A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

  • Musical Retrospective: Falconer and their Debut Album

    Now Playing: Upon the Grave of Guilt by Falconer I feel like it comes as no surprise at this point that I like Falconer. I’m a folk metal and power metal guy, I sing baritone, what better combination than Falconer for my particular musical tastes. For those unfamiliar, Falconer was a Swedish folk/power metal band…

  • Polyamory: Stigma and Other Social Judgements

    Now Playing: Herdchant by Elvenking Within the realm of what is considered socially standard, we are assigned a gender based on an observation of (and, in the case of some intersex children, surgery on) our external gonads, and from that, we are expected to fall in love and want to have sex with exactly one…

  • New Sabaton Album: Thoughts and Feelings

    Now Playing: Templars by Sabaton So it’s been a minute since we talked about Sabaton around here. Not because I dislike them or anything, I just had my attention on other topics. (And I’ve been a bit busy, but school will do that to a bitch.) Now, they dropped a new album in 2025, and…

  • 2025 in Music: The Year of Folk Metal

    Now Playing: Nu Delhi by Bloodywood So as folk metal fans, we got a little bit spoiled this year. A new Bloodywood album, a new Elvenking album and cover (not really a folk metal cover, since it’s a cover of Children of Bodom, but still), a new Tungsten single (they count as folk metal enough…

  • Hard Rock and Jokers: New Hell in the Club Album

    Now Playing: The Devil Won’t Forgive Me by Hell in the Club And just like that, we have another new album that dropped from an Italian metal band. Don’t you worry, we’ll talk about it. But first, “who the hell (heh) are these people?” you may be asking yourself. Fear not, for I am here…

  • Pagan Metal Drag? What?

    Now Playing: The Horned Ghost and the Sorcerer by Elvenking So in the realm of pagan art, we see music and visual arts (painting and crafting) all the time, but what about things like drag? Because drag is art, right? Yeah, it actually makes more sense than one would initially expect. If you can put…

  • So What Am I Doing Now?

    Now Playing: Rapture by Elvenking So it’s October, and the first month of the new academic year has come and gone here in Canada. But what does that mean for me? Well, a couple of things. I’m taking a year or so off from university (it’s complicated), and instead going to a college here in…

  • Symphonic Metal Be Like: My Thoughts on the New Blackbriar Album

    Now Playing: Bluebeard’s Chamber by Blackbriar Okay, so Blackbriar is alternative metal, but they have symphonic elements. They still count as symphonic metal. (I know Metal Archives calls them pop in their rules, but that’s bullshit as far as I’m concerned.) For those who aren’t familiar, Blackbriar is a symphonic alt/gothic metal band from the…

  • Deities and their Genders: Hard Mythic Truth, or Something More?

    Now Playing: The Ghosting by Elvenking So as a baseline, most pagans will generally agree that gender is weird. I mean, just look at the average pagan gathering, each one I’ve ever seen has been two berries short of a fruit basket. But what does that actually mean in terms of our experiences and UPGs…

  • Am I Truly Pagan Enough? Imposter Syndrome in Pagan Practice

    Now Playing: Heavy is the Crown of Bone by Crypt Sermon So recently, a friend of mine made a comment that I found interesting and, for better or worse, kind of relatable. The sentiment was that they don’t feel “pagan enough,” and that got me thinking: what does it really mean to be “pagan enough?”…