Introducing “Retrospectives”

I started this blog for a few reasons.

I wanted to get back into writing regularly. I’m not saying I’m great at it, but I enjoy the craft. There was a time when I put out MMA articles almost every day. I miss that. But that was when I was single, a full-time student and living with a flatmate. Now I’ve got a partner and I’m working full time with two kids. So I’ve had to ease myself back into it.

I also want to force myself to commit to doing something on a regular basis. I have a habit of putting off things that are for me. Just for pleasure. It’s really easy to get sucked into just doing the next thing then the next thing then the next thing. Purposefully resting is important. I also bail on things I enjoy doing and flit between multiple things but never finishing any of them and I want to break that.

I chose to write about music because I was stuck in a rut of listening to the virtually the same things I have for years. I’ve been listening to new releases each week for over a year now, and I’m finding my taste growing, and an appreciation for a much wider range of music growing. I’m also realising the sheer volume of good music I’ve missed completely in the last few decades that my newfound appreciation now allows me to enjoy.

So every few weeks I’ll be listening to and reviewing albums I have never heard or given enough attention to that are at least ten years old. This, like my blog (and the whole concept of blogging maybe?) is a selfish endeavour. At the same time, these albums are old but they are new to me, so hopefully people who find these reviews will also pick up music they have also never heard and expand their musical world just a little bit as a result.

This also ties in with writing about music and enjoying the craft of writing. With MMA it was easy because I had watched every UFC event, all of the Pride stuff, a bunch of Vale Tudo tournaments, every DREAM event, all of the later (lighter weight-focused) WEC events and most Strikeforce. In short, I had excellent domain knowledge.

With music, I have always been a little insular and close-minded. “I like what I like“. I’m now finding out that when I listen to something new, I know if I like it or not but I have no frame of reference from which to make comparisons that a reader would understand. I’m hoping that this series of posts will allow me to expand this.

I’ve got a few planned out based on recommendations and things I’ve been meaning to get to for a while. I’ll kick off next week with Dismantling Devotion by Daylight Dies. The next few will be Wildhoney by Tiamat and Life’s Trade by Samothrace. After that, I’m open to suggestions. If you have suggestions for heavy albums that are over ten years old and are not heavy or power metal then comment below or let me know on Twitter.