Revolver 2007...

OhMyGosh...

It's Ryan.

With Peter Furler-esque eyeliner.

With three other screaming guys.

Whom are not bald...

And I thought Ryan was intimidating before...

He's downright terrifying with eyeliner...

Eeeee!

Hai!

It's December, finally! Hooway!

Buut that's not why I have called this blob (er... blog) to order.

I had a SQUEEEEEE moment two nights ago.

Yes, it is DH-related.

Firstly, I kindly request you click THIS link. THIS one. Right HERE. <--- any one of those capitalized links can be pressed, they all go to the same place. *ahem* Anyway.

So, we have a Target store here... it's on a big, bustly main road, far from my house but still within driving distance. Friday, for the first time since probably last Christmas, we got a chance to stop at our local Target.

Why? See the link! The brothers Clark have designed Target gift cards! And they're LEGO-based, no less! :D :D

So I scoured the place while still staying with my party of three (ahem, my mother, sister and I). Didn't find ANY. :(

So I tweeted that I wasn't able to find one... but lo and behold, Mom comes out (we had left to the car early, seeing as it was boiling hot in there... ugh!) with the card I'd been looking for! :D

But, I did discover, to my shock and eternal joy... fifteen minutes of Invisible Creature fame!

See the second entry in their Twittersphere section of their site?

I ee-d when I saw it. I literally eeeeeeee-d.

And all for THIS little doggy LEGO creation:

Was it worth it?

I say it certainly was.

CZYA, yo.

Bleh

Hi. I'm seriously bored.

So I'm creating my own little survey thing.

And btw? I'm gonna keep talking about this subject until someone strangles me. :)

And remember - all of this is a matter of opinion. :)

Demon Hunter - eponymous album

Favorite Track: Through the Black

Favorite "Ballad:" The Gauntlet

Most Thought-Provoking Lyric: "Anything you hate/Will be the root of everything you breathe." - Turn Your Back and Run.

Best Track Music: Screams of the Undead

Best Track Lyrics: Infected

Summer of Darkness

Favorite Track: The Latest and Last

Favorite "Ballad:" The only one - Heartstrings

Most Thought-Provoking Lyric: "We'll take our voices/With our hands/We'll make like knives/We'll make demands." - Not Ready to Die

Best Track Music: Annihilate the Corrupt

Best Track Lyrics: Heartstrings

The Triptych

Favorite Track: Undying

Favorite "Ballad:" One Thousand Apologies

Most Thought-Provoking Lyric: "So lost in your addiction/The solemn comfort of your grave/(If you) close your eyes,/The light can't take it away." - Not I

Best Track Music: Fire to My Soul

Best Track Lyrics: The Soldier's Song

Storm the Gates of Hell

Favorite Track: No Reason to Exist

Favorite "Ballad:" Thorns

Most Thought-Provoking Lyric: "This war is a page unwritten/But we know how it ends." - Fiction Kingdom

Best Track Music: Sixteen

Best Track Lyrics: A Thread of Light, tied with Grand Finale

The World is a Thorn

Favorite Track: Lifewar

Favorite "Ballad:" Blood in the Tears

Most Thought-Provoking Lyric: "Sons and Daughters/Pray for the rain,/May it redeem their eyes." - Shallow Water

Best Track Music: Just Breathe

Best Track Lyrics: Desire the Pain

--

See? :)

Boredom at its finest.

Speaking of DH, though...

Enjoy. :)

CZYA, yo.

Utopia Training

Okay. I'm really bored so I'm gonna blog about more DH stuffs. Feel free to strangle me - it's all I can think of to talk about. No, I ain't kiddin'.

I had a four day weekend last weekend. Thursday was, of course, Veteran's Day (AKA, the anniversary of the signing of the World War I armistice). Friday... eh, long story. And of course, the normal weekend.

During these four days of utter bliss and boredom, I have learned more things about DH than I think I ever need to know... Yes. I'm well on my way, if I wasn't already, to becoming a hardcore Hunter. :)

Because of my nosiness, I have now learned about, among a whole buttload of other things, Invisible Creature - that it's what the Clark brothers do for a living and they're really, really good at art. I shall now show examples - some that are slightly relevant to you. :)

Yes, behold - Falling Up's Fangs! and Captiva. Yes, they did both covers. :)

Same with Hawk Nelson. Though Hawk Nelson Is My Friend looks like something they create normally... if you could ever call the Clark brothers normal.

Okay, I really don't know if they created this cover (they may have...), but look hard at the guy being "brought up" - it's supposedly the Don side of the Brothers Clark. But I'll leave it up to you to decide. ;)

OKAY - nextly, I learned more about Training for Utopia... Ryan and Don's first-ish band.

Is that Ryan in a cowboy hat? Yes it is.

The man had hair on his head in the nineties... it's a little terrifying, actually. But he's still Ryan. Screaming the way he did on the first DH album (less gritty), but still Ryan underneath. :)

I shall now leave you with an attempt to scar you using a Training for Utopia video. :)

CZYA, yo. :)

PIZZA: IT'S EXTREME.

Deep Thoughts...

Okay. Lettuce slow down for a moment, and ponder...

... what else? Demon Hunter.

Now, some people - my own mother is guilty of this and it was enough to place small doubt in me briefly - seem to jump to the conclusion that DH is the exact opposite of what they are - a light brightly shining in the darkness.

There are three immediate reasons I see for this:

1 - their genre. Come on, don't tell me you don't know anyone whom has a leery attitude when it comes to the metal genre of music. Same story with screaming in music.

2 - their logo/appearance. I personally love their logo - a demon head with a clear bullet wound in its forehead - because it's so original and different; plus, it is both subtle and extremely profound in the Christian sense. Some would assert, however that both that, and the fact that at least three out of five of the guys have their bodies quite tatted up (if you will) would obviously equal evil. Hmph.

And lastly,

3 - some of the lyrics. Listening to a certain line of quite a few of their songs out of context can often lead to misunderstandings. I see/hear that quite often in the songs themselves, too.

Heck, even they themselves have released a song dealing with authority figures that would go beyond openly condoning the music by outright trying to block kids (and by kids, I mostly mean teens) from exposure to such music. I show to you the second verse to said song, "A Thread of Light:"

You buried the chance in a self-righteous glance/So your sons and your daughters were safe./But your imperfect path/Is a heart made of glass,/And the world is a charming grenade.

See how bluntly they put the truth? Does that not strike you as refreshing? ;)

The whole song is extremely blunt and to the point. They even outright state the purpose of the band in the first verse.

Now granted, quite a few of they lyrics chosen are quite morbid in nature. Examples include:

- The chorus of "Thorns."

- "Everything Was White." All of it. (... no pun intended)

- The chorus and post-chorus (the only sung part) of "Our Faces Fall Apart."

- Break through the ribcage/And tear the heart out/Of everyone you love!

- Everything but the chorus and outro of "Infected."

- The whole meaning of "Carry Me Down."

And that's just to name a few.

At the same time, there are positive and strong lyrics as well. More examples:

- As demonstrated above, "A Thread of Light."

- The chorus of "Less Than Nothing."

- "Undying" is a good one, extremely positive and passionate.

- The bridge of "Grand Finale." So very, very beautiful and true.

- The rapid-fire prechorus of "A Broken Upper Hand." Yeah, boy!

- Won't bow to man/Won't bow to government/Won't trust a failed system of self-fulfilling lust.../

Again, just to name a few.

Now, most of this can be seen as a matter of opinion. It is all about perspective, and God, of course.

I leave you with this - a headscratcher as Ryan explains to us "A Thread of Light:"

"[Kids] can either be defined by worldly music, or by positive, Christ-centered music. Although some parents may hear our music and jump to the conclusion that we must condone evil because we have a heavy sound and the vocals can seem very abrasive, what they don’t know is that their kids dig deeper than that. Kids don’t stop at the appearance. They get into the music in a way that their parents could never imagine them doing. They learn about the band, meticulously read the lyrics, and they look to get something out of it. At an impressionable age, they may very well take to heart whatever it is they’re being told in a song. What we offer them is a Christian perspective. It’s just wrapped in a package that looks a little more aggressive than what you might be used to seeing in Christian music. And if you ask why we would appear that way, I would ask why your child is interested in listening to us. This kind of music can truly be a weapon against the spiritual warfare that kids face these days. I don’t want to knock other Christian artists, because they all have their place, but if we were speaking metaphorically, what kind of weapon would you call contemporary Christian pop, and what kind of weapon would you call Christian heavy metal?"

What do y'all think?

CZYA, yo.

We... are Bored...

No... I am not schizophrenic... :)

There is a certain car in our midst... he's not as cool as Torque, and he's not staying for too much longer, but I thought I might show him off before he shoves off.

His codename is Bouncy Tank - you may call him Tank. :)

Why is that his codename?

Cuz.

He's a Friggin'. Bouncy. Tank! ;)

He makes you feel like a seven-foot giant when you sit within him, aaand he bounces all over the place. Makes for a very interesting ride...

Anyway. I'm quite bored, so, uh... yeah. :)

I'ma bore you all with some semi-pointless DH trivia! Reaady?? OKAY!

This... is Ryan Clark, circa 2005. I love, love, love the shadow effect here.

He and his brother Don founded DH in 2001. This man is some kinda amazing - he screams, he sings, he plays guitar, he headbangs despite a noticeable lack of hair, and he apparently plays drums on RockBand (still kinda wondering why he didn't sing...)

And he songwrites pretty dang well, too. As well as a very affable chairspinner. ;) Can you tell this guy's my favorite DH-er?

Photo courtesy of Demonhunter.com

This... is Patrick Judge, one of the two newcomers to DH, circa 2010. His bandmates call him Patches. I like calling him Patchy myself. :)

He's a really, really freaking good guitarist, and it shows on The World is a Thorn. Guitar solos left and right, man! He sounds thus far like the rest of the guys - really funny and really nice. He looks really emo-esque in official photos, sadly...

I wish I had more on this guy - he and Yogi are tied as my second favorite DH member.

Photo courtesy of Youtube.com

This here be Tim Watts, circa 2005... but everyone calls him Yogi. Everyone.

Yogi is... the sweetest drummer guy ever, really - maybe it's the bald head and red hair - and a realleh guhd drummer at that. You'd have to see it to really believe the nice part, in my opinion, because he can be an imposing presence... and there's no pun intended there. :)

My second favorite DH-er, tied with Patchy.

Photo courtesy of Demonhunter.com

This is Jonathan Dunn, circa 2010. He's DH's bassist and he has really cool hair.

And he just ruined his iPhone. :P *cough* Anyway.

Jon's been in DH forever... like Ryan, except maybe not as long. He apparently also did not want to play Rock Band... he's weird like that. But yeah.

Photo courtesy of Jesusfreakhideout.com

And last but definitely not least, this is Ryan Helm, circa 2010. I differentiate between him and de other Ryan above by calling him Helm.

He has ACTION DREADS, as demonstrated in the above photo. When he headbangs, his hair goes everywhere. Provides some really, really cool shots alongside the guitar he's playin'. It was a cool point in the Collapsing music video - slow-motion shots of his dreadlocks flying everywhere.

It's really kewl.

Photo courtesy of Jesusfreakhideout.com

And the honorable mention:

Don Clark! Ryan's brother... circa 2005. He left in 2009. :( He used to be a guitarist for DH, but no more.

I've seen videos of him. His voice is deeper than Ryan's... Hmm...

But anyway, he did help found DH, so I wanted to mention him. Because he's still cool.

Photo courtesy of Demonhunter.com

And now, I leave you with this:

Why is there bacon in the soap?

CZYA, yo.

*Cough*

*shuffles in*

*coughs into fist*

*crickets*

Uhhh... hi.

WOW, this place is dusty! *sweeps hand across cobwebs* MEEHHHHH! COBWEBS!

*deep breath* Yeah. It's, uh... good to be back in old digs...

What has changed, you ask, besides the blogging right now thing? Well...

I'm a junior in high school. I'm sixteen now, I can drive (I CAN FRIGGIN' DRIVE!!), and Torquie and I go up and down the roads now, terrorizing people with my loud Demon Hunter blasting.

Which leads me into another thing - I'm turning into a Demon Hunter fanatic. It's strange how detracting myself from the nb has driven me into... harder rock. Like metal...

I'm not entirely sure why I'm a Hunter now. Perhaps it's because it's so different from what I had been listening to. Perhaps because it calms my nerves. Perhaps because Ryan Clark's voice rocks. Who knoweth.

I have also changed youth groups and I am quite content where I am in terms of that. My new youth leader is the bomb. And a sweetheart to boot. *cough* anyway.

I leave you with this:

Have fun with that.

CZYA, yo.

New Year?

2010 is here,

And I predict I will blog even less than I do now. ;)

Hey, if I break that prediction, that's great, but I highly doubt that at this point. :(

Sooo... what's changed with me?

Well, my newsboys fandom? It has decreased... extremely quickly.

The addition of Tait has... caused massive damage to my impression of the nb.

I can't even listen to one of their songs anymore (I have now taken off all but three newsboys songs off my iPod - out of 247).

And even those three, I doubt I'll listen to.

And since the nb destroyed themselves, tons of great things have happened! Not the least of which you have heard about that happened last March... *wink wink*

As all of you know, Torque has come together beautifully and I can't wait until I have mastered the art driving sticks (bad pun? Opinions!).

And as the playlist now demonstrates... my favorite band has been changing since the nb have destroyed themselves. To Skillet, to Falling Up, to RED, to Skillet again, and now... Demon Hunter!

I know. I'm a ball of spinning unpredictability. I have become more fond of... screamo. What? It's fun! All the more fun to figure out what they're screaming and... whisper... along with it. XD

Of course, DH is one of those metal bands that blends melody with their thrashing. And I have to say, it makes for great music. Try some of their stuff! For those who are not netsirK or Smitty, I recommend softer songs like "Thorns," "My Heartstrings Come Undone" (<- most beautiful song ever made by a metal band), or "One Thousand Apologies."

As for netsirK and people with her musical tastes... I recommend "Storm the Gates of Hell" (their only song that is ALL screaming), "Infected," "Through the Black," and "Undying."

Be warned - "Infected" and "Through the Black" are on the original album, which is done in C (musical scale!), and from the sophomore album onward, they do all their songs in B. Went one lower! ;) So... it's gonna sound slightly different.

And... I kinda killed my laptop. :O

So I'm on Dude. Indefinitely. Have to deal with his quirks until my other computer is repaired or I get a new one... *sigh*

Oh, well.

What doth have changed for y'all?

CZYA