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Lifestyle
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Horrible Rappers, Fake Band Logos and Hideous Clothes |
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Written by Sameerah
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Sunday, 19 May 2013 19:48 |
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UK designer Kokon Tozan's spring 2013 collection is a sin aganst, God, man and good taste. This collection is so bad I hardly know where to start. 
Do I start with the horribile helmet hoodies? Perhaps this nasty little boot sandal things that kid right of center has on. That insult to kilts? Everything here is just so fucking bad I don't know where to begin. And to add insult to injury, I think that some of these band logos are fake! The Grave logo on the sweat pants is the only logo that I clocked as belonging to a real band. The rest of this shit has come from the mind of a man that has probably never been to a metal show in his life. Co-opting a scene or a culture to create a look is a long standing fashion tradition. Hip-hop, lumberjacks and coutless indiginious cultures have been used as inspiration for countless lines. I understand that it is part of the designers inspiration and can usually just look the other way when it happens. But when that inspiration gives birth to something this hideious it brings on a level of outrage that burns with the heat of a million white hot suns. This shit is an insult to metal, fashion, eyes and human decency and must be stopped! According to the KoKon Tozai site, some of this shit is actually sold out. But at $120-$210 a pop for this shit I find that hard to belive. If you want to offend your eyeballs more, you can see the entire collection here http://www.kokontozai.co.uk/ktz-spring-summer-2013.html |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Tuesday, 14 May 2013 05:12 |
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Iron Fist Clothing has been fast becoming my favorite novelity line this year. Their punk, goth, horror sensability is absolutely stunning. A wonderful mix of fashion and fun for any occasion. This summer the folks at Iron Fist have outdone them selves with their Super Bitch line. The Wonder Woman inspired line of shoes and clothes has made my inner nerd happy in a way that I didn't know was imaginable!  
My only complaint with the line is that it's all white ( and I hate white) i would love to see them do a collection of these prints in red or purple. But alas you can't have everything. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Random Dates are cool When Metal is Involved |
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Written by Sameerah
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Sunday, 09 October 2011 03:09 |
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I do love it when life throws me a pleasant curve ball. Especially when it adds to something that is already awesome. Tuesday was already shaping up to be a killer day because the second I leave the office I’m heading to Downtown LA to see Chothinic, Devildriver and the almighty Skeleton Witch. The only downer about the show is Arch Enemy is the headliner. Nothing against them as a band. Over all Arch Enemy is pretty solid, but after my love of a female fronted Death Metal band wears off, they’re mediocre at best. But headliner aside, I’m looking forward to a killer night of amazing Metal when the work day is done.
As morning morphs into afternoon and my second energy drink begins to kick in, my phone goes off. It’s a text from a guy named Mike. According to him we met a few years back, we talked for awhile but nothing ever came of it. Anyone who knows me at all--and who knows me better than you dear readers--knows that I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning let alone someone I spoke with two years ago. But I need something to distract me from explaining to a disgruntled designer why it’s too late to buy stuff for Halloween and Christmas, So I reply to him. Besides it’s been a bit slow in the boy department and my ego could use a bit of a boost. So I reply to ask what we spoke about. According to Mike I turned him onto Watain, Devildriver and a few other bands. Still I have no clue who he is, after all I will recommend bands to damn near anyone who will listen, so that tells me nothing. At some point in the conversation I mentioned I was going to the Devildriver, Chthonic, Skeleton Witch show. And since that is the most awesome ticket in town tonight he invites himself along. Normally I don’t meet strangers who text me out of no where, but I’m feeling good tonight. Secure in the knowledge that if he turns out to be complete psycho or butt ugly I can stomp him to death in the pit and no one will be the wiser.
Arriving to the show I’m pleasantly surprised that Mike is pretty cute and all about a night of drinks. We’re standing on the floor in front of the stage, trying to get a good position to see Chthonic. As we’re drinking and chatting the smell of vomit suddenly rises into the air. I look behind me and not three feet away some kid has tossed his cookies. Now I’ve been to more than my fair of shows and seen more than a few light weights loose their shit at the end of the night, but this was the first time I have ever seen someone puke before the show even fucking starts. No one is drunk enough to deal with this just yet and needless to say that the kid that lost it is heckled away from the stage as security comes out to clean up the mess with that vomit powder that they used in pre-school. Just as the stench starts to dissipate the room goes dark and Chthonic takes the stage. The first thing you notice when Chthonic takes the stage is Doris, Thunder Tears on bass. She is stunning and bad ass, everything that a Metal chick should be and from the look on her face is about to play the fucking shit out of that bass. There is a rumble in the air as Doris, Thunder Tears strums the first notes on her bass and Jesse the Infernal slams us with the first riff of “Broken Jade”. Jess, Face of Maradou brings the pain with his gut churning screams. To hear such and amazing voice come from such a slim and handsome man give me all kinds of shivers in places we won’t talk about here. I may be rocking out next to a cute guy tonight, but at this moment I want a Taiwanese boyfriend fucking yesterday! That's right kittens I am totally down with the boba bitches. Chothic put out a set that was fluid and perfect. Even people that were’nt familiar with Chothic were sucked into their presence. This heady blend of Metal and traditional Taiwanese instruments that transcends the concept of East meets West that is sometimes put on Asian bands. Everything about Chthonic is a blend of sonic bliss that makes you happy to be alive and hearing even when you’re thinking of bashing someones brains in. But it’s a feeling that goes to the core of Chthonic and their music. Being that the members of Cthonic are long time human rights activist and their show was co-sponsored by Amnesty International; everything they do is about finding peace. Even if peace has to come from destruction. After a short speech about the importance of human rights issues and teaching the crowd how to FUCK in Taiwanese Chothic left the stage. It was a sad day moment indeed cause I could have listened to them all night.
Time to hit the bar for a quick intermission before Skeleton Witch. The venue is running a tight ship so instead of hanging out on the smoking patio, we take out booze and head back to the floor to get a good spot. We’re not even half way through our drinks before the mad puker is back in action covering the floor in his vile, greasy smelly vomit. Seriously dude, if you’re sick just stay the fuck home, don’t ruin my night with your putrid stomach juice. But I digress, Skeletonwitch took the stage with a fury that I didn’t see coming. Their pit was equally fast and brutal. A random fist sending Mike flying across the floor and into me. But being the professional drinker that I am proud to say that I didn’t spill a drop of my precious vodka tonic, nectar of the pagan gods of Metal. Mike on the other hand ended up damp and with some ice cubes in his pocket. Skeletonwiitch is one of those bands that I have loved for ages, but for some reason I’ve lost track of them over the years. They played a lot of tunes from their new album “Forever Abomination” and I will admit that I didn’t know any of the lyrics, but it really didn’t matter Skeletonwitch rocked the fuck out that place. Spawning a mixture of blood, sweat and epic windmills to break out all over the club. These guys play heavy, riff intense shit that you would have to be an enemy of music and fun not to enjoy. Their technical precision was amazing. Like watching psychics and the secrets of the universe being played out in front of you. What made it even better is that as brilliant as they were there was not a ounce of pretension in the way they played. When you see Skeletonwitch play you’re in the presence of a bunch of guys who fucking love what they do having a good time.Their stage presence was amazing and I’m sure they won over a lot of new fans tonight.
By now me and Mike have a pretty good buzz going, which means we need a trip back to the bar. Because four drinks on a Tuesday night just isn’t enough. Devil Driver is on the stage. Another band that fills me with glee and a bit of shame. Devil Driver is an amazing band and they hail from LA’s backyard, Santa Barbara, I feel bad that they are another band that I have lost track of. The last Devildriver album I bought was 2005s “The Fury of Our Makers Hand”. They played some classic tunes like “Devil’s Son”, “Grinfucked” and “Just Run” but after that I knew fuck all by way of lyrics. But once again it didn’t matter. Dez has an amazing voice and his blend of gut wrenching scream and dizzying high notes gave me chills. John was looking especially hot on bass, putting a buffed out bass player back on my list of guys to date again at some point.
After a quick trip to the merch booth, I’m floating a little tired and thinking of calling it a night. It’s late, I have to work in the morning and I can live without seeing Arch Enemy. It takes another cocktail to coax me back into the fray but Mike manages me to stick around for for the headliner. Angela looks amazing when she steps on the stage, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from a lady with a voice like that. At this point I’m still thinking of Arch Enemy as a decent band but nothing to get too excited over. And I couldn’t have been more wrong. All of the energy and passion that always seems to be missing from Arch Enemy’s albums comes through loud and clear when they’re on stage. Angela’s voice soared and growled as the guitars punished my ears with brutality. Angela is a pro-fem metal goddess that whipped all of the ladies in the crowd into a frenzy to create a pit that put a lot of the boys to shame. Whoever is doing the production needs to stop what their doing and channel the energy of Arch Enemy live into their albums yesterday.
It’s 2 am, my ears are ringing, my neck is a bit sore from all of the head banging and I’m a little bit drunk. All in all it is the perfect end to a most excellent evening. The only bummer is that I have to be in the office in the morning. But I had so much fun tonight that drinking my weight in caffeine to get through the day is going to be worth it. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 09 October 2011 03:15 )
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Absu and Sothis in Hollywood |
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Written by Sameerah
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Thursday, 18 June 2009 17:24 |
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Its Sunday night and for the first time it feels like summer. A warm evening with a giant blood red moon hanging over the House of Blues in Hollywood. Candlelight Records Metal Maniacs is among the biggest show to hit so far this summer. With local favesSothis and the long awaited return of Absu. Both bands riding high on their new releases. Sothis' Opresso de Liber and Absu's self titled effort. There is a wickedness in the air and this show promises to be a muther fuck! We got there about half way through Rumpelstiltskin Grinder's set. As we made our way to the bar to take the holy sacrament of jack and coke Rumpelstiltskin Grinder's virtuosic punk styled metal hit like a donkey punch to the back of the head. Hard, savage and lethal. They played blistering riffs at punk rock speed and fury.This was Philly Metal at its finest. No nonsense, balls to the wall mayhem and fantastic brutality. There was one song in particular about the rising of deadly trolls, that really blew me away. It reminded me of the episode ofMetalocalypse where DeathKlok accidentally unleash a killer troll of a Finnish village. The image combined with a song that just kicks fucking ass.Filling me with wicked silly delight. But at the same time I was a little sad. Here I have an excellent band playing their fucking hearts out and there is hardly anyone here to appreciate.Tis the curse of being the opening band I suppose. For those of us who got there in time to see Rumpelstiltskin Grinder it was a great way to kick off the evening. Plenty of people had begun to fill in the place by the time Sothis took the stage, although it wasn't nearly as big of a crowds as I had expected, but I will chalk that up to Sunday just being a bad day for most people.Sothis is a band that always describes themselves as "polished black metal". You don't really get a feeling for how polished they are until you see them live. They put on a brilliant show and everything is pitch perfect with the album. There is no room for improvisation at aSothis show.They are so fucking tight they even head bang on cue. In a way their being so fucking perfect was a bit of a downer. Not because they didn't sound great or didn't have any energy. More because you aren't really hearing anything different than what there is on the album. And the things that were different had nothing to do with the band and were more of the way the sound guy did things. However those worked toSothis' advantage.There was more amp on Aseperia on keys, making it so that she was doing more than providing a bit on ambiance between riffs. Nor was she competing so much with the guitars. Which was a nice surprise. There were also some major changes in the bass. I don't know what the sound guy was doing but he made that shit drop so fucking hard that it felt as if the Dark Lord himself had come to kick the place in the nuts! Say what you will about their penchant for perfectionSothis still put on an amazing show. Absu's started off intense if not a little odd. The band stepped on stage looking mean and bad ass with one of their interludes in the background sloshing over the screams and whistles of the crowd. They just stood there. Staring at the crowd for what seemed like an eternity. Drunken shouts of "Hail Satan" and "play somethingmuther fucker" began to fill the air. I was starting to worry they were going to pull some kind of Billy Corbin douche bag move and just stand there all night. The crowd was beginning a bit restless. And there is nothing scarier or funnier than a bunch of drunk metal heads. Just as things seem as if they are going to take a nasty turn,Absu hit us with a sonic blast of demonic mastery. There was more silence between songs but no one seemed to mind. What was at first thought to be a stunt pulled because they wanted to be douche bags was turned into something that showed supreme confidence and mastery over the crowd. They didn't have to say shit to us to make us get the message they let the music do the talking. And we all loved it. They ran through most of the major stuff from their catalog and some things from the new album. But when they broke out 4 things went ape shit. Pits were started and I would like to think faces were smashed in a sea of spastic brutality.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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