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More goodness from Thrash’s B-Team. Death Angel were a group of teenaged, Fillipino  cousins who decided that being in a band was much more fun than going to school.  Eventually label politics forced a quicky name change to D.A. with the release of their brilliant third album (Act III) and band squabbling caused a break up (just because you share a grandmama with the lead singer doesn’t mean you like him).  After a stint of half the band performing as the more funk driven The Organization/The Organization S.F., Death Angel reformed and has put out two most excellent albums (The Art of Dying and Killing Season, both of which can be found here). Here for your metal loving pleasure…

Death Angel – Thicker Than Blood
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I work right about where Atlanta ends and rural Georgia begins.  The cool part about this is at lunch I can hop in my car and look around for stuff to shoot.  Came across this old house with a barn and stuff in back (and a view over the tops of the clouds out front).

I’ve always had a weird relationship with BMX, both as a rider and as a fan. I mean, I liked watching BMX videos, until all of the videos became about brakeless street riding. And I liked checking out industry news, until that became like the same thing over and over and over again. Eventually BMX became like the last season of Airwolf, you know after they shitcanned Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine and replaced them with Dick van Dyke’s son and a bunch of people with mullets. Not only did the long lost St. John (“Sinjin”) Hawke show up to replace the much more interesting Stringfellow, but production values went to shit with them apparently taping large portions of the show using commercial grade camcorders and…

What, too geeky? Off the point?

Well, hell, anyway. BMX has lost some of its luster for me, as a fan. Which leaves the part where I’m a participant. I finally figured that part out. Y’see, I went out to Settles Bridge with Steve on Saturday to get back on the horse as it were. I hadn’t touched my bike except to move it out the way since it got cold. And while I’ve been informed that this doesn’t count, since I don’t ride with the appropriate people, or at the appropriate events to satisfy the judges of acceptable BMX behavior (I hold grudges, folks, it’s a personal failing, I know) *I* enjoyed it.

Which is kind of the thing that I had to figure out.  You see, I don’t really look forward to riding.  I mean, every so often I get an itch to ride and I ride and I try to ride often enough that it becomes a habit/routine, because it really is good for me.  But it’s not like, say, playing guitar. I think about playing guitar all of the time.  I know that I love playing guitar.  Even after jacking my wrist I’ve played guitar until it just hurt too bad to keep going on.

I’ve gone to a skatepark, taken one good slam and packed my bags and went home.  Riding a bike is just not that serious to me.  However, it is fun for exactly how long I do it.  I never look forward to it, but I enjoy it while I’m doing it.  Which is kind of weird, but the most accurate way I can describe it.  So, now that I’m back on the horse I will, undoubtedly feel all “ugh” while I’m packing up the car and I’ll be tired and sore when I’m done.  but I’ll have a big smile on my face while I’m doing the thing.

And, y’know, I’m cool with that.

Byzantine is a technical metal band from West Virgina, excuse me, were a technical metal band from West Virginia.  They released three albums and a video that were just plain awesome.  Right around the time that they decided to stop worshiping Messhuggah so much, they also all managed to knock up their wimminfolk (well, 3/4 of them did) and realized that being in an obscure, though critically loved, heavy metal band may not be the best way to provide for children.  So, the pretty much released their last album and broke up simultaneously (oh, also their label kept screwing them over on a release date).

But, since they didn’t break up over “creative differences” or “we f’ing hate each other,” they’re free to do things like reunite for shows around the hometown.  Which they did.  Which is awesome.

This is what the Honda Accord looks like in the rest of the world:

You may know it in America as Acura’s entry level sedan, the TSX.  The cheapest TSX you can  buy costs more than the highest trim level Accord and even if you pile on the options the TSX keeps a not inconsiderable lead in pricing.  Oh yeah, the American Accord looks like this:

Which is to say, “ugly,” although I will admit that the coupe is kinda hot.

But ignoring all of that, the Euros get the Accord wagon

And while Honda has said that they will bring this over as a TSX model right now our choices are the Accord Crosstour:

Kill it with Fire

The proper response to seeing a Crosstour in public is to gather a torches and pitchforks wielding mob.

Of course if you’d prefer to spend more money on your ugly there’s always the Acura ZDX:

(Artist's Impression)

A car so ugly that The Mrs. believes that it cannot be photographed.  It is also stupid in a way that only a mid-sized SUV that you can’t fit four adults into without beheading two of them can be.

These tortured exercises in design exist because Americans hate wagons.  Because we am dumb.

Despite her corny stage name, DJ Rap has been my future wife since 1996 or so.  I should probably give that up now, given that I have an actual, current wife…

Long time readers of this site (which I think includes, uh, Sean and that’s about it) know that I’m constantly in search of the perfect car with which I can haul around 3 dogs or a bicycle at extra legal speeds in curves.  Recently I’ve been on the hunt for a BMW 535 Touring, which are as rare as hen’s teeth.  In part because the two wheel drive 535 wagon only made it for one year before being dropped for all wheel drive only in part because America hates station wagons.  Preferring their station wagons to have the packaging inefficiencies, poor fuel economy and crap handling of an SUV (but not having the advantages of an SUV like off road ability or towing capacity). Low sales mean that you’re not going to find one on the used market and if you do, it’ll go for far more than the comparable (and uglier) sedan.

But I’ve said all of this before.

But now, BMW’s unleashed a new 5 Series Touring and it’s a looker.

Like all post Bangle BMWs, removing the overly busy butt makes it flow so much better.  And the bigger nose isn’t bad, either

But that’s neither here nor there, because we probably won’t be getting the 5 Series Touring.  We’ve already gotten the 5 Series GT…

…which I believe is actually named as an abomination in the Old Testament. None of the practicality of a proper wagon and all of the ugly of the X6.

Awesome.

And no amount of AC Schnitzering makes it better.

My eyes! MY EYES!!!!!!!!!

America is Dumb.

X-Games Vert circa 1999

So, Jay Miron announced that he’s sold the company that bears his name and is officially done with BMX.  And while some out there will be all, “BMX is the best thing ever in the history of ever and you can’t stop riding because then you’re a sellout and lame and I hate you,” but then these people are stupid.  When you’re an adult you have to look at your life and put away childish things and Jay’s decided BMX is one of those things, he doesn’t really owe it anything.

We’ll always have video…

Jay Miron BMX video

StorminNorman | MySpace Video

[Pic via S. Parker Flicks' Photostream]

While Metallica benefits from the lowered expectations of their previous three albums sucking beyond belief.  Slayer puts out record after record of, well, Slayer. Megadeth finally managing to put out a legitimately good album…right after I stopped caring and Anthrax revolving door singers themselves into irrelevance lovers of the old thrash bands don’t have much to look forward to.

But then the B-team stepped up. Original second generation also-rans Testament has managed to quietly hone their death metal influenced classic thrash (classic thrash?) into a blunt instrument to beat the crap out of you at lunch time on Wednesday.  Enjoy the video, then buy The Formation of Damnation (which has been in my car all week).  You should’ve bought it two years ago, but you didn’t, so do it now.