Author: Dr Implausible

Dynazty, “Game of Faces” (2025)

Dynazty, Game of Faces (2025)

Caught this on release day due to the lead single “Devilry of Ecstasy” showing up in my feed due to the glory of the Algorithm. (Praise the Omnissiah). And this time, the algorithm (and the band) hit it out of the park. I was stoked to find that my FLRS had a copy, as I had looked into pre-ordering via the Nuclear Blast label’s website, but the shipping was silly expensive at sub-$1000 levels. And after giving this the proper test, I was surprised to see how much this exceeded my already high expectations.

I haven’t heard this band before, but this is fantastic: melodic power metal with lush harmonies and soaring guitars. This feels like the metal soundtrack to a Broadway musical, and I mean that as the highest compliment: this is fantastically catchy and listenable.

The album starts off with three straight bangers: “Call of the Night”, “Game of Faces”, and “Devilry of Ecstasy”, and it doesn’t let up. The opening tracks are as good a start to an album since last year’s Invincible Shield by the almighty Judas Priest. The album is polished and well-produced and sounds great to listen to. If I need to get jazzed up, I’ll just throw this in the stereo for the ride.

The one drawback might be a bit of the sameness of the later tunes. Still well done, but perhaps lacking the furious kick of the openers. That’s not a knock; I’d be happy to listen to any track if it came up in the shuffle. Solid all around. Highly recommended. 9/10

Killswitch Engage, “This Consequence” (2025)

Picked up in advance of their coming tour, and continuing our streak of grabbing a new album every week or so.

Killswitch Engage (2025) This Consequence

This is the first KSE album I’ve owned*, and likely the first I’ve listened to back to front as well. A few of their previous songs have filtered through, but nothing about the music has shone through, just a mild recognition of the (admittedly) awesome band name.

But if I was forced to name one KSE tune, even with the fate of humanity on the line, well, so long and thanks for all the fish.

But as for the album itself. it’s decent enough, though it runs together on a full or repeated lesson. The high points jump out, but get dragged back down by the rest. There’s little (to my ear) to distinguish it from a Linkin Park album, or any other early 2000s metalcore band.

After giving it the requisite review period**, standout tracks include I Believe (the first single) which blends in some melody while tempering the metalcore screams, and the opener Abandon Us which kicks things off with some suitable heavy chugging.

Overall, I like it, and I’ll give it a few more listens to see if it grows on me. If all I get out of it is a few standout singles, then fair enough. A lot of albums in the collection share a similar state.

*: apparently I have 2002’s Alive Or Just Breathing in the archives, but I think that was included in a pile of other stuff. I have no recollection of it.

**: two full listens through on the stick stereo in my 2011 VW Jetta. The ultimate testing ground.

The Lost Tower (2025)

Sometime algorithmic feeds can allow for joyous moments of serendipity, when stuff outside your sphere breaks through those digital walls. Case in point:

This cute little digital short showed up on the feed. And rather than let it flow away into the ephemera of the river, I thought I’d capture it here.

Why did it show up? No idea. Perhaps it’s because other Blender-animated shorts, like the Oscar-nominated Flow (2024) are attracting attention (of which more on later), but regardless, happy to have it show up.

The Worst Movie in the World

Where do bad ideas come from? Here’s one:

Dave (1993, D: Ivan Reitman)

In the mid-90s this seemingly harmless film would make the rotation on cable channels often enough that I saw this on a handful of occasions. It appeared to be a relatively harmless confection, overly saccharine and sweet, a little bit corny, a fantasy idea of how the world works, a modern retelling of the Prince and the Pauper fairy tale.

In other words, the perfect concoction to deliver some toxic material.

In this case, the toxic material comes in a scene near the end of act 2, as the pauper “Dave” in the guise of the prince gets to work doing a line-by-line review of budget items.

Any resemblance to current events is purely coincidental.

What the movie suggested is that something as complex as the budget of a modern nation-state can be managed at this level, that that’s all it would take. A complete fantasy.

But this is the sort of meme that grows and spreads, and ends up becoming embedded in out culture. And toxic memes are very, very hard to dislodge once they get to that state.

Coming in May this year, we’re going to do a deep dive into where bad ideas come from, how they spread, and how they get embedded in the zeitgeist. We’ve got a few themes locked up for our Bad Ideas series already:

  • The Worst Movie in the World: Bad Movies
  • Is This a Joke to You?: Bad Comedy
  • Dank Memes
  • (and perhaps one or two surprises)

Why May? Well, we have a four episode block on cyberspace coming up next on the podcast, followed by an Andor Season 1 vibe recap which should wrap just in time for Season 2, at which point we’ll dig into this Bad Idea Theater.

Stay tuned!

UCSB Databases

Just a quick note, a link to self, a shared bookmark.

UC Santa Barbara A-Z Database

One of the challenges of drifting away from the academic institutions is the reduced access to academic work. This has impacted the material I’m able to draw on for research and reporting. So when a good open access database is available, such as the one provided by UC Santa Barbara, it’s nice to keep track of it, and in this case, share.

We’ll squirrel this away under the Research page for now, and add more updates to that as we go.