Ice Cold Passion

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Books: House of Hollow ~ Krystal Sutherland

Books: Mexican Gothic ~ Silvia Moreno - Garcia

Swinging Saturdays #106: Black Hearts

Swinging Saturdays #105: The Apocalypse is coming

Swinging Saturdays #104: Hauntingly beautiful music videos

Swinging Saturdays #103: I Am A Mainstream Metal Girl

When ever metal comes up in conversation and I get asked what kind of metal do you listen to I always go for the safest answer: mainstream metal.

Why, for 1 with that I won't insult anyone, and

two, it makes it clear that I am not the biggest metal head ever lived. My relation with especially death and trash metal is usually something along the lines of this: yes I appreciate the music until the singer/grunter/vocalist opens his or her mouth and then its gone. I am a lover of vocals, and are very picky of what I like or don't like.

A third reason why I named it mainstream metal is that it ends the discussion about if it is really a metal band quite easily. It shows that I am not a well know around the metal scene as they might think.

Anyways, I do watch my fair share of metal bands from behind the bar, because well I enjoy the audience that comes to these concerts. They are always so nice, and I can poor beer the entire evening. I enjoy those evenings. Let's get into these mainstream metal bands I like.

Papa Roach ~ Between Angels & Insects

In all honesty, I have never really considered this to be a metal band, but it shows up in many a list of metal, so I am only adding this because of this. If I would have gone with scars for this top 10 I think you might have thought it would be out of place. I actually have a line of the Scars lyrics tattood on my arm, although only a preson that can read runes will be able to read it. I used to listen to Papa Roach a lot when I was younger.

Cradle of Filth ~ Nymphetamine Fix

This is definitely a bit heavier, can I say this is kind of a guilty pleasure two me? I don't know that is how it feels to me. I have a lot of good memories of Cradle of Filth, it is still such an intresting band, very peculiar (male) vocals, one I do appreciate for some strange reason.

Amorphis ~ The Bee

They were the support act to Nightwish I was so surprised I loved there performance it was very impressive. If you like it give them some love will you?

Marilyn Manson ~ The Beautiful People

Oke, Oke, I don't stand for all the things he does, all the accusations nor his relation. However I do enjoy his music, how controversial this may seem. It just has this, thing which atrracks me to it. It is definitly the most talked about artist on this entire list, mostly in the negative.

Disturbed ~ Down With The Sickness

Well if you have been following my blog over the last year, you might have seen him preform his cover of "The Sound of Silence". I still get goose bumps when I hear the song. This remains on of my favorites of his normal reportiore.

Slipknot ~ Duality

This is what every band want, the audience screaming the words to your song back to you. What an awesome video is this. I find that I cannot so easily explain why I like all of these metal bands, sorry for giving you only short commentary today, at least you can spend less time reading and more time listening to these awesome bands.

Korn ~ Thoughtless

And we are back at Rock Am Ring with yet another artist, this time being Korn. They seems to have a lot of good video's floating around on Youtube. Not that I am complaining. I am a huge fan of Korn, from all the bands in this top 10 I think I own the most Korn albums in comparison to the rest. Second runner up would be System of a Down, which will be coming your way shortly as well. I have lived this song, even once done a drawning about this song. I wish that I had picked it up from school, but sadly it might be lost now forever.

System of A Down ~ Aerials

Now were getting to the stuff I listen to more often. I know all the songs of Toxicity by heart. Aerials is definitely one of my favorites. I am not a huge fan of the music video they made for Aerials, it is downright creepy. Again this is a vocal favorite. I am feeling a bit repetetive today sorry for that.

Rammstein ~ Sonne

From our neighbouring country comes one of the biggest names in the metal world. Rammstein. German is kind of a cool language to go with metal, everything in german sounds so much angrier.

Metallica ~ Enter Sandman

Ending this list with certainly not the least, you might have wondered the entire time, will she add a metallica song? Well yes of course I will. I think this is their most iconic song. They have had so many successes of the years, but this one stands out to me.

Are you a mainstream metal boy or girl? Let me know in the comments!
Want to host Swing Saturdays next week?

Send me an email: icecoldpassions@gmail.com.

I would love to hear what kind of music you like!

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Swinging Saturdays #102: Beautiful Dance videos

I can't dance for shit, but I love to see people dance, I watched all the Step Up movies, Dirty Dancing, Save The Last Dance.They are all awesome, I think the allure is to me that I can't even phantom doing something like they do, my body is not made to hold a rythm. Anyways here are some of the most beautiful dance video's I have found over the years.

Muse ~ Dead Inside

You might think well something like Muse is impossible to dance to, rock is not somehting you associate with dancing, and yet the choreography in this video is really amazing. I hope you enjoy it as well.

My Chemical Romance ~ Helena

I don't know I have always loved this video, it might just be the beautiful church but also the beautiful costumes and dancers.

Ed Sheeran ~ Thinking Out Loud

Here is the starting point of artists that dance their own music video's and of course these are found in the realm of pop songs. I fell so much in love with this video the first time I have watched it, it is so mesmerizing so beautiful. I don't even have words for it. Just enjoy oke?

Lady Gaga ~ Bad Romance

Can do beautiful dance video's without adding one of my favorite pop singers. In showmansship she rivals Micheal Jackson. I absolutely love her strange videos, beautiful weird costumes and the time and effort that went into every detail.

Michael Jackson ~ Thriller

You would not think I would leave out the king of pop would you? ofcourse we are ending this list with the one and only master of dance, Michael Jackson! Thriller is an amazing work of art, no doubt about that. And many took inspiration from this music video, through out the years. You will also find some of the elements in the above video from Lady Gaga. This video has aged very well, and even in 2021 it is one of the most impressive video's I have ever seen.

Let me know what you thought of this top 5, and if I should re-attempt something like this again. I know there are many more beautiful dance videos that I haven't mentioned, would you like to see a part 2 to this one? Maybe do a deep dive in various styles of dancing something like that? I would love to know what your thoughts are, feel free to leave a comment here or on my socials.

Want to host Swing Saturdays next week?

Send me an email: icecoldpassions@gmail.com.

I would love to hear what kind of music you like!

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Swinging Saturdays #101 Band I hope to see live soonish

So I know that in Belgium, the UK and other parts of Europe festivals and live music events have proceeded, the Netherlands however, it still in this freaking Covid mess and in all honesty I am getting sick and tired of it.

The music/event industry is finally uniting and prostesting however the media is like, nooooo we are not going to shed any light on that. In the meantime this weekend there is a large event here in the Netherlands, one of the only wants that is allowed, with full stands, no social distancing, festival camping etc. It doesn't seem fair that non of the music festival are allowed and yet this event can pass without restrictions. Yes it bothers me and we do need to talk about it, as for the last 2 years I, we, the music industry, the event industry held it tongue but now it is time to speak up.

If you enjoy going to concerts and events and you are dutch, speak up, if you are a proffesional in the industry that has been on it's ass for 2 years speak up! Lets put an end to this double standard of our Dutch government. Only if we do this together something will happen, we might be heard. We can make them listen. Let us have festivals again. There is another protest coming, it is on the 11th of September #unmuteus. I hope it will be succesfull and the right people are finally going to listen. Because don't we all want to go to festivals again?

So what brought on this episode, well I think Martijn was certainly one of the triggers. When I got home on Friday he was really sad and grumpy, he had seen the footage of the F1, and how it is not in accordance with the social distancing rules, nor was everybody sitting on chairs like is demanded. It breaks my heart that this is allowed and all festivals are being cancelled. And then there is the other reason, I want to start seeing live music again, which is what we are going to talk about it today. There is a long list of bands I still have never seen or I am in desperate need of, because they are the party. I miss going to festivals, concerts, the sweating body's moving to the same rithm of the music, the people, the stories, the bands. Please bring them back to us. I hate having being bound to a chair, not being able to move and even worst not being able to sing along. The entire concept was ruined for me, I need to be able to move, make noise, drink a beer. It has been too long.

Anyways, let's get into which bands I want to see live, when I get the chance.

Foo Fighters ~ Pretender

I have never seen the Foo Fighters live, it is high on my lists of bands I want to see, but the thing is, this is one of those bands that only hit the big venues like Ziggo Dome, like the Amsterdam Arena. And this is not what I want,this is something I want to watch on a festival, were I will be able to see, were if I want to, will be able to be in the front line. I am not sure if I ever told you but I am only 1.5m generally 80 % of the public at concerts is a lot taller then me, which brings with it the problem of being able to see the band. That is also why enjoy festivals, it is much easier to find a place from were you can enjoy the concert with proper view.

Barns Courtney ~ Sinners

"Fire" was my most listened to song on Spotify in 2020. It is no surprise I would like to experience this live some day. If he every makes it across the pond then I will be fist in line for tickets. I think I have let you listen to Fire before, so here is a different song. This is Sinners.

Rammstein ~ Sonne

I have seen the Rammstein cover band, they play in Hedon, Zwolle once a year, and allthough it is a cover band, something I am a bit conflicted on sometimes. This band in all honest was really good, they are called "Feuerengel" I believe. So now that I have seen there show, I need to see the real deal, the biggest band (in my book) of Germany. It will be one of the most impressive things I will ever see I think.

Franz Ferdinand ~ No You Girls

My love for this band is never ending, I have such a fan for a long time, but never managed to get my hands on any concert tickets. They still sell out every show in the Netherlands, and don't play a lot of festivals, so yeah it is still on the list, and I want to see them, right now would be good, in my back yard? Can we do that? lol. Anyways I just love their sound, eventhough I sometimes forget, but when ever I hear their music, it makes me feel so good.

Blues Pills ~ Little Boy Preacher

My go to singalong band, had to be here of course, because found last year, when there wasn't anything going on, they are not yet confirmed for any thing close by but I am hoping. Please come play in the Netherlands, pretty please!

The Killers ~ Runaway Horses

I think my relation with this band is at least as long as with the music of Franz Ferdinand. Once upon a time, I fell in love with "Mr. Brightside". Then I bought "Hot Fuss" and fell in love with "All These Things I Have Done". A couple of weeks ago I watched together with Martijn the making of the song "When We Were Young". It is from a series on Netflix, about how the songs were made. It is very interesting if you like music and want to learn more about the process of making it. THe one with Hurt from Nine Inch Nails was also very interesting. Anyways when driving to work the other day I heard this new song from The Killers on the radio, it is not the Killers I fell in love with all these year ago, as this is more of a ballad then a rock song. I thought it was really good, so here the new one, what do you think? I think it is beautiful.

Dropkick Murphys ~ Rose Tattoo

Let's bring the party shall we? This would be hard without a mosh pit. This is always on top of the life list, because, is is always a joy, always a party, always a mosh pit. And it got me on stage twice! Yes I have seen the "Afas Live" from the stage. It is lovely, and seems twice as big from the stages point of view! Next time I hope to see them at a festival, that would be fun.

DeWolff ~ Bona Fide

I have mede it a ahbit to go seem DeWollf play live at least once a year, but in all honesty it more often 2 or more that I see them. This is just a band that works live. It is one of those bands were I say go see them live instead of buying an album. Go see them live first. You will be hooked after the your first live performance. Also they make wonderful vinyl, if you are into that. I already have tickets to go see them, but I think this will be in 2022. I am really hoping the venues can openup fully in october, but it is still unsure at this moment.

Devil Electric ~ lady Velvet

Amazing voice, in a male filled part of the genre, called stoner. This is so good, and I am very curious to see this band live.

The Death South ~ In Hell I'll Be In Good Company

This is just hilarious, and its good, also love the music video.

I hope you enjoyed this top 10. What is on your To-Watch-list?
Let me know in the comments!

Want to host Swing Saturdays next week?

Send me an email: icecoldpassions@gmail.com.

I would love to hear what kind of music you like!

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Swinging Saturdays #100: Spotify ABC ~ H

High time for a new Spotify ABC, this week starring, H.

So let's see what we have here: Ha Ha Tonka, Häxxan, Heideroosjes, HIM, Hot Hot Heat, The Hot Sprockets, The Howlin, Hozier, Hurts.

Oh my so many favorites here! However am I going to choose only 5 of these? This is going to be hard, there is a lot of nostalgic bands here for me like HIM, Hot Hot Heat and the Heideroosjes. These are bands I loved for years and years. There is also a mystery here something I don't remember why I am following so I have to give that one a listen. Let's do this!

Häxxan ~ no. 1991

Häxxan sounds like some kind of kick as metal band in my ears, I can tell you, it is definitely not a metal band. It is more a indie rock band. The kind of band I like, it kind of reminds me of Shame, Mozes and The First Born, and Indian Askin. I like their sounds and I remember when I first found them I listened to them for days. It was my new favorite of the moment.

Hurts ~ Somebody

I haven't talked about Hurts for the longest time. I was a big fan of the songs Wonderful Life, Silver Lining, which are both from their 2011 album "Hapiness". I haven't actually listened to anything new yet so I decided to do just that before I wrote this Swinging Saturdays, and I must say I like their new work. Or newish since the newsest I could find was released in 2020. They have taken a bit of a different road with these new ones, it is a bit more cheerful. The album I was just talking about is a little dramatic and sometime a little depressing. So I am going with a newer song, Somebody. If you know Hurts, let me know what you think of this.

Heidenroosjes ~ I'm Not Deaf (I'm Just Ignoring You)

I just bought myself a beautiful album by the Heideroosjes. They are Dutch punk band and they have been arround since the early 90's. The mainly sing in Dutch, but they have also released a couple of albums in English as well. The album I have gotten is a combination of Dutch and English songs, it is a re-release of their first album, on limited edition yellow vinyl. Me and Martijn went shopping last week and I gotten 4 limited edition vinyls in this round and spend way too much money, but hey you only live once right? So yeah the Heideroosjes, what song to pick? Let's go with something I know from the album I just bought, which is I'm Not Deaf (I'm Just Ignoring You). I hope you enjoy.

The Howlin' ~ This Road

So this is a suprise I am not sure how I found this, who it came to be in my Spotify list but, I kind of like it. It sound pretty good! Good thing I am doing this Spotify ABC or else I would have forgotten about it completely!

Hozier (ft. Karen Cowley) ~ In A Week

We are ending this list with one of my favorite singer-songwriters out there, yes of course I am talking about Hozier, his music is just so damn good. I can just lie on the couch with my eyes closed being swept away by his voice. It is dreamy, deep, dark and just what I sometimes want to hear. This is just what I mean the whole setting of the video, perfect!

I hope you enjoyed this top 5 Do you have any suggestion for me?
Let me know in the comments!

Want to host Swing Saturdays next week?

Send me an email: icecoldpassions@gmail.com.

I would love to hear what kind of music you like!

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Swinging Saturdays #99: European Championships ~ The Quarter Finals in music

So we are down to the quarterfinals! I thought it would be fun to do a top 8 today, with all the countries that made it into the quarter finals! I thought it would have been I will be sharing 1 song of an artist out of each country, I am not sure how this will go, as I might have to do some research for some of the countries. So lets get into this!

Italy: Måneskin ~ Zitti E Bueni

This will be a first on my blog, I am most definitely not the biggest fan of the Eurovision song festival. Most of the songs are not for me, and usually the songs they pick for our Dutch artist to preform are bad, does any one remember Birds from Anouk? Anyone, it was so bad. Any ways, this I think is actually a great song, very original, lots of guitars, yes please can we have a winnner like this every year, please? Thank you. Sorry Duncan this is more my style.

Denmark: Volbeat ~ For Evigt

I thought I didn't know any bands from Denmark. I was very wrong, almost every week I get confronted with this band.. Because, my sister is a big fan, and well we have a company together, so yeah it gets played at the office. I like this band, but it is not my go to band, I have my favorites for example Sad Man's Tongue and I really do enjoy this song. Only just found out thought that the entire chorus is in Danish... Yeah that is kind of my issue with the singer, I don't always know what he is singing. I love this live version, also like the art from the album btw.

Czech Republic: Airfare ~ Sorry babe

I don't want to talk about the match against the Netherlands OKE..(being overdramatic) Oke, well let's move on, I know 0 music from the Czech Republic, so I did some research and found this band that sounds a bit like Franz Ferdinand but then a bit different. I like this song so this is what we are going with. If you are from the Czech Republic and you have some other great suggestions, leave it in the comments! I will definitely check it out!

Belgium: Bazart ~ Telkens Als Je Gaat

I know, I know, unfortunetly the red devils did not hold up against Italy yesterday, but hey we are discussing the quarter finalists here. Bazart is one of my favorite bands from our neighbouring countries, this just released yesterday on Youtube, so it must be a new song. So yeah, I just check they just released a new album, it is called Onderweg, which reminds of a Dutch song with the same name, from the artist Abel, but that is beside the point. This is a very interesting band to keep your eye on, their music is amazing.

Urkaine: Stoned Jesus ~ I Am The Mountain

So I was talking about doing this top 8 today at work this week and our trainee send me a text now you need to find a song for Ukraine as well as I told him that I didn't know any music from the Chzech Republic. The thing is though I do know bands from the Urkaine. One of Martijn's favorite stoner bands is from the Ukraine, and also one of the symphonic metal bands I listen to is from the Ukraine. So it kind of was an easy one for me. And I am going with Stoned Jesus because of that epic vocals in this song. I just wanted to have an excuse to use this song actually. This song is around 14 minutes but trust me it is worth your time.

England: Arctic Monkeys ~ R U Mine?

From Sheffield England, comes a band I am a huge fan of but I am not sure if I ever used their songs on my blog. Why not? I don't know honestly, but hey now we have a great excuse to do so. R U Mine is by far my favourite, but I also love I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor.

Switserland: Coilguns ~ Earthians

So here is a surprise, I know 0 music from Switserland, not one single thing. It was a bit of a challenge to find anything interesting coming from this country. This band is not a hundred percent my cup of tea, but it was the most interesting band I could find. Their music is pretty expirimental, and ranges from metal screams to mellow rocksongs, and everything in between. This song actually to me sound more like something Martijn would listen to, so Stoner. I think he would appreciate this song. Man this was a hard search.If you know any good other music coming from Switserland please let me know in the comments.

Spain: Las Ketchup ~ The Ketchup Song

I honestly thought I could come up with something different for Spain, but the thing is, all the Spanish language songs that I know, are either from South America or in case of Manu Chao France. So this was a lot harder then expected, this was definitely a hit in the Netherlands, it was a number 1 in the charts for a couple of weeks here. I know it is kind of a funny song but I do appreciated. My other option would have been Penelope Cruz with Volver, from the movie with the same name. It is an authentic Spanish song, and if you would like to watch something foreign langauge Volver is a great movie. It is kind of strange in a way as well but that is oke.

This turned out to be much much harder to do then I anticipated, honestly I thought it would have been easy peasy. If you have any suggestions for music from all the countries mentions feel free to leave a comment, I am always on the lookout for new music so I will definitely check it out.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
Want to host Swing Saturdays next week?

Send me an email: icecoldpassions@gmail.com.

I would love to hear what kind of music you like!

Pagina's

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Monday, October 25, 2021

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Papa Roach ~ Between Angels & Insects

Cradle of Filth ~ Nymphetamine Fix

Amorphis ~ The Bee

Marilyn Manson ~ The Beautiful People

Disturbed ~ Down With The Sickness

Slipknot ~ Duality

Korn ~ Thoughtless

System of A Down ~ Aerials

Rammstein ~ Sonne

Metallica ~ Enter Sandman

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Muse ~ Dead Inside

My Chemical Romance ~ Helena

Ed Sheeran ~ Thinking Out Loud

Lady Gaga ~ Bad Romance

Michael Jackson ~ Thriller

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Foo Fighters ~ Pretender

Barns Courtney ~ Sinners

Rammstein ~ Sonne

Franz Ferdinand ~ No You Girls

Blues Pills ~ Little Boy Preacher

The Killers ~ Runaway Horses

Dropkick Murphys ~ Rose Tattoo

DeWolff ~ Bona Fide

Devil Electric ~ lady Velvet

The Death South ~ In Hell I'll Be In Good Company

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Häxxan ~ no. 1991

Hurts ~ Somebody

Heidenroosjes ~ I'm Not Deaf (I'm Just Ignoring You)

The Howlin' ~ This Road

Hozier (ft. Karen Cowley) ~ In A Week

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Italy: Måneskin ~ Zitti E Bueni

Denmark: Volbeat ~ For Evigt

Czech Republic: Airfare ~ Sorry babe

Belgium: Bazart ~ Telkens Als Je Gaat

Urkaine: Stoned Jesus ~ I Am The Mountain

England: Arctic Monkeys ~ R U Mine?

Switserland: Coilguns ~ Earthians

Spain: Las Ketchup ~ The Ketchup Song