Weekly Recap: Feb. 14-Feb. 20

Oh man, what a week it has been. It's been another somewhat slow week for work. I did have a deposition on Tuesday. Other than that, it's just been a few research projects and crap like that.

Valentine's Day was nearly a total disaster. We had a little bit of snow and a whole lot of wind, which coupled with the snow made driving conditions extremely hazardous. My fiancee and I had plans to go to Omaha for the Lipizzaner horse show at 2:00 in the afternoon. We left around 10:30 to get there, we planned to get lunch and go to the show then come home early that night. Well driving through the hills proved a little treacherous and we did see a vehicle that had gotten stuck in a snowdrift. We made it to a small town about 20 miles east of home when we were stopped by an emergency vehicle roadblock. Apparently there was a seven car pile up a little ways farther east and we were told to park in the small town nearby and wait it out. Unacceptable to my fiancee. She was upset, so we took our chances, went back to our town and went south to try to get there. We made it about halfway when we were again stopped by an emergency roadblock. We again tried to get there by taking county roads and made it to North Bend where the highway was closed on both sides. We were stuck and my fiancee was devastated. It was already 2:00. I called the Qwest Center to try to get a refund knowing the chances were slim. They told me they could exchange the tickets for the later show that night. Eureeka. We managed to make it to Omaha by 4:30 after they opened the highway back up. We grabbed a quick bite at Subway, shopped for a little bit at Homer's Music Store and then went to the show. My fiancee loved it and her Valentine's Day present. The road back home was also a little iffy but we made it in one piece.

The CD player in my car stopped working Sunday which meant we had to listen to the radio most of the day. We found a 1980's hard rock station and listened to groups like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Billy Idol, and others most of the way home. Not bad, but not preferable.

I bought concert tickets for Lincoln in April to see Overkill, Vader, God Dethroned, Warbringer, Evile, and Woe of Tyrants. I'm excited to see those bands. Vader has been in Nebraska twice in recent years, once while backing up Nile and once on the Summer Slaughter tour and I missed them both times. I was pissed both times, but now I can see them. God Dethroned released one of my favorite albums of 2009. Overkill released a great disc this year and Warbringer and Evile are two great young thrash metal bands. Woe of Tyrants is the only band I am not familiar with.

I bought two albums this week from Enslaved, and albums by Arsis, Anvil, and Carnifex. My fiancee gave me the new Orphaned Land CD for Valentine's Day. It's a great album.

In metal this week:
Vocalist James Lee left Origin. That's a shame. Origin is one of the better technical death metal bands around these days. Lee had a distinctive deep death growl. Apparently the singer for The Faceless will be joining the band. I have no opinions on him at all.

This happened awhile ago actually but Harry Conklin has rejoined Satan's Host. He was in the band in the 1980's when they were a dark power metal band. Since Conklin left and focused on Jag Panzer, Satan's Host became a thrashy melodic black metal band. I am not sure what this means for Satan's Host. Will they become a dark power metal band again? Will they reissue their debut album? What will happen to former singer Eli? I actually liked Satan's Host's black metal stuff. I will keep an eye on this.

Mike Portnoy, drummer for Dream Theater, will be recording with Avenged Sevenfold. Blech.

2/14-2/20
Amon Amarth: Versus the World Bonus Disc
Angra: Temple of Shadows
Anvil: Forged in Fire
Arsis: Starve for the Devil
Black Sabbath: Heaven and Hell
Carnifex: Hell Chose Me
Charred Walls of the Damned: Charred Walls of the Damned
Cradle of Filth: Nymphetamine
Dark Moor: Beyond the Sea
Death: Symbolic
Dew-Scented: Incinerate
Dream Evil: The Book of Heavy Metal
Einherjer: Blot
Enslaved: Ruun
Enslaved: Vertebrae
Faith No More: The Real Thing
Force of Evil: Black Empire
Grave: Hating Life
Havok: Burn
I: Between Two Worlds
Immortal: All Shall Fall
Immortal: Battles in the North
Immortal: Pure Holocaust
Immortal: Sons of Northern Darkness
Impiety: Terroreign
Iron Fire: To the Grave
Iron Maiden: Powerslave
Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith
Kamelot: Ghost Opera
Katatonia: Brave Yester Days
King Diamond: Abigail
Laethora: March of the ParasiteLandmine Marathon: Rusted Eyes Awake
Motorhead: The Very Best of Motorhead
Opeth: Blackwater Park
Orphaned Land: The Never-Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Overkill: Horrorscope
Overkill: Ironbound
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder: Living for Death, Destroying the Rest
Satyricon: Rebel Extravaganza
Sepultura: Arise
Sepultura: Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation
Symphorce: Become Death
Testament: The Ritual
The Haunted: Versus
Toxic Holocaust: An Overdose of Death...
Vader: Live in Japan
Warbringer: Waking Into Nightmares
Warbringer: War Without End