Thread:Vorknkx/@comment-3547390-20170901233307/@comment-3547390-20171106140644

Indeed, the internet is enough of an explosive minefield without seeing messages here about them :P

I have a very simple mindset. Be and let be, I don't like to judge others and like to give others the freedom I wish to have to do whatever. But then I seem to have issues with the mannerisms of most people, no matter how much I try to tolerate them, things that everyone else thinks is normal. For example, at work, everyone calls out my name when they see me. This drives me up a wall to no end, I expect them to need something and so I end up waiting awkwardly when they just intended it as a greeting. I don't get the purpose of it at all, are they just trying to show they remember my name? Or is there an intent to inform the building where I am located, which is why they shout it, sort of a built in tracking system to keep tabs on where I am? All I know is that I can't stand it and yet try to tolerate everyone to no avail.

My OCD is luckily being controlled. For all that I do with Star Wars, it is a lot better than doing every episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air because I saw it mentioned in a Youtube video. I have mostly culled it down to direct connections, I am doing Star Wars to touch Star Wars stuff, and am trying not to get off that goal.

Me, I have more of an obsession with "improvement". I always try to get the best experience to the point I get stressed out if I can't find a way to get a better experience. Any new software comes out, you can bet I am reading the changelogs like it is a Christmas present in the hope that they added or fixed something I recognize and can thus see as an improvement (invisible changes are worthless to me, I need to see the difference). This is why I devote quite a bit to buying new computer parts and why I own such an expensive computer, any improvements I can make at all and rationalize as having some benefit I can see, I get to improve. When I don't have anything to improve, I start scrambling desperately and looking constantly to find something that is better than what I have. I must have the best experience, the best browser, the best I can get, and I never really get satisfied to think I have the best as I am always trying to get better. It mostly is a harmless hobby, if a costly one, though when I have nothing to improve it can be stressful. Changing settings can also be an improvement.

So when I posted that, I had to stop at the 8th song and thus had to leave the rest incomplete. I have since finished the album. Nifelheim is a very repetitive song, one that I found tremendously boring. Secret of the Runes itself just lacked direction or anything interesting. The two covers were...horrible, absolutely horrible. However, I found Vanaheim to be perhaps the highlight of the collection, it had a decent operatic quality to it. Helheim was pretty similar if a bit weaker, but still relatively decent. So basically I ended up with four songs I liked, which is actually a decent collection. However, quantity versus quality, none of the songs were too amazing. Muspelheim was definitely one that got my attention, but doesn't compare with the other bands, and still suffers from a repetitive air that seems to plague Therion. I think I would compare Therion by saying they are now on par with Sirenia or Tarja. They have a lengthy discography, but most of it isn't to my liking, and what they do have is nothing I would ever put on any favorites list. Say I had to recommend some symphonic metal, Therion wouldn't be one of the examples to show the greatness of the genre. They have progressed quite a bit from the early days, where I couldn't stand them at all, but even the best works here are like the Tarja songs I like, good enough to listen to on my music player, but not one I entirely would hunt down and want to hear over and over. After Forever has Digital Deceit and Nightwish has Nemo, both songs are essentially flawless creations I could listen to over and over. Tristania has The Shining Path, which is flawed slightly, but is negated entirely by severe awesomeness on a grand scale. Sirenia made On The Wane before releasing a bunch of boring albums, one song that has vocal styles I generally don't care for mixed together in a way I find pretty good. Dark the Suns has Black Sun, which is pretty good, though admittedly repetitive and not as high as the others, but was one of the first examples to show me there was melodicness in metal. Tarja has In For The Kill, which is decent, but feels pretty static and still stuck in a void somewhat.

And now we have Therion, which has Muspelheim. Except that Muspelheim does drag a bit in the beginning, it is a song that started out nearly boring me before evolving into something much better. As it is, I can accept it as a progressive element, but it is not the best of starts. I definitely rather here the epic buildup of Digital Deceit or the outright aggression of The Shining Path (reviewers have said it was made with a lot of anger, but I only really heard the emotion entirely here). The beginning, before we get to the guitars, is the best part of In For The Kill (it helps that it reminds me of Thief). But it is easily the worst part of Muspelheim, the progressive style was needed, but it just feels plodding as it is. Once the actual song picks up, it gets much better and is why the song was so well redeemed, but that beginning means that it still is one of the weakest bands in my collection of symphonic metal. Otherwise, I would probably put it alongside Black Sun, not the grandest by any means, but relatively good to the point that it isn't just regulated to background music.

Speaking of Therion, I have continued on to Lemuria. I am not sure if you excluded it because you hadn't heard it, but if you had, it makes total sense why you didn't consider it one of the best. I am not even sure what to talk about here, it is stuff that is so boring that it essentially kills conversation since I barely remember it right after listening to it. It didn't help that some of the vocals here are some of the worst I have heard on a symphonic metal album since perhaps Once (luckily this, unlike that album, is so forgettable to already make it hard to remember what tracks even annoyed me or what precisely was so annoying about it). This album might as well not exist, it is like they created some filler content and then made an entire album's worth of that. 11 albums in, Therion's best content is on par with some of the lower end symphonic metal like Tarja. Far from a band I would consider myself a fan of, so far they have some alright songs at one point if nothing I could consider to be a favorite and otherwise a lot of albums I just find dull. They are quickly becoming another Illdisposed, but at least the good era for that band was an era with some great songs.