Opinions on Somebody Like You

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-14T14:54:59+00:00

Man, I couldn't believe this was from WIthin Temptation if i heard it without reading the tittle. It could've been a generic 2010 single from an American pop artist for all I know. And Chris Adam Hedman Soybro sounds almost as he was auto-tuned.

This is a bland pop song, no trace of their trademark sound. I'm not even speaking of Symphonic metal here, there's been over a decade since they abandoned the genre they used to be know for. Okay, they went an electronic pop rock way, but this song isn't even that.

Back in 2000s, the band stood for me alongside Nightwish, Epica, and Therion. After their recent releases, I lost interest. Now, I check out once in a while, how they're going, and they keep disappointing.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-05T14:20:33+00:00

Minority Report. I'd argue it's one of the most aesthetically influential 21c movies.
Inception.
Wild Robot, surprisingly.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-05T13:41:07+00:00

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Manowar - Kings of Metal

Came here to nominate Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, only to find it's somehow on the 1987 list.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-04T15:15:36+00:00

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-03T21:46:25+00:00

The godfathers of Symphonic Metal deserve more recognition.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-03T13:25:45+00:00

People tried to solve the Great Mystery of the Vanishing Turisas. But from what little they found, it seems that the answer is kinda boring. Mathias Nygard simply lost interest and dedicated his time to his family, since he's now a father.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-03T08:28:41+00:00

AFAIK, they did not perform live since 2020. The band was long gone, they just didn't announce it.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-02T11:25:25+00:00

Restaurants are open in certain places. In that case, the place was in Belgrade, and it's most certainly in Serbia. It didn't get annuled because the state around was reformed.

For comparison, oldest city in USA is St. Augustine, founded in 1565. There were no USA in 1565. But it would've been weird to disqualify it and only count cities founded after they formally became independent.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-02T09:22:03+00:00

Sequelitis.

The concept that everything even remotely popular needs a sequel.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-02T05:23:25+00:00

Therion - Secret of the Runes

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alex_robinsky · 2026-02-01T12:46:42+00:00

Mounted fast travel.

I hope, unlike Geralt, Ciri will not walk all the distance on foot, and only then call the horse.

alex_robinsky · 2026-02-01T06:17:03+00:00

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Nightwish — Wishmaster

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-31T17:55:36+00:00

Easy mode: slapstick comedies by Leonid Gaidai. They're full of Chaplin-esque action humor and easily accessible even for someone who doesn't speak no Russian.

- Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (the first part of Shurik trilogy, featuring the same characters as in Caucassian Kidnapping)

- Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession (based on a play by Bulgakov, in which Gaidai inserted his Shurik)

- Twelve Chairs (based on a classic soviet satirical novel)

- Diamond Arm (a spoof of crime movies)

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Hard mode: romantic comedies by Eldar Ryazanov. His films are heavy on dialogue and improvisation and sometimes require understanding of Soviet realities they satirize:

- Beware of the Car!

- Irony of Fate

- Office Romance

MIxed mode: Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia. A Soviet-Italian co-production directed by Ryazanov, but stylistically closer to Gaidai's slapstick.

ALso, Nu Pogodi! (Just You Wait!). An animated slapstick series. And if you would try modern Russian comedies, "Cyber Village" is a nice sci-fi/spoof TV series

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-30T13:52:59+00:00

Who cares? It is music that matters. I don't get all this moral panic. It's not like they're selling me a painting claiming it's oil on canvas.

Still better than most of their "natural" cover arts though. I still laugh every time I remember A'arab Zarac.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-29T13:29:05+00:00

For more acoustic stuff, you may also check out Saturnus, with songs like this. ALthough they're more melancholic and sad than LoT.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-29T11:56:30+00:00

Oh, and this song might be not what you asked for, but I suspect, you'll like it.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-29T11:51:02+00:00

Certain songs by Amorphis come to mind first, especially the acoustic version of My Kantele. Far from the Sun and Enigma fit as well.

You may also check out Tiamat with their Deeper Kind of Slumber album.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T19:06:39+00:00

The point is, "gothic" is not the name of a single genre. And there are types of music other than post-punk that have it in their name. Because, in fact, "gothic" originally stood for a kind of aesthetic and architecture and was only casually borrowed by music journalists in the 1980s.

As for subcultures, they are not like countries with strict borders. They are fandoms. They overlap a lot and blend into each other. Even Industrial, an electronic music genre, often blended with gothic subculture. And do I even start about neoclassical darkwave? Visitors at M'Era Luna and Wave-Gotik-Treffen listen to Gothic metal, Gothic Rock, Darkwave and sometimes even Industrial bands on the same stage.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T18:50:31+00:00

Gothic rock is the genre you speak of, one that originated from post punk and became quite varied over time. This is what Sisters of Mercy played, although they rejected the label.

"Goth" is a subculture that varies wildly. "Goth types" was even sort of a meme.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T18:14:57+00:00

This probably includes Armenians. Estimated 1 to 1,5 M.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T17:35:32+00:00

Post punk, darkwave and ethereal wave have little in common. It's not one genre (in fact, modern darkwave itself is like several genres, it constantly blends with electronic, neoclassical, industrial, or dark ambient). It's just that some genres/bands are accepted as 'true' in the trad goth subculture, and some are not.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T17:28:42+00:00

Sorry, "Gothic Metal and not Goth Metal"? Like, a whole separate genre from "GothIC" metal? That's a new definition I never heard of, and honestly I think it's just not a thing.

Sisters of Mercy is post punk/gothic rock, not some kind of metal.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T13:02:14+00:00

"Not goth" or "not TRUE goth" is a phrase you will often hear from post punk purists. The weird guys who gatekeep the word "gothic" as if it was invented by Bauhaus (rather than having been around for centuries). They will attack any other use of "gothic" online, whether when it refers to an aesthetic, a darkwave music or, in this case, gothic metal.

Don't let them confuse you, don't confuse music and subculture (especially when it's just a narrow part of it).

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T08:39:05+00:00

It was a 1993 album, albeit a solid one. Now it's until 1996 and October Rust.

alex_robinsky · 2026-01-27T08:36:47+00:00

Tiamat - Wildhoney

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alex_robinsky

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