2026.03.10
Jarboe is so overrated and overhyped it's not funny. If she had no connection to Swans, would her Sightings album, which I just received the promo for, really receive any reception at all? It's endlessly fascinating how name recognition takes one so far. You can record complete garbage and yet sell albums and receive accolades only from your name or association to earlier recordings, or even other musicians. I never let any band I listen to off the hook in this way. An album is an album is an album... of course it's disappointing but past works don't disappear. With her, though, and Swans broadly, I don't get any of the hype to begin with. Certainly 80s and early 90s Swans albums were heavy, but not nearly as heavy or brutal as their fans think they are.
I will give Michael Gira credit, though: his book, The Consumer, was awesome...I still think there's nothing like it. I don't know how I'd feel about reading it now in my 40s, but back when I was teenager, it hit the spot with my societal disgust and alienation like little else. I still have vivid images from it in my mind to this day.
2026.03.01
For those interested in my worthless views on the US-Israel-Iran war, read here.
Last month when I mentioned Septic Flesh in one of my posts I was inspired to check out the one album from their early years that I decided to quickly disown: Revolution DNA. I was pretty disgusted with it back when it came out in 1999. Now, 26 years later, I had a compulsion to check it again after listening to a track online and, I must say, it is not as bad as I thought! There are a few stinkers on it to be sure, like Dictatorship of the Mediocre and Android, but there are tracks that really hark back to classic Septic Flesh, like Revolution and Last Stop to Nowhere - really great tracks! I think if anyone was quick to give up on this album they should check it out again. The Thief of Innocence is also a fantastic song that was mysteriously omitted from the album in the end. Septic Flesh are just a great band even if Titan and their recordings from 2017 upwards lost me. Maybe I will return to them some day and think otherwise. Also in context of how bad most metal is now even the worst stuff from Septic Flesh feels good, that could be a contributing factor in my revised opinion.
2026.02.28
New interview with Spencer Hazard by Ray Clardy is now up here. This closes the circle on the last Full of Hell interview posted around the same time last year. Check it out.
2026.02.17
I just received another promo from a band whose promotion links them to 90s death metal like Septic Flesh and Disembowelment. Let me say here that this shit has to stop. We all know the vast majority of new metal bands are mediocre and cannot write a unique riff or come up with an original idea to save their lives and that's why older bands are constantly used for promotion. I'm not going to even mention names. Also, if I see any band photo with an 18 year old guy with a mustache and clean chin, I'm immediately deleting the promo.
2026.02.15
I've successfully registered today on bandcamp to create my planned new Zine distro, which will be called Zurz Zinez. I'll next work on the graphics and all of the uploads (I have about 20+ zines to enter), and then I will start an ad campaign to get it better known. I may set up a wordpress page ultimately in the style of Schattennmanns Publishings, or add a section to this page. The idea is to create a medium sized zine distribution to recuperate costs spent on zines to ultimately buy and create new ones, and keep the format alive, more or less, in these idiotic times. Keep posted here for more news!
2026.02.12
Tyranny from China has just set up a bandcamp page, navigate to it here! This is brand new material from the band, raw and quite fresh I would say, the new album set for release on ColdWoods Productions this month, the first record released in 2026 I have any interest in so far. This is also a reminder that Convivial Hermit Issue 9 with an exclusive interview with Tyranny is still available, order it on BigCartel now!
2026.02.07
Just added BigCartel buttons to the Latest Issues page!
A few days back I was in a bookstore and picked up a copy of Philosophy Now which I used to regularly read and found a mention of John Searle recently passing away at the age of 93. The Mystery of Consciousness and The Construction of Social Reality were extraordinary books I read in my 20s and every interview I've seen with him has been inspiring. This year I actually also understood, finally, I think for the first time, his "Chinese Room Argument" when it was introduced in the context of AI, which is more relevant today than ever. I think he was absolutely right in his conclusions, too. All the more disappointing to find out that he apparently was a lecherous man in his old age, doing things that I never imagined and completely incongruous with the writer I knew. It makes me wonder how frequently this happens. But I also have a sense, and I know this does not excuse him, that if this is true, which I see no reason why it would not be, that his behavior was some kind of mental deterioration. Very disappointing either way.
2026.02.02
New bigcartel page is up starting today here: convivialhermit.bigcartel.com! If anyone has any problems with it contact me here via the contact menu option - or the contact on bigcartel! This is still in an experimental phase but it appears to be all set up now and ready. Hopefully this will resolve all ordering headaches. I'll add it to the ordering pages later.
2026.02.01
I only now completed my Top 2025 list here. It took a while to straighten things out. It was also necessary to include Von Waeldten which I only learned about in the last few weeks, but what an excellent album and musician. I highly recommended listening to Pascal Becker's work on his bandcamp page, you will not regret it.
2026.01.23
The most recent thing this reminds me of is Jim Inhofe bringing a snowball to Congress and claiming that it disproves global warming. Trump is literally, without exaggeration, the dumbest human being on the planet today. A bag of dogshit is more qualified to be a leader than he is. I am tempted to tear up my US Passport and throw it into the garbage but that would prevent me from leaving this country which is now at Ground Zero Idiocracy.
George Galloway, a socialist, recently thought out loud that perhaps Trump is one of us? An amusing thought even if it imputes more than is possible. He is bringing the entire world together around China like no other American politician before him, perhaps the biggest gift to Xi Jinping that ever happened.
2026.01.21
Trade list has been updated today. I may finally put up a bigcartel for the existing zines, while I still figure out my zine distro (separate idea). I know people have had difficulties with the Paypal buttons.
By the way, I've been growing more interested in perzines thanks to the Asymmetrical Anti-Media newsletter and in connection found this very interesting distro: Antiquated Future. I feel like Convivial Hermit in particular has always been somewhere between a perzine and a more traditional metal zine. I've never been truly comfortable in the general zine mold and always wanted to push it someplace new. It feels both good and a bit befuddling to know that others are still doing print zines in 2026 and feel the same way.
2026.01.13
I don't like going into sweeping generalizations about an entire age group, but in general, listening to several of these very young bands each day, I have come to the conclusion that Gen Z are completely incapable of writing good music. I don't know whether it's this shit culture they grew up in with social media and Youtube/TikTok/Instagram videos and now AI eroding their brains and short circuiting their attention spans... but it's just sad, what is happening. There are always exceptions, sure, bro... but almost all their bands are mid, bro. Do you sus what I'm saying, bro? Gen Z slays at sucking, and have the rizz of fecal matter. This is no tea. Do you know what I mean, bruh bruh?
2026.01.03
So now that Maduro is gone (good riddance) can we get rid of Trump the same way? Seems it's perfectly okay to invade other countries and kidnap or kill their leaders, after all, you don't even need congressional approval to do it, and both Trump and Maduro are terrorizing their own citizens, so why not? The USA, of course, does not have the greatest proven oil reserves like Venezuela, but it does produce the most oil today, so you have the bonus prize of expediting the death of the vast majority of mammals on the planet if you so choose.
2026.01.01
Happy New Year to all! 2025 was a rough year in many ways, from internal problems in the Hermit Kingdom like people I know or close to me dying and my own health issues, to problems in general worldwide like the rising popularity of fascism and AI's continued rampage making society dumber and lazier than ever. On the plus side, it was the best work year I probably have ever had, some great music is still coming out (check out my Top 2025) and in the words of Claudio Dondo from Runes Order: "We are still here".
For 2026 I am gathering thoughts of putting a bandcamp page together for a small distro, featuring mostly magazines. Keep posted in this section for updates.
Back issues of Convivial Hermit #10 and #9 are still available, as well as my final personal copies of Ethere #1 (just a few left!). Write to my email address if any questions or click the button below to order. You can also order all available zines via external distributions like Hells Headbangers in the United States and Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions for international orders. Thanks!