(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 81: Sanity Check

I’m burning myself out. I think the stress of work, my only child being away in college and the attendant stress with that, along with the self-imposed commitment to get a 2025 review in every day was just too much this time, and I found myself not enjoying the process like I did last year. These next few days the plan is just to relax and let the music just be music, not a box to check off or a pile in my office to shrink. So I’m going to move a little slower, a little more deliberately. I don’t want to one of those people who want to write but all they ever write about is the fact that they’re not writing; I’m doing this for myself, and I find the best way through is just to keep writing. Which hey: I just did.

This week is a very random suite of stuff that’s ben keeping my head and heart afloat this week.

ChrisDecember 20, 2025December 20, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (2025)

It’s raining, and the camera tracks in toward the window of a yellow school bus. A young child, dripping wet, stares wistfully out the window at something. Cut to an over-the-shoulder shot as we see what the boy is staring at. It’s blurry due to the camera’s focus on the window, but that shifts to outside. We see a young girl twirling in the rain, her head tilted toward the sky, smiling as the teachers run in slow motion to usher her to the bus. What? Oh, something from Sharp Pins. Anything from the Radio DDR album that came out a few months back. Yeah, that one. Just use that in place of any sound…

ChrisDecember 19, 2025Leave a comment

Cassette

Ashenheart: Tales From Eternal Dusk (2025)

From a purely sonic perspective, cassette might be the ideal format for black metal. I started with CDs, dabbled a bit in vinyl for my favorite bands in the genre, but lately I’ve been grabbing cassettes from Bandcamp (usually from the excellent Fiadh Productions), connecting the threads of collaborations until I found Ashenheart and their latest, Tales From Eternal Dusk. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect: had I discovered them earlier, I might have been turned off by their former adherence to FromSoftware video games for their thematic inspiration. But when the band channels second-wave energy with a more modern, intentional spirit this well, I guess you can lay your Bloodborne fanfic on heavy as you please.

ChrisDecember 15, 2025December 16, 2025Leave a comment

cradle of filth - the screaming of the valkyries album cover

Vinyl, The 9C Files

The 9C Files: Cradle Of Filth’s The Screaming of the Valkyries

At this point what do you even call Cradle of Filth? If you’re one of those black metal purists who will only listen to necro-fi recordings recorded in a forest with a tattered extension cord stealing electrical currents from the parents of one-man band bedrooms¹you probably shrugged the band off ages ago. Even fans of the band’s symphonic gothic black metal melange probably had a hard time somewhere around the time of their leap to Sony for Damnation and a Day and Roadrunner for Nymphetamine and its followups. Whatever your hangup, I’m here to tell you that for the last 10 years Dani Filth and Co. have been bringing the unrighteous metal might, and The Screaming of the Valkyries continues the trend of being distinctly CoF even as it consumes more thrash and melodic influences. Come live deliciously with me below the jump.

ChrisDecember 14, 2025November 26, 2025Leave a comment

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 80: The Luxury of Time

…is something I can’t see to find. Funeral this morning, birthday this afternoon, four-hour drive upstate to pick up my son from college tonight. So we’re using conditional logic this week: I went to my music library and filtered all the songs with the word “time” in them. Then based on that created this week’s playlist.

Which is below.

ChrisDecember 13, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

The Vintage Caravan: Portals (2025)

The Vintage Caravan would never have popped up on my radar were it not for Mikael Åkerfeldt’s appearance. And truth be told, his contribution is my favorite thing about Portals, the Icelandic trio’s sixth full-length of stoner progressive rock. I mean, you took one look at the band’s photo, saw that hat, and probably guessed the vibe from that, right? But if you guessed that, you probably also know that’s my weakness, my comfort food. Happily, even though the Åkerfeldt track is the highlight, the rest of the album ain’t too shabby, either.

ChrisDecember 12, 2025Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Author: Chris