The Miscellaneous Goings On Of Tom - Sitting In Trees, Hugging Stones & Oat Milk Mochas

 

I Genuinely Can't Remember The Last Time I Did One Of These...

I think it's fair to say that since everything has started really opening up (for the moment at least), life has gotten pretty hectic for all of us. I have loved every small taste of freedom after 18 months being a hermit, how those monks did it back in the day is honestly a miracle because I can't think of anything worse right now. I want to say how happy I am at the reaction to the Fjordhammer On Tour posts! It was a long held in idea I had over Lockdown and I was beginning to wonder if I would ever be able to bring it to fruition, but with the help of Sabrina it has. Combining history and music was a no brainier for me and by doing these posts in collaboration with Wandering Through The Ages I am able to boost my content output on both blogs. Exploring these amazing places and the music that runs through my head whilst I'm there has been awesome for me to document, even the small details of the oat milk mochas. In the last two days alone I have recently had a wonderful weekend in Devon catching up with friends that I haven't seen since last August, and it sits right at the end of such a whirlwind month packed full of trips and visits, honestly my heart feels so full with all of it. I'm glad for your understanding as to why my content has been a bit all over the place! I've also had a lot of time to reflect on things, and as many of us are aware it has been a very difficult 18 months to be a black metal fan as its popularity is surging and the more unsavoury and downright shit parts of it are beginning to come to light. Annoyingly I have had to remove another patch from my jacket because of this, and feel somewhat embarrassed at my naivety and angry at myself for walking around with it on, but as soon as I found out I took action immediately. I don't understand why people have to taint and ruin their often good creative work with terrible and horrible views. Even so, I was given a breath of hope from a Dawn Ray'd interview as they lead the resistance to keep black metal hate free. I know the genre has had a chequered past, but in this day an age there is no scope to be a dick, and now I want to focus wholly on the music and its intense form of emotional expression. The patch I have to replace this unsavoury one is none other than Yorkshire's Raised By Owls, alongside everyone's favourite metalhead chef Nat's What I Reckon, the band's comedic videos have helped me keep jovial and lighthearted over the last 18 months, so there was no hesitation in getting some merch so they can make more of these videos! All this has happened around a hectic day job schedule that has left me battling constant and frustrating tiredness, job application rejections which led to big confidence knocks and general anger and frustration at how I'm working hard to improve my circumstances in this chaotic world but nothing seems to be happening quick enough (a thought I'm sure we can all relate to). Even so, the music world is relentlessly fast and there are so many solid releases coming out in the latter half of the year (bloody hell where has 2021 gone?!) it is going to be very difficult for AOTY lists. I am loving the sheer volume of music coming out, I just wish my Spotify app worked on my phone! That has let me listen to my audiobooks, and the state of calm I have when Lord Of The Rings in being read to me is always wonderful on my walks to work. Anyway, before this rambling becomes incomprehensible, I'll tie it off here, as you can see, so much to do so little time but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

What I'm Listening To At This Very Moment

Darkthrone, obviously. What did you expect? I'm a Fenriz fanboy! My review for Eternal Hails...... will be coming soon, but from what I've heard so far, it is fucking incredible and I will no doubt be gushing about it. In the meantime, you can read my review for the above single, Hate Cloak.

What I've Been Jamming To This Week

There has been some quality death metal bands releasing some absolutely awesome, slab dragging, utterly vulgar and disgusting albums. None of them have slammed into me harder than the new Cerebral Rot album, Excretion Of Mortality. The violent doom and dirge within the band's sound is sure to knock you into next week with one perfectly placed, skull splitting blow to the head. Listener discretion is advised, because this is some bloody good death metal!

Fjordhammer On Tour

I know I've gushed already about how much I've loved the response to these posts but it genuinely means so much to me that people have loved them. It was an idea that I didn't think I'd be able to achieve and it is so humbling to see people liking, sharing and ultimately enjoying the content. Music has always been a gateway to far flung places in my imagination, so to now be able to apply that practise in real life, physical terms is so magical to me. Alongside the small bits of history, I feel these posts fully encapsulate what I am about, which is something I fully realised after the Glastonbury post went live. I'm itching to get back on the road with Sabrina and to explore more interesting and fascinating places. I hope you're enjoying the playlists that I have curated, and hopefully they capture the spirit of the place for you, or just give you an insight into my imaginative thought processes. Anyway, from the bottom of my heart, the biggest thank you to all of you for letting me indulge my travel lust, music love and history passions all in the same posts. I shall be back on reviews until the next lot of adventures take place, and boy have I got a backlog to catch up with! 

Views Over Somerset

A Quick Catch Up

So there we have it, a quick catch up for you to see where I am at. Life just seems to be going mental at the moment, and I am embracing it with open arms. I am so lucky to be supported by the most caring, kind, empathetic and amazingly phenomenal people in the world, as while it all looks hunky dory on the internet there has been some struggles along the way. Just remember to keep fighting for what you want and settle for nothing less, whilst I have had confidence knocks it hasn't swayed my determination and ambition to achieve my dream. With the love in my heart and strength in my mind, I will pick myself back up and keep fighting Berserker style. You can do that too, but remember to take care of yourself, allow time to rest and switch off, which is something I have found hard to do recently but will always aim to make time for. Big love as always, thank you for your continuous support, and keep rockin'! 🤘💙