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Interview with Fellowship’s Matthew Corry and Callum Tuffen
By Eldritch Elitist
Anyone who knows me will know that I attended 2024’s Mad With Power festival in Madison, Wisconsin for one reason: Fellowship. While the opportunity to engage in lowercase fellowship with various friends and colleagues was enticing, I also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience the Fellowship: England’s rapidly up-and-coming power metal band, and an act that has been very special for me since their earliest days, performing their first-ever show in North America. Likewise, I wasn’t about to miss my chance to sit down with Matthew Corry (vocals and lyrics) and Callum Tuffen (drums and songwriting) and pick their brains about what makes Fellowship tick. On the day prior to this interview, I was fortunate enough to witness the band debut three new songs alongside the cover art and tracklist for their upcoming sophomore record, The Skies Above Eternity, which gave us much more to talk about than I had anticipated.
I was escorted backstage to meet Matt and Cal (by none other than Ty Christian, vocalist of Lords of the Trident and founder of Mad With Power), and was genuinely surprised to find that Matt, the little hobbit man who lives in my phone and sings directly to my soul through my earbuds, is basically as tall as I am – and I’m 6’3”. He and Callum greeted me as warmly as one might expect from a band famous for songs of camaraderie and self worth. When I told Matt that he and I had spoken on occasion through Twitter DMs, he responded with a delightfully genuine “Oh, right! Eldritch Elitist!” in what might be the highlight of my tenure at this blog. We then shuffled into a small, hot interview room; what follows are Matt and Cal’s own words, lightly edited for the sake of clarity and flow. I began by asking Matt and Callum how they came to headline an overseas festival with nothing but a debut LP under their belt.
Callum: “I spoke with Ty a bit about this. They like to bring in the bands that haven’t really “made it,” so I think that’s part of it. We’ve known Ty for quite a while, and he’s probably one of the most supportive guys in power metal today.”
Matt: “From what I’ve heard, a couple of years ago, shortly after our Fellowship EP first came out, people were already trying to get Fellowship over here. They saw Ty as “the method” for getting Fellowship over here within a couple of years, as opposed to having to wait five or six years for us to get big enough to be viable. They just kept poking Ty, and Ty, being the wonderful human that he is, said ‘you know what? Let’s try it.’ He emailed us and asked ‘are you guys up for it?’ And hell yeah, we were up for it!”
Callum: “I always had this fear that it wouldn’t actually happen, but here we are.”
Ty himself had actually covered Fellowship’s “Glint” on Lords of the Trident’s YouTube channel, long before they had signed to Scarlet Records or recorded their first LP. Matt has a small cameo in that video, so I’m curious whether that video happened before talks began for Fellowship to join the Mad With Power roster.
Matt: “Yeah, that was way before. After ‘Glint’ came out, Ty messaged us, initially saying how much he loved the song, and if we would mind if he did a cover of it. I sent him some files and he did the cover, which blew us away. I think that was the first…”
Callum: “It’s just crazy good, isn’t it?”
Matt: “Yeah, so good, and it was the first sort of ‘proper’ vocal cover of any of our stuff – which is difficult stuff. So there were immediately ‘buds for life’ kind of vibes. And then he started talking about the New Wave of Nice Metal Buds, which is so our vibe: positivity, support, all that jazz. And after that, I did a little opera video with him, for fun, and I got to show my cat to the internet. Around a year later, he emailed us saying ‘it’s time.’”
The New Wave of Nice Metal Buds that Matt refers to is Ty’s code of conduct, by which the festival is operated. It was created to promote kindness, inclusivity, and mindfulness within the Mad With Power community, and applies to the bands and fans therein. While it’s difficult to say whether this code of conduct is responsible for the festival’s atmosphere, it should be noted that the Mad With Power experience is indeed one of utmost positivity. In other words: The vibes are on point.
Since Fellowship’s inception, I’ve found it remarkable how well they balance their atmosphere of utmost sincerity against the cheese and excess of power metal, especially when similar bands – most notably Twilight Force – conduct themselves as if they are “in” on a shared joke with their audience. Cal and Matt had clearly considered this contradiction, as it stems from their unique songwriter-lyricist partnership.
Callum: “So… When I say Twilight Force is a huge inspiration for me, they’re not the only ones. In power metal, yeah, of course, they’re an inspiration for me. But I take a lot of inspiration from other bands. I don’t know if you’d pick up on the influence from our songs, but there are elements from bands like early Avenged Sevenfold, and a lot of older pop stuff, like Elton John and ABBA. I try to get across that it’s never meant to be ‘jokey,’ but at the same time, I wanted to make people feel happy, the way that kind of music makes me feel. All I can do is put out the best stuff I possibly can, that makes me feel good, and hopefully, it comes across that way to everyone else.”
Matt: “I think lyrically, this is one of those unique musical combos that I don’t think either me or Cal really expected, or would have sought out naturally. Cal’s music is not the type of thing that I would ever write, and I don’t think my lyrics are really the type of thing that Cal would immediately go for. But once we ended up putting them together, it became this symbiotic marriage. We never thought it would go crazy the way that it has, we never dreamed of coming to the States or anything when we first collaborated. I think the first thing we ever did together was record ‘Glint.’ That was almost like my trial for the band, in a way. And after the day of doing it, we just sort of sat around a pub. None of us had a drink, we just sat around a pub.”
Callum: “I think that was in London.”
Matt: “Yeah, that was in London! And we were just like… ‘Yeah, we made something really cool, didn’t we?’ When I first came into power metal – because I wasn’t into power metal, I am now, but I wasn’t at all when I joined the band – the music that everyone was making, and that Cal had sent me, was just so fundamentally uplifting. I didn’t want to take anything away from that. Cal has such a unique ability to convey really complicated emotions. There are a lot of really happy bits, and really sort of tense bits in Cal’s music, but because it flows so freely between them, it feels like just giving it one emotion would cheapen it somehow. So that desire to take it seriously, I think, is where we really align.”
I am intrigued by Matt’s mention that the recording of “Glint” was his first act as a member of Fellowship, and wonder aloud whether that recording was the version that made it onto their EP, and eventually their debut LP.
Matt: “Yep.”
Callum: “Mmm…”
Matt: “No?”
There is a bit of back and forth between Matt and Cal at this point about whether the adjustments made after the initial recording constitute a “different version” of the song, but their ultimate consensus is that what we hear on the record is what was recorded on day one. What’s even more interesting is that the rest of the band had never met Matt before that day. The official recording we have of “Glint,” as I see it, is the true beginning of Fellowship as we know them today.
Looking from the past to the future, I steer the subject to the newly announced album, The Skies Above Eternity. Specifically, I was curious about the press release’s mention of direct inspirations from the Japanese power metal scene, and how those ideas were incorporated while staying true to the Fellowship sound.
Callum: “So obviously, being such a huge power metal fan, I stumbled deeply into the Japanese realm, and I grew to love a lot of what they do harmonically. In my opinion, they do things quite differently from European and American power metal. They do a lot more intricate things, and they also delve further into neoclassical elements. I wanted to take a lot of influence from that and try to apply it to our sound without it being forced, if you know what I mean. And it wasn’t only power metal. I was listening to Japanese pop, and weirdly enough, they also do the same sort of harmonic things that are done in Japanese power metal; bands like YOASOBI, and other J-Pop artists. I tried to apply that harmonic style to our sound. We do it especially in ‘Hold Up Your Hearts (Again),’ and in ‘The Bitter Winds.’ That’s a real Galneryus-style song.”
At this point, I can’t help but remark that Galneryus is my favorite band, and – having heard “The Bitter Winds” live the day prior – that there are moments that remind me of Galneryus tracks like “Angel of Salvation.”
Matt: “Every time we’re in the car together, Cal tries to get me more and more into Galneryus. And every time we leave the car, I do add a Galneryus song to my Spotify playlist. I haven’t gone hardcore yet, but at the rate we’re going, I’ll get there. ‘Angel of Salvation’ was the first one Cal showed me where he was like ‘THIS.’
Matt makes an enthusiastic hand gesture to express Cal’s intensity towards Galneryus, implying a level of excitement with which I am all too familiar.
Branching off from our discussion of Japanese music, I ask Matt and Cal if there are any ideas on the upcoming album that feel risky, or that fans might not be expecting.
Callum: “Yes.”
Matt: “Yeah, definitely. I think after album one, we really wanted to make sure that… personally, I really don’t want Fellowship to be one of those bands that finds success with a sound and then never moves on. But I really want to make sure that we always have that fundamental joy that pervades the sort of “core” of what we do in everything. And I want – just personally, lyrically – I would love for each album to have just a slightly different ‘flavor’ of how we convey that joy, like ‘what’s an element of that joy we’re really tackling?’ The first album was very much about self-affirmation and self-discovery, finding oneself. This album is a lot darker. We have a song called ‘Victim,’ which, I think a year ago, no one would ever have predicted as a song title coming out of our band.”
EE: “It stood out to me when I was looking at the tracklist.”
Matt: “Yeah. This is ‘Light through the darkness,’ essentially. If I were to say there’s an overarching theme to this album, it would be that you can find joy in every situation, no matter how bleak it is. And finding that joy is worthwhile in and of itself, no matter how hard it seems, or how hard it is. Life is worth living, shortly. And ‘Victim’ is one of the songs where it most paints a picture that is very bleak, but finds a sort of ray of light in the middle of it.
After Matt remarks on finding different “flavors” (or “flavours,” as he puts it) of joy, I ask about the contrast of the bright, orange cover from The Saberlight Chronicles, and whether the darker, purple cover of The Skies Above Eternity was an intentional choice to help fit its more dour lyrical tone.
Callum: “There are a couple of things I wanted on this cover. I wanted… I wanted a…”
Cal pauses in search of the right words.
Matt: “Can you tell these were long conversations?”
Callum: “I wanted a cool looking castle, in the background -”
Matt: “He’s obsessed with the castle!”
Callum: “In the background! I also wanted purple – it suits the sound. I don’t really know why, I just feel like it suits the sound.”
Matt: “He’s not actually synesthetic, but Cal has so much color association. He’ll make a song and I’ll have a first pass, lyrically. Often, we end up in a conversation – I think it happened two or three times on this album – where something was close to the vibe, but it didn’t quite match what was in Cal’s head. And pretty much every time, he says “this song is blue,” or “this song is purple,” and that actually really helps me in terms of finding that vibe. The album art was very much a reflection of that. We actually had two passes of the album art this time, so if you buy the vinyl, you’ll see an early attempt at sort of finding the right vibe on the inner sleeve.”
Callum: “I just absolutely love this album art. To me, everything matches.”
Matt: “Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s amazing, Péter Sallai’s work.”
Callum: “Going back to the question, though, you obviously had ideas for the album art as well.”
Matt: “Yeah. There is a story behind every Fellowship album, and I’m hoping that I will find the time that there always will be. I obviously want the songs to stand on their own. But if we can have little bits of the lyrics which find their way into the creation of the front cover, and we combine that with the vibe that Cal can create with the music – which is very purple on this album! – we get that. You’ve got this really cool magic star thing being shattered by a warrior. It’s very evocative of a ‘battling against something difficult in a wasteland’ kind of emotion. We’re really excited, it’s really cool.”
I agree with Matt and Cal that the art is fantastic – to the point where I had bought a shirt featuring the album’s artwork the day before, without having heard a single note of it. As Matt touched on the story for the new album’s concept, I ask if there would be any extra media materials accompanying the record, such as the novella Matt wrote to accompany The Saberlight Chronicles.
Matt: ”There will be a novella for every album that we do. I am committed to saying that. I really mostly say that just to make me do it. But yeah, there is a novella coming for this album. It’s going to be very, very different from the first one. The band hasn’t read it yet, because it’s not finished yet, but… it will be! As soon as I can, I’m finishing it. It’s pretty much done.
“Everything in Fellowship… firstly, it is worth saying that all of the story stuff is very consciously in the background. The origin of the novella is as a writing tool, to keep album one lyrically fresh, and it just sprawled into a novella. I love that idea, so now we’re doing it every time. Everything exists in the same universe, where the characters of Fellowship are represented in the prologue and epilogue of every book as storytellers. Each album is then a story that we tell, which will have unique characters, and will have unique ideas. And the bookends are the tale of the Fellowship itself, which is a set of immortal storytellers, cursed to tell every story from history, that they experience whenever they are asked.”
I had planned at this point to ask Brad Wosko, the band’s lead guitarist, about the challenges that come with adapting the guitar parts of former lead guitarist Sam Browne (who is still a studio member, but no longer performs live) to his own playstyle. It says a lot about how in sync the members of Fellowship are that Matt is able to provide a detailed answer on Brad’s behalf.
Matt: “Firstly, huge props to Brad, he’s worked so hard over the last couple of years.”
EE: “I could tell.”
I’m referring here to Brad’s performance at Mad With Power, where he played most of the solos with incredible accuracy, in relation to how Sam Browne recorded them on The Saberlight Chronicles.
Matt: ”Nowadays, Brad is our lead guitarist, for sure. In the studio, Sam plays the lead on his songs, and Brad plays the lead on all of Cal’s songs. That’s the division. A lot of the shapes that Sam chose to play for album one, because they suit his fingers, don’t suit the way Brad plays, so he’s had to move things around a lot. And some things are really awkward for him, whereas they were okay for Sam. And some things that were awkward for Sam are really fine for Brad. One of the things he’s talked about specifically was the solo for “Saint Beyond the River,” which was the song that I wrote. I’m not a guitarist, and the solo that I got Sam to play was, note for note, what I wrote. And when Sam did it, he said “You’ve not written a possible part, this is the closest I can get.” And that’s because the shapes just weren’t what Sam is used to, it’s not how Sam plays. But weirdly enough, it is exactly how Brad plays. That was one of the solos that he took like a duck to water. So stylistically they’re very different, and Brad has had to adapt to a lot of those shapes on the guitar.”
To follow up, I ask whether Brad’s taking of the lead guitarist role had any impact on the writing of the new record, as it sounds like that might be the case.
Callum: “Actually, it hasn’t. We knew long ago that Sam wasn’t playing with us live, before we’d begun writing album two. I wrote the solos for my songs for most of album one, and that’s kind of applied to album two. I haven’t really changed anything.”
Matt: “There are little bits and ideas that Brad has contributed.”
Callum: “Yeah, he has. There’s a few little bits he’s added, but the majority, 90%, is the same sort of thing I was doing before. I just gotta write what sounds good to me.”
I had also intended to ask the band’s new bassist, Ed Munson, about the role he played in shaping The Skies Above Eternity. From my perspective, Ed’s energetic stage presence bolsters the Fellowship ethos of joy and camaraderie, so I go ahead with asking Matt and Callum about the ways in which he had impacted the band’s compositional and studio practices.
Matt: “I don’t think we can actually answer this question.”
EE: “Okay.”
Callum: “I can say something. It’s a similar thing to Brad’s solos; he’d get the songs, and he has added his own parts. There are things that I, not being a bass player, would not know. So he would add slides and these little intricacies across the songs, which I wouldn’t even think to do.”
Matt: “They give the songs life, y’know. More life.”
Callum: “Yeah, for sure. I think he has, especially with the songs I’ve written, one hundred percent improved them with small, little bits. Any small improvement is a good thing.”
Matt: “There’s also just the fact that Ed is a joyous human to be around. He’s such a friendly guy. Most of the time, it’s just sort of me and Cal in the studio, we do a lot of that stuff together, as a symbiotic pair. But he’s just so happy and fun that it makes being in a band easy a lot of the time. I think that does probably have some effect on the music. Where I can’t tell you.”
At this point, I ask Matt and Cal if they can speak for a moment on their experience working with the late Phillipe Giordana of the French power metal band Fairyland, a band I’ve been listening to for as long as I’ve been a fan of the genre. Giordana passed away in 2022, after having contributed keyboards to “The Frozen Land,” the Japanese bonus track from The Saberlight Chronicles.
Callum: “He… yeah, he was such a friendly guy. We were a new band in the scene, and he stumbled upon us from ‘Glint’, from our EP. And he would just be messaging us all the time, even at 2 AM, just to have a conversation about anything.”
Matt: “He was the first person who was in power metal proper to really believe in us, other than Lynd1, who you sort of knew beforehand.”
Callum: “Yeah.”
Matt: “And that enthusiasm is so infectious. And he was so kind and lovely, and one of the first things he ever said to us was ‘If you ever need a keyboard player, I would be beyond honored to do something.’ We’d written the entire album at this point, and then we realized we needed a Japanese bonus track. We didn’t know this beforehand. We wrote the Japanese bonus track, and we said ‘we gotta have Phil on it.’
Callum: “He just wanted to collaborate so badly, and we said “this is the perfect song,” with the dueling solos between him and Sam.
Matt: “We gave him the song, and he got so excited. I get really emotional talking about that, because… Yeah, he was just, I’ve never seen… We didn’t speak to him in person or anything, but he was so excited, like a child in a candy shop kind of excitement. And he blew it out of the park, and he kept talking about it afterwards, the year on.”
Matt and Cal’s memories of Phil are genuinely touching, but I steer our chat back to lighter topics, as the last thing I want is to cast a rain cloud over the day of two musicians who I massively respect. I ask them whether there are any guest collaborators on the new record.
Matt: “No, I don’t think so.”
Callum: “No, there actually isn’t.”
EE: “Okay.”
Callum: “It wasn’t a thing where we said ‘we don’t want any guests.’ I guess we…”
Matt: “I think this album kind of – stop me if I’m going off-patch – but for me I felt like this album needed to be a statement from us, in a way, where album one did really well and came out of nowhere. I think we very much wanted to prove something with album two.”
EE: “That it’s not a fluke?”
Matt: “It’s not a fluke, absolutely. And I think that just made us dive into ourselves, as it were.”
Callum: “You mean, don’t rely on someone else to prop ourselves up.”
Matt: “Yeah, exactly.”
On that note, I ask Matt and Cal whether they had a wishlist of musicians they would like to collaborate with, encouraging them to dream big.
Callum: “I would love for Lynd to do a solo on a song, from… well, ex-Twilight Force. Syu from Galneryus would be awesome. We were in contact with Herman Li2 for a little bit, a few years back. We haven’t heard from him in a while, but that would be awesome.”
EE: “He left a comment on your original music video, I remember that.”
Matt: “Yeah! He watched it on stream, we were honored. It was so cool.”
Callum: “I’ve said three, Matt.”
Matt: “Yeah, I think from my perspective, there’s a load of vocalists who I would love to work with, who would add something – maybe like a character or something on a future album, who I think would just mesh really well with my voice. I would probably go a little bit outside of power metal to find some of those voices. So, I’m not sure it’s ever happening, but someone like Maisie Peters, who’s a… real shot in the dark, off the wall. I just really like her voice. Moron Police are my favorite band of all time, so I’d love to work with their vocalist, who’s also an incredible guitar player, by the way. And then within power metal, I’m super good friends with Sozos Michael, so I think that’s the one. If anything’s going to happen, it would be with him. I’m doing stuff with him on Eons Enthroned, and I would just love to have him on a record sometime.”
EE: “Gotcha. Is there…”
Matt: “And Cal has no idea who the first two people are.”
Callum: “No, not a clue!”
Continuing the topic of dream collaborations, I ask Matt and Cal whether there are any artists who they would love to tour with someday.
Matt: “It’s really typical to say DragonForce… It’s not because they’re huge, but because we’ve spoken to Herman. He seems super chill, and he’s been really supportive of us, and it would just be nice to actually support him – like, literally support him in return, and do what we can. That would be really cool.”
Callum: “A band that’s recently started touring the world – which is awesome, I love it, because it doesn’t usually happen with Japanese bands – Lovebites. That would be awesome to do, because I’m quite a big fan of them. They’re a bit more on the thrash-y side with some of their stuff, but you don’t really see Japanese bands coming out to tour the world. But they’re doing well, and that would be great.”
Matt: “That would be such a fun concert, I think.”
To get a bit more granular with a subject they had briefly touched on already, I ask Matt and Cal how they balanced challenging themselves creatively with The Skies Above Eternity, while still delivering more of what people love about Fellowship’s first album.
Callum: “I always challenge myself by, for example, when I was talking about the Japanese style of music – not necessarily even power metal, as I said, with bands like YOASOBI – trying to incorporate that sort of sound into power metal, where it hasn’t necessarily been done. Some Japanese power metal bands, like Galneryus, obviously, already do that. But outside of Japan, you don’t really hear that sort of thing. Once again, with ‘Hold Up Your Hearts (Again),’ there’s a lot of harmonic aspects in that which were a bit experimental, but I think it’s worked out.”
Matt: “The pre-chorus harmonies that you wrote, they’re really cool and different.”
Callum: “I mean, the whole thing, there’s a lot of experimental stuff in there.”
Matt: “I just have a really long list of cool words I want to use on my phone.”
The three of us burst into laughter at this – Matt being the first to laugh, in self-deprecating fashion.
Matt: “I think I’ve said this a bunch of times in different interviews, but for me, the thing that is most important when I approach a song, is marrying the narrative and lyrical content to the music. It’s very much about how the music is the core of everything, and everything I do is a reaction to that, so that it meshes, it flows, it works together. And this means that the first thing I do, before I’ve started any words for a song, is think about how that song thematically evolves, just purely musically. And I think that sort of keeps things fresh. Because as long as the music is evolving, then I will evolve with that music. And I think Cal, in that sense, pushes me a lot…”
Callum: “Yeah.”
Matt: “… to come up with new things and interesting ideas.”
Callum: “I’m always coming across new artists that I like, and as I said, it’s just trying to take some ideas from what they might use, which you don’t typically hear in power metal, and trying to fit it into power metal.”
EE: “Yeah, inspiration can come from anywhere. I mean, what is power metal if not just metal with more pop in it?”
Matt and Callum: “Yeah!”
EE: “I almost didn’t ask this question… but I’m going to, just for fun.”
Callum: “Go.”
During the previous night’s show, while Fellowship were three songs deep into their set, Matt made an unfortunate flub when he addressed the crowd as “Michigan,” rather than “Madison.” He immediately caught and corrected his error, and proffered an apology to the audience after the song had ended, claiming that he had failed out of geography in school. I decided to offer Matt an opportunity to redeem himself while having a little fun in the process.
EE: “Matt, did you really fail out of geography?”
Matt: “Uh, I… I didn’t actually get an F, but I got such low grades consistently that my teacher disliked me, to the point where she actually said in a class that she would not accept me taking geography at a GCSE3 level. That is not something that teachers are supposed to or allowed to do! I really annoyed my geography teacher, because I just… it was not my bag. Was not my bag. So no, I did, genuinely. I grew up thinking that Dover was North of where I live, and Dover is literally the lowest part of England, so…”
Callum: “Is this why you’ve learned so much about American states now? We were coming here, so you just learned…”
Matt: “Yeah, yeah, it is. I don’t know which one I’m in, but I know enough about them.”
Callum: “Okay, Mister Michigan.”
Matt lets out an exaggerated wail of social anguish at Cal’s jab.
EE: “I was talking with Angry Metal Guy after your set – who I think you met yesterday – and he said ‘I feel so bad for Matt, because Matt’s probably going to be thinking about that once a week forever.’”
Matt: “Yeah, yeah. There is literally a Simpsons joke about somebody doing that, and… grr. I can’t get over that one.”
EE: “From the perspective of an audience member, and all the people who were around me, everyone just thought it was super funny and a very honest mistake, and no one thought anything of it.”
Matt: “I’m really, I’m really… really glad. If I made that mistake in England, I would probably be booed off stage.”
With a band-aid slapped on Matt’s wounded pride, I proceed to wrap up our chat in an unpredictable, innovative fashion: By asking about Fellowship’s plans for the foreseeable future.
Matt: “So, we have a couple shows booked later this year. We’re doing another sort of mini-tour in the U.K., and we’re headlining this time, which should be super fun. We’re playing Edinborough… and two other places which I could look up, but are not in my brain right now. I want to say Manchester and London.”
Callum: “Yeah, that’s correct.”
Matt: “Yeah, it is Manchester and London.”
Callum: “We’ve got two German festivals.”
Matt: “Just after Christmas?”
Callum: “Yeah.”
Matt: “And then we’re playing Epic Fest next year, which we have been re-booked for. Which is such a cool thing for us, because we played there this year, and we were on such a small stage that a lot of people were disappointed they couldn’t see us. So they’ve booked us again for next year on a bigger one! Which is really, really cool, and just validating for us, I think.”
Callum: “We also have… I’ve started, I’ve got ideas already for album three.”
Matt: “Oh, don’t promise that so soon, Cal!”
Callum: “There’s ideas in the bank, there’s some ideas already. They’re not finished, but the base stuff is there.”
Matt: “We’re gonna start getting the “When’s album three” cries before we’ve even dropped album two!”
With that, I thanked Matt and Callum for their time before being given the friendliest handshakes I’ve ever received. If you’d like to hear an utterly wholesome and genuine power metal record that combines elements of Galneryus, YOASOBI, and ABBA, you can catch The Skies Above Eternity, releasing on Scarlet Records on Friday, November 22nd. Fellowship’s third album will follow shortly thereafter. Cal promised.
Show 3 footnotes
- Philip Lindh, ex-Twilight Force. ↩
- Co-founder and guitarist of DragonForce. ↩
- General Certificate of Secondary Education ↩
#2024 #ABBA #AvengedSevenfold #BlogPost #DragonForce #EltonJohn #EonsEnthroned #Fairyland #Fellowship #interview #LordsOfTheTrident #Lovebites #MaisiePeters #MoronPolice #ScarletRecords #TwilightForce #YOASOBI
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A review of the Irish government's new AI literacy by @CriticalRedPen and her mam - and honestly, I think her mam has those LLM-based generative chatbots sussed:
"She was irritated and fed up by the end, and deeply unimpressed. Likewise, she did not get the impression of AI being a useful time-saver, but a tremendous waste of time."
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/artificial-intelligence-government-7027896-May2026/
via @TheJournal
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“Show, don’t tell”*…
Some things are very difficult to explain using words alone; they require physical demonstration. Consider, for example, the distinction between right and left. It turns out that this difficulty has been at the heart of the great scientific debates about the nature of space…
… explain right and left to a friend using language alone and without using the words right and left. As you can only use language, you can’t show your hands or use pictures!
It’s tricky, isn’t it? The difference between right and left isn’t as straightforward as it seems. If we dig a little deeper, we will find that the science behind right and left is surprising, complex, and profound.
How can two things be identical yet different at the same time? This was the question that puzzled one of humankind’s greatest thinkers, Immanuel Kant.
Many of the great debates of the Scientific Revolution during the 16th and 17th centuries concerned the nature of space. The English polymath Sir Isaac Newton proposed that space was absolute: space is an entity in itself and exists even without objects, matter, or living beings filling it.
In contrast, Gottfried Leibniz, Newton’s bitter rival, argued that space was relational: it only existed because of the relations between the objects that fill it. If objects do not exist, then space doesn’t either.
Meanwhile, Immanuel Kant used handedness to give his two cents. He asked us to imagine a solitary hand floating in an otherwise completely empty space. The hand must either be a right hand or a left hand, and this will be the case even in a space where no relationships between objects can be observed. Kant noted that our hands are geometrically and mathematically identical in every way possible, whether it be the lengths of the fingers or the angles between them. Yet, the one fundamental difference between them—that one is a right hand, and the other is a left hand—exists in itself; it is intrinsic to the hand and not related to any other object, similar to space itself. Space has an absolute property.
Ultimately, Kant’s theories of handedness were not foolproof and could not be used to prove that space is absolute. Indeed, Kant would switch between the Newtonian and Leibnizian schools of thought during his lifetime. However, Kant did show just how puzzling and difficult it is to explain why right hands and left hands are identical but different. That intrinsic quality of handedness is almost impossible to explain without showing, and this is the root of the Ozma Problem.
In 1960, Project Ozma was launched in West Virginia. Named after the ruler of the fictional Land of Oz, Project Ozma was a huge telescope that listened for signals from space, signals that could be proof of extraterrestrial intelligence. Unfortunately, the project only ran for a few months, and it had no major success.
Let’s say the telescope had picked up these signals. How would we on Earth respond? We would need to convert their signals, after which we would send our own. Telescopes and computers use binary code. And directionality is crucial to understanding binary, as it is read left to right and decoded right to left. So, if we are sending binary signals to aliens, we need to be sure they understand which direction is left and which is right. How can we be sure they share our understanding of directions?
This is the Ozma Problem, a thought experiment first described by Martin Gardner [see the almanac entry here] in his 1964 book, The Ambidextrous Universe. In this book, Gardner pitched a number of solutions.
Before going into Gardner’s work, here’s a seemingly simple solution: lay your palms face down on a table and equally spaced from your body. The thumb that’s closer to your heart? That’s the left side. The right side is defined by the thumb farther away from the heart.
Another potential solution would be to use north and south as reference points: when facing north, everything towards east is the right side, and everything pointing west is the left side.
The problem with these solutions is that they both rely on a shared point of reference, like the direction of north-south-east-west and the location of the heart. In no way can we be certain that an alien species would share these!
Some of the solutions that Gardner proposed in his book use magnetic fields, planetary rotation, and the direction of current flow. And as we discussed before, they all fail because of the need for a shared point of reference.
So, after centuries of wondering whether we are alone in the universe, we finally make contact with an alien species, only to find that our inability to explain something as mundane as right and left precludes meaningful dialogue. The Ozma Problem demonstrates the limits of our language, and it challenges anthropocentrism, which is the notion that human beings and our experiences are the center of the universe.
Many thought problems are hypothetical and can’t be solved, but the Ozma Problem does have a solution. In fact, the solution already existed when Gardner first described it. But it’s not immediately associated with right-left asymmetry or aliens.
While we cannot be sure that aliens share our anatomy or our perception of north-south-east-west, if they inhabit the same universe as us, we can assume the fundamental forces of physics apply to them too.
There are four fundamental forces of physics: gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear forces (the force that binds atomic nuclei together), and weak nuclear forces (the force that causes atomic decay).
Up until 1956, it was assumed these fundamental forces all display parity. Parity is an important concept in physics, and it can be demonstrated visually by using a mirror. If we stand in front of a mirror holding an apple in our right hand and then drop it, the reflection will show it falling to the ground, but the apple will fall from your left hand. Gravity still works in the reflection. Likewise, if we look at the strong forces binding atomic nuclei and then observe them in a mirror, the images would be identical, just with right and left switched.
But in 1956, Professor Chien-Shiung Wu, a physicist, conducted a ground breaking experiment. She was able to prove that the weak nuclear force—the decay of atoms—did not always demonstrate parity. The weak nuclear force does not adhere to mirror symmetry.
Professor Wu showed this by observing the decay of cobalt-60 atoms. When atoms decay, they spin out electrons. Up until then, scientists had always observed these electrons spinning out equally in all directions. But Professor Wu saw that cobalt-60 will always preferentially spin out electrons in a certain direction. In other words, the movement is asymmetric. For some reason, the decay of atoms is the one fundamental force that does not adhere to parity or mirror symmetry, thus showing that directionality is intrinsic to the universe, just as Kant had postulated in the 18th century.
For the first time in history, it was proven that nature can prefer one direction. Very soon after Wu’s findings, physicists were able to prove that elementary particles known as neutrinos always spin towards the left.
What does this mean for our communication with aliens? If the aliens can replicate Professor Wu’s experiment and visualize the spin of electrons while cobalt-60 decays, they can orient right and left!
Ironically, Professor Wu was not afforded any sort of parity herself during her working life. Other scientists were recognized for research that could not have been achieved without hers. Today, the weak force remains one of the most important and mysterious topics in physics today, thanks to Professor Wu.
So, if the only way to scientifically and definitively define the difference between right and left is to build a particle accelerator and observe the decay of cobalt-60, clearly the difference is not as straightforward as it may first seem! The Ozma Problem is proof that the most mundane concepts are sometimes directly linked to the cosmos and speak to the nature of existence itself…
An essay by Dr. Maloy Das (see the bio in this unrelated– but also fascinating– article by him). From the remarkable blog, Fascinating World, scored a highly credible source by the MBFC for having proper sourcing, no failed fact-checks, and “highly factual” reporting. It’s the work of Krishna Rathuryan, currently a senior at a prep school in Princeton (where he’s also apparently a pretty accomplished distance runner) and team of his friends.
When language fails: “What Is The Ozma Problem, And Why Does It Matter?“
* attributed to playwright Anton Chekhov, who said said “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” It has, of course, become a motto for many writers across genre.
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As we explore explanation, we (especially any readers in or near Manhattan Beach, California) might note that today is one of the two days of the year (symmetrically on either side of the winter solstice, 37 days before and 37 after) when the public sculpture there, “Light Gate,” becomes a portal “unlocked” by the rays of the setting sun… as Atlas Obscura puts it, “a bit of Druidic paganism by way of high modern design.”
#antonChekhov #chekhov #chekov #culture #gottfriedLeibniz #history #immanuelKant #issacNewton #kant #language #lightGate #manhattanBeach #ozma #ozmaProblem #philosophy #science #technology
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Still please asking #Mosstodon folks + others to consider voting for rock moss of the deserts, Dioptase in #MinCup25, thank you. 🙏 See post above and its replies for earlier photos! 🥦
https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote
#TextureTuesday likewise in photos above! It's the #WizardOfOz choice as the "desert emerald", so head down the yellow brick road to the Desert Emerald City for a visit! Team #Elphaba needs your votes to help, #Wicked fans! 😉
2,5 hours left to vote! If it goes through, the finale starts right after at midnight UK time, so please vote for dioptase over Kyanite tomorrow as well! 🍀
((Or tugtupite if it wins tonight :blobcat_party: ))
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Advocates demand halt to #uranium #mine near the #GrandCanyon
#EnergyFuels says #nuclear power is necessary to fight #ClimateChange, but #Indigenous tribes fear losing their homes
By Matthew Rozsa
January 31, 2024"The Grand Canyon truly lives up to its name, being the largest canyon on Earth and one of the most popular national parks in America. But due to #UraniumMining in the area, some advocates are warning it could become the site of a future #EnvironmentalDisaster, which threatens to make one Indigenous village 'extinct.'
"More than 80 groups signed onto a statement on Monday — representing Indigenous communities, scientists and environmental nonprofits such as the #SierraClub and the #CenterForBiologicalDiversity — directed at President #JoeBiden and #Arizona Gov. #KatieHobbs, demanding they close the #PinyonPlain uranium mine, which is located near the Grand Canyon.
"'We have a choice in front of us. Allowing the Pinyon Plain mine to proceed is subjecting this landscape and its interconnected waters to a legacy of devastation and disregarding the rights of the #IndigenousPeoples on the land,' Sanober Mirza, Arizona program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in the statement. 'Or we can choose a different path — one that holds a promise of protecting the Grand Canyon’s cultural sanctity, its people and natural resources.'
"To understand why the mine's opponents feel so strongly, one can turn to #AmberReimondo, who work as energy director at a conservationist non-profit called the #GrandCanyonTrust. Reimondo explained to Salon by email that, on the one hand, #Biden permanently banned mining operations on nearly 1 million acres of federal managed lands by creating the #BaajNwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in August 2023. Yet the Pinyon Plain mine was #exempt from this prohibition, and Reimondo argues that the impact on the region has been 'several fold.'
"'What they've created here is a long-term, slow motion #EnvironmentalDisaster."
"'The Grand Canyon region as a whole and especially the location of the mine, is deeply significant to Indigenous cultures and is a place where tribal members have conducted #ceremonies, collected medicine, hunted, and more, for centuries,' Reimondo said. 'The mine also overlies critical and complex [and] not well understood groundwater systems. One #aquifer in particular — the #RedWallMuavAquifer — is the sole source of water for the remote #HavasupaiVillage of #Supai inside the Grand Canyon. The mine poses a #contamination threat to these #groundwater resources not just today, but importantly, after the mine's mere 28-month operational lifespan has concluded and the mining operator 'cleans up' and moves on.'
"Supai is so remote, it's only accessible only by helicopter or an 8-mile mule ride or hike, Reimondo explained, noting that if the newly-oxygenated groundwater comes into contact with nearby rocks, minerals like #arsenic and #uranium will be dissolved by the groundwater and enter aquifers used by the local community and essential to local ecology, including #HavasuFalls. Taylor McKinnon, Southwest Director for the Center for Biological Diversity, expressed similar concerns.
"'Ultimately, this mine is going to require political leadership,' McKinnon told Salon in an interview, referring to both the Biden and #Hobbs administrations. 'Those administration's agencies have the authority to fix this problem if they so choose, and that's what they should do.'
"We have detailed strenuously for years that neither regulators nor industry can ensure against the permanent and irretrievable damage to Grand Canyon's aquifers and springs," McKinnon added. "This mine was approved originally in 1986, under a record of decision from the US Forest Service under a presumption that it was highly unlikely that the mine would encounter groundwater, and further unlikely that if it did, it had the potential to contaminate deeper aquifers in the springs that they feed. Subsequent state permitting from the #ArizonaDepartment OfEnvironmentalQuality has basically parroted those same assumptions.'
"Yet McKinnon alleges that in 2016 the mine punctured a perched aquifer, causing roughly 10 million gallons of water per year to drain into the mine workings. From there he asserts that a surface pond formed with water that has concentrations of uranium and arsenic far in excess of the Environmental Protection Agency (#EPA)'s water quality standards. Not only does this threaten the local endangered and endemic species, but it also impacts the nearby Havasupai tribe.
"Havasupai means 'people of the blue-green water,' McKinnon said. "It's their longstanding cultural identity, and it is the water they drink, they farm with and that provides for all of their tourism economy because it is this just a beautiful series of massive verdant waterfalls that flow through the village and down into a series of waterfalls and pools where people camp and they derive tourism dollars.'
"In a 2022 letter of opposition, the Havasupai Tribal Council, laid out what is at stake in the uranium mining controversy.
"'Our identity as a people is intrinsically intertwined with the health of #HavasuCreek and the environment to which it gives life,' the tribe’s letter explained. 'We use this water for drinking, #gardening and irrigating, municipal uses, and #cultural and #religious uses. If the water source becomes contaminated like we have seen in other areas of Arizona due to uranium mining, we will no longer be able to live in our homes and Supai Village will become extinct.'
"These fears are based on precedent. The nearby #NavajoNation is scattered with old uranium mines — over 500, in fact — awaiting cleanup, exposing locals to risk of '#LungCancer from inhalation of #radioactive particles, as well as #BoneCancer and impaired kidney function from exposure to #radionuclides in drinking water,' according to the EPA. Likewise, members of the #UteMountain #Ute tribe in #WhiteMesa, Utah have protested against uranium mines they say have contaminated local groundwater, air and even wildlife."
https://www.salon.com/2024/01/31/advocates-demand-halt-to-uranium-mine-near-the-grand-canyon/
#NoNukes #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism #NoMining #UraniumMining #NuclearPowerNoThanks #IndigenousActivism
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Streaming public key authenticated encryption with insider auth security
Note: this post will probably only really make sense to cryptography geeks.
In “When a KEM is not enough”, I described how to construct multi-recipient (public key) authenticated encryption. A naïve approach to this is vulnerable to insider forgeries: any recipient can construct a new message (to the same recipients) that appears to come from the original sender. For some applications this is fine, but for many it is not. Consider, for example, using such a scheme to create auth tokens for use at multiple endpoints: A and B. Alice gets an auth token for accessing endpoints A and B and it is encrypted and authenticated using the scheme. The problem is, as soon as Alice presents this auth token to endpoint A, that endpoint (if compromised or malicious) can use it to construct a new auth token to access endpoint B, with any permissions it likes. This is a big problem IMO.
I presented a couple of solutions to this problem in the original blog post. The most straightforward is to sign the entire message, providing non-repudiation. This works, but as I pointed out in “Digital signatures and how to avoid them”, signature schemes have lots of downsides and unintended consequences. So I developed a weaker notion of “insider non-repudiation”, and a scheme that achieves it: we use a compactly-committing symmetric authenticated encryption scheme to encrypt the message body, and then include the authentication tag as additional authenticated data when wrapping the data encryption key for each recipient. This prevents insider forgeries, but without the hammer of full blown outsider non-repudiation, with the problems it brings.
I recently got involved in a discussion on Mastodon about adding authenticated encryption to Age (a topic I’ve previously written about), where abacabadabacaba pointed out that my scheme seems incompatible with streaming encryption and decryption, which is important in Age use-cases as it is often used to encrypt large files. Age supports streaming for unauthenticated encryption, so it would be useful to preserve this for authenticated encryption too. Doing this with signatures is fairly straightforward: just sign each “chunk” individually. A subtlety is that you also need to sign a chunk counter and “last chunk” bit to prevent reordering and truncation, but as abacabadabacaba points out these bits are already in Age, so its not too hard. But can you do the same without signatures? Yes, you can, and efficiently too. In this post I’ll show how.
One way of thinking about the scheme I described in my previous blog post is to think of it as a kind of designated-verifier signature scheme. (I don’t hugely like this term, but it’s useful here). That is, we can view the combination of the committing MAC and authenticated KEM as a kind of signature scheme where the signature can only be verified by recipients chosen by the sender, not by third-parties. If we take that perspective, then it becomes clear that we can just do exactly the same as you do for the normal signature scheme: simply sign each chunk of the message separately, and include some chunk counter + last chunk marker in the signature.
How does this work in practice?
Firstly, we generate a fresh random data encryption key (DEK) for the message. This is shared between all recipients. We then use this DEK to encrypt each chunk of the message separately using our compactly-committing AEAD. To prevent chunk reordering or truncation we can use the same method as Age: Rogaway’s STREAM construction, which effectively just encodes the chunk counter and last-chunk bit into the AEAD nonce. (Personally, I prefer using a symmetric ratchet instead, but that’s for another post). This will produce a compactly committing tag for each chunk—typically 16 bytes per chunk (or 32 bytes if we care about malicious senders).
The original scheme I proposed then fed this tag (of which there was only 1) as associated data when wrapping the DEK for each recipient using an authenticated key-wrap algorithm and a per-recipient wrapping-key derived from an authenticated KEM. If the DEK is 32 bytes, and the key-wrapping algorithm produces a 16-byte tag then this outputs 48 bytes per recipient. We can do exactly the same thing for the new scheme, but we only feed the tag from the first chunk as the associated data, producing wrapped keys that commit to the first chunk only.
We then simply repeat the process for each subsequent chunk, but as the DEK is unchanged we can leave it empty: effectively just computing a MAC over the commitment for each chunk in turn. In our example, this will produce just a 16-byte output per recipient for each chunk. If we compare this to typical signature schemes that would be used for signing chunks otherwise, we can fit 4 recipient commitments in the same space as a single Ed25519 signature (64 bytes), or 16 recipients in the same space as an RSA-2048 signature.
To support such a scheme, the interface of our KEM would need to change to include a new operation that produces an intermediate commitment to a particular chunk tag, with an indication of whether it is the last tag or not. The KEM is then free to reuse the shared secrets derived for each recipient, avoiding the overhead of computing new ones for each chunk. This is an efficiency gain over using a normal digital signature for each chunk.
Here is a sketch of what the overall process would look like, to hopefully clarify the ideas presented. Alice is sending a message to Bob and Charlie. The message consists of three “chunks” and is using an authenticated KEM based on X25519.
- First, Alice generates a random 32-byte DEK and uses it to encrypt the message, producing tags t1, t2, and t3.
- Alice generates a random ephemeral X25519 keypair: (esk, epk).
- She computes a shared secret with Bob, ssb, via something like HPKE’s DH-AKEM.
- Likewise, she computes a shared secret with Charlie, ssc.
- Alice then wraps the DEK from step 1 for Bob and Charlie, using a key-wrap algorithm like AES in SIV mode (keyed with ssb and then ssc), including t1 as additional authenticated data. She outputs the two wrapped keys plus the ephemeral public key (epk) as the encapsulated key blob. This will be 32 bytes for the epk, plus 48 bytes for each key blob (one for Bob, another for Charlie), giving 128 bytes total.
- She then calls a new “commit” operation on the KEM for each subsequent chunk tag: i.e., t2 and t3. This commit operation performs the same as step 5, but with a blank DEK, outputting just a 16-byte SIV for each recipient for a total of 32 bytes per chunk. These commitment blocks can then be appended to each chunk. (In fact, they can replace the normal AEAD tag, saving even more space).
The total space taken is then 128 + 32 + 32 = 192 bytes, and we can remove the 3 original 16-byte AEAD tags, giving a net overhead of just 144 bytes. Compared to signing each chunk with Ed25519 which would need 192 bytes, or RSA-2048 which needs 768 bytes.
Decryption then performs the obvious operations: decrypting and recomputing the MAC tag for each chunk using the decapsulated DEK and then verifying the commitment blocks match at the end of each subsequent chunk.
This is still very much a sketch, and needs to be reviewed and fleshed out more. But I believe this is quite a neat scheme that achieves streaming authenticated encryption without the need for tricksy little signatureses, and potentially much more efficient too.
#authenticatedEncryption #cryptography #publicKeyEncryption #streamingEncryption
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Cognizance – In Light, No Shape Review By Owlswald
A “faster is better” philosophy has long defined technical death metal, with bands regularly operating at breakneck speeds. While that approach requires undeniable virtuosity, I’ve always gravitated toward the genre’s more restrained, focused, and groove-oriented side. Cognizance initially walked the well-trodden path of bands like The Faceless and The Zenith Passage on their debut, Malignant Dominion, displaying speed and technicality in equal measure, but doing little to distinguish themselves from a crowded field. However, to their credit, the international quintet-turned-quartet has spent the past three albums gradually cementing their identity, culminating with 2024’s Phantazein. Though it got Stuck in the Filter, the record was packed with punishing grooves, strong songwriting, and phenomenal performances, containing all the qualities that keep me returning to the genre regularly. Two short years later, Cognizance returns with In Light, No Shape.
Much of Cognizance’s growth over the years stems from its stable lineup, though the recent departure of longtime vocalist Henry “Big Mac” Pryce disrupted that continuity. Guitarist Alex Baillie has since assumed vocal duties, marking a shift in the group’s sound. Baillie fills the role admirably, trading Pryce’s deathcore-leaning growls for a style closer to David Davidson (Revocation). In fact, In Light, No Shape—particularly tracks like “Vertical Illusion,” “Witness Marks,” “Chasm,” and “The Zone”—leans heavily into Revocation’s progressive stylings to its benefit. Drummers and longtime fans should already know the name David Diepold (ex-Obscura), but for anyone who doesn’t, consider this your required introduction. The dude absolutely cooks on this record. Whether through artful fills or splashy accents, he commands the material like a conductor leading an orchestra, sitting front and center in the record’s solid mix. Not to be outdone, guitarists Apostolis Karydis and Baillie, along with bassist Chris Binns, lock with Diepold effortlessly, never once sounding strained as they ebb between calibrated riffing, evocative solos, and ornate passages across the record’s 37 minutes.
Rather than following the Archspire school of extravagance, In Light, No Shape shows Karydis and Baillie easing off the accelerator, leaning more into atmosphere than velocity, with Diepold shouldering most of the speed. The duo utilizes more spacey arpeggiated passages (“A Reconfiguration,” “Witness Marks,” “A Game of Proliferation”) than on Phantazein, giving In Light, No Shape a feeling of dynamism and expansiveness. Accordingly, the songwriting strikes a keen balance between technical, immersive, and hooky, while leaving room for each element to breathe. Opener “Transient Fixations” wastes no time launching into hyperdrive, blasting and chugging through its sub‑three‑minute runtime, essentially functioning as an intro track that reaffirms that this is still the Cognizance fans will know. And while it feels a bit short, it flows seamlessly into “Inflection Chants'” groovy opening, making it work. Later, the surges of melodic tremolos and blasts that fuel “Chasm” give way to a haunting, aura-rich soundscape, where cymbal accents melt into jaunty tom fills before everything cascades back into overdrive. Similar structures drive tracks like “The Zone” and Song o’ the Year candidate “A Game of Proliferation,” while others (“Induced Contortions,” “Subterranean Incantation”) stick closer to standard tech death.
To state the obvious, tech death production usually sucks. Thankfully, In Light, No Shape isn’t totally brickwalled to hell, clocking in at a DR of 6. While that number looks average on paper,1 the mix retains a surprisingly natural edge while still delivering the punch and low-end presence needed to let the intricacies of the performances shine. Yes, it’s still compressed, but it never totally collapses on itself either. The guitars carry plenty of bite, avoiding the trap of sounding overly synthetic or overproduced, though the solos sit too far back in the mix for my liking. Likewise, the use of robotic spoken word interludes on tracks like “Inflection Chants” and “Transient Fixations” is conceptually fine, but they get lost behind the loud drums and end up feeling pointless. It’s a trade-off I can ultimately live with, though.
After multiple spins, In Light, No Shape stands toe-to-toe with Phantazein. Overcoming a key member’s departure isn’t easy, and while the album’s stylistic changes may feel reactive or too familiar, most come across as deliberate, pointing to a group resettling their identity. Cognizance continues to emerge as one of tech death’s most compelling acts and In Light, No Shape highlights what the genre can achieve when done right.
Rating: Very Good
#2026 #35 #Archspire #BritishMetal #Cognizance #DeathMetal #InLight #May26 #NoShape #Obscura #ProgressiveDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #Revocation #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheFaceless #TheZenithPassage #WillowtipRecords
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: cognizance.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cognizanceband
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026 -
Hmmmm... Why am I having #DejaVu?
From 2022: "Vladimir #Putin has mentioned 'gender freedoms' more than once to justify #Russia’s war against #Ukraine and simultaneously crack down on its own citizens.
"Most directly, he alleged that Russian citizens who seek '#GenderFreedoms' (alongside foie gras and oysters) are part of the anti-Russian 'fifth column.'
"Gender and sexuality freedoms — or rights, as they are more typically called — are about #BodilyAutonomy, #diversity and #inclusivity. #Feminist and #LGBTQ+ activists assert that every human being deserves respect, recognition and equal rights regardless of their gender or sexuality.
"What’s the connection between Putin’s animosity toward Ukraine and toward #gender and #sexuality rights in Russia and around the world?
Gender and Putin’s regime"Putin’s regime has increasingly relied on very conventional gender and sexual norms.
"When he first ascended to the presidency, image-makers used Putin’s #KGB background and penchant for physical fitness to frame him as a #macho #strongman who could reverse Russia’s waning power and 'remasculinize' the country after a decade of supposed geopolitical flaccidity in the wake of the #Soviet collapse.
"In other words, an inflexible and clearly #patriarchal notion of masculinity has been central to the Putin regime’s legitimacy.
"Russia’s foreign policy has relied on rigid gender norms as well. When Ukraine underwent its first pro-democracy revolution in 2004, Russian media questioned its leaders’ masculinity.
"Putin likewise used homophobic terms to dismiss #Georgia’s #RoseRevolution in 2003, responding to a reporter’s question by saying: 'A rose revolution — next they’ll come up with a light blue one.' In Russian, 'light blue' or goluboi is slang for “gay male.”
Gender and appealing to constituencies"Putin has often been represented as the unquestioned leader of the pack ruling Russia — a masculinity-driven image.
"However, even as the leader of a personalist #dictatorship — a regime in which there are few institutional limits on the leader’s power — Putin must balance competing interests among significant elites and maintain at least the appearance of public support in order to be considered a legitimate ruler.
"Until 2020, Putin was using gendered language in his speeches to signal his alignment with a variety of elites and public constituencies that supported him. He was sending mixed signals to both relatively progressive Russians who value women’s roles in the workplace and to #conservatives wishing for a return to '#TraditionalFamilyValues,' in order to keep everyone in his camp.
"But after July 2021, when he published an essay contending Ukrainians and Russians are a single people, Putin no longer shied away from making sexist and LGBTQ+-phobic comments in prominent settings.
"At an October 2021 meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club — a Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum that Putin is closely associated with — he said teaching children about #GenderFluidity was 'truly monstrous' and 'verging on a crime against humanity.'"
Read more:
https://theconversation.com/vladimir-putin-the-czar-of-macho-politics-is-threatened-by-gender-and-sexuality-rights-180473
#USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #GBLTQRights #HumanRights #WomensRights #ToxicMasculinity #GenderFascists -
What good are #TreatyRights if the fish are poisoned?
Monday, July 14, 2025
By George Ochenski, Daily Montanan"By virtually any measure, the #ConfederatedSalishKootenai Tribal Nation is an incredible success story against all odds. Forcibly removed from their homeland in the Bitterroot Valley, despite not having waged war against the white settlers or army, their own '#TrailOfTears' brought them to the Flathead Valley to live within the boundaries of the vastly reduced lands they retained in the #HellgateTreatyOf1855.
"Although the #HellgateTreaty is widely regarded as one of the best treaties signed by any of the nation’s #IndigenousPeople, even land supposedly reserved for the exclusive habitation of the #SalishKootenai was opened to purchase by non-tribal #settlers by the #DawesAct of 1887.
"The act’s intentions were to allocate reservation lands the tribes already owned to individual families as private property and, as part of the 'civilization' of #NativeAmericans, it required tribal members to register with the federal government to receive their 'allotment.'
"The entire debacle was part of the #AllotmentAndAssimilationEra from 1887 to 1934. Simply put, the federal government’s plan was to force Native Americans to be 'assimilated' into #EuropeanAmerican culture.
"Importantly, any reservation lands not allocated to tribal members was deemed
'surplus' land and opened to purchase by non-tribal settlers. This excursion into #ReservationLands was further exacerbated by the ability of tribal members to sell their allotment parcels to non-tribal members."The fracturing of the Salish-Kootenai’s tribal lands through sales to non-tribal members continues to cause serious problems today, including the long and on-going battle to retain their #water, #hunting and #fishing #TreatyRights.
"Article III of the Hellgate Treaty could not be more clear regarding the Tribe’s fishing rights: 'The exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams running through or bordering said reservation is further secured to said Indians; as also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places…'
"Yet, just last month the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribal Nation issued a very serious warning to tribal members regarding the fish they have treaty rights to catch because they are poisoned.
CSKT Fish Consumption Advisory
"The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes issued a fish consumption advisory on June 24, 2025, warning tribal citizens not to eat fish due to the presence of Polychlorinated biphenyls (#PCBs), #dioxins and #furans at levels deemed unsafe for humans: Source: Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
"The #FishConsumptionAdvisory urges 'all tribal members to avoid consuming all species and sizes of fish harvested from the lower Clark Fork River from the Bitterroot River near Missoula to the Flathead River near Paradise. Recent testing has confirmed the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans in fish at levels that are unsafe for consumption by Tribal peoples. It is also advisable to avoid consuming rainbow trout and northern pike harvested from the Bitterroot River and the upper Clark Fork River above the Bitterroot River to Rock Creek, and, to avoid consuming rainbow trout from the Blackfoot River.
"As the Advisory explains: 'These contaminants pose a health risk to all fish consumers, and an even greater health risk to the most sensitive members of the Tribal population including women of child bearing age, pregnant nursing women, and young children. These contaminants have been linked to negative health effects in the immune, and nervous systems and may be associated with birth defects…PCBs and dioxins are classified as probable and definite #HumanCarcinogens, respectively.'
"So what good are treaty fishing rights if you can’t eat the fish because they’re poisoned? Are they really 'rights' — or is this just another in our nation’s long and shameful history of abrogating its treaties with Native Americans?
"Moreover, #Montana’s poison fish affect us all. Just as our government has failed the Salish-Kootenai, they have likewise failed to uphold our rights to the 'swimmable/fishable waters' guaranteed by the #CleanWaterAct — because no one, tribal or non-tribal, is immune to poisoned fish."
#WaterIsLife #TribalNations #NativeAmericanNews #WaterPollution #PoisonedFish #StolenLand #LandBack #EPAFail
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@xtel Likewise, from deep south here, #Chile. Listening together is special, that is what radio is about. #nporadio2 #top2000
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@Geri I think you are thinking of Marxism-Leninism this is the common ideology that gets painted with a broad brush as "communism". Just because north korea calls itself democratic and hitlers regime "socialist" doesn't make it so. Likewise, the USSR and CCP are not and have never been communist.
Differences in ideology between Marxism-Leninism and Anarcho-Communism include whether or not they use the state the achieve their aims, whether the proletariat are organized horizontally or by vanguard party rule
Broadly speaking anarchists choose revolutionary strategies and tactics that are aligned with their stated goals whereas marxist leninists tend to use more ends justify the means thinking
Edit: I'm aware that ML's misinterpret marx in multiple areas and they use his name to self-label a kind of ideological lineage that is tenuous at best
#MarxismLeninism #Anarchism #Communism #USSR #CCP #Socialism #AnarchoCommunism #NorthKorea #Democracy #Hitler
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The Eclean Doctrines & Philosophy in Life
By Jo Jac Atom Valmorida, AB, LLB, PMAM NPS-VII
(Former First Assistant Provincial Fiscal of Misamis Oriental; Former Professor and Dean of Cagayan de Oro College; Legal Counsel, Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, Inc.)
A mystic is not one who fits into an objective pattern. He is rather the one who adopts a particular attitude of mind. He is very much a human and a mortal, subject at all times to all the foibles and temptations of the human, with all the variations in any passing throng of people, and that mystical life has no racial roots. Like gold, the elements of mysticism are wherever you find them. (The Sanctuary of Self, by Ralph M. Lewis, F.R.C.)
Fifty years ago, on December 9, 1934, in the serene coolness of the season, a mysterious child was born. He was given birth in the enchanted island of Cabilan amidst the rosary of islands toward the bountifully-enriched Dinagat island practically across the turbulent seas and often-unpredictable atmosphere of the Pacific, in the weather-prone province of Surigao del Norte.
This once remote island forms part of the chain of islands access to which is sometimes forbidden by the dangers of its furious seas and is located in the north-eastern part of mainland Mindanao, in a country artistically formed by the Master-Architect of its creation with beads of over 7,000 islands contiguously assembled into a trinity of larger islands the political territories of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, which unite into one was to be significantly known as “The Only Christian Nation in the Far-East”, and further immemorially called “Pearl of the Orient Seas”—the Philippines.
Conceived as a crying baby while still inside the maternal womb whose solitary voice echoed along the shores of Puyangi, now the famous barangay of San Jose, under the broad daylight of November 29, barely ten days before his birth, the sixth and would-be child of Justiniana Edera and Jose Ecleo, had already shown his mysterious ways not only to neighbors and friends but also to his parents and relatives, who were made living witnesses to such perplexing moment.
After three days of hard and painful labor, at about 3:00 o’clock dawn on December 9, in the house of Justiniana’s brother, Jovencio Edera, where she was to deliver, Jovencio’s son Pandoy Edera, became another witness to the wonder of the same crying child.
Thinking that the child was already born, Pandoy rushed inside the room only to discover that his aunt was still in a state of agonizing labor. The amazing fact, however, was that the child now named “Ruben” was born only at 7:00 o’clock of the following morning. Yet on the night before his birth, vivid accounts of witnesses point that a distinctively long-tailed brilliant star that looked like a comet was seen not far across the sky. In fact, these unusual incidents remained a puzzle to many for so long.
From the eldest named Espiritu, followed by Nicolas, Uldarico, Ursincia, and Moises, Ruben is the youngest child of the much-disturbed couple. “Obing” as he was fondly called from childhood to adolescence, looked like a healthy baby boy of Caucasian descent from birth.
Just over a week thereafter, Obing’s father, Jose Ecleo, who was about to go fishing unusually felt sleepy that unable to resist the same he turned asleep on the sandy shores of Cabilan. In the deep of his captivating rest, he heard an old man say: “…the baby just born is not an ordinary child.” After this, he was immediately awakened that instead of proceeding to the sea, he decided to go back home to reveal the message to his wife.
On April 21, 1935, the child was baptized as “Robinson” by one Monsignor Juan Sales of the Philippine Independent Church at Melgar, Rizal, Surigao del Norte.
Sometime in 1940, the youthful Ruben Ecleo enrolled in the kindergarten at Surigao City but later stopped schooling when the Second World War broke out. It was only sometime in 1946, that he went back to school.
At this stage again started another perplexing memory when accounts of witnesses revealed that he was shown to have enrolled simultaneously in different schools of distant places, noted by his teachers to have been present in all his classes, excelling in his grades while at the same time working-class hours and still further seen in healing mission in many places.
For indeed, Obing was known to have enrolled in at least five different schools; at Wilson, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte together with his elder brother Moises Ecleo as his classmate; at Gomez, also at Dinagat; at Panyog, and Melgar, of Rizal; at the Surigao Central School in Surigao City; and still at Liloan, Leyte.
Equally amazing is the fact that while he was most of the time seen playing out of school with his friends during class hours, as noted by his elder brother Moises who had always seen him absent, their teachers had all the time noted Obing’s presence in classes in all the schools he was enrolled. In fact, his now only remaining brother, popularly called “Tatay Isek” in the community recalled that his youngest brother Obing was given better grades than him who was the time present. According to their teachers, they have never seen “Obing” absent from classes. On top of everything, Obing had been promoted twice that he had to enroll only in Grades 1, 3, 5, and 6, as he was accelerated in Grades 2 and 4.
Even compounding the paradoxical situation is the observation that in all those years he was seen schooling and he was also seen on a mission in Leyte, Samar, Masbate, Panay Island, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, and other provinces of the Visayas; in Agusan, Misamis, Lanao, Pagadian, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao, Surigao, and other provinces of Mindanao as well as in different provinces of Luzon.
Furthermore, while he was seen schooling in different schools and on missions in various places, at the same time he was seen working to earn a living as a shoe-shine boy, newsboy, and ice drop vendor in Surigao City.
At the age of 16 in 1951, Obing was enrolled in High School with Soriano Institute in Maoyog, Bislig, Surigao del Sur, and became a basketball varsity player thereat, while at the same time working at the Bislig Lumber Corporation.
At 17, two Caucasian-like visitors, who later turned out to be his spiritual friends (whose names should be better left anonymous here) arrived at Cabilan, by their yacht, to look for “Ben Ec” or “Benny Ecleo,” remaining in the island for three days and two nights. Finding an interpreter in the person of Pandoy Edera, they were able to understand each other that they were looking for the person whose description aptly referred to the youthful Ruben Ecleo, and who upon seeing the latter, his two visitors, immediately embraced him, as if they were old-time friends.
Bringing him inside the yacht, the two visitors finally confided that their only purpose of seeing him is to bring him to America, to which his mother, when told, did not accede. Failing in their purpose the two instead advised him to just wait for their letter in about a week’s time, and to follow them up in Manila.
Leaving behind the young Ruben, his two friends left with parting words that they will still meet again some other time but no longer in person.
True to their promise, a letter with pictures therein arrived. However, it was handed to his lady admirer who happened to be a public-school teacher from Dinagat. About to open the letter without the knowledge of Obing, she heard a voice commanding her to ‘stop’ at which time the letter she was holding was forcibly flown away. Flown away. Fearful, the lady teacher picked the letter up and decided to personally send it to Cabilan. Finding Obing at Cabilan, she immediately handed the letter to him who, when about to open it heard a warning voice saying; “This is a top-secret letter; please read it seriously,” resulting in the fainting of the lady teacher. Still another voice was heard, telling him: “Follow the instructions we have given; we will see each other again but no longer in person.”
Pursuant to instruction, Obing lost no time in proceeding to Manila. And in 1952, he was brought to the U.S.A. by ship for an eight-month “observation.” After which Obing came back, known as “Dr. Ruben,” possesses with even greater instant healing power and getting more friendly, generous, and fast becoming popular. This incident however gave rise to another perplexing situation when his elder brother, Moises Ecleo, claims that his brother had not left them, that is, his physical body was seen all the time with them, while likewise admitting that there are all the indications that he had, indeed, gone abroad. For the moment this had remained a puzzle to some, but to many, the matter had eventually gained a clearer vision and explanation of the strange phenomena that, in fact, presently formed part of the gravitating mystical realities.
The early years of his mission were characterized by supreme sacrifices and tremendous difficulties. Not only did he perform his mission with unparalleled devotion and zeal of complying with every instruction of the Spiritual Division upon him, but he also had to wear clothing only enough to cover his body. Washed it in a secluded river wherever he could find any, and wait for his clothing to get dry under the heat of the sun until such time it is again ready for him to wear the same. He was not allowed to receive any amount of money. He was only allowed food enough for his meals, and on extreme occasions, just modest clothing to cover his body.
Against all odds, however, no mountain imposing was tall enough that he was cowed to climb, no ocean, however ferocious that he did not brave to cross, no distance however far that ever blocked his way through in the pursuit of his destined mission.
“Dr. Ruben” always firmly believes that “where the heart is willing it will find a thousand ways, but where it is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuses.” To him not even a threat upon his life could serve as a justifiable excuse in the pursuit of his trying mission. For as he has always emphasized, faith in God coupled with purity of deeds could be the only shining armor capable of ensuring one’s safety and salvation.
Sometime in 1954, in furtherance of his mission, he was taken in as a member of the “Rizal Association of Mercy” headed by one Rafael Mondejar at Matangad, Gitagum, Misamis Oriental. Thereat, in the course of his difficult mission, he got acquainted with his loving spouse “Glenda Oliveros Buray”, daughter of Roberto Buray, Sr., and Rufina Oliveros Buray of the place. Under trying and rather unusual circumstances, the two finally got engaged, and subsequently married, first before a municipal judge in 1955, then before a Roman Catholic Priest in 1956.
Ruben Ecleo is a member of the Aglipayan Church while his wife Glenda is a devout Roman Catholic. Sometime in 1957, he was taken in as “Chief Doctor” of the “Caballeros de Rizal Agricultural Endeavour,” now the nationally acclaimed “Knights of Rizal”, headed by his cousin, the famous Santiago Ecleo, who was popularly called by his followers and friends as “Papa Tiago” of Maguinda, Butuan City, where at the newly-wed couple had to establish residence. Thereat, leaving behind his amiable wife whom many lovingly called “Mommy Glen,” “Dr. Ruben” continued with his mission in other places of the Visayas and Mindanao. Bothered with another ordeal in life while still on a mission, in 1958, he was only informed that his firstborn son Rico, died, which thereby brought untold sufferings and sorrows to the young couple.
Unbending to the exacting test upon his life, “Dr. Ruben” still went on to pursue his healing mission with undiminishing vigor and untainted purity of faith. As a consequence of which, widely sought as an effective and instant healer, the multiplying number of patients looking after him dictated the necessity of putting up a place whereby led to the establishment of a hospital at Cabilan, wherein hundreds of patients come and go to have themselves treated by the now returning “Dr. Ruben.”
Not long thereafter, between 1959 to 1960, another hospital was established in Puyangi, now the fascinating Barangay of San Jose, in the scenic Dinagat Island. Dinagat is some 40 nautical miles across the seas from the Northeastern tip of mainland Mindanao. As one local daily puts it, “the place though considered a typical seaside town of Surigao del Norte has the trappings of a tourist destination.” “Dinagat Island may be one of those places you hear about that dot the Pacific side of Mindanao,” and “taking off from Surigao City wharf in an oversized outrigger (powered by an engine), the one-and-a-half-hour sea travel…we saw islands and islets ringed by white sand beaches. The sea from the Pacific turned from aqua to deep blue.” (After Seeing Dinagat, Now I can Live, The Northern Mindanao Chronicle, by Jun Villalaba, July 30-Aug. 5, 1086 issue)
With his three “spiritual friends” around him (whose names should be left withheld), Dr. Ruben’s healing power became widely known and his patients largely grew in number wherever. His healing power ranges from treatment to operation by bare hands with painless and instant tooth extraction and the curing of terminal patients and who were pronounced by medical physicians as having incurable diseases. In many instances, his ability to identify a person’s type of blood has been proven, and perfectly the same as that of a physician’s findings. In his case, however, he never used any instrument in administering healing, which all, the more brought inexplicable surprises to all his patients and to everyone in attendance.
Many more marvelous and wonderful works have been performed by him, both written in the pages of the scriptures, the details of which should better be unveiled here until a more appropriate time comes. In fact, this writer has been privileged to become a living witness to many of his wonders which he prefers to leave unsaid here. None of his predictions has ever failed, involving major events and happenings taking place in the Philippines and in many parts of the world, ranging from elections to calamities, accidents, and the like.
In fact, the greatest tragedy of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos was when he ignored advice not to push through with the Presidential snap election; otherwise, it would be the end of his honeymoon with his public office as it, in fact, happened. What transpires however belongs to the inevitable. For so long before the decision of the former President to hold a snap election, Hon. Ruben E. Ecleo, Sr., had already predicted that Mr. Marcos will remain undefeated in an election, yet he will be replaced by a woman who will succeed him in office. In fact, for so long, it had painted an unfathomable dilemma in the minds of all his followers who were left in a state of quandary as to how his controversial prediction could ever possibly take place. But it did take place. The occurrence of which directly brought to an end the longtime quest for explanation. It has to take place, notwithstanding countervailing events, for as it has been written, and so, it shall be done. The rest belongs to history.
Such is only one of his political predictions of major consequence which like the rest, emerged with accuracy and precision. Yet, despite the many more manifestations of greatness endowed to a select like him alone, which by their very nature, the naked details, scope, and magnitude should be better left unwritten here, the humility of the man exhibited in practice, to the mind of this writer, stands beyond compare. Unmistakably, he has chosen to be such, for humility itself is a badge of greatness. The contrary, which is pride, is a cardinal sign of weakness.
This has resulted however in another chapter of his exacting mission. Professional physicians and dentists vigorously fabricated charges against him, desperately fishing evidence to charge him and his followers, usually booking them for “Illegal Practice of Medicine,” “Illegal Practice of Dentistry,” and the like, none of which, however, has prospered. He was branded as a magician and called so many names, but has remained calm, unoffended, and humble. Where stones were thrown upon his person, practically he threw bread in return. Accordingly, consistent with scriptural reminders, he has always warned: “Judge not that you may not be judged.”
Ironically, both the military and police who were asked to arrest him instead turned themselves into captive patients as they asked that they be cured of whatever illness they had together with the members of their family, resulting in his being invited home by his supposed apprehenders. Professionals and non-professionals alike eagerly come to him for treatment, guidance, and advise.
As he has always advocated, reminding everyone of the mysteries of man’s creation that while we may have the bread and butter, while we may have the comforts of life, while we may have everything to live by in our respective places of abode, bread, rice and comfort alone are not enough for us to live a meaningful life, for far beyond the measures of material wealth man needs the treasure of spiritual invigoration to be worthy of his divine creation.
Sensing the need to expand his mission to come to the rescue of the many poor and unfortunate brethren who simply had no means of getting them attended by professional physicians and due to the members of the profession attending the rural areas, especially across the hinterlands, he created a group called “First 13”, composed of thirteen of his chosen followers, mainly from the Visayas and Mindanao, to help him pursue his mission.
Thus, the “First 13” was formally ordained sometime in 1963 at Pinamaloy, Don Carlos, Bukidnon, with the following composition: Arsenio D. Nazareno, Pedro Montives, Sr. Francisco Enerio, Teodoro Regacion of Leyte, Cipriano Otero, Ignacio Sombrado, Sergio Saturinas via his late father Martiniano Saturinas, Pedro Tuquib and Diosdado Sabalones from Bohol, the latter via Pedro Masongsong of Batangas; Jovencion Ratunil from Cebu; Cupertino Edera from Cabilan, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte; Leonardo Diegas from Surigao del Norte; George Edera from Melgar, Rizal, Surigao del Norte; and Rolando O. Buray of Gitagum, Misamis Oriental.
Eventually, the need to establish a legally constituted organization became pressing. Thus, on October 19, 1965, the renowned Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, Inc., was founded. It was established under Registration No. 28042 of the Securities and Exchange Commission. From its foundation stemmed the legal basis and governmental imprimatur that led to its meteoric existence. It was launched under the unwavering leadership of its Supreme President and Founder, the venerable Ruben Edera Ecleo, Sr.
The incorporators that gave life to the association comprised the following; the illustrious Ruben E. Ecleo, Sr. of San Jose, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte; Arsenio D. Nazareno of Nabang, Oquendo, District, Calbayog City; Francisco Enerio of Himampang, Initao, Misamis Oriental; Floro Caboverde of Salug, Zamboanga del Norte; Maximo Caboverde of Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte; Carlos Lomanta of New Misamis, Annex, Ozamis City; Maximo Ravelo of Mati, Davao Oriental; Dionisio E. Cui of Babak, Davao del Norte, Pedro Y. Montives of Balakson, Kawayan, Leyte; Victoriano Rafols of Kawit, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte; Eusebio Bandivas of Buug, Zamboanga del Sur; and Casiano Gorrea of Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte.
The illustrious leader of the Association was later overwhelmingly elected as Mayor of Dinagat, undefeated and unchallenged until date, and even with the drastic change of Philippine administration in the 4-day February 1986 revolution, has remained unreplaced, until having just unwittingly found himself the acknowledged “political kingpin” of his province. Even against the adverse speculation of many, he becomes the uncontested President of the Mayor’s League of the province under the new Aquino administration.
His wife, the charismatic Madame Glenda B. Ecleo, the National President and Founder of the Association of Women’s League, President and Founder of the pioneering Don Jose Ecleo Memorial Education Foundation, and founder of the Professional’s League, a Master in Educational Management graduate and a Ph.D. candidate, was one-time duly elected “Senior Panlalawigan Member” of the province.
The loving and much-envied couple is blessed with eight gregarious children: Ruben, Jr., nicknamed “Bongbong” who is currently studying Law in Manila, Glorigen, Gracelyn, Benglen, Allan I, Alan II, Geraldine, and Gwendolyn. Further compounding the pressures demanded by the swelling growth of members that need to be attended and the expansion of chapter and sub-chapter offices nationwide and abroad, there was a need to create another group of trusted pillars of the TV Association “Midyear Convention on July 28, 1986. A popular columnist has this to say: “Nearing the wharf at barangay San Jose (home to the thousands of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association members headed by Supreme Spiritual leader Ruben Ecleo we saw the port teeming with local residents all wanting to extend their warm hands of welcome to their mainland visitors coming from all over Mindanao complete with leis and a blaring brass band.”
“The entire scene reminded me of the Hollywood Pacific movie that starred Marlon Brando. Barangay San Jose proper is perched on a hill that gives it added beauty. The hospitality of the people compliments the beauty of the place.”
“The PBMA as the primary governing body of the place has shown how to build a progressive and happy community. And this has left a deep imprint in the minds of the MINPRANS. Graft and corruption are taboo in my mind.
“After seeing San Jose, now I can live because the earth after all is a beautiful place to live and certainly, I have developed the zest for living.
“Leaving San Jose, the next day, I promised myself, that not in the distant future, I will go back to the place and re-live the short but happy memory I have with the place.” (On Your Marks, The Northern Mindanao Chronicle, by Jun Villalaba, July 30- Aug. 5, 1986 issue)
The formation and growth of the Association are not without constitutional basis. It rests upon the constitutional protective mantle which guarantees the right of every one to form associations or societies for purposes that are not contrary to the law. (Sec. 6, Art. IV, 1935 Constitution; Sec. 7, Art. IV, 1973 Constitution; Section I, Art. I, Freedom Constitution) consequently, to become a member thereof, free from undue interference or restraint from others. It was given birth to pursue an arduous and labyrinthian mission. As enshrined in its Articles of Incorporation, its multi-pronged objectives may be summed up into three pervading and generic missions—to serve Humanity, love of fellowmen, and the promotion of world brotherhood—under the Fatherhood of God.
It has to be such for as stated in the scriptures “…and now abideth faith, hope, and charity; these three, but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Corinthians 13:13). In fact, charity is the mother of all virtues. Such is the charitable and benevolent character of the Association. Such is the indubitable distinction of its greatness. Such is the biblical root of its unfathomable existence. It is not a religion, because religious rivalry cannot unify the world. It is instead a corporation because incorporation signifies unity even in diversity. For while religion establishes a wall of separation, incorporation cements a bridge of cooperation and a bond of unbreakable union. It would, therefore, be both idle and unchristian for anyone to cast aspersion upon the Association as a religion.
Against all odds and the onslaught of time as well as the fury of the charlatans and demagogues that have unleashed the forces of their evil minds to discredit the organization and its Founder, erected on the rock-bed of humility, propelled by its Founder’s unbending pursuit for perseverance, and ignited by its member’s burning faith in the Divine Providence that guides the destinies of men and nation. The Association, under the leadership of its Supreme President and Founder, has withered all phases of assaults in all the over two decades of its phenomenal existence. With the appearance of his friends and neighbors but also his parents and relatives, things have become unusual to the point of being misunderstood by many despite the distinctive generosity and goodness he has shown to those who would need any kind of help from him.
To him, there is nothing worth aspiring for more than to be able to lead a ready to help and show a willing heart to give; and there is nothing more consoling than to see the misguided straightened, the sinners repentant, the vicious, reformed so that from the darkness they may finally see the light. Such is the simplest interpretation of the Eclean Philosophy of Life. Such is what is known as the Eclean Doctrine of Benevolent Relation. Such a way of life is not without scriptural foundation. For as stated in the scriptures: “What you have done to the least of your brethren you have also done it unto me.”
For the Eclean Doctrine postulates that the unbreakable yardstick of human salvation is not measured on the basis of how much time man has devoted to his prayers which could be but an empty ceremony, not even on the basis of his claim that he loves God, which could be hypocritical and self-serving, but if he is to be judged, he is measured on the basis of how much care he has done to his fellowmen, especially the less-privileged and the unfortunate for they are the ones who are the most in need of help and comfort. It has to be such for as pointed out in Chapter 13 of St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not charity, I am like a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; Though I have the gift of prophecy and of wisdom so that I can understand all mysteries and all languages and though I have all the faith so that I can move mountains but have not charity, I am nothing; and though I give all my goods to feed the poor and give my body to be burnt but have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
As heretofore stated, the gift of “Divine Healing” endowed upon him propelled his labyrinthian mission which started from his early childhood. As distinguished from “faith healing,” and other types of healing, such as “pranic or magnetic healing,” “psychic or mental healing,” and “mystical healing” which could be classified under the category of “occult healing,” though in practice they tend to overlap each other, “Divine Healing” can only be accomplished by a highly evolved being—in fact, only a Divine Being. The greatest example of this type of healer is, of course, Jesus Christ. His healing powers are well known and are recorded in the Bible. He cast out evil spirits and cured leprosy, blindness, and a host of other diseases. The power of the apostles to cure comes directly from Jesus Christ. Cures made through Divine Healing are always instantaneous, unlike other forms of healing.” (BT, Jaime Licauco, 1985)
How such a divinely evolved gift has come to the man so malevolently maligned and so unkindly castigated even by those who proudly claim to be Christians and men of God, only the Almighty God can give the unerring judgment. Not just any mortals, nor those whose minds are polluted with intellectual prostitution of their worldly vocation, can lay claim or exclusive righteousness and wisdom under the ages of divine justice.
Beyond the material things the men around him, friends or foe, have seen of him, transcend the spiritual marvels of his deeds, unbending to his detractors, persistent in the pursuit of his exacting mission, uncowed by the ordeals he has foresworn to traverse. For beyond the realm of never-ending controversy rings this passage in his heart: “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
Wittingly or unwittingly, they who have earlier crushed this man have now gradually emerged to eat their ungodly words and admit their mortal errors. Yet unmoved by the syndicate of evils clothed in disguise to destroy and despise him, unoffending and humble as ever, and aware of the role each one of them is playing in the frontiers of this world’s confusing drama, he merely treats them like the intimidating roars of the dying waves of the sea, until they finally find themselves settled in the level where they languish in shameful agony struck of their own blow that boomerang to them. Those who lay claim to a monopoly of wisdom and godliness are called upon to reflect on the striking passages of a protestant priest visiting the Supreme Hero in exile, Dr. Jose Rizal when he asked the former; “Are you not afraid to visit me amidst the envious and condemning eyes of the friars?” And the protestant priest responded in resolute confidence by saying: “Let them do what they want, but I insist to do what I feel I should, after which we shall submit ourselves to the better judgment of God on who between us has done his will better.”
”No doubt, that on the basis of his unshakable stand, the magnanimous Ruben E. Ecleo, Sr. Supreme President and Founder of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, Inc. will always withstand, as he has successfully withstood, the test of time and hardships, to find himself finally recognized as the “Mysterious Superstar of the South.” (WHO Magazine, Sept 26, 1981, Vol. IV, No. 20)
Yes, he will always stand, for as stated in St. Matthew: “The winds may blow, the rains may fall, the floods may come, and all may hit the house; but if the foundation of that house is strong, it will always stand.”
On February 2, 1979, a leading national magazine had this to say: “Somebody from this small country will emerge something new that will shock the world. Foreigners will flock to this seemingly magnificent country that will be the source of wonder for millions. Theologians, mystics, and medical experts will flock to this small archipelago and this is where they will find the truth. Pray for your country and the world every day. Do not do anything foolish to betray this blessed land.” (MOD Magazine, p. 19)
Yesterday was only but a prophecy. Today we find ourselves in the monumental quest to discover our place in the golden pages of destiny. Tomorrow, nations will flock in fulfillment of that prophecy.
And so, when it shall come to pass when men and nations shall flock to find the truth, they shall come not to find bread, not to enjoy comfort, not to seek the glitters of material wealth, but in search of the elusive and mystical treasures of the Spirit.
#bible #christianity #faith #jesus #JoJacValmorida #PBMA #philippines #Philosophy #RubenEcleo #Rubenian -
Finding Easter
As as Astronomist I am often asked “How do they calculate the date of Easter?”, so here goes.
The simple answer is that Easter Sunday is on the first Sunday after the first full Moon on or after the Vernal equinox. The Vernal Equinox took place this year on March 20th and the first full moon after that was on April 2nd.
I say “simple” answer above because it isn’t quite how the date of Easter is reckoned for purposes of the liturgical calendar.
For a start, the ecclesiastical calculation of the date for Easter – the computus – assumes that the Vernal Equinox is always on March 21st, while in reality these days it is more frequently 20th March, like this year.
On top of that there’s the issue of what reference time and date to use. The equinox is a precisely timed astronomical event but it occurs at different times and possibly on different days in different time zones. Likewise the full Moon. In the ecclesiastical calculation the “full moon” does not currently correspond directly to any astronomical event, but is instead the 14th day of a lunar month, as determined from tables (see below). It may differ from the date of the actual full moon by up to two days.
There have been years (1974, for example) where the official date of Easter does not coincide with the date determined by the simple rule given above. The actual rule is a complicated business involving Golden Numbers and Metonic cycles and whatnot.
Here is excerpt from the Book of Common Prayer that shows Anglicans how to determine the date of Easter for any year up to 2199:
The calculations are based on the approximately 19-year metonic cycle., which is why the above table will not work indefinitely
For this year we find that (2026+1) ÷19=106 with a remainder of 13 (106 × 19 being 2014). The Golder Number for this year is therefore 13, or XIII in the Table. This gives the date of the Paschal Full Moon, which occured this year on 2nd April, which is indeed the day in the centre column next to XIII in the left-hand column in the table. The Sunday Letter is determined by the remainder of (2026+506+6)÷7, which is 4, so this year’s Sunday Letter is D. The date of Easter Sunday is given by the entry in the centre column next to the first occurrence of D in the right-hand column after the Golden Number XIII appears in the left-hand column, i.e. April 5th. I hope this clarifies the situation.
#astronomy #BookOfCommonPrayer #computus #Easter #Equinox #GoldenNumbers #SundayLetters -
Bird nets are not meant to keep birds away. They are designed for them to get tangled and trapped, slowly agonizing to death—and for their chicks, likewise, to starve. If you live in the UK, please sign this petition.
#birds #nature #petition #wildlife #uk #EndBirdNetting #protectthewild #protectnature
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Bird nets are not meant to keep birds away. They are designed for them to get tangled and trapped, slowly agonizing to death—and for their chicks, likewise, to starve. If you live in the UK, please sign this petition.
#birds #nature #petition #wildlife #uk #EndBirdNetting #protectthewild #protectnature
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By Dear Hollow
I’m beginning to think Mire was a fluke. I’m not saying that as a bad thing, but I remember listening to Conjurer’s debut and thinking that it was a top post-metal album steeped in atmosphere and enigma, tied together with vicious vocals and vindictive weight.1 So then, I was immensely let down by follow-up Páthos because it seemed to shed substance for novelty: if I’m being honest, its stark dichotomy of heartwrenching melodies and kickass riffs felt inauthentic and shoehorned. Thus, I approached Unself carefully, hoping for something like Mire but tentatively expecting Páthos. What I got, however, was neither. You see, Mire was a fluke not in quality but in approach, because Unself proves that Conjurer prioritizes riff, weaponizing it for the very human tale of the deconstruction of self.
The title track enters with what I would expect from an early 2010s metalcore band intro,2 the Americana cover of 1919 gospel song “I Can’t Feel At Home in this World Anymore” morphing into a full-on dissodeath takedown via a barb of squealing dissonance. While this and the final song, “The World is Not My Home” seem to tie up the album into a thematic deconstruction of religion, Unself is a bit more complex than that. It reflects the journey of vocalist/guitarist Dani Nightingale through an autism diagnosis and discovery of them being non-binary. Similarly reflecting this complexity and remaining incredibly difficult to neatly categorize its sonic assault, Conjurer lays a foundation of post-metal’s meandering rhythmic hulk with death metal intensity, sludge tonal abuse, and a sleek modern production built atop, with – in Unself – hints of black metal. It’s not the second coming of Mire – it’s Unself and undeniably on-brand and completely authentic – and that’s perfectly okay for Conjurer.
Unself’s structure shows Conjurer’s devotion to natural growth, a welcome change from the shoehorned Páthos – largely because Nightingale’s sonic struggles with self-discovery undergird the movements. The two halves of the album are divided into three tracks, bookended by the Huntsmen-influenced thematic motif of the aforesaid “I Can’t Feel at Home in This World” morphed into ugly beatdowns and yearning sadness. The meat of the two suites fall into one of three categories: the relatively traditional post-metal waltzing of Amenra’s heavier moments in sprawling weight (“All Apart,” “Foreclosure”), the yearning chord progressions and melodies recalling Páthos’ emotive emphasis to a more effective degree (“There Is No Warmth,” “Let Us Live”), or the outright assaults of blackened sludge and -core breakdowns (“The Searing Glow,” “Hang Them in Your Head”). As the album progresses, so does the intensity. The latter, the most vicious of the bunch, feel like they nearly boil over, nearly forsaking the post-metal attack for an obscure death metal attack a la Convulsing or Adversarial – making interlude “A Plea” truly the eye of the storm in its minimalist approach, distant vocal samples, and acoustic strumming.
The balance between novelty and songwriting remains an issue for Conjurer. Because of the trichotomy of its sounds, Unself offers different levels of quality. At first, the more traditional post-metal cuts (“All Apart,” “Foreclosure”) feel like absolute bangers, touched with darkness and harmony – but then you hear the other two approaches and they suddenly feel overly long and uneventful in comparison. Likewise, there are several tracks that could stand a good trimming, simply because many feature a singular abrupt tonal shift from melodic to dissonant in its last respective third (“There is No Warmth,” “Let Us Live”). A more divisive take is that Conjurer’s production is very modern and sleek, the down-tuned leads more akin to 2010s metalcore acts like The Plot in You or The Sorrow, an accessibility largely contradicting post-metal’s historic opaqueness (Neurosis) and death metal’s hostility (Bolt Thrower), so while I liked its more “loud and ouchy” tones, others may not be so persuaded.
The novelty and the emotion are resolved in Unself, as Conjurer finally feels authentic and realized. No, Unself is not better than Mire, but it feels more genuine and human than Páthos, offering some of the act’s most intense material to date while chronicling the dismantling of the self into something more authentic. Not only does Dani Nightingale embark on a journey of self-discovery, but Conjurer does too. I’m just happy to be along for the ride.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Websites: conjureruk.bandcamp.com | conjureruk.com | facebook.com/conjureruk
Releases Worldwide: October 24th, 2025#2025 #30 #Adversarial #Amenra #BlackMetal #BoltThrower #BritishMetal #Conjurer #Convulsing #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Huntsmen #Neurosis #NuclearBlastRecords #Oct25 #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #SludgeMetal #TheOngoingConcept #ThePlotInYou #TheSorrow #Unself #VeilOfMaya
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Meanwhile the federal member for Lyne is The Nationals' Alison Penfold.
Currently flooded Taree is contained in the electorate of Lyne.
Climate change is making these flooding events more frequent and more extreme. Likewise making more homes uninsurable.
I don't think we've heard a peep from MP Penfold.
Edit:
To be fair to MP Penfold she has spoken to Sky News, which is why I've not heard anything about what she's been doing, which it turns out is a fair bit.
That being, I suppose talking about The Nationals' policies and ideological opposition of any action on climate change would be "politicising this tragedy".
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#ScribesAndMakers 20/02: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?
Okay, I am going to limit myself here for stories "loosely inspired" by German/European #folklore.
- What's the deal with all the "Disney Princess" protagonists - i.e. viewpoint characters that come from an aristocratic background? Where are the peasant heroes and heroines who win the day thanks to their daring and wit?
- What's the deal with all the "ancestry powers" - i.e. the notion that you are special and have special powers primarily because your ancestors were special and had special powers? In German folklore, all the people who had "innate powers" had them due to the particular time of their birth, _not_ because their ancestors were magical!
- Likewise, German folk tales are _full_ of truly despicable aristocratic villains. Why don't we show the old aristocracy in all its depravity?
Frankly, I sometimes suspect that much of modern fantasy or folklore-inspired media is pro- #DarkEnlightenment propaganda.
-
#ScribesAndMakers 20/02: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?
Okay, I am going to limit myself here for stories "loosely inspired" by German/European #folklore.
- What's the deal with all the "Disney Princess" protagonists - i.e. viewpoint characters that come from an aristocratic background? Where are the peasant heroes and heroines who win the day thanks to their daring and wit?
- What's the deal with all the "ancestry powers" - i.e. the notion that you are special and have special powers primarily because your ancestors were special and had special powers? In German folklore, all the people who had "innate powers" had them due to the particular time of their birth, _not_ because their ancestors were magical!
- Likewise, German folk tales are _full_ of truly despicable aristocratic villains. Why don't we show the old aristocracy in all its depravity?
Frankly, I sometimes suspect that much of modern fantasy or folklore-inspired media is pro- #DarkEnlightenment propaganda.
-
#ScribesAndMakers 20/02: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?
Okay, I am going to limit myself here for stories "loosely inspired" by German/European #folklore.
- What's the deal with all the "Disney Princess" protagonists - i.e. viewpoint characters that come from an aristocratic background? Where are the peasant heroes and heroines who win the day thanks to their daring and wit?
- What's the deal with all the "ancestry powers" - i.e. the notion that you are special and have special powers primarily because your ancestors were special and had special powers? In German folklore, all the people who had "innate powers" had them due to the particular time of their birth, _not_ because their ancestors were magical!
- Likewise, German folk tales are _full_ of truly despicable aristocratic villains. Why don't we show the old aristocracy in all its depravity?
Frankly, I sometimes suspect that much of modern fantasy or folklore-inspired media is pro- #DarkEnlightenment propaganda.
-
#ScribesAndMakers 20/02: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?
Okay, I am going to limit myself here for stories "loosely inspired" by German/European #folklore.
- What's the deal with all the "Disney Princess" protagonists - i.e. viewpoint characters that come from an aristocratic background? Where are the peasant heroes and heroines who win the day thanks to their daring and wit?
- What's the deal with all the "ancestry powers" - i.e. the notion that you are special and have special powers primarily because your ancestors were special and had special powers? In German folklore, all the people who had "innate powers" had them due to the particular time of their birth, _not_ because their ancestors were magical!
- Likewise, German folk tales are _full_ of truly despicable aristocratic villains. Why don't we show the old aristocracy in all its depravity?
Frankly, I sometimes suspect that much of modern fantasy or folklore-inspired media is pro- #DarkEnlightenment propaganda.
-
#ScribesAndMakers 20/02: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?
Okay, I am going to limit myself here for stories "loosely inspired" by German/European #folklore.
- What's the deal with all the "Disney Princess" protagonists - i.e. viewpoint characters that come from an aristocratic background? Where are the peasant heroes and heroines who win the day thanks to their daring and wit?
- What's the deal with all the "ancestry powers" - i.e. the notion that you are special and have special powers primarily because your ancestors were special and had special powers? In German folklore, all the people who had "innate powers" had them due to the particular time of their birth, _not_ because their ancestors were magical!
- Likewise, German folk tales are _full_ of truly despicable aristocratic villains. Why don't we show the old aristocracy in all its depravity?
Frankly, I sometimes suspect that much of modern fantasy or folklore-inspired media is pro- #DarkEnlightenment propaganda.
-
“Low- and Mid-Tier Mobile for the Real World (2025)” by @csswizardry
🔗 https://csswizardry.com/2025/08/low-and-mid-tier-mobile-for-the-real-world-2025/
> It’s important to remember that ‘low-tier’ does not mean old. Likewise, ‘mid-tier’ does not mean ‘a flagship from 2018’. They are a device class in their own right and it’s perfectly possible for your users to be using brand new low-tier devices. As such, we needn’t look to the past for our benchmarks.
⚓️ https://nicolas-hoizey.com/links/2026/03/30/low-and-mid-tier-mobile-for-the-real-world-2025/
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"Should we celebrate that MeidasTouch is now the #1 podcast in America? They are certainly less toxic than right-wing manosphere figures like Andrew Tate or content produced by Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire. However, their role in future Democratic primary contests will likely make them adversaries of the progressive left. They will continue playing their role as party enforcers for the same soulless elite politics that led to Donald Trump’s rise in the first place, and they will work to sideline progressive challengers and insulate their audiences from hearing criticism of the Democratic Party. Their influence will make it even harder for progressives to break through. These people are not allies of the left. They are obstacles to meaningful change.
If this is the future of the Democratic Party’s media ecosystem, it’s a bleak and cynical one. A party that relies on controlled messaging instead of real accountability will only accelerate its own decline. MeidasTouch and its ilk may be raking in views now—but in the end, they are helping to build a Democratic Party that is increasingly disconnected from the very voters it claims to represent. Thankfully, there are real alternatives. Outlets like Status Coup, The Real News Network, The Lever, BreakThrough News, and Drop Site News produce excellent original reporting that holds power to account. Likewise, here at Current Affairs we challenge both Donald Trump and the liberal establishment that enables him."
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/meidastouch-turns-democrats-minds-to-slop
#USA #MeidasTouch #DemocraticParty #Podcast #Media #AlternativeMedia
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Azure Emote – Cryptic Aura Review
By Owlswald
Azure Emote is the project of two very busy musicians, vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, ex-Vile) and guitarist Ryan Moll (Hypoxia, Total Fucking Destruction). In between their work with many acclaimed death metal acts, the duo reconvenes every five years or so to craft a new Azure Emote record.1 What began in 2010 with Chronicles of an Aging Mammal as an experimental think tank for their genre-defying ideas has steadily evolved into their own eclectic brand of avant-garde death metal. Cryptic Aura marks the group’s fourth full-length and their third featuring the same all-star lineup: drumming powerhouse Mike Heller (Abigail Williams, ex-Fear Factory), legendary bassist Kelly Conlon (ex-Death), and violinist extraordinaire Pete Johansen (ex-Sirenia). Anna Murphy (ex-Eluveitie) also joins this renowned lineup, contributing her enchanting clean vocals.2 While long gaps between releases and an overabundance of ideas have historically hindered Azure Emote, Cryptic Aura strives to defy this pattern, arriving with a clear ambition to be both darker and heavier than anything they’ve released before.
Imagine a collision of Dimmu Borgir, Ne Obliviscaris, and Mithras and you’ll be in the ballpark of describing Azure Emote’s sound. Hrubovcak’s symphonic keyboards and Shagrath-esque blackened growls top Moll’s driving riffs, Conlon’s dexterous bass and Heller’s remarkable drumming to create occult-infused songs rich with dark atmosphere and dramatic flair. Heller’s performance on Cryptic Aura is mind-blowing. His blazing tom rolls (“Aeons Adrift”), tight rhythms (“Disease of the Soul”), and creative backbeats (“Return to the Unknown”) are consistently jaw-dropping, at times even overpowering the album’s bright DR 9 master. Johansen’s violin steps into a main role, often assuming a folky, crestfallen tone across the album’s ten tracks.3 Enhancing Johansen’s violin are Murphy’s backing vocals, her majestic croons (“Bleed with the Moon”) and ethereal melodies (“Feast of Leeches,” “Aeons Adrift”) driving haunting transitions. She is a welcome addition, offering bouts of serenity and a fresh touch to Azure Emote’s relentless instrumental virtuosity.
Azure Emote’s technical elements frequently coalesce to create powerful, well-structured material, despite their inherent complexity. Still incorporating a wide array of musical styles and ideas into a progressive death metal mélange, Cryptic Aura feels more calculated than past efforts. “Disease of the Soul” is a prime example, standing out as one of the album’s strongest tracks. It demonstrates the group’s unified musical vision, maintaining control amidst torrents of virtuosic chaos. Likewise, “Feast of Leeches” showcases this synergy—Murphy’s soothing pitches, Johansen’s violin, and Hrubovcak’s synth arrangements artfully balancing its thrashy riffs, relentless blast beats and Moll and Conlon’s adventurous soloing. Johansen’s violin plays a crucial role in grounding Cryptic Aura’s songs and providing a consistent thematic thread. Far from being buried in the mix, Johansen often takes the lead, offering melodic death-folk elements and a variety of engaging leads and solos that share the spotlight with Moll. From trilling melodies (“Aeons Adrift,” “Insomnia Nervosa”) to chilling atmospheric passages with delay (“Defiance Infernus”) to a somber homestead feel (“Bleed with the Moon”), Johansen’s versatility adds a distinctive layer to Azure Emote’s multifaceted soundscape.
While Cryptic Aura features impressive technicality and several strong tracks, its prevailing density occasionally hampers it, thereby leading to listener fatigue. Heller’s performance, while spectacular, is overwhelming at times—particularly on “Defiance Infernus,” “Into Abysmal Oblivion,” and “Aeons Adrift”—due to his blistering speed and the drum-forward mix. Furthermore, the powerful beginnings of “Provoking the Obscene” and “Aeons Adrift” ultimately dissolve into exhausting complexity during their chaotic conclusions. “Bleed with the Moon,” meanwhile, offers a repetitive, cascading instrumental barrage that offers little reprieve from its intensity. Murphy’s performance serves Cryptic Aura well, however, helping to counterbalance the overwhelming instrumentation. Her choral passages shine—notably the Gladiator-like ambient transition in “Bleed the Moon”—and her dramatic and warm tone commands attention on “Return to the Unknown” and “Provoking the Obscene.” Unfortunately, she is largely confined to backup duties—a disappointing and missed opportunity.
Though not without its flaws, Cryptic Aura remains a good album. A consistent lineup has allowed Azure Emote to streamline their creativity, presenting their impressive virtuosity with a newfound focus. With Cryptic Aura, the group has found solid footing, marking a positive evolution and resulting in my favorite record from them to date. Such progress ignites my excitement for the future. My only hope is that their next iteration arrives much sooner.
Rating: Good
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Testimony Records
Websites: azureemote.bandcamp.com/music | facebook.com/azureemote
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025#2025 #30 #AbagailWilliams #AmericanMetal #AvantGarde #AzureEmote #CrypticAura #Death #DeathMetal #DimmuBorgir #Eluveitie #FearFactory #Hypoxia #Jul25 #Mithras #Monstrosity #NeObliviscaris #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #Sirenia #TestimonyRecords #TotalFuckingDestruction #Vile
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Azure Emote – Cryptic Aura Review
By Owlswald
Azure Emote is the project of two very busy musicians, vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, ex-Vile) and guitarist Ryan Moll (Hypoxia, Total Fucking Destruction). In between their work with many acclaimed death metal acts, the duo reconvenes every five years or so to craft a new Azure Emote record.1 What began in 2010 with Chronicles of an Aging Mammal as an experimental think tank for their genre-defying ideas has steadily evolved into their own eclectic brand of avant-garde death metal. Cryptic Aura marks the group’s fourth full-length and their third featuring the same all-star lineup: drumming powerhouse Mike Heller (Abigail Williams, ex-Fear Factory), legendary bassist Kelly Conlon (ex-Death), and violinist extraordinaire Pete Johansen (ex-Sirenia). Anna Murphy (ex-Eluveitie) also joins this renowned lineup, contributing her enchanting clean vocals.2 While long gaps between releases and an overabundance of ideas have historically hindered Azure Emote, Cryptic Aura strives to defy this pattern, arriving with a clear ambition to be both darker and heavier than anything they’ve released before.
Imagine a collision of Dimmu Borgir, Ne Obliviscaris, and Mithras and you’ll be in the ballpark of describing Azure Emote’s sound. Hrubovcak’s symphonic keyboards and Shagrath-esque blackened growls top Moll’s driving riffs, Conlon’s dexterous bass and Heller’s remarkable drumming to create occult-infused songs rich with dark atmosphere and dramatic flair. Heller’s performance on Cryptic Aura is mind-blowing. His blazing tom rolls (“Aeons Adrift”), tight rhythms (“Disease of the Soul”), and creative backbeats (“Return to the Unknown”) are consistently jaw-dropping, at times even overpowering the album’s bright DR 9 master. Johansen’s violin steps into a main role, often assuming a folky, crestfallen tone across the album’s ten tracks.3 Enhancing Johansen’s violin are Murphy’s backing vocals, her majestic croons (“Bleed with the Moon”) and ethereal melodies (“Feast of Leeches,” “Aeons Adrift”) driving haunting transitions. She is a welcome addition, offering bouts of serenity and a fresh touch to Azure Emote’s relentless instrumental virtuosity.
Azure Emote’s technical elements frequently coalesce to create powerful, well-structured material, despite their inherent complexity. Still incorporating a wide array of musical styles and ideas into a progressive death metal mélange, Cryptic Aura feels more calculated than past efforts. “Disease of the Soul” is a prime example, standing out as one of the album’s strongest tracks. It demonstrates the group’s unified musical vision, maintaining control amidst torrents of virtuosic chaos. Likewise, “Feast of Leeches” showcases this synergy—Murphy’s soothing pitches, Johansen’s violin, and Hrubovcak’s synth arrangements artfully balancing its thrashy riffs, relentless blast beats and Moll and Conlon’s adventurous soloing. Johansen’s violin plays a crucial role in grounding Cryptic Aura’s songs and providing a consistent thematic thread. Far from being buried in the mix, Johansen often takes the lead, offering melodic death-folk elements and a variety of engaging leads and solos that share the spotlight with Moll. From trilling melodies (“Aeons Adrift,” “Insomnia Nervosa”) to chilling atmospheric passages with delay (“Defiance Infernus”) to a somber homestead feel (“Bleed with the Moon”), Johansen’s versatility adds a distinctive layer to Azure Emote’s multifaceted soundscape.
While Cryptic Aura features impressive technicality and several strong tracks, its prevailing density occasionally hampers it, thereby leading to listener fatigue. Heller’s performance, while spectacular, is overwhelming at times—particularly on “Defiance Infernus,” “Into Abysmal Oblivion,” and “Aeons Adrift”—due to his blistering speed and the drum-forward mix. Furthermore, the powerful beginnings of “Provoking the Obscene” and “Aeons Adrift” ultimately dissolve into exhausting complexity during their chaotic conclusions. “Bleed with the Moon,” meanwhile, offers a repetitive, cascading instrumental barrage that offers little reprieve from its intensity. Murphy’s performance serves Cryptic Aura well, however, helping to counterbalance the overwhelming instrumentation. Her choral passages shine—notably the Gladiator-like ambient transition in “Bleed the Moon”—and her dramatic and warm tone commands attention on “Return to the Unknown” and “Provoking the Obscene.” Unfortunately, she is largely confined to backup duties—a disappointing and missed opportunity.
Though not without its flaws, Cryptic Aura remains a good album. A consistent lineup has allowed Azure Emote to streamline their creativity, presenting their impressive virtuosity with a newfound focus. With Cryptic Aura, the group has found solid footing, marking a positive evolution and resulting in my favorite record from them to date. Such progress ignites my excitement for the future. My only hope is that their next iteration arrives much sooner.
Rating: Good
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Testimony Records
Websites: azureemote.bandcamp.com/music | facebook.com/azureemote
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025#2025 #30 #AbagailWilliams #AmericanMetal #AvantGarde #AzureEmote #CrypticAura #Death #DeathMetal #DimmuBorgir #Eluveitie #FearFactory #Hypoxia #Jul25 #Mithras #Monstrosity #NeObliviscaris #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #Sirenia #TestimonyRecords #TotalFuckingDestruction #Vile
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Azure Emote – Cryptic Aura Review
By Owlswald
Azure Emote is the project of two very busy musicians, vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, ex-Vile) and guitarist Ryan Moll (Hypoxia, Total Fucking Destruction). In between their work with many acclaimed death metal acts, the duo reconvenes every five years or so to craft a new Azure Emote record.1 What began in 2010 with Chronicles of an Aging Mammal as an experimental think tank for their genre-defying ideas has steadily evolved into their own eclectic brand of avant-garde death metal. Cryptic Aura marks the group’s fourth full-length and their third featuring the same all-star lineup: drumming powerhouse Mike Heller (Abigail Williams, ex-Fear Factory), legendary bassist Kelly Conlon (ex-Death), and violinist extraordinaire Pete Johansen (ex-Sirenia). Anna Murphy (ex-Eluveitie) also joins this renowned lineup, contributing her enchanting clean vocals.2 While long gaps between releases and an overabundance of ideas have historically hindered Azure Emote, Cryptic Aura strives to defy this pattern, arriving with a clear ambition to be both darker and heavier than anything they’ve released before.
Imagine a collision of Dimmu Borgir, Ne Obliviscaris, and Mithras and you’ll be in the ballpark of describing Azure Emote’s sound. Hrubovcak’s symphonic keyboards and Shagrath-esque blackened growls top Moll’s driving riffs, Conlon’s dexterous bass and Heller’s remarkable drumming to create occult-infused songs rich with dark atmosphere and dramatic flair. Heller’s performance on Cryptic Aura is mind-blowing. His blazing tom rolls (“Aeons Adrift”), tight rhythms (“Disease of the Soul”), and creative backbeats (“Return to the Unknown”) are consistently jaw-dropping, at times even overpowering the album’s bright DR 9 master. Johansen’s violin steps into a main role, often assuming a folky, crestfallen tone across the album’s ten tracks.3 Enhancing Johansen’s violin are Murphy’s backing vocals, her majestic croons (“Bleed with the Moon”) and ethereal melodies (“Feast of Leeches,” “Aeons Adrift”) driving haunting transitions. She is a welcome addition, offering bouts of serenity and a fresh touch to Azure Emote’s relentless instrumental virtuosity.
Azure Emote’s technical elements frequently coalesce to create powerful, well-structured material, despite their inherent complexity. Still incorporating a wide array of musical styles and ideas into a progressive death metal mélange, Cryptic Aura feels more calculated than past efforts. “Disease of the Soul” is a prime example, standing out as one of the album’s strongest tracks. It demonstrates the group’s unified musical vision, maintaining control amidst torrents of virtuosic chaos. Likewise, “Feast of Leeches” showcases this synergy—Murphy’s soothing pitches, Johansen’s violin, and Hrubovcak’s synth arrangements artfully balancing its thrashy riffs, relentless blast beats and Moll and Conlon’s adventurous soloing. Johansen’s violin plays a crucial role in grounding Cryptic Aura’s songs and providing a consistent thematic thread. Far from being buried in the mix, Johansen often takes the lead, offering melodic death-folk elements and a variety of engaging leads and solos that share the spotlight with Moll. From trilling melodies (“Aeons Adrift,” “Insomnia Nervosa”) to chilling atmospheric passages with delay (“Defiance Infernus”) to a somber homestead feel (“Bleed with the Moon”), Johansen’s versatility adds a distinctive layer to Azure Emote’s multifaceted soundscape.
While Cryptic Aura features impressive technicality and several strong tracks, its prevailing density occasionally hampers it, thereby leading to listener fatigue. Heller’s performance, while spectacular, is overwhelming at times—particularly on “Defiance Infernus,” “Into Abysmal Oblivion,” and “Aeons Adrift”—due to his blistering speed and the drum-forward mix. Furthermore, the powerful beginnings of “Provoking the Obscene” and “Aeons Adrift” ultimately dissolve into exhausting complexity during their chaotic conclusions. “Bleed with the Moon,” meanwhile, offers a repetitive, cascading instrumental barrage that offers little reprieve from its intensity. Murphy’s performance serves Cryptic Aura well, however, helping to counterbalance the overwhelming instrumentation. Her choral passages shine—notably the Gladiator-like ambient transition in “Bleed the Moon”—and her dramatic and warm tone commands attention on “Return to the Unknown” and “Provoking the Obscene.” Unfortunately, she is largely confined to backup duties—a disappointing and missed opportunity.
Though not without its flaws, Cryptic Aura remains a good album. A consistent lineup has allowed Azure Emote to streamline their creativity, presenting their impressive virtuosity with a newfound focus. With Cryptic Aura, the group has found solid footing, marking a positive evolution and resulting in my favorite record from them to date. Such progress ignites my excitement for the future. My only hope is that their next iteration arrives much sooner.
Rating: Good
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Testimony Records
Websites: azureemote.bandcamp.com/music | facebook.com/azureemote
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025#2025 #30 #AbagailWilliams #AmericanMetal #AvantGarde #AzureEmote #CrypticAura #Death #DeathMetal #DimmuBorgir #Eluveitie #FearFactory #Hypoxia #Jul25 #Mithras #Monstrosity #NeObliviscaris #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #Sirenia #TestimonyRecords #TotalFuckingDestruction #Vile
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Azure Emote – Cryptic Aura Review
By Owlswald
Azure Emote is the project of two very busy musicians, vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, ex-Vile) and guitarist Ryan Moll (Hypoxia, Total Fucking Destruction). In between their work with many acclaimed death metal acts, the duo reconvenes every five years or so to craft a new Azure Emote record.1 What began in 2010 with Chronicles of an Aging Mammal as an experimental think tank for their genre-defying ideas has steadily evolved into their own eclectic brand of avant-garde death metal. Cryptic Aura marks the group’s fourth full-length and their third featuring the same all-star lineup: drumming powerhouse Mike Heller (Abigail Williams, ex-Fear Factory), legendary bassist Kelly Conlon (ex-Death), and violinist extraordinaire Pete Johansen (ex-Sirenia). Anna Murphy (ex-Eluveitie) also joins this renowned lineup, contributing her enchanting clean vocals.2 While long gaps between releases and an overabundance of ideas have historically hindered Azure Emote, Cryptic Aura strives to defy this pattern, arriving with a clear ambition to be both darker and heavier than anything they’ve released before.
Imagine a collision of Dimmu Borgir, Ne Obliviscaris, and Mithras and you’ll be in the ballpark of describing Azure Emote’s sound. Hrubovcak’s symphonic keyboards and Shagrath-esque blackened growls top Moll’s driving riffs, Conlon’s dexterous bass and Heller’s remarkable drumming to create occult-infused songs rich with dark atmosphere and dramatic flair. Heller’s performance on Cryptic Aura is mind-blowing. His blazing tom rolls (“Aeons Adrift”), tight rhythms (“Disease of the Soul”), and creative backbeats (“Return to the Unknown”) are consistently jaw-dropping, at times even overpowering the album’s bright DR 9 master. Johansen’s violin steps into a main role, often assuming a folky, crestfallen tone across the album’s ten tracks.3 Enhancing Johansen’s violin are Murphy’s backing vocals, her majestic croons (“Bleed with the Moon”) and ethereal melodies (“Feast of Leeches,” “Aeons Adrift”) driving haunting transitions. She is a welcome addition, offering bouts of serenity and a fresh touch to Azure Emote’s relentless instrumental virtuosity.
Azure Emote’s technical elements frequently coalesce to create powerful, well-structured material, despite their inherent complexity. Still incorporating a wide array of musical styles and ideas into a progressive death metal mélange, Cryptic Aura feels more calculated than past efforts. “Disease of the Soul” is a prime example, standing out as one of the album’s strongest tracks. It demonstrates the group’s unified musical vision, maintaining control amidst torrents of virtuosic chaos. Likewise, “Feast of Leeches” showcases this synergy—Murphy’s soothing pitches, Johansen’s violin, and Hrubovcak’s synth arrangements artfully balancing its thrashy riffs, relentless blast beats and Moll and Conlon’s adventurous soloing. Johansen’s violin plays a crucial role in grounding Cryptic Aura’s songs and providing a consistent thematic thread. Far from being buried in the mix, Johansen often takes the lead, offering melodic death-folk elements and a variety of engaging leads and solos that share the spotlight with Moll. From trilling melodies (“Aeons Adrift,” “Insomnia Nervosa”) to chilling atmospheric passages with delay (“Defiance Infernus”) to a somber homestead feel (“Bleed with the Moon”), Johansen’s versatility adds a distinctive layer to Azure Emote’s multifaceted soundscape.
While Cryptic Aura features impressive technicality and several strong tracks, its prevailing density occasionally hampers it, thereby leading to listener fatigue. Heller’s performance, while spectacular, is overwhelming at times—particularly on “Defiance Infernus,” “Into Abysmal Oblivion,” and “Aeons Adrift”—due to his blistering speed and the drum-forward mix. Furthermore, the powerful beginnings of “Provoking the Obscene” and “Aeons Adrift” ultimately dissolve into exhausting complexity during their chaotic conclusions. “Bleed with the Moon,” meanwhile, offers a repetitive, cascading instrumental barrage that offers little reprieve from its intensity. Murphy’s performance serves Cryptic Aura well, however, helping to counterbalance the overwhelming instrumentation. Her choral passages shine—notably the Gladiator-like ambient transition in “Bleed the Moon”—and her dramatic and warm tone commands attention on “Return to the Unknown” and “Provoking the Obscene.” Unfortunately, she is largely confined to backup duties—a disappointing and missed opportunity.
Though not without its flaws, Cryptic Aura remains a good album. A consistent lineup has allowed Azure Emote to streamline their creativity, presenting their impressive virtuosity with a newfound focus. With Cryptic Aura, the group has found solid footing, marking a positive evolution and resulting in my favorite record from them to date. Such progress ignites my excitement for the future. My only hope is that their next iteration arrives much sooner.
Rating: Good
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Testimony Records
Websites: azureemote.bandcamp.com/music | facebook.com/azureemote
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025#2025 #30 #AbagailWilliams #AmericanMetal #AvantGarde #AzureEmote #CrypticAura #Death #DeathMetal #DimmuBorgir #Eluveitie #FearFactory #Hypoxia #Jul25 #Mithras #Monstrosity #NeObliviscaris #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #Sirenia #TestimonyRecords #TotalFuckingDestruction #Vile
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Azure Emote – Cryptic Aura Review
By Owlswald
Azure Emote is the project of two very busy musicians, vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, ex-Vile) and guitarist Ryan Moll (Hypoxia, Total Fucking Destruction). In between their work with many acclaimed death metal acts, the duo reconvenes every five years or so to craft a new Azure Emote record.1 What began in 2010 with Chronicles of an Aging Mammal as an experimental think tank for their genre-defying ideas has steadily evolved into their own eclectic brand of avant-garde death metal. Cryptic Aura marks the group’s fourth full-length and their third featuring the same all-star lineup: drumming powerhouse Mike Heller (Abigail Williams, ex-Fear Factory), legendary bassist Kelly Conlon (ex-Death), and violinist extraordinaire Pete Johansen (ex-Sirenia). Anna Murphy (ex-Eluveitie) also joins this renowned lineup, contributing her enchanting clean vocals.2 While long gaps between releases and an overabundance of ideas have historically hindered Azure Emote, Cryptic Aura strives to defy this pattern, arriving with a clear ambition to be both darker and heavier than anything they’ve released before.
Imagine a collision of Dimmu Borgir, Ne Obliviscaris, and Mithras and you’ll be in the ballpark of describing Azure Emote’s sound. Hrubovcak’s symphonic keyboards and Shagrath-esque blackened growls top Moll’s driving riffs, Conlon’s dexterous bass and Heller’s remarkable drumming to create occult-infused songs rich with dark atmosphere and dramatic flair. Heller’s performance on Cryptic Aura is mind-blowing. His blazing tom rolls (“Aeons Adrift”), tight rhythms (“Disease of the Soul”), and creative backbeats (“Return to the Unknown”) are consistently jaw-dropping, at times even overpowering the album’s bright DR 9 master. Johansen’s violin steps into a main role, often assuming a folky, crestfallen tone across the album’s ten tracks.3 Enhancing Johansen’s violin are Murphy’s backing vocals, her majestic croons (“Bleed with the Moon”) and ethereal melodies (“Feast of Leeches,” “Aeons Adrift”) driving haunting transitions. She is a welcome addition, offering bouts of serenity and a fresh touch to Azure Emote’s relentless instrumental virtuosity.
Azure Emote’s technical elements frequently coalesce to create powerful, well-structured material, despite their inherent complexity. Still incorporating a wide array of musical styles and ideas into a progressive death metal mélange, Cryptic Aura feels more calculated than past efforts. “Disease of the Soul” is a prime example, standing out as one of the album’s strongest tracks. It demonstrates the group’s unified musical vision, maintaining control amidst torrents of virtuosic chaos. Likewise, “Feast of Leeches” showcases this synergy—Murphy’s soothing pitches, Johansen’s violin, and Hrubovcak’s synth arrangements artfully balancing its thrashy riffs, relentless blast beats and Moll and Conlon’s adventurous soloing. Johansen’s violin plays a crucial role in grounding Cryptic Aura’s songs and providing a consistent thematic thread. Far from being buried in the mix, Johansen often takes the lead, offering melodic death-folk elements and a variety of engaging leads and solos that share the spotlight with Moll. From trilling melodies (“Aeons Adrift,” “Insomnia Nervosa”) to chilling atmospheric passages with delay (“Defiance Infernus”) to a somber homestead feel (“Bleed with the Moon”), Johansen’s versatility adds a distinctive layer to Azure Emote’s multifaceted soundscape.
While Cryptic Aura features impressive technicality and several strong tracks, its prevailing density occasionally hampers it, thereby leading to listener fatigue. Heller’s performance, while spectacular, is overwhelming at times—particularly on “Defiance Infernus,” “Into Abysmal Oblivion,” and “Aeons Adrift”—due to his blistering speed and the drum-forward mix. Furthermore, the powerful beginnings of “Provoking the Obscene” and “Aeons Adrift” ultimately dissolve into exhausting complexity during their chaotic conclusions. “Bleed with the Moon,” meanwhile, offers a repetitive, cascading instrumental barrage that offers little reprieve from its intensity. Murphy’s performance serves Cryptic Aura well, however, helping to counterbalance the overwhelming instrumentation. Her choral passages shine—notably the Gladiator-like ambient transition in “Bleed the Moon”—and her dramatic and warm tone commands attention on “Return to the Unknown” and “Provoking the Obscene.” Unfortunately, she is largely confined to backup duties—a disappointing and missed opportunity.
Though not without its flaws, Cryptic Aura remains a good album. A consistent lineup has allowed Azure Emote to streamline their creativity, presenting their impressive virtuosity with a newfound focus. With Cryptic Aura, the group has found solid footing, marking a positive evolution and resulting in my favorite record from them to date. Such progress ignites my excitement for the future. My only hope is that their next iteration arrives much sooner.
Rating: Good
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Testimony Records
Websites: azureemote.bandcamp.com/music | facebook.com/azureemote
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025#2025 #30 #AbagailWilliams #AmericanMetal #AvantGarde #AzureEmote #CrypticAura #Death #DeathMetal #DimmuBorgir #Eluveitie #FearFactory #Hypoxia #Jul25 #Mithras #Monstrosity #NeObliviscaris #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #Sirenia #TestimonyRecords #TotalFuckingDestruction #Vile
