A Particularly Precipitate May Roundup

Tags

A Sad Sadness Song, AFM records, Agonia records, Altare Productions, Atavism records, ATTALLA, BAT - Wings of Chains, Blood Harvest, Brutus - Wandering Blind, Candelabrum - Necrotelepathy, CARDINALS FOLLY - Holocaust of Ecstasy & Freedom, CAUCHEMAR - Chapelle Ardente, CREMATORY - Monument, DRIVE SHE SAID - Pedal to the Metal, ECLIPSE - Armageddonize Deluxe Edition, Enligthen - Illvmantithesis, Flotsam And Jetsam, FORGED IN BLACK – FEAR REFLECTING FEAR, Frontiers music, GLORIOR BELLI - Sundown (The Flock That Welcomes), Head of the Demon- Sathanas Transmigestos, hell's headbangers, Ill Omen (Australia) / Slaughtbbath - Pestilential Hierophanies, IN MOURNING - Afterglow, Invehertex - Hacia el Vortice, Inverse Records, Invictus Productions, iron bonehead, Iron Mountain - Unum, Iron Savior - Titancraft, Kebu - Perplexagon, Kratos - Arlechino, Legion Blotan, Long Branch Records, LUCIFER'S HAMMER (Chile) - Beyond the Omens, Maleficence - Realms of Mortification, Necromantic Worship - The Calling, New Era Productions, Nordvis Produktion, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Orden Ogan - The Book Of Ogan, Osmose Productions, Peekaboo Primate - Misanthropical, POWER FROM HELL - Sadismo, Prag 83 - Metamorphoses, Prophecy productions, Purson - Desire's Magic Theatre, Qrixkuor - Three Devils Dance, Secret Entertainment, SEKTEMTUM - Panacea, Seventh Xul - Qliphothic Rites of Death, Shadow Kingdom, SHIRAZ LANE - For Crying Out Loud, Signal Rex, Signal Rex / Atavism Records, Sleep of Monsters - II: Poison Garden, Spinefarm Records, Steamhammer / SPV, Subliminal Fear - Escape From Leviathan, Suidakra - Realms Of Odoric, svart records, The Ajna Offensive, The Ajna Offensive / Invictus Productions, THE DEFIANTS, The Hypothesis - Origin, third eye cinema podcast, TREAT - Ghost of Graceland, Vainaja - Verenvalaja, Vetten Aparat- Syntyi Talven Kyynelista, WEIRD LIGHT - Doomicvs Vobiscvm, WHITE MILES - The Duel, Woddrea Mylenstede - Creda Beaducwealm, Ygfan - Kod

Well, with some unexpected baggage shed of late (the lead quote of the final review on that end should spell it all out for ya), we’ve had a bit more time to dig in on the music and film end of the equation.

As such, despite a fairly full roster of releases on the monthly roundup review cycle, we’ve been able to get this month’s batch of worthies covered and up and running a week earlier than usual.

So let’s turn life’s lemons into lemonade, and all that feel good/keep on truckin’ positivity in the face of bullsh*t business everyone tells you, and jump right into it, shall we?

Prepare yourself for some surprisingly well crafted AOR and melodic metal, power, symphonic, gothic, thrash, Viking, doom, stoner, postpunk, EDM and even a few admittedly questionable black metal efforts (a genre that’s seen better months and in fact better days).

So without any further ado, we present the May Roundup for your perusal and delectation…

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An Astronomically Ample April Roundup

Tags

ABHOMINE - Larvae Offal Swine, ABYSSIC - A Winter's Tale, AFM records, Agonia records, Akem Manah - Demons Of The Sabbat, Alexanred - Zombie Virus, Altare Productions, Angertea - Snakes in Blossom, Artery Recordings, Beastmaker - Lusus Naturae, BIRTH OF JOY - Get Well, Black Lodge Records, Blakk Old Blood - Greed, Blakk Old Blood / Black Devotion, Blood Ceremony - Lord of Misrule, Blood Harvest, Cadaveric Fumes - Dimensions Obscure, Candlelight Records, Chains / Suton - Balkanian Narko Doom, Chaos Moon - Amissum, Church of Misery - And Then There Were None, CIRCUS MAXIMUS - Havoc, Clavis Secretorvm, COFFIN LUST - Manifestation of Inner Darkness, Crisix - From Blue to Black, DARKESTRAH - Turan, Darvulia - Mysticisme Macabre, De Tenebrarum Principio, Deathcult (Switzerland) - Demo '12, DELAIN - Lunar Prelude, Devils Gun - Dirty n Damned, Dissociated Records, Dream Death - Dissemination, DUST BOWL JOKIES, Ectovoid - Dark Abstraction, Edged Circle Productions, Eisenwald, Ensiferum - Two Decades of Greatest Sword Hits, Entheos - The Infinite Nothing, Fake Moss - Under The Great Black Sky, FROM THE DEPTHS - From the Depths, Frontiers music, fubear., GALLOWER - The Witch Hunt Is On, Goatess - Purgatory Under New Management, Goetic Equivalent, GREENLEAF - Rise Above The Meadow, Hatespirit - Blood & Poetry, hell's headbangers, Hells Headbangers / Osmose Productions, Hellsingland Underground - Understanding Gravity, Hellthrasher Productions, High Roller/ Skol Records, HITTEN - State Of Shock, Howls of Ebb - Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows, Human Fortress - Thieves Of The Night, ICE WAR - Dream Spirit, Ifrinn, Ihsahn - Arktis, Impurity (Brazil) / Sex Messiah - Vomiting Blasphemies Over The World, Inverse Records, Invictus, Irkallian Oracle - Apollyon, iron bonehead, Ithaqua (Greece) - The Black Mass Sabbath Pulse, Izegrim - The Ferryman's End, JESUS CHRUSLER SUPERCAR - 35 Supersonic, Kawir - Father Sun Mother Moon, Khroma - Stasis, Kuoleman Galleria - Kärsimys Kunniaan, Listenable Records, LITA FORD - Time Capsule, Long Branch Records / SPV, LORDS OF BLACK - II, Lucifericon - Brimstone Altar, Mad Hatters Den - Excelsior, Magick Touch - Electrick Sorcery, Malokarpatan - Stridžie dni, Massacre records, MOB RULES - Tales From Beyond, Morbus 666 - Ignis Divine Imperium, Moribund records, Mystic Prophecy - War Brigade, Napalm Records, Near - Own Sun, Necrosic - Putrid Decimation, No Remorse Records, Nuclear Blast Records, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Obsidian Sea - Dreams Illusions Obsessions, Occult Burial - Hideous Obscure, OCTOBER TIDE - Winged Waltz, Ordem Satanica - Ventos de Odio, Ordo MCM, Paroxsihzem - Abyss of Excruciating Vexes, PHAZM - Scornful of Icons, PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND - False Highs, Poem - Skein Syndrome, Possession Productions, Prisoner of War - Rot, Putrisect / Scorched - Final State of Existence, Reckless Love - inVader, Relapse Records, Reptilian (Norway) - Perennial Void Traverse, Rise Above Records, Rodeostar / SPV, ROYAL HUNT - Cargo, Ruach Raah / Ordem Satanica - Tradicao Decadente, SACRED FEW - Beyond the Iron Walls, Sarvas, Saturnal, Savage Master - With Whips And Chains, Secret Entertainment, Serpentfyre / Dolentia, Shadow Kingdom, Spinefarm Records, Steamhammer / SPV, Steel Jungle - Soidinmenot, Surgical Meth Machine, svart records, Teloch - Thus Darkness Spake, Tendagruta - Ensalmo Do Sargaco, The Fog (Germany) - Perpetual Blackness, THE TREATMENT - Generation Me, THE UNGUIDED - Lust and Loathing, third eye cinema podcast, Throatruiner Records, Thunderstone - Apocalypse Again, Tombs - All Empires Fall, TOMBSTALKER - Black Crusades, Tombstoned - II, True Black Dawn - Come The Colorless Dawn, True Lows, Uada - Devoid Of Light, Unhuman Disease - De Templi Autem Veteris Serpentis, VERDUN - The Eternal Drift's Canticles, Vicisolum Productions, W.T.C. Productions, WALLS OF JERICHO - "Relentless", War Arts Productions, Wicked Maraya - Lifetime In Hell, Wild Kingdom, Winterhorde - Maestro, Wyrd - Death Of The Sun

Ever since our March Roundup arrived a week early, the virtual desk has been awash with one hopefully amenable if not awesome release after another (yes, you can tell the introduction’s being written before diving into all of this stuff…).

In point of fact, there are so many new labels and bands, not to mention a few returning champions here and there, that this may actually be the largest review cycle to date.  And being the glutton for punishment that I am, I say, keep ’em coming, folks.

Postscript: a few weeks later and about 80% of the reviews complete, all I can say is there must be something in the air.  Not only have there been a veritable landslide of releases to cover this month, but – and no, we haven’t gone soft all of a sudden – a surprising number of them are actually good.  And I mean across all genres.  

Say what the f***?!?

Must be something going down, and it ain’t with us…

And when we find ourselves giving the nod to bands previously and deservedly slagged mercilessly…all we can do is shake our heads in pleased disbelief.

So if you’re ready for this one…

Time to kick it into full throttle.  Onward!

A Marvellously Mellifluent March Roundup

Tags

ADEPT - Sleepless, Aesthetic Death Records, AFM records, Agonia records, Altare Productions, Among The Prey - Only For The Blinded Eyes, ANVIL - Anvil is Anvil, APOKALYPTIC RAIDS - The Third Storm, BARBARIAN (Italy) - Cult of the Empty Grave, Bloodbound - One Night Of Blood, Cantique Lépreux - Cendres Célestes, Chestburster - Slime and Guilt, Decrepit Soul - The Command of War!!, Dream Demon Recordings, Droids Attack - Sci-Fi or Die, Eisenwald, EMBALMER - Emanations From the Crypt, Frontiers music, GOATPSALM - DOWNSTREAM, hell's headbangers, Ill Omen - Æ.Thy.Rift, Inglorious, Inverse, iron bonehead, Iron Mask - Shadow Of The Red Baron, K-X-P - III Part 2, KARMA TO BURN - Mountain Czar, KITTY IN A CASKET - Kiss & Hell, MAGNUM - Sacred Blood "Divine" Lies, Magrudergrind - II, MILLENNIUM - Caught In A Warzone, Napalm Records, Neverworld - Dreamsnatcher, No Remorse, Nordvis Produktion, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Panopticon & Waldgeflüster, RAGNAROK - Psychopathology, Relapse Records, Riff Reaper Records, Rodeostar / SPV, Sinbreed - Master Creator, Steamhammer / SPV, svart records, Talmud Beach - Chief, The Last Vegas - Eat Me, The New Black - A Monster's Life, third eye cinema podcast, Turia - Dor, Veneficium (New Zealand) - Veneficium, Voidnaga - Demo MMXVI, Wishing Well - Chasing Rainbows

It’s the shortest month of the year, so not only are we bumping the monthly reviews up by a week, but we’ll try to keep things brief.

A Slightly Succinct yet Celebratory Solstice Roundup

Tags

Altare Productions, Aluk Todolo - Voix, Amber Asylum - Sin Eater, Anti-Flag - Live Acoustic at 11th Street Records, APOCALYPTIC WITCHCRAFT, Art of Propaganda, ATMF, Baphomet's Blood - In Satan We Trust, Black Blood, Bloodlash - Rain, Chaos Echoes - A Voiceless Ritual, Chaos Echoes - Duo Experience / Spectral Affinities, Chaos Echoes - Parisian Sessions / Rehearsal I, Darker Than Black, Escalane - The Days of Decay, Eternal Of Sweden - Heaven's Gate, Frost and Fire, FROZEN OCEAN – THE PROWESS OF DORMITION, GRAVEWURM - Doomed to Eternity, hell's headbangers, Hostium - The Bloodwine of Satan, Inverse, iron bonehead, Mons Veneris - Sibilando com o Mestre Negro, Nachtzeit - Dar Foddes En Langtan, Naora - Allir Vegir Til Glotunar, Nordvis Produktion, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Ostots - Hil Argi, Peace Killers, Prophecy productions, Reencarnacion - 888 Metal, Sacrocurse - Destroying Chapels, Scarecell - New Horizons, Secrets Of The Moon - Sun, Seer - Vol. 1 & 2, Signal Rex, Spinefarm Records, svart records, Temple Below - The Dark Goddess, The Ajna Offensive, third eye cinema podcast, Titaan - Kadingir, Wolfhorde - Towards The Gates of North, Wrathrone - Born Beneath

Much like last month’s Holidaze Roundup, we’re bringing our year end review roundup to you a few weeks early, so all of us can get on with the business of attending to whatever religious, pagan or occultic endeavors one’s personal experience of the season may entail.

Admittedly, there’s not a whole hell of a lot to dig into this time around, which is somewhat to be expected given both the temporary shift in review cycle to more of a mid-month appearance (don’t worry, we’ll snap back to normal once we make our way into the new year) and, once again, the fact that everybody’s out there celebrating in some manner or other (or doing their damnedest to pretend everything’s status quo despite all the buzzing activity around them – ridiculous I know, but some choose that option).

So without holding up anyone’s tree trimming, shopping runs, gatherings, get togethers or conjurations, here’s the last few new reviews for the year 2015.  See ya ’round the bend…

An Occasionally Ochletic October Roundup

Tags

21 Octayne - 2.0, A Sound Of Thunder - Tales From The Deadside, AFM records, Agonia records, Alda - Passage, Altare Productions, AMBERIAN DAWN - Innuendo, Ambush - Desecrator, Antimatter - The Judas Table, Aosoth / Order of Orias, AUDIOTOPSY - Natural Causes, Baron - Torpor, Black Lodge Records, Blood Harvest, Cold Northern Vengeance - Maelstrom, De Tenebrarum Principio, Deadheads - Loaded, Debauchery - F*ck Humanity, DECEASED - Cadaver Traditions, Denial (Mexico) - 11°22?.?4'N 142°35?.?5'E, Eïs - Bannstein, Edged Circle Productions, Eisenwald, ELECTRIC DEATHBEAT - DEAD ECHO PARANOIA, Frontiers records, Gama Bomb - Untouchable Glory, Gloria Story - "Beast Of A Northern Light", GLORYHAMMER - Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards, Gnosis (Florida) - The Third-Eye Gate, hell's headbangers, High Roller Records, HUNTRESS - Static, Inverse, Invictus Productions, iron bonehead, JACKSON FIREBIRD - Shake The Breakdown, JOEL HOEKSTRA’S 13 - Dying To Live, Killer Cobra Records, Lunar Mantra - Genesis, Lupus Lounge, LYNCH MOB - Rebel, Mad Neptune, MAGNUS KARLSSON’S FREE FALL - Kingdom of Rock, Massacre records, Märvel - "Love Machine", Månegarm - Urminnes Hävd - The Forest Sessions (Re-Mastered), MONSTER MAGNET - Cobras and Fire (The Mastermind Redux), Moribund, Napalm Records, Nuclear War Now! Productions, NYX - Home, O.S.I.R.I.S. - The Conquest of Planet Death - Vol 2, Onirik (Portugal) - Casket Dream Veneration, Pneuma Hagion - Trinity I, Prophecy productions, RATTUS - FINNISH PUNK VETERAN RATTUS MEXICO TOUR 2015, Ruach Raah - Hate Fanaticism, Sepulcher - Mausoleum Tapestry, SKINDRED - "Under Attack", Slægt - Beautiful and Damned, svart records, Tantrum - Devirginized, The Physicists - My Love Is Dead, third eye cinema podcast, Twisted Entertainment, Tyrannus, VARATHRON - The Confessional of the Black Penitents, Vehemence - Assiege, VHOD - Dreamcleaver, VOODOO HILL - Waterfall, W.A.S.P. - Golgotha, W.T.C. Productions, War Arts Productions, Wild Kingdom

Has your department been outsourced yet?

An Enervating End of Summer Roundup

Tags

ABIGAIL / SHITFUCKER - Bloody Your Lovely Pussy, Abominor (Iceland) - Opus: Decay, AFM records, Agonia records, AHAB - The Boats of The Glen Carrig, Altare Productions, AmoK (Norway) - Necrospiritual Deathcore, Antagonist Zero - No Tears, Ares Kingdom - The Unburiable Dead, AXIS - No Man's Land, Black .44 - No Blanks, Black Grail - Misticismo Regrisivo, BLOODWAY - Mapping The Moment With The Logic Of Dreams, Carma, De Profundis - Kingdom Of The Blind, De Tenebrarum Principio, Designs Of Chaos - The Darkest Storm, DIEMONDS - Never Wanna Die, Disfago, Edged Circle Productions, El Diablo y El Permiso de Dios, Embassy Of Silence - Verisimilitude, EVIL ARMY - Violence and War, hell's headbangers, HIGH POWER - Les Violons De Satan, High Roller Records, Horna - Hengen Tulet, House of Ashes, I Voidhanger Records, Inverse, Invictus, iron bonehead, Kaiserreich - Cuore Nero, Labyrinth Productions, Last Red Ransom, Lux Ferre - Excaecatio Lux Veritatis, MARE COGNITUM - An Extraconscious Lucidity, Massacre records, MIDNIGHT / SHITFUCKER, My Silent Wake - Damnatio Memoriae, Napalm Records, New Light Choir - Volume II, No Remorse, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Pentagram (Chile) / Unaussprechlichen Kulten - Ritual Human Slaughter / La Mujer, Procreation - Incantations of Demonic Lust for Corpses of the Fallen, Pyogenesis - A Century In The Curse Of Time, Sacrificium Carmen - Ikuisen Tulen Kammiossa, Sadistik Exekution - 30 Years of Agonizing the Dead, Saturnal, Scythe For Sore Eyes - Dawn Of a Darker Horizon, Shrine of Insanabilis - Disciples of the Void, Simulacrum - Sky Divided, Sinister - Dark Memorials, Stahlmann - CO2, TEMPLE OF BAAL - Mysterium, Tetragrammacide - Typhonian Wormholes: Indecipherable Anti-Structural Formulæ, third eye cinema podcast, To Die For - Cult, TODESSTOSS - Hirngemeer, Tyrannus, U.D.O. - Navy Metal Night, V FOR VIOLENCE - The Book Of V, Veiled - Omniscient Veil, Venefixion - Defixio, VI - De Praestigiis Angelorum, W.T.C. Productions, WASP - "Last Runaway", Wickerman Recordings, Witch Ghetto Productions

Well, that’s it, kids – that’s all she wrote.

Summer’s over, and all too many adults of personal acquaintance are struggling with job layoffs and benefit cuts (thanks so much, right wingers and corporate types, for devaluing the individual in favor of maximizing profits for the already bloated tenth of a percenter multinational moguls – you’ve given so much to the world).  Did I mention the farmer’s almanac, of all things, is predicting another bad winter?

As Laaz Rockit once sagely penned, “shit’s ugly”.

A Jocular July Roundup

Tags

AFM records, Altare Productions, BARBATOS (Japan) - Straight Metal War, Barshasketh - Ophidian Henosis, Black Feast - Larenuf Jubileum, Black Lodge Records, BLASPHEMIC CRUELTY - Crucible of the Infernum, Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom..., Blut & Eisen Productions, BONEHUNTER - Evil Triumphs Again, Borealis - Purgatory, Chaos Magic, chILL - Artificially Alive, DEIPHAGO - Into the Eye of Satan, DEMONA - 2015, DESTRUKTOR - Opprobrium, DIMINO - Old Habits Die Hard, Doomentor - The Second Ceremony, Draugurinn - Ísavetur, Eisenwald, Eldritch Horror - Untouched By The Sun, Enlighten - Phösphorvs Paramovnt, Falling From Grace, Falling From Grace - Shadows of the Past, Frontiers music, GLOWSUN - Beyond the Wall of Time, hell's headbangers, Imperial State Electric - Honk Machine, Insulter - Blood Spits, Inverse Records, Invictus Productions, iron bonehead, Iron Savior - Megatropolis 2.0, Massacre records, Moribund, Napalm Records, Nekro Drunkz - Absolute Filth, Nevoa - The Absence of Void, Nomans Land - Last Crusade, Nordvis Produktion, Nuclear War Now! Productions, PERVERSOR - Anticosmocrator, POWERWOLF - "Army Of The Night", Profezia - Black Misanthropic Elite - Moon Anthem, Psychout Records, Raise Hell - Written In Blood, Reverie (Denmark) - Bliss, Ross Bay Cult, SCYTHIAN (UK) - Hubris in Excelsis, Shroud of the Heretic - Unorthodox Equilibrium, Signal Rex, Skogen - I Döden, Spectral Lore - Voyager, Stellar Auditorium, Stilla - Ensamhetens Andar, The Answer - "Gone Too Long", THE V - Now or Never, Twisted Entertainment, UNLEASH THE ARCHERS - Time Stands Still, Uroun - Horror & Gore, Vardan - Between the Fog and Shadows, Various Artists - A Light In The Black (A Tribute To Ronnie James Dio), Violences and Insults, YES - Like It is - At the Mesa Arts Center, Ysengrin - Liber Hermetis

Boy, it’s been one hell of a month since last we convened our little circle of friends here.  Plenty of things happened, everywhere from the microcosm of personal life to the macrocosm of human life per se.  Definite scientific consensus that we’ve tripped the light fandango straight into another mass extinction event, anyone?

A Surprisingly Sunny Start of Summer Roundup

Tags

A Sad Sadness Song, A:S:Örchestra - Winter Rain, ABSCONDITUS - Kατάβασις, Abyssion - Luonnon harmonia ja vihreä liekki, Agonia records, Altare Productions, Amanita Virosa - Asystole, Art of Propaganda, ASIA - Axis XXX Live in San Francisco MMXII, AZAVATAR - S/T, Örök - Übermensch, BEAUVOIR FREE - American Trash, Black Lodge Records, BLAZE OF PERDITION - Near Death Revelations, Blood Harvest, Burning Point - S/T, Carnalation - Ghosts, Child of Caesar - Love in Black, CIVIL WAR - Gods And Generals, COAL CHAMBER - Rivals, Crystal Ball - LifeRider, Damnation Angels - The Valiant Fire, DEATHHAMMER - Evil Power, Demoncy - Empire of the Fallen Angel (Eternal Black Dominion), Dolentia - Iniciação Eversiva, Doom Snake Cult - Love Sorrow Doom, EBONILLUMINI - Arktos, Forever Plagued, Frontiers music, Graveworm - Ascending Hate, hell's headbangers, HOUSE OF LORDS - Indestructible, I, Imperial State Electric - All Over My Head, Inverse Records, iron bonehead, Iron Savior - Live At The Final Frontier, KAMELOT - Haven, Katechon - Coronation, Les Discrets - Live At Roadburn, Massacre records, Månegarm - Dödsfärd, Månegarm - Havets Vargar, Mefitic - Woes of Mortal Devotion, Midnight Eternal, Midnight Eternal - When Love and Faith Collide/Masquerade of Lies, MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY - Shards Of Silver Fade, Moribund, My Reflection - Dead Musician, MY SLEEPING KARMA - Moksha, Nahtrunar - Symbolismus, Napalm Records, Nekromanteion - Cosmic Horrors, No Remorse Records, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Pink Carnage - S/T, PRESENCE - Rock Your Life, Prophecy productions, Psychout Records, Satanic Ripper - Southern Black Spells, Sepultus - Svärta, Signal Rex, SIRENIA - The Seventh Life Path, Somehow Jo! - Satans Of Swing, STASH - A Matter Of Time, Sunset In The 12th House - Mozaic, svart records, third eye cinema podcast, Thornesbreed - GTRD, TITAN - S/T, TRIXTER - Human Era, UNLEASH THE ARCHERS - "Tonight We Ride", Vardan - Winter Woods, Vile Caliber - Tomorrow's For Those Who Dare, Voidhanger Records, Wickerman Recordings

I don’t know if it’s the onset of warmer summer weather, but suddenly releases are popping up out of the woodwork.  You can hardly blink for another pair of albums, EPs or singles coming in…and even more unusually, the bulk of them are really quite good.

So don’t get the misapprehension that we’ve suddenly gone soft here at Third Eye…it’s just a (sadly rare) case of a whole lot of folks stepping up to the plate and doing their damnedest to bat one out of the park.  Sure, there are a few grounders and a fly ball or two, but at least they’re not bunting…

Without any further ado, let’s get into what will probably be the most generally positive month of reviews you’ve encountered to date…and for those who don’t like to hear that, hey, I’m sure the usual big load of crap will resume next month!*

* Don’t take me up on that, guys…it was nice having such a good batch of releases for a change…