The Obscure Deletion Option

So just a half hour ago, I found a way to request for my account to be deleted. It is a link to a form on the site that is hidden in the Privacy FAQ section, obviously intended to be that way. Facebook makes their money from selling your information to various entities, sometimes with malicious intent, so by filling out the small form, I've effectively told them that I've had enough. Whether or not this will out & out remove any of my presence is a mystery, but I'm not going to dwell on it.

I am looking forward to an alternative that is in the works. It is an open-source, downloaded application in which you will control the traffic of any information you wish to share. It's called Diaspora (die-a-spor-ra). I don't want to be a shill for them or anything, but what I like about it is that you don't simply give information to any entity, you put it on yourself. Facebook does what it wants with your information because they provide the platform for you to do so with the website (in other words, sites like Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, and so on are "middle-men" in social networking). Diaspora, on the other hand, will provide you with the means to make a platform to share whatever information you please, based entirely out of your machine. I don't know the whole story about how this system will work, but I've watched a few videos of the guys explaining it, and I like what I've heard so far.

So with that, nobody should bother contacting me on that mess of a website that has even produced a new disorder called "Facebook Addiction Disorder", with a list of symptoms & treatments to boot!

- G

Observatory Rant On Blogger Update (UPDATED)

It's still ugly.

This shit needs a lot of improvement, but I've made some amends on my own just moments ago. I've adjusted the size of the right sidebar to accommodate the last.fm widget, for one. Links are also better on the eyes, at least for me anyway :P. Also, any album reviews with an image of the album cover(s) will be limited to 200px by width & height, anything higher than that won't be accepted. The background repeats, but I don't want it that way because it looks ridiculous. I want it to scroll with the users' input. Oh well. Progress has been made at least. Google should have put some oversight on this template designer. I forgot to mention before that the Designer preview section doesn't even work! Not for me at least. And maybe it isn't compatible with Firefox, simply enough. I don't know nor do I care, because I'm fine with viewing any changes by clicking View Blog. 

Concept Album Preview

    The man of many dreams, a mind of many fractures, awakens from a painfully induced slumber. He sees that the world he assumes was once his home is a ruin. A journey through that ruin, with all of its angles, oddities, and traumas, reveals something sinister beneath the veneer of decay & death he sees around him. Like with any network interface, the scattered pockets of his sanity show him, against his knowledge, that the world in which he's found himself is not what it seems to be. Is it simply a fantasy of a mind that is truly deranged? Or is it the other way around? That is what the listener is left to decipher in this journey through a man's mentally deteriorating quest to seek the truth in a place that welcomes death and abandonment before life and growth. This is Forget, Regret; Power, Devour.

The Dillinger Escape Plan: Option Paralysis Review

The Dillinger Escape Plan
Option Paralysis

There's no feeling in this place, the echoes of the past speak louder than any voice I hear right now. This album is definitely loud throughout most of its duration. Bid your welcome to DEP's latest offering, because it deserves a lot of welcome. Mind you, I'm not totally on-top of DEP's works, only the debut and this album, so I won't try to act like I know a whole lot about how each and every album works and all that. Anyways, enough of that. 

The seal-loving folks at DEP are pretty damn creative with their craft. They blend a chaotic mix of oddly timed Mathcore (which the sub-sub-genre is all about), ambient/electronica background effects, highly technical thrash metal, and whatever else they're willing to throw in. All of this allows for variety on the album, which is refreshing to say the least. You can hear it all in the opening track alone, "Farewell, Mona Lisa", which is a terrific opener I have to say. Greg Puciato knows how to handle his voice, and he's not afraid to try various styles. The new drummer is terrific, even though I'm not too familiar with previous drummer Sharone's style. He pummels the drums like he's had one too many cups of coffee. The guitarist and bassist are also quite crazy. That's all on the opening track.

The mathcore element kicks in full-time in the next track. Time signatures are all over the place, and it is a highly technical riff-fest. At the halfway point, the song takes on a groovy tone, with a somewhat Punk-rock touch. If anyone needed a rest from the previous song, this tune won't do that for them!

"Gold Teeth On a Bum" slows things down quite a bit, and Greg sings more than he screams, especially during the choruses. The variety on the album should start becoming obvious to the listener at this point.

Fourth track in, and you'll be reminded of the second song right away. This happens to be the shortest on the album, but the tempo of the song reflects that. They also throw in The Daughters-esque riffs, which sound schizophrenic to say the least. Neat!

Oh, and speaking of The Daughters-esque riffs, that's how "Endless Endings" opens itself up. The tempo didn't slow down at all, either. The guitarist has fun shredding it up in a thrash metal fashion, and Greg Puciato flexes his vocal muscle again. 

Variety makes its mark in the next song, "Widower", which includes a classical piano! Greg shows at this point that he's a capable singer, with a very soft, and quiet tone. The Mike Patton influence kicks off when the piano element makes its exit, for the most part. There's a lot more ambience to make for atmosphere, and not too much in the way of the guitars. Up to the end of the song, the pianos make a glorious return. This makes the song one of the best on the album, right up there with the opener.

Mathcore and Doom metal are the flavor of the day on "Room Full of Eyes", where the tempo and technicality jump all over the place. Also, Greg tries another vocal style on this track. When will he stop? No one should ask him to stop, though, he knows how to keep the listener intrigued.

Some more ambience leads us into the next track. The beat in the song is more stable, less frantic. There doesn't seem to be any chorus in the song, but that doesn't mean that Puciato doesn't try his hand at interesting singing.

Here comes the Mathcore element again. The drummer was probably told to lose his inhibitions for "I Wouldn't If You Didn't." It's a very technical song, and everyone seems to have a great time in it.

Normally the closing track for those who own the regular edition of the album, "Parasitic Twins" makes use of the band's electronic influences to be an effective closer. Plus, Puciato sings on pretty much the entire track, especially during the piano parts. Plus, the guitarist tosses in an old-style guitar solo to lead us into the end. 

For those of us, including myself, who have the digipak edition, the additional track is an electronica-laden and shortened remix of the song "Widower." It's a little creepy in parts, and even seems to include a light vocal orchestra. 

There you have "Option Paralysis", a solid album from a solid Mathcore outfit. I've seen them described as "the Band of Spastic Retards", possibly because they go all over the place in terms of song tempo. That somewhat rough description is fitting, and the band seems to embrace it gleefully. 

8.5/10 

Breakdown:

- Frantic changes in tempo, especially on part of the drummer.

- Greg Puciato has talent, as he sings in what I think may be 6 or 7 different styles on the album. Who else does that in this genre?

- Highly technical guitar work.

- "Farewell, Mona Lisa" is a terrific album opener, and the message behind it speaks of the band's confidence in their abilities.

- Nice inclusion of the piano on the official closing track, with Puciato actually singing as well.

- Whoever designed the case for the digipak edition should be shot. It's just a major pain in the ass, even though it is unique.

- For the most part, the lyrics are nothing out of the ordinary, even though the opening song has a powerful message behind it.

- Odd bonus track.

 

So Old, So Cold

Take my skin, and live it a lifetime unlike me
Today it feels so hollow and empty of joy
That's when I realize where I'm going
It just seems so unfair to me is all

I have to bear with the truth, I'm so old
I'm so in need of meaning, I'm so cold
When I die, remember me
I've lived my life to the bitter end

I'm so old, and so cold

With the way I've lived, one would feel so hopeless
At this moment I'm in drowning in misery
Mortified at the thought of the end of my life
It just seems that I couldn't be what I wanted to be

I have to bear with the truth, I'm so old
I'm so in need of meaning, I'm so cold
When I die, remember me
I've lived my life to the bitter end

I'm so old, and so cold

Take my skin and take it to places I've never been
That's my regret
To never embrace
The possibilities

With the way I've lived, just the thought is torturous
That's my crime
To myself
Now it's too late to do it again

I have to bear with the truth, I'm so old
I'm so in need of meaning, I'm so cold
When I die, remember me
Now to bear with the truth, I'm so old
So in need of meaning, I'm so cold
When I die, remember me
I've lived my life where I could never be
All that was possible

Bring Down Our Berlin Wall

The wall is ominous
It's all that separates us
I've unfurled my sickles and hammers
To strike it down
Built from your trauma
It displaces our love
The time we found each other
Now seemingly gone
The wall is oppressive
It's what distances us
From whatever hearts we're made of
Won't you help strike it down
It guards your soul
The feelings we have for each other
Now lost in the unknown

The wall is spiteful
It's the thorn in our sides
Why do you lack the mutual effort
To help do it away
My hands are breaking
It eats at my longing
For time we could spend together
Now under lock and key
The wall is maddening
My Goliath, your David
I've unsheathed my utmost will
To bring it down
A part of your weakness
That keeps you from growing
And giving us the chance
To be happy together

I've unfurled my sickles and hammers
I've unsheathed my utmost will
Why can't you help me
Bring down our Berlin Wall

Concept album coming up soon...

As the title states, a concept album is under way. I should be finished pretty soon. But it won't be a recorded completion; it'll be a written one! Until I can get the actual musical talent to bring the album to life, that will wait while the lyrics themselves are available.

It's divided by chapters, since it will be in a distinct style by my standards. The album will be called "Forget, Regret; Power, Devour", and it's a story of a man awakening to a world gone amok. There will be a twist to it, as the story won't be as overdone as you will initially think. But, I digress; all forms of literature, and hence, art is left up to the interpretation of the reader/viewer/listener. Whatever YOU, my reader, gets out of it is completely up to the mental processes working in your biologically lazy mind. No offense :P.