7/20/2025

New song! A collaboration with fellow independent musician Evaleigh, Own the Unknown!

 

 

I'm proud to release an ultimate thrashterpiece of a song that's been in the works for about two years now! Even before releasing my first solo harmonic rock song, I've been writing a wide variety of different music, and one was this thrash song. I had this full song written on bass in 2023, but I was hearing it in my head with full metal band instrumentation, not only bass but guitar, vocals, drums. I reached out to one of my favorite fellow independent artists, guitarist/vocalist Evaleigh, for a collaboration and thankfully he was up to it and I'm really proud of both of us for how well it turned out. It was a real step out of my comfort zone reaching out to another artist, and my first time collaborating on a song with someone like this (outside sending my friend Windsock some bass samples to use here and there). I'm so glad I did and had a lot of fun working together, suggesting different things to add, sending recordings back and forth, and here's to the new independent creative renaissance that's been awakening these past few years!

My cover art for this song is also a huge milestone, it was the first time I've done inking and coloring simultaneously after my penciling (and first time I've used inks and color at all in an album cover for that matter!). I've been wondering for a while now how to retain the sketched quality and textures that I get from pencils into inks, and I learned that this is one way to do it! I really like how it turned out, especially the stark contrasts between lines and fire/water element. I was going for a German Expressionist style, but with the added colors it reminds me a bit of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints and the Icelandic illustrations of the Prose Edda. I've been really resonating with the fire and water elements lately, especially those beautiful teal blues like I used here. The balance between igniting the flame of your heart and riding the waves of your emotions and intuition and reaching into the unknown. To quote one of my original lyrics for the song "Like a viking sailing across the Northern seas, exploring lands unknown. A journey within, the seas of my soul".

Check out Evaleigh's music here or here

6/20/2025

Happy First Year Anniversary to the Release of My First EP, Flags & Arrowways!

 

Yesterday, June 19th, was the first anniversary of the release of my first EP, Flags & Arrowways. A huge step in my musical journey, and I'm still really proud and happy with each of those songs (cover of Underworld's Yeah Plan only available on Youtube/Odysee):

Youtube

Newgrounds

Odysee

In honor, I've just released two new versions of the songs Arrow on the Narrow and Stereo Compass (new version Stereo Quadrant). New riff variations, different tuning (AEGDF), and new cover art based on the MST3K short Assignment: Venezuela!

Arrow on the Narrow (Bag-O-in-Car-O Mix):

Newgrounds

Youtube

Stereo Quadrant:

Newgrounds

Youtube

What's your favorite song from the original EP, what's your favorite of the new recordings?

6/14/2025

Scandi-Merica #9 - Coily

 

In Old Norse culture, the years were split between Summer and Winter, but a certain cartoon sprite doesn't like that.

Like Scandi-Merica #7, this is another comic where you'll probably need to be a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 to get the main joke, as Coily the Spring Sprite is a reference to the short A Case of Spring Fever. The idea came to me as a good pairing joke with the seasons in viking age-Scandinavia being just separated into Summer and Winter. Svartalfheim is the land of the dark elves in the Eddas.

I was facing some indecision regarding the coloring of this comic, and you can see some of it through the dark/light purple color on Jarpr's shirt. For the most part I've kept a consistent color palette for each character, but I felt like mixing it up a bit. I initially visualized the royal blue for Ætta's dress, but in the first frame had went with a teal before trying the blue in the last frame and loving how it looked and went back to what I initially visualized. With Jarpr's shirt, I was going back and forth between the dark and light purple. I really like both, but ended up going with the light purple, but kept the darker purple as it could work as a shadow effect from the sun and I honestly love having both colors there.

All art, writing, inking, and coloring by me. 

View on Newgrounds

6/05/2025

New single, Song to Frigg!

New single, Song to Frigg! Listen on Youtube/Newgrounds

This is a song I've been working on since Mothers Day last year, and continued work the last couple months for this year's Mothers Day. The melody for this song came to me last year, which the 2024 version will come soon (as well as a song for Fathers Day). This new version from this year retains a similar progression, but different tuning and variation. This song is dedicated to my mom, the divine feminine, and the divine mother (be it Frigg/Freyja, Shakti/Parvati, Mary, Earth/Jorð or whatever goddess resonates) 

Frigg is the wife of the god Oðinn and mother of the god Baldr, and she's associated with motherhood, family, and homemaking. The key is a sacred symbol of her, as during the viking age, the wife was the keeper of all keys in a household. While its been long debated, I personally believe Frigg and the more well known Freyja to be two forms of the same goddess, similar to Parvati/Durga in Hinduism, with Freyja being the Durga to Frigg's Parvati. In the Eddas, both Frigg and Freyja are said to have a necklace that allows them to take form of a hawk/falcon. Freyja is married to the god Oð, who I believe to be another name for Oðinn (he has several names listed in the Eddas), as well as claiming half of Valhalla while Oðinn claims the other. 

The cover art is my drawing of Frigg on her throne, with a falcon/hawk on her shoulder, key necklace, cats by her feet (Freyja has two cats that pull her chariot), and holding the Odal (ᛟ) rune, which is both the letter "o" in the Elder Futhark alphabet (pre-viking age) and it means ancestral home.

5/31/2025

Evaleigh - Crush

 

Evaleigh

Crush

 (2023)

"Stand your ground now, stand your ground"

It's been quite a while since I've written a review, and it's also been a while since there's been a new album that I can just listen to it over and over and love it more and more. Evaleigh is a one-man musician who's been making chiptune-infused metal since at least 2015, but this album is the first I had heard of him, and it also drops the chiptune influence in favor of classic melodic death metal that reminds me a lot of early/mid 00's In Flames. With that said though, it's like no other death metal album I've heard, Evaleigh has a sound that's uniquely his. The vocals are either clean or raw, but always melodic. It's also probably the first time I've heard inspirational lyrics filled with self-empowerment, inner strength, and breaking chains in a musical style like this (With the exception of Death's last couple albums). They really speak to me as a fellow artist, and something metal's desperately needed as of late.

I don't exaggerate when I say this album explodes with pure passion, emotion, and creativity that you just won't get from an artist on a record label today, especially a mainstream metal one. The guitars have that aggressive chug, but at the same time are always singing the strings out with beautiful melodies. I went back and listened to his earlier albums which already have those unique standout guitar melodies, and also loved them, but the addition of vocals and the powerful lyrics on this album elevate the sound to a whole new level. His vocals at their rawest are melodic death metal at it's finest, and his cleans remind me of a mid-00's alt-metal quality. Vocalists like Benjamin Burnley (of Breaking Benjamin) and M. Shadows (of Avenged Sevenfold) come to mind. He sounds equally great with both, and the two styles contrast with each-other really well.

This is one of those albums that it's really hard for me to just listen to one song. I'm pretty sure I've thought "I'll just listen to this song, or these two" several times, and before I know it I listened to the whole album. Which is very easy with a length of 25 minutes and 8 songs, and it leaves me wanting more. So it's hard to pick a single standout, but I will say Flight is a particularly powerful album closer.

Keep crushing Evaleigh.

Welcome to the Iron Age.

Check out the album here: https://evaleigh.bandcamp.com/album/crush

Review first written in 2023. 

4/20/2025

Scandi-Merica #8 - Lights

 

Christmas lights and deep vibrant colors always create a warmth and loving energy to any space during any season, Gulr and Ætta know, but some people just don't get it and prefer to live in a black-and-white world. 

Longest Scandi-Merica strip so far (though there will be short story arcs stretching across a few strips in the future), and I got experimental with the frames here. I ended up drawing the Kiss Army member's legs lower than the first frame's border, and I liked how it stood out so went with it. Same with Ætta's right arm popping just out of the last frame, it's subtle, but I just love how it looks and it feels more expressive. Kind of reminded me of one of Roy Lichtenstein's humorous "Imperfect Painting" series after I finished it.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds

4/16/2025

New EP, Swans of Urð, out now!

 

 
 Listen to the full EP now on Youtube and the opening title track on Newgrounds (other songs to follow)
 
My new EP, Swans of Urð! Includes three different versions of the title track, and two versions of a B-side, Spooner Looner. The EP and song's title comes from the Norse stories. Urð is one of the Three Norns who inhabit the world tree Yggdrasil, three women deities involved with destiny/fate (relating to past/present/future or could also be a parallel to maiden/mother/crone) Urð represents past, and there's a well/pool there where two swans swim and where all other swans are descended from.

Swans of Urð's main harmonic melody first came to me back in 2023 while I was watching a beautiful swan couple from out my bedroom window, they frequented the lake throughout the year through both summers and winters. This song's been developing since then, and the first track I recorded this year and while centered around that similar melody, I added a bridge that references Rush's underrated suite The Fountain of Lamneth, which has really been resonating with me lately and the similar theme of water stood out. Included are two older versions of the song I recorded last year which I also love the sound of, these have a completely different bridge, which are softer and beautiful harmonies. Spooner Looner's main riff came to me this year, when I was playing around with the higher strings and then got a cool percussive element by hitting the lowest string muted. The two versions of this song also have different bridges, the second one, which I call Morning Dove Mix. This came to me when I was watching several Morning Doves outside my window and hearing their pretty calls, hence this second version have a lot more harmonics. The title came to me as I was thinking fondly of memories of Spooner, Wisconsin, hence the MST3K sample I put in between the two versions.

The cover art is my drawing of Urð and the two swans, and she's weaving rune shaped constellations and throwing them upwards towards the heavens. I've been really inspired by the Icelandic artwork from 18th century manuscripts of The Prose Edda with my cover artwork lately.