I know what you're thinking…"third straight meme from the guy who hates memes"….either that or "why did big indian booty google search lead here…". I answer that first accusation as well as related complaints about why they're all about del Bosque with the same expressions, with a pithy request to pucker your lips on my posterior coz I'll do what I want on my blog. That being said, they're all about Spain at the Euro so defiant rebelliousness aside, there's cold hard logic to everything we do...much like Del Bosque....'s choice of dressing... This post is going to be flavored by the two major events in my life right now... thai green curry and this wonderful cucumber relish that seems to go with everything.... like seriously, who wuda thunk I could eat corn flakes with cucumber relish. So this post is going to be flavored with my deep insights from the new Be'lakor album for which I've been waiting 3 years, and my unfortunately under hyped Manali - Leh cycling expedition tomorow.
Let's start with Be'lakor - the most superior songwriting band in Progressive Death Metal today, itself the most superior musical genre. After Frail Tide and Stone's Reach effortlessly overthrew Orphaned Land's Mabool off my P.D.M throne, a seemingly impossible weight of expectation hung on the nebulous mass that was Of Breath and Bone. 1st Listen : Disappointed, too many off-harmonic flats/sharps making it less accessible. 5th Listen : Greatest P.D.M Album ever. 15th Listen : Not as sustainable as Stone's Reach. Deep Insights : Spain might have been disappointing against Italy, they had a less accessible formation, and a few out of place chords (Cesc, Alonso) putting a dampener on an otherwise beautiful graceful harmony. But I'm thinking they are going to grow on me over the length of this tournament. Unfortunately like with OBAB's 15th listen, overall I don't think they have the evergreen and insistent greatness of Euro '08 or WC '10 - burnout loss in the finals looks imminent.
Staying with Be'lakor, back when Stone's Reach was released, in an ill fated ill advised ill considered illidan Stormrage spate of wanting to spread the word of this vastly superior creation I had forced Countless Skies down quite a few people's throats (it's a song, despite my intense meditation and black magic occult training, I am yet not pagan adept master level 7 so can't manifest the forces of air into a throat-stuffable medium. But Lord Baphomet has assured me it won't be long now....). Unanimous response - music good, growling bad, how nice would it have been if it was the same music with a normal singing dude. Now while I try and respect opinions that differ from mine, even if they are wrong, myopic, and plain stupid... I wasn't sure how to react, apart from calling them wrong, myopic and plain stupid which I eventually did of course, in vastly more unpalatable language. I listen to clean vocal music and growl along, just so I can feel the vocals doing some justice to the rest of the music, to hear that people wish for the opposite is just weird, especially on high fidelity growling production examples like Be'lakor or Amon Amarth.
Deep Insight Application : There was quite a bit of focus on Spain's forward-less formation, and its vindication upon Cesc's goal, with almost respectable football sites applauding the efficacy of this false 9, and even continued it to the ridiculous extension that it was responsible for Torres' chances after the formation was changed, in having spread play and created spaces. There was big talk about this being a radical shift in formation mindset and teams with MF strength could actually emulate Spain, especially Italy who probably boast the most MF talent in Cassano could drop back as a false 9, and any of their benched MF's like Montolivo, Diamanti, and Nocerino have the talent to make it to the first team. That's Be'lakor with clean vocals. I want non-death metal with death vocals. Spain should play Italy's formation, they have really similar players in defense and MF anchors, and extremely similar problems with lack of quality wingers (in the combined Spain and Italy squad, only Navas can be considered a winger, and he is not quality.....). My ideal Spain team for the rest of the Euro : Ramos, Javi, Pique in 3 man D - Drop Alonso in MF and pivot Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta with Alba and Pedro providing width - Silva playing in the hole behind Torres. only difference from the Italy team that played Spain is Motta had quite a useless game, Marchisio was further back than ideal though he still played really well I thought, and Pirlo was both the most creative MF as well as their deepest lying - whereas Xavi would probably play like Motta did, floating around ahead of Busquets and saddling most of the creation. For the record, De Rossi had the most passes for Italy. from Centre Back. Roma. Word.
Deep insight from Leh cycling expedition, it's a difficult task...like winning the Euro. So yea I just wanted to bring up the expedition really.... due to said unfortunate under hyping so far... Leaving tomorrow, probably going to die of atrophied muscle sudden re-usage shock, but either way we return as changed men (amputated) - so will Spain. If they do win this Euro, there's really nothing more Xavi, Iniesta can do, sort of like if Barca had retained the UCL this season. If they lose the Euro, there's going to be a rethink on tiki-taka strategy, a tectonic shift to more direct football. Only way things probably don't change too radically is if they make the Finals against Germany and lose a blistering open end-end encounter predicated on highly technical possession football. Haven't seen that since Valencia-Barca 2-2 in the beginning of the season, so don't think anyone is going to succeed, and so even try, playing Spain at possession football. Thanks to a brilliantly scheduled trip, we start tomorrow and return after the Euro finishes, with no TV access in the middle. At least I miss out on the depressing pathos that is the end of a Spanish Era. even if they win.
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