And the winner is…..

Posted on January 27, 2011 by hellboy

The cut off for the Fourtheye Flood Appeal has been and gone, and this morning with the help of a random number generator (at random.org which happened to pick #22), I selected the winner from 108 entries from a pool of 26 people in total. Without further ado, the winner appears to be a guy called Steve, who on further inspection seems to be Kittaan. Congratulations and I’ll be in touch in the next couple of days so you can tell me what size and style shirt you’d like!

In total we raised $541.66 for the Queensland Flood Appeal, and I shall be making that donation in the next couple of days! Thank to everyone for their support!

Queensland Flood Appeal Update

Posted on January 24, 2011 by hellboy

The reasons so far to he Queensland Flood Appeal has bee pretty awesome, with the total currently at $521.66 collected so far. In order to get the prize organised, I’m moving the cut off date for entries into the competition to midnight this Wednesday (which is about 5am Tuesday US Pacific time), which just happens to be Australia Day. At this time I will close the entries, and select the winner randomly from the draw. Once the winner is determined, I will get in touch with them via the email address provided with their donation to arrange a size, style and postal address. Note that the shirt will come from the Melbourne show, if you’re really keen on a shirt from the Adelaide show instead then I can do that, however there’s very little chance I’ll be able to get any autographs on that one…

So feel free to make any last minute donations – remember each $5 donated gets you one entry into the draw – good luck!

Some Fourtheye Updates…

Posted on July 21, 2010 by hellboy

I installed a couple of updates to Fourtheye this morning, mainly to do with comment formatting. You should notice now that both the Blog and Forum comment forms now have the ability to add code. In both areas bbCode is now supported (and recommended) however some html is allowed in both areas. For a quick guide on bbCode check here.

I’ve also tidied up the way Private Messaging works on the forum. Now rather than having to scroll all the way to the bottom, you can now see any outstanding messages (or terrible ones) at the top of the screen.

“What forum?” I hear you say! Well, there has been a forum on Fourtheye for a while now, and it’s getting along pretty well. If you’re interested in chatting with like-minded Tool fans, then head on over an say hi!

As the tour approaches…

Posted on June 16, 2010 by hellboy

The next Tool tour is almost upon us, and while some of us are still waiting to buy tickets, others deep in the south of the United States wait with baited breath for some kind of change to the setlist. What will they play? Will there be any cool lights? Will Justin have a new guitar strap? All these things and more we will find out shortly!

In celebration of this I have started a new Tour 2010 section in the forum. I will create a thread for each show, and those of you that have anything to contribute (setlists, reviews, photo’s, whatever) feel free to do so. Please refrain from creating new threads unless I’ve obviously missed a show, or it’s a topic tour related that really needs it’s own thread.

This new forum will be more heavily moderated than the others in Fourtheye, mainly to make sure that they stay on topic. Anyone willing to give me a hand in doing this, let me know (make sure you’re a Fourtheye regular though, I probably won’t consider making someone I don’t know a mod).

Also, I know some people are deliberately trying to avoid Tool forums so they don’t accidentally see setlists and such. In order to make Fourtheye a safe location for these readers, from this point forward set lists can only be posted in the new Tour 2010 section. Any found in comments of normal Fourtheye posts will be deleted.

Review: Unleashed – The Story of Tool

Posted on June 1, 2010 by hellboy

A couple of weeks ago I was out shopping with a gift voucher in hand, and while in a local book store I noticed a familiar figure on the bestsellers shelf. That familiar figure happened to be Maynard, and the book was Unleased – The Story of Tool. Seeing as Tom Clancy hasn’t released anything in a while, I decided to grab this and give it a shot.

The book covers the history of Tool starting from the background of the four founding members, right up until 2009. Essentially, the book is a collection of interviews and quotes from the band. The books itself seems to be written well enough, though I doubt it will win any prizes for literature.

Without focusing unduly on them, the book also discusses various Tool side projects, in particular A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and Maynard’s wine endeavours, as well as briefly covering the rest of the bands projects.

Overall, it’s not a bad book, I enjoyed the read despite the fact I’d probably read 90% of the quotes before at some point. There were a few inaccuracies I found, but nothing worth getting too upset about. For a Tool fan who knows everything about the band, it’s hard to really recommend the book. Also, much of what is in the book can be found on Google, in particular on the excellent Interviews section on Toolshed.

This book best suits someone who doesn’t know much about Tool, or is reasonably new to them, and would like to learn more about them that what is available on their Wikipedia page. For completists, I’d suggest it is a worthwhile item for your bookshelf, though I wouldn’t call it essential at all.

Send More Money!

Posted on April 30, 2010 by hellboy

With a Tool tour coming up, now is the perfect time to stick it to Tool and buy a very humorous Fourtheye shirt. Patterns available include the classic Lame Setlist shirt and the timeless Fuck Blair shirt, best worn at the Baked Potato on Monday nights. Check out the entire range here!

Here’s some pics for you to drool over:

Quick Note Regarding Blood Into Wine Reviews

Posted on February 19, 2010 by hellboy

There are quite a few Blood Into Wine reviews coming onto the net, and I expect this to increase over the next week or so. Rather than posting each review on Fourtheye, I’ve taken to linking them on the Fourtheye Twitter account. I also use twitter for other bits and pieces I decide aren’t quite worthy of their own post, so if you are a twitter user, then make sure you follow that account.

Downtime

Posted on February 10, 2010 by hellboy

Some of you may have noticed a couple of hours of downtime. Turns out what I thought was a routine WordPress upgrade didn’t go so smoothly! Oh well, all’s good now and sorry for any inconvenience.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Posted on January 3, 2010 by hellboy

It’s that time of the year again, where I bore you with the highlights of 2009, based on my shitty taste in things in general! Disagree with me? Did I miss something I really shouldn’t have? Let me know! Eventually we’ll have a survey so that we can all vote on this kind of stuff.

Music

The year was probably a reasonably quiet year for music I thought. According to my media player, I listened to 92 different albums released in 2009, and I managed to pick a top 10 out, but not a convincing one. None of the albums were amazing from beginning to end, and a couple had a few duds on them. Anyway, in no particular order:

Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers

This is a British band which I imagine doesn’t have a huge profile in the US. From what I understand, this album was written based on the journals kept by one of the members of the band who’s been missing (presumed dead) for a number of years now. Not that it really makes a difference, the album is more or less a straight up alternative rock album, and a good one at that. I’ve never been a huge Manic Street Preachers fan, but this album converted me, so it must be a good one…

Living Colour – The Chair In The Doorway

Probably my favorite album of 2009, which is a surprise, as I really didn’t like it after a couple of listens. I persisted though, and it paid off – rewarding me with one of the best rock albums of the year. Those fans of Living Colour’s older work shouldn’t expect to see a regression here – this album is a continuation of the path they took with Collideoscope. Having said that, where Collidoscope was a sprawling range of sounds and styles, TCITD is a far more cohesive experience, and much better for it.

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

Pearl Jam recordings have been hit and miss for a while now, and while Backspacer isn’t as good as their older work, it’s still probably the best they’ve done in 10 years or so. Get Some and Amongst The Waves are probably two of my favorite songs from this year.

Magrudergrind – Magrudergrind

Magrudergrind are probably one of the best grindcore bands around these days, and their self titled release this year is probably as good a grind album as I’ve heard in several years. Fans of the genre should definitely be checking this out.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Agorapocalypse

Brutal album, this drum machine propelled grind/metal band kicked serious ass with this album. Features some of the best female vocals I’ve ever heard – more women in metal need to take note of this album.

Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue

AIC’s comeback album was a good one, though while I wrote this list I though it was lucky to make the top 10. Sure it had some great tracks, but it also had a few songs I couldn’t stand. Overall, a good album though, and I hope to see these guys live sometime in the next year or so!

Zu – Carboniferous

Probably one of the surprises of the year for me. This band makes wierd metal influences jazz type songs, mainly instrumental (though there’s one track with Mike Patton). Dub Trio fans will probably enjoy this album.

Isis – Wavering Radiant

Isis are a band that have frustrated me over the years. Their albums I’ve found have been good in parts, but largely a little too longwinded for my liking. In 2009 they released Wavering Radiant, and for whatever reason I quite like it. I’m sure if I can put a finger on why I prefer it over their other work, but I do. Looking forward to seeing these guys at Soundwave in a couple of months.

Behold! The Monolith – Behold! The Monolith

Behold! The Monolith made last years list with an EP that they released.. The released a full length this year, and in no real surprise to me – it’s quite good. These guys do basically progressive stoner metal, and in my opinion are probably one of the most overlooked in the genre. Make sure you check them out.

Propagandhi – Supporting Caste

Propagandhi are probably my favorite punk band. This album follows on in the same direction as their last album, and while not being amazing, is a solid album, and probably one of the most listened too this year.

Honourable mentions

The following didn’t make this list, but are worth checking out:

Fistfuck – Rock n Roll Nightmare
Between The Buried And Me – The Great Misdirect
Clutch – Strange Cousins From The West
Converge – Axe To Fall
He Is Legend – It Hates You
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Nile – Those Whom The Gods Detest
Rammstein – Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da

No I didn’t forget Them Crooked Vultures – with the exception of two songs I thought it was quite boring.

Live

I didn’t see a massive amount of live music this year, something I hope to rectify in 2010. Highlights of the year were Alice In Chains at Soundwave 2009, Pearl Jam at Adelaide Oval, Propagandhi back in Oz for the first time in years, and The Who with my Dad.

2010 looks promising already, with Soundwave bringing Faith No More, Isis and Meshuggah, and Converge, Between The Buried and Me, Nile, Origin and Misery Signals touring early in the year.

Gaming

I play a whole stack of games, and I’d say I’m mainly a RPG and/or FPS player. My favorite game this year is probably a dead heat between Dragon Age and Torchlight. Both RPG games but in very different styles. Torchlight really caught me by surprise – it’s a great Diablo remake, and a game that has kept me coming back for weeks now. Dragon Age has been awesome as well though, it’s probably one of the better hard RPGs I’ve played in years.

As far as FPS games go, I enjoyed the single player Modern Warfare 2, despite it’s short length. Personally I think short FPS games are great (Portal is a great example), however I was extremely disappointed with MW2 contempt of the PC market, and the way it was over priced. Borderlands was great as well, though I found it a little repetitive. I need to play more of this in the new year though.

I play a fair few indie games, favorites this year include Spelunky, Mount & Blade, Armageddon Empires and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Spelunky is a platformer with an Indiana Jones type theme. It features randomly generated levels, and is probably one of the coolest and most fun platform games I’ve played in a while.

Mount & Blade is a action RPG where you play the role of an adventurer in a medieval world. Features horseback combat in an open world. A game I’ve been following for a few years now and it was nice to play this again as the completed version.

Armageddon Empires is a post-apocalyptic turn based strategy game. Well designed and good fun.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a very polished rogue-like, featuring proper tiles for those that don’t like using an ASCII interface. Fans of rogue-likes and those wanted to give this genre a try should definitely give this free game a download.

This year should be a good one for gaming – I’m already looking forward to Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Fallout Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Red Dead Redemption and probably more I can’t think of right now. Diablo 3 would be awesome, but I can’t see that coming out this year sadly…

2010

2010 is the start of a new decade, and hopefully one that should be fruitful for Tool fans. It seems likely that Tool will at lest start writing and recording this year, and there’s always a chance we may see a release late in the year, and possibly some tour dates. Of course there’s always talk of “Big Things” and such, hopefully some kind of DVD or video might make it’s way out there.

I’m sure Maynard will continue to work hard with Puscifer, though at the same time I hope after the tour next year he begins to change focus back to the band we really love. However far be it for me to try and tell the guys from Tool how to do things, they have delivered in the past despite long gaps between drinks and I’m expecting they’ll deliver again.

As far as Fourtheye goes, I hope to continue to make this a great site for all Tool fans to visit. I’m always open to suggestions on how to make things better, so don’t be shy – message me and let me know what you really think. Hopefully I can put a little more love into the technical side of Fourtheye in the next year.

For me, I’m starting a new job in 2010, starting tomorrow in fact. I don’t expect this will interfere with Fourtheye much, but if I’m a little quiet in the next few weeks then you’ll know why!

I hope all my readers have a great 2010, and thanks for taking the time to consume the site– Fourtheye is only ever as good as it’s readers!

Forum Update

Posted on November 29, 2009 by hellboy

Some of you have noticed that there is now an active community forming in the Fourtheye Forums. Many Toolarmy readers, craving for a desire to communicate, have taken up residence. However Fourtheye readers of all types are welcome to join in the fun.

A feature I have just added this evening (indeed this post is designed to test it!) if post synchronisation. In the News forum, you will find all the posts from the Fourtheye blog, and responses made to these posts will appear both in the forum, and on the blog. Just another way to allow you to read Fourtheye whatever way tickles your fancy. Don’t forget you can also access Fourtheye via RSS feeds and by Twitter. Fourtheye was originally designed as a way to allow readers to access Tool related info in a manner they saw fit, so I’m happy to offer these options, and welcome any suggestions from readers.

Happy reading!