Hello Heathens,

I continue to be surprised at how much good new music comes out each year as I’d think by now there wouldn’t be a lot left to some of the more formulaic genres of metal, but maybe at this point in time I have a good idea of where to go to find good new stuff and skip the chaff that comes out. It’s cool to see how in a time where it feels like most online communities are insane with infighting and purity testing, most of the music scenes that I follow seem to be chugging along talking about music and artists and avoiding most of the worst aspects of online drama that other cultures seem to have fallen to.

I’ve been playing more games this summer since it’s a little easier to pencil them into the schedule these days, and certain communities like World of Warcraft (WoW) seem like a never ending stream of “This is why we are mad a Blizzard this week” being the main focus of the conversation in those communities versus “Here are new albums out that I enjoyed.” I know this is a little bit of an apples to oranges comparison as we get more new music a week than WoW gets new content in a few months, but how communities choose to represent themselves online does a lot for how likely people are outside of those communities to want to engage with them. While I enjoy games (yes, even WoW) I do think that the online community for gaming is just less friendly and inviting than for music.

I wish I had something a little more insightful for this week, but the weird online difference between certain types of communities is something I’ve talked about a lot with friends so why not try to post some more thought out points here? Anyways here are two playlists since I never uploaded this post last week.

Keep heavy the Sabbath day.
6.8.21 Playlist
6.1.21 Playlist