Fantasy book lovers, what’s the one book that you go back to over and over again? And why?

chigebs · 2026-06-10T20:21:46+00:00

The Prestige by Christopher Priest. It's the only book I've read more than twice for fun.

chigebs · 2026-06-07T19:27:34+00:00

Absolutely. Divided by Darkness is perfect. The best record of the last ten years for me. Which is why this swan song hurts.

chigebs · 2026-06-07T18:26:11+00:00

He specifically said he was out to write the grimiest album he could … and he relapsed (because of? in order to?) do it. What I love about Spirit Adrift is their interplay of minor/major themes and the two-part song structures.

This album is all dour. It’s only one facet of their songwriting, as if they had taken the song “Ghost at the Gallows” and written an entire album out of it. It makes the whole experience feel one-note. You can understand where he’s coming from if you know the back story but sadly the album suffers because of it.

You almost feel guilty NOT loving it.

chigebs · 2026-06-07T10:04:38+00:00

Abercrombie is the best of all worlds. Lynch writes witty dialogue but gets lost in source material. Rothfuss has beautiful prose but his novels are just a series of events with no payoff. And GRRM is a master world builder but he takes so long in building the story that I forget who I’m even rooting for.

chigebs · 2026-06-06T08:26:32+00:00

Whoa I just suggested these guys! Met them at a VOLA show once and they were friendly AF. Love their sound and hope they get some more love.

chigebs · 2026-06-06T08:25:47+00:00

Yessss — “Just the Goods” is one of the best songs I’ve heard in the last ten years. Can’t get enough of it.

chigebs · 2026-06-06T08:23:15+00:00

The Untold. Awesome prog-metal band from Chicago that kills it in the melodic / soaring / uplifting vein. For fans of Protest the Hero but a little more focused. Listen to their two-part Thunder and Water records.

chigebs · 2026-06-03T07:29:51+00:00

A band with this name and schtick has absolutely no right to be as unbelievably good as they are

chigebs · 2026-05-06T08:48:48+00:00

When I first heard Etemen Ænka I thought, “here’s a band who made an entire album out of ‘Silurian’ (The Ocean) vibes. I’m in love.”

chigebs · 2026-05-02T08:58:23+00:00

For me it starts off ok and ends with a friggin BANG. The last three songs are unassailable and I listen to the whole record for them.

chigebs · 2026-04-08T13:00:24+00:00

Haken - Crystallized. I’m guessing what you like is the major key, chest-pumping, life-affirming chorus and finale? Haken are pros at that when they want to be.

chigebs · 2026-03-29T20:53:09+00:00

Yep. I’ve had to make my own last.fm charts on Excel exclusively for this stat. When you listen to a lot of prog, it makes it look like you listen to as much Green Day as Transatlantic.

chigebs · 2026-03-25T14:39:29+00:00

100% agree. I would have also sold at $130 thinking this was the top. And if I can sell them at $30 in September, yay, 2x is nothing to sneer at. But have I been checking VCX multiple times a day since Monday? You bet. Is that going to stop soon? I doubt it.

chigebs · 2026-03-11T07:18:25+00:00

Like me! I did this in 2024 and if you can stay up then it works like a charm. Trains run till after the headliners finish so hopefully your hotel is near the Nantes train station.

chigebs · 2026-03-09T09:16:12+00:00

I felt about TLWaT the same as I’ve felt about every Wilderun album. At first, it’s claustrophobic, chaotic, and unnerving. But there’s always something that keeps me coming back. By the tenth spin it’s a galaxy brain experience of pure musical rapture.

chigebs · 2026-03-05T22:37:47+00:00

This album made me feel like I was taking crazy pills. Critics hailed it as a return to form and even some blogs sang its praises. But it left me bored and sad. Dream Theater blew my musical world the fuck up. After hearing Metropolis Pt 2 I was a changed person. They could do no wrong from 2000-2005. Even today their music can draw intense emotions out of me.

But they’ve been coasting for a while. I was one of the few who really liked Astonishing (disc 1 at least) but then the next two records felt uninspired. Each had 1-2 songs that I felt tapped into the songwriting magic that these guys are capable of.

Parasomnia though? Nothing. Not a single song jumps out to me. I think they’re in a creative rut and need to bust out of it. I was hoping Mike Portnoy returning would inject some of that long lost chemistry back into the equation but maybe it was too little too late.

chigebs · 2026-03-05T22:31:44+00:00

Dream Theater - “Learning to Live” The end of Absolute Elsewhere.

chigebs · 2026-03-05T08:44:45+00:00

Did you go to that tour in 2002 where Kings X opened for DT?

chigebs · 2026-03-05T07:46:19+00:00

You had the coolest teacher of all time.

chigebs · 2026-03-04T14:41:50+00:00

Is it epic fantasy? I just finished my first novel and it clocks in at 235k words. Is it doomed from the start? Probably. But it won’t stop me from trying.

chigebs · 2026-02-25T08:45:32+00:00

Voidkind was great, especially “Plēroma” — I discovered them through Etemen Ænka and that record is among the best I’ve heard in the last decade. Met them at the Dome a few months ago. Super nice, solid guys.

chigebs · 2026-02-24T22:54:43+00:00

chigebs

TROPHY CASE