In which a guy old enough to know better talks about...stuff.
Including, but not necessarily limited to: Wrestling, Metal, Anime, Books, Comics, Cartoons, Stuff that pisses me off, AOR and songs with "Metal" in the title.
As you may or may not be aware, the Southern UK has been getting hammered by storms the last few days.
Guess where I live?
On Saturday morning I decided to wander down to the Common to see what it looked like and yep, there were now a couple of really, really big puddles. See below for the photos.
This is the first "puddle" next to the Southsea memorial and as you can see, it's a fair size.
To put this into context, for this water to get here, it would have to get up the shoreline, over a three - foot seawall and then across the pavement and a main road. How high were these bloody waves?
A bit further along we have the second "puddle"
Bear in mind this is what the flooding looked like in the morning after the storm. During the night it was apparently a lot wider and deeper. I do know that when I was there there were tidemarks of debris several meters away from the ponds themselves.
It was at this point that I finally realised that coming out without a coat was a bloody stupid idea because the freezing wind was getting downright unpleasant.
On my way home I did pause long enough to take a couple of bonus pics though.
This is the big eye mural just behind Osborne Road.
A closer look so you can see more detail. If anybody knows who this artist is, tell them I am a big fan.
And a smaller scale version closer to ground level.
In thought it was about time I did another Heavy Meal Cover Girls so here we go.
For those of you wondering what that's all about it is quite simple: I post a bunch of album covers that sort of share a theme and try to pretend I'm offering some sort of analysis rather than blatant fanservice.
It shouldn't surprise anybody that Metal bands love putting badass warriors on their album covers and quite a few of them will therefore be female. I have posted a lot of them and will almost certainly post a lot more. Now let's go find some girls who know how to swing a mean broadsword.
Devil Cross - This Mortal Coil (USA/Canada 2021)
There's more metal in her helmet than the rest of her armour combined.
I do like this cover though.
She looks determined to do the shambling undead horror some proper damage.
Devil Cross are old-school Heavy Metal.
Mirrorshield - Tales Of Eremoss 1: The Dragon Huntress (Australia 2021)
Elven barbarian with a rock on a stick vs a gigantic armoured reptile.
Doesn't seem like a fair fight to me but maybe it's magic rock.
Mirrorhield describe themselves as Folk/Power Metal
Septris - Legacy (Switzerland 2019)
I think this means our heroine won but since she's surrounded by fire and spearpoints, she isn't out of danger yet.
Hey, a women warrior actually wearing armour for a change. Rare.
Septris are also Power Metal - a genre which does love fantasy covers.
Sabïre -Gates Ajar EP (Australia 2019)
Whereas this young lady doesn't need armour because she has a Panther.
And a Leopard.
And a Cheetah.
Why she even bothers to carry a sword is beyond me.
I've noticed that this is the same artist as the Devil Cross cover up top and thus far I am very impressed by his work.
On a quick listen Sabire are fast but melodic 80s style metal.
See what you think
Reternity - Facing The Demon (Germany 2019)
And quite clearly planning to stab the demon in the fucking face once it gets a bit closer.
Clever girl.
Reternity apparently go in for big choruses
Note that all these covers are from the last few years.
This is a trope that's not going away any time soon.
Let's finish the same way we started: woman with a bit hat and a big sword.
Frozen Crown - Crowned in Frost (Italy 2019)
Warriors have an irresistible compunction to stand on top of rocks and pose.
Sometimes it gets them into trouble.
Sometimes it just makes them wish they'd worn some nice thick trousers.
