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Album Review – Vale Of Amonition / Immortalizing the Lugubrious, or Those Of Evolving Despair (2023)

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Feast on the most ambitious, detailed and thrilling album by one of the driving forces of the extreme music scene in the Mother Continent.

Formed in 2009 in the city of Kampala, Uganda, molded and shaped in Kenya, and drawing from traditional and extreme doom sources such as Black Sabbath, My Dying Bride, Katatonia and Type O Negative, to name a few, the unrelenting Doom Metal entity Vale Of Amonition, whose name by the way refers to a place, a “sanctuary for warmakers” of sorts, with most of the lyricism being centered around happenings in that place, has just released their third full-length opus, entitled Immortalizing the Lugubrious, or Those Of Evolving Despair, the follow-up to their 2017 album Those of Tartarean Ancestry and their 2019 EP Ancient, Evil & African. Recorded and engineered by Nick Wathi at Andromeda Music, mixed and mastered by Luc Chiasson, and displaying a cryptic artwork by Ben Dickey, the new album rounds out the band’s ambitions thus far and provides us all with their most complete record yet, showcasing the undeniable talent and passion for heavy music by Victor Rosewrath on vocals and guitars, Solomon Dust also on the guitars, Mordecai O. Ogayo on bass, and Jude Bulinda on drums.

In the imposing opener Where They Gathered And Suffered, the band brings forward elements found in the crushing Doom Metal blasted by renowned acts the likes of Black Sabbath and Celtic Frost while Jude darkly smashes his drums accompanied by the Stygian riffs by Victor and Solomon; whereas their incendiary riffs keep penetrating deep inside our minds in Sons Of The Moribund, with Victor declaiming the song’s lyrics with tons of passion in this Progressive Doom Metal aria. My Firstborn Will Surely Be Blind is a beautiful song crafted by the quartet both musically and lyrically, with the sluggish, doomed beats by Jude and the rumbling bass by Mordecai adding an extra touch of obscurity to the overall result, and in Drink The Poetry Of The African Wretch we’re treated to the guest vocals by Nelecc (of Euphoric Decay, Nelecc, Krummholz and Void of Sorrow), bringing even more rage and anger to the music while Victor, Solomon and Mordecai offer our ears a thrilling stringed attack. Terminus is another dark and pensive tune by the band that reminds me of the Doom Metal played by My Dying Bride with Progressive Metal nuances, with Victor sounding utterly somber on vocals accompanied by the sinister, slow drums by Jude. Finally, closing the album we face eight minutes of first-class African metal titled At Evolution’s End, with the quartet blasting their visceral sound mercilessly spearheaded by another poetic vocal performance by Victor. Needless to say, there isn’t a single second left empty in this ode to darkness and doom.

The fantastic Immortalizing the Lugubrious, or Those Of Evolving Despair, which is by the way available in full on YouTube, is one of those must-have albums for anyone who’s a diehard fan of doom or African metal, or both, and if you consider yourself one of those fans you can purchase the album from the band’s own BandCamp page. Don’t forget to also follow Vale Of Amonition on Facebook for news, tour dates and other nice-to-know details about the band, and to subscribe to their YouTube channel for more of their music. Always forward-thinking and progressively inclined, Vale of Amonition have shifted into utterly bleak territory that is gloriously underscored with tribal menace since their inception, with their new album representing the coronation of this African quartet as one of the driving forces of the current metal scene in the Mother Continent.

Best moments of the album: My Firstborn Will Surely Be Blind and Drink The Poetry Of The African Wretch.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2023 Independent

Track listing
1. Where They Gathered And Suffered 9:16
2. Sons Of The Moribund 6:09
3. My Firstborn Will Surely Be Blind 7:35
4. Drink The Poetry Of The African Wretch 6:09
5. Terminus 6:58
6. At Evolution’s End 8:04

Band members
Victor Rosewrath – vocals, guitars
Solomon Dust – guitar
Mordecai O. Ogayo – bass
Jude Bulinda – drums

Guest musician
Nelecc – vocals on “Drink The Poetry Of The African Wretch”, guitar solo on “Sons Of The Moribund”

Album Review – Rise of Avernus / Eigengrau (2018)

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Blending elements from progressive and symphonic music with the most obscure side of Extreme Metal, all enfolded by majestic orchestrations, here come Rise of Avernus with their heaviest and darkest opus thus far.

Eigengrau (German: “intrinsic gray”, lit. “own gray”; pronounced [ˈʔaɪ̯gn̩ˌgʁaʊ̯]), also called Eigenlicht (Dutch and German: “own light”), dark light, or brain gray, is the uniform dark gray background that many people report seeing in the absence of light.

Since their inception in 2011, Australian Dark Orchestral Death/Doom Metal horde Rise of Avernus has been making a name for themselves throughout the metal community with their unique style blending elements from progressive and symphonic music with the darkest side of Extreme Metal, all enfolded by majestic orchestrations. Within the short time since the release of their 2012 debut EP, they’ve followed a relentless touring schedule, supporting some major international acts such as Apocalyptica, Enslaved, Eluveitie, Prong, Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Rotting Christ and Sigh along the way. Now in 2018 it’s time for this Sydney-based blackened squad to spread their devilish wings all over the world once again with Eigengrau, their fourth studio release and, more important than that, their heaviest and darkest opus thus far.

Featuring a Stygian artwork by world renowned artist Seth Siro Anton (aka Spiros Antoniou from Septicflesh), Eigengrau is the experience of seeing a deep grey shade in the total absence of visible light, or what one may refer to as a “perfect darkness.” Upon this canvas, an individual can project their subconscious, their processes, their anxieties and their fears. Thematically, Eigengrau explores the fluidic nature of these self-created experiences, how they can be shaped and how they may change at the point of one’s own death. Other tracks go on to explore the intricacies of personal realities, influenced by external factors or via spiritual and religious indoctrination. The nature of self-realization and being forced to confront weakness to overcome it. The distinct sound of the album reflects these altered states, oscillating between delicate movements and nightmarish grandiosity.

And Rise of Avernus’ nightmare of tenebrous and imposing sounds begin in full force in the opening track Terminus, showcasing a movie-inspired start before becoming a majestic fusion of the extreme music by bands like Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth and Necronomicon with a raw Death Metal twist. Furthermore, Ben VanVollenhoven, the (black) heart and soul of the band, sounds insanely infernal on vocals, as well as Andrew Craig and his thunderous drums. Following such fantastic beginning we have Ad Infinitum (or “to infinity”), a neck-breaking, symphonic tune led by the atmospheric keys by Mares Refalaeda where Ben once again brings sheer darkness to the musicality with his demonic voice, resulting in a flawless combination of Atmospheric and Symphonic Black Metal.

Then we have a movie score-inspired beginning to yet another venomous feast by Rise of Avernus titled Gehenna, showcasing a beautiful but still obscure mid-tempo rhythm led by the guitars by Ben, who also provides a powerful performance with both his harsh and clean vocals (not to mention how awesome all orchestrations are); while Eigenlicht offers the listener almost eight minutes of a descent into the pitch black crypts of Hades, presenting smooth guitar lines by Ben and the always gripping keys by Mares, with the atmospheric break halfway through it being a thing of beauty. To sum up, this is Symphonic Black Metal at its finest, with the whole music ending in dense and ferocious fashion for our total delectation. And there’s’ still a lot more to go in Eigengrau, with tribal beats igniting another sonic extravaganza named Tempest, where Ben sounds more hellish and cavernous than before while Andrew and Mares fill all empty spaces with their burning instruments, resulting in a flawless mix of orchestral and heavy music.

Forged in Eidolon brings forward an ominous intro rising from the pits of hell directly into your mind, with the spectral orchestrations and keyboards by both Ben and Mares imprisoning your soul in the metallic realm of evil reigned by Rise of Avernus. Then serene sounds are joined by a wave of sublime orchestrations in Mimicry, creating the perfect ambience for the demonic growls by Ben and enhanced by the astounding keys by Mares. And as the closing act to this impressive album we have Into Aetherium, a wondrous composition that starts with almost three minutes of an instrumental blast of melancholic and obscure Symphonic Black Metal before all hell breaks loose, darkening our thoughts and hearts during its eight minutes of duration. Led by the bestial drums by Andrew, this fiendish hymn sets the perfect landscape for Ben to continue his path to the underworld, gnarling like an evil entity until the song’s mesmerizing and grandiose ending.

What are you waiting for to show your support for Rise of Avernus and purchase your copy of Eigengrau, one of the best extreme albums you can find out there, blending the aggressiveness of Death, Doom and Black Metal with the finesse and epicness of orchestral music? Eigengrau is available through Rise of Avernus’ own BandCamp page or Big Cartel (where by the way you can also find an album + patch + shirt bundle and an album + patch + pin + shirt + canvas/artwork bundle), as well as through the Aural Music webstore as a regular CD format or as a very special woodbox edition, if all of those versions of the album are still in stock, of course (which I doubt due to the insanely high quality of the music in question). Also, don’t forget to pay a visit to Rise of Avernus on Facebook for news, tour dates and other nice-to-know details about the band, and to listen to more of their classy music on YouTube. This is not only the band’s boldest, darkest and heaviest release to date, as aforementioned, but a lesson in extreme music that will certainly figure among the best metal albums of 2018 not only at The Headbanging Moose, but in several other publications all over the world where dark music always prevails.

Best moments of the album: Terminus, Eigenlicht, Tempest and Into Aetherium.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2018 Code666

Track listing 
1. Terminus 5:43
2. Ad Infinitum 4:54
3. Gehenna 5:59
4. Eigenlicht 7:33
5. Tempest 4:51
6. Forged in Eidolon 5:56
7. Mimicry 3:53
8. Into Aetherium 8:03

Band members
Ben VanVollenhoven – vocals, guitar, orchestrations
Mares Refalaeda – vocals, keyboards
Andrew Craig – drums, percussion

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 416: A

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It doesn’t matter if you’re a marauder or even a cannibal, always remember not to mess with Sheriff Rick Grimes.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen A yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd416_01So AMC’s The Walking Dead season 4 is finally over and, after all those flashbacks, introspective moments and just a few minutes of sheer violence (I was expecting a lot more of that, based on what the producers of the show were promising) in the last episode, curiously named only “A”, all fans will have to wait until October to get some extra doses of brutality and lots of answers for many things that were not explained at all, such as where Beth, Carol, Tyreese and Judith are, who will die on the hands of the people at Terminus, and how Rick and the others will escape from that nightmare.

I must admit the first five minutes were awesome, with that flashback showing our beloved hero Hershel back in the day where the prison was still a safe place, always helping everyone with his words of wisdom, and Rick was trying to be more human in order to become a better father, and then Rick covered in blood a totally away from reality. How did Rick reach that point? When did he snap and why? All that tension and mystery already put “A” well above most of the episodes from the second half of season 4, but unfortunately that didn’t last as long as we were all eagerly waiting for.

Of course, that sequence where Joe and his gang finally find Rick, Michonne and Carl, and the vision of Carl almost being raped by one of the marauders turning Rick into a merciless wild beast, was simply amazing. Our sheriff ripping Joe’s throat with his own teeth, like if he was some type of “alive zombie”, was awesome and showed why he and Carl have survived the apocalypse up to now and, of course, proved once again why the walkers are the least dangerous of all their problems. Rick almost surpassed Stallone ripping a guy’s throat with his own hand in the last Rambo movie in terms of bestiality, but let’s admit it’s pretty hard to be more violent and reckless than Mr. John Rambo.

Anyway, as I said, that scene was too short and Rick, Carl, Daryl and Michonne started the last part of their journey to Terminus. That bite surely turned Rick into a different person, and his survival instincts are now stronger than ever, which could be easily seen in each and every moment before and when the group reached the “sanctuary for all”: he left a bag full of weapons outside Terminus (which will most likely be their salvation next season), and he didn’t seem to trust any of the people there, especially this new guy, Gareth. Well, he was more than right, because when creepy Mary and Gareth offer them some food, Rick sees those strangers wearing Maggie’s poncho and Glenn’s vest and watch, and he then realizes that’s no sanctuary at all.

twd416_02But the worst was still to come, when amidst all the shooting Rick notices they were aiming at their feet and that they were not trying to kill them. Do you want to know why? Just think about the meat that Mary was serving them before and you’ll get it (and probably will be disgusted by that). They end up being caught by Gareth and the others members of that dreadful cult and sent to a train wagon, where not surprisingly they reunite with Glenn, Maggie, Bob and Sasha, and get to know Sgt. Abraham Ford, Eugene and Rosita.

And to end this season in a very exciting way, badass Rick doesn’t seem worried at all with the fact that they’re about to become Gareth and his bunch of cannibals’ afternoon snack. “They’re screwing with the wrong people.”, our sheriff said. Any doubts about that?

And this will be the last review about The Walking Dead on this website. Not because the show is not good anymore (it’s still awesome), but because the focus will be exclusively Heavy Metal and Hard Rock. So unless Rick starts listening to AC/DC during his fights against zombies and other humans in the following seasons, like Andrew Lincoln said he does prior to shooting some of his scenes, that’s all, folks.

A (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 415: Us

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And they finally arrive at Terminus.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Us yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd415_01Just one episode to go, and I’m still not really pumped up with season 4 from AMC’s The Walking Dead. I remember that during seasons 1, 2 and 3 I couldn’t wait for the next episodes, but now it really seems they’re dragging the show as much as possible just for (a lot of) money. Besides, many of the main characters have become so boring, like a shadow of what made them so good, especially Michonne and Daryl. Are the writers doing this with them to find an excuse to kill them in the show? And what about that “love is in the air” trend? Shouldn’t they be worried about zombies, food, water or anything else before spreading all that love in a world that doesn’t give a shit about it anymore?

First of all, Glenn’s quest to find Maggie no matter what has been really stupid. He has the right to go after the love of his life, no problem with that, but putting the lives of other people in danger because he’s too stubborn to follow a simple plan or request that would lead him to Maggie but in a relatively calm and safe way is too much. As soon as he saw the signs Maggie, Sasha and Bob left him, he started running like a moron. Why? When did running by yourself like an idiot become a good thing to do in the show? Anyway, he’s lucky that Abraham, Eugene and Rosita are really patient people, and that Tara is so “busy” fighting against her inner ghosts that she doesn’t really care if his ideas and actions are way beyond stupidity.

Talking about Eugene, Tara and Rosita, their dialogues yesterday were for me the highlight of the episode. It was so funny seeing Eugene telling Tara she’s smoking hot, just to hear her replying to him “Yeah, and I like girls!” That was a really awkward moment, and add to that Abraham telling Tara she saw her staring at Rosita’s tits, and you multiply the awesomeness by a million! Unfortunately, that’s all the fun we had last night, because later there was just the action scene inside the tunnel full of walkers, where Glenn almost got Tara killed with his “brilliant” plan, but it wasn’t that exciting in the end.

twd415_02And what about Daryl and his new “friends”? Joe seems to be a pretty straight-forward guy, always going by the rules (if it’s claimed, it’s claimed!) and always telling the truth, so why not get along with him and forget about Beth for a minute? As I said, Daryl is not the same, and I don’t think this is going to end well for him. His childish fight against Len for that rabbit, and then Len trying to incriminate Daryl in that old garage for getting his piece of the rabbit just to be killed by the other members of the gang later, didn’t make too much sense at all. At least things will get a lot better when Joe finds Rick and gets his revenge (or not?) for what rick did in that house he was trying to relax a few episodes ago. Even Rick seems to be too calm, as per that brief moment he appeared in the episode watching Carl and Michonne play in the rails, but let’s hope next episode the good old sheriff is back in action doing what he’s supposed to do: fighting for his life, for Carl’s and for the people he cares about.

Finally, Glenn and Maggie are reunited (thanks to Eugene’s plan to drive to the other side of the tunnel), there’s that stupid scene burning that picture of Maggie (that was totally unnecessary), and after some useless talking they got to the promised sanctuary, Terminus, where they find that mysterious woman called Mary. But is that really a sanctuary? Doesn’t it look creepier than any other place they’ve been? At least it’s the season finale next week, which means something will actually happen, right? Because if not, the second half of season 4 will be indeed a total waste of time.

Us (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 413: Alone

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Bob is not alone anymore, and that’s more than enough to make him happy even in the middle of the apocalypse.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Alone yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd413_01Would you rather be alone or surrounded by other people in a zombie apocalypse? What if you choose to be with others, then you learn to like them, love them and live for them, just to learn that one day you’ll lose them and things are going to be even worse than when you’re completely by yourself? In my opinion, those were the biggest questions The Walking Dead wanted to left to the fans after last night’s episode. There were no answers to other important things, like where Rick, Carl and Michonne are, what Terminus really is or what happened to Glenn, Tara and Sergeant Abraham, though.

This episode was almost totally focused on the relationship between Bob and Sasha, with the inclusion of Maggie as the “desperate wife looking for her husband”, and more stupid scenes with Daryl and Beth “trying” really hard to screw up everything. By the way, it looks like one of the fan-favorite characters is becoming more and more like a rebel teenager, instead of growing up and becoming a man like Carl is. Again, are the writers trying to get more attention from the young female audience that’s afraid of zombies, and just want to watch the show because of Daryl? That’s not a wise choice of what to do with a good character, not at all.

But let’s go back to Bob, our main character in “Alone”. We finally got to know something about his past: poor Bob was just another lonely soul in a post-apocalyptical world, totally by himself, hopeless, wandering through the woods and facing at the same time his issues with alcohol and lots of flesh-eating zombies. We all have to admit that situation would be among the worst ones for any person with a heart and a soul, right? That’s exactly what Bob acknowledged after the attack at the prison that almost left each survivor on his own. Bob knows he’s the only person inside the prison that didn’t lose a loved one during or after the battle, and now for the first time in his post-apocalyptical life he’s not alone. He said there was some kind of “curse” on him, that he’s always the only survivor of his group, but fortunately it seems his fate has changed after being accepted at the prison (the third group in his life). In the end, that’s a very good reason for him to keep smiling even amidst so much destruction and death, and even after almost being bitten by a walker he looked relaxed! Well, Bob knows loneliness can be a lot more painful than any zombie bite, no doubt about it.

On the other hand, it takes some time for Sasha and Maggie to realize that, and therefore we see them struggling with their hopes and fears for too much time, not sure where to go and what to do. Sasha is more like that type of survivor that just wants to find a place to sleep and rest for some time, and she doesn’t want to think about Tyreese’s fate not even for a second, so strong is her fear of having lost him forever, while Maggie is just worried about finding Glenn no matter what (and that includes using zombie guts to create signs for Glenn!). One thing that I cannot stop thinking about is: what happened to Maggie’s southern accent? She sounds a lot more British now, has anyone noticed that too? Anyway, by the end of the episode, and after killing a bunch of zombies in very gruesome ways, they are ready to head to Terminus and finally find out if their loved ones are there too.

twd413_02Last but not least, I truly didn’t want to talk about Daryl and Beth anymore after last week’s episode, but as the writers are focusing on that new “romantic duo” there’s nothing we can do about it. While they were at that mansion/morgue pretending life was normal and eating junk food even surrounded by dead corpses with weird makeup, I was wondering how that scene would have been with Merle instead of Beth. The “Dixon Brothers” would never have been so sloppy or reckless like that. Daryl has officially put his guard down after losing his big brother, and guess what? They were ambushed by a mysterious psycho, who kidnapped Beth while Daryl had to fight against dozens of zombies attracted to the house by that eerie person. That was extremely predictable, and making Daryl look like a “crying boy without his new girlfriend” after that didn’t work well. At least now Beth will face some real danger and maybe stop being so childish, and let’s hope Daryl turns all his despair and desolation into anger, gets back to the old days, and uses his famous crossbow to kill those mercenaries, especially the one who seems to be their leader. His name, by the way, is Joe.

Alone (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 411: Claimed

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Will Rick ever have a true moment of peace again in his painful life?

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Claimed yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd411_01This was one of those episodes of AMC’s The Walking Dead that it’s hard to reach a consensus if it was good or bad. There was a lot of tension in some moments, some jokes that were not funny at all and could have been left out of the episode, and a detail that might change the whole course of the show but no one really cared about. Anyway, the biggest question in my mind after the first three episodes of the second half of season 4 is: when will our anti-hero/sheriff Rick Grimes have a single moment of peace again?

Before we get to Rick, let’s talk about the evolving friendship between Michonne and Carl. Although there were some really stupid moments, like Michonne trying to make Carl laugh by filling her mouth with Crazy Cheese, it’s nice to see Michonne is finally opening herself to someone, even if it’s a kid. Revealing the name of her long gone baby (Andre Anthony) to Carl was kind of a bold move for our katana girl, as well as protecting Carl from seeing the disturbing scene of the deceased family in that pink room. I’m not sure if getting too close to other people is the right thing to do in a zombie apocalypse (we’ve already seen plenty of examples that it’s not), but to me it seems Michonne is desperate for that, she can’t carry that burden inside her anymore, and Carl might be the best choice in her mind because she will never look less strong or less tough to him as she would to guys like Daryl and Rick. Let’s just hope she doesn’t let her guard down because of that, otherwise we’ll lose one of the best characters in the show.

Then come Rick and, consequently one more time in the show, tons and tons of tension and danger. Is he cursed somehow? It’s unbelievable the amount of pressure the sheriff has to face every single day now. When he finally finds a quiet and relatively safe place to heal his wounds, relax and even read a book, some dreadful assassins, psychopaths and rapists end up finding the exact same place! That was for me the highlight of the episode, even without a single walker involved, which again showed us who are the real threats in this new world. Rick might not have had his moment of peace yet, but his survival instincts are stronger than ever: even when surrounded by merciless killers, he managed to escape without even being noticed. Hiding under the bed, holding his breath and crawling to the other room without making any noise were awesome moves that saved not only Rick himself, but also Michonne and Carl in the end, especially when he decided to run away with them instead of starting a mini-war with those guys. Well, there was that guy in the toilet with his pants up, which makes no sense, but who cares? Killing him almost silently and setting up a “zombie trap” for when he got back as a walker seemed a smart move to distract those assassins, at least for a while.

twd411_02A few hours from where they were in the last moments of the previous episode, Glenn and Tara get to learn a little more about Sgt. Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa and Dr. Eugene Porter. No one can blame Tara for trusting Sgt. Ford (like she trusted the Governor) and hopping on the back of his truck, because anything would have been better than being alone in the middle of nowhere with a knocked-off Glenn, even without knowing if those people were good or bad. Talking about difficult decisions, Glenn’s semi-stupid idea of getting back for Maggie cost them the truck! I understand he’s desperate to find his wife, but fighting with the sergeant while the weird Dr. Eugene was all by himself with a machine gun trying to shoot the “zombies of the corn” was not a good idea at all. Glenn didn’t care that much about the truck and started his way back to “somewhere”: the truth is he doesn’t even know where to start, which means it’s just going to be another “trial and error” mission in the show. At least Glenn and Tara will have some backup, as the sergeant and his team decided to follow him, especially after Dr. Eugene said “Trust me.” to the sergeant when he decided to join Glenn in his quest. And the most important thing here, which was completely ignored by Glenn and Tara after all, is the fact that Dr. Eugene claims to know the reason for the zombie outbreak and also to have the solution for it. All they have to do is get to Washington with the doctor alive and well. But is it really worth a try? I mean, is the doctor telling the truth? Is there a cure, or is he just a complete lunatic? We’ll have to wait until they find Maggie (if they do so), and then see if they’ll get back on track to Washington.

Last but not least, Carl seemed really sad for “losing” Judith back in the prison, judging by his reaction after mentioning the name of his little sister while having breakfast with Michonne in the beginning of the episode, right? But it seems Rick, Carl and Michonne will soon find Tyreese, Carol, Lizzie, Mika and especially Judith at Terminus! Will that be one of the best moments of Rick and Carl’s post-apocalyptical lives, as we all expect? Maybe not if we think about what happened during Rick’s dramatic escape: was that guy in the bedroom really dead or had he just passed out? Because if they meet again somewhere, maybe (just maybe?) it will be at Terminus, and they won’t feel happy at all to see the sheriff after what he has done in that house. In my opinion, our sheriff’s well-deserved “vacations” are not going to happen so soon.

Claimed (FULL EPISODE)

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 410: Inmates

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Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates, but The Walking Dead is definitely awesome.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Inmates yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd410_01What an intense an fun episode to watch! After seeing what happened to Rick, Carl and Michonne, we had the pleasure to catch up with the rest of the crew, including some we thought were gone for good, and some new faces that I’m pretty sure the fans of the comics got really excited about. Not only that, what made this episode so cool was that all characters were almost at the same place but in a different time span, showing things are not going to be easy at all for the whole group to rejoin.

First of all, we see the duo of Beth and Daryl alone in the dark, in the middle of the woods, thinking about what happened to the others, what they were going to do by themselves. The beautiful part of this scene was the narration of Beth’s diary by Beth herself, when they first moved to the prison, as if the prison was their new sanctuary, as if there was some hope there. Well, we saw what happened in the mid-season finale and their situation now. However, it seems Beth is still hopeful, that she still believes the others are alive (and she’s right!), and because of her hope Daryl kind of wakes up from his total dismay. “If you don’t have hope, what’s the point of living?”, Beth said.

The next survivors are Tyreese, Lizzie and Mika. Oh, and for our total frenzy, baby Judith is with them! The blood Rick and Carl saw on her baby basket was from Tyreese’s arm, which was still bleeding by the way after all that time. In my opinion, Tyreese had the heaviest burden of all survivors by having to take care of two little girls and a baby, despite the fact that Lizzie killing little bunnies doesn’t make her so weak and fearful as her sister, right? And then, just to make things even more interesting, guess who’s back? The even more fearless Carol! Her one and only fear was the possibility of Tyreese wanting his revenge for Carol killing and setting fire to his girlfriend before being banished from the prison, but as he doesn’t know about that small detail, why bother? Let’s get all together, pretend nothing happened and go to the sanctuary called “Terminus”, which I’m pretty sure it’s not a good idea at all. For them, of course, but excellent for the Walking Dead fans!

twd410_02The third batch of survivors is composed by the always beautiful Maggie, the brave Sasha and the wildcard Bob, trying to find Glenn, but ending up facing the prison bus full of walkers. Maggie is about to snap, desperate for not finding Glenn anywhere, but then she sees what’s really going on: Glenn is not there. He probably escaped from the bus and is alive and well somewhere else, which makes her kind of happy. If only she could see where Glenn actually was, she wouldn’t feel that happy…

Because Glenn is still at the prison! He’s not fully recovered from the deadly flu, but he’s a lot better and strong enough to go back into the prison to find something that could help him escape from all the starving walkers outside. He gets his “comics” armor and helmet, a machine gun, and is ready to rumble in the middle of a big herd of zombies trying to bite him at all costs. On his way out, he sees poor Tara alone and hopeless inside a “cage” outside, without caring about anyone, not even about her own life. Fortunately, Glenn wakes her up and they both escape from the prison, and that was probably their farewell to it. From the bottom of my heart, the prison deserves a special tribute for being so strong and important to Rick’s team for a long time.

And finally, they might have escaped unharmed from the prison, but things are not going to get any better to them after meeting the fan-favorite Sergeant Abraham Ford and his crew, formed by the gorgeous Rosita Espinosa and the weird Dr. Eugene Porter. What are they going to do with Glenn and Tara? Are they going to take them to “Terminus”? Will “Terminus” be the new prison? What about Rick, Carl and Michonne, when are they going to meet any of the other survivors? Is it going to be at “Terminus” only? This is going to be awesome without a shadow of a doubt.

Inmates (FULL EPISODE)