Garage mystic and Lotus Sutra enthusiast. Owner of Hungry Ghost Books. Book "THEORY OF THE END" out now in paperback.
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New pinned tweet to include my most recent book release.
Substack blog: spiralseas.substack.com
Gumroad page for Hungry Ghost Books (PDF downloads): hungryghost.gumroad.com
"THEORY OF THE END" paperback edition on Amazon here: amazon.com/Theory-End-Death-…
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地獄ケーキ(Hokusaist)👹🐉🗡️🇺🇸 retweeted
𓂃𓈒 お し ら せ 𓂃⟡.·
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2026.10.26 [ mon ] 0:00
Blurred City Lights
2nd single 『 Voyage 』
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Album 5: Numb (S/T)
Holy shit...
Just like Fields of the Nephilim's "Elizium" (reviewed as part of the first round), this is something of a fakeout album. The first track is a fairly standard industrial rock tune, but after that the album starts to show its true colors.
The Wikipedia article for this record described it as reminiscent of other industrial acts from the time period, like Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy, but I detect a lot of influence from Swans, with a hint of Einsturzende Neubauten.
Most of the tracks here eschew traditional song structures in favor of an experimental industrial art rock style, complete with the sounds of various metal objects clanking together, bizarre vocal samples, and long stretches of creeping dark ambience. There are also a couple of harsh noise segments in here.
It's a much more interesting album than what I initially thought I was getting myself into, and it really grew on me over the runtime. I can definitely see myself coming back to this one.
Back by popular demand: ROUND 2 of Goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
I got so many recommendations that it was hard to narrow down, but I have a final list that I'm excited to listen to
As with last time, I'll review each as I go and choose a favorite and least favorite at the end
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Album 4: Tearist (S/T)
I love going into these albums blind because you can always be blindsided by something unexpected.
This album is odd. Not "goth" like The Cure, but more in line with Xiu Xiu. It's a collection post punk-ish electronica tracks full of blown-out synths and manic squawking vocals.
I'm... not really sure what to think about it. It sorta works some of the time, but other times comes off as doofy and try-hard. I will say that I liked the first half more than I hated it, but the second half was notably weaker.
Back by popular demand: ROUND 2 of Goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
I got so many recommendations that it was hard to narrow down, but I have a final list that I'm excited to listen to
As with last time, I'll review each as I go and choose a favorite and least favorite at the end
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Album 3: Concentration by Machines of Loving Grace
🎶Don't place faith in human beings
Human beings are unreliable things🎶
Given the cover art, I honestly didn't think this album would be so poppy. It has plenty of dark and abrasive industrial elements too, of course, but the core of this project is basically a groovy high-energy pop record.
That's not a bad thing in this case. This album is full of absolute bangers with some great punchy production to kick it into overdrive (apparently thanks to the same guy who produced the first two Swans albums).
I ended up really enjoying this one, even if it was a little different from what I expected.
Back by popular demand: ROUND 2 of Goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
I got so many recommendations that it was hard to narrow down, but I have a final list that I'm excited to listen to
As with last time, I'll review each as I go and choose a favorite and least favorite at the end
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Album 2: Cinema Strange (S/T)
I was just praising Depeche Mode's Violator for its amazing production, but this album might sit on the opposite side of that spectrum.
Perhaps it was a budgetary issue, but I found the sound here difficult to get used to. The synths have a very "FL Studio preset" quality to them, while the drum machine is... well, very drum machiney. The vocals are also muddled by clunky layering for a lot of the tracks.
Some of the later songs on this album go less heavy on the synth, opting for more guitar and bass, and change up the vocal mixing and they sound relatively good. Track 9, "Lindsay's Trachaea," is a good example of this.
Regardless, there's some creative spooky-sounding songwriting on here, even if it's marred by some questionable choices. Certainly not my favorite goth rock album, but I can see the appeal.
Back by popular demand: ROUND 2 of Goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
I got so many recommendations that it was hard to narrow down, but I have a final list that I'm excited to listen to
As with last time, I'll review each as I go and choose a favorite and least favorite at the end
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Album 1: Violator by Depeche Mode
We're starting off strong. I can see why this album is highly regarded. It has some great vocal performances over top of lush, yet punchy synth work.
I kept thinking "whoever produced this really knows their stuff." It's easy for synth music to end up sounded toothless, but it's quite vibrant and percussive here, and the tracks are mixed to a T.
Sure enough, it turns out that the producer was a man named Mark "Flood" Ellis, who also worked for Nine Inch Nails, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. A lot of bangers in that dicography.
Anyway, this is a great record with catchy pop sensibilities that don't overshadow the gothy moodiness. Good stuff,
Back by popular demand: ROUND 2 of Goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
I got so many recommendations that it was hard to narrow down, but I have a final list that I'm excited to listen to
As with last time, I'll review each as I go and choose a favorite and least favorite at the end
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You should worry more about AIDS than about a lack of riots in Tokyo or whatever
It's become very apparent that for Japanese people (generalizing), stuff like resistance, rioting, rebellion, justice, etc, are all just for aesthetic. They like putting these themes in their manga and anime just for entertainment, but won't understand why they happen irl.
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Back by popular demand: ROUND 2 of Goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
I got so many recommendations that it was hard to narrow down, but I have a final list that I'm excited to listen to
As with last time, I'll review each as I go and choose a favorite and least favorite at the end
Alright, I've made my decision.
Gem Award (my personal favorite): The Cure - Pornography
I went back and forth between this one and Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim, and even considered doing a tie between the two, but ultimately decided that would be a copout.
Elizium is a spectacular work of art, but Pornography is a gut punch of a record; a haunting product of tortured souls masquerading as a New Wave album. I think it's most fitting that it should get top place in this contest.
Coal Award (my least favorite): Deadsy - Commencement
No idea what happened here. The first couple tracks were actually pretty damn good, but the record loses steam after that and just gives us a bunch of stripped down meandering New Wave pastiches, which is frustrating because it shows that they could've made a more interesting record but semingly chose not to.
According to Wikipedia, this album had been in the works for around 5 years, which is crazy considering the final product sounds simultaneously bloated and underdeveloped.
If you want my thoughts on the other albums, check the quote tweets to the introductory post (the one quoted below). All the reviews should be there.
I got way more recommendations than I expected this time around, so I want to thank all of you for sending those my way. I'll put the next set of 12 albums together tomorrow.
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There is no accounting for cultural inheritance in the reigning neoliberal system. It doesn't care if a 19th century building is razed because it can more easily perform the same tasks in a strip mall.
Leftists love this little shell game where they take the core of a disagreement and obfuscate it behind layers of cliches, catchphrases, and lists of principles that they don't actually believe in.
For instance, there is no argument over "rebellion" or "protest" and Leftists don't believe in their supposed sanctity. We know this because they act like the world is ending and demand immediate intervention whenever far rightists march down the street without damaging anything.
The greatest victory of the modern ruling class is convincing the public that rebellion, resistance, and protest are the hallmarks of barbarism, while submission, obedience, and humility are the virtues of civilized societies
Whereas the truth is exactly the opposite
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Alright, I've made my decision.
Gem Award (my personal favorite): The Cure - Pornography
I went back and forth between this one and Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim, and even considered doing a tie between the two, but ultimately decided that would be a copout.
Elizium is a spectacular work of art, but Pornography is a gut punch of a record; a haunting product of tortured souls masquerading as a New Wave album. I think it's most fitting that it should get top place in this contest.
Coal Award (my least favorite): Deadsy - Commencement
No idea what happened here. The first couple tracks were actually pretty damn good, but the record loses steam after that and just gives us a bunch of stripped down meandering New Wave pastiches, which is frustrating because it shows that they could've made a more interesting record but semingly chose not to.
According to Wikipedia, this album had been in the works for around 5 years, which is crazy considering the final product sounds simultaneously bloated and underdeveloped.
If you want my thoughts on the other albums, check the quote tweets to the introductory post (the one quoted below). All the reviews should be there.
I got way more recommendations than I expected this time around, so I want to thank all of you for sending those my way. I'll put the next set of 12 albums together tomorrow.
Announcing the first round of goth albums chosen by YOU 🫵😐
With the exception of the Type O Negative record (from which I've already heard 2 tracks), I haven't previewed any of these.
As with my New Age listening challenges, I'll pick a favorite and least favorite at the end.
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It is. Commies have viewed the white working class as a firmly reactionary force for decades, to the point where "revolution" automatically implies significant violence against White people from a non-white lumpenproletariat.
im starting to think communist revolutionary tactics and just letting nons steal everyones shit is the same thing
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地獄ケーキ(Hokusaist)👹🐉🗡️🇺🇸 retweeted
A surviving still from the now lost Great Buddha Arrival (Daibutsu Kaikoku) from 1934. #大佛廻國
See Shūrakuen Daibutsu today: @shurakuenbuddha
Decades before Godzilla, the 1934 "monster" film, The Great Buddha Arrival, featured a costumed actor as a giant Buddha roaming through a miniature city.
The figure was based on the recently completed Shūrakuen Daibutsu, a colossal statue erected in 1927 near Nagoya. 🧵
#Japan #聚楽園大仏
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