We’re in Nightwish realms. “Angels Fall First”

I don’t exactly remember when I first heard “Angels Fall First” by Nightwish but I remember the moment I bought it. I saw the cover of that album (it was on the slowly dying out tapes) and I thought that this little thing would be a great little gift for that someone in my life.
I bought it, wrapped and gave it and kinda went about my life.
I knew she liked the album as she told me so some time later but I was on a different discovery road and wasn’t paying attention to this band…
Until some time later when I heard a different song from different album it dawned on me that I never really got to listen to the album I had given as a little gift…
I thought it was kinda odd not to enquire further for so long but then, back in a day I used to go with my internal flow a lot and it’s a shame because I now know this album would fit perfectly into the winter scenery around me, the snow covered pavements, tress, fences…
The frosty cold getting to you and your bones with every beat, riff and every note that spilled out of Tarja’s mouth, and given the times female vocals were still somewhat a rarity, especially the ones who can sing on opera like scale.
Little I knew back then that this band would accompany me through many life journeys….
And as for the album itself… it’s calm and yet angry at times. The vocals very often appear to be sad, crying for help just to become more forceful and decisive.
You get plenty of gentle guitar weeps mixed with a lot of angry riffs and the basses laying the background nicely.
There’s plenty of keyboard magic as well as some Finnish influence so well mixed into the whole composition making you just sink and sink into the notes more and more with passing time.
“Angels Fall First” is the début album by Nightwish. It is simply an invitation for a fruitful journey of discovery you can not simply refuse and the whole creation is best listened in darkness, during cold winter night from the first sound to the very last sight of relief…
Just a tease from somewhere half way through…

Fallout 4 – DLC thoughts and such (late ones, I know).

 

Yes! I know! I know! I’m late! I’m always late these days, I reckon getting old and unwell has something to do with it but better later than never and those who are last shall be first… Or whatever saying, folk’s wisdom, or a biblical warning you’d like to insert here.
Having finished Fallout 4 the only thing left for me was restarting with a brand new character and set of rules ideas or wait for some DLC to be released. Alternatively doing something completely unrelated.
Well I set on grabbing second hand copy of Fallout: New Vegas but that’s a story for another evening kids.
Anyways. Since Bethesda mentioned something in their tweeter feed about tweaking the survival mode I decided to wait out and see what’s what before starting a new (preferably a female) character. In the meantime there were news of DLC dropping down soon(-ish) and sad news (for me) of increase in price of the season pass which I am yet to obtain as it never seemed like something urgent or really desperately needed given my budget. I wish I had asked for it as a Xmas gift but now it’s too late and I have got less than two weeks to fish out some caps for it or expect to pay up more when I have the dough and can spend it on the DLC. Well I could wait for some offer down the road (F4 GOTY Edition???) and try then but if I’d like to introduce the stuff as it comes along?
Well. The stuff itself. From what has been revealed to us I’m looking forward the most to May 2016 and the release of “Far Harbor” given the fact it’s going to be a completely new area with some quest and faction issues to solve and hopefully a heavy involvement from Nick, this package might be the icing on the too of already delicious cake. £19.99 is only five pounds less than what I’m expected to pay for season pass now. Its gonna be double the “Far Harbor” comes March.
I’m not much bothered by “Wasteland Workshop” as I think I’m missing out something completely obvious that’d be worth spending four pounds minus the penny. Yeah bunch of new items for settlements sounds like a cool idea but am I really gonna use it that much? Given the fact I’m still quite “young and silly” in terms of creating settlements I think I could live without that, and the addition of trapping creatures of all sorts just completely misses my senses of excitement and I don’t know why.
“Automatron” is the thing that would really excite my son, while I would be expected to hunt the myriad of robots he’d expect to be the main designer of new breeds of robotic wanders and I can see myself enjoying having some strange companions. The thing is we always run low on adhesive and if it us still needed to put them robots together I can imagine myself aggressively tending to my crops, mutfruits and whatnot to create a huge supply of vegetable starch. Ah the joys…
Since I’m only human that likes new things it’s always so common to weigh the pros and cons but I’m inclined to eventually grab that DLC season pass, only wondering what marketing trick Bethesda had in mind. Whether was it a case of “Hm…. John we don’t seem to have sold a lot of passes. Gotta trigger it off somehow” or “Well. Whoever wanted the stuff, got it already. The rest who is late will have to pay a bit more”.
Perhaps it was something else but that’s life and the issues relating to DLC, its content and pricing is always a slippery slope. At the end of the day the main product was sold to me in a lower price bracket I expected to pay for so I can’t complain for Bethesda taking this turn with their product. At the end of the day they left us two weeks to make our minds up and it is fair. It’s them that put that whole thing together.
I’m just sat here blabbing some sad nonsense to myself.

The Dead Zone – Stephen King

 

The action of “The Dead Zone” by Stephen King happens in the hot period of American rebellion. Career of their president is very fragile, students protest against the Vietnam War and that’s where we met John, a young teacher who is in love in another teacher, named Sarah.
One evening they go to a festival and John showcases his ability to predict things by winning the “wheel of fortune” what he doesn’t manage to predict is that the evening will finish quite bad for him.
As Sarah complains of not feeling well, John takes her back to her place and then orders a cab to come back to his home. He never gets there though as a terrible accident, where few fatalities occur, happens.
Somehow, John survives but he is in coma and he’ll be in this state for several years. Eventually when he wakes up after some years he realises that the world around him changed and soon he notices he changed as well.
John realises he posses magnificent skills as when he touches a person he is able to see the past and the future of a said person. As he develops the use of his unique skill, John starts to suffer from more frequent headaches and it is not helped by the fact his skills become a common knowledge. John feels trapped and he wants to find himself in the world that just isn’t his anymore…
This title isn’t one of King’s usual works. I’d put it more on a side of a thriller with not a lot of dread or horror there but the wat he builds the characters is quite unique and it creates the very common atmosphere that I got to like when reaching for King’s books.
Every single event, no matter how trivial appears to have an effect on how the action flows and each person has its own right to be in this book.
In “The Dead Zone” everything, no matter how out of place it might feel, and everyone, no matter how vague his or her person might appear are heading into one big dramatic ending that is masterfully created and led to in just the right speed without any unnecessary content.
The title is definitely worth the read if you like more down to earth thrillers with a bit of twist and if you happen to be a fan of Stephen King, this book is a worthy addition to your collection and a nice change of pace that allows you to appreciate how talented King is and how well he can keep you guessing till the very end.