sitting there, almost asleep, killing time by listening to music on youtube, finally getting the idea to go sleeping, saying good night, playing a last song, one from anathema, called a simple mistake. starting slowly, then, after one half, exploding into a masterpiece of emotions, feelings, grabbing me, tearing me along. so intense, so powerful. this will keep me awake four hours, i guess, not allowing me to rest, to sleep. i hope they really do a tour this year, headlining it, as they promised last year…

even though i repeat myself: cats are the most beautiful animals i’ve ever seen. definitely.

the sun was shining, and so i decided to go home earlier and take some pictures on the way… here are a few of the results.

one of the two cats:

a picture of the institute of mathematics at the university of oldenburg:

some pictures from outside:

caressing the beautiful skin, her gorgeous face, while she’s gracefully walking, no, almost sliding around me. her glance, making my heart melt, resting on me. cuddling with my hand, leaving her hair on my clothes, purring.

cats are so beautiful…

yesterday i stumbled about the gathering‘s latest live dvd, a noise severe, recorded in march 2007 in chile. a few months later, their singer, anneke van giersbergen, quit the band. (which, in my opinion, is the end of the band; if they will continue, they will be something very different…)
the dvd contains a lot of songs from their older albums, like the “debut” mandylion (their first album with anneke and, in my opionion, their best one), nighttime birds, how to measure a planet? (which i don’t like too much) and if_then_else. the first two can be more categorized as atmospheric doom with progmetal and gothic influences, while how to measure a planet? drifts off into a very experimental alternative rock/prog direction; the last, if_then_else, is more into a trip rock.
well, so much about the facts.
i’ve already mentioned several times that mandylion is really good. and i’ll do it again. it’s one of the few albums (next to sentenced‘s frozen) where i like every track, to which i can listen for hours, again and again. so filled with energy, groove, raw power, emotions. so beautiful. (my favorite song is probably leaves, whose music video you can watch here.)
well, mandylion is their best album, i’d say, but they also have other good ones. one which i don’t really know—shame on me!—is nighttime birds, mandylion‘s successor, which seems to be very good, too. and there’s if_then_else, which has several really good tracks, like the melancholic saturnine or a beautiful instrumental called beautiful war.
somehow it’s really a pity that i never managed to see them.

“the day you went away
you had to screw me over
i guess you didn’t know
all the stuff you left me with
is way too much to handle
but i guess you don’t care”

from saturnine by the gathering.

feathery and fragile fingers reaching out, fumbling for something which isn’t there, not anymore. a scenery emblazed by glaring light, soon being drowned by utter darkness. melancholy hovering like leaves in the chilly air, seizing me. exposing me.

this will be the last best-of-list for this year. this time, i want to list the albums which influenced and intrigued me most during this year. this time, in chronological order.

1. moonsorrow: viides luku: hävitetty.
2. moonsorrow: verisäkeet.
3. timo rautiainen & trio niskalaukaus: hartes land.
4. finntroll: visor om slutet.
5. distorted: memorial.
6. orphaned land: mabool — the story of the three sons of seven.
7. swallow the sun: ghosts of loss.
8. bolt thrower: those once loyal.
9. the 3rd and the mortal: tears laid in earth.
10. rage: lingua mortis.
11. kari rueslåtten: other people’s stories.
12. primordial: to the nameless dead.