Friday, December 29, 2006
Syar got me to do this. According to the rules, each player of this game starts with the “6 weird things about you”. People who get tagged need to write a "blog" of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you are tagged” in their comments and tell them to read your blog. So without further adieu, I present to you…"The 6 Weird Things about Me"
1. I could be quite OCD-ish at times. Actually, most of the time. And by that I mean touching a specific angle of the door before I come in/when I leave, making sure the volume of my tv/stereo is always at even numbers, combing my hair the same number of strokes EVERYTIME etc. Heck, I even purposely ensure that the reverse sensor of my
car always comes to the “death beep” sound before I eventually switch the gear to “P”.
2. Buying playstation video games are a must for me. I’ll probably go game shopping only once a month, but I won’t come home before picking up at least six titles or something. The weird thing about it though, is that no matter how many games I buy, I’d only stick to playing one particular game, which is a famous Japanese football game called “Winning Eleven”. Without a doubt, the best football game series ever to come out of the PS2 (even PS1 for that matter). I would probably play the new games I bought once or twice (at max), and then they’ll be chucked away forever. I can’t seem to get Winning Eleven out of my system, ever since I was 12 (next year would be my 10th year anniversary of playing WE)! On that note, I’m always looking for new challengers to compete with…any takers?
3. Whenever I flip any reading article, be it a novel, newspaper or magazine, I would read a particular sentence or article numerous times if they even mention something that is close to my heart. For example, there was this article on Malay Mail once where famous local band OAG said they used to hangout at Central Market back in the day with underground legends such as Sil Khannaz and Butterfingers before they became famous. I read that sentence at least five times before moving on to the next one. Even worse was when Dan Brown wrote in “The Da Vinci Code” something about the Zurich bank having only three branches throughout the world, and one of them was located here in Kuala Lumpur. The mere mention of our city alone got me repeating that sentence a zillion times; it nearly even brought a tear to my eye! LOL
4. Shaiful Nizam Jaaffar is one guy with loads, and I mean loads of guilty pleasures. People who are close to me would testify to that. On the outside you might think that I am all about metal music, brutal image, some would even suggest that I worship Satan and eat children for lunch! Although I might preach that “I like my coffee black, just like my metal”, in truth my musical tastes vary a lot more than that. I absolutely love blues music (which is one of the roots of rock and metal anyway), I have a vast collection of blues records from BB King, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore etc. Jazz is also another passion of mine, with people like Miles Davis, Stan Getz and Ella Fitzgerald getting regular plays at home. Occasionally, I do enjoy a little boy/girlband bubblegum pop. Occasionally.
5. I’m not sure whether this could be classified as weird or not, but I dislike eating vegetables, especially the green ones. I consider myself to be a full-blooded carnivore and I can’t pinpoint why. As a child I remember absolutely loving vegetables, grinding on raw celery for snacks and enjoying spinach soup for dinner, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Legend has it that I was cursed by my older cousin, who also liked vegetables when he was young and despised it by the time he could read, but that is another story for another day.
6. Unlike most people, I do not have a favourite colour, favourite number, nor a favourite song. To me, all colours are beautiful as they all come from God, and God is the best scientist of them all. Having a favourite song, in my opinion, would be an injustice to wonderful music. Beautiful music could be found everywhere, at every corner of every street, just like colours. Therefore it would be a crime to choose just one composition on top of others, as music should be loved unconditionally without any boundaries and limitations. Free love baby!
For this post I am tagging Ayu, June, Simone, Alicia, Jeremy and Nadia (check your comments page people!).
6 souls that need closure
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Rock The World 7 is upon us! It is that time of the year again where rock music fans of all shapes and sizes gather for 8 hours of non-stop music that knows no boundaries, no limits and abso-fucking-lutely no clean toilets! Yes, I’m talking about your emo wannabees, your goth kids, your metalheads and your friendly neighbourhood punks and skinheads all coming together to enjoy fifty bands that are all out to destroy the three stages at their mercy. There are sure to be lots of moshing, head-banging and bodysurfing going around amongst 40,000 people that are going to be in attendance. In commemoration of this annual festival, I am going to review two albums that were released by two bands who were/are involved in the Rock The World concert series (Langsuyr in 2005 and Sil Khannaz this year).
Langsuyr - Asyik (Clockwork Records/EMI) March 2006
To begin with, this album prides itself with killer artwork all through the album’s sleeves. Orchestrated by the band’s founding guitarist Azmaniac, the very artsy layout of this album would make even the fussiest art gurus proud. Wish I could say the same about the music though. Not that it’s lack of memorable riffs and catchy tunes that will stick in your mind, hell no. On the contrary, this album is punch-drunk full of that, maybe even a little more “commercial-sounding” than it should be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the self-proclaimed “Metal Purist” type who despise any vocals that sounds better than a masturbating cat, and accepts nothing more than a studio production done in a 17th century toilet.
What I’m saying is, this album emphasizes too much on its melodic part at the expense of technical riffs and dark, and almost melancholic lyrics. How could they possibly shift from their early days of the “Occultus Mysticism” Demo and “Eastern Cruelty” EP to this? From mind-blowing, highly technical song structures of “My Oath for Thee”, they have now moved on to lyrics that talk about love (Mata Ayer), and also about becoming Hip-Hop listening Rempits (Sunut). Gosh! For a band that dons corpse paint and sports the Necronomicon symbol on their logo back in the day, Langsuyr sure have made a 360 degree turn-around. I guess age must’ve caught up with them, and being contracted to a major label could’ve played a part in that as well. At least, those factors got them a place at last year’s “Rock the World”, a headlining gig at Planet Hollywood, and also airplay at some radio stations (Traxx, Suria, Muzik FM). Good on you boys, I certainly hope you r band gets an AIM someday. As for moi, all I could say is, Rest in Peace Langsuyr (1991-2005).
Sil Khannaz – Berdiri Antara Panji-Panji (Interglobal Music)
The Malaysian Metal Gods have done it again! Although Sil Khannaz have barely disappointed ever since their first demo “Doctrine to Hell” came out in 1990, I was initially skeptical of this release since there was a definite shortage of local metal albums for the past couple of years, let alone good ones. So my initial thought was that Silkz (nickname given by fans) would just release a mediocre album that will still sell well considering the market’s extreme thirst for local metal. Boy, did I shit my pants when I first put this CD into the stereo! Of course I didn’t, but I nearly did, since I suffered from food poisoning the night before (damn you cannibalized chickens!). From the opening Swedish-styled riffs of “Intravena Tantrika” to the closing guitar instrumental of “Airmata Palestine”, this album would definitely convert every single one of you metalheads who, prior to this, believe that local metal sounds no better than David Beckham’s voice.
Lan Bye’s backing out of the band for family reasons and CD Naz’ departure for a solo career did not cause Sil Khannaz to crash as many expected. If anything, that actually made them stronger with the new recruits i.e. guitarist Joe Slaughter and drummer Adjeez. Joe’s chemistry with Dark-E on the guitar works of this album is amazing, especially during the remarkable twin guitar solos and unprecedented riff changes. Adjeez, also known in the underground scene as the ‘Malaysian Portnoy’, truly gave justice to that title, with impeccable drumming that compliments the progressive nature of this album. Compared to Silkz’ earlier albums, this record might be a little less aggressive, nevertheless it is much more progressive and technical. And also, the band members are using their real names instead of their pseudonyms this time around in the album sleeves (no longer known as Jaie Jokhannaz, Dark-E, Joe Slaughter, Hashim Pestilence and Adjeez). Rock The World 7 today will definitely be a blast with Sil Khannaz promising to belt out two songs from this album and three classic tracks from their glorious past. Come one, come all to Stadium Merdeka this evening and let Ramzee, Azrin Daharie, Zulkifli, Neer Hashim and Mohd Afzal take you for a neck-breaking trip onboard the majestic extreme metal vessel that is Sil Khannaz.
4 souls that need closure
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Once and for all, please stop calling me a hoax. Or phony, or fraud, or Jared Leto, etc (especially the last one, since I can’t stand whiny emo studs). Not that I want to whine some more, but the fact remains that I have valid reasons for not being blog-active recently. First and foremost, I have been having problems connecting to the internet for the past FIVE days. Oh my god, It must have been the longest five days of my pre-adult life! (do I sound like an irritating prom queen or what?). People say that exams are over (I’m looking at you, Ayu), so there is no excuse for me not to post more often. Well, yes and no. Even though I don’t have papers to study anymore, I still have tons of work to do to complete my directorial film debut.
Talking about that, KARMA is in its final stages of editing and should be ready in time for its premiere tomorrow morning. I’m glad that after almost two weeks of running around, late nights and tireless effort being put in by the team, we are ready to launch our golden child, so to speak (who’s the father??). All in all, KARMA will be a 17-minute epic of spectacular proportions. Expect high doses of heart-wrenching drama, adrenaline pumping action scenes, top-of-the-line CGI effects, and the steamiest sex scenes ever to come out of the Malay Peninsula. Trust me, you WILL be disappointed. Watch out for this space, as I will post the entire short movie on youtube soon enough. I would expect nothing less than honest reviews; however heartbreaking those comments might be (I know where you live, people).
Also out tomorrow would be the Original Soundtrack to KARMA; a compilation of 15 tracks that gave inspiration and feel of the short movie. Yes, you heard that right, almost 70 minutes of music that inspired us to produce this movie in the first place. Just let me know if anybody is interested in getting a copy. By copy, I DO mean CD-R, of course. I will leave you guys with the credits for KARMA OST, just for you to get a general atmospheric feel of the movie and also how the soundtrack would sound like.
“Chillin’ In the Key of E”
Taken from the album “Hip-Hop Violin”
Performed by Miri Ben Ari
Courtesy of Universal Music
“Hip Hop is Dead (I killed it)”
Performed by Sindustry
Courtesy of Sindustry
“Soulfly IV”
Taken from the album “Prophecy”
Performed by Soulfly
Courtesy of Roadrunner Records
“Confession to Be Burried”
Taken from the album “Gallows Gallery”
Performed by Sigh
Courtesy of Baphomet Records
“The Tranquilizer Song”
Taken from the album “Gallows Gallery”
Performed by Sigh
Courtesy of Baphomet Records
“Gavotte Grim”
Taken from the album “Gallows Gallery”
Performed by Sigh
Courtesy of Baphomet Records
“Rise of the Pentagram:
Taken from the album “Thornography”
Performed by Cradle of Filth
Courtesy of Roadrunner Records
“Chamunda”
Taken from the album “Outcast”
Performed by Ektomorf
Courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
“Eyeless”
Taken from the album “Slipknot”
Performed by Slipknot
Courtesy of Roadrunner Records
“Satanic Chant”
Taken from the album “Pestapokalypse IV”
Performed by Belphegor
Courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records
“The Graveyard by Moonlight”
Taken from the album “Dusk and Her Embrace”
Performed by Cradle of Filth
Courtesy of Music For Nations
“Descending”
Taken from the album “Sacrament”
Performed by Lamb of God
Courtesy of Epic
“74261700027”
Taken from the album “Slipknot”
Performed by Slipknot
Courtesy of Roadrunner Records
“Death - Pierce Me”
Taken from the album “Death – Pierce Me”
Performed by Silencer
Courtesy of Autopsy Kitchen Records
“Karma”
Taken from the album “My Arms, Your Hearse”
Performed by Opeth
Courtesy of Candlelight Records
11 souls that need closure
