American beer got a lot of flack, but that reflects the situation forty years ago. Now, a number of independent breweries make great beer, and as in everything else, if you avoid the normie product designed for cultureless desire zombies, you can find some good stuff.
Lone Pint – Brewers Select Black IPA has effectively ended my quest for the perfect beer. It is a dark beer like Negra Modelo but without the pancake-syrup sweetness, and with a depth of flavor that mixes bitterness and the piquant to make an enigmatic, intriguing paradox.
The beer is both malty and bitter, spicy and mild, and through the ongoing tension (not resolution!) of these constituent parts, it wrests a complex flavor out of a simple profile. Expect a struggle, not a smooth slick streamlined flavor. It makes for the best flavor when drinking.
To instigate offtopic troll madness, because we can:
The whole “intelligent-metal-academia” thing is (oxy)moronic, because the genre is the opposite, as in animalistic and shackle-breaking. What made the 80-90’s great, is not because the music was great (only some classical music can be called great), but rather that it was more convincing – that’s the key-word to this so called greatness you internet warriors are so crazed about.
I don’t think metal is supposed to sound “good”, but rather “bad in a good way”.
So convincing.
Fuck Brett, you decline two thirds of my comments and yet you let this mealy mouthed milquetoast say his piece?
The spam filter grabs them sometimes and I do not often plunge into the depths of Indian and Russian botspam.
I don’t think at all
The Buddhists and Christians say to feel, not think.
I suggest that avoiding whatever organized religion suggests — note: this is not doing the opposite — is wise.
Religion organized or otherwise places one somewhere on a spectrum of activity that is social (exoteric) one one hand and mystical (esoteric) on the other, and is nothing more or less than a system of thought, just like everything else.
You wind up being forced into making a value judgement of the worth of a given activity, which is itself susceptible to a value judgement, on and on into absurdity.
So I consider myself lucky in some respects in that there’s usually music playing in my head or not much at all, and the schizophrenic gibberish that likes to bubble up is punctuated by thoughts that have a quality of simplicity and relevance, so they can be said to transmit some clarity and insight, I like to think.
What’s the end game? Depends on your value judgements. Why does one value what one does? Any answer you come up with is a system of thought and necessarily a vast oversimplification. And feelings are just a kind of thinking, just another aspect of consciousness.
There aren’t any easy answers – of course. Because there are no answers at all.
Everyone’s got a bridge to sell you, at a great deal.
“schizophrenic gibberish” were we not talking about noise?
You must be new here.
Abrahamism, which is Arabic gibberish.
How is abrahamism relevant to an extinction of value which heralds the dawn of an era of individuation and high technology?
Religions are all way more complex than you indicate anyway and there’s illuminating shit, retarded shit and everything in between no matter which one you look at
The cry of the cherry-picker: “But you can find exceptions!”
The exception proves the rule.
Abrahamism is dualistic, therefore antirealistic. This makes it suicidal.
A fair enough point but I fail to see how anyone still lacking the ability to contemplate the notion of nonduality will attain understanding of it in any other sphere.
In logical analysis you can chalk it up to the influence of IQ, genetics, culture, whatever, on behavior.
But once you snap out of the snare that is the mirage of continuity, there is no longer any reason to explain how you got there, and…why you? Why not someone else, or everybody, or nobody at all? And you realize you always were. And everyone else always was and is and shall be. And every little thing too. And yet we still have this element of ignorance in there somehow which allows us to conceive of things at all. It is mind boggling and a paradox fundamental to the human experience.
I can only speak for myself, and I can find no answer to this question of why and how, after much searching. I have to accept my vast ignorance and this annihilates my ability to take seriously any value judgements whatsoever. All I have are my preferences.
I’m not trying to sound like Alan Watts or Terence McKenna here but it can’t be avoided, because guys like them understood the thing which cannot be contained by language, and it’s humbling. And it’s the desire to “be intelligent” – to see oneself as intelligent – that gets in the way.
I think it’s a huge load off because then you can just focus on being at your best, because there’s not really anything else worth doing anymore. You have no ground of understanding on which to say whether something is detrimental or not.
I suppose if being at your best means to you studying the machinery of civilization then, as they say, more power to you.
But I think it’s a trap.
Best? There is one commandment: adapt. This is Darwinism, and it applies in this world and any others.
Adaptation includes understanding. This is esoteric because language is understood only in each noggin, not shared among noggins. (This is the falsehood into which questing for “best” launches you, by the way, even if styled as a self-help exercise).
The question of intelligence relates more to understanding the self and the object than to something valuable for its own sake, but like all things esoteric, some ability is required, and those with more go further. You can now see why intelligence is prized along with nobility.
As Fred says, the mind rationalizes itself and its decisions. There are some who escape this, at least in some instances, and they see more.
In the same way we realize that we have always been, or at least a form exists that makes us inevitable, we recognize that there is an underlying structure to reality.
This, in its continuity and consistency, is worth pursuing.
Follow the IX.
Interesting. Dies Irae…
“Magic is man’s raison d’être.”
-Antonin Artaud
If language is only understood in each noggin, then what on earth is the point in communicating at all?
A man stands on an island. He is alone and has no boat. He sees a man on the shore with a boat. He waves his arms frantically, hoping to be noticed.
The guy on the shore says, “I’ll never know 100% what he means by that in every possible context, so I won’t go pick his ass up and bring him back to civilization.”
Let me interrupt this clevertard bloviation right now: metal is designed to make bad sounds sound good. Make noise into music. Make horror into interest. Invert the inverted.
So now we speak of innate authenticity. I think it was just good music. This is why no one can stand up to Prozak’s Guillotine. They say there is good metal past 1994, we ask for the names, they post a bunch of drivel, we weep and laugh.
“Make noise into music” is a good take at least.
Adramelech – Pure Blood Doom (1999)
Beherit – Electric Doom Synthesis (1996)
Beherit – Engram (2009)
Blaspherian – Allegiance to the Will of Damnation (2007)
Blaspherian – Infernal Warriors of Death (2011)
Demoncy – Joined in Darkness (1999)
Demoncy – Enthroned is the Night (2012)
Immolation – Unholy Cult (2002)
Imprecation – Satanae Tenebris Infinita (2013)
Kaeck – Stormkult (2015)
Sacramentum – Far Away from the Sun (1996)
Satan – Life Sentence (2013)
Serpent Ascending – Aṇaṅku (2016)
Summoning – Dol Guldur (1997)
Sammath – Godless Arrogance (2014)
Sammath – Grebbeberg (2023)
Anything missing? I might save a seat for Desecresy
“Anything missing?”
You’re fucking brain idiot.
Antaeus – Cut Your Flesh and Worship Satan (2000)
Did not endure for me, although I liked it at the time.
Also do you ever come back to this one:
Asgard – To a Golden Age (1996)
Not for some time, but I probably should revisit it.
Ah, shit, I just got into it. So, what will it lack once it’s been heard enough times?
Looks like a bunch of pre-90s bands (in one case, a 1970s band). I would definitely reserve a seat for Desecresy. Also keep in mind the date of the demos on many of these bands.
I was ready to list them, but I realised it would be a waste of time. You are right, almost no new, truly great NAMES after 1994. But plethora of essential, indispensable albums only in 1995, 1996 and 1997 from bands existng up to that point, to provide enough music for a lifetime.
I was wondering if anybody listened to newer or older material. It’s like, bruh, listening to Beethoven and then waking up in the 2000’s.
Limp Bizkit – Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000)
S.V.E.S.T., both the Urfaust full length and the 2008 EP
Nox Intempesta – Damnus Dominion was great, and it was released in 1997. Can’t weep and laugh at that. The album still holds up today.
Brett, here’s an album for you to check out. It should nicely accompany your beer-drinking escapades. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khvSyTIAY00
Founders makes their Centennial IPA. Dogfish Head makes their 90 Minute IPA. I like the malt with hops, some enigmatic wet and dry. Many brewers turn malts into sugary and thickly syrupy beer. Others turn their beers into one note hopped concoctions, with the main offenders likely using Citra and Cascade.
Southern Germans perfected this. Mexican lager is Hapsburg.
Revision Brewing outta Sparks NV makes the best IPAs for my money
I would love to see Northcoast Old Rasputin make a return but it’s been off the shelves since 2020. Not much reason to pass through Oregon, too expensive maybe. Portland is an abyss. Every year pallets of kegs return untapped.
I decided to quit binge drinking twice a week after ten years straight. I’ve been sober for a little over two weeks and I’m shocked at the clarity of mind I’ve been experiencing. Brett, have you ever checked out the Shaggs’ Philosophy of the World ? What a mind fuck.
The novelty of clarity will fade quickly then the tedium sets in, possibly depression, then return to drinking or self deletion. You can’t binge drink that long, there’s no turning things around, you should just keep drinking. People that drink to old age are a bit brain damaged and they don’t notice how small and pointless their existence is. In a way it is superior to being sober and knowing you wasted your one life.
Well, my penis is certainly harder, I feel terrific!
Watch out for this one a real live wire
Or realizing that we can choose not to waste life by learning to think, learning ourselves, learning the patterns of nature, and through that, seeing the realm of possibilities and future creation.
I am familiar tangentially with The Shaggs. Kind of fun, not my thing.
I question the value of longterm intoxication, religion, and patriotism.
The eternal things are more interesting.
The art of trolling means you farm someone’s spiritual energy, use it for your own ends, and if it backfires, you can always say “at least I had a good time trying”.
…nothing like a masonic oath or anything…
Or at least, by forcing them to react, reveal the weakness of their position.
P1: “I stand for altruism, empathy, love, peace, art, depth, and wisdom!”
P2: “Diversity and socialism are death-traps.”
P1: “Except you, you should be killed with feces!”
U.S.W.
I’m going to shit buckets right into Brett’s mouth, and He will love it, because it’s the most important event in human history!
Here’s a thought about intoxicants that came about a while back: there were news stories about EU drug companies that were unwilling to provide whatever product it is to the U.S. for lethal injection. Probably really high doses of barbiturates. Fair enough if it went against their values, or they simply didn’t want to get involved.
First thought is maybe go back to firing squads. Second thought is, if you feel the need to use velvet gloves, just use fentanyl. The U.S. probably has a more deadly supply of that than ammo at this point. Not good, but let’s make use of it.
In fact, any opiate will work: enough in the blood and the respiratory system shuts down slowly. It is why heroin et al are silent killers. One minute the person is awake and moving around, the next they have seated themselves on the floor, passed out and stopped breathing.
Hey Brett, what is your best ever list of pipe tobacco? And which one would be your pick of the eon, the most essentialist choice?
This is a difficult question, because there are genres.
However, my gut nomination is Coniston Cut Plug (GH/SG).
But:
Virginias
Savinelli – Doblone d’Oro
SG/GH – Kendal Gold
SG/GH – Dark Bird’s Eye
SG/GH – Brown Twist Sliced
Sutliff – 507c Virginia Slices
Englishes
Peterson – Night Cap
Burley
C&D – Old Joe Krantz
American Tobacco – Cotton Boll Twist
John Middleton – Prince Albert
UK style
Peterson – Irish Flake
Peterson – University Flake
Peterson – Perfect (Anal) Plug
Mac Baren – HH Bold Kentucky
Aromatic
Savinelli – Armonia
…to name a few, some undoubtedly left out!
Thank you!
3Ps is some of the best plug….especially with some age on it. What year is that tin?
I usually just drink coffee with my pipe but maybe I should grab a couple craft beer.
This tin was probably purchased in 2016. I agree on 3P. It makes for a fantastic smoke if sliced thinly, doubly so with a few years of age. G.L. Pease thinks aging peaks at five years and he is probably right, but a few more years did not hurt either.
Pease says five years but C&D has a cellar series and they even say 10-15 years.
You were the one that got me to try 3ps a few years ago. I stocked up on that good stuff since Canadian laws suck dick.
Ive smoked 10 year old escudo and I can say that there was a huge difference from the fresh escudo.
Newminster 400 changes quite a bit over time as well, I’m sure it’s with all tobacco.
I smoked some frog Morton on the town last week. It was so damn smooth. Definitely something I wouldn’t smoke everyday.
People have smoked fifty-year-old tobacco and said it was great. I do not doubt this, especially with bright Virginia blends like the Newminster #400 and Escudo. However, Pease’s point is that at five years, you get most of the benefits of aging, and aging further does not increase those benefits. I have seen this with Newminster and Stuliff 507c, which is one of the most underrated blends out there if you have a few years to keep it on a shelf. I wonder what Newminster would be like if pressed they way SG/GH and Peterson do their flakes, with a steam press followed by a few weeks in the clamps. I should mention Savinelli Doblone d’Oro which is really good after two or three years but a bit bitey and sour when fresh.
You better stock up on those 507 slices as I hear they have discontinued it and only have what’s left in stock. If that’s what you fancy. Not sure how much truth there is to that as I don’t keep up to date with tobacco dweeb rumours and I don’t have any tobacco accounts.
Doblone is one I have yet to try. Similar T three nuns?
Similar to the old mixture of Three Nuns: a Va/Per with dark fired Kentucky Burley as well. I think there may be a brown Burley as well and the Virginias are probably a brown/bright mix. Give it a couple years.
I will be most put out if 507c is no longer with us. Straight out of the box is it bitey, but after a few years, like honey and grain with a touch of lemon zest.
Another one that ages really well: SG/GH Kendal Gold, a bright Virginia blend. It is a bit acidic and sting-y when new, but given even six months it darkens and turns to a clover honey type flavor. I could smoke this all day except for the low nicotine levels.