La Jolla

Baking CO.

A lways Est. 1984 F r e s h

nEVER fROZEN nO pRESERVATIVES

nO cHOLESTEROLnO sATURATED fAT

nEVER fROZEN nO pRESERVATIVES

nO cHOLESTEROLnO sATURATED fAT

La Jolla Baking Co.Est. 1984

La Jolla Baking Co.Est. 1984

Maya-Bloodthirsty, or just too smart for their own good

Inspiration begets Creation

Galar “Til Alle Heimsen Endar”Album Review & Others

Vol. IMMX

A

IndIcIaI.

coVer.

II.IndIcIa

III. IV. V.maYa - bLoodthIrStY, or juSt

too Smart For theIr oWn good

VI.the SorcerS Stone

VII.akIn magI & arcane WorkS

VIII.gaLLerY

aLL WorkS WordS & ImageS bY mIke dIaz For noIr ImagerY 2010

Maya b L o o d t h I r S t Y ,o r j u S t t o o S m a rt FortheIroWngood

n In

SPIr

Ing c

uLt

ur

e, a

bSo

LuteLY

. gen

IaL In

th

eIr

keen S

teLLa

r o

bSe

rVa

tIo

n, r

Igh

t

ag

aIn

. Con

sider

ed b

y sc

hola

rs a

nd sc

ient

ists a

s the

“G

reek

s of t

he A

mer

icas

”, 9

out

of

10 d

octo

rs w

ould

agr

ee. B

lood

thirs

ty, c

hild

-sac

rific

ing

expl

oite

rs o

f kno

wle

dge

or la

ck

ther

eof,

wai

t wha

t rea

lly?

You

wou

ldn’

t be

far

off.

Yeah

, fun

ny h

ow c

an th

e M

ayan

ca

n be

so c

ompl

etel

y im

mer

sed

in n

atur

al st

ates

of c

hang

e of

the

wor

lds a

mon

g th

em

and

yet s

till h

ave

a co

mpl

ete

“unc

ivili

zed”

sid

e th

at p

rom

pts

the

ques

tioni

ng o

f the

ir m

enta

l hea

lth.

Sa

nity

que

stion

ed, o

k, s

o po

ssib

ly th

ey c

ould

be

prom

pted

to b

e so

. Pro

mpt

ed b

y th

e fa

ct th

at

all t

hey

have

is th

emse

lves

to c

ontro

l. The

y ar

e at

the

mer

cy o

f the

ir en

viro

nmen

t and

per

cept

ions

. All

cultu

res,

exte

ndin

g to

bot

h en

ds o

f chr

onol

ogic

al s

pect

rum

are

at t

he m

ercy

of p

erce

ptio

n, in

form

atio

n ga

ther

ed. T

hese

peo

ple,

the

May

a, w

ere

only

con

cern

ed w

ith t

heir

surv

ival

and

if

all th

ey h

ad w

ere

thei

r ow

n bo

dies

to c

ontro

l, th

en th

ey w

ere

will

ing

to sac

rific

e bl

ood

if th

ey b

elie

ved

thei

r mai

ze w

ould

flo

urish

and

kee

p th

em fe

d fo

r th

e se

ason

.

They

also

kne

w w

hen

the

seas

ons s

tarte

d, o

n th

e da

y, fo

r the

ext

ent o

f the

ir liv

es a

nd fo

r tho

usan

ds

of y

ears

afte

r. So

may

be a

ll th

ese

thin

gs, y’

know

hum

an s

acrif

ice,

and

thei

r ob

sess

ion

with

the

nigh

t sk

y go

es h

and

in h

and.

The

y ha

d a

mor

bid

yet r

evea

ling

view

on

the

wor

lds

amon

g th

em, I

mea

n, b

elie

f in

the

wor

lds

they

see

m to

live

in. O

n Ear

th, th

ey li

ve, co

-hab

itate

, th

rive,

love

, an

d ex

perie

nce

the

hum

an d

ram

a.

The

y al

so b

elie

ved

in th

e un

derw

orld

, spi

ritua

lly, a

pla

ce th

at th

e so

ul g

oes

whe

n it

mig

rate

s fro

m o

ur

inha

bite

d cr

eatu

re o

n Ear

th. It’

s a

plac

e w

ith lev

els,

seem

ingl

y lik

e a

12 s

tep

(or

in t

he M

ayas

cas

e,

nine

-ste

p) p

rogr

am for

the

true

disc

over

y of

the

soul

. It s

eem

s th

at th

ere

mig

ht b

e so

met

hing

to th

is un

derw

orld

thin

g th

at w

e he

ar o

f all

over

the

wor

ld. A

lso, p

eopl

e ha

d th

e op

portu

nity

to g

o to

a s

ort

of s

anct

uary

, a h

eave

nly

plac

e fo

r th

e so

ul to

be

rew

arde

d by

. And

nig

ht is

whe

re th

ese

wor

lds

are

at

a cr

ossr

oads

. “The

Tre

e of

Life

” th

at e

xten

ds fr

om th

e un

derw

orld

(ro

ots)

, thr

ough

the

Ear

th (

trunk

),

and

bran

ches

in

the

Hea

vens

(ca

nopy

). It

is al

so r

egar

ded

that

the

tre

e th

at the

y sa

w w

as the

Milk

y W

ay g

alax

y. It

is w

here

all

thei

r obs

erva

tions

of t

he p

lane

ts an

d sta

rs (

save

for t

he S

un)

wer

e m

ade.

The

ni

ght t

ime

was

whe

re th

ey fe

lt th

at th

e so

ul w

as m

ost a

live.

As

keen

as

Cop

erni

cus,

and

Gal

ileo

wer

e,

the

May

a al

read

y kn

ew th

at w

e w

ere

on a

big

bal

l whi

zzin

g al

ong

with

som

e ot

hers

aro

und

anot

her

gian

t bal

l. The

ir en

tire

wor

ld, a

nd s

eque

nce

of e

vent

s de

pend

ed o

n w

hat t

hey

saw

whe

n th

ey lo

oked

in

to th

e ni

ght s

ky.

3

A III

nterconnectedneSS IS a StaPLe oF aLL maYa reLIgIon, and other Pre-chrIStIan cIVILIzatIonS. They believed

that the heavenly bodies, the souls stirring within us, the world under our feet were all part and parcel of the same machine. A machine we, in the modern world, lost contact with, one we built a robot and programmed it to keep our function within it automatic, allowing us to completely disavow all the special and amazing parts of being human. Technology has sent us into a world of digital information, analog is like the stone tablets archeologists seek to find the answers of our past. But, as bad as technology has steered us into the synthetic, it also seems to be taking us back to where we need to be. I mean, taking us to that place where we realize that the collective soul of man, the earth, and sky, are all connected.

I

4

the eSSentIaLS oF the maYa caLendrIc SYStem are baSed uPon a SYStem WhIch had been In common uSe throughout the regIon, datIng back to at LeaSt the 6th centurY bc. It ShareS manY aSPectS WIth caLendarS emPLoYed bY other earLIer meSoamerIcan cIVILIzatIonS, Such aS the zaPotec and oLmec, and contemPorarY or Later oneS Such aS the mIxtec and aztec caLendarS. aLthough the meSoamerIcan caLendar dId not orIgInate WIth the maYa, theIr SubSequent extenSIonS and reFInementS oF It Were the moSt SoPhIStIcated. aLong WIth thoSe oF the aztecS, the maYa caLendarS are the beSt-documented and moSt comPLeteLY underStood. - WIkIPedIaI V

here is a population that, either by mere trend or otherwise, feel that applying our energies to

understanding the worlds we inhabit, that we can find a harmony, albeit less bloody, that they found with their world. A cycle of 5128 years is the span of the Mayan calendar, it starts and ends on the winter solstice 2012, as we all hear ad nauseum. However, with all this technology this cycle of self discovery and rebirth as the sole objective of the Mayan calendar, our own knowledge of self and the world around us is becoming astounding. The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is currently looking for the proposed particle that gives matter mass. Now that’s a pretty neat thing to figure out, but how does a particle accelerator and the Mayan calendar have anything to do with each other? Hell, if I know, but they’re both crazy. Just kidding, it shows that we are all at the mercy of our perceptions, and the more keen and disciplined they are, the better we can, perhaps, understand our own fate.

T

5V

GALAR - Til Alle Heimsens Endara Somber PreLude.

quartet oF chamber ceLLoS WIth a WhImSIcaL meLodY, Surge LIke an ImPendIng SIgn oF moodS to

come. Then when the crescendo is about to hit, the guitars, drums, lift off as if a moment of euphoric spatial awareness. Taken to different times and places, you feel like you are standing upon the cliffs of the mighty fjords of Norway, arms stretched and feeling the midnight sun splash its cold rays on you. These black metal bands, Galar in this specific case, are getting really, really good at creating moments and sustaining their atmosphere within the context of distorted guitar, harsh and clean vocals, as we’ll go into further detail later, and unorthodox drumming patterns. Introductions being their bread and butter, they create a mood to place the rest of their album, as if setting the scene in a strange-yet-beautiful in pagan film. The first two song of their newest album, “Til Alle Heimens Endar” are possibly the finest and most inspiring and well-written 8:37 minutes I have heard in a long, long time. Not to discount the rest of the album, I just wouldn’t have space to write how truly thankful I am to have

A found this band. Not since Windir has a band so perfectly represented the cold epic landscape of the Nordic. As if screaming to Odin himself, one of the vocalists, seemingly conjures spirits to lift his soul from this earth using music as the vessel. The second vocalist, with a classical bassoon and piano background, demonstrates his keen ear for harmony and places a tapestry of voice to sooth and mind and help it understand where it is the musicians are placing the listener. All the while this section has the standard black metal riffage of high-mid double-plucking and a two-note beat on the drums. Somehow, this is one of the most lifting sections of the song. When one immerses themselves into the music as the musicians have, you can feel the elation that they felt when writing the entire album and song…especially the last lead guitar melody of that second song, fading for a whole minute is epic as epic can be. A dynamic play of mellow, melodic, harsh, fast, groovy is what makes “Til Alle Heimens Endar” an exciting album to close one’s ears and fly. The standard vocal style for black metal is a screaming style, not

The Sorcer’s Stone

6VI

5

so much death metal, cookie monster, but more like a rasping technique. Imagine, whispering really, really loud and forcing a lot of air through your throat but not really using your vocal chords. It’s supposed to sound like a white noise. Granted, it’s not really all that common in pop music…or is it? With new bands like The Used and other “Emo” bands, this vocal style is slowly coming into the collective ears. But, not that I am promoting this vocal style, I am merely explaining its diverse usage. It is not the harsh vocals that makes this band what it is. It is their usage of clean vocals. It is uncommon that a “Black Metal” band would use this much clean vocals. I’m happy to say that there are more BM (Black Metal, for short)bands using clean vocals, but not in the way that Galar is using them. It’s like a feature co-star, the movie wouldn’t be right if the other character didn’t have as big a part as they did. It is all so perfectly put together in the BM style of music that one would wonder where Galar has been this entire time!

&Akin Magi

Arcane Works

EluvitE

Folk ProgrEssivE BM

Windir MElodic EPic BM

AlcEst

AMBiEnt shoEgAzE BM

lEMuriA

Folk/PAgAin/viking MEtAl

MidWintEr

PAgAn Folk BM

EMPylvEr

Folk MEtAl

svArtsot

viking BM

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