I’m a video game addict and one of my all time favorite PC games was Diablo 2. So I was pleased to discover Hellgate: London, the latest offering from Flagship Studios, the makers of Diablo 2. To game involves killing lots of demons who’ve invaded London — building stats and upgrading equipment in the process. It seems to be a good formula. I’m hooked. [play also Submarine Zero: Ancient Adventure]

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When you’re a musician, people like to ask you who your influences are. If I were asked to choose only one, it would be the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. I generally tend to like a few specific pieces from each composer, but not their entire catalogue of work. Schnittke is the only exception. His music is very soulful and listenable on the surface, yet supremely complex upon closer examination. He incorporates ideas from pretty much every genre of music and does it with class and taste. [see also the part-operatic, part vaudeville performances of Coco Rosie]

A couple of years ago, I decided that I would try and hunt down some current fantasy novels. Little did I know how difficult it would be to find anything interesting, intelligent, or containing any literary merit. I read thousands of wasted pages. Eventually I stumbled upon a few works worth noting. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin is one of them. It’s very gritty and occasionally brutal, with tasteful allusions to the supernatural. [see also Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception]

Coroner was one of the best, and most under-appreciated, thrash metal bands of all time. A three-piece outfit from Switzerland with a relatively short life span (’87-’95), the band were technically proficient and experimental but always operated tastefully, adept at hopping between time signatures whilst keeping the groove throughout. [see also Finntroll]

The art of Camille Rose Garcia captures the spirit and essence of Halloween as a kid, the wonder of being young and discovering things mysterious and dark. [see also the artwork of Ray Caesar]

*You drag rusted-out refrigerators and bits of confetti home thinking you’ll ‘use them’ some day? You should sign up for our weekly newsletter*

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