Plano Skywalker

Nevermore --Dead Heart in a Dead World (album) yesterday, I picked up "Storm of the Light's Bane" by Dissection, not really knowing what it was, from a used cd place. turns out that this is one of the most definitive black metal (or, arguably, "blackened death metal") albums of all time. the fast, hypnotic guitar riffs were so sweet....IMO, black metal is all about atmosphere and this album has some of the best atmosphere I have ever heard.

threads like this only serve to add to the problem of birthday thread clutter.

happy birthday.... (but I'm glad not all birthdays here are known as these threads are kinda lame :D )

Ephel Duath -- The Painter's Palette (album) good stuff, indeed

Fantomas -- Suspended Animation (album) this is, shall we say, different....but enjoyable nonetheless.

I think "Britney Spears with guitars" is a pretty good characterization. I do think that Linkin Park produces some good stuff, relatively speaking. Kind of like how Satyricon is, arguably, the Mozart of Black Metal. The overall genre may not be that great but there is some worthwhile stuff there.

Apocalyptica -- Reflections (album) ooooh yeah, this is some good stuff.

one of the things that makes it Nu Metal is the hip-hop influence.

right. basically, if you decide not to take someone, then you get the same content in a ship-to-ship transmission, holovid, etc that you would have gotten via dialogue with the party member you did not want. it really shouldn't be that hard to implement. having a pool of potential party members that is greater than your max party size makes for a TREMENDOUS illusionary open-endedness.

well, K2 was (probably) the first cRPG to use PST-style storytelling AND be in 3d, have full voice acting and FMV sequences. I really do like the idea that my pool of potential party members is greater than my max party slots (BG-style). I can see why they don't want to do that with today's games, but some of that would be nice.

well, KOTOR 2 used the same storytelling methodology as PST. That is one reason why characters could not die (well, they would have had to work harder at it, anyway). if the story is being told from mostly external sources, then the KOTOR way is not as important....I'm just hopeful for more K2/PST type storytelling (with the right adjustments).

I do like the KOTOR type system but with caveats....each "outer circle" character has at least one "vulnerability zone" in which said character can die. basically, there is even a cutscene for each outer circle character to die if they go to zero health in the vulnerability zone....they tell you certain things in their dying breath that they would have told you later anyway...etc. some characters are "inner circle" characters that are absolutely essential to the main plot....Kreia, for instance, was an inner circle character. such characters cannot die (although, the devs could do it Morrowind style but I would prefer they did not for a linear game). but there really does not need to be more than 1, 2, or 3 at the most, inner circle party members.

is HIM a good band?

that one went right by me.

yeah, I've heard the stuff he releases under the Mercyful Fate name is more "satanic" while the stuff he releases under King Diamond is more "horror show". Anyway, this album is pretty good atmosphere music.

King Diamond -- The Puppet Master (double album) not too bad, actually. EDIT: correction, the 2nd disc is a bonus DVD...not really a double album.

Opeth -- Deliverance (album) this is some of the best cookie monster out there...trust me.

Opeth -- Blackwater Park (album) excellent, BTW!

I picked up an "official bootleg" of Metallica today at a used cd place. The disk is called "New Skulls For The Old Ceremony". It is mostly cover songs and live cuts. However, most of the cover songs are also on the Garage, Inc double album.

what are your favorite albums of theirs?

no, I mean looking up a band on amazon.com, for instance, and it says "customers who bought this album also bought....". and you just follow the rabbit trail from there.

thanks for the suggestions...I did some poking around and also came up with this: Forced Entry, Anacrusis, Coroner, DRI, Hirax, Nuclear Assault, and Whiplash.

right, or think former Conderate soldier who doesn't want to kiss the ring of the conquering Union forces during Reconstruction and heads out West to carve out his own life. the premise is basically 19th century Western but the writing is very good.

I'm not sure I would characterize Mot

there is an interesting middle ground: used cd shops. sure, you don't get full value but you can recycle your not-frequently-used cds to some extent. I just don't like the idea of peer-to-peer piracy (and I don't like spyware and such either).