Jul 052025
 


Black Sabbath, 1970, photo by Chris Walter

(written by Islander)

Post Fourth of July, I hope you all still have 10 fingers and are non-concussed. Way up here on the northern rim where the day takes its sweet time slipping away, I didn’t stay awake long enough for the sky to turn and finally become a black backdrop for fireworks. But I did do a modest amount of carousing with friends and family before punching out, so it’s another late start for this Saturday roundup.

I’m beginning with a big dose of nostalgia and then shifting into more current generational directions. In thinking about how I’m beginning and what follows that, the words of Isaac Newton come to mind: “If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” (Though in this context what the successors are seeing is in further darkness.) Continue reading »

Feb 272019
 

A bit of demonological internet sleuthing reveals that Malphas is a Great Prince of Hell, a fallen angel second only to Satan, with forty legions of demons under his command. According to the lore, he was the 39th of the 72 Spirits imprisoned by King Solomon — but mistakenly freed by the Babylonians. He is a builder of great citadels, and deceives those who sacrifice to him in hopes of obtaining his intervention on their behalf. He is accompanied by crows and sometimes appears as a raven himself.

That information seems relevant in interpreting what you will see in the animated lyric video from the band Malphas that we’re presenting today, a video for the song “Floods (An Act of God)“, which is the third track on this Philadelphia band’s debut album The 39th Spirit, released last October by Via Nocturna. Continue reading »