iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

History of Metal 1995: Gamma Ray, Land of the Free This is the guitarist of Helloween’s band, where he both sings and plays guitar—it didn’t stray too far. Power metal feels out of place in 1995, but notably, That 70’s Show would debut in 3 years time, so what do I know?

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

History of Metal 1995: White Zombie, Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head Between the last record to this one White Zombie turned up the distortion, mixed down the guitars, and added industrial grime. Bit kitsch, but that’s metal for you.

The band in green over a chaotic red background.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

History of Metal 1995: Extreme Noise Terror, Retro-bution You can really see that punk and metal are different, even in their extremes, given that grindcore, a genre that spans both, is satisfying to neither. For an A/B test, pull up their punk-of-center 1989 A Holocaust in Your Head.

Black and white grainy picture of a man with lips sewn together behind a dagger.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Which is wild, because like… Joan Baez solved this problem for us in 72.

youtu.be

joan baez-prison trilogy (billy rose)

YouTube video by tom ema

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

From 2023, but I am reading this, and thinking about the guy who lost his shit at me on here once for suggesting I found a giant sized American flag as the backdrop for a Willie Nelson concert alienating.

newyorker.com

Sentenced to Life for an Accident Miles Away

A draconian legal doctrine called felony murder has put thousands of Americans—disproportionately young and Black—in prison.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

History of Metal 1995: Death, Symbolic Death, considered pioneers of Death Metal, take a step toward melody, swapping the growl for a hardcore scream and unmistakably beautiful prog guitar. The drummer described his style as “my hands are jazz, but my feet are metal.” Love this.

Collage art: an eye on the horizon, crossed hands, the form of two men, snakes.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

History of Metal 1994(recorded): Sleep, Dopesmoker An unrelenting, hour long song, written over 4 years, recorded live to tape on 3 22 minute reels, rejected, bootlegged, then released about 4 times. Per guitarist Pike, while recording it “was getting slower and slower and then it got weird.” Oh?

Odin riding to war on a 4 headed Sleipnir?

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

History of Metal 1994: KoЯn, KoЯn Nü-metal really pioneers the weird little guy front of 90s edgelording, with melodramatic fury, and a cocaine habit you can hear in the music. Its opening hand is a strong one. This record is led by grime and a detuned bass being played much like a drum.

A little girl on a swing set you can see the shadow of a man who stands in front of her on the sand.

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Elizabeth Sandifer @eruditorumpress.com · 28/09/2026

Last War in Albion is about comics in much the same way The Wire is about policing. Which is to say it uses comics as a panopticon through which a far larger thing can be seen with clarity: the terrible birth of the 21st century.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

History of Metal 1994: Thergothon, Stream From the Heavens It’s time for funeral doom, and this guitar wouldn’t be out of place in the Cure. The vocalist has the most soothing death growl imaginable, with a clean droning vocal peeking out. It’s not about the lyrics, they say, it’s about the mood 🪦

A red horizon with a black tower in silhouette

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Have a Lad. His tag says “This Lad Kills Fascists,” which happens to be a trait he shares with the bassist on the last metal album I posted. They also both dress in black. Similarities end here.

A black cat curled up sleeping on my lap. In the background you can see a little cow kitty.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

History of Metal 1994: Mayhem, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Ok, so we’re back in Nazi territory (Varg Vikernes) though he’s uncredited this time. No clue about the other guys, but black metal is unique in that it’s everything your mom thinks metal is. I don’t have enough characters for this shit.

A church in bkack blue over black. The font is a dropped sticks style

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

History of Metal 1993: EYEHATEGOD, Take as Needed for Pain This music moves at a swampy, lopsided lurch like deranged blues rock clawing its way free of a vat of battery acid. Even its noise breaks are a thick storm of screeching static that leave no space to breathe.

A collage of 5 images: messed up teeth, a wrist brace, a veiny arm, and a faceless man clockwise in the corners, above a nude woman posing with a flower crown.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Neal Stephenson, of course. Anathem

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I mean, you know what kind of book you’re listening to when they explain albedo in the first couple hours, of the available 33, but I really didn’t expect three more hours of book to come after the main character becomes a nuke.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

History of Metal 1993: Carcass, Heartwork It’s massively influential in forming melodic death metal, which is corpse paint and nostalgia for Glam. Eh, ok, sure, but these drums are off having a panic attack and didn’t bring enough to share with the whole band. It keeps almost winning me, but then…

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Congratulations to the entire furry community on your new fursonas. ✨

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Trump on banning news outlets from the Whitehouse… uh, buddy, I don’t think you thought this one through.

“Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Getting chicken nuggets and a cheese fries for lunch, cause I went Dentist today, and ice cream is to follow, because I’m seven. But it’s at this really sweet local ice cream shop cum burger joint because I’m forty-one.

Large Chicken nuggets in a basket labeled “purity Ice cream” in front of a decadent white cheese covered basket of fries

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It’s a great late career Young album. The Chrome Hearts are one of his tighter bands, which suits his aging voice. Young has ultimately adapted to the horror of the world by adopting a pointedly kind, broken-hearted softness. There are worse coping mechanisms than lovingly willful naïveté.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

New Neil Young album, Second Song, today. First of all, can I just say how perfect this cover photo is? Young brings his characteristically hopeful melancholy, crooning his diary to me in his sweet tenor vibrato. I find it extremely charming, but I am historically charmed by this man.

An old Neil Young in a hat and flannel looks at the camera from the diver’s seat of an old fashioned guitar.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

History of Metal 1993: Melvins, HOUDINI More grunge! What a treat. As metal, this slots in as the incredibly named sludge. Houdini (as in “lol, watch us disappear from this label”) is all drama and grime. I’m obsessed with the drums on “Lizzy” which alternate minimal and thunderous on a dime.

A bright, sweet cartoon of two children paying with a two-headed dog

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

History of Metal 1993: Sepultura, Chaos A.D. These guys, having spent 2 years touring a thrash record, got home to Brazil and had a hard look at colonialism. They decided to avoid rust by slowing down into groove metal and becoming leftist punks. “You could call the album riot music” Yes, please?

I honestly have no clue. An upside down man in tube bondage?

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Under the Red Sky, Bob Dylan.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

History of Metal 1993: Type O Negative, Bloody Kisses It’s brokenhearted gothic doom metal. Often sparse, with bits you’d call “soundscapes” as well as hard chugga chugga double kick metal shit, and even a couple hardcore punk breakdowns. It feels rude to call it a good time, but I’m having one.

Two femmes mid make-out cast in green sepia

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I mean, on the one hand it was only Al Kooper. On the other, I’d not had my meds yet.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

History of Metal 1992: Burzum, Burzum If you were looking at “History of Metal” wondering if the nazis would crash in, hi, here they are! Welcome to Norwegian Black Metal, where an angry bowl of spaghetti shrieks Nazi shit at you over some nice spooky beats. I’m going back to sleep.

Oh yeah, real spooky dr who ass looking ghost coming in from the fog there, Varg.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Happy birthday to my wife and collaborator in all things, @eruditorumpress.com You are an absolute hurricane, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here’s to many more years of art sated and curiosity made, to tomato canning and feather ruffling and most of all joy. I love you, endlessly.

Photograph of William Blake’s “The Tyger”

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Mine, too, though I’d not listened to it since high school.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

History of Metal 1992: Alice In Chains, Dirt I was a grunge kid back in The Day, so I was kinda surprised to get this one. But that guitar don’t lie. And I mean, there’s a song about “government censorship and eating meat as seen through the eyes of a doomed calf” and that’s pretty metal.

A body superimposed onto a field of dry clay

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

History of Metal 1992: Ministry, ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ Or Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs if you prefer your layered Crowley sex puns to be pronounceable. Basically all of Ministry’s album titles are puns. Never let anyone tell you industrial metal is cool, kids. (I mean… it is, but)

An angel surrounded by clocks and other miscellanea on sepia film

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Reposted by Penn

Grace Reed @deergrace.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I’m not sure who said it first, but I’ve been thinking about this line all week

A block print of a silhouetted cliff with the text WHAT IF THE BOULDER LOVED SISYPHUS?

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

History of Metal 1992: Dream Theater, Images and Words I mean… you know I love this, right? I found them in college after a bad break up with rock and roll, and it’s kinda just Penn-nip with the structure, precision and overwrought nature of progressive rock all done just a little too hard.

Album cover: a little girl in a white nightgown in a light gothic bedroom. A heart wrapped in thorns is on fire in the foreground.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Love finding out I have a new column in my notifications!

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

World Con day 4 part 4 and day 5 Fin.

Panel 1: “stared into the void again” with a tired eye
Panel 2: “But with funny hats this time” with a chicken hat wearing a birthday hat
Panel 3: “and drums” with a drum set
Panel 4: a podium and giant screen reading “passionate graphic design”
Panel 5; a Hugo award labeled “oh hell”

More Reasons to Panic
Panel 1: “What did I forget (part II) With an arrow off panel reading “still nothing”
Panel 2: an automatic parking lot barrier labeled “incompetence”
Panel 3: LAX in giant Hollywood letters
Panel 4: Cyberpunk Death Tunnel with a sketch of a glass hallway with multiple interior doors that is repeatedly screaming “Don’t Stop Walking”
Below: “(more cyber than punk)”

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Elizabeth Sandifer @eruditorumpress.com · 05/09/2026

Patrons just received the 3600 word section on the painfully fucked legacy of Lord Fanny. It'll go live on the blog for free on Halloween along with the rest of the chapter, but given that this particular tranny witch needs to eat, I hope you'll consider tossing $5 at the Patreon to read it now.

patreon.com

LWiA 4.8: Lord Fanny | Elizabeth Sandifer and Penn

LWiA 4.8: Lord Fanny by Elizabeth Sandifer and Penn on Patreon. Join Elizabeth Sandifer and Penn's community for exclusive content and updates.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

History of Metal 1992: Body Count, Body Count Ice-T says he feels sorry for people who only listen to one kind of music. He made Body Count taking inspiration from the dark, Satanic vibe of Black Sabbath but grounding the horror in reality. You’ll have to dig to get the whole record, but do it.

Album cover: a shirtless black man with all black eyes and extreme muscles, a chain wrapped around one fist and a gun in his pants. He has a tattoo that says “cop killer”

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

World Con day 4 parts 2 and 3

Panel 1: Food Truck Fry Nachos (with illustration)
Panel 2: a blazing sun with “even I feel hot”
Panel 3: Become Arm Candy with a self portrait. I’ve labeled “embrace the hairline,” “a lil chest tattoo for El,” and “shiny bomber jacket from Camden Market”

Panel 1: a doodle of a crowded room where photographs will be taken, labeled “Reception: pleasant but strange”
Panel 2: a woman in a gown and mask with “El told that face I am a fan…”
Panel 3: a plate of canapés labeled “pretty, but mid”
Panel 4: a doc marten boot with a wave pattern on it.
Panel 5, hanging off the left of the page: a row of chairs labeled “waiting”

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

History of Metal 1992: Darkthrone, A Blaze in the Northern Sky The lyrics have a poetic air of gothic doom, overwrought just-so, and are ill at ease with the roar of the vocalist, and wall of shrieking feedback and machine-gun snare that accompany them. I honestly don’t know if that’s a complaint.

A guitarist in corpse paint in black and white and very little light.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

LA, from above, looks like an avant guard quilt being slowly consumed by a malevolent alien nervous system. Just wild.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thank you. I appreciate the solidarity a lot. There is, at least, the voice in my head that knows that. And I’ve got my people with me who are well versed in the shape of my panic attacks. And clonazepam. That also should help.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Ok, yes I do. It’s racism and the unbelievable power complex the United States has. I’m not even the target victim here, I’m just caught in the net.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Airports since the TSA apocalypse are exactly designed to jack my OCD to eleven. Like… I can feel my heart beating in my forehead. I can see through time. I don’t know why we agreed that these sadistic budget cops get to decide if I can go home.

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

World Con day 3 part 1/day 4 part 1

Panel 1: Kink after dark. A dialog balloon with “get yer porn!” A drawing of a hand holding a wrist, a whip, and scratch marks
LA CON V day four
Panel 2: a very tired eye, with the text Stared into the void
Panel 3: tropes. A drawing of a knight on a horse thinking of love rides up a path to a collapsing tower with a dialog balloon reading “lol bye”

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Penn @penn-fp.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

History of Metal 1991: Cathedral, Forest of Equilibrium Because metal doesn’t stop for the Hugos. Not what you expect out of a band steeped in grindcore and death, but they wanted to be darker, slower and more extreme. So they downtuned their guitars and made this shockingly beautiful record.

Album cover: a kind of Technicolor Garden of Earthly Delights.

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