apatheticlife.com

It’s been a quiet few months on the old blogging front for apathethiclife recently. Something of a mini hiatus, you might say.. It hasn’t been quite so quiet few months in the big old, mad, bad, topsy-turvy roller-coaster world at large.

Not for this, somewhat grizzled, veteran of the trenches down here at apl towers. But hey, that’s life… perhaps I should just shave more frequently.

The happenings…..

• The old job gave up the ghost when the company took a terminal nose dive in a  ‘proverbial hitting the fan’ kinda way. (Bah!)
• A frenzied mop-up ensued, leading to a new job  in a new town with fresh opportunities and challenges abound, and a daily commute to contend with. (Yay!)
• Forgot to remove the grimace, and pry my white knuckles of the bar. (Oh well! Errr….. tsk-tsk surely!?)
• The PC got poorly when the hard-drives failed, cue three weeks playing with different Linux distros once a replacement drive was sourced.
• Had a big re-think about this blog. Drunken bullshit just don’t quite cut it, especially when it ain’t funny. Going to keep it simple. Music, Web Development, FLOSS (Free, Libre, Open Source Software), and anything that falls under the big random banner of apatheticlife. The only rule, if there is one, is whatever I write about has to incite my passion.

So here we are.

Who would have thought it, no room for indifference or apathy at apatheticlife. Ironic? But then the name ‘apatheticlife’ was never meant to be taken seriously.

Normally at this point, I’d usually sign off with some ridiculously labyrinthine metaphorical statement of intent. And well let’s face it, they haven’t done much for me yet

Tim ‘The Toolman’ Taylor would be proud. (Link opens in a new window)

It’s a Friday night, and I’m chilling with a couple of beers, listening to some rocking choons and getting my geek on. So, sue me!

Here is a fairy tale for our times. (Link opens in a new window.)

The cover for From 'The Gutter To Your Ears', from Slow Death Factory

This album has been around for a wee while now, having been released in 2008, (I have only had a copy for the last month, that’s right I’m a bit late, as usual lol!) and has certainly had a few plays on the ‘ol apl towers gramophone. So, I thought it was about time I did review of it for all you lovely people.

So who are Slow Death Factory?

Hailing from Denmark this  5-piece metal crew have variously been involved with such luminaries as Barcode, Panzerchrist, and Illdisposed. We have, Søren Kirkegaard (vocals), Rasmus Henriksen (bass), Morten Gilsted (guitar), Rolf Hansen (drums), and  Lasse Bak (guitar).

Having grown distrustful of record labels, the band  have chosen to bypass them, and are self-releasing their material via the internet. Both ‘From The Gutter To Your Ears’ and an E.P., ‘Music For Tough Guys’ are available to download freely from the band website. Also available to buy direct from the website is band merchandise, including actual CD versions of the album and E.P.

So the moral of the story is, download, give em’ a listen, and if you like em buy em. Nuff said!

Now onto the music……

Damn! This is one fine album, and it would be well worth your time to check these guys out.

Slow Death Factory play the kind of scuzzed up, bombastic, and somewhat sludgy grinding metal that is sure to win them many fans. The band clearly know their craft inside out and back to front.

Without even realising it, your are carried along from song to song, headbanging like a loon, and not caring because you are on your way acheiving some kind of personal nirvana. That could well be the beer talking, but after only the first “Old Speckled Hen” I very much doubt it.

Album opener, ‘Small Men’, comes thundering out the speakers like some kind of demented freight train, knocking you off your feet and dragging you along in it’s wake. Whether you want it to or not. ‘Too Weird To Live Too Rare To Die’ continues the trend ina spectacularly bombastic fashion, as does the third track, ‘Enthusiasms Sneakin’ Decay’.

To be honest, it’s fair to say that the whole album does. By the time you get to the final track, ‘The Consolation Prize’, you are left feeling drained and elated at the same time. With your ears still buzzing to the echoes of the relentless assault, and a shit-eating grin plastered on your face, you will feel like you’ll have come through and triumphed.

Consolation Prize? Hell no!

Goddamnit! I want to see these guys live.

This one is for all you GWAR fans out there……. Oderous Urungus gets an interview spot on Fox News

In other news, somebody has gone and done a Power Metal remix of Katie Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’ *

* Link came by in a tweet/dent by the Internet’s Jono Bacon