the eighteenth video is norra el norra by orphaned land. it’s sung in hebrew. the lyrics can be found here, together with an english translation.

this is progressive oriental metal, and mostly accoustic. you can give it a try.

i like it because… it’s a beautiful song, mostly accoustic, but partly also very heavy. the video has a strange story, but is well-done and i like to watch it.
there’s another very good video of orphaned land, namely sapari, which i embeded almost eleven months ago (which also doesn’t work anymore as an embedded video… this is really annoying!). i like sapari even more than this one, but then, i didn’t want to repeat myself :)
it’s really a pitty that orphaned land’s north america tour came nowhere close to calgary (the closest place in canada was vancouver, almost 1000 km away…), and that their europe tour is this month, i.e. before i’ll be back to europe. i really want to see them live once…

this weekend, i was in vancouver. a second time. this time, i attended the cms winter meeting. the computational number theory session was hosted in a hotel suite on the 29th floor, with a great view over the english bay. we also had a non-mathematician attending the session:

on my last day, i decided to go to stanley park another time. in fact, i walked once around it. here are some impressions from the walk and from the view we had during the session:

and sorry for the photo quality… i forgot to bring any camera, so i had to abuse my mobile phone…

the seventeenth video is set the world on fire by symphony x. you can find the lyrics here.

this is progressive power metal. you can try it if you want.

i like it because… is a very powerful song, making me want to jump up, throw my hair around, with a lord of the rings like story based video which just fits perfect to the music.
another symphony x song i really like is through the looking glass. i really love the part ii, starting at 5:19 in the link’s video. (part iii apparently was cut off from this video…)

the sixteenth video is autobahn by kraftwerk. a famous, great piece of electronic music centered around a certain highway in germany. the lyrics can be found here.

this is electronic. you can definitely listen to it.

i like it because… it is just a really awesome electronic tune, from the godfathers of synthie music, kraftwerk. it depicts a drive on a highway; if you listen, close your eyes, start dreaming, it feels like really driving on it. this song was the first one i heard from kraftwerk, and still my favorite one. once i want to listen to this song while driving on a highway… (preferably an empty one… maybe i’ll visit oldenburg once again by car, the a29 is a really peaceful highway, especially after leaving the a1.)

the fifteenth video is nigger by clawfinger. it’s a song against racism. the lyrics can be found here.

this is rap metal. if you want, try it.

edit: another one which cannot be embedded. and none of the videos is embedable. so you have to actually go to youtube using link. sorry for that!

i like it because… it has a catchy tune, very different from most other metal songs. and a very different style, namely it combines rap with metal. (well, now that nu metal “kiddie stuff” is widespread this is not exactly new, but this song clearly predates that.) this song made me want to hear more from clawfinger.

the fourteenth video is next in line by nevermore. it’s a song about drug abuse, about someone addicted, longing for a hot shot. the lyrics can be found here.

this is power/doom metal. you can try it if you dare.

i like it because… the slow, dark beginning, the strange imagery, especially the white masks in the video, creating a somehow surreal world (especially the 15 seconds starting at 2:53 in the video).
another nevermore song, touching me even more than this one, and which unfortunately has no video, is dreaming neon black. a sad story, of someone who lost his love to a sect, and cannot forget her after the vanished a long time ago, still dreaming of her. of her drowning, while crying for him.

the thirteenth video is schrei nach liebe by die ärzte. it’s a song against nazis. the lyrics can be found here.

first, i wanted to chose another track, namely friedenspanzer; unfortunately, the video i found for that one had a very bad quality. the quality of this one is not perfect, but i think much better.

this is punk rock. you can listen to it.

i like it because… it’s a song against dumb nazi thugs, with good lyrics and a good melody. and a funny video.

the twelvth video is gaia by tiamat. the lyrics can be found here.

this is very slow and nice gothic doom metal. you can give it a try.

i like it because… well, another song where it’s hard to say why i like it. because it’s beautiful. an inspiration for dreams, maybe?

the eleventh video is no one there by sentenced. a very, very sad song, and a very, very sad video. the lyrics can be found here.

this is gothic metal. you can try it.

i like it because… of the emotions it fills me with. not only the song itself, but in particular the combination with the video. getting old, being alone, losing your loved one, waiting for death. so incredibly sad, full of desperation. one of the songs making me cry almost every time i listen to it.
(unfortunately, the song was somehow edited for this video, which sounds a bit strange at one or two moments, at least if you know the original version very well…)

r.i.p., miika.

as you might or might not have noticed, my project blackness moved to a new address and now requires to log on before showing anything. (the rss feed is still available without logging on, though.) the main reason for this is the german jugendmedienschutz-staatsvertrag; i do not want to risk any problems due to people interpreting things the wrong way. a new revision of that thing cased a lot of protest and shutdown of blogs; see for example here and here.
it is still not exactly clear what kind of implications this new revision will have. i still decided to move blackness, since i don’t want to endanger it in any way. in case you still want to see it, ask me for an account.