Great riffs but where are the songs?

Advantages: Some beautiful riffs and enjoyable chugging doom sections, solid if overpolished production
Disadvantages: Low on innovation, feels devoid of any real passion

...The Finns are pretty good when it comes to miserable metal. They get a hell of a lot of long, dark nights and had the highest suicide rate in Europe last time I checked, so maybe this isnt all that suprising. Finnish band Swallow The Sun are a one of the flagship bands of Firebox Records, a label that specialises in just the kind of slick, modern gothic doom that Swallow The Sun play. 'The Morning Never Came' is a very polished listen, with plenty of catchy doom riffs and soaring melodies dripping with sadness that are designed to appeal to fans of My Dying Bride's later, more commercial output, but where the two bands differ is in terms of song structure. Whilst My Dying Bride may have moved away from their raw and murky death metal roots in favour of a more polished sound, they never for a moment compromised their ability to create...

Burning_Darkness 19.07.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Morning Never Came - Swallow The Sun

Fairy Frolics (Swallowing Darkness - Laurell K. Hamilton)

Advantages: fun, occasionally
Disadvantages: awful writing

...Summary: reasonably enjoyable if there is nothing better, lively, trashy fantasy "Swallowing Darkness" is the seventh Meredith Gentry novel and the first one I read. Despite that I had no problems at all in following the plot - even though there isn't that much obvious exposition in the novel. Meredith NicEssus is a faerie princess in a slightly alternative world (i.e. US) where faeries are known by the humans - a treaty allowed them to settle in the US three hundred years on the condition that they don't engage in war or make humans worship them. The faerie courts are obsessed by purity of blood and even more so by purity of looks and Meredith, who is mortal, curvy and has not just human but also lesser fey ancestors, flees the Faerie and starts working as a private investigator in the human world. But her disguise ends when...

magdadh 23.04.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Swallowing Darkness - Laurell K. Hamilton

Swallows And Amazons - not for Duffers

Advantages: Heart warming, endearing, beautiful descriptive writing
Disadvantages: Younger readers could struggle with long description and technical sailing terms

...Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ~~~Setting~~~ Swallows and Amazons was written in 1930, an adventure story aimed at children and the first of a series of 12 novels for which their author is most well known. Set in the Lake District, it follows the adventures during one summer holiday of the Swallows (brothers and sisters John, Susan, Titty and Roger) as they camp on an island of adventure, make enemies and then friends with the Amazon pirates (Nancy and Peggy), solving mysteries and chasing thieves. It is a very tame, but very charming novel, seemingly enjoyed by children and adults alike. I bought and read it earlier this year after visiting a permanent exhibition on Arthur Ransome in the Museum of Lakeland Life in Kendal. It is so evocative of the Lake District that it is a pleasure to read for this alone. ~~~The Plot...

sonic0209 14.10.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

Swallow hotel (Kirlangic)

Advantages: Close to town centre and market
Disadvantages: not allowed own drink into rooms. No air conditioning

...It was last year that my wife and I stayed here. The hotel name was in Turkish which was called "The Kirlangic". This means swallow. The Hotel sits on the main road into the town and right opposite one of the entrances to the market which is on every Monday. So if you have a room facing the road you will be awake early (4 oclock ish). At the time only some rooms had air conditioning. The rooms are small in comparison to a lot of hotels in the area but you only sleep in then anyway. They are clean and fresh. I found the staff friendly, even more so if you speak a bit of Turkish (but dont let them know its only a few words, it keeps then on thier toes) they feel you are making an effort. You are close to all the bars and shops where you need a good haggling technique. The grounds of the hotel has a pool which is big enough to...

kindlyraccoon 04.01.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Swallow Hotel, Marmaris

The Sun also surprises

Advantages: Successful, professional, knows its market
Disadvantages: Brash, trivial, scurrilous, simplistic, self-congratulatory

...It is, I think, a good idea to confront one's prejudices from time to time, and it would be hard to be more prejudiced than I am against The Sun newspaper. I hardly ever see The Sun in the usual way of things, let alone read it, yet if you asked me to describe it I would have no difficulty in trotting out at least a dozen derogatory adjectives, the most polite of which you will see listed as "Cons" in the summary points above. The fact that The Sun is part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire only serves to redouble my bias against it. The trouble is that I'm such a sad case of bleeding-heart liberal that I'm not truly content to live with knowing I'm prejudiced. So when I saw that the Ciao competition for May was for reviews on sun-related topics, I decided it was time I bought a few issues of The Sun and made a serious attempt...

torr 28.05.2005 (16.06.2005) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of The Sun

Hard to swallow at first but easy to digest later

Advantages: tender and movivng
Disadvantages: The first few chapters

...An interesting or unusual title makes a book more alluring to the reader. I have often picked up a book on the strength of the title alone. When the novel "Swallowing Grandma" by Kate Long was suggested at my book group I had to vote for it, as I was curious about such an odd title. The book is a coming of age saga centred on the life of 18 year old Katherine Miller and her unconventional family in Banktop, a fictional mining village supposedly between Wigan and Bolton. Katherine lives with her professional northerner of a grandmother Poll, as her father died before she was born and then her mother abandoned her shortly afterwards. The book is about Katherine's (or Kat as she wants to be known) quest to find herself and ultimately her mother. Katherine's story is intertwined with her mother's tragic story of coming to terms...

duskmaiden 09.07.2006 (03.01.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Swallowing Grandma - Kate Long

Empire of the Sun

Advantages: Different and really visual
Disadvantages: Hard to appreciate

... Discovery As far as music goes, I love it all, I always find my taste varying as I discover new artists, I love rock, pop, hip hop, old and new, everything. Empire of the Sun is something really different. I discovered them about three or four months ago when one of the songs was played on the radio and I was desperate to hear more. I could not find out who they were and eventually the tune faded from my head, when I then stumbled across the song again I remembered as many words a possible and Googled the lyrics, found out who they were and bought their album from Amazon. Who are they? Empire of the Sun are an Australian duo who formed in 2007 but have only recently started coming out of the woodwork in Britain with some of their songs being played on the radio waves, and also more and more regularly their songs are...

amyloop 25.10.2009 (16.11.2009) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun!

Advantages: The title track is a big hitter, great to see them still in action
Disadvantages: Very patchy quality, just not classic Placebo

...Placebo are a defiantly odd band, and always have been, sitting somewhere between flamboyant glam and angry punk posturing. Surfing in on the tail end of Britpop, they've defied the music press by remaining a going concern for six albums and about fifteen years. Probably, if we're being completely honest, because they've never raised their heads far enough above the parapet of popular culture to burn out like Oasis does every couple of years. Boasting more drummers than Spinal Tap, and the distinctive nasal mid-Atlantic vocals of Brian 'sex pixie' Molko, the band is, in the best tradition of UK middleweight rock groups, huge in Europe, and famous for generating publicity through spats with other bands. One of the most notorious being their run-in with Limp Biskit during a South American tour. But anyway. Battle For the Sun. Sixth...

Olly_Plimsoll 13.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Battle For The Sun - Placebo

The Sun - I love 'The Sun' all year round!

Advantages: Great to read, lots of useful sections for the whole family, bargain at 30p!
Disadvantages: None

...The Sun is a national newspaper that is sold in England, Wales, Northern Ireland & The Republic of Ireland. It is also printed in quite a few European countries so that most people can get The Sun whilst away on their summer holidays although you normally pay quite handsomely for this privilege! Monday - Friday The Sun is 30p and 60p on Saturday. It is not printed on Sunday as it's sister paper 'The News Of The World' is printed instead. There is lots to the paper such as: Page 3 - Normally a topless girl complete with a little comment on one of the days news articles. Daily News - All the stories from the last 24 hours or so as well as updates on previous stories that they have followed in the paper. Sport - All the latest up to date sports information and this seems to cover everything from racing to football to cricket...

katyeverett 09.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Sun

Let's have a bit of Sun-shine

Advantages: Cheap , entertaining ,
Disadvantages: Page three

...This is my 100th review!!!!! * What is the sun ? * The Sun is a British Tablod Newspaper availble in The Uk and Ireland.The current editor is Ross Kemp's fiance Rebekah Wade . The Sun began on September 15th 1964. The Sun is published monday to saturday and costs a small price of 35p. The sun includeds news , celebrities , sport , health , entertainment and lots more. * Logo * The Sun logo features a small font of 'THE' in white above a large white font of 'SUN' with a red background. * Features * * Page three * This is page is very well known.Each day it features a topless model.This is perhaps the suggestion that this newspaper is mainly aimed at men. * The Sun Says * This is a column where the sun puts it's view across on news such as the England Football Team and Euro 2008. * Bizzare * This is...

xdonzx 20.11.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Sun