Funeral in Heaven / Plecto Aliquem Capite – Astral Mantras of Dyslexia (25 February 2012, Dunkelheit Producktionen)
Isn’t the internet an awesome thing? I mean, seriously. For those of us who are old enough to remember what life was like before, how much awesomer is it now that you have instantaneous access to pretty much any information you could ever want, anytime, anywhere? Compared to back when you had to rely on just what you could find in books at the library — during the hours when the library was open? Or, how much more convenient is it to be able to buy pretty much anything you can imagine, from any store anywhere — instead of having to physically go to your local store, again only during the time they were open, and settle for whatever they had to sell you?
Out of all of these things, though, probably the greatest benefit of the internet is not being able to find whatever you are looking for, but rather finding shit you never even had any idea existed. Stuff you wouldn’t have dreamed about existing. Now that we are able to communicate with all sorts of people all over the world, it’s amazing what sorts of craziness we now have access to. Take music, for example, because obviously that’s what I’m eventually getting around to talking about. Growing up, my only option was to go to the local National Record Mart or Camelot Music (both of which closed up shop ages ago, by the way) and browse through whatever tapes or CDs they had on their shelves. I was able to hear some songs on the radio or on MTV, and if there was one that I especially liked, I could see if that album was in the store (and hope the rest of it was good, too). Occasionally, I could rely on friends to introduce me to some things that I might not have heard elsewhere. But mostly, I had no real way to discover new music aside from just randomly buying something and crossing my fingers. Not being particularly wealthy, I wasn’t usually able to take risks like this, unless I was digging through the clearance bin (which did result in a few winners, but not often).
Nowadays, though… our musical options are literally endless. There are so many places where you can sample new songs, new albums, new bands, even entirely new GENRES. I never would have imagined that so much variation existed out there, or that I’d ever have the ability to be directly in touch with fans and bands from every corner of the globe! Even without the internet, I knew about metal bands from places like Germany, Sweden, or Brazil, but in recent years that has definitely expanded to include way more parts of Europe, South America, Russia and the Far East, and even parts of Africa. More recently still, the spotlight has increasingly been shone on the Middle East and India, and I am just ecstatic at the expanding knowledge I am gaining and the way my worldly musical experiences are growing ever wider.
Today, I am listening to a split release from two blackened metal bands from Sri Lanka, and if I’m not mistaken, this is the first music I’ve ever heard from that island nation in the Indian Ocean. Naturally, I’m thrilled for the opportunity, and hopefully you will be too, so I am glad to share with you: Astral Mantras of Dyslexia, which consists of Astral Mantras by Funeral in Heaven, and Dyslexia by Plecto Aliquem Capite.
Valley of Steel 