the twentysecond video is alive but dead by rage. this is a live version of a song from a metal band for an orchestra with amplified guitars, played with the lingua mortis orchestra from minsk, belarus. other bands did such projects earlier, but this is still one of my favorite orchestra and metal combinations (next to waltari, but more about that later ;-) ). the lyrics can be found here.

this is metal. it also has an orchestra. try it if you want.

i like it because… it’s a really good blend of classic and metal. in my opinion, one of the best. i also first heard this on the dark winter nights sampler, which i already mentioned several times during this series :-)

the twentyfirst video is doomed to walk the earth by swallow the sun. the lyrics can be found here.

this is death doom metal. try it if you know you like this.

edit: another one which cannot be embedded. here‘s the video. here’s another version of the same video which seems to work:

i like it because… it’s dark, gloomy, heavy, interleaved with dark, gloomy, mellow parts. there’s always melody, some kind of beauty. and blackness.
there are other swallow the sun songs which i would also like to put here, but which do not come with a video, like the giant and too cold for tears. if you are interested, look for them on youtube…

today i saw a movie, called flatland, based on a 126 years old novel. a must-see for any mathematician (or must-read). it’s about politics. about thinking. about imagination.
in flatland, a two dimensional world, the third dimension is known as a myth, and it is forbidden to talk about it. there are hints, which are well-hidden from the public by the rulers. until one day, little hex went out to see these hints, and her grandfather, after having more than dream, in more than two dimensions, tries to protect her.
apparently, the movie is much easier to digest than the novel.
another reason to read that book.

the twentith video is strip the soul by porcupine tree. this song is about family brutality, about dark family secrets. the lyrics can be found here.

this is progressive rock/metal. you can try it.

edit: another one i cannot embed. here‘s the video. and here’s an embedable version, without video though:

i like it because… it somehow surprised me: such a dark story, crawling under the skin, while compared to this, the music seems casual, not suggesting such abysses.

the ninteenth video is engel by rammstein. the lyrics can be found here.

this is (industrial?) rock. it was played on radio in my youth, so i guess you can listen to it.

i like it because… of a very catchy melody, an interesting interpretation about angels, and, not directly related, a cover version by kebby. well. i listened a lot to this a long time ago, and started again a couple of years ago when i finally got rammstein’s sehnsucht album which contains the song. brings up memories…
the video is kind of strange, reminds a lot of the second part of from dusk till dawn.

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.