Defeat in the West

It is not uncommon to attribute Germany’s defeat in World War II to a few devastating decisions by Hitler; such as the invasion of Russia and the declaration of war against America. In Milton Shulman’s Defeat in the West (1947, Secker & Warburg, London), a broader scope of reasons for the Wehrmacht’s defeat are highlighted.

Top 5 metal albums 2017

This year I listened to a hell of a lot of new albums, but selecting the good ones was a challenge. There is such over-saturation in metal now, even in the bleakest and most obtuse sub-genres, so selecting  killer albums that stood out from the rest was a challenge. I’m not wholly confident in my picks but there were certainly albums that I listened to a lot more than others.

My thoughts on The Metamorphosis by Kafka (1915)

My first impression of The Metamorphosis is that it is a frustrating read building to a perceived resolution which never actually materializes and it left me disappointed and infuriated. The writing style itself is compelling and the absurd concept is intriguing, yet there are failures in both plot and character which ultimately break this reader’s confidence. It is difficult to shake the evocative images of the story from one’s mind and I could not consider the story to be a complete failure of literature. There appears to be no meaning to the story, seemingly by design, and while not every story must have a moral, those that do not at least follow some kind of traditional arc or have a strong theme will lack substance. The Metamorphosis has themes and it has character development to some extent (though not for the protagonist in my estimation), but it is, at least on first reading, lacking in meaning and altogether inconsequential. Perhaps this ultimately is the point of the story and the negative response that I had to the story is simply a natural reaction one has to nihilism.

Top 5 metal albums 2016

2016 was a great year for metal and a bunch of brilliant albums came out, probably. It might just be the fact that I paid closer attention to metal releases this year. Having said that, I’m sure there are lots of CDs which could have made my top 5 if I had had a chance to listen to them some more. I will add the honorable mentions to the bottom of the list.