Insomnium For Dummies

Yes, the wait is almost over! I'm just drooling over the thought of listening to the latest masterpiece by the gods of melodic death metal, Insomnium.
Their latest album "One for Sorrow" is out in less than two weeks!

Three years ago, around this time, I stumbled across 'The Elder' and within the first 10 seconds, I knew I was gonna love this band. There are very few bands that get your attention like that. But, Insomnium is not just any other band. Its a quartet of highly skilled musicians, who're very learned too. All of them have a graduate degree, if I'm not mistaken.

Two years ago, when I had just started grad school, Insomnium's fourth album 'Across the Dark' (ATD) came out. It was a solid album, with lots of keyboard pieces, but it lacked the soulfulness of their most acclaimed album 'Above the Weeping World'. The 10 minute epic tracks, with the most masterful songwriting, were missing in ATD. It had the best intro to an album in 'Equivalence' and a sorrowful ending with a simple, yet stunningly beautiful song 'Weighed down with Sorrow'.

Even you can have a good musical taste!

Being a caring soul who's always looking for a way to give back to humanity, I'm delighted to let you know that my latest book 'Insomnium for Dummies' is done! Its a step-by-step guide that teaches you how to fall in love with this gem of a band.

As a marketing stunt, I'm launching this oh-so-vital-book on the same day the internet might collapse, because of an event as big as the second coming of Jesus, the launch of the iPhone 5.





Here's the first chapter of the book, for free!

Chapter 1. The Ten Commandments


Yes, I'm talking to you. What the fuck have you been listening to?
No, wait. Don't even bother explaining it to me.

(i) Equivalence

ii) The Elder

That wasn't too harsh, was it? Oh, and yes, he growls. It IS a way of expression and takes some time getting used to.


iii) In the Grooves of Death

Mind-blowing? That was some pretty epic stuff, wasn't it? And, it wasn't even predictable! A bunch of soul-stirring melodies mixed with brutal passages.
Trust me, the lyrics are worth checking out.

iv) At the Gates of Sleep

Another 10 minute saga coming up to satiate your musical desires!


v) In the Halls of Awaiting

vi) Daughter of the Moon



This song should give you a sense of the lyrical prowess of the vocalist, Niilo Sevanen.

vii) Weighed down with Sorrow


This was the only song I listened to in my first flight journey from India to US.

Three more to go, things are gonna get pretty harsh from here.


viii) Drawn to Black

ix) Devoid of Caring

The drool-part begins at 3:05

x) Last Statement
Apt to the title, this is your last commandment.

So, there you have it! Please do buy the book, its for a good cause. All sales of the book go to my yearly metal concert tickets budget.

Social Games

Social games are big these days, with the primary platform being Facebook. Social gaming start-ups seem to be cropping up so often, and a good deal of them get a decent first round of funding from the venture capitalists.

I found it hard to accept social games in the beginning (towards the end of 2008), but then got pretty addicted to Mafia Wars. I still can't believe I played that game for over a month, when all it involved was clicking buttons. Then, there were those classic game clones of pacman, finding words on a grid, typing maniac which were fun purely because you were competing with your friends for the higher score.

That phase ended and I haven't touched a social game for a long time. I'm utterly disgusted by a lot of the *ville games, and the now cliche concept of a persistent world. The persistent world concept that originated in MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) made perfect sense in a social setting and is part and parcel of every big social game out there. Its the same shit, you click some buttons, gain experience points, level up, unlock more stuff with bonuses for a bigger social gaming circle.

I asked myself what kind of social game would I wanna play. Definitely not the current crop of games being churned out (with a lot of them focusing on the female market). I don't want to spend more than 5-10  minute bursts on these games, and I really want to play them with my close friends/family only, not random people on my friend list or the net. I'd think there are a huge number of Facebook users who wouldn't mind trying out these kinda games.

The only games that match my interests are poker and card games. There really should be something more.
I look at these category of games as stress busters, serving to lighten up your mood.
Crazy, wacky concepts in a multiplayer setting. I don't really see how monetization via  microtransactions/virtual goods fits in for this category - so it seems like it'd mainly have to be advertising which kinda sucks. But then, the simplicity of making these games, and not having big databases holding the state of the entire world seems worth it from a developer perspective.

Also, I love games that let the player generate content. Social games till now have completely neglected fan generated content! Simple and intuitive user interfaces that let you build something and share it with your friends.. a simple example would be a racing game that lets you build the race track. And may be, instead of just chatting with your friends, you invite them to race on your track.
If they like it, they rate it, and other players can check it out.. there are so many cool "social" game mechanics that have been neglected purely because of monetization interests.

What do you think?