Entertainment Earth

12/29/2022

Horror Crush: Sharlene Martin


It's time for another induction into this site's hallowed section: Horror Crushes! This happens to be, more than likely, the last induction of 2022. And, she is the absolutely gorgeous Sharlene Martin (married name: Sharlene Ludwig)! One of my biggest crushes as a teen, her induction is a no-brainer.

Martin was born in Vancouver, Canada and is, currently, 69 years old. She only has a couple of acting gigs which began back in 1987, with a horror movie, actually called Possession (AKA Possession: Till Death Do Us Part). Honestly, I never heard, much less saw this movie, before today. Apparently, it's about some nut-job named Frankie, who has mommy issues. He stalks Madeleine (Martin, here using the name Melissa Martin) and starts hacking up girls along the way. It doesn't seem to be thought of very highly by fans or critics. But, hey, if you're a fan of it let me know why you like it, or even if you hate it, and, of course, tell me how Martin is in in the comments section below. 


Her next and last horror movie is the one we all know her best from:
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
. Now, I've shit on this movie plenty of times and with good reason. It is the worst entry, easily, in the entire franchise. It's stupid, takes forever to get to Manhattan (though most was actually shot in Canada), has barely any gore, is fill with godawful characters, and has a really shitty ending. But, it does have some gorgeous ladies in it, including another Horror Crush inductee, Kelly Hu, who plays Eva. She's a nice girl who just happens to be the bestie of Tamara (Martin), who isn't nice and is instead snotty and mean, but, also, hotter than hell. OK, I will say one more nice about this sequel. It's a better movie than Freddy's Dead, Halloween: Resurrection, or Halloween Ends, so it does have going for it as well. Oh and the doggy is adorable, and the title track rocks. See I managed to say more than one nice about it!



Like I said, Martin's character isn't likable, in the least bit, or actually has any real depth beyond being a bitch, But, she does a good enough job bringing her to life. And, honestly, she, and her beauty, are a major highlight in a movie that has so few.


Actually, her performance was burned into my thirteen, or so, year old brain. In particular, two scenes, the first being when she tries to seduce her teacher, to get a passing grade, by marking all the right parts on herself. And, holy shit does have an amazing body or what?!



This precedes her death which isn't exactly amazing. All it amounts to is Jason throwing her into a mirror and then stabbing her with a shard of glass. But, we get the requisite T&A, literally, from her. Which helps to elevate the scene. As a matter fact, she is in my top two or three hottest babes in the entire Friday the 13th franchise. Which is, honestly, saying a lot!



Like, I said that was her last horror role, though, she did appear in the amazing and definitive Friday the 13th documentary, Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. She still looked amazing and her appearance was one of many highlights of this docu for me. I am just hoping that one day she will do a horror convention, here in the east coast! Note: to my knowledge she has never done a horror con (or any other type), but one can always hope.

She might not have starred in the best genre films, but it's impossible to not crush on her. She clearly has breathtaking beauty and an unforgettable and sexy appearance in horror's longest running franchise. Thus, I feel it is a no-brainer (and, way overdue considering I mentioned possibly inducting her way back when I inducted Kelly Hu) that Sharlene Martin is now an official Horror Crush!

12/26/2022

The 20 Best Hard Rock and Metal Albums of 2022

Another great year of hard and heavy music is passing us by. With things finally getting to "normal" bands were actually able to tour and support their releases. As is usually the case, you'll see some classic bands ranked alongside of newer ones. So let's not waste any more and get to the list.

Honorable Mentions:
Dark Funeral- We Are the Apocalypse
Slipknot- The End, So Far
Kreator- Hate Uber Alles
Bad Omens- The Death of Peace of Mind

20. Meshuggah- Immutable- Tons of bands try to be like them, but hardly any can touch the shear crushing heaviness that Meshuggah deliver. Something they continue on this devastating album. 

19. Castrator- Defiled in Oblivion- The best new death metal band of the year has to go to this brutal and uncompromising all female act from New York. It kinda sucks that no one is talking about them, cause they need to be! One of the most underrated releases of the year, I probably listened to it more times than many established and more discussed death metal releases.
 

18. Shadow of Intent- Elegy- This has been a great year for deathcore, and one of the finest albums released is this mix of brutality, groove, and melody. It definitely defines Shadow of Intent as one of sub-genre's finest bands.

17. Ibaraki- Roshomon- Perhaps the year's most exciting and singularly identifiable releases is this long awaited side project by Trivium's Matt Heafy. Featuring appearances by Ishahn, Nergal of Behemoth, and Gerard Way of fucking My Chemical Romance this is an amazing mix of metalcore, black, and progressive metal. Also, "Ronin" is one of the year's best singles!

16. Dream Widow- Dream Widow- A death/ thrash/ groove metal album by Foo Fighters for their horror flick Studio 666, this might be the most year's most pleasant surprise. It's also heartbreaking to think that this the last recording to feature the late, great Taylor Hawkins.

15. The Warning- Error- The Warning is a group comprised of three sisters from Mexico, who gained popularity via playing Rock Band on YouTube and covering Metallica's "Enter Sandman" (which the band, themselves, loved). This is their make label debut LP and might just be the best one of the year. It's catchy, driving, and rocking played by three immensely talented, young ladies. Some of my favorite songs of the year are actually on here!

14. Infected Rain- Ecdysis- Mixing elements of metalcore, nu-metal, death metal and groove metal, this band from Moldova have been around for some time, but this is their finest release yet. Effortlessly catchy, groove filled, and heavy you'll wanna bang your head, mosh, and sing along to it. Frontwoman Lena Scissorhands has certified herself as one of my favorite singers. She has a great scream and a beautiful melodic voice. Ecdysis has some great songs with choruses that will stick in your head with just one listen. "Longing" is particularly awesome in that department! She even teams up with Heidi Shepard of Butcher Babies on the kick ass "The Realm of Chaos".

13. Fit for an Autopsy- Oh What the Future Holds- Fit for an Autopsy continue to deliver amazing album, after amazing album. But, this time they may have outdone themselves. Not only is this their best record yet, which is no mean feat, but one that will go down as a future deathcore classic. In a year with many great releases in this style of music, Oh What Future Holds stands as the finest one.

10. Megadeth- The Sick, the Dying... And the Dead!- In my humble opinion, this is Megadeth's best work since Endgame. This is especially true in terms of being a record I want to go back and listen to. Dystopia was quite good, but I rarely go back to it. Don't even get me started on utter shit like Thirteen and Super Collider. This album though, with a very timely title, is fast and angry. And, I actually want to and do go back to it, quite often, even. It stands as hands down the best thrash metal release by an old school band of this year. Plus, Mustaine teamed up with Ice motherfucking T on the awesome track "Night Stalkers"!


11. Goatwhore- Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven- One of my favorite bands, Goatwhore, show no sign of slowing down. In fact, their latest is fast, merciless, and evil, and yet they manage to once again write great hooks. This one will make your head fall right off from you banging it so fucking hard!

10. Watain- The Agony and the Ecstasy of Watain- My personal favorite black metal band are back with what is the best album of this subgenre that I have from this year. It's fast and evil with highly memorable tracks that latch on to you with one listening. Songs like "Serimosa" and "Black Cunt" are among the best extreme metal songs of 2022.

9. Dorothy- Gifts from the Holy Ghost- I first heard Dorothy when I caught her opening up for Halestorm a couple of years back. I was immediately caught by her amazing voice and hard rocking tunes. But, it wasn't till this ass kicker that I truly became a fan. One of the finest hard rock albums of the entire year, it features catchy and rocking tracks fronted by one of the best vocalists in the genre in the form of Dorothy Martin. Songs and lyrics trade between the inspiring and fun ("A Beautiful Life"), the fun, anthemic, and hard ("Black Sheep"), to the sexy and hard rocking ("Hurricane"). In fact, according to Spotify, Dorothy was my most listened artist this year with the absolutely amazing and dark "Rest in Peace" being my most listened to song. Which makes sense, cause it might just be the best single of 2022!

8. Lamb of God- Omens- Some of the more established acts like Slipknot and, more so, Machine Head and Rammstein, delivered either good or adequate enough releases, but nothing to call home about. However, Lamb of God truly delivered the fucking goods. Crunching and adrenaline charged, this release gets my vote for the record to kick ass to. It is certainly my favorite workout album of the year. Plus, "Omens" gets my vote for the best title track of 2022, or at the very least the one with my favorite chorus.

7. Venom Prison- Erebos- Welsh band Venom Prison have been doing the death metal since at least 2015. But, with Erebos, they have given us what I predict will be become their future classic. Featuring incredible musicianship and one of the best vocal performances in extreme metal in 2022, in the form of Larissa Stupar, this release stands as an absolute skull crusher. 

6. Municipal Waste- Electrified Brain- My pick for best, and definitely my most listened to, thrash metal album of 2022 is the latest from these crossover kings. It's fast as fuck and immensely fun to rock out to. Honestly, I think it is thier very best since their genre classic The Art of Partying.

5. Bloodhunter- Knowledge Was the Price- My pick for THE most severely underrated album of the year is this release from Spanish these meldo-death masters. Fronted by Diva Satanica, who also fronts one of my favorite bands in Nervosa, this is one of the most addictive extreme releases of 2022. But, with killer songs like "Sharpened Tongues Spitting Venom Inside", the title track, and "Medea's Guidance", how can it not be? Seriously, you guys are sleeping on this one! Get with the program and listen to it right now!
 

4. Halestorm- Back from the Dead- The best hard rock band of the modern era delivers, not surprisingly, the best hard rock record of 2022. Anthemic, catchy, badass, and enpowering, Lzzy and her bandmates give us ass kicking song after ass kicking song. From the title track to "Strange Girl" and pretty much every other song on here, give us tracks to sing along to and rock the fuck out!

3. Corpsegrinder- Corpsegrinder- From the moment I first heard this, the first from the solo project of the Cannibal Corpse vocalist, this was a strong contender for record of the year. In fact, it would've been had it not been for the next two coming in later in 2022. Regardless, this remains a badass and crushing record with fun and wonderfully violent lyrics. It also has one of the best (if not in fact THE best) and most awesome album covers of the year.

2. Bloodbath- Survival of the Sickest- As you can see death metal rules the top three positions of this list. And, this one came damn fucking close at topping it. In fact, if you say it does, I wouldn't disagree. Anyway, the point is this sick and devastating extreme metal from one of the true lords (I mean they are a supergroup that actually works awesomely) of this style. How can you not love heartwarming tracks like "Putrefying Corpse" (with Barney Greenway of Napalm Death, no less!), "Malignant Maggot Therapy", and "No God Before Me"?! Also, "Zombie Inferno" is one of the best album openers of 2022.

1. Revocation- Netherheaven- And, the year's very best release comes from a band that has become one of my favorites in the extreme metal landscape. Complex, brutal, and evil, Netherheaven continues to prove that Revocation are worthy of all the praise that they get. Which is great cause this was one of my most anticipated records of 2022, and it more than lived up to my expectations. 


What were your favorite hard rock and metal releases? Let me know in the comments section below? Also, let me know if there is anything you are looking forward to next year. 

Also also, want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! Finally, I wanna thank you for your continued support. These last two years have been very hard for me, thanks in large part to the passing of my doggy Zoey. As such, I am sorry for me making less often posts. Hopefully, 2023 will be better in all departments, for all of us.

12/24/2022

The Pretty Reckless Live at The Bowery Ballroom- NYC 12/13/22


On December 13. 2022, I attended the last of three sold-out nights of The Pretty Reckless (TPR) at The Bowery Ballroom in New York City. This was a smaller and more intimate shows that ones that they usually play. As they are a native NYC band, they wanted to play some for their hometown fans. This is a concert that TPR had tried to play multiple times since their excellent album Death by Rock N' Roll had come out back in 2021. But, between COVID and bunch of other shit, they had to cancel and reschedule a bunch of times. Until, they finally got what at first was two nights. With both of those sold-out, they added a third night, which in turn sold-out, as well! 

I actually missed it, due to a myriad of reasons. But, for once, in these last couple of years, shit turned in my favor, and I found a really good deal on a ticket for the Tuesday night show. And, so I went to see one of my personal favorite bands for a third time (fourth if you count the time I saw Taylor Momsen play a little acoustic show in Best Buy in Union Square, NY).



They got onstage a little bit after 9PM and rocked the house, hard! At first, lead signer Taylor Momsen came on with a biker stage. But, it didn't take long for her to reveal her sexy one piece dress. She looked gorgeous, but that goes without saying. Her voice sounded incredible. And, as she always does she ruled that stage. Energetic, charismatic, sexy, and badass, she is a true rock star. Backed up by her immensely talented bandmates, they played rocker after rocker. The audience was red hot and loved everything the band did. They left and came back for the encore, at which point Momsen donned a plaid shirt perfect to play their kick ass cover to Soundgarden's classic "Loud Love". By the time the show ended, we all had had a fucking killer time!

Setlist:
Death by Rock and Roll
Since You're Gone
Only Love Can Save Me Now
And So It Went
Make Me Wanna Die
Turning Gold
Sweet Things
Witches Burn
My Medicine
My Bones
Going to Hell
Heaven Knows
Take Me Down

Encore:
Loud Love (Soundgarden cover) 
Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
Fucked Up World














Did of you guys catch them on either of these three nights? Or did you catch them on another part of this tour? Let me know in the comments section below.

Also, I would like to wish you all a very Merry (and warm!) Christmas/ happy holidays, whatever it is you may celebrate!