In no particular order:

• Book: Kurt Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse Five" (1969)
  No idea what I was getting in for, loved it all. Fast paced, wild, scattered but careful. How a story like this manages to be good at all is bewildering. A story about surviving the fire bombing in Dresden in WWII but also about time travel and aliens and anything in between. I must try some more Vonnegut, never read anything else by him.
• Anime: To Your Eternity (S3) (2026)
  Continuing on this series, a little slow starting to this season and a serious shift in setting - previous seasons were historical/fantasy but this is set in modern times. Still good and gets going properly a few episodes in. It looks like there's still another month or so worth of it.
• Anime: Frieren (S2, EP4 > EP6) (2026)
  Same as last month, less episodes available. Still good. Story has been fairly week-to-week so far this season but has set up nicely in the last episode for something more ongoing.
• Album: Masters of Reality - "Pine / Cross Dover" (2009)
  A revisit to an album I know inside out this month. Rock done sideways. The songs all appear straightforward and are catchy, but are put together all weird and sparse in a way that comes apart but makes it all better on repeat listens. Just saw they have a new album last year that I missed on release too...
• Album: There - "There" (2026)
  Noise Rock. Rattling guitars, repeating patterns, hypnotic and heavy without being "heavy", loose jams but cohesive songs. Love what they have going on this even if it feels like it is over quite quickly. "Dirtbreather" is a beast.
• Album: Jesu - "Every Day I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came" (2013)
  Another album I know backwards, but haven't had on in years. One of my favourite Jesu releases. I am a fan of Jesu in general but a revisit to this puts it higher up the ranking list than before (though still not beating the s/t). Gorgerous music, post-metal, shoegaze, electronic. Varies between bleak and uplifting. Builds massive atmospheres and works careful structures out of what appears as repetition. Couldn't recommend it enough.
• Album: Otterans - "An Ark" (2026)
  More Otterans. A different sound to Hadean Copper but still excellent. Haunting lo-fi guitars, minimal but full sounding, ambient passages that just wash over you. Great for the headphones and a total shutdown. I love it.
• Album: Malevich - "Under A Gilded Sun" (2025)
  Stumbled across this knowing nothing about the band but was drawn in by the artwork and description. Post-Black/Post-Metal, Sludge-ish, generally quite broad in its approach but an exciting and well put together album. Plenty in here to dig into, and a lovely very live sounding production to go with it.
• Album: Converge - "Love Is Not Enough" (2026)
  What can I say, it's new Converge, I love Converge. It does exactly what you think it will do. More of the hardcore style and no particularly slow numbers on here but it's still great.
• Manga: Delicious in Dungeon (Vol 3) (2017)
  Ongoing re-read. Getting into the meat (wahey) of the story now. As good as these early volumes are, I am looking forward to the next couple more when it really digs into the full story.
• Anime: Laid-Back Camp (S1) (2018)
  A slice of life about girls going camping. It's great. Completely tame, nice art, upbeat. Chewing gum for the eyes. I like it and will definitely watch it all but I don't know how they have managed to pull three seasons out of the premise.
• Album: Weedpecker - "V" (2026)
  Possible Album of the Year shit here already and it is only February. I have the two lead tracks off this listened to to death since they went up. Full album is out since Friday and I have listened to it about six times the whole way through already. It is stoner/psychedelic rock but absolutely gorgeous, melodic, huge in scope, so much going on and it just opens up so much on repeat listens. Recommended.
• Album: Incendiary - "Thousand Mile Stare" (2017)
  Another I know well but didn't actually own until the other week. It's hardcore/metalcore. It is basically pit riffs and big swinging breakdowns on repeat, killer tones, the lads have a great hook in all the riffs and everything is full on and very satisfying on every spin.
• Album: Decapitated - "Organic Hallucinosis" (2006)
  I know and love two Decapitated albums and this is one of them. Tech death, clinical and blistering. It goes straight for the kill here, again just vicious riffs and a cruel production. Don't think they ever topped this but some of the Negation comes close. Had it since it came out but haven't listened to the whole thing in about a decade. It was on regularly this month.
• Manga: Chainsaw Man (Vol 18, 19) (2025)
  Ongoing read. Man makes a contract with a Chainsaw Devil, gains powers, things repeatedly just go to shit for him forever after really don't they? No different in these volumes. Ongoing misery for Denji and plenty of surprise horrors, and a few returning charachters for brief chapters.
• Live Gig: Ditz - 19/02/2026, Dolan's Kasbah
  Unexpected and unplanned gig, drove down for a look based on being told roughly what they were like. A nice surprise, sort of noise rock / alt rock / punk, great energy, great sound.