Hydra Dead

I heard some sad news that one of my favourite metal labels Hydra Head are going to be no more. See the news here ->

I don't know what your opinion or first impression of metal would be, but the kind of music that this label brought out would not be it. The owner of the label is the frontman of a band called band Isis, and they were the first band that really got me into metal, and it would be surprising to think what kind of music I'd have missed out on if they weren't around at the time. So many cool bands came from there - Cave In, Jesu, Old Man Gloom, Knut, Torche, Zozobra and of course Isis. I think it's safe to say that without this labels influence on my music preferences, I wouldn't have met all the cool metal rabble I became friends with at university, or had the privilege of being a drummer in a metal band.

I hope all the bands involved still get paid for the most recent things they put out for this label and get a chance to play some out there music in the future.

Here's some videos of some stuff by the label that I've enjoyed;



With a killer between-the-verse part - that bassist has a set of lungs.



They also did some stuff without screams, or even riffs...



Experiments with time signatures were often a success.



Doesn't sound much like metal does it?

Christmas limericks

There once was a moment called Christmas
When a baby born was restless;
Born in order
to end our disorder
and my list to be thankful runs endless


There once was a wise man with Myrrh
Who caused quite a bit of a stirr
Bringing embalming oil
On Bethlehem's soil
That death may not have the last word


A donkey one, not relating to Christmas per se, but donkeys do appear in the Christmas story.

There once was a man called Balaam
Whose donkey brought him alarm
Where upon the wrong road
He cried out "Don't go!
The Lord gave me speech for no charm"