Hear hear.  I'd swap T2 and Aliens (assuming that was in order of preference), but otherwise A+.

Heartless Bastards started out as a trio, but I don't think they qualify anymore.  Erica moved to Austin and prettied up the band, in the process adding a fourth member.  Certainly Arrow (the album on your best-of-2012 list) was recorded as a four-piece.

@avclub-4caf6aa0375b2499ebfe7e971b36eee3:disqus I fear I am showing my age when I say that my first association with Stark and bloody is The Dark Half, rather than Game of Thrones.  Guessing you meant the latter, though.

I dunno, I found the combat scenes pretty hard to follow.  Having zero sense of the nature of the kaiju or the robots, it was impossible to know when any given blow was important or not.  And the sheer contrivance necessarily to keep the combat interesting - why again are missiles ineffective but robot punches…

There were a few little hints of personality, but they didn't go anywhere.  The significant screen time for the two different shoes was kind of a nice touch, but I think they would have needed a third to make it clear it was more than merely coincidence.  I sort of hope del Toro's idiosyncrasies just got ironed out by…

Yeah I saw it last night and wow… it was terrible.  I'm surprised the reviews were as kind as they were.  Transformers-level incoherent giant robot combat, plus every dumb action movie cliche you can shake a stick at (needlessly concealed but hopelessly telegraphed personal drama!  macho posturing that magically…

I envy you discovering La Villa Strangiato for the first time.  That song is epic.  And the drum part is amazing; listen to how it builds during the first guitar solo.

I fully accept the nerd part.  Just as long as we're clear my enjoyment of the album is genuine and not a lie designed to establish my "credibility" with anyone.

Instrumentals:

IMAGES AROUND ME DON"T IDENTIFY INSIDE

I was big into the Rush group on Prodigy, back in the day.  Made some contributions to the "official Rush FAQ" over on syrinx.umd.edu, too.  Good times.

I actually just put it ahead of 2112.  Love the guitar sound on that album, and the longer pieces have a wider tonal palette than "2112" (not that I don't love 2112 too, of course).

It is my personal fantasy to see them do "The Fountain of Lamneth" live.  But the vocals on that album are REALLY high - I don't think Geddy could handle it anymore, unless they rewrote the melodies like they did for 2112.

Bah, you're right.  It's not one of my favorites, as you can see.  I really love the guitar sound on Caress of Steel, especially "The Necromancer."  I think the cheesy fantasy story aspect of it turns people off, but it's a fantastic piece of music, driving and melodic and gorgeous.

Man, you really hate the new stuff huh?  Snakes and Ladders didn't even make your list.

The drumming on Bravado is just extraordinary.

OK, the Kieslowski joke was inspired.

Except it's "tight as a tourniquet, dry as a funeral drum."  If we're gonna be correct, let's be CORRECT, dammit.

Except it's "tight as a tourniquet, dry as a funeral drum."  If we're gonna be correct, let's be CORRECT, dammit.

I predict an imminent collision of this app with HIPAA.  Enjoy it while you can.