DEATH // SENTENCE

In 2020 Eliza Clark's debut Boy Parts absolutely blew up. Now she's back and, folks, Penance is even better - twistier, deeper, overall more toothsome than its predecessor. We talk to Eliza about fanfic, true crime, the internet and the TV adaptation of Boy Parts that we've all been hoping for. Music by Agriculture.

Commissar of Enlightenment Graham Jones joins the boys to talk about his new book Red Enlightenment, the nature of spirituality, whether communism is a religion and whether we should do a spin-off podcast about riddles and tricks. Music by Radiant Knife and Baroness.

That's right, this time around, Eden, Langdon and Gareth kick off D//S's series of episodes on The Eternal Champion by covering the so-bad-it's-actually-good origin story in Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock! Swords clash, vampires (maybe) do their thing, and the English are mocked several times! Music played: Tanith - Snow Tiger https://tanithnyc.bandcamp.com/track/snow-tiger

This time around, Langdon has been colonized by The Mold™, and Eden revisits the issues of identity politics, tracking your consumption of art, and killing the spreadsheet inside our heads! Then, they're both colonized by The Wet™ while discussing Andrew F. Sullivan's excellent "The Marigold", a horror novel about the blood price we pay to cities, to capitalism, to each other, and, finally, tragically, to ourselves. Music played: Soulkeeper - Time Out of Mind https://soulkeepercult.bandcamp.com/track/time-out-of-mind Victory Over the Sun -The Gold of Having Nothing https://votsband.bandcamp.com/track/the-gold-of-having-nothing

Eden is joined by David Burke (https://twitter.com/metal_analysis), who's researching his PhD at Bath Spa University on the unifying thematics of heavy metal culture! The two discuss what makes something "so fucking metal, dude", the regressive and progressive politics of metal and excess, its ties to sword & sorcery and fantasy literature in general, Nietzsche, Georges Bataille and The Accursed Share, productive violence, and much more! Music played: Splendor by Nebulae Come Sweet https://nebulaecomesweet.bandcamp.com/track/splendor

A dreaded triumvirate episode looms on the horizon as Gareth, Langdon, and Eden dive into the brutal, incisive, and beautifully written "The Doloriad" by Missouri Williams! Under the guise of a post-apocalypse novel, Williams uses this brilliant book to critique hegemonic epistemology, explore topics like veganism and ableism, and above all deliver a host of dreadful, delightful, mysterious, and essential characters. Music by the incandescent Smoulder https://smoulder.bandcamp.com/album/violent-creed-of-vengeance And the efflorescent Lunar Chamber https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/shambhallic-vibrations

This time around, Eden is joined by Abraham Josephine “Josie” Riesman, NYT-bestselling authoress of True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, and much else besides. The two dive into Philip K. Dick's legacy, investigating his positions on Judaism, his religious exegesis, what we can learn from his writings about the current (and sorry) state of American culture, our perceptions of our world around us, transness, and more! Seriously, more.

Black metal? Isn't that the genre for nazi edgelords with all the Gene Simmons makeup? Well that's where you're wrong kiddo: Bill Peel has written the definitive guide to how it's surprisngly leftist. Music by Darkthrone and Altar of Plagues.

Langdon and Eden return once again to the vaulted halls of the genius-brain that was Brian Catling. This time around they cover Earwig, a cold and weird story filled with devilish revenge, body horror, killing your abusers, and cats. But first, the two take time to drive a holy stake through the hearts of fools who are trying to do transphobia, but from the left, as they discuss gender, materialism, and social relations. Music played: Trespasser - https://trespasserxvi.bandcamp.com/track/hol-kaustos-or-the-justification-and-affirmation-of-hierarchical-order-by-the-symbolism-of-immolations Crown Lands - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW9ufgf0ihI

Eden reads one page from Tolkien's Akallabêth (that's right, only one) and discusses themes of memory, myth, Platonism, religion, storytelling, Tolkien's Legendarium , politics, and more on this solo episode! Music played: vvilderness - Nemere, from the beautiful Path: https://vvilderness.bandcamp.com/track/nemere Artwork is Tar-Miriel by Tad Nasmith, please don't sue us the painting is very beautiful.