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This week, new songs from Tony Iommi and Slash are more encouraging than I might have expected, Neal Morse delivers exactly what we expect (again), and Sailor Hunter continues to intrigue.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Slayer should not appeal to me, but there's something fascinating about what once defined the idea of extremity in metal that has always held sway. "Reign In Blood" is almost as old as me, but it's aging far better.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

"Reign In Blood" Sits On The Throne, Forty Years On

The 'Overton Window'... in politics it is the concept that the most extreme positions get thrown into the discourse to make the true intent,...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This week, Taylor Swift returns to show us the value of the editing process in making an album, Taylor Acorn once again understands me more than my own friends, and Dragonforce confuses me to no end.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Taylor Swift, Taylor Acorn, & Dragonforce

If life is like a box of chocolates, every choice is tempting fate that you're not going to hit the coconut one. In musical terms, one of th...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Graveyard is one of two contenders for 'best band of the BGM era'. With a renewed focus on their formative philosophy and sound, they have turned back the clock on an already vintage sound, bringing to mind the debut album that might have slipped past most listeners... but it a favorite of mine.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: Graveyard - Fever

This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of "Hisingen Blues", which was the first time Graveyard came to my attention. My colleague here ha...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

You really need to stop with the reposting of days and weeks old links. You're clogging up our feeds with old stuff, when we follow you to keep up with what's news.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Herbstreit has expressed more outrage at Adidas college uniforms than sexual misconduct. Sports... am I right?

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've started thinking about year-end lists already. This year is turning out to be the most... bland... year since I've been writing. I have three or four favorites, three or four I loathe, and most everything else merely bores me. Music is passing me by, and I'm struggling to hold on.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A few recent albums cut through the noise enough to pique my interest for a listen, which is a change over how things have been going. Unfortunately, none of them broke me out of my general malaise, so let's talk about three of them in one fell swoop.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Quick Reviews: Miley, Anthrax, & Europe

They say tragedies come in threes. These might not be tragic, but there are three of them. Themes, eh? Miley - Bass Persuades Inertia is an...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This week I wrote about Matchbox 20 being a harbinger of a musical transition period, one that got written off as an unimportant chapter between cultural moments, one I haven't really moved past over the last thirty years because it defined me.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Myself, Or Someone Like Me

The post-grunge era got a bad reputation for being a watered-down version of the music that changed the world. Those bands were weaker, lame...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

They are, but they're also problematic at best. If every the phrase 'an album I hate to love' applies, it would be that one.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

With the duality of Sapient Scar and The Devil's Blind Horse, VK Lynne gives a window into the kaleidoscopic nature of creativity, where every collaborator brings out a different side of the artist. Today, we get to see two refractions of the same prism, and marvel at the plasticity of being human.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

VK Lynne Double Feature: Sapient Scar & The Devil's Blind Horse

Your favorite television show might not be back for a new season for another two years, but VK Lynne continues to busy herself with the furi...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This week I wrote about "Pinkerton", and how its toxicity has become disturbingly normal over the last thirty years. It's the best example of an album I don't love to hate, but rather hate to love.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

30 Years Wearing The Bruises Of "Pinkerton"

Looking back at the past, we often say it was a 'simpler time', but we don't stop to think about what that actually means. Often, what was s...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The 1996 nostalgia cycle will be continuing on BGM over the next two weeks. I have essays about "Pinkerton" and "Yourself Or Someone Like You" coming up, talking about the long-term impacts of listening to them for so long. That is far more interesting than writing about new music, to be honest.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Among this week's new singles, we get Miley showing us that experimentation is not in and of itself a good thing, Spanish Love Songs remembering some of what made them great, and Feat Factory sounding more plug-and-play than ever. At least something good popped up in my inbox yesterday...

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Miley, Spanish Love Songs, & Fear Factory

Disappointment seems to be the theme this week. That, and creative decision making that leaves me with questions. Miley Cyrus - Bass Persuad...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I wrote about how I came to understand Bruce Springsteen as I came to understand myself. The question is whether the move from reflexive hate to acceptance will not apply only to his music, but to myself as well.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

I Was Not "Born To Run", But I Got There...

For years, if you asked me to list the artists who I felt personally aggrieved by, at or near the top would have been Bruce Springsteen. Spe...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Jayhawks are a frustrating band, because they usually alternate between albums I love and albums I hate. This time, they're frustrating because this is an album I should love, but don't.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: The Jayhawks - Sanctuary Park

You never know what you're going to get when The Jayhawks release a new album. Sometimes, they are exploring Americana, and sometimes they a...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Following "Bat Out Of Hell" was always going to be impossible, and that's how it felt the first time I heard "Dead Ringer", even if it was years after the fact. In time, I've come to love the album for how it is the same, yet entirely different.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Does "Dead Ringer" Still Have A Pulse?

In 1993, I fell in love with music listening to Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, and "Bat Out Of Hell II". Because cassette tapes abounded, I wound ...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This week, we have two new songs that give me two very different emotions. A new Graveyard song takes me back to first hearing them, and is glorious. A new Taylor Acorn song is good, but tarnishes my feelings toward my AOTY for 2025. I'm not happy about that.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Taylor Acorn, Graveyard, & Undefeated

This week, we have a pair of important songs to talk about, albeit with very different effects on me. Let's dive in. Taylor Acorn - Isn't I...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Weezer might be the ultimate band I hate that I love(d). As important as the first four albums were, the last twenty years have been a string of disappointments that make me question what I ever saw in them. This album tries to recreate the past, which is the worst thing they could have done.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: Weezer - The Gold Album

Most of us probably have a scar somewhere on our body that reminds us of a time when we were young and stupid, perhaps that reminds us of a ...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Sometimes, I can say everything I need to say about an album without carrying on for as long as I typically do. Rather than subject you to additional projection on my part, today we're going to have a three-for-one special, and I'll keep my thoughts brief.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Quick Reviews: The Beautiful Monument, The Iron Roses, & Sarah And The Safe Word

We haven't done a quick round-robin in a while, and recent weeks have gives us three albums that broke up the rather humdrum release schedul...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Have you ever heard depressing power-pop about self-loathing and a psyche that makes you feel as if hope is one of those 'four-letter words'? If you listen to Adam Jensen's debut album, you will. If you're like me, it will resonate. Don't be like me?

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: Adam Jensen - Hymns For The Damned

"I hate myself," Adam Jensen sings before the chorus in the opening song, "Cellophane". It's a bold statement to make on the first song of y...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The notice of the hosting site closing was the first time I had thought about my experiment with a BGM podcast in years. I might be the only person who finds it easier to write a couple of essays a week than to talk for half an hour. It would take some hefty convincing to get me to try again.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

There are only so many moments so frozen in time you remember them in vivid detail, and hearing my favorite song for the first time was one of them. Today, on a special day, I celebrate one of the rare voices that feels like it speaks to and for me.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

"Falling Apart" Requires Having Been Whole

Great songs are the ones that echo through our lives, so connected to our thoughts and emotions that we never hear the pulses fading as the ...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

That's the way it should be, but having watched enough movies... ugh. All I know if screenwriting uses a different part of my creative brain, and right now it's the only one working.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Hmm... I find the opposite. When the words have to fill the reader's entire imagination, you have to go deeper with imagery and psychology. Novels are just... more.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

The one upside to this bout of depression is that it has kept at bay the beginning twinge of the thought to adapt/expand my screenplay into a full novel. I know how much time and work that would entail, and it's just not worth it when I'd likely be the only person to ever read it. And yet...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Edguy made some news recently by showing they still have enough of a pulse for at least one last concert. Since they are the band that got me into the whole metal and European rock scene, it was only fitting that reminded me to finally rank my favorite Edguy albums.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Ranking The Edguy Albums

After nearly a decade of silence, we recently got word that Edguy is returning, at least to the stage. They will be playing in their hometow...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I just looked. They're on there. Not too expensive.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

It might still be stashed away somewhere, but I know I had the Burger King "Cooking With Alf" hand puppet as a kid. No, it did not inspire me to pick up ventriloquism. I don't talk enough as myself, so I don't need a character to justify saying even more, lol.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Tony Iommi returns, and is working with Jorn Lande, and somehow that doesn't feel as titanic as it should. But between that, a new Sailor Hunter song, and the return of Kelly Clarkson from the dark side, it more than makes up for how much I hate Rob Zombie this week.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Tony Iommi, Sailor Hunter, Sheri Moon Zombie, & Kelly Clarkson

Let's just jump straight in today: Tony Iommi - World Alone After the passing of Ronnie James Dio, Jorn Lande sang with Heaven & Hell at th...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I'll be watching/listening, so I'll share any thoughts I have.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Cool cool. It's not lost on me that sitcom characters are more present, and more reliable parts, in my life than most any real people.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

It's been nearly twenty years since King Diamond's last album. Despite promise after promise, no new album has been announced or released. Now, his longtime guitarist is gone, which invites questions on whether the record has ever existed in any form. Have we been lied to all this time?

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

King Diamond: Give Me A Break... Please

If you've paid any attention to the news over the last decade-plus, you'll be familiar with the concept of distraction as strategy. When you...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

My existentially depressed mood has set in for the next two-ish months, so it's fitting this week's collection of new songs doesn't leave me with many good feelings or good things to say. As with life, it seems what I want is too hard to find.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Green Day, Cold Years, Anthrax, & Nickelback

Summer is in full swing, and there has not been a 'song of the summer' to my ears as of yet, or at least not one that isn't on the melanchol...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

There is beauty in melancholy, and perhaps no singer is more effective at showing it than Ray Alder. I have loved his work with Redemption, and his solo albums, and last year's A-Z album. Now, I can add this more somber record to the list.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: North Sea Echoes - How To Cast A Shadow

I don't pretend to know the complications and considerations that go into the business of making music, but sometimes the optics make very l...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Ten years ago, "Lemon Parade" was my favorite album, and Tonic celebrated it with an acoustic version. Ten years later, it no longer is, and Tonic is more or less defunct. It's weird to remember what I felt, but no longer feel it...

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

The "Lemon Parade" Keeps Marching On

Ten years ago, I sat here to muse about my relationship with "Lemon Parade" after twenty years of listening and love. Tonic was my favorite ...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Bonnie Tyler was part of Jim Steinman's story, which means she was part of my story. In hindsight it's become clear Bonnie was a precursor to future love, and a signal that some affections are immutable. I find that thought comforting, so maybe I will hold those songs even closer to my heart now...

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Love, Death, & A Welsh Siren

There's a scene in the movie "High Fidelity" where Rob Gordon is putting his record collection into autobiographical order, and he says he c...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Maybe it's just me, but I think words matter, and I get pissed off when I get press releases about 'legends' who are nothing of the sort. There's one name in particular that set me off, and today I'm venting a bit of that frustration.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Not All "Legends" Are Legendary

One thing we have established over the years is that words are important. They are the way we define the world, and agree how to share the e...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Deep Purple deserves credit for making so much music this late in their career. That does not absolve them of criticism, though. This record sounds like a band running low on time, energy, and ideas. It's tired, and not capable of what it wants to achieve.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: Deep Purple - SPLAT!

When we talk about life and maturity, we assume there comes a point at which we are supposed to grow out of certain things. With members of ...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The second half of 2026 has arrived, and with it new expectations for the rest of the year. This week, we get a couple of new songs that hone our focus, and a couple that point to unexpected albums that might just deliver.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Sailor Hunter, The Jayhawks, Dogma, & North Sea Echoes

The second half of the year is beginning, and we have new music to kick it off with. This week's new songs are: Sailor Hunter - Nox Previous...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

For me, it has to be Cherry Poppin Daddies' song "Street Boners". It's the musical equivalent of sending a dick pic, but it's less fun to laugh at.

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The peculiarity of this year is that I feel like I have heard more new songs and artists than maybe ever before, but very little has made a lasting impression, for good or bad. Today, let's talk about the highs and lows the year has offered... so far.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

The Best & Worst Of 2026, So Far

Time is marked by tentpole moments, whether they be events in our lives or pieces of culture that move us. We use those dates to remind ours...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Masterplan were a big deal when power metal was resurgent, but now that the genre is fading again (and Jorn is missing), having them back doesn't move the needle very much. They're fine, but I'm rather over this whole genre at the moment.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Album Review: Masterplan - Metalmorphosis

When a band takes more than a decade off from releasing new music, that says something to me. There are two possibilities that immediately c...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The Smiths were a seminal experience in the 80s for many, but does their misery translate across the decades? For certain songs, yes, but by and large The Smiths are not as great as people remember. Morrissey, especially. "The Queen Is Dead" is their best, but still flawed."

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

"The Queen Is Dead", But Is The Album?

I don't know if anyone wrote such a headline, but forty years ago The Smiths were indeed "the great white mope". Johnny Marr might have been...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

For fifty years now, Rainbow's "Rising" has been considered one of the greatest rock albums ever made. But is it? Listening to it now, there is much to love, but it's also an example of how nostalgia and inertia solidify opinions before our own experiences.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

"Rising" Is Falling After Fifty Years

When we consider time, and the ways it plays with our memories, the inertia of greatness is one of the more interesting places to go searchi...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

This week, we have to deal with two artists who refuse to give us a break. I don't mind Taylor Swift putting out a new song, but I'm not so kind or generous to yet another Weezer disappointment making me question the past.

bloody-good-music.blogspot.com

Singles Roundup: Weezer, Taylor Swift, & The Warning

Summer is starting to heat up, but is the music scene? Let's find out. Weezer - We Might As Well Be Strangers The joke of Weezer color-theme...

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

It's been a few months since I wrote my screenplay, and the voice in my head is louder now calling it a failure. I don't know what success would be, but when literary erotic captions I've been writing on pictures somewhere get more of a response, this isn't it. I love it, but I sort of hate myself

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ChrisC @bgmchrisc.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I've heard plenty of terrible stuff too, but unlike them, I know mine isn't good enough.

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