences a lot in the past as I have visited this place twice, once as a kid and the other time when I was a teenager. I felt like someone was watching me and I have seen a crib move, and also I felt like I was pushed in the armoury as I fell down and almost tumbled down the staircase. Furthermore, I'm all good and fine, but you know there's a weird prepense I felt there, and I do want to go back and visit again and see if I get any other feelings or weird goings-on. Nobody is quite sure just when Llancaiach Fawr Manor was built, but references to the building appear in John Leland’s Itinerary, released in 1537. The consensus is that the manor was built in or around 1530. It was constructed on the ruins of another building and was designed so that it would be handily defended should relations between Wales and Britain break down. Today, the Grade 1 building operates as a living-history museum, though visitors to Llancaich Fawr Manor experience a bit of undead history while they’re there. The manor’s ghosts are many in number and varied in their behaviour, with almost every room in the building having its own spirit assigned to it. Rather than simply materializing – which they do with some frequency – the manor’s spirits make themselves known through blasts of cold air, random scents, and disembodied sounds such as footsteps and voices. Many expectant mothers who have visited the castle have reported feeling uneasy and dizzy upon entering the building, with most having to sit down or leave before their condition worsens. This could be linked to the spirit of a young boy who is often seen and heard by the manor staff. It is believed that the boy met his end after falling from one of the manor’s upper rooms, which left him with fatal injuries. However, the injuries do not seem to plague the spirit in the afterlife, as he is quite active and has been reported to tug on the sleeves of guests and lead them by hand throughout the manor. One paranormal researcher who investigated Llancaich Fawr Manor even claimed to have summoned the boy using a simple ball in a cup toy. According to the investigator, she was aided by the child in landing the ball inside the wooden cup after multiple failed attempts to do it herself. Some people recall seeing maid's or a lady in the garden or staring out the window at the garden also. This has been featured on some paranormal investigations and tv shows such as Most Haunted. You can read my past blog on this lovely Manor here - https://1stmetalgodsblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/llancaiach-fawr-as-kid-ghost-story.html

Visit these places and let me know if you have had any spooky experiences and of course view more paranormal locations and luscious locations on the Visit Wales website. 

Also check out the RCT website. 

Thanks for visiting my blog and viewing this post! :)

Stay Spooky!

Ten Songs To Listen To This Halloween 2022

So back in 2016 I made a top ten Halloween songs list, and it's a good one of course because it's me and I made the list haha. If you want to view that list please click the red text at anytime as it will open up a new window for your viewing pleasure.

Be sure to add those songs to your playlists, TODAY! MUAHAHAHAHHA!!!

Today I will be bringing you a very special list of songs which you should listen to around the spooky season this year! The following songs feature content that will either be creepy, about monsters, demonic or something else.

Basically these songs fit the Halloween vibez, and I hope you enjoy them! :D

10: We Drink Your Blood - Powerwolf

A powerful metal song about Vampires drinking your blood, especially when the midnight sky is red. 

9: Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy is barking mad here as he tells the tale of what it is like being a Werewolf.

8: The Devil In I - Slipknot

Put your mind into the steps of a killer being taken to court after being caught and interrogated.

7: Medication For The Melancholy - Rob Zombie

Imagine the insanity of being hunted down by a drug field kill billy character and this is what I'd imagine be playing. There are many Rob Zombie songs set around monsters and killers and what not BUT I wanted to pick something lesser known than your Dragula's or Living Dead Girls or Superbeasts.

6: Faith - Ghost

He is all ears, he is all eyes, he is the one, and he's watching you fall. 

5: Fear Of The Dark - Iron Maiden

In the dark something is always there, someone is near. You may have a phobia, or you may be right and there is someone out there in the dark.

4: The American Nightmare - Ice Nine Kills

Ice Nine has done numerous songs and have devoted their gimmick these past few years to being a band all about killers and monsters. The American Nightmare is all about Freddy Kruger and the nightmare at elm st films. 

3: Hellraiser - Lemmy & Ozzy

Lemmy and Ozzy wrote and made their own version of this and of course came together for one too and I have to put this on the list. Hellraiser 1-3 are great films and this track is awesome! You solve the puzzle box and here I am. 

2: Night Of Long Knives - Machine Head

You won't see them come in the night, with these knives and bloodstains on their hands. They'll paint the walls and taste the blade with the night of long knives with Charles Manson in charge. 

1: The Night - Disturbed

What has come over you? What madness has taken hold, and why are you running away? This hits and I, for one, feel transformed, and I can imagine someone changing forms into a big lurking monster perhaps all due to the power of the night. There are lines in here to that make me think of Moon Knight, this guy changes by the night and becomes the vigilante who is the saviour in the night. 

So Vwhat did yew think of ma leeeest? (Dracula impression)

Do I need a brain or an extra limb? Are my song choices Howling at the moon?

Do I need to be bandaged up?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this list and my Halloween cheese and song list with my blog today.

I can't thank you enough for visiting and reading, It means a lot!

Please share my blog to those who you think will be interested.

See you around, stay shiny!

Top 10 Halloween Films (Michael Myers series)

Alright I have been patient and held off making a top 10 Halloween franchise list until I have seen Halloween Ends. Well that time is up and my review of Halloween Ends is out. Also, my whole take on the entire Halloween series is also out on my blog. Be sure to check those out for more in depth looks and thoughts on those films and the series as a whole from my point of view. 

I am a massive fan of this series and I love the Michael Myers character. In terms of how I will be ranking these, well I will be sorting them in order of one's I love best and which I felt had the best story, soundtrack etc. So no more delay, let's get to the killing.....I MEAN.....ranking....

10: H5

OK look this one sucks BUT I got to have a top 10 list as I could not just simply leave this list on a Top 8 Halloween films. To me H5, H6, Resurrection, Rob Zombie H2 and Ends are bad films of the series. There are bad films in the series, but I still have something I like about each one and for me in Halloween 5, what I like most is Loomis and Michael's interactions. I also like the scene where Jamie goes down the clothes shoot, and it's a bit tense for how she can escape that one.

9: H6

Again another bad one of the bunch BUT I will applaud them for trying to make sense why Michael can't die, and it's all some ritual and cult stuff even if I find the whole cult explanation in films to be cheap and overdone, it's something that prior to H20 and above that kinda fit. The off-screen kill of Loomis was not good and in the producer's cut they made Loomis the new leader of the cult of Thorn.

8: RZ's Halloween 1

And breathe this is where THE REAL LIST begins! Rob Zombie's first take with Halloween was great, it was different, it offered us a fresh new telling of the story we all knew but added more elements and backgrounds to Michaels character for sure, and it took his character to the realm of gritty almost factual take on what made him the monster he is and how his abusive home life background helped push him to be the killer we know today but not just that but all the bullies he had in his life and of course the kid was demented seeing as he was killing animals but hey, this was a good take. Rob Zombie did good, and the kills were brutal, and they actually made you feel the impact of them.

7: Halloween 4

Alright look, this and Halloween 2 (1981) both have better ends to Michael and a passing of the torch than Halloween Ends. It's a massive shame they killed Laurie off-screen for this film, and we got brought her daughter to carry on the whole family ties story with Michael. Loomis is one of my fave characters in the Halloween franchise, and he delivers a great performance here especially with its twist ending.

6: H20

Happy 20th Birthday to you, Michael Myers comes soon, Laurie you're in trouble, Happy 20th To you! Yes H20 is set 20 years after Halloween, and it's a direct sequel to Halloween 2 and all that came after H2 was retconned. Great to see Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie and she and Michael had a good reunion. There's little Easter eggs in this film showing other horror slashers too, and I think it's in part thanks to the scream writer who wrote this. The mask in this was terrible. Apparently they went for a CGI mask because they couldn't make up their minds on one? What?! Michael being decapitated should have ended the series at the time.

5: Halloween 3

So this one is an Anthology film and does not contain anything from the Halloween films before it. Michael is not in it besides a 2 seconds cameo as in this one Halloween 1 is just a scary film advertised on TV. This is underrated. Yes it was majorly different and shocking in its time because they departed from Michael of course BUT leave that aside and think of it as its own thing, and you will have a good time.

4: Halloween Kills

Alright so now we are back to a more recent time of Halloween series with the second part of Blumhouse's trilogy of the series. I love this one, it's brutal, and the soundtrack is awesome, it feels so evil and big just like the Shape himself, and it's a great continuation from Halloween 2018 and of course it is fantastic seeing so many of the OG'S here.

3: Halloween 2 (1981)

OK so this one's ending for the series was better again than H4 and Halloween Ends. This one takes place exactly as Halloween 1978 ends and this one sets up the whole family ties story with Laurie being so special to Michael since Laurie is his sister. This is the best sequel in the original timeline.

2: Halloween 2018

Back to top form here with so many originals returning to reprise their roles, and it all works brilliantly. Mask, soundtrack, story, characters, fear, kills well it's perfect, I've talked about this one and the others on this list in more depth and detail over on my other blog post which had me write up about the entire series, so please check it out.

1: Halloween 1978

Of course this is what started it all and deserves to be crowned the best one. Not only did it start this extraordinary franchise, but it also gave birth to the whole slasher genre and outbreak from the 80s onwards. This started so many tropes to the horror genre and will always be the king of them all to me. I cannot big this film up more. Iconic, classic, masterpiece.

Alright that's my list, this will probably be the last post I make on Michael Myers and the whole Halloween franchise until the day comes where Evil comes back home to our screens again with fresh paint of course.

Thanks for reading, see you again soon.

Stay Spooky!

Halloween Ends Review - Deflated Finale

I was so excited and hyped for this film for over a year!

Jesus Christ this left me so deflated, disappointed, dissatisfied and depressed. 

It's taken me a few hours to come to terms with what I have just seen and here are my entire thoughts on this film and this will contain spoilers.

Basically this is set 4 years after the last film and everyone seems to be moving on, but the town is still feeling the effects of Myers and his evil with people coming out of the woodwork committing horrible crimes. Laurie is trying to move on as is everyone, but it's only for Michael to show up one more time. First let me say the new Blumhouse logo at the start mmm chef's kiss. Also, the title screen was lovely too and interesting with pumpkins breaking through other pumpkins. I've really enjoyed this current H40 timeline Blumhouse has given us well until this one emerged....

I was curious and excited for how this franchise was to meet its end and uhmmm well.....hmmm.....wow that's uh.....that's a bad taste in my mouth. So is this a joke and like the real Halloween Films will release soon? Because uhm......urgh. What?!

If I was in the writers room, I'd like to have seen their reasons for all of this film to be honest. I'll applaud the boldness of them for the new ideas brought into this film BUT they were executed poorly. For me this didn't feel like a Halloween film. Jamie Lee Curtis as her final outing as Laurie Strode was great! The soundtrack in this one was not the best of the trilogy in my opinion. On my first viewing of the film, I couldn't hear much of OST of the Carpenters sound, yes there's moment you hear the themes, but this film is mostly dominated by other third part tracks and very little of the OST I felt. Laurie's theme ends is the best on the soundtrack. Transformation, The Junkyard, The Fight, The Procession, Cherry Blossoms themes are also good. The end song choice with Don't Fear The Reaper was a decent shout. Halloween 78,18 and Kills have such great scores and this one was lacklustre and hardly present but of course I write this after only one viewing of the film, so it can be hard to take in all aspects of a film from one single viewing. Sure in the title sequence the OG, classic, iconic theme was there with added synth and bass as far as my ears could pick up. 

I'll give props to the guy who plays Corey too, fair play to that dude. 

The final showdown is the best part of this film. 

Honestly this film disrespected Michael also for me and considering the past two films and James Jude Courtney's take on The Shape because JJC delivered us a scary older version of The Haddonfield Boogeyman, this film's take with Michael is absolutely shockingly disappointing, he doesn't feel threatening or scary at all, and it's a disservice to the character's legacy. Remember we have had Michael disrespected in past films too, and they were bad and sadly this film for me is going to be in with the bad pile. With how the story goes the kills for me didn't convince me or give me much of a reaction because *SPOILER ALERT* it was not Michael doing those sick kills, but it was a basic copycat killer and for me that's not the same and doesn't have the same weight and doesn't do the same thing for me as it would have if it was actual Michael doing the killing.

There's some lovely Easter eggs in here and references to John Carpenter and also seeing the OG Shape at the Halloween party gave me a big smile because Nick Castle is a legend man! Halloween End's title screen's font and colour scheme is also the same as Halloween 3.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The Hawkins and Strode relationship angle was nice. It was also interesting having other people commit crimes or killings when Michael wasn't around and people still blaming him or his evil which seems to have affected the town like a dark cloud that still lingers over it. The people blaming Laurie was also good I will say because even though we had Laurie be more free and not hung up on survival and hunting down Michael and being the Victor of her survivor's guilt in a way, it was cool to see not everyone has moved and some blame her for atrocities as they are convinced she brought him back to their town, and so she should be blamed for the deaths and injuries from Michael. Social commentary again is "Evil is infectious and people will always want to blame someone else and hate others". I'll be honest here the Evil of Michael's eyes influencing others to go crazy or evil or delve more into their evil sides is great I mean we have seen this happen with Loomis and Dr Seratin and even Jamie Lloyd. Michael is evil pure evil, and he has the blackest eyes, the devil's eyes and of course stating the idea of Michael being that pure evil that, the more he kills, the stronger he gets. You know, yes cool that's true I agree, there's always been so much mystery and supernatural elements with Michael and that's just so fascinating to me so to see him act like a shrivelled old man in Halloween Ends sucked! You know the dude is a fucking monster! He's in his 60s in 2018 and Kills films, and he's shrugging off everything anyone throws at him and that should have stuck, and he should not have gone into hiding for me this is all out of character and does a disservice to Michael Myers "The Shape" character. Yes, the brute strength and appearing he does is here in this film, but we mostly get the copycat Michael getting all the kills in even if the copycat goes against what Michael does as the copycat just goes for revenge kills rather than Michael's "if you're in my way or in my interest I will kill you!". We really should have had these OG characters and characters from the past few films face off with Michael and in my opinion they should have all died by Michael's hands except for Laurie, but I'll get to that in a moment. For the big finale film honestly Michael technically only kills one person, the others he's assisted with. It's a shame "The Shape" we get in this film is not the same monster they set up with the previous two. 

*SPOILER ALERT* 

OK look this film should have ended with Laurie and Michael taking each other down that was the only fitting way for this to have ended or maybe have a twist where Laurie puts on Michael's mask as Michael is laid out pinned on the floor, and she kills Alison and then goes for Michael. Either way right we definitely should have had a closing shot or after credits aimed at the Mask and having some breathing. No shadow of a doubt we will get a reboot of the series in the next 10 years because Evil never dies and evil always takes on new shapes. 😉

Anyway, a disappointing and deflating finale to Blumhouse 40th anniversary Halloween series. 

This will be joining the ranks with the bad Halloween films for me personally. 

A sour pumpkin spiced end to the Blumhouse Halloween era.

3/10

What did you think of Halloween Ends?

Let me know by commenting or tweeting me @ScottyJ193

For my entire thoughts on every single other Halloween film please CLICK HERE!

Thanks for visiting my blog and for reading this review. 

It means a lot to me and I value and appreciate all your support.

Stay Spooky!

THE HALLOWEEN FRANCHISE WRITE UP

It's as of writing this right now the 6th October at 10:30pm and I am here to document and write up the entire Halloween franchise! Yes that is correct every single film even Halloween 3 and Rob Zombies Halloween's are here in this list with my thoughts and bits and bobs about the films and their stories and all my likes and dislikes, they are all pretty much here! 

This is all done in preperation and hype for the new film and potentially last Halloween film. I will also admit this is also done in prep for me eventually Ranking the series in a future top 10 list! SO buckle up as you join me on a deep dive into the Halloween franchise.

Halloween

Classic! So good! My fave horror character and slasher film. This slasher changed the game for horror. Michael is such an iconic character and Carpenters score is also very iconic and memorable. Initially this was going to be called the baby sitter murders. This also had a budget of 300k. I get chills to this day from the music. I love everything about this film. This is what started my fascination with the series and with its titular character of The Shape aka Michael Myers. The pov shots and tracking shots and music just mmf chefs kiss. Another iconic character I've always enjoyed besides Laurie is Dr. LOOMIS. So much mystery to Michael it's just so fascinating to me. The best mask for Michael of course. The build up to the kills and suspense and tension as a whole is also perfect. I have seen this so many times and I'm still so captivated by it all. Its amusing how Michael kills Bob and then puts on a white sheet and glasses just like playing with his victim before getting the kill and also the brute strength of Michael stabbing Bob and lifting him off the ground and just standing there admiring his kill is something else. There's a beautiful shot of Michael in the shadows and stabbing Laurie and the chase scene is superb. His gentle slow stroll is something else because he will always be at 1mph and behind you even if you are running away at 5mph and there's times where he just appears ahead of you. The iconic rise up of Michael is something else too and of course when Michael is shot 6 times and falls off a balcony and is laying on the ground in the next shot as LOOMIS looks over the balcony well he is gone. The first theme is the most iconic for me its got a sense of foreboding threat aswell as a sense of trancendance and of course the running lurking repeated tones although for the most part the instrumentals are the lightest played of the series in terms of themes this is iconic and legendary.

Halloween 2

The best sequel in the original timeline, set directly after the first so to watch the first two back to back is a nice treat. The one male paramedic is creepier than Michael in this haha. The kills are more creative and BOY the end mask shot is nice with the bloody tears as they dubbed it. The pov Michael shots are awesome. The soundtrack is so different more industrial, deep and synthy with its music. A lot of elements of this film are taken and remade later in the series. 

H3: Season Of The Witch

Nothing to do with Myers but this is still underrated and a great Halloween/horror film as this was supposed to be the start of a new anthology series of films. Hospital emergency room Dr. Dan Challis and Ellie Grimbridge, the daughter of a murder victim, uncover a terrible plot by small-town mask maker Conal Cochran, a madman who's planning a Halloween mass murder utilizing an ancient Celtic ritual. The ritual involves a boulder stolen from Stonehenge, the use of Silver Shamrock masks and a triggering device contained in a television commercial all designed to kill millions of children. The catchy silver shamrock jingle that plays constantly throughout this is so catchy. I actually like this one and I never skip this in a series rewatch and sometimes I watch this on it's own just because it is that good a halloween film and a great standalone film. 

H4: The Return Of Michael Myers

Not bad some fine kills as Myers returns. Praise be to loomis as he's one of my fave characters in the series. Shamefully they say Laurie died somehow and of course she had a 6 year old daughter and that's legit all we know of the strode story. One of the best endings. I'm not a massive fan of Michael being all "I must kill all my relatives". Oh the whole Michael waiting in a rocking chair bit and then kills someone by impaling them with the barrel of a shot gun was wicked fun. The mob coming together to stop Michael was another idea used better later on in the series. The theme has added instruments to it most notably added drums and the synth keyboards too and of course the tambourine shaking.

H5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers

Oh this is bad. We also have an unlikeable new girl main character. The worst mask for myers. They try to make Loomis unlikeable. It's silly and dumb considering the film that came before it. My fave moments are with Loomis and Michael, the laundry shoot escape with Jamie and Michael and Michael killing people with farm equipment haha. The lowest grossing Halloween film. The change made to the Myers House was stupid and for continuity of the series was a horrible decision to change its design and look inside and out. The script wasn't even completed when filming began, this was just a huge mess. The theme is more in line with the first but there's again added instruments in the mix and different sound going on among the iconic track, I think there's more xylophone in this mix.

H6: The Curse Of Michael Myers

Contining the bad Halloween trend here. Sadly this is the last we ever see of Donald as Loomis. There's actually for the first time in the franchise history 2 cuts of this one. Good mask though. Good to have seen a brutal Michael with this one for sure. Just not a fan of the bad acting and the whole cult thing. The cult of Thorn story I feel would have worked with some dealings with the Halloween 3 story as Silvershamrock and Thorn cult could have been related given their Irish celtic roots but I digress. The offscreen kill of Loomis was not good and in the producers cut they made Loomis the new leader of the cult of Thorn. The producers cut suggests Michael went off and had a baby with his niece and yeah no that's not the character at all and they also made Michael get stuck in a circle of runes unable to leave until plot twist it's shown he switches places with someone else. Yeah this is just a big facepalm. More electric guitar in this theme. 

H20: Halloween 20

Direct sequel to halloween 2, this retconned everything onward as Laurie returns. This is Halloween 20 years later. Michael is looking for Laurie as always. It's cool how the film basically starts with Michael killing nurse Mirian and that she was taking care of Loomis in his final days and also helped keep all the information. Also Laurie went on to change her name and had a son and they moved to California. Laurie still has ptsd from her past with Michael as she is protective of her son around halloween and this is great to see and used much better later on in the series. Laurie still has a pretty balanced life however. Also a funny thing in this film is the bathroom scene when Michael is en route to Laurie as he leaves two people alive and just takes their car where as in a later film he kills two people in a similar setting so yeah later films take a lot out of these retconned films and make them better if you ask me. Janet Lee Curtis appearing in this is just so good. There's little Easter eggs in this film showing other horror slashers too and I think its in part thanks to the scream writer who wrote this. The mask in this was terrible. Apparently they went for a cgi mask because they couldn't make up their minds on one? What?! The iconic shot of Michael and Laurie meeting face to face is just oof lush. The fight between Laurie and Michael is also great. Decapitating Michael should have been the nail in the coffin to be honest. The theme song in this film feels like a bigger musical scored peiece with added violins and string instruments to the mix and a soft piano rendition.

Halloween Resurrection

Trick or treat motherfucker! Set after H20. Basically Michael apparently switched bodies with someone before getting decapitated and this is dumb as like I said the last film ended shockingly and also was not too bad overall. I'm not a fan of the mask in this one either. Laurie's death was just terrible. So many uninteresting characters in this and this is not the typical Halloween movie and doesn't feel like it. Its a bunch of teens making a reality show in a "haunted house" and it happens to be Myers house and he returns home and you can imagine what happens here. The theme song is slow with its build but the piano is normal speed but heavier on its low sounding chords. This film is stupid and rediculous and disrespects Michael. This was the one which nailed the series down and let it die. Until.....

Rob Zombies Halloween

First of all I don't mind Rob Zombies takes on the series BUT they could have been better and also for me these are Robs best films and that's not saying too much. The first Zombie Halloween starts with a huge backstory on Michael Myers and his abusive as fuck family history with a serious broken home dynamic with an abusive as hell dad, his mom is a stripper and Michael kills animals and gets bullied at school because he's different and of course one day his rage got a hold of him and he beat one of his bullies to death. The Rob Zombie Halloween are mostly gritty and unsettling and beyond gory and Michael is like a feral animal in how he kills. Malcom Mcdowell as Loomis I also liked. The relationship with Loomis and Michael I also like and the fact Michaels mother still visits Michael despite the horrible crimes up until she one day kills herself and so this is where Michael becomes mute because it seems that's the last of his humanity which is alive and soon as his mother is gone so is he and then we get this empty, hulking psychopathic monster. He just exists waiting and bidding his time til he is ready to leave to kill again. TYLER MANE as Michael is fucking great I loved his portrayal and even met Tyler and told him this and got a signed photo from him and of course Tyler Mane is one of the tallest and nicest guys you will ever meet. Anyway back to the film. Its so upsetting when Michael kills the only guard who was helping Michael. The kills in this film make you feel them. When we meet adult Laurie we see a lot of recreated scenes from the first Halloween. The mask is nice more similar to the original but weathered and cracked. Respect to the cast of this one as there's some cracking actors in this. Laurie tries to kill Michael after Michael takes her away to her house and kind of like gets on her level as if to say "it's just us now" and when Laurie attack Michael, he just reacts with rage because the one person left in his life has now turned against him too so he goes back to trying to kill her before getting shot by Loomis and we get the same Halloween quote "was that the boogeyman" all before having Michael attack again all before Michael and Laurie fight to the death so to speak as Laurie flat out shoots Michael straight in his face and then ends. The theme song for this feels a lot more demented and distorted probably to keep in shape with Rob's version of Michael and the theme is also accorporated with some distortion and synth and the traditional piano which now sounds like a music box. It was great to take Michael back out to the big screen in a new take on his story and the Halloween series but now let's move to the sequel because evil never dies....

Rob Zombie's Halloween 2

I watched this in cinema and being a massive fan of Halloween I had a pretty good time at the time of first seeing this because it was my first time seeing my fave slasher and horror series on the big screen and the mask was great. This one defo made Rob Zombie go crazy creatively with this film because White Horses and metaphors. So this again starts from the end of the first and Laurie goes to hospital as 2 pervy paramedics take Michael's body to the hospital BUT he was not dead and he awakens and kills the paramedics. The practical effects and gory kills are just wicked and the grotesque nature of showing Laurie and her injuries was so brutal. The dream sequence was great just wish it wasn't set as a dream sequence. Exploring the themes of ptsd was interesting we seen Laurie change into a completely different person following the year after the attack. Loomis turns into a scumbag in this one who's more for the fame and chasing fame and selling the story of Michael to others. Sure the stories and consequences do catch up with Loomis as he gets a lot of flack for it and it's good that the Film shows that. Compared to the first Halloween Rob made this one feels like a weird mix up as a lot of the characters don't feel the same and are quite unlikable in this one. Michael often doesn't wear a mask unless he wants to kill someone so it seems. In the finale Michael takes Laurie again to an abandoned place for some ritual this time which again urgh and also goes back on the ending of Robs first Halloween so wtf and why do this Rob? Was it all for getting your wife some screen time and money? That's what it feels like ahaha. Cult coo koo going on because only Michael and Laurie can see the visions of their mother and the white horses. Loomis does just appear and try to talk michael over and prove to the world that he's not a phony. Loomis gets brutalised and the police kill Michael and apparently freeing Laurie from the loopy spell shit going on and then shes crying and saying she loves her brother. Like what?! Of course then Laurie kills Michael for good and wears his mask and then she's set to be the next killer but then the film ends. The theme is the same as the last one really. It's a big disappointment compared to the first and I just don't know why Rob went the direction he did. We almost got Halloween 3D but thank god it ended and that was it. Until 2018 when Evil Came Home!

Halloween 2018

Alright so we are back to true and top form here. Laurie's back. Carpenter is back and he has updated his classic score adding in a more synth edge to it, the piano soft undertones are nice and so are the little riffs of electric guitar and electro style sounds in the theme, this is probs my second fave theme in the series. It's a direct sequel to the first Halloween 40 years ago and we are dealing with Michael in the modern age. It's great to see The Shape and his legacy that is still so much alive as two podcasters go to try and meet Michael and when they present his mask things change. The atmosphere and people around everything changes. Evil is aware his precious mask is within reach in the first time in over 40 years. This is a bad omen for SURE. The reverse shot of the rotting pumpkin coming back to life was beautiful. So good to see Jamie Lee Curtis back! In the past 40 years Laurie has had a bad life plagued of ptsd thanks to the boogeyman. Laurie has had 2 failed marriages and a rocky relationship to her daughter, however she does have a good relationship with her granddaughter. Alison is great but her friends and boyfriend at the time are not. Michael is being moved to a new prison when disaster strikes and of course Michael breaks free along with all the other prisoners. Michael's new Dr, Dr Seratin is pretty good and I like the contrast in him compared to Loomis as this Dr is most obsessed with Myers and his evil rather than Loomis's fear of evil and has to be stopped. Here's the bathroom scene from H20 but this time it's BRUTAL. MICHAEL IS BACK. Great mask. James Jude Courtney plays the body for this Michael for the next 3 films and he's great just the perfect body for Myers. They fill us in on this film saying after The Shape disappeared at the end of first Halloween but was found a few houses away and stopped and taken away basically after they stopped Loomis from killing him. Michael kills anyone and everyone because he just wants to and the track shots in this are golden. These films just oh my god I love the Michael pov and track shots. There's some great humor in this film especially with the little kid Julian. The easter egg of kids wearing masks from Halloween 3 is great. Dr Seratin tries to twist us with Michael seemingly dead and the doctor removes Michael's mask and wears it and stabs the good officer who was out to protect Alison Strode and you know what I liked this twist as I said it's a great contrast compared to Loomis. Michael is the essence of evil and he always changes those around him in some way shape or form and you can look at the entire series Canon and non Canon and see the evil rubs off and changes others exposed to Michael. Dr Seratin wants to get a feel of inside the mind of Michael and what Michael must feel killing and wearing the mask and helped free Michael to study him however this does bite Seratin back as he gets viciously killed and curbed stomped by Michael. Now we set the stage for the Strodes vs Michael. Michael playing with the mannequins is a tense scene and we get window call backs and a great fight between Laurie and Michael and then we get Karen and Michael and Alison all beating or rather shooting The Shape is great and refreshing to see. 3 generations of strode later they manage to capture the monster who tormented their family and burn the house down with Michael stuck inside the house. We don't see Michael burning but we do hear him breathing you can't kill the boogeyman. With Alison holding a knife while the strode family flee to safety we can see this as a passing down of the trauma to the next generation.

Halloween Kills

Basically we follow the exact same night and straight after the 2018 film after Michael was locked away in the burning strode house only for foolish firemen to come along and free Michael which they end up regretting on account of Michael absolutely brutalising them all with such ease. We get an ensemble of legacy characters from the first Halloween returning and that's so great to see and we see how they are and have been affected by The Shape after all these years and of course when death comes back to their little town, they take the law into their own hands because "Evil dies tonight". Probably the bloodiest and goriest film in the series with the highest body count too for Michael. The recreation of 1978 scenes are so perfectly done. The theme in this film is more ethereal choir singing along with the traditional piano theme. The social commentary with this film asks what fear does with mob mentality and with society. Big John and Little John are great new characters which we lose quickly because Michael is pure evil and of course they had to be living in his house. I'm not a fan of Alison getting back with her cheating bf and of course he dies. This film is of course about Laurie healing and resting because of course she gonna have a massive fight when she is recovered. Michael playing with bodies is class and on par for what he'd actually do given that now and then he has this playful nature even if it's with dead people haha. Badass Karen is great and ending with Karen dying I did feel was rushed but hey its the mysterious ways of the shape and maheb Halloween ends redoes this scene. Of course this is one of the better Halloween sequels. What will happen now when Halloween Ends....

That is all I have for you today, thanks so much for reading my little passion project piece on the entire Halloween franchise up to this point. :) 

CLICK HERE FOR MY Halloween Ends review!

AND CLICK HERE FOR MY Halloween films ranked list!

Please share this blog post to other Halloween or horror fans, I would love this post to get a lot more exposure than other posts from the shere amount of work I did and put into it. 

Thanks for reading, stay spooky!

Top 10 Scariest Movie Monsters

From humans to the undead to animals and from the animals to the extra terrestrials. The horror genre has enlisted everything and made it scary. Today I am giving you my list of the best monsters in movie history all in a short Top 10 List! Obviously Zombies, Werewolves, Vampires and Serial Killers are all scary BUT I wish to go a different route from these as most of these I am having a hard time picking a definitive film over for some of these characters SO. I might list some scary slashers, vampires, werewolves and zombies at a later date.

10: Michael Myers - Halloween Franchise

Alright starting number 10 off with my personal favourite serial killer here with The Shape. He looks like a man and his gender is also male BUT he has the blackest eyes, the devil's eyes, and he moves and acts in mysterious ways albeit with an unkillable rage.

9: Shelob - LOTR

Spider's I fucking hate Spiders! My fear are these eight legged bastards so when one of my fave fantasy series of all time has A GIANT FUCKING SPIDER you know it's something I cannot watch or look at when it's on-screen because it scares me so.

8: The Nun - The Conjuring Franchise

She's a scary demon and the first time I had seen her well I was afraid, hell I still find her image unsettling. I hope The Nun sequel is cracking because Valak is a scary thing.

7: Lip-Stick Face Demon - Insidious

A stupid name for such a demonic entity but what other way should you call this thing. Darth Maul is already taken, but many still refer to this demon as that name. The Lipstick-Face Demon, also known as the Man With Fire on his Face, the Red-Faced Man, Sixtass, or simply the Demon, is the main antagonist of Insidious horror film series.

6: Bruce - Jaws

My fear of sharks and the deep sea started from the music and this deep sea monster known as Bruce, but we can also call it JAWS.

5: The Creeper - Jeepers Creepers

A creature that has existed probably since humanity has but for every 23 years and for 23 days he hunts down people and uses them and their organs to help it live until the next 23 years at least. It can fly, it can drive and jeepers creepers where'd he get those peepers?

4: Pinhead - Hellraiser franchise

Pinhead (also known as The Hell Priest and Lead Cenobite) is the main antagonist in the Hellraiser franchise. He is a Cenobite in the Order of the Gash.

3: The Thing - The Thing

The Thing is an extremely hostile shape-shifting extraterrestrial organism and the primary antagonist of the 1982 science-fiction film The Thing. We never actually see it's true form as it is always shape-shifting.

2: Freddy Krueger - A Nightmare On Elm Street Franchise

He's got that catchy nursery rhyme, and he has done many a crime. Freddy waits for you to sleep to get you while giving you, your worst nightmare. Sleep is not safe any more.

1: Xenomorphs - Alien Franchise

The Xenomorphs have many forms and all of them are scarier than the last. They scared me so much as a child when I first saw Alien and of course after seeing the facehuggers. In space no one can hear you scream!

Alright and that's my list, how does it fare compared to yours?

Let me know and as always any suggestions for lists please hit me up or comment below.

Thanks for reading, stay spooky, or they will get you!

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies Movie Review

First off I had heard nothing and knew nothing about this film going into it. I have seen friends recently post about watching it, and they said "this is good" and I was curious and here I am after watching A24's latest horror slasher flick. I say horror, but this is more of a thriller and dark comedy slasher type of film really.

Set in current times, a group of 20 somethings get stuck at a remote mansion during a hurricane and a party game ends up very wrong when they find a dead body. They must try to work out who is behind it whilst trying to turn the power on and just survive the night.

This is very much an Among Us type film and the cast I have no idea of besides Pete Davidson and I had no idea of anything going into this film besides "it's the latest a24 horror flick, and it's good". So I was curious, and you know it's not bad, like it could have been better but also could have been worse. This film likes to mock the Gen Z and that's why all the characters are basically obnoxious. Humour was weak to me. I won't give much away, but it's got a nice twist at the end which I did not see coming. It's a mixed bag film where people either love it or don't and that is fair enough as I said above there's a way to make this a better film, but perhaps that better film will come from somewhere at a later date. 

So in short, I felt this film was OK and was a slow burn to start. It's basically Among Us but not in space haha. There's content I would have cut out BUT it had a nice twist. Also props to them for including blooper reel as after credits.

6/10

Thanks for visiting my blog and for checking out this review!

What did you think of Bodies x3? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading, Stay Shiny!

Top 10 Wrestlers Themes Songs You Don't Want To Hear

It's the spooky season and I felt like giving you a spooky silly treat today with my top 10 wrestlers theme songs you don't want to hear while you are in the ring.

So imagine the scenario, here you are inside a wrestling ring awaiting your mysterious opponent to show up and then one of the following songs play. You are in for an ass kicking!

10: Chyna

She's the 9th Wonder Of The World, she put the men and women in their places and happily beat up any man or woman who stood in her way. R.I.P. Chyna we miss you.

9: Aleister Black (NXT theme)

Although Malakai Black is more scary to look at, just imagine how unnerving it must be to see this heavily tatted man rise up like a vampire or something out of the living dead with this heavy metal track playing him to the ring! He's a total badass, and he will kick your head off and then raise your body back up by his mere feet and then kick your head off your shoulders again.

8: Awesome Kong

A force to not be messed with. She is one tough lady and would kick anyone's ass in a heartbeat!

7: Samoa Joe (2007 TNA Theme)

Samoa Joe is an absolute killer! Especially in his TNA run. People worldwide chant "Joe's Gonna Kill You!" for good reasons.

6: Brock Lesnar

Of course anytime this hits you got to be shitting yourself if you are going up against The Beast Incarnate! He's a stone-cold brawler, a killer warrior. He will fuck you up and make you wish you had never even imagined getting into the ring. Enjoy your trip to Suplex city bitch!

5: Abyss (2007 TNA theme)

The Monster Abyss is a whole lotta bad and a whole lotta monster. Unpredictable and powerful and more hardcore and crazier than anyone else here on this list. The Monster Abyss brings destruction everywhere he goes.

4: "The Demon" Finn Balor

Finn Balor is tough without his alter ego but when he snaps and unleashes The Demon well no one is safe.

3: The Fiend

Unpredictable, unnerving, strange, powerful and scary these are the words to describe the monster that is The Fiend. Just when you think Bray Wyatt could not get any more crazy and scary, you get him turned up into 11!

2: Kane (1997-1999)

Bah gawd, that's gotta be, THAT'S GOTTA BE KANE! The Big Red Machine era to be precise was the most monstrous he was.

1: The Undertaker

Of course this legend has to be number 1. He can appear anywhere anytime just listen and beware of the gong!

This has been a fun list, I hope you liked it. 

Any suggestions please hit me up! :) 

Thanks for reading, Stay Shiny!

Top 10 SLIPKNOT songs (2014-2022) Era.

Hello and welcome back!

Today, I want to do something different and that is to list MY top 10 fave Slipknot songs of the Post Gray Era. This is the 2014 Gray Chapter to The End, So Far era of albums.

I have done a Top Ten Slipknot list in the past, and you can click on the red text to see that list!

You know me and you should know Slipknot by now, so this is not going to be much of an introduction but hi and welcome! For the Top 10 Slipknot Songs from 1999-2008 CLICK HERE!

Here are my fave top 10 songs from Gray Chapter through to The End, So Far.

10: The Dying Song (Time To Sing)

"The Dying Song (Time to Sing)" starts off in a very un-Slipknot manner as Corey Taylor sings a couple of lines a cappella. Then he repeatedly screams "DIE!" as the band bursts in behind him, so we can relax in the knowledge it's another brutal Knot track. Kick's ass! The Dying Song is a pessimistic song about the end of the world, as we are watching it happening right now. Slipknot blame the influential people who run the world. But it’s also our fault because we didn’t pay enough attention to what was happening under our noses. The lyrics hint that now it’s too late: we can only sing this last song and then die helplessly.

9: Yen

Sinister sounding Corey seduces our ears with is soft tones, and then he seems to burst out with the band to stab away at us. Just to inform us that he'd die for us because we are that good, but seriously this track is excellent and stands out above many others for me and since the new album released I have grown to love this one a lot more and more with each listen. This could be about some sort of toxic abusive relationship. The lyrics inside Yen hide a relevant meaning. In a decadent world, we stop fighting while the end is approaching. And we do the only thing that makes sense: entrust our death to someone worthy. There is no reference to whom this entity might be, but we know that it implies pain and blood. After all, in Slipknot’s eyes, we left nothing good in this world.

8: Adderall

This was a huge pleasant surprise to hear, it set a different tone completely, and I really like it. Such a different sound for the band but also blew me away with the chill of it and then the extraordinary synth and of course Corey's sweet vocals. That chorus is just mmf. I love this one. So Adderall is a drug used to treat ADD. So is this about an overdose from too much Adderall by the lines of "Ohh you know I'm gone." Or is it about someone being given the drug as a way of control maybe because there is talk of control and about the bible scaring the narrator.

7: Killpop

Soft songs and slipknot go well together and this is a great balance of soft and heavy, love it. This song can be interpreted in 2 ways: literally and metaphorically. If interpreted literally it's about the narrator/singer being infatuated by something a thing of beauty, in this case a woman, yet he is unable to coexist with this person as he can't bare seeing this person destroy herself. Corey said in an interview that metaphorically the song is about the music industry as a whole. The environment has become toxic, and although he loves creating music he can't stand to see the industry destroy itself as it's all about the money and not about the artist or creativity any more.

6: Nero Forte

One of the standout songs from WANYK is this one for me. I loved it upon first play through of the album. I think this song is a response to all the haters out there who judge others for being who they want to be. They try to shove it in your face how they believe all others should behave & refuse to allow anyone to just be themselves.

5: All Out Life

An absolute banger, I am still annoyed to this day that this did not end up on the UK version of the We Are Not Your Kind album. The song was chosen as the theme song for WWE's weekly show NXT on April 4, 2019.  The lyrics of “All Out Life” see the Slipknot blasting the current state of the music industry. In blasting the industry in question, the band expresses their frustration and anger at the industry players for embracing modern music and turning their back against “old music”. According to Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, "All Out Life" was written as "a rallying cry for everyone ... about all of us getting together and saying, 'You know what. Let's not talk about old. Let's not talk about new. Let's talk about what is. Let's talk about what's good, what's real, and get behind that and start embracing things that matter because there's history there and not just because it's the next best thing."Taylor also provided the following additional background to the composition of the song: "All Out Life" is a song that is trying to do two things: bring everyone together, but also remind everyone that the past is not something to be discarded with disdain. People are so eager to find the next big thing sometimes that they shit all over the bands and artists that have come before, thus making the past feel disposable, like a dirty thing. Fuck that: Why should we pay attention to your mediocre future when you can't be bothered to celebrate an amazing past? I'd rather listen to a guaranteed hit than a forced miss. "All Out Life" is the anthem that reminds people that it's not the date on the music – it's the staying power." It is the final recording to feature long-time percussionist and backing vocalist Chris Fehn before his dismissal from the band due to a lawsuit in March the following year. 

4: Solway Firth

Awesome track and this also introduced me to the iconic tv superhero show known as The Boys. Corey explained that the song is about being the person everyone else wants you to be rather than being yourself. They don't need anyone to understand why they are the way they are or show them how to be someone they're not. They simply want to be themselves in a 'take it or leave it' type manner. It's been speculated that the band is referring to the media and others wanting them to be something other than themselves, but, to date, the band has not confirmed nor denied this idea. The closing track of We Are Not Your Kind, "Solway Firth" finds Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor being ostracized. He feels he has been misunderstood and has become a scapegoat. The song's unsettling music video was directed by Clown. It combines footage from Slipknot's early summer 2019 European tour with scenes from Amazon Prime's superhero show The Boys.

3: Custer

How's this one? Dut-dut-dat dut-dut-dat-dat-dat. Fucking awesome tune here, catchy as fuck and blew me away first time I heard this, and I got quite addicted to it too. This was also a song used in a TikTok trend once too. George Armstrong Custer was a Civil War hero and subsequently a ruthless Indian fighter. He is famous for the Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, in which a force of 650 men led by Custer, suffered a severe defeat to around 2,500 Indian warriors. The death of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray and the controversial departure of drummer Joey Jordison meant many doubted whether the band could reach the same heights. This song finds Corey Taylor digging in his heels against all the scoffers. He told Kerrang!: "This is focusing that anger towards the outside world – the people who on one hand want to make us martyrs, but at the same time want to make us bastards." "And metaphorically," he added, "it's about charging into our last stand, and it's basically saying, 'You know what? Just when you think you've written our history, we're going to rewrite it again, and basically show you that we can take all the abuse that you put out there, and we're not going to lose a step, we're not going to lose an inch, we're not going to lose any ground – we're going to keep coming.'"

2: Unsainted

Love this one, and it was a killer opener and single to lead the We are not your kind album. It's about organized religion and how Corey thinks it's not for him and why it killed the saint in him. Corey has also said this is about the depression he had battled for years leading to this creation, The singer split from Stephanie Luby in 2017 after eight years of marriage, sending him into a depression. Taylor, a recovering addict, wrote the lyrics for We Are Not Your Kind during this time when he was battling depression and trying to stay sober. Unsainted" was chosen as the theme song for the WWE's NXT TakeOver: Toronto event, held August 10, 2019 in Canada's Scotiabank Arena.

1: The Devil In I

This is the heavy hitter that marked Slipknot's return with this being the first music video of the band to kick off the Gray Chapter and also for this new decade of Slipknot music. I love this to bits as it is catchy and groove with the instrumentals as well as being a chonky meaty boy with metal. Corey Taylor on it "'The Devil In I' is really about the war inside yourself," he said. "Trying not to give into defeatism, trying not to give into negativity, trying not to give up basically. It's a struggle. It's one of the hardest thing you can do, is to give in to that side of yourself." The song's music video was directed by Slipknot drummer Shawn Crahan and features the destruction of band members in various ways. Chris Fehn, for instance, is pecked to death by ravens, a fate he requested for himself as the percussionist suffers from a fear of birds. Sid Wilson, meanwhile, eats his arm and fingers in the clip, destroying the things most important for the guitarist's role in the band. "Basically, this video is about finding past devils, past things - becoming one with it and then doing away with it," Crahan explained

Ok this has been my list, what do you think of it? Let me know.

As always If you have list suggestions or any blog post ideas HIT ME UP on the socials anytime at all. 

Thanks for reading, stay (sic)

Top 10 SLIPKNOT songs (1999-2008) Era

Alright as promised here is another Slipknot top ten but this time, I'm going from the self-titled start 1999 to 2008's All Hope Is Gone era and what a fuckin' era this was for Slipknot!

This is a monumental task I have on my hands with picking 10 songs as my top 10 from this era BUT I'm going to do my best.

Without further ado, let's open up this fucking pit and headbang motherfuckers!

10: The Blister Exists

Alright you maggot motherfuckers are you ready!? 1,2,3!!!!!! Hell of a fucking track, catchy and gets in your head and also gets hella blood pumping. I could be wrong, but I think this song is about people stereotyping you constantly, and the overcoming of those stereotypes he's also saying don't judge me when he says "I'm a number that isn't equal to any of you he's saying I'm better than you.

9: My Plague

The first time I heard this song was thanks to the Resident Evil film and I found it catchy and loved it since. The song is about hypocrites. The quote "kill you, fuck you / I will never be you" is directed to followers - people who are not being themselves, and trying to fit in by acting like someone else. The quote “I know why you plague me” means that he knows why people are messing with him, and he is sick of it and of all the posers in this world; people doing things for popularity and so on. The quote “I'll reach in and take a bite out of that shit you call a heart,” is just warning everyone not to push him any further or else he will snap and kill him. The quote “I know why you plague (yourself)” is informing the person that he knows why he is messing around with him, and that he has had enough, and he cannot be pushed around any longer."

8: Left Behind

Alright this was the first song of Slipknot and I heard this in passing thanks to skipping music channels, and I was intrigued by these men in masks and why they were screaming about being left behind haha. This is a song about Corey when he was homeless. He made so many friends and trusted them with life. He shared space and everything. And now when he had a house and everything the old faces just disappears.

7: Snuff

Love isn't it complex, hard, beautiful and something else and when Slipknot comes together and does these softer slower songs about love and loss and heartbreak, it is always beautiful and cathartic. I love this one. I believe we all can relate to this or a song like Vermillion from its soft nature, hard hitting lyrics and sombre tones. Lead singer Corey Taylor (from Kerrang! July 19, 2008): "This is the slow one. It's another personal one. Again, not naming names, it's about someone who helped me through a lot and I thought she felt the same way that I did, and then she really let me down. At the same time, it was good that she did, because it was that final push to me figuring out myself. The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory." 

6: Psychosocial

Oh man, the first time I heard this was angelic, like the heavens had opened and delivered me this song at the exact right time. Catchy and meaty as fuck in its instrumentals and lyrics, the chorus is just oof. Anti-war and anti-gov themed song you could mostly relate to song to. Lead singer Corey Taylor (from Kerrang! July 19, 2008): "Man, what a love song to the band! It's got that Rammstein/Ministry mechanical edge to it, but my vocals add something very real and very human to it. The Juxtaposition works and I wanted to play in and out of that world. Lyrically it's very much about us, and the fact that we can pull it off when we are focused."

5: Wait And Bleed

Iconic and one of the band's biggest hits and one of my all-time fave Knot songs of course. Also, if you ever get the chance please check out the fan made Disney version of this song hahaha. As for the meaning behind the song well this is about a man who keeps having repetitive black and white dreams about laying in a bathtub full of his own blood with his wrists slit. One day he wakes up and sees that his dream has become a reality, but he doesn't want to believe it and he tries to fall back asleep again.

4: Duality

Is this Slipknot's biggest song? Possibly. Did I once say this was overplayed? Yes. Do I fucking love this song? WITH ALL OF MY BEING YES! This song is about the band dealing with every problem they've had over the past couple of years, and it definitely reflects any struggles they have. The video was shot in Iowa and featured a large group of Slipknot fans. Drummer Chris Fehn explains: "They had an audition I think at some hotel in Des Moines, and the kids lined up. It was funny, because there were people that totally weren't into the band but just wanted to go down there and see if they could get into the video and stuff. And they're like, 'No, dude, get outta here.' But that was cool. I guess some kids flew in from Europe and got in the video."

3: Vermillion, Pt. 2

I love this song so much, that's all I will say. This song is obviously a love song, only Slipknot style. So it dances around the fact that it's a love song and goes into more of an obsession angle. Upon a deeper look, the word Vermillion means a vivid red to reddish orange. "Vermilion Pt. 2" is believed to be about an unrequited love interest from the first part of "Vermilion." Part 2 is much softer, and the video hints that the woman in the first video is now dead.

2: Before I Forget

The song that pushed me full time as a maggot and also thank you Guitar Hero 3 for the introduction. I was bewildered and also just hooked the first time I heard this song. It is no secret that Vol 3 is my fave Slipknot album also haha. The song is about rising above the bullshit and being a person, not a human. It's about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. Zero bullshit. In 2006, this won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. This was Slipknot's first Grammy - they were nominated for the award six years in a row before finally winning. The beeping at the end of the song is Morse code, which spells out the word "Slipknot." Slipknot rarely appear without their masks, but they do in this video, although only tight shots of their faces are seen. Corey Taylor explains the loop at the end of the song in his book A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven: "Another ghost got into the machine in the control room one night as we were making a rough mix of 'Vermilion' - it started looping a section of a verse, so we hit 'record' and began making a remix of that loop. You can actually hear it on the album: it is in between 'Before I Forget' and 'Vermilion pt. 2.'"

1: Spit It Out

An absolute tune mun, prior to being a metal head I was really into rap and so you can imagine how I took the speed of Corey here and with these immense instrumentals. I was blown away, and I mosh like no tomorrow to this. This was written in retaliation to childish mudslinging by a handful of individuals who worked at a local radio station in Des Moines, Iowa, where the band is from. These individuals worked hard to keep Slipknot off the air. The video is based on the film The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, but using the members of Slipknot in the main roles. Kubrick touched on themes of madness and mental breakdowns in a lot of his films, as do many Slipknot songs. Whenever Slipknot play "Spit It Out" live, they do what's called the "zero bulls--t" at the bridge. Corey tells all the fans in the crowd to get down on their knees and jump up when he says "jump the f--k up," at which point the crowd goes crazy. The line "Jump the f--k up" replaces the line in the recording, "Good enough, had enough." 

Alright maggots, that is my list for today, so thanks for coming with me on this trip back in time to the ferocious era of Knot and for headbanging and opening up the pits hehe. Oh, and thanks for sticking your lighters in the air for the soft songs too, that was totally cool and very much appreciated.

Click here for the next top ten Slipknot era!

Stay (sic, sic, sic)!!!!

Top 10 Ghost Songs

As spooky month continues today...

I bring you a most scary ritual in the form of a Ghost (music band) list!

    

As you know, I am a massive fan of Ghost and Impera as of writing is still my ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2022.

Click the red text for the IMPERA ALBUM REVIEW!

I was talking to my good friend Zinfandel Steen who is one person many of you know from some mentions here or there or some YouTube videos from the past on my channel. Basically she's a bad-ass American lady who is a good friend of mine. Anyway, we were talking about Ghost, and she listed me her fave songs and I swear I made a Ghost list in the past, but I was mistaken and so today this Papa is going to give you a ritual of a lifetime with The Papa and his Nameless Ghouls. 

So if you are ready, come with me and prepare to be tickled internally.

10: Year Zero

Catchy and awesome, Hail Satan and all his awesome forms with this one. It's trending a lot lately with Tiktok as users are using the intro and pausing on footage or pics of their animals in a funny way.

9: Cirice

Ghost are notorious for having multiple layers in their songs and with this one it feels very much like the narrator who is a Priest is calling out a non-believer in the midsts of a service as they feel their presence amongst the rest, and they convince the person best they can to join this religious cult. Cirice is also an older English term for church so a bit of a fun fact for you. 

8: Faith

As we all know by now Ghost are pretty Satanic in content but again as I said earlier their songs are multi-layered and as with a lot of media, the listener decides what it means to them. Satan's MO is "do what thou whilst," he watches and hears everything you do. When you sin, you hit a wall, and Satan loves to watch you fall to him. This is one of my personal faves, and it's only quite recent that this song rose up for me and just sucked me into it.

7: Rats

    This is literally about the plague of course, but you could also interoperate it as being about organized religion and most likely with the government watching us. Ghost frontman Tobias said this about this track: "It's actually not technically about rodents. It's about something spreading as wildfire and completely destroying things quicker than you know. It was how the plague started in Europe. Not only that, but it was basically a couple of merchant ships that had been over in Crimea. A few of them sailed into the port of Messina in Sicily, and according to the legend, from the ship came rats, and they were carrying the fleas that had this bubonic plague. Almost everyone on the ship was dead and dying." You can't help but to sing along to this one and join in with the "WOah ahh" parts haha. Awesome song live and just the emphasis on the word "RATS" always has sinister intentions coming from the mouth of Papa.

6: Kaiserion

So much goes on with this song and to me, it feels like a big stage show production. A killer opening song for the album of the year IMPERA! The bands mastermind of many faces Tobias Forge was recently interviewed for a cover story newly published over at Kerrang!. In it, he discussed the inspiration for Kaisarion. "There was a building called Caesareum in ancient Alexandria. Roughly what happened was that the teacher and philosopher, Hypatia, was murdered by Christians. She was molested and murdered inside the building, because of her pagan beliefs, because she was a believer in science and real things. This was in the beginning stages of Christianity, when it was just an insane cult, before it got the mandate of a book put together by Romans in 325 to harness that shit. This was like an underground group of terrorists, basically, who couldn’t stand to see some female smart ass preaching or telling people that the world wasn’t flat. And it didn’t happen at the same time, but they also burned down the big library in Alexandria, which must have been an enormous, enormous loss for mankind in terms of knowledge and historic accounts. I think that’s a nice symbol for what you can see now. You can see likenesses of it in public book burnings and stoning and killing everything that doesn’t match with a sort of flat Earth reality that some people live in. Or storming the Capitol and wanting to hang people. It’s a symbol for those sorts of movements that are always targeting smartness and enlightenment, and thinking."

5: Life Eternal

The first time I heard this, it really struck a song with me and made me feel a bit sad, I'll be honest. It makes me think of mortality and two (dare I say) star-crossed lovers, dancing (literally or figuratively) one last time before they are separated or death takes them. I mean it's no secret the album Prequelle has a medieval theme, black plague type setting, and in those days you didn't live long, death could take you at any time, and you had to let go of people you loved too soon. It seems, to me at least, to be questioning whether a love can span beyond one physical lifetime.

4: Hunters Moon

This is GHOST and one of my all-time favourite songs!  It’s not your typical metal. It has elements of prog, hard rock, pop, punk, of so many different things that Forge has up his musical sleeve and that's what makes him and this band shine so many others and make them stand out with their mysterious story and characters too. 

3: Mary On A Cross

This has become a big trending viral hit song lately thanks again to the power of Tiktok. I never thought I would see this band trend so much thanks to Tiktok nor also mention Tiktok and Ghost in a single sentence yet here we are. Anyway there are again many layers to this some people like to use the song in a sexual manner because of Mary going down aha. I see that and I see you people hehe. This is a bop and so damn catchy. This also in terms of story telling from Ghost's lore, seems like this a confession from Papa Zero about how he still loves Sister Imperator despite her keeping him at a distance. I'm assuming due to the event in the Kiss the Go-Goat video where Papa kissed the fan while Sister watched from the balcony, they were either in a relationship and split, Papa wasn't ready to commit, or Sister was just a very jealous business partner who had a crush on him.

2: Dance Macabre

An absolute BANGER! A cunning good wordplay with Bewitch You in this one. Solid sound and catchy lyrics with just a phenomenal performance vocally from Papa and even more so live. The band's lead singer Tobias Forge said this about the song: "Europe was in this turmoil in the late 1340s, the plague is moving extremely fast. It starts off as the worst flu you've ever had, and then it just goes worse, and then you're dead after three days. So people were lying in the streets, corpses and all the surroundings were just falling apart. All the brothels and pubs were thriving because people started partying literally like there was no tomorrow because they were going to die. They were just going for it. "Dance Macabre" is capturing that joyous nocturnal sort of life in a disco song". 

1: Square Hammer

NUMBER 1 ON MY LIST IS THIS MEGA BANGER! This is the song that propelled me full time as a fan of Ghost as prior to this I liked one or two songs in passing. This was different, this was catchy, this stuck to me like glue and for me is a perfect song which balances everything perfect, gets stuck in your head and with you for a long time and makes you blast it on repeat! I was told that this one is very much Ghost delving into the clandestine underworld of Freemasonry and satirizing that establishment the same way they do to organized religions. Intelligent, fascinating, and a kick-ass song.

So my ghouls and ghoulettes, this has been my list and this soul of yours now belongs to Satan and that concludes my list. Please go see GHOST live if you get the chance and give them a lot of love, thanks.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this post.

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Stay Ghouly!