Well we are getting closer to the end of the semester, but I am still not tired of the opener for the show. Next week will be my first planned show in awhile which will be interesting. I’ll be covering all the Nightwish albums and trying to find the best albums for each of the three singers the band has had.

I haven’t been listening to a lot of new 2021 metal this week so expect a lot of 2020 metal in the playlist. For all the complaints people had about 2020 the music that was released last year was great. I will say that for all the complaints about the slow march of progress it seems that discovering new bands now is easier than it ever has been. Local DJ’s are no longer the de facto hit makers, but replacing the human touch with the algorithm has made it so larger bands continue to grow as these systems continue to recommend the same bands, but smaller bands don’t see the same growth. I would encourage all of you to take the time to find a few places that you like to read reviews, communities to talk about music, radio shows that play genres you enjoy, and try to be a little more engaged with the space than just listening to Spotify Discover Weekly.

I know that I said being a new artist now seems better than ever, and I do believe that. You can now reach out to tastemakers via social media, interviews are easier to schedule now that people are used to doing so many things via Zoom/Discord/Skype versus before where all interviews had to be face to face. Still the biggest challenge that new bands face is just getting people to move out of the recommendations tab and to explore what is actually new and going on in the genre. I do try my best to discover new music, and anymore the most fun I have with music is talking about cool new releases with friends. I appreciate that I am lucky enough to have a space and friends that share the same passion for metal that I have and that I am able to turn to them to find so many great new bands.