Carl Begai

With all eyes on Canada and our “owning the podium” at the Olympics in direct spite of the fact the homeland suits decided the campaign had FAIL! written all over it, I figured it was a good time to remind people (yet again) of Canuck musical genius, mastery and general ass kickingness. And so, for the faithful that think my head is screwed on at an off-kilter yet strangely attractive angle, a few recommendations to get you through to spring…

Big surprise (not!) that I’d be thrilled to announce that two of the four lovely ladies from the Carl Begai In Hell house band, Scarlet Sins, have returned with a new project called When Forever Dies. Vocalist Sylvya NuVynska and bassist Tanya Nicklaus have been writing and recording demo tracks since Scarlet Sins called it quits in November 2009, and the music I’ve heard thus far is great. Very promising indeed. It’s a no-brainer that Sylvya and Tanya would take care of unfinished business with When Forever Dies, particularly given Syl’s unique vocal style. Scarlet Sins fans won’t be disappointed, One of the tracks I’ve heard, ‘What Have You Become?’, takes the lessons learned from the Sins experience and kicks things up a notch or three with grittier vocals, big harmonies, a guitar solo (!), with a piano (!!) thrown in for good measure. Things have become decidedly more metal since the break-up; so much the better. Add to this the return of Rush producer / engineer Rich Chycki for the debut album and it’s safe to say this is going to end up sounding huge.
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The great thing about having my own website is that I’m able to say what I like. Within reason of course, but the bottom line is I’m able to step away from the neutral ground of a professional environment like BW&BK. Not that I’m planning on being amateurish or infantile; I just figured I’d offer up a few items for your consideration that I find interesting and worthwhile. The curious and open-minded should read on, folks looking for illegal downloads and tabloid fodder should click here.

First off, the eternally sexy BW&BK family has posted the Best Of 2009 list in a nifty online flipbook. It’s the annual writer rundown of Top 20 cool albums, Top 5 pieces of crap, Top 5 shows, and predictions for 2010. Definitely worth reading if you’re into seeing what actually fuels the minds and souls of those of us behind-the-scenes. And for the record, yes, I really did put Daniel Merriweather down as one my fave shows from last year.
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Hails! (no, I’m not referring to the weather…)

A brief update for those that hang around this humble page, prefaced by a politically incorrect Merry impending Christmas to all. Yes, Christmas. Always has been and always will be where I come from, religious hang-ups and denominations and snot-nosed PC bullshit be damned. And it’s not a frickin’ Holiday Tree, it’s a goddamn Christmas tree.

Ah, much better…

This is just a short note to let you in on a few cool happenings. A recent interview I did with Ensiferum bassist Sami Hinkka is now up on Metallus Maximus right here. Cool story (if I do say so myself) on a cool site (if Hellboy does say so himself), so while you’re there take a serious look around. Chances are you’ll be hooked by the time your done.
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Hails!

Just a brief update on things going on away from this page that involve me or just happen to be my fault (which is one and the same, I suppose). So, in other words and bunch of metal-related stories scattered about cyberspace for your amusement.

I caught up with KITTIE drummer Mercedes Lander a while back to discuss the band’s new album In The Black, which was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me… until Devin Townsend’s new one showed up in my mailbox (more on that later). All kinds of Metallica and Carcass influences on the record, which is something I never expected of a band that annoyed the shit out of me a decade ago with their debut, Spit. The ladies have indeed grown up for the better. Check it out here.
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I’m a geek at the core of my blackened heart. Absolutely.

I have a comic collection that would make present day diehard collectors green with envy. I’m dying to see the new Star Trek movie. I was first in line for Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom on its first day of release, beating out the entire Scarberian Nerd Squad by a solid two hours. I can recite dialogue from the original Star Wars trilogy, much to my own chagrin.

The reason I’m daring to admit this publicly and risk doing irreparable harm to my oh-so-metal image is that I recently spewed out a review of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace for Suite101. Not something I’d planned on, but after stumbling upon an interview with actor Jake Lloyd discussing the last 10 years living with the fallout from his lousy performance in the film I decided to go back and see if it was as bad as I remembered.

It was worse.
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Oy!

Just a quick heads up to keep your weekend more interesting.

For starters, I have an EX DEO story up on a brand new metal site called Metallus Maximus. In case you’ve been living under a rock, EX DEO is a concept-based project kicked-off by KATAKLYSM frontman Maurizio Iacono based on the Roman Empire. The debut album, Romulus, has been getting rave reviews across the board, this site included (check out my review here). My interview with Iacono is worth the read, if I do say so myself Click here to check it out.
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Hails!

Once again, a big thanks to those of you stopping by to check out my playground. And to those of you posting comments, thanks for keeping it clean and being pretty damn articulate and intelligent when you set off on an overview, commentary or critique. I enjoy the feedback, positive and not, and it’s definitely of worth. Keep ‘em coming.

Currently up and running elsewhere (because it’s no fun staying in only one spot), I recently posted the larger portion of my recent interview with THE ALMIGHTY frontman Ricky Warwick on the BW&BK site here. He was a cool interview as always, discussing the here-and-not status of The Almighty, the death of his other band CIRCUS DIABLO, and being a folk artist. The folk-oriented portion of the interview is still available via Suite101.

I also supplied Suite101 with a review of DANKO JONES’ kick-ass B-Sides compilation, released earlier this year. You can find it here.
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Hails!

Just an update on my writing for Suite101 in case anyone’s interested in what I’m up to when I’m not being metal.

I recently did an interview with The Almighty vocalist / guitarist Ricky Warwick that focused on his new folk album, Belfast Confetti, and ventured into the reals of his other band, Circus Diablo, as well as discussing the future of The Almighty. The story was so big that I ended up splitting it into two parts, with the folk-oriented portion of the going to Suite101. Click the picture of Warwick below to check it out.

For my fellow sci-fi / fantasy geeks, I also threw down an overview of Terry Goodkind’s popular series of books, The Sword Of Truth. Back in 1997 I picked up the first book, Wizard’s First Rule, and was impressed enough to buy into the books that followed. Unfortunately, Goodkind decided to stretch things out over 11 volumes when four were enough. My review gives voice to what I think of folks that don’t know when to quit or change things up so as not to bore people to tears.

Back soon with more material exclusive to this site as well as some BW&BK-related updates.

Cheers!
Carl

I’ve been hanging out at Suite101.com for a bit and found that it’s actually quite an interesting place. Lots of folks that write about lots of different things, business, film & television, sports, technology, the writing industry, and pretty much all points in between. Me being me, I quite naturally decided to put my own five bucks in where I figured it would fit. I recently penned a review of Bif Naked’s new album, The Promise, and a series overview of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and posted them both on the site. They’re exclusive to Suite101.

“Buffy? YOU? Mr. Metal Or Die Scream Bloody Gore? Dude! Lay off the Britney Spears CDs!”
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Hails,

Those of you that stop by regularly – and once again, thanks for that – may notice a very out of place, slightly blank-looking widget in the right hand column labelled Suite 101. In fact, if you miss it you should consider buying glasses. Said eyesore is a link to written works I am now submitting to Suite101.com, to be published exclusively by them. I won’t be restricting myself to metal and music, however, and published pieces will be actual news-related items (stories, reviews, the occasional how-not-to) rather than blogs (as they frown on that sort of thing). Subject matter will vary depending on my mood.

My review of the new IRON MAIDEN documentary Flight 666: The Film is currently up and running, submitted as a first step in this new experiment. Just wave your cursor over the widget and the link will pop up.

Great film, by the way. Great package. Go buy it…
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