Here we are! Another monthly music post! I’ll be completely honest here, it was difficult to choose songs for August. There were quite a few that were relating to me on a personal level, and some that I was just jamming to the most in general.
However, once I picked them out, I realized they relate to the events of this month, they’re not big ones but more like ones I celebrate myself and things on my mind. August has always felt like the least eventful month of the year, and it’ll be interesting how it’ll change in the years to come.
Alright, on with the show!
5. Alice in Chains – Man in the Box
This song recently came back into my life the two times I went up to the cottage this summer. My mom would plug her iPod into the car and made me in charge of the playlist. She and I both loved this song, and it’s the only AIC song that I know. Whenever it plays during our commute, we turn it up and sing it really loud. It’s catchy, but whenever I try to picture something when listening to it, I picture something literally based off of the lyrics, and it’s disturbing. I want to get rid of that image. But this is a great song with a great riff. There was even a time I was out walking and heard it playing in someone’s backyard. I started to sing it and rock out briefly but I don’t think the person saw me. We would sing the chorus like “Feeee yee yee yeed my eyes, can you sew them shut? Jeeee yee yee yee sus Christ! Deny your maker.” Yeah, we really get into it and a few years back I used to listen to this more often, but being in the car with my mom and playing music we both like just brings back old songs that I love.
4. Sabaton – The Last Stand
You guessed it right, got to put a Sabaton song in here. The band came back into my life last summer and I loved them even more when I found out they were releasing a new album. The title song of that album was one I looked forward to hearing the most. What I heard first was the final seconds of the song that were played after the album trailer interviews and lyric videos from the first three singles that were released. Right away, I knew that the song was going to be epic. The moment I heard the chorus upon listening to the full song, I was already moving to the riff and melody and singing it by heart in no time. I feel it is the most catchy and melodic out of all the songs; one that everyone would belt out if it is played live. Lucky for me, I did get to hear it live when Sabaton returned here this April. Now, for a history lesson I’ve learned from this: It tells the story of 189 brave soldiers in the Swiss guard during the sacking of Rome in 1527. They gave their lives on the steps to St. Peters Basilica to ensure the pope escaped safely knowing they were on the brink of defeat. Only 42 of them survived. It’s always great when Sabaton helps me learn some history.
3. KISS – The Devil is Me
This month also marks Gene Simmons’ birthday, and on that day I thought back at the time I used to scream over him on stage. I recently realize that he didn’t influence me to improve myself as a person like Mr. Lordi did. Another phase confirmed. That being said, I still honour his birthday because he is still my favourite member of KISS. This was the second song by him that I came to love and now I love it more than Eat Your Heart Out. If you think about it, almost every Gene song is seductive. This is like the modern God of Thunder where the song is about the Demon himself instead of the Demon hoping to seduce someone. In interviews, Paul describes the song as about a conflict where you’re looking to put blame on someone, but the devil is inside each of us, so we are to blame as well. In this case the devil is Gene. The riff is so powerful in this song that it just makes me wonder “How in God’s name can anyone NOT enjoy this album!?” This is one of KISS’s strongest songs in the current stage of their career. It’s a shame how underrated it is.
2. Ramin Djawaldi – Light of the Seven
I made it through another season of Game of Thrones, and already I feel the demand coming up on me to write about what I did and didn’t like about the season. Last year it was difficult to choose, so I never wrote about the worst moments. Now that I think about it, I can’t believe I didn’t mention the destruction of the Great Sept of Baelor in that article. Everything that led up to it was intense: the foreshadowing, the setup, and of course, this music. The melody and the piano gets more suspenseful as you keep listening; like it has a feeling to it that you know something is wrong if you were in the Great Sept. At one moment Margaery tries to explain to the High Sparrow her suspicion of Cersei’s absence which made me think that a lot of people are going to die. If we remember the mentions of wildfire cache in previous episodes, it shouldn’t be a shock that there was wildfire about to go off underneath the Great Sept. I had to recap to understand how this was planned out that led the destruction, but this music suits the event perfectly: You know something isn’t right, and something that has been planned and mentioned for a while is about to occur: where more than one major character is going to die. After this event, we lost Mace, Margaery, and Loras Tyrell. I was just glad that the High Sparrow and his followers were killed. It had me asking, was Cersei trying to get rid of the Tyrells, the Sparrows, or both? People say Daenerys is becoming like her father these days: Bullshit, blowing up the Great Sept of Baelor not only destroyed those who Cersei wished to dispose of, but also countless innocent lives within the building and those in proximity to the explosion. This is now one of my favourite scores from the GOT soundtrack, and I hope to buy more from it soon.
1. Nightwish – Sleeping Sun
Finally, this is my number one for this month. A classic Nightwish song. Several years ago, my friend Brayden gifted me all of the albums I did not have, and coincidentally, they were all with Tarja. I remember having a marathon of listening through them and hardly was able to take in the songs I thought sounded great. I remembered once I heard this song and put it on my iPod believing I liked it, but for a long time it sat on there without being listened to. But recently, I was out for a walk in the early evening with my iPod on shuffle and this song began to play. As it did, I never truly appreciated how beautiful it was until now, and enchanting. I start to picture myself in a black dress, cape, and tiara singing this at nighttime in the forest of Lapland as the Northern Lights filled the sky. Am I doing that for Lordi or Nightwish? They are both Finnish bands I love dearly: a fantasy from a Nightwish song, but I’m dressed up like it’s a subtle tribute to Lordi! Not only did I pick this song because of it’s beautiful sound newly grown on me and what I picture, but also because how it makes me feel. August is a month that goes by so slowly and at times you don’t want it to end if you’re still in school. You wish that the month could last forever. It also could make you feel like there’s a certain day coming up and you’re not looking forward to it: The sun has gone down you wish that tomorrow will never come. That being said, part of me is also looking forward to going back, because come August and I’m often bored by then and want to be busy with something that keeps my anxiety low and helps me sleep better! Of course, let us not forget that this song also feels like the sign that winter is coming, when summer ends, the days get shorter, and the sun sets earlier. Lapland is North of the Arctic circle, so during the winter, the sun may not rise there for months. Yeah, this song is definitely about that: The winter in Lapland.
And those are the songs of this month, and it feels like August didn’t have much to offer. But again, there’s always going to be at least one month of the year where there isn’t much happening. Tomorrow I’m going to Fan Expo with my friends and I’m ready to once again bring justice as Frollo. Then there’s Epica on Sunday, and Megadeth with Scorpions on the 22nd. Katy Perry has been postponed, but thankfully, not cancelled. I won’t get to see her until November now, well…no matter, it still gives me plenty of time to plan my life accordingly!
I’ve got a lot of demands in September; aside from school-related I’ll want to write about the two concerts that month, Fan Expo, and another chapter of Judge’s Lady my new fanfiction project. Three guesses who it’s about. When all those things are taken care of, I’m hoping to write about Dawnguard and Dragonborn. I really mean it this time so bear with me!
For those of you going to Fan Expo tomorrow, keep an eye out for me.
👽Emily
Monsterlady's Diary 