Dead Can Dance - Labyrinth

Dead Can Dance – Spirit

Even before giving the lyrics a thought, this song felt like a statement of some sort. A constant and solemn bass finds an equal partner in the subdued percussion. Then, luminous chords accompany Brendan’s evocative voice while delivering his homage to life.

This is what I consider a well-written song. It’s a space where both music and lyrics accompany each other in perfect harmony. That is not to say that songs without lyrics have it easier: they must accompany music with… other music.

ITER

Energy in 2019: Fusion, Fission and More

Mentatul Monthly Focus
March 2019 Edition
– Energy –

Fusion is the holy grail of energy generation. It’s clean and the necessary fuel, hydrogen, is literally everywhere. Unfortunately, replicating the Sun’s mastery of fusion isn’t exactly a piece of cake.

1. The largest investment our species has banked on fusion is using a technology called tokamak. Unfortunately, the experiment called ITER is not doing very well.

2. Can we get lucky with the other type of fusion reactor, the stellarator? There’s good news about Wendelstein 7-X.

3. How can supercomputing help us?

4. Is clean(er) fission energy possible? Is Thorium worth it?

5. Renewable energy trends for 2019.

Hybrid - I Choose Noise

Hybrid – Dream Stalker

You close your eyes, you fall asleep. There, where your awareness flicks out, they await… the Dream Stalkers. Inquisitive beings roaming the echoes of our consciousness, prodding, analyzing, recording, riding through the synapses.

Oh, how they enjoy the chaotic festival of our dreams; surreal emotions, exotic adventures and delicious madness. They feast off the imagination engine that is our mind.This is their song – a ruthless mechanical march punctuated with ghostly interventions. And yet, this is an atmospheric piece, otherwise I couldn’t have summoned the words above.

Zero Cult - Closer Than Ever

Zero Cult – Penetration

Flow rather than dance, soar rather than fly, live rather than listen. Follow the mystic chants inviting your imagination for a dance through nourishing beauty. It may be dark and overwhelming at times, but no story is without contrast. And when that gateway opens and shines its vibration through your every fiber, you know you’re on the right frequency.

This ritualistic, hypnotic dance could impress 37-dimensional alien priests. It powers through the multiverse with bursts of lower vibrations and then begs entrance to the Quantum Cathedral of Everything and Everytime by beaming her voice through every consciousness that ever truly understood its innocence.

Enjoy Capitalism

Thank You, Capitalism. It Could Be Worse…

My readers know all too well that I’m no fan of capitalism. Throughout the past years I’ve attacked several attributes of this economic system (consumerism, the stock market, income inequality). This year, I’m about to step it up a notch, going into how capitalism has facilitated the slow and insidious rotting of most democratic countries. I intend to write about how a broken economic system can drag down education and create immeasurable suffering on a planetary scale, most of which is hidden from sight by the mainstream media so that the machine can keep marching.

But this doesn’t mean that I lack appreciation towards the enormous benefits that have burst from the minds of countless entrepreneurs who, thanks to a free market, succeeded in advancing our culture and civilization. After all, I write these words using capitalist products!

Capitalism is just another system that evolved from others before it. Perhaps it’s not the fairest, but it’s definitely more efficient than some that existed before. The gradual development of economic systems that has given birth to capitalism also implies that capitalism will not be the last economic system. And that’s precisely why I’m writing about its flaws. It’s not because I hate it, it’s because there are things that I believe can be improved.

Clawfinger

Clawfinger – Two Sides

One day, this song will be reviewed outside the unfortunate social context from which it emerged, a social context where it really had very little chance of earning the accolades it deserved. That’s because this rallying call against organized religion was, is, and will continue to be for some time, a dangerous song.

And when that day comes, this song will win prizes. A great many of them. A prize (and the most important one), for lyrics that don’t miss a single syllable. It’s just one unrelenting, harmonious but unforgiving stream of rhymes. Another prize for diverse orchestration and the way spoken word, heavy riffing and a redeeming choir are fused together in a celebration for freedom and intellectual evolution. And another bunch of prizes for the band releasing this as early as they did, for touring it and for doing what they could to wake their peers up.

KoRn - Issues

KoRn – Falling Away From Me

Angst and frustration sometimes need channeling. This is where such a song comes in, opening a gateway to a realm where such energies can not only live, but thrive and flourish into devastating beauty. There are no “wrong” feelings, and beauty can arise from any feeling.

KoRn have masterfully created a niche for themselves, one they continue to dominate even now, 25 years away after the release of their first album.