Forest Silence is the product of Winter of Sear Bliss and Nefarious fame, making him a very talented man, as everything i just mentioned reeks of excellence. If you have followed Forest Silence previously you know that the project started as dark ambient, slowly evolving into ambient/atmospheric black metal and releasing the excellent full length, Philosophy of Winter, via Candlelight Records. This release however is the most recent (2010) and also in my humble opinion, the best Forest Silence recording yet, and must be heard by any fan of atmospheric black metal.
Battalion, as you probably could have guessed are a war themed death metal band, and they hail from Belgium. And if you are smart you have already came to the conclusion that Belgian war themed death metal sounds like a fucking win. And it is! And so is this album. Battalion play mid paced death metal with catchy riffs not to unlike Bolt Thrower or the more upbeat side of Asphyx. So grab a bottle of your favorite Belgian beer (there should be many) and prepare to bang your god damn head.
What an amazing demo, that should sum it up nicely and i should quit while im ahead, but ill attempt to fuck it up a little more with some of my incoherent ramblings because this recording deserves some attention. Frozen Glare rose up in 2001 and consistently put out demo's until 2005, all of them sounding different then the one before, as they were clearly a band trying to find their sound. These demo's ranged from primitive black metal, to black metal with thrash elements, to doom/death, and in my opinion they found themselves with this demo which is more of a slow paced atmospheric/ambient black metal. I feel that they could have become great had they continued in this vein, however Frozen Glare morphed into a different entity in which little info is to be found thus far.
Ok now im sure that as soon as you read the band name and title you have already came to the conclusion that this band is pretty generic. But if you are like me at all, and you should be, you aren't turned off by generic. If no band ever ripped off another band there would only be like five or ten bands to listen to. Some call it ripping off, i would rather call it being inspired and influenced although some obviously take it farther then others. I'm getting good at this, all that writing and i haven't even really talked about the band, so anyways Frozen Dawn hail from the grim and frostbitten lands of, erm, Spain. Something you actually might NOT have expected, and they play a melodic black metal of sorts not unlike Dissection.
Normally, i wouldn't do something as tacky as posting compilations (yes i find it tacky, as compilations are typically rather tacky and pointless) but, this one will have a purpose. For those that know me, musically, i am not very diverse. I listen to metal about ninety nine percent of the time and well, not much else appeals to me. Lately though i have made the decision that i should at least take a peak out into the world of music that is non metal, as i don't want to miss out on other forms that could have some form of impact on me. For many years i have been aware of the existence of Dead Can Dance hell, they started even before i was born. I'll admit what made me want to take more notice was that people i respected, and yes, were also metalheads, seemed to be big fans of their music. So after a few years (i am quite the procrastinator) i figured what do i have to lose. I purchased a few of their albums, this being one and at the time i was not even aware that it was a compilation but i have to admit after many listens, i cannot even describe what an impact it has had on me. It provided me an insight on what they have done over the years with a decent amount of material to be found here, leading me to check out individual albums and so on and so forth. So the entire point is, i am posting this for people who have, like me until a few months ago, were not fortunate to have heard any music by Dead Can Dance, and are maybe looking for something new. Something of amazing quality, something that will change their lives and make a positive impact because no matter how hard you try, you cant be metal ALL the time.
Man ill tell ya, i must have listened to this album several times before finding out Hekseri are from fucking Boston. Thats right, Boston, right here in the US. Not some unknown town in Norway called Boston. Moving on, Hekseri means Witchcraft in both Danish and Norwegian, nice little fun fact for you. And they play a type of black/death metal with some thrash thrown in there, it can be quite brutal at times like a perfect soundtrack to march to war to, while at other times there is a nice undercurrent of well placed melody. This melody comes from the riffs as the vocals are completely brutal and vicious. Said vocals come from the scorched throat of a couple of ladies named Larissa and Megan, and get this, they also are the guitarists (two thirds of this band are women), fucking awesome. Absu fans should find some enjoyment here.
I have had this cd for many years and although i am not the hugest fan of melodic death metal, i like this release quite a bit and will do my best to half assedly describe it. First of all, Detonation hail from the Netherlands and have been kicking since 97 or so, have been fairly consistent until the release of this album in 2005 via the always reliable Osmose Productions. They are far and away from Soilwork or the Haunted, so dont worry about losing too many kvlt points for checking this out.
Asmodina started out in the german death metal underground around 1990, belting out a demo every two years before releasing this monster of a full length in 97. Asmodina also had a female vocalist, you might know her as Angela Gossow who would later join Arch Enemy. Now obviously im aware that the metal community is pretty divided on said band, and i almost considered not mentioning Angela, but i think this is a decent death metal album that deserves to be heard.
Ukrainians Dead Christ Cult have been (black) thrashing around since 2002, and have been doing so consistently. They play a pretty basic black/thrash formula that will do nothing to re invent the wheel, but im sure i would be right if i said they couldn't give a fuck. They also know how to keep us entertained, the riffs are definitely aplenty here.
If you're following the Apex Predator Diet, it's highly likely that you didn't start out ridiculously lean. As such, it'll have take you some time to get to this point- this diet's not a quick-fix or crash diet, but rather a way to lean out while getting bigger and stronger all at the same time. By the time you hit 8% bodyfat, your metabolism should be wearing a pvc outfit and holding a cat o' nine tails tipped with metal rings, because it's dominant as hell and has made your bodyfat into its snivelling sissy bitch. You should now be at or under 8% bodyfat, so your abs are standing out in stark relief, your body looks like a Rand McNalley map due to your incredible vascularity, and you should be feeling like you can eat lightning and shit thunder at this point. You are, officially, awesome, provided you're not bereft of muscle mass.
I'm not satisfied until every vein is forced up against my skin. Look how vascular I am Brian. If there's one thing women love it's a vascular man. I've got veins, they carry blood all over my bahday. That's how John Mayer would say it. Bahday.
Assuming you had to work to get here, you'll know exactly how your body responds to both diet and exercise, which affords you a tremendous amount of leeway with your diet. Before you head for the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, however, bear this in mind- you'll never be so awesome that you can out-train a shitty diet. As such, sticking to the Apex Predator Diet is a good idea, though you can have the occasional dalliance. As always, I encourage you to explore your inner Nikola Tesla and get as mad scientist as you can with both diet and training, but just remember that until you stay lean for a considerable period of time, your body is going to attempt to return to whatever your previous fat setpoint is. Thus, if you spent the last 10 years eating butter sandwiches and appeared to be one box of Milk Duds away from purchasing a rascal to get you hither and thither, take the following with a grain of salt. Additionally, if you like Milk Duds, you have no working taste buds, so dieting shouldn't be all that difficult for you anyway.
Got the coke and the smile covered.
Candied gastronomic atrocities aside, the Apex Predator Diet will become for most of you a delicate balancing act, wherein you're going to try to maximize your caloric intake while remaining super lean. Though it's not as simple as most would like, nothing fucking is, so have a coke and smile and shut the fuck up about it. You'll find that you'll naturally cycle your calories, as your ghrelin and leptin production will be optimized at this point, and your body is going to loudly let you know what it needs when it needs it. Your stomach will growl its fucking ass off all day if you try a PSMF, and you will be miserable in the gym, so you'll likely drop those days. They'll be replaced by the regular Apex Predator days from earlier phases of the diet, wherein you drink shakes until your final evening meal. When your metabolism resembles nothing more than Slayer's War Zone in speed, ferocity and overall sentment, it's tough to live on protein shakes and nothing more. As such, your weekly diet will start to look much more like this:
Monday - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
5-6 protein shakes evenly spaced throughout the day consisting of 40-60 grams of protein and less than 10 grams of carbs.
1 medium sized meal midday (I shoot for 600-800 calories in the form of wings, generally, although I'll substitute other meats as well.
1 large evening meal of 2000-4000 calories in the form of (preferably bone-in) meat. Let your hunger levels dictate the size.
Alternate Saturday At times, you're going to find both your enthusiasm and your energy waning for continued ketogenesis. On those weeks, push hard to make it to Fridaywith the knowledge taht you're going to carry your carbup over onto Saturday. As to when you'll want to do this, it's entirely up to you- I would use a combination of the mirror and your general level of enthusiasm for the gym as a guage. If you find yourself incredibly burned out, a second carbup might be the boost you need. Make Saturday more of a medium carb, low to moderate fat, high protein day than a Rampage. It's important to remember that these carbohydrate refeeds are not supercompensations. Supercompensations should only be used sparingly, as frequent use reduces their efficacy.(Zatsiorsky 13) Additionally, I would not make a habit of utilizing the moderate carb Saturdays on a frequent basis, as there's only a small amount of glycogen resynthesis that occurs in the second 24 hours of carb loading, and there's the potential to regain some of the fat you lost during the week. As such, you should keep carbohydrate levels at or below 2 grams per pound of bodyweight on Saturdays.(McDonald 132-3)
It's Time To Take A Vacation Another massive and awesome benefit of breaking your ass to get this lean is the fact that short dietary vacations don't do much harm, and in some cases will break you out of a plateau. According to Torbjorn Akerfeldt, our "genes have not evolved much during the last 100,000 years; thus, they are still developed for our hunter/gatherer and, more recently, pastoral ancestors, who, whenever they succeeded in killing an animal, lived on meat for a week or two. At other times, when they had bad luck hunting and a crop failed, they lived on a low-calorie diet. This selective pressure gave man adipose tissue with almost unlimited storage capacity and a very adaptive metabolism to cope with periods of different diets."(Phillips) Basically, once you'e lean, if you diet hard and undereat a bit, you'll get a consistent carryover of the rebound you get from your Rampage Day into multiple days. I will generally not take this past 5 days or so, but one study showed that a three week period of overeating resulted in mass gain that was nearly evenly split between fat and muscle, and an increase in nitrogen retention that persisted even after the diet returned to normal.(Forbes, Oddoye) Thus, protein retention after the overfeeding was increased, and the body was more anabolic.
Eat up, motherfucker.
Personally, I don't plan these. They just sort of happen, and are generally the result of a long-weekend vacation or something similar. You could try planning them if you wanted, and if you chose to do so, I would suggest they be limited to 4 or 5 days and occur on non-consecutive months. Additionally, I'd suggest you undereat a bit in the week prior to the overfeed to accelerate fatloss. Provided you jump right back into the Apex Predator diet, keep your training up, don't abuse the vacation and aren't completely ridiculous about it, you can get away with quite a few dietary shenanigans.
Up next, the Apex Predator Diet for Whiny Bitches and the innumerable rugby players who email me about this diet.
Sources: Forbes GB, Brown MR, Welle SL, and Underwood LE. Hormonal response to overfeeding. Am J Clin Nutr 1989 49: 4 608-611. McDonald, Lyle. Ketogenic Diet.
Ya know, i posted a few demos that were sent to me a while back without reviewing them and though i felt bad for the laziness, at least i helped spread the word. Well upon listening to this a few more times i decided to give the Slovenians just a bit more credit. If you are into all the d-beat/crusty death metal that has been surfacing lately i think you really will enjoy this. Its heavy, catchy, well played, im sure if they play their cards right Hellcrawler could really go somewhere, and i hope to see it happen. Well done lads.
Tairach was pre Nyktalgia, who many of you know and love. This was their sole demo, and minus a few production issues its a very good demo and i would recommend it other then to only Nyktalgia fans. Winterheart and Skjeld put this out in 1999 then formed Nyktalgia in 2001.
Aeshma was formed by the dark souls of two veterans of the Brazilian black metal scene in 2002. A year later they put out this excellent demo and never have been heard from again but apparently remain active. The production on this demo is actually quite decent, most things are perfectly audible and the overall atmosphere is pleasing. Ominous keyboards never take the forefront but instead add to aforementioned atmosphere. Vocals are incredibly caustic and furious. If you like raw, evil, atmospheric black metal grab this and go on a hellish journey through the Dark Misanthropic Woods of Aeshma.
Solo black metal act out of France via gentleman going by Vaerohn, and he is one talented and possible insane man. This albums predecessor was basically depressive black metal with classical touches, and while it was received well and i can detect the quality, it wasnt my cup of tea. Frankly this album isnt either, but its different and i like it more. It still has all of the same elements this time around but with even more weirdness added to it such as operatic vocals, weird circus type sounds, more of an Arcturus influence so if you are a fan of aforementioned band you might wanna take a peek here.
I almost hate describing or reviewing stuff like this. Music that is so simple, yet so deep, has always been intriguing yet baffling to me. What i can tell you is that The Austrasian Goat is a solo project from France, with mastermind Julien Louvet at the creative helm. Here he creates crushing, atmospheric black metal/funeral doom hybrid of sorts not too much unlike Nortt. By now i have thrown out plenty of comparisons and references for you to know you either are, or are not interested so i will quit wasting your time.
And here we have the third full length from the Czech Republic's Destroying Divinity. Personally i think this band has flown waaaaaay under the radar. Stylistically they remind me a bit of Immolation, with the storming chaotic riffing and occasionally epic grandeur. Why does nobody seem to talk about these guys? Im aiming to change that at least a little. So much death metal coming out the last few years, its increasingly hard to make your mark, but Immolation, Incantation, and Morbid Angel fans take notice!
Heres one for all you lo-fi raw, bestial and primitive stuff (like me) from Brazil, 1988. Necrofago played uber sloppy black/thrash, but hey man like i said, 1988. This was their first demo, oh, and they didnt share members with Sepultura...
Unholy Ritual from Greece have a pretty cool take on symphonic black metal. As to where most bands playing that style go for the epic, bombastic approach, Unholy Rituals approach has a progressive edge to it that definitely makes them stand out from the rest. While it is still epic and bombastic, it brings just a little more to the table and it does so successfully. Once again, if you stick strictly to minimalist black metal and such, this will no doubt turn you off, but black metallers with a more open mind will no doubt find something interesting here.
Try to remember to lift something before you start drinking today. Or after. Just lift something. I'm going hunting for the Alabama Leprechaun.
Werd.
In case you wanted something new to rock while getting drunk, AOAA totally changed their sound, making them basically a tough as fuck Emmure. I bought this shit off iTunes a couple of weeks ago and rock it constantly. You can't not love a band whose opener begins with "PUREFUCKINGHATE." The EP is called Dark Days.
A hulking figure appeared in the doorway, cloaked in an aura so intense that he barely seemed capable of doing aught but great violence to anything within his reach. As he stepped heavily into the room, the onlookers noticed that every sinew, every muscle, and every vein stood in stark relief beneath his paper thin skin, which threatened to burst like the skin on a sausage left too long on the grill. His t-shirt, loose at the waist, grew tighter as the eye moved upward until it appeared to be strangling him, so tightly was it stretched over his bull-like neck and shoulders. Shouldering aside ill-clad, scrawny hipsters, the brute made his way to the front of the establishment and spoke.
"Bring me a pizza adorned with every conceivable type of meat, as many breadsticks as you can fit into a garbage bag, and a half gallon of whiskey, or I swear by all of the gods that I shall reduce this building to rubble, lay waste to the surrounding areas, carry off your women, and drink all of your liquor. You have fifteen minutes to comply."
Goddamned right.
It was, clearly, Rampage Day.
Though you might be thinking that skipping your Rampage day might be a good way to accelerate fat loss, this is not so. In the initial phase of this diet, you might stretch your keto runs to acclimatize yourself to the diet and undo the massive damage you've wrecked upon your internal system. Additionally, you’re primarily concerned with being less disgusting to look at and touch, which is understandable. As such, you might be inclined to continue to stretch the no-carb phase of this diet to ten to fourteen days, which can have some very positive metabolic effects. Once you've re-entered the realm of human physiques, however, you should rethink that policy, as this diet's not about not being fat- it's about being fucking awesome. If you're going to be awesome, you're going to need to lift continually heavier weights and get more muscular, and the Rampage is a critical component in that, especially given the fact that some studies have shown that long-term ketogenic diets inhibit muscle growth when the dieter is in a hypocaloric state, which you'll likely be in for at least part of the week if you're doing one or more days of Protein Sparing Modified Fasts.(McDaniel) If you're doing PSMFs and breaking your ass in the gym, it's highly likely that until you engage in a gastronomic catastrophe like the Rampage, you're going to be in a hypocaloric state over the balance of the week. That shit simply cannot be allowed to stand, as your workouts will suffer and you could lose some of the muscle you've broken your ass inside out to get.
Thus, you should regard a refeed day as sacrosanct. The Rampage Day is essential for getting insanely strong and lean, as a day in which you deliberately overeat carbohydrates is utterly necessary for muscular hypertrophy, strength gains, and overall recomposition. Essentially, the Rampage Day confers more benefits than a cattle prod at a school for the mentally retarded- it stimulates your metabolism,(Matsumoto) replenishes your glycogen stores for heavy training,(Bowden) increases your thyroid, adrenal, and sex hormones,(Poehlman) provides sundry mental health benefits through a forced break from clean eating,(Westrate) and helps normalize most, if not all, of the hormones [involved in] metabolic slowdown: leptin, ghrelin, insulin, etc.”(McDonald RFD 46)
You will, however, have to do the refeed correctly in order to reap its benefits like a Muslim collecting hymens in Jannah. Unless you're where you want to be in terms of bodyfat, however, this isn’t going to be a fucking free-for-all day, as you’re hardly out of the water yet. Instead, the Rampage is a combination of a structured refeed (like you’d do for a glycogen supercompensation) and a cheat meal.
If you’re still worried that you’ll grow your disgusting fatbody back in your first Rampage, fear not- there are at least two studies that suggest that the body continues to use bodyfat for fuel during the first 24 hours of carbohydrate loading, so provided you stick to the plan, you’ll be well on your way to getting the striated buttocks of which you’ve always dreamed.(McDonald KD 135) At least one study has shown that short breaks from high fat diets will not have an adverse effect on lipolytic activity, and lipolytic activity in people who take high carb breaks from high fat diets are actually higher than those who are on a high carbohydrate diet, meaning you'll burn more fat if you cheat a bit once a week.(Saitoh) Additionally, fellow low-carbohydrate dieting advocate, Dave Palumbo, stated that if "you use a keto-diet, you'll need to have a cheat meal (to spike insulin) at least once per week to keep the thyroid functioning normally." For anyone who's ever met a grossly obese person, they invariably claim that their thyroid's at fault, rather than the fact that they gave up vertical locomotion for a scooter and some Ho-Ho's ten years ago, and haven't even bothered to mourn the fact that they've not seen their genetalia in in 15 years due to their obsession with television game shows and Cheetos. Best to keep your distance from those motherfuckers and keep that thyroid humming like a chick from the Berkeley School of music giving a blowjob.
Get Rampagin'! On your Rampage Day, you're going to plan on consuming 3.5-4.5 grams per pound of gross bodyweight. Thus, a 154 lb. person should consume 600 grams of total carbohydrates on Rampage Day, whereas a 200 lb person would consume around 800. The timing of the carbohydrates is not as important as the amount, though I prefer to keep myself in a caloric deficit until the cheat window to milk every bit of stimulus I can out of the massive influx of food. Additionally, predators in the wild invariably have a “marked circadian rhythm” and their hunting motivation is “influenced by the activity of endogenous clocks”(McFarland 463) Though you might be skeptical of the application of this fact to you, humans are universally considered to be apex predators, so it is in our nature to eat in a particular rhythm. This might be why I find this diet so fucking easy to follow- it has a nice flow. Additionally, my body seems primed for the influx of calories in the evening, which leads me to believe that you’ll utilize the majority of the calories you ingest if your Rampage is synchronous with your largest meal during the week. Is there science to support that? Fuck no, but it makes sense, so I’m sticking with it.
You don’t need to walk around with a notepad and calculator all fucking day long, either- the key to the refeed is how many carbs and which kinds, rather than the pace at which you eat them.. For the first couple of Rampages, you might want to plan them a bit so you’re shooting for the right carbohydrate levels. This will give you a benchmark and allow you the opportunity to fine tune your intake as you go. Others of you might want to go my route and keep your carbs under 200 grams for the duration of the day, so that no matter how fucking nuts you go come cheat time you cannot overshoot your mark. I found this particularly helpful in the early stages, but as I got leaner it went from unnecessary to possibly counterproductive.
Anyone else amused that the less-skinny guy is "clearly juiced up"?
Multiple sources I’ve read virtually scream that you should avoid fructose during glycogen recomposition, as it simply replenishes liver stores and can actually be stored as bodyfat. Thought vegans will scream bloody murder this isn't true, science does not appear to have their back. Instead, science appears to have gained full mount and is currently beating vegans like they're talking shit on a California playground. "Fructose is more lipogenic than glucose or starches, and usually causes greater elevations in triglycerides and sometimes in cholesterol than other carbohydrates. Dietary fructose has resulted in increases in blood pressure, uric acid, and lactic acid." To add insult to injury, "added fructose seems to provide little advantage over other caloric sweetners and compares unfavorably to complex carbohydrates in susceptible segments of the population."(Hallfrisch) Thus, I’d avoid fruit for the most part. Additionally, overdoing the sucrose can lead to some being stored as bodyfat. If you’re eating either, try to restrict them to 50 grams and 100 grams, respectively, to avoid reducing the efficacy of the refeed.(McDonald RFL 46-7) That’s not to say that you should underdo it, however. The Minnesota Experiment showed that the utilization of the minimum necessary calories in a refeed will lead to decreased enthusiasm for the diet and training, no matter the macronutrient composition.(Russell 129) Thus, you’ll Rampage as intelligently and aggressively as you should do everything, like you’re a modern day Neanderthal with an 8 inch boner facing down a wooly mammoth that’s trying to rape your girlfriend.
Rapist.
The Rampage Itself In the past, I covered cheat windows fairly in-depth and mentioned that there are a couple of ways to skin this proverbial cat. The Rampage will utilize none of those, and will instead rely on a single 3 hour cheat window on the heels of the aforementioned carbohydrate refeed. During the cheat window, I encourage you to eat like you're a midwestern housewife at an all-you-can-eat buffet and gorge yourself. I usually pick foods on which I can graze, as I've shrunken my stomach and haven't got any interest in putting myself in physical pain during my weekly three hour holiday. There's no metabolic reasoning for grazing, however- it's just what I like to do. For those of you who are about to throw Lyle McDonald in my face, relax, I've read the same shit. His contention is that during these structured refeeds, you should definitely not "use the concept as an excuse to eat yourself sick or eat three times what you’d normally eat."(McDonald, 34) I'll tell you this from experience- the farther you get in a given diet, the less you can consume in three hours- it's a matter of pure biology. Thus, at the beginning of your diet, you'll be able to eat more during your cheats, which will likely slow your progress. Should you notice this, you can moderate future Rampages to forestall that slowdown, though as you get leaner, you'll notice you can get away with a lot more in the way of craziness and lapses. Additionally, once start seeing definition you'd never seen before, or veins you never thought you'd ever see, you're going to naturally restrict yourself on your cheats to prevent any backsliding, at least until you've stayed lean for a considerable period of time and find yourself nearly insane with hunger by Friday night.
The night is a very dark time for me.
Timing: I usually choose to Rampage at night. From a insulin standpoint this is probably not ideal, but from a lifestyle standpoint, I don't care. There's not enough of a difference in hormone levels between morning and night to justify worrying about my insulin levels, and I find that it's awesome to go to bed full to bursting and have the night to digest and bomb out my place in peace, rather than force myself to eat a meal when it's inconvenient.
Some nutritionists believe that pre-workout is the best time for a scheduled cheat window. Anytime I've tried to schedule a cheat meal early in a day and train later, however, I find that my lift's a disaster, and I spend the majority of the time acting like I've got some horrible stomach flu. The kind of flu wherein you know you're going to paint the bathroom one color or another because everything wants out all at once. I chose wrong once, and my mom had to clean the bathroom after, as I passed out with my head hanging over the toilet, pants around my ankles, shit covering every square inch of the bathroom. This has made Mother's Day expensive since I was 6. I don't wish to repeat that event, so I don't cheat pre-workout.
There is no reason for this picture other than its existence, which is reason enough.
Two supplements that will increase the effectiveness of your cheat meal are: ECA stack- It increases your thermogenesis anyway, but "ephedrine alone can increase the thermic effect of a meal by 30%"(Berardi). As such, make sure you whack that back prior to the initiation of your feeding frenzy to ensure that you're getting the optimal metabolic response to your overfeeding.
Digestive enzymes- Before, during, and after. Trust me, they'll help. If you've been eating clean, your body's going to have something to say about what you're eating, and it's going to let everyone in the room know what it thinks about it. This should prevent any non-alcohol-related pants-shitting, and keep you from smelling like you've shit them. Lastly, it'll increase the absorption of the nutrients you'd so rudely and crudely stuffed down your ravenous gullet, increasing the positive effects of that meal and hopefully negating any of the negative ones.
One last word on this, for you fatties- don't include these feeding frenzies if you're not already lean. If you're a fatass, you don't deserve them from a mental standpoint and cannot really utilize them from a metabolic one. As such, you'd be wise to steer clear until you can see some abs. For guys, this means under 15%, tops. For girls, that means... whatever the female equivalent of 15% is. We'll call it 25-27%. If you can see abs, have at it- otherwise, wait until you can. Additionally, if you find that cheat meals are either not helping, or they're actually hurting, monkey with the timing, duration, and what you're actually eating. Should you find yourself in the aforementioned fatass category, limit yourself a bit in your Rampage- you've been on a years-long Rampage and it's high time you exercised some self control. Make sure you get your carbs, but keep the fats below 25% of your total calories while doing so. Kill a couple of bags of Baked Lays and hit up Fuddruckers for a couple of Buffalo Burgers, maybe. Remember- eye on the fucking prize.
The rest of you... get ready. Tomorrow we Rampage.
I think it's cool to drink DUTCH beer on St. Patty's provided it's served correctly.
Sources: Arnold, Patrick. A Steroid for Flu Prevention. Muscular Development, 2/10/10, p. 276. Berardi, John. "Q & A with John Berardi." Iron Magazine. http://www.ironmagazine.com/article466.html Bowden VL and McMurray RG. Effects of training status on the metabolic responses to high carbohydrate and high fat meals. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2000 Mar;10(1):16-27. Faigin, Rob. Natural Hormonal Enhancement. Cedar Mountain: Extique, 2000. Hallfrisch J. Metabolic effects of dietary fructose. FASEB. 1990; 4:2652-2660. Matsumoto T, et al. Comparison of thermogenic sympathetic response to food intake between obese and non-obese young women. Obes Res 2001 Feb;9(2):78-85 McDaniel SS, Rensing NR, et al. Epilepsis 2011;52:3(30), e7-11. McDonald, Lyle. A Guide to Flexible Dieting. Taylorsville: McDonald, 2005. McDonald, Lyle. Ketogenic Dieting. McDonald, Lyle. Rapid Fat Loss. Palumbo, David. "Q&A with Dave Palumbo." http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/qadave/590-qaa-with-dave-palumbo-august-6-2009.html Poehlman ET, et al. Genotype dependency of the thermic effect of a meal and associated hormonal changes following short-term overfeeding. Metabolism 1986 Jan;35(1):30-6. Saitoh S, Matsuo T, Tagami K, Chang K, Tokuyama K, and Masashige Suzuki. Effects of short-term dietary change from high fat to high carbohydrate diets on the storage and utilization of glycogen and triacylglycerol in untrained rats. EUR J APP PHYS OCC PHYS; 74 (1-2):13-22 Sarkola T, Ericksson TJP. Testosterone increases in men after a low dose of alcohol. AL Clin Exper Res; 27 (4): 682-5. Westrate JA, Hautvast JG. The effects of short-term carbohydrate overfeeding and prior exercise on resting metabolic rate and diet-induced thermogenesis. Metabolism. 1990. Dec;39(12):1232-9. Willey, Warren. Better Than Steroids. Trafford: Pocatello, 2007.
In case you missed the Petrychor full length i posted last year, or if you are just plain unfamiliar with Petrychor, here is one of 2010's pleasant surprises. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, the very talented Californian Tad Piecka shocked many with this debut EP. Thats right, just one dude here, performing vocals and playing all instruments creating some great atmospheric black metal loaded with folk and post rock elements. While he does a great job at everything he does with Petrychor i think i speak for everyone when i say that his guitar skills, both accoustic and electric, are where he really excels.
Sadogoat was an early incarnation of what we now know as Sadomator. Releasing a hefty string of demos and splits beginning with this 1999 demo and then changing their name to Sadomator in 2005 although they still sometimes will put out material under the Sadogoat moniker. They are a band that definitely wears their influences on their sleeves, but that never bothered me at all (though many metalheads constantly bitch about it).
Thrash! Oh god i just want to headbang my fucking neck off to this one. Nocturnal hail from Germany and are one of the best examples of black/thrash youre likely to hear, and this is no secret. Active since 2000 this is the third demo in a long string of kvlt releases. Odds are youve heard their two full lengths so this will probably be a treat for those who havent delved into the demo material. Myself i prefer this demo to either full length really, i just love the old school thrash meets darkthrone vibe they have going on here, hell id wager if Fenriz doesnt like Nocturnal I will punch myself in the dick.
Many Asian metalheads would call this album a classic, or at least a classic asian metal album. Rator were actually the first band from Malaysia to play black/death metal (or any kind of extreme metal i would imagine). This album was released in 2008 but a good portion of the tracks are from the 1990 demo. Are they re recorded? I wish i knew. Just take a look at the album cover and you'll know what youre in for, though ill say that this ones a little different.
Mortuary were one of Mexico's earliest death metal bands. And like most Mexican death metal, they do it right and they do it well. For many years I've been a huge fan of Mexican bands, mostly of the black and death variety with some thrash here and there, and what typically draws me to them is the passion. They typically have to work harder then most American bands, the struggle is much more intense and the music always seems to show it and they have my utmost respect. This is the debut full length from Mortuary, and is an overlooked thrashing death metal classic, soundwise, quite comparible to mid era material from The Chasm.
Here is the 2011 debut demo from Goat Synagogue, from Greece. As many demos this one is quite short, three songs clocking in at around ten minutes its a nice display of old school raw black metal just the way we like it. For fans of early Greek black metal, you will notice this band shows much promise, i have to say i completely dig the epic atmosphere and cant wait for more material. Grab this tape via Forgotten Wisdom Productions if there are any left.
The Not Too Fucking Fat, But Not Too Fucking Lean Approach.
This is what I used when I was between 12% and 8% bodyfat. I could see two abs clearly and two a bit hazily at the beginning of this diet, and I followed this fairly strictly for about two months. Once I started getting into single digits, I noticed myself getting hungrier and hungrier, and had to start eating more to maintain my bodyweight. Additionally, once you get into the single digits (or middle double digits for chicks) you'll find that your metabolism resembles the Israeli Killdozer- it crushes damn near anything in its path provided you have someone competent behind the wheel. As such, this approach is going to alter slightly as you get leaner (should you wish to alter it). I realize that some of you react like Luddites at a robotics convention when faced with changing a workout or diet if it’s still yielding results, and if you fall into that category stick with the more draconian approach until you hit the next stage of the diet. For those of you who have less resolve for sticking with something than a meth addicted four year old white trash kid in the toy department at Wal-Mart, I recommend setting a hard start and stop point on the evolution of this phase of the diet to ensure that you make the progress you should.
This stage is not too much different than the previous one, except that I recommend only one day of Protein Sparing Modified Fasts and your Rampage day kicks in harder than a teenage erection at a Hustler party. After you’ve made it to single digits, you may choose to drop the day of protein sparing modified fasts to ensure you don’t leave weight on the platform on training days and that you continue to make forward progress with your physique. At some point, you’ll get lean enough that you’ll notice a very pronounced loss of aggression in the gym due to those days. Additionally, once you hit single digits, I recommend adding a smaller second food meal midday. This will help you stabilize your weight as you bring the diet home.
The Basics of the NTFBNTS Phase Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday:
5-6 protein shakes throughout the day (and one overnight, which I'd leave on the toilet and chug while peeing) comprised of 40-60 grams of protein.
On two of these four days I typically substitute one shake at lunch with wings or other no-carb meat. Once you hit single digit bodyfat, you can make this a four day affair.
On one of these days, try to fit in a protein sparing modified fast (i.e. consume nothing but protein shakes) until you hit single digits. I recommend placing this day on Saturday, in between your Rampage and high-calorie keto days, so as to keep your metabolism stimulated and reap the benefits of alternate-day fasting.
1500-3000 calories of fatty meat, preferably on the bone, in the evening.
Wednesday:
5-6 protein shakes throughout the day (and one overnight).
Less calorically dense meat for dinner (t-bone, ribeye, or NY Strip steak, leaving the fattiest bits behind. This is to ensure that you’re still cycling your calories, even if you’re skipping the protein sparing modified fast day.
Friday (Rampage Day):
Today is going to be characterized by medium- to low- (but not no-) carb meals throughout the day. Restrict your meals to 50 grams of carbohydrates or less per meal, and keep your fat low to ensure carbohydrate reuptake. This is the polar opposite of your typical day, so just bear in mind that your carbohydrates and fat should be inversely proportional at all but the Rampage meal.
Rampage! This is going to be a three hour cheat window that I’ll detail in the next installment.
Sunday:
Higher calorie keto day. Ensure that you eat two solid food meals on this day, preferably of fattier meat on the bone- think wings, ribs, chops, etc.
5-6 protein shakes throughout the day (and one overnight).
Jesus tittyfucking christ. Who doesn't understand the proper use of the word "too"? ...Fratboys.
During this phase, you should be making progress like a fratboy with a sorostitute in his dorm room- you’re nearly there. Unlike said fratboy, however, you’ll likely find rohipnol unnecessary, though you might benefit from the following:
Avoid doing cardio. Though utilizing a CKD (Cyclical Ketogenic Diet) as opposed to a TKD should forestall muscle catabolism brought on by high volumes of work in the gym, aerobic exercise taxes your anaerobic substrates too heavily.(Duchaine 132) Since this could lead to muscle loss, I’d avoid it. For the forty three thousand rugby athletes who’ve emailed me about this diet (sweet fucking Christ a lot of you like wearing striped shirts), you’ll want to follow the Whiny Bitch permutation of this diet, which is forthcoming.
Supplement with Chromium Polynicotinate or Vanadyl Sulfate. Both minerals work to regulate your blood sugar and insulin levels, and might aid in training and recomposition as a result.(Duchaine 131)
Don’t skip or skimp on your Rampage day. I cannot imagine a person actually doing so, but based on the emails I get, a lot of you do some tremendously stupid shit. Don’t be one of those guys- Rampage like your name is King Kong once a week. If you’re curious as to why, there’s a good reason- you cannot sustain high intensity training indefinitely in the total absence of dietary carbohydrates and expect to make continued progress. You do have some glycogen resynthesis that naturally occurs as a result of weight training, though it’s relatively small.(McDonald KD 122) As such, you need to hit the Rampage once a week to ensure you replenish glycogen stores. Skipping or postponing your Rampage in this stage will, at best, make you fucking miserable, and at worst, reduce or eliminate your gains. Since this diet is all about being fucking awesome, reducing your potential for awesome is counter-intuitive.
Consume stimulants. They’ll fuel your workouts and they help establish and deepen your levels of ketosis.(McDonald KD 116) Additionally, amphetamines have been shown in recent studies to increase the effect of dopamine on your brain, which increases motivation for both physical and mental activities.(Ito) Happily for us, ephedrine is an amphetamine, so feel free to make use of the wonderful bounty that is ephedrine and all of its amphetaminy goodness. You'll be focused like a pedophile on a preschool playground when you hit the gym, find dieting easier, and generally be more awesome. For those of you with heart problems, moral issues, religious issues, or simply think you’re better than the rest of us, feel free to abstain. Stimulants, while not necessary on this diet, definitely help.
Drink if you want. Though by no means necessary, and done to excess will fuck up your gains, drinking can actually help you deepen your levels of ketosis.(McDonald 115) Alcohol itself gets converted to ketones in the absence of dietary carbohydrates, which means that it won’t fuck up your diet beyond replacing the ketones your body would produce from the conversion of stored bodyfat. Thus, it can slow fat loss if done to excess, but will not fuck up your ketogenesis. This is, of course, assuming you stick to non-carbohydrate laden alcohol like vodka, gin, tequila, Everclear, etc. Additionally, Robb Wolff recommends you drink as early as possible to allow the alcohol to clear your system before bedtime to avoid completely shutting down GH release overnight. One of the best things you can consume, alcohol wise, on this diet is the disgusting old-timey gin and tonic, garnished with lime. The lime juice blunts insulin release while the tonic water acts as a “non-polar solvent” that delivers the alchol into your system faster.(Wolff 138) Wolff actually recommends the Crossfitters’ drink of choice, the NorCal Margarita, but it occurred to me as I wrote this that the drink of choice in the period of British Colonialism will do the job just as well, while additionally conferring resistance to malaria. Thus, feel free to show up to your local gin bar rocking a monocle and a comically undersized safari outfit to cover all of your bases. At the very least, you’ll annoy the holy fuck out of the hipsters drinking that vile bullshit, which makes it a victory no matter what.
Ito R, Hayen A. Opposing Roles of Nucleus Accumbens Core and Shell Dopamine in the Modulation of Limbic Information Processing.J Neuroscience. 2011 31(16):6001-6007 McDonald, Lyle. Rapid Fat Loss. McDonald, Lyle. Ketogenic Diet.
You might recall me posting the predecessor to this album a few months back, and while listening to this tonight i couldnt help but share it. While still remaining ambient black metal drizzled with atmosphere as before, II is to my ears an absolute evolution. Gloomy synths and hypnotic programmed drumming with dreamlike ambient passages, i dare say not many people can do this better. And what better way then to start off the album with the twenty five minute centerpiece "The Thorns that Guide my Warpath", and it simply must be heard and experienced.
What the fuck? When did this happen? Why? Why did i know absolutely NOTHING about this? Ok ill admit right now im a little drunk and antsy, waiting for a girl to come over so i can try and seduce her with my drunken rants about metal and my profound hatred of life on this planet, and maybe touch a boob or two in the process. But lets get back on track, i love Demoncy. One of the best black metal bands to ever fester on US soil and their first in 9 fucking years. Their 2003 release being the underrated Empire of the Fallen Angel was not received as well as their earlier work such as the now classic Joined in Darkness, and a string of great demos (especially Faustian Dawn).
I guess i was just posting this to say go buy the album, and im not fucking posting it because i dont post new albums. So many generic blogs out there that post every fucking new album and its way too easy to do that, and frankly it just makes music more and more disposable. Call me old but i remember the days when you could hardly sleep the night before a new a release you had been anticipating. You were at the record store even before they opened and ran in to grab whatever album you were seeking as if everyone was going to take it from you. Then you would get home and rip it open, and listen to it as you studied the artwork and every bit of the liner notes, but nowadays i feel a lot of that is gone and i hate it. Having said all that, if you are still reading you are either very patient or very bored. And if you do happen to frequent this blog i thank you for possibly being on the same page as my constantly bitching and moaning ass. Go buy the new Demoncy.
Aside from Napalm Death, Repulsion, Cretin and a few others, truth be told ive never been much of a grind fan. Maybe its the punk aesthetics that just dont do anything for me. But give it a death metal edge and it goes down so much smoother (for me at least) and thats what Anarchus do. Maybe its also because they are Mexican that interests me (many, many of my favorite bands hail from Mexico) and the fact that Scott Burns produced this at Morrisound (though you couldnt tell) also grabbed my attention per usual. But despite all that, this is a raw and straight for the throat vicious grind EP. Just fucking rabid, frothing at the mouth type aggression. I suppose i should mention it was released in 1990, and their first proper recording, now legendary.
Columbias Infernal have been active since 94, and quite active might i add, cranking out several full lengths, splits, EP's, you know the drill. This would be their most recent full length from 09, an album that i have tried so desperately to write off, yet continue to listen to. Thats what i do with my metal these days, assume everything is shit until i have given repeated listens and am convinced otherwise. This album falls under my category of "it has keyboards and you will probably just bitch about it" but i dunno, i cut my teeth on black metal of the symphonic vein and while i dont like ALL of it, i do like a lot of it. I also love Darkthrone, so I win.
Patria are a newer black metal band from Brazil, this being there newest full length from 2011 via the always mighty Drakkar productions. They have been damn persistent since their inception into our grim world of black metal, putting out just about a full length every year. Being from Brazil, they did not choose to go down the savage and barbaric path of many of their forefathers and even many of their "peers", but to go down the path of the early ninetees black metal, the norse path in particular.
Good to see that after the exhausted thrash revival, there are still a few newcomers with some substance. Its a fact that thrash has already reached its potential, and there isnt much originality left to be had, so re creating an atmosphere of the gods is what will impress. Diamond Plate from Illinois started in 2004, this is their debut EP from 2008 and the reason for its appearance here is that i do love thrash, and this is a good display of the kind that i have always tended to go for. Dont expect the wheel to be re invented as its not ever going to happen, just get ready to bang your head.
With the massive trend of bands playing the ancient style of death metal there are bound to be a few not jumping on that bandwagon. Dont get me wrong, i do enjoy many of those bands, but like everything nowadays it has become oversaturated. Sectu arent busying themselves playing Entombed songs and calling them their own, instead they opt for a more modern sounding approach. The production is excellent as is the musicianship, the songwriting is far from mediocre, and the closest comparison i can come up with is mid era morbid angel, which i personally love. There was a time when a band like Sectu would probably make more waves, sadly they will probably have to bust their asses to remain middle tier death metal.
