So, let’s talk about religion

This skirts perilously close to politics, unfortunately, something I’d prefer to avoid in this blog, but that’s primarily because certain people think they need to impose their religious viewpoints on the rest of us through political action.

Personally I don’t give a fuck what someone else believes.  Seriously.  Until they decide they’re going to start dictating to the rest of us.  The minute they start that, any sympathy for them I might feel goes right out the window.

My sentiment is this–any religion worth its salt boils down to the same basic premise.  Treat others with respect and dignity.  Or, even more succinctly–don’t be an asshole.  Everything else is window dressing.

Growing up I went to several different churches, bible study, and even church camp.  There are a lot of decent people who believe shit I just can’t wrap my mind around.  I’m cool with that as long as they don’t tell me what I should believe.  I don’t believe anything.  I have a few theories, but that’s all.  I believe we’re all connected–every single atom of ever single person was once part of a star.  We are all stardust.  It may sound New Agey, but it’s a simple truth.  I believe we are both matter and energy.  I believe we all have a responsibility to bring something positive to the table, no matter who we are or what our talents might be.

I believe anyone who is certain about why we’re here or what comes after death, whether its because of something they read in a book or because they have faith in nothing at all, is barking up the wrong tree.  No one knows, and I’m getting the impression we’re not supposed to know.  The musings of religious philosophers, so-called prophets, and atheists mean nothing to me.

I think our choices shape our world, but I don’t mean this in a metaphysical way.  I mean it as a simple statement of fact.  There are things beyond our control, but there are also many things well within our purview which can affect the quality of our lives and those around us.  We cannot insulate ourselves from some of the ills of the world, but we can avoid others simply by not choosing certain paths where those ills might reside.

We should be wary of those who might say that what befalls us is some sort of punishment from on high, or that we have chosen certain burdens in some metaphysical placement test beyond our current perception.  There are things we can control, and things we cannot.  Confusing the two is not only foolish, it can be downright dangerous.

I do not personally know of the existence of such things as ghosts, little green men from space, or the Loch Ness monster.  I may write about vampires and werewolves and other such things, but if such things actually exist, they have not made themselves known to me.  I have personally never seen anything that one might term “supernatural,” though I have experienced a few strange things that might be deemed “paranormal.”

Let’s just say I don’t believe in the supernatural.  All things that exist are part of the natural order of things, and therefore, by definition, not “supernatural,” even if they are things that might be outside our ordinary understanding.

So, as I said at the beginning, believe what you will.  But don’t expect to bring me around to your way of thinking.  My own perspective is the product of over four decades of observation and reason.  Leave me my otherness and I’ll return the favor.

So…Metallica has a new album out.

On the heels of the disgraceful “St. Anger” (I cannot express how much I hated this album), my expectations weren’t really that high.  Good thing, too.  A review I read suggested that it’s a de-evolution to a point closer to their roots and I can’t help but think this is a good thing.  But having sought out and listened to a few songs from the album, I have to say that while it’s definitely better than St. Anger (sounding somewhat better than a barn-full of wet, angry cats) it’s NOT anywhere near as good as early Metallica.  The intricate layering and spot-on timing is suspiciously absent.  It SOUNDS like they threw it together in the garage in a week’s time.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  It’s still a damn sight better than the hollering crap that gets sent up as “metal” these days, where the vocalist (I wouldn’t call them singers by any measure) grunts, howls, and roars through the microphone in a bellowing tone that I’ve despised since it first appeared on the scene as “Thrash” back in the eighties, but it’s nothing like the tight, powerful metallic symphonics of, say, “Master of Puppets.”

Metallica left a huge footprint in rock music, but now when the guys try to step back into it, they end up swallowed by it, four guys standing in a huge five-toed hole in the Earth rather than the giant they once were.

On the plus side, I found a video On-Demand by a band called Kamelot that simply kicks ass.  Great progressive metal with some intense visuals that just about blew my mind.  Okay, I’ll admit it.  I prefer progressive or symphonic metal.  Always have.  But I appreciated the power and majesty that was early Metallica.  This new stuff?  Not so much.

For a long time I chafed at the end of the whole eighties big hair movement and disliked Nirvana intensely.  I guess I’d hoped that the glam-metal party-boy crap would fall by the wayside and people would come to appreciate the more progressive stuff, but, let’s face it…prog rock and metal have always been a niche item and will probably always remain so.  The most popular bands during the hair-metal days were the party bands that sang about little more than drinking, fucking, and playing rock-n-roll.  About as deep as a layer of wax paper, and that’s how people liked it.  Then came Kurt Cobain who manifested himself as a demi-god of angst and despair and–hey!  That’s new!

Angst is overrated.  “Everything sucks” is no better, in my view than “everything’s great!”  I prefer my music with meaning, a preference I understand that the majority does not share.

I had to step back and take a new look at Nirvana when I heard an interview with the Wilson sisters talking about how mechanical it had gotten for them when all the producers tried to make them into little hair-metal clones and divorcing them from anything like the Zeppelinish folk-metal that had been their trademark in the early days of their career.  They WELCOMED the change.

I get it.  So while I might have wished it had gone a slightly different direction, I understand that it didn’t.  And I’m glad someone opened the trap that had held so many artists within its grasp.  The funny thing is that once one got past the grunge thing, the music of the nineties became quite interesting.  Some of the singer-songwriters that emerged from that era were truly talented and it’s almost a shame that they too were left in the dust as pop culture moved on.  Now the trend is emo or emo-inspired, which honestly does nothing for me.  Or, even worse, pop-punk–which is an oxymoron in itself.  Though I was never a huge fan of most original punk, at least I could respect its sincerity.  Pop-punk is a fucking satire of itself…Green Day notwithstanding.  Any band that could write and play “American Idiot” has my support.

Well, enough musical musings.  Back to reading and writing.