The Good News, #10
Hello True Believers!
Welcome back to The Good News! We’ve got a show coming up! And a poster for it! Also tickets!
A nice thing to listen to this week:
Gloryhammer - Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards (2015)
I get the feeling more people might recommend the follow up to this record as your introduction to Gloryhammer, but I prefer the slightly less polished, fearless journey into the silliness that is power metal that this first(-ish) album represents. (Technically there’s one before this but it’s really not worth mentioning. Also anything after that next one isn’t worth mentioning either haha). This being the first power metal record in The Good News, I feel like I might have to explain myself a little here. My journey into enjoying music at all basically started with listening to a lot of TNBM, and only softened from there. By my 20’s I’d moved on beyond my metal roots, but in the last 4 or 5 years, I dipped back in to see what I’d missed, and found that while I’m largely still disinterested in the majority of the genre and sub genres, power metal struck a chord (;)). It’s so silly! It’s so triumphant! It can be so inventive! (I’m not above cookie cutter power metal, I’ll say). if you’ve never given it a shot, maybe give this a spin and see how you feel. Maybe follow it up with Frozen Crown’s Steel and Gold, the song my daughter and I listen to to get pumped up for hockey practice!
Terrific thing to watch:
Heated Rivalry (2025)
Speaking of hockey…
Somehow not everyone has heard of this very silly little show about two star crossed, conflicted, athletic lovers. If you’re in that camp, listen up: this smutty little romp does queer drama right, by my book. It doesn’t imagine a world any better than the one we’ve got, not pulling any punches when it comes to being gay and in the limelight, in a sport that is notoriously homophobic, in the 2020’s. But it doesn’t have a doom and gloom, tragic bent that so many other similar stories seem convinced we need to hear every time it’s not a boy and girl kissing. There are ups, and downs, like any good story, of course, but come for the hype, stay for the charm, and you’ll be rewarded with a uniquely enchanting little tale.
A good read:
Wolf in White Van - John Darnielle (2014)
Is it cheating to feature a book by my favorite musician? I vote no :). I recently had a DnD buddy of mine mention this old thing he’s thinking of bringing back in some way: “play by post”. After earnestly explaining it to us, and us patiently waiting until we could reveal that we were all in fact aware of Play by Post, I was able to do my show-and-tell thing that happens with regularity when hanging out with folks, and show him this book. Wolf in White Van is a fucking SAD book. But it’s also unlike anything I’d ever read (not hard for me haha), and truly shook me to my core. It’s not mean spirited or gory or manipulative, it’s just a brutal story about loneliness. If you need a good cry, and appreciate a bit of a mystery, dig in. But like all things Darnielle, guard your heart.
And finally, our weekly pic of the pup, Apollo:
Be nice to each other, and we'll see you next week!
Best,
Luke