Weekly Working From Home Playlist

 I took tomorrow off for some much needed rest and relaxation but I am still going to post my picks of music I plan on listening to during the work week.

Albums:
Ad Infinitum: Chapter 2 - Legacy

Amaranthe: Manifest

Annalyn: A Conversation With Evil

Arooj Aftab: Siren Islands

Battle Beast: No More Hollywood Endings

BTS: BTS, The Best

Burning Witches: The Witch of the North

Crimson Sun: Fates

Daxma: Unmarked Boxes

DengeL: Promised

Dymbur: The Legend of Thraat

Eleanor: Downhearted

Geist of Trinity: Insanity

Ghost Cries: Purgatorium

Grand Finale: Everything Has An End

Ka Lia Universe: So Good

The KVB: Unity

Messgram: Eternal Craving

Metallica: The Metallica Blacklist

Revival of the Era: Nephthys

Rokugen Alice: Rein

Saeko: Life

Spiritbox: Eternal Blue

Tulip: High Strangeness

Violet Cold: Anomie

Vrain: Lord of the Lighthouse

Within Temptation: Hydra

Playlists:
Your Top Songs 2021

Bands I discovered From Unite Asia

My Favorite Artists/Bands I Discovered in 2021

Sounds of Asia: Heavy Metal

Sounds of Asia: Post Punk

Songs From Song Exploder

Music I Am Currently Listening to

Albums:












































Playlists:

My Current Favorite Songs of the Week

Happy Friday!It is a three day weekend for me (took Monday off) so I am in a really good mood. I am ready for the weekend. Here is this week's playlist. Enjoy!

Songs to Check Out:
"Holy Grail Saga" by Ghost Cries  

"Don't Give Up" by Grand Finale
"Sugartime" by Stomp Talk Modstone
"Leaving You Behind" by Anaria
 

Music I Have Listened to in November

 It is December now. Time for me to share with my readers the music I listened to in November. It was a good month for music. Finally got to hear new music by Ghost Cries and Grand Finale. I was not disappointed. I ended up buying a physical copy of Purgatorium by Ghost Cries. I also bought the new albums by ABBA and Ad Infinitum too (earlier in the month). Unfortunately I was let down by Imposter by Dave Gahan and Soulsaver. That album was boring and unoriginal. Lover the previous album but this one was not good. Glad I didn't buy a physical copy of it. Asides from Ghost Cries, ABBA, and Ad Infinitum, I have been obsessed with the Eternals soundtrack. It is my favorite score in the MCU.

ABBA: Gold Anniversary Edition
ABBA: Voyage
ACTORS: Acts of Worship
Ad Infinitum: Chapter 2 - Legacy
Adele: 19
Adele: 21
Adele: 30
Alan Walker: Different World
Alan Walker: World of Walker
Ancient Myth: ArcheoNyx
Anna: This Is My World

Beast in Black: Dark Connection
Bliss Illusion: Shinrabansho
Blutengel: Fountain of Destiny
Brandi Carlile: In These Silent Days

Camlann: The Forgotten Last Fragments
Chloe Flower: Chloe Flower
CL: Alpha

Damian Hamada's Creatures: Makai Bijutsukan
Dave Gahan (w/Soulsavers): Imposter
The Distillers: Sing Sing Death House
Dust in Mind: CTRL

Eleanor: A Circle of Lament
Eleanor: Downhearted
Eleanor: Breathe Life into Essence
Eternal Returns: Reprieved to Totality
Ethereal Sin: Time of Requiem Pt.1

Ghost Cries; Purgatorium
Grand Finale: Everything Has An End

Helalyn Flowers: Airesis
Helix: Bad Dream
The Horror Club: I Guess It's Not the End of the World

Ibuki: ExMyself
Ishtar: Rise

James Howard Newton: Raya and The Last Dragon
John Carpenter: Halloween Kills

Laang: Xinteng
Lovebites: Electric Pentagram
Lucid Express: Lucid Express

Makthaverskan: For Allting
Messgram: Eternal Craving
Messgram: Part of You EP
Metallica: Metallica
Mysterain: After the End of the Valley

Necronomidol: Vamjelseriter

Olivia Rodrigo: Sour

Pale Waves: Who Am I?
Paradigm Shift: Paradigm Shift: 1 - Genesis

Ramin Djawadi: Eternals soundtrack
Rikugo: Kuuhakuguri
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raise the Roof

Saeko: Holy Are We Alone
September Mourning: Volume II
Serenity in Murder: The Highest Dystopia
Serenity in Murder: The Eclipse
Serenity in Murder: Reborn
Silent Elegy: Gone With the Wind
Sin Isomer: Burst into Isomer
Sonicave: Rushing Hous
Spool: Spool
Sturgill Simpson: The Ballad of Dood and Juanita
Sun-El Musician: African Electronic Dance Music

Temperance: Diamanti
Twilight Blooming: Twilight Blooming

Vintersea: Illuminated
Violet Cold: Empire of Love

The War on Drugs: I Don't Live Here Anymore

Spotify Unwrapped 2021

It's that time of year when Spotify publishes users' listening habits for the year. Most of it was spot on but there was one list I had to take umbrage with, and that playlist is Your Artists Revealed. According to Spotify, my artists of the year is ABBA, Garbage, Chvrches, Brandi Carlile, Dolly Parton, Japanese Breakfast, Allison Russell, Valerie June, and P!nk. I was not able to post the actual playlist on my blog. I just get a very generic playlist. Maybe it was set up to be only seen by the user. Anyways Spotify's idea of artists of the year for me is a joke.

I am not sorry when I say this but the new releases from Garbage, Chvrches, and Brandi Carlile were not that interesting. I listened to them a few times and lost interest within a month of their release. I am not sorry for admitting to the fact the albums were dull. I really didn't listen to a lot of the other artists this year, maybe here and there but not as often as the metal bands I have been listening to on a daily basis.

My artists of the year according to me (this is just based on my Spotify listening habits, there are other artists I listened to but they are not on the streaming platform):
Black Kirin
Blodwen
Gallhammer
Mysterain
Onmyo-Za
Serenity in Murder
Silent Elegy
Sonicave
Undead Corporation

My Top 101 Songs for 2021 is a lot different. I would post it here however every time I tried to copy and paste it, the playlist I see is not mine but a generic playlist again. It has songs by artists I can't stand (i.e Avril Lavigne) or do not know WTF they are. 

Here is some of my top songs for 2021:
01. Icarus by Liv Moon
02. Phantom Blood by Unlucky Morpheus
03. Graceful Gate by Cross Vein
04. Forever Young by Blutengel (Alphaville cover)
05. Itsumo Nandodemo by Imaginary Flying Machines
06. Valkyrie by Silent Elegy
07. Something In Your Eyes by Steps
08. Stay the Night by Schonberg

09. Link by Mardelas
10. Cycle of Addiction by TELECiDE
11. Noticed This is the Betrayal by Serenity in Murder

12. Faded by Alan Walker
13. The Furthest Distance by Silent Elegy
14. Oriental Symphony by Gyze
15. The Song by Black Kirin
16. Nobody Knows by Grand Finale
17. Forever Love by Mary's Blood
18. Leaves Burned to Ashes by Serenity in Murder
19. Blue Romance by Blodwen
20. Apocalypse by Mardelas

My Top 5 genres I listened to in 2021:
01. Symphonic Metal
02. Kawai Metal
03. Chinese Metal
04. Darkwave
05. Visual Kei

My Top 5 Podcasts I listened to in 2021:
01. Homecooking
02. Dateline
03. Keep It!
04. The New Abnormal!
05. The Vanished Podcast

While Homecooking pretty much ended in December 2020, I love listening to the limited series food podcast when I need some joy in my life while working from home during the day. Earlier this fall I just got tired of podcasts like The New Abnormal and Fake the Nation. I can only take so much political talk nowadays. Twitter is more than plenty. 

So that is for my year in Spotify but I have a lot more to say towards the end of the year when I cover all the music I listened to on Spotify and outside of that streaming platform. 

Album of the Week

Last week, one of my favorite metal bands from Japan released their long awaited third album Purgatorium. Their last album Deorum Festum was released in 2017. I became a fan of Ghost Cries when I found the band on YouTube with their video for Lost Reverie. I eventually bought their second album Deorum Festum this past spring which is a solid metal album. Earlier this fall I discovered the band was going to put out their long awaited third album Purgatorium. I was excited. The album dropped last Thursday on Spotify and I have been listening to it every day. The long wait for new music from the Japanese death metal band was so worth it. According to the band's website , the band has a new vocalist Any (replacing Coco who left in 2018) as well as new bassist Yua and Elly on keyboards. I definitely could hear the change in the band's sound the first time I listened to Purgatorium. I definitely enjoy the band's first two albums but I think Purgatorium really ups the game for the band. The production value is so much better. There is a more symphonic element to the music I barely heard in their earlier music like in songs like "Holy Grail Saga" and "Phantom of the Kingdom" . "Phantom of the Kingdom is my absolute favorite track on the album. I bought quite a few albums from Japan (and Asia in general) this year and Purgatorium is definitely one of my top 5 favorite purchases. 

Playlist of the Week

I love that it is almost December because in December people start putting their lists of their favorite albums, artists/bands, songs of 2021. Last week, I compiled a playlist of my favorite artists/bands that I discovered in 2021. 2021 was an incredible year for music for me because I decided to start exploring the heavy metal scenes in various regions in Asia. Some bands are missing on my Spotify playlist because they are not on Spotify [DengeL, Ancient Myth's latest album ArcheoNyx, Ephemerality, Ritual Day, Twilight Blooming, Chimeras, etc...etc...]. 

Songs/Bands to check out:
"Holy Grail Saga" by Ghost Cries
"Prajna" by Bliss-Illusion
"Tears in the Rainbow" by Damian Hamada's Creatures
"Prophecy" by Sonicave
"The Song" by Black Kirin
"Blind My Eyes" by Gallhammer
"Fragments" by Undead Corporation