Review: Zella Day - Zella Day EP

I stumbled upon this artist from Sputnik Music which got lot of good albums recommendation. So I decided to give it a go and, bam, I was hooked.

Sweet Ophelia,
When young blood escapes
Vows that break
Go up, up away
Zella Day - Sweet Ophelia

This album (or mini album) from Zella Day consisted just of 4 songs, totaling in 12 minutes and 25seconds. But, boy, those four songs just soooo good. I keep hitting replay button again. And again. And again. And again...

So, how should I describe Zella Day? I would say like Lana del Rey met Florence Welch met Elly Ghoulding: the sheer epic result is simply mind blowing.

Many EP is just an epic song with lots of filler. But in Zella Day, there are no filler, all her four songs are strong: good lyrics combined with big hook and blasting melody. Oh, and the melancholy, we must not forget the big dose melancholy.

You did to me so well
Hypnotic taking over me
Make me feel like someone else
You got me talking in my sleep
Zella Day - Hypnotic

The lyrics is good, I love how poetic all her songs are. The theme is mostly about blinded in love.

Take me to the garden of your ecstasy
Make myself a heaven from your falling leaves
Woven in the fabric of your tapestry
Cover me in honeysuckle memories
Zella Day - Compass

From Hypnotic, Sweet Ophelia to Compass and East of Eden, we will meet pounding bass,  strings and layer upon layers of sounds. Her musics is really rich. The only sparsely instrumented is Compass, which only capitalized her vocal.

And she sing really good. Her high register is really good. She soar effortlessly to falsetto, without sounding breathless. However, I would like to hear more of her lower register, because she had this dark voice which I liked.

Call me wild, drinking up the sunshine
Be my man and show me what it feels like
Denim sky unbuttoned down the middle
Spilling out little by little
Zella Day - East of Eden

I would like to see how her full album sounded, I hope it would be even better than this epic EP. If you liked Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch or Elly Ghoulding, I would recommend you to try Zella Day. She is good.

Zella Day + Deadbeef + Aune T1 with Phillips PCC188 + Sennheiser HD600  = eargasm.

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

You must already noticed now, that I rather like Lana Del Rey. I really dig her melancholy and old style. Yes her persona is rather made up and not natural. Yes those lips almost certain face job. I don't care. As long as she keep produce music I like, she can put one meter long nose, or third arm or fly or whatever.

This album is very different than her previous two albums. Dark is what it felt at first. But different dark than Born to Die dark. In Born to Die, the darkness is glittering with flashes of neon and orb-lamp. Of recklessness and willfulness. In Ultraviolence, the darkness is lightened only by a splash of fireflies, of fond memories and little bit of sands in moonlight.

Gone is the hip - hop and heavy strings, replaced by echoing electric guitars and -what-is-it-called?-reverb? And simple drum. Simpler band arrangements, with a splash of strings here and there. The result is a fresher sounded album, although still heavy with melancholy and drama.

The lyrics, to be honest, still not 100% good. I mean, //You dance in circles around me // You're fucking crazy // You're crazy for me // is definitely bad. Or // He used to call me DN // That stood for deadly nightshade //. Really? Nightshade as in Potato and Eggplants? And why on earth "hydroponic weed"? At least, nightshade did sounded cool, I'll give you that
But there are gems here and there. The same song which gave us vegetables also give us this gems: // I can hear sirens, sirens // He hit me and it felt like a kiss // I can hear violins, violins //. Domestic abuse or BDSM? You choose.
Oh, and did she just take a jab at USA? //I’m talking about my generation // Talking about that newer nation // And if you don't like it // You can beat it //. What do you think?

I won't go detailed review of each songs here. But if you ask me, personally I like the Bond - movie-esque "Shades of Cool", the twanged "Brooklyn Baby" (really love the guitar), "West Coast" (nice tempo switching there!) and the operatic induced "Money Power Glory".
All in all, this album gave nostalgic vibe, with big doze of melancholy thrown. If Born to Die felt like good girl had her first taste of bad (and loving each second of it), then Born to Die: Paradise Edition felt like grown woman comfortable in her sexy, womanhood, and Ultraviolence felt like a woman who reminiscing how her life gone. Jaded, tired, sad but still starving for love, even a violent one. That how Lana on this album felt.

Lana's voice sounded much stable and matured here. Her voice soaring high and smooth. I really loved how she sounded on "Brooklyn Baby". And those soprano on "Shades of Cool" is really good. I kind of missing her low voice though. There aren't many singer with good rich, dark low voice. And song like "Born to Die" is shining because of those low voice.

This is quite good album. I like how fresh, yet how Lana Del Rey is this album. Dark, nostalgic, and melancholy. In short: a Lana Del Rey album.

Review: Word of Radiance (Stormlight Archive Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson

Now, I know that this review is kind of late but I want to make sure that I wore off my excitement and able to give more honest review. Read on!

Word of Radiance is the second book from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series. And this series is AWESOME!!! This book is even better than the first book, if that even possible. The character development is deeper, the cast screen time is more balance, the story is more cohesive, and the final is even more awesome.

I love how Mr. Sanderson dig Shallan's background. If the first book was all about Kaladin, in the second book Shallan emerge as strong secondary main characters. Now we can understand why Shallan do what she did, and why she felt the why she felt. Maybe in the third book we can read more about Jasnah? (crossing fingers). Just read that the third book is about Szeth.

There are some scene which almost make me tears (I swear, it was just prickling in the eyes....), and there are scene which make me want to strangle Kaladin (just how dense he can get!?!). The last hundred or so of the book really make me want to scream and make me to stop reading but unable to lol. And the scene with Syl and the last fight is awesome. Although the last scene with Dalinar and Adolin is really unexpected (who would guessed that Dalinar would do that, and Adolin to do it? Really!). And that early dead! God, it was almost broke my heart. Almost.

There are so many new plot development that I think I had to reread the book at least once before reading the next book (by the way, when it was scheduled? 2015? 2016? Damn it, that's way too long!). So many plot and twist, so many new mysteries (is the artifact on the last scene with Szeth is that artifact?!? Is Hoid really the person who wrote that letters?!?).

I really didn't want to spoil much, at least not as much as what I already did (sorry lol). What I'm saying is, you really had to read this book. I assure you, you won't regret it!
Well, at least I did not. It was worth the sleepless night when I did it.

Highly Recommended.
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ps: sorry for my previous melt down. Just ignore it.

Another End of Year. And Another Review of Beyonce Newest Album.

So here we are: on the last month of the year. Another New Year. Another post about how your year go, how much you do, how much your resolutions fulfilled. Reflections. Badda-badda-do. Whatever.

So, I'm thinking about closing this year with a BANG. So do Beyonce. While I still turning my brain inside out (not really, but you get the gist), Queen B drop the bomb of the year in shape of an album consisted of 14 tracks, with 14 VIDEO CLIPS!!!

 Wow. Just... WOW.

Her album is quite dark, and minimalist. Yes there are fat and delicious bass line. But there are very few of those glittering laser and neon light. I'm counting maybe 2 or three. Others are filled with minimalist, slow and dark jam. And with retro, 80's feels sprinkle on the top.

Beyonce vocal, like always, soaring through the simple music, gliding and turning like bird through the sky. A dark, smooth, beautiful bird. Her technique is superb, her breath is strong, and wholly, she is just AWESOME.

As a whole, Beyonce is a very strong album. Yes, there aren't that many tracks which radio friendly. I like Pretty Hurts (really love the lyric), Partition (oh yeah), Jealous (simple yet strong), Rocket (nice vocal works there!), XO (simply sweet and cheerful) and, the last but not the leaset: Blue (featuring her daughter voice, which very cute).
Personally, I think those are the best tracks. Rocket got very nice vocal and melody works, but the lyric is ... let just say I'm not going to sing it loudly outside

And the video clips got very nice video works. Again, Pretty Hurts, Partition, Jealous, Rocket and Blue shines here. Blow is a fun, 80's retro video. XO is down to earth Beyonce. BUT! (yes, there will always be but) there's this Rihanna-esque from the videos. I keep expect Ri-Ri to pop-out from nowhere and sing the lines, like the one on Drunk in Love, Yonce (yep, you heard me right), and Haunted.
And it got lot of booty. And skins. And booty. Seriously. Yes we guys (I) love booty, but we (I) like them discreet, flash us (me) here and there and we (I) will keep thirsty for more. Flood us (me) in booty and we (I) will get sick of it. Eventually. Or maybe not. LOL.

So, there you are: my review of Queen B newest album, BOMB. Ignore me and enjoy the album (and the videos). This one is really nice and solid album. Just don't hit shuffle, because this album is best enjoyed straight from track 1 to track 14.

pssst... Queen B booty is really HOT!!!

Review: Lightbringer Series

Hello, it's me again. I got this new nice novels called Lightbringer Series from Brent Weeks. Currently it's on second book from four book totals, making it a quartet. The first book is titled "Black Prism", while the second book is "The Blinding Knife".

I had to give it to Mr. Weeks, but this two books is ROCKS!!! I love the magic system use, splitting light and gave each of them different properties, it just so cool!!! It differ from the usual magic system (male - female, 5 elements, etc), and had potentials for development and variations. It's interesting.

The main characters is nice too. The development is the standard Epic Fantasy kind, but the characters himself is quite departure from the usual. The cowardliness, the dark past, the secret, the guild, the resentment, all laid bare. Very nice actually.

The story telling is pretty good. Some passage could be better, but nothing too distracting. The battles and actions are very good, very enjoyable. The way Mr. Weeks stringing up the stories is good, most of time I couldn't guess the story line. Sure the ending of book two is a little bit predictable, but the leading actions is very, very good.

The language, style and atmosphere is very manly. I found it quite hard how little female characters make impact on this novels. Sure Aliviana got some mayor portions, but the impact is just not there. The characters is just not strong enough, while other potentially strong characters such as the White, Karris and Marisia (the poor women) not getting enough actions.

I had to give warning though, point of view Black Prism (book one) is differs to The Blinding Knife (book two). The characters is still the same, it just the portion which differs. I kind of like it, giving different view, different story from other side. Also give me deeper view on the said characters.

Overall, I found this two books very engaging. Yes, there are one or two weak parts, but nothing big. For you fantasy book lovers, you should try this series.

Review: The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake

So, how long it was? 6 months? More? Sorry guys, I was really busy, so this blog of mine been neglected. Now, I'm back, with another review. Here we go.

Mr. Justin Randall Timberlake back after 6 years of hiatus into musical scene. Not that he absent completely, what with his name printed on singles or albums credits. This album, titled The 20/20 Experience, released several months ago, and pretty much earn mixed review. Some said it was nothing special, but some, like me, love this album very much.

JT's vocal is exceptional, I love how his falsetto delivered: smoothly. The lyric is interesting too, some is classic (or overused, from another point of view), but some really is interesting, if sometimes cheesy. Well, this is a mainstream album after all.

Just like the usual, his songs is full of catchy hooks and refrains. I especially love Tunnel Vision, Spaceship Coupe and Mirror (and the video clip. Old peoples getting romantic is really adorable! The skin colored-clad dancers girls with silvery wig is rather creepy though). The cherry-bubbling Strawberry Bubblegum (sorry for the pun) is good too, while Pusher Love Girl had nice refrain. I think Suit & Tie will make good music for lyrical dance. The reggae-touched Let the Groove Get In is nice break on the album, although 7:12 long song is definitely not short. The closing song, Blue Ocean Floor started boring, but got interesting when the refrain kick in.

The 20/20 Experience is bit departure from his last album, Futuresex / Lovesounds, which glittered with lasers and neon lights. I got this warm and classic feeling from Timberlake's latest album. The strings, the trumpets (or saxophone or whatever it is, I'm not really into musical instruments :P) combined with bass, drums and electronics creating a piece of music which spanned generations. A truly marvelous album.

The richness in it, the layers of sounds and instrumentals is good too. The musics is very enjoyable listened on my Goldring DR150 and FiiO E10. Really, you had to try listening it using good equipment. Your free-on-packaging earphones just won't cut it. With good equipment, you will notice just how rich and layered this album is, everything will come alive.

Lot of songs in this album clocked unusually long. For modern pop songs, that is. Some feels nice, bridging form one song to another song, but some, I feel unnecessary. But I had to give it to Mr. JT for his daring.

So, that's what I feel from the newest album by Justin Timberlake, titled The 20/20 Experience. Personally, I think the title reflect the album perfectly.

Review: OneRepublic - Feel Again (single)

Ugh, what a busy month!!! So many things to get done on my workplace I didn't even had time for writing on this blog. Sorry guys, but I really busy this last 3 weeks. So busy I even go to office on Saturday (Saturday!!!) to finish things :(

Now those hectic weeks passed, I want to share this new single by OneRepublic. Well, not exactly new, since it been out for like, 3 months ago, but still, from a band which didn't get much coverage last year (especially since their last album is definitely a flop), this single is like their gambling to the world of fame (their debut album is definitely good).

So, what of their newest single, which titled "Feel Again"? When I listened to it the first time, I though it was one of Coldplay songs. The drum track, the clapping, the melody, the vocals; the hypnotic atmosphere created really reminds me to Coldplay. Watch the videclip, and the similarity is even stronger: the light, the party, the shooting angle.

From lyrical point of view, the lyrics is very simple, "I'm feeling better since you know me / I was a lonely soul but that's the old me" just cant compete with "I loved you with a fire red, / Now it's turnin' blue..." from Apologize, or even "We'll have the days we break /  And we'll have the scars to prove it / We'll have the bombs that we saved / And we'll have the heart / Not to lose it" from Marching On. And just don't even try to compare it to Coldplay lyrics. Just don't.

I like the videoclip, the light play is amazing. The sweet scene where a man give a women flower-with-lighbulb-on-it is nice, giving sweet touch to the hypnotic-party atmosphere. Again, reminiscence of Coldplay. But that's ok, since this single is divers to OneRepublic previous songs (which quite heavy and tiring).


Overall, nice single. The different atmosphere invoked is differs nicely with their last albums. Nice videoclip too, really love the lightbulb play. I just wish it less felt like Coldplay and more OneRepublic.

Review: Christina Aguilera - Lotus (updated)

Hello there! How are you? Have you listened to Mrs. Aguilera newest album yet? No? Then maybe you will find this review pretty old-school.

The cover is quite interesting: the naked Mrs. Aguilera rising from a lotus blossom. Don't worry, the interesting parts are hidden, so it's still quite safe. The pinkish color used is bit departure from Christina Aguilera image of sexy, mature diva. It's just so girly, like the cover you will find on some girl-band from Japan or Korea.

The Album Cover.

I have the Lotus Deluxe Version which contained 17 tracks below:

1. Lotus Intro
2. Army of Me
3. Red Hot Kinda Love
4. Make the World Move (feat. CeeLo Green)
5. Your Body
6. Let There Be Love
7. Sing for Me
8. Blank Page
9. Cease Fire
10. Around the World
11. Circles
12. Best of Me
13. Just a Fool (with Blake Shelton)
14. Light Up the Sky
15. Empty Words
16. Shut Up
17. Your Body (Martin Garrix Remix)

This albums is quite diverse in music style, although generally still dance oriented. I loved the marching drum touch on Cease Fire, Around the World and Best of Me (sometimes I found myself humming the chorus baby cease fire, fire, fire, while walking like an idiot. Yes, it's that infectious).
Throw in Christina's vocal of gymnastic, and you got powerful, energetic, toe tapping album. Although personally I feel Mrs. Aguilera sounded bit strained on some songs, but then, that screaming-like, powerful soprano IS Christina brand-style.

The lyrics is quite standards, you know, for a dance pop albums. You got some interesting lyrics now and then (Use my name as your claim to fame / Got my smell of success on your breath on Circle), but others are the usual stuff. I felt this album lyrics is mainly about how she got herself up and strong after some big break-up. Pardon my ignorance, but I really didn't interested on the artist life, all I interested is their musics.

Not all the songs are dance oriented song with bass pounding, however. There are some track's which quite a keeper. I personally like Sing for Me and Blank Page. Just a Fool is quite likeable actually, if not for how it sounded like a battle contest between Christina Aguilera vs. Blake Shelton. Please Mrs. Aguilera, Mr. Shelton, this is not a battle round of the Voice, play nice!!! Speaking about Blake Shelton, I just always thinking his name spelled backward, Shelton Blake sounded just so much more nicer!!! LOL.
Some grippe: the bonus tracks Light Up the Sky sounded like something out of Ryan Tedder's song book while Empty Words sounded just like the one you got from Leona Lewis old album Echo. Why not include more different tracks?

The production isn't that great, with my DR150 (which is quite detailed), I can hear how the instruments got smashed together: no separation, air, soundstage. The bass is mainly on mid-bass area, with big boomy sound to boot. The treble too, get too piercing sometimes, I need toning down about 3-5db on frequencies of 5 kHz and up on my foobar2000 equalizer. I hate doing equalizer, but this album won't listenable for long time if I don't do that.
On busy tracks, Christina vocals is going laid back, thankfully, reducing the fatigue immensely. On the simpler tracks however, you could hear how glorious Christina Aguilera vocal technique is. Pity she didn't includes more of those kind of songs.
Update: the production is really awful, opening a track on audacity, I can see how the track clipped. The compression is really high!

Verdict? Quite easy, if you like Christina Aguilera, you just had to listen to this album. For dance oriented song, maybe you better go to Rihanna albums. This album is a mix-and-match kind of album. Not quite dance-pop (although most of the songs of dance-pop flavored), but not quite balad-pop either. The result is an album which not too mainstream, but also have it's own flavors.

Lana Del Rey - Paradise (EP) Review (updated)

Hello again, how are you? Me back with another review (again. sigh).
The album I want to share is titled Paradise (EP) from Lana Del Rey. Remember her? You know, the one who became Internet sensation sometimes ago when her video goes viral? Etc, etc. Yeah, that Lana.
Actually, you can find this EP as two version: as Paradise (EP) and as Born To Die the Paradise Edition, which, as it's name suggest, include tracks from her Born To Die album. I personally think you better go for the EP, that's if you have already buy the previous album.

The cover is very nice, Lana, with her hair flowing, standing on some beach (or maybe pool?) with tropical trees (coconut, maybe?) seen behind. The color used, which going for red-yellow, gave this Lana this golden shine. That, and the gold font used, gave the cover a classic and luxury feeling. Well, that's me anyway.

Paradise (EP) Cover

Born To Die The Paradise Edition Cover

The EP consist of 8 tracks, with some difference depends on where you buy your album (or EP). The tracks list:

1. Ride
   
2. American
   
3. Cola
   
4. Body Electric
   
5. Blue Velvet
   
6. Gods & Monsters
   
7. Yayo
   
8. Bel Air

This EP still had Lana's oldie signature: low sultry voice singing with darkness-tinged music, crying hedonism and broken life. Personally, I think Paradise is much better than Born To Die, all tracks on Paradise is more mature. Each track has it's own main theme, from slum-and-road theme on Ride, Las Vegas-night life tinged American and Cola, to sprinkle of Arabian night on Body Electric. The classic Blue Velvet, the more modern Gods & Monsters, to simple and very, very boring Yayo (at least compared to the other tracks), and finished with soft and airy Bel Air. Each different, but still managed to get whole.

I really like the string which accompanied most of the tracks giving the EP the warm-and-melancholy feeling, with a sprinkle of majestic thrown in. And the drums too, very nice. Add sparkling electric guitar, and you got a classic but tap-inducing (although quite draining) album. And boy, that arrangements works very well with Lana's voice.

Yes, the lyrics still wasn't the best ('my pussy tasted like pepsi-cola', really? Yes, it's still emotionally draining (have you see the music video? Lana had some of the most beautifully crafted music videos. Beautiful, though emotionally draining). And yes, there are some tones which similar to her last album, but as an EP, I still think this is a solid album good. The music guitars, the drums, the strings (which I really fond of), the voice, it's all make one solid album (or EP's, which ever you call it).

Pretty Recommended.

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edit: adding some more words, paragraphs to make it bit longer.

Review: The Haunted Man. Me, not dead, yet.

Me, still alive and kicking, even after missing for like, forever. Okay, not forever, but still, the last blog post is on July, for heaven sake. I'm sorry for abandoning this blog for several month, you know, I got busy with my new job. And just can't muster enough mood and energy for writing.

Anyway, I'm back now, and I hope I can update this blog more regularly. Now, I want to inform you about this cool album by a singer named Bat for Lashes. What a strange name don't you think?! Her album is titled "The Haunted Man". You had to see the album cover: a naked girl (or woman?) shouldering a naked boy (or man?). Really a distinct cover.

The distinct cover.

The track list is below:

1. Lilies
2. All Your Gold
3. Horses of the Sun
4. Oh Yeah
5. Laura
6. Winter Fields
7. The Haunted Man
8. Marilyn
9. A Wall
10. Rest Your Head
11. Deep Sea Diver

The album has a distinct atmosphere. The musics is simple yet powerful, the simplicity of it creating dark, mysterious scenes. You could hear every nuance of Natasha Khan (the singer's real name) voice. Beautiful.

One way or another, this album reminds me to Fiona Apple's last album: both had this beautiful simplicity although I think Bat for Lashes sounded more pop than the more jazzy Fiona Apple. And "The Haunted Man" had a more majestic feeling than "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do" (yes, that's Fiona Apple album's title, quite a mouthful yes?).

Overall, I really like Bat for Lashes's The Haunted Man. It carry distinct sound while keeping the music simple, yet not boring to listen to. For you who appreciate good music with good vocals, I recommend you to try this out.

Recommended.

Review: dbE Acoustics HP30 Fullsized headphone

It was started when a post started on our local audiophile forum about a loaner program for locally branded headphone. Without wasting times I signed myself in, and fortunately chosen. Now, after several weeks listening and comparing to my other headphone, I would like to give my though about it.

The Package.
dbE HP30 headphone comes with a big cardboard box. You could see from the photo I took how it compared to my Goldring DR150 box I apologize, it seems the photo is missing... will update with new photos. Photo added. The box itself looked nice. Opening it, I found another box which contain the headphone. The inside box is nice and sturdy, but I don't like how the outer cardboard felt, it's felt flimsy.

Open the inside box, and you will find the headphone nestled on cloth covered hollow. It also include a 6.3mm adapter jack and an extension cable, and some papers of course. Overall packages is quite nice, the cloth covered headphone placement help creating expensive impression. I just wish the outer cardboard is as good as inside box. Or ditch the outer box entirely, and print the label and what-not directly to the inside box surface.

The Build.
The headphone holder is made from machined aluminum with brushed finish. It's an open headphone, and you can see the metal mesh with a metal plate printed with the company name. The headphone back is made from some hard plastic, half painted silver inline with the silver holder and metal mesh, while the other half is black.


On top, the headband is covered with a smooth pleather (or what I guess is). It has some padding on it, which felt nice on my head. Maybe the material used didn't had that expensive feeling, especially the material holding the two side of pleather together (and the one hold the velvet pad), but for the price I think it's good enough.

I really like the velvet pad used on dbE HP30, it soft and very, very nice on my skin. It actually smoother and denser than the velvet pad used on my Goldring DR150. The cup is wide and deep, my quite large ears had no problem going inside at all.

At first I though this headphone would press my head like a gripping machine, but when I bend the headband a little bit to place it on my head, I quite surprised how easily it bend. And it the clamp is very nice, not too strong, and not too weak. It just... right. My DR150 had stronger grip than HP30. This headphone bit heavy, on the same scale as my DR150, I think. Wearing my AudioTechnica SJ33 after HP30 or DR150 is like wearing nothing at all, because it's so light, and the clamping force is even lighter than HP30.

Overall, dbE HP30 looked and felt nice. Maybe some would say it looked similar to another headphone from Germany brand, but I had no idea how similar since I don't have the mentioned headphone on hand for comparison. HP30 did look expensive, though.

The Sound.
This headphone is a loaner from dbE Acoustics, so it already burned in. How does it sounded? I think its a neutral one. Comparing it to my AudioTechnica SJ33 and Goldring DR150, dbE HP30 placed right on the middle, maybe little bit on SJ33 side. So middle ground leaning to bright side I think.

While I said leaning on bright side, the treble isn't that bright. My SJ33 is brighter than HP30. The treble is smooth, well extended, with some roll off on highest frequencies. Nothing too glaring, but not too roll of like my DR150 either. Very polite. The treble is pretty nimble, better than my DR150 I think. But then maybe that because DR150 treble is rolled off earlier than HP30. Listening to HP30 after DR150 is like going to a room with lot of open windows and light after a dark, damp and warm sauna room. The treble is just free, airy, and nimble.

Vocal is brighter than my DR150, bit on lean side. But not bright like my SJ33 does. Really, it just like on middle ground between SJ33 and DR150, with HP30 located bit on SJ33 side. Vocals has this airy sound, much more than my DR150. On some vocals (especially on high female vocals), this contribute to nice, and airy vocals, but on heavier vocals (like baritone males, contralto females), this take away those nice chest sound. The King's Singers baritone part on 'Scarborough Fair' sounded leaner, and brighter than on my DR150, which has dark, meaty sound on it. On the other side, HP30 render light vocals of Celtic Woman sopranos better: airier, and nimbler.

Bass is leaner than both my DR150 and SJ33. HP30 sub-bass is pretty rolled off, while the mid-bass is quite polite. Punchy, but nothing like my DR150. My SJ33 has much more sub-bass than HP30. Bass on HP30 is tad looser too. Comparatively, mid-bass HP30 is tad leaner than SJ33. The detail is quite good, almost as good as SJ33 but nothing compared to DR150 (which understandable, seeing the price bracket). HP30 mid-bass is quite good actually, it can hold it's own compared to SJ33 which marketed as portable DJ headphone.

HP30 has a forward presentation, which combined with the airy sound, make vocals quite nice. Guitars sounded crisp, although not as meaty or thick as DR150 but, crispier. The bite is not on SJ33 level though, since SJ33 has this peaky treble which help give more bite to guitars. Strings also had more bite and air to it, compared to DR150, just as flute had. Listening to same song with flute and strings on it, it's like DR150 took dark and mournful side while HP30 take on keening and airy side. SJ33 take cut-your-skin approach.

For musical genre, I think HP30 very good at acoustic with not too many instrument on it. The separation is pretty good, little bit better than my SJ33 because HP30 has more depth to it sound. The depth isn't that detail however, compared to my DR150, but for the price I think it's pretty good. As I said before, SJ33 place all instrument on same distance. HP30 had more 3D sound than my SJ33, but positioning is quite vague, again compared to my DR150 which priced much higher, but much better than my SJ33 which place almost everything left and right.

Heavy metal, speed metal, trash, and those fast paced metals are no go. HP30 relaxed sound just didn't render those speed correctly. But for slow rock, acoustic rock, or folk-rock I think HP30 manage alright.
Fast club song, vocals club song also no go. The sub-bass just isn't enough. Amr Diab 'Maak Bartaah' from his last album 'Banadeek Taala' sounded so lean, the bass just isn't satisfying. At all. For this kind of musics (club, dance and metals), I think my SJ33 is much better choice. Faster pace, satisfying bass (and sub-bass), forward vocals, and more treble to convey the energy.

Classical piece is alright, if you don't mind how HP30 presented all the instruments forwarder than the usual. If you think DR150 turn classical piece into rock concert, HP30 will turn classical piece into LIVE rock concert. It's too forward for instrumental classical piece I think. For this price range, I still think Superlux HD668B as the best headphone for instrumental classical musics.

HP30 is quite forgiving for badly recorded musics and or low quality musics, just like my SJ33. It's quite musical, listening to HP30 you won't focus on individual sound, but to the music itself. Not like HD668B which dissect music so every flaw apparent.


The Verdict.
dbE Acoustics first full-sized headphone HP30 is a nice headphone. The packaging and build looks very expensive. Open design allowing open and airy sound, forward vocals, punchy bass (although rather lean on sub-bass), and moderate to slow pace make it great headphone for pop, jazz, slow musics, vocals, and acoustics. But if you want headphone for fast paced music, or deep, meaty, satisfying bass, you better look else where.

Recommended, if your music taste is right.


PS: it's priced about IDR400.000,00 if I'm not wrong. I use a FiiO E10 DAC on my review.
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Thank you for dbE Acoustics for supplying the loaner unit. It's very nice experience!!!

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Review: Goldring DR150 FullSized Headphone

It's been several weeks since I got my Goldring DR150 from Jaben. Now it's time to write a review about it. Actually, you can found my first impression on a fully burned DR150 on Jaben here, but I don't fell right if not wrote a full review of it.

The Package.
Goldring DR150 come in cardboard box with transparent window so you could see the headphone itself. The chosen colors, the letters, and the design are very attractive. It reflect the above USD100 price tag of it. Inside are the headphone it self, 3m detachable silver plated 99.999% oxygen free copper cable (or so it said on the package), golden plated 3.5mm to 6.3mm plug adapter, and Jaben pins. Ops, the Jaben pin isn't included by default. Sorry, my bad.

The Build.
The headphone made from plastic with metal mesh on the back. The pad is from velour, and so do the pad on the headband. It's much heavier than my AudioTechnica SJ33, but still lighter than Shure SRH440 (again, read my previous impression). The plastic is okay, though Shure SRH440 got better build: sturdier, nicer to touch, but heavier. Maybe it's because DR150 is for more home use, while SRH440 is for studio use, so it had to able to stand some rough handling. However, I think DR150 build is good enough for someone careless like me.

I could see some ripple on headband plastics, so the build is not as  good as Shure, which really good. The finishing touch too, could be better. There are some edge which could be smoother, etc.
The headphone look is okay. It look little ugly at first sight, but it has grown on me and now I think it look quite nice. From color perspective, I liked DR100 gray-black color combination much more than DR150 gray-silver. The silver accent on the rim of the metal mesh look nicer on gray-black combination than on gray-silver.

The detachable cable is nice. I don't know if the 99.999% oxygen free claim is true, so no comment on it. It has this rubbery finish which very pleasant to touch. It snap into 3.5mm jack on left side of the headphone quite strongly, so you don't have to fear it detached easily when pulled accidentally. Those detachable cable also mean it's easy to find cable replacement if the bundled one break, or mod the sound by using different cable materials (if you believe or could hear the differences).

The headphone itself is quite comfortable, the grip is rather hard on the first, but it lessened over the time. The headband is adjustable with several clicks which lock the headband on place. The velour pads is definitely comfortable and felt nice to touch.

The Sound.
This is my first open backed headphone so I quite surprised by how the sound-stage and positioning (layering) rendered. It's much better than my SJ33, which closed backed. Of course, price-wise, SJ33 is cheaper, but DR150 is simply at another level compared to it. DR150 sound-stage is wide, with very good separation and layer rendering. Listening to SJ33 after DR150, I could easily hear how SJ33 sound-stage is wide but flat, all instrument just placed at same level, while DR150 render the position beautifully. The dept is just very good on DR150.

The high is smooth, with enough sparkle to make it shine, but not bright. Definitely not bright. For comparison, listening to DR150 after SRH440, DR150 sounded like there is a veil over the sound. Cymbal is pretty crisp, although not as bright as SRH440, or MS1i. None of those sibilance, though, so it's easy on ears. Listening to DR150 after SRH440, it felt like going into a large and warm sauna room after a closed room with air cooler. MS1i, on the other side, felt like an open room with lot of air flow.
DR150 smooth and natural treble make my SJ33 sounded steely, cold and with lot of peak. DR150 also had some air to the sound which made my SJ33 sounded boxed. Not as airy as Alessandro MS1i, but enough to give breath on vocals and instruments. It's really refreshing after listening to SJ33

The mid is smooth and warm, with neutral presentation. It's neither forward nor laid back, actually it's quite versatile, when the recording is forward, the DR150 will sounded forward and vice versa. The vocal is luscious, and very, very nice. SJ33 sounded dry compared to DR150.
Male and female vocals rendered equally good. It's doesn't matter what kind vocals I threw at it, DR150 render them both good, Scotty McCreery low voice is as good as Andrea Bochelli tenor. High female vocal, like Sarah Brightman soprano is rendered beautifully, just like Amy Winehouse sultry contralto voice is.

The bass is thick, meaty and warm. It has bigger bass, both in quantity and quality than my SJ33. The bass is so detailed, SJ33 sounded like one big blob of bass. The mid bass is pretty good, detailed and punchy. None of the bass bleed to mid. I think DR150 bass is mostly on mid-bass though, while SJ33 had lot of sub bass. Tone down 200-100Hz (via equalizer), and the bass will loose lot of it punch.

Detail and micro-detail, Goldring DR150 absolutely murder my AudioTechnica SJ33. It's really no contest. I just can ear all those tiny sound, like when a player put down something or turn a page, or how the guitar string twanged against the wood board, how the singer open her mouth before singing, how the piano keys make those little click sound when they pressed... It's mesmerizing.
Goldring DR150 is pretty unforgiving, I can easily hear how bad is Glee record or how 128kbps mp3's sounded much like Lady GaGa second album (yup, it's that bad). Garbage in garbage out. On the other side, SJ33 is much more FUN, especially with mainstream music and or bad recorded music like GaGa, Madonna, Glee, Katy Perry etc.

Isolation is none at all, since it's open headphone. DR150 also leak sound from the grill/mesh on the back, although not very bad. The metal mesh on the back is actually lined with a piece of cloth inside, so you can't see the driver from outside like you do Sennheiser HD600/HD650 or Shure new SRH1440. I'm wondering how would DR150 sounded if I remove the cloth covering the mesh, will I get more airy sound? Will the sound-stage and layering increase? Hm... intriguing. I had to try that sometime in the future.

A bit nitpick, sometimes I felt the sound is not as coherent than, say MS1i or SRH440. It's like there is something which resonating along with the driver causing the sound, like, breaking or diffused or something. Is this the plastic color described by Heafonia review of DR150?! I don't know. It's not that bad, though, since this only apparent when I listening very closely. When I just sit and enjoying the music, I didn't notice it. My SJ33 also exhibit the same problem, at much bigger scale.

The Verdict.
For the price (about USD100-130) I think Godlring DR150 is a very good headphone. The sound definitely is, although I wish the build quality could bit better. It has this dark and luscious sound, meaty bass with punch and some nice treble sparkle on top. If the sound is a food, I say Goldring DR150 is a cake made from dark chocolate, filled with crunchy milk chocolates goodness and sprinkle of vanilla on top. Warm from the oven. Hmmm yummy!
Recommended.

Review: I Am Not Serial Killer (John Cleaver Series by Dan Wells)

This is a book which I whole heartily recommend you to read. This book will give you a side trip to a whole new point of view and different protagonist, there is none of those self sacrifice act, love, simple jealous, or wimpy-cry-baby. This book is all about darker side of human nature: when human kill another human.

So, we have John Wayne Cleaver, your average lone-boy in his teens, which had all those traits: unpopular, subject to bully, loner, have different (sometimes weird) hobby, and socially deficit. What other peoples didn’t know except his mother, his aunt and his therapist, is that John is a diagnosed anti-social and borderline on sociopath.

As I told you before, you won’t find those lovey-dopey relationship here (except if you find how John treat corpse and his fantasy of cutting several other people as lovey-dopey, which if you did I strongly suggest you to visit a therapist). This book will get you into the mind of a sociopath: ruthless, cold, and calculating.

The story is paced rather slowly, not overly slow, but for a story with only one storyline is not very fast. But it has consistent pacing. Even when John finally facing danger and enemy, he still remains cold and calculating, giving me this cold feeling. Reading this novel really like reading a book of biology or chemistry (no, I liked neither Physics nor Mathematics, go figure): everything is dissected plain, systematic, and coldly. But, surprise, the ending has this beautiful moment which feels very strong after the coldness of the story.

The characterization is very good; most of characters are development enough to make them felt real. You can imagine hundred of other people who just like John moms, sister, and other characters. It really felt real. And the simplicity of how the John mind presented is utterly brilliant. I find myself chuckling to dark humor and sarcasm John produce, and I think you will find yourself too.
The detail is very good, and the embalming explanation is very interesting. You can imagine clearly the world John lived.

To be frank, I would happier if the main antagonist on this story is a human (spoiler alert! Highlight if you want to spoil the story! No, the enemy is supra-natural, a demon to be fact). Serial killer versus an almost-serial killer story would be very cool, but then it wouldn’t fit into fantasy novels again if this book do that.
I think, this book is more about how John struggling every day with his dark side, how to be remain normal (or as normal as he could be), and not to be the serial killer his dark side wants to be. It’s a rather sweet and endearing story.

Another irk this novels had is that lot of things on this novel hit right on the spot to me. I don’t know how about other people, but sometime it just very similar how I think, how I feel, especially when I got one of those cold episode, or one of those rage episode. I think these book will hit lots of people spot how it presented the dark nature of human mind. And those loneliness felt (but not realized) by John will touch most of us (realized or not) also felt.

This book is really refreshing. Emotionally-void protagonists are really rare, and the chance to look into the mind of one is really interesting. The plot is rather simple, I could guest the ending most of the time, but the twist on the story make it really interesting, even if this book had those kind ending-come-with-no-sign-nor-preparation kind of plot development (like Earthsea trilogy). And, no, this is not those pure serial killer book, it’s a young-adult novel, for heaven’s sake. Although some site said so, I don't think this series is a trilogy. The ending on third book is too open to be a final book. And, yes, I'm going to write my review for the other two book.

I whole heartily recommend this book for you.
Recommended!

Review: Control Point by Myke Cole

So, here it is my promised review. This time I want to give my comment about  debut novel by Myke Cole. As I said on my previous post, Mr. Myke Cole is a soldier from US Army, so I find its very intriguing that he write a novel, a fantasy novel to boot.

As expected, this novel (titled Control Point) is very heavy on army color. In fact, the main character IS a soldier. There are lot and lot army-related stuff, from weaponry, slang, jargon, acronym, etc etc. It's very interesting, but rather confusing at first because the author didn't gave any explanation for the words he used, so I forced to guess the meaning. But, overall, this novels has a nice story-telling on it. The quotes from peoples on this book world is a nice touch, help giving impression that this book world is real.

The main characters is rather interesting, and humane. The character development is good. Soldier point-of-view is very interesting, really a new insight to the mind of a soldier. This is just the first book, so I can somewhat forgive lack of development on other characters. I hope Mr. Cole will dig deeper on other characters, which some are very interesting. I personally found Marty (Dobby number #2, anyone?), Theressa (so sweet), and, for the love of God, Scylla, interesting. Especially Scylla. (Shush don't tell others, ok?)

One point I had to give to Mr. Cole for made the main character an African descendant. I'm just sick of this white-bread main character. It's so refreshing to read main characters who are non-white people. Sorry, not being racist, just stating the fact. Okay, that did sounded racist, but it IS the fact. Don't burn me okay?!

The pace is rather fast, but sometimes rather inconsistent, some flashback and scenes feels....forced. Like the writer lost his pace and trying to fill the void. Not as bad as Awakened Mage (a.k.a Innocence Lost by Karen Miller), but it's there. Okay, it's his first novel, so I, again, can forgive him (I'm nice guy, right? Right?). Actions are very good, you won't disappointed by them. I feels some battle are well placed, right when the story starting to get boring, wham, you got some very nice battle.

The magic system is rather conventional one, although some are very interesting (I really, really want the Healer-Render ability or even better, the Negramancy). Magic on this book is coming from another world (it is unexplained whether the world, which nick named The Source, is on the same dimension with us but on different galaxy; or on another dimension altogether).
Because the nature of the magic, overall, magic user are divided into two group (or school as it called on the book): School of Prohibited Magic and School of Legal Magic. People manifested their magic can't choose which kind of magic they got, so when you got magic belongs to Prohibited Magic (Probes), say good bye to your freedom.

For debut fantasy novel, I think Control Point is good. The final battle is definitely good. I can't wait to see how Mr. Cole develop this story, because I think this story had the potential to develop into something BIG. Definitely a keeper.
Recommended!

Review: Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin (Updated)

The Earthsea Trilogy Cover (First Edition, circa '70s)

New isn't always better and old  isn't always worse. And this is true to some fantasy novels I read. For example: Eragon (Inheritance Cycle) which fall to the first category while Earthsea trilogy fall to other category. So allow me to add my review to all review about Earthsea Trilogy.

This story (or stories) is actually an old novels from circa '70s, starting by A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1971) and The Farthest Shore (1972). But this trilogy then expanded by two more novels (Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, 1990; and The Other Wind, 2001) and one short stories compilation (Tales from Earthsea, 2001). But I just want to review the original trilogy, while the extension books I will put it on the other post.

When I start reading A Wizard if Earthsea, I brace myself for another long explanation with old-style narration novels. And boy, I'm not disappointed. This book has those oldie kind of story telling. BUT, after reading all three books, I just can't stop myself to say how sweet it was! Yes, this book has those smooth, flowing and feathery style. Not the stuffed-kind, but fresh-and-sweet-kind of story telling.

Just like other (epic) fantasy novels, we will met long explanation about the origin of the main character(s): how they born and grow up (both in mind and in power), etc. But it's all packed on simple and beautiful way, with enough detail to satisfy, and sweet-and-bitter parts on it. Brilliant.

Characterization is pretty good, enough dept to be fascinating, but not too deep to be boring. But I just can't shake the feeling how so many characters are have this sweet and/or innocent nature to them. On every book you will find them, mark my words. The antagonist too, are rather simple (as in character, not in intelligence). But I like how LeGuin put philosophy on her stories. Reading this trilogy, I just can't stop to think about my life, human natures, and etc. Very interesting.

Not many actions on this series. You won't find those awesome battles like on Mistborn Trilogy, or gut wrenching actions on The Wheel of Time series, or even magical moments like on House of Night series. There are some heart-racing inducing moments, but nothing too spectacular. I think most of the actions and battle on this book are about battle with yourselves, fighting between your heart desire with your conciseness, etc. It's all about good and evil inside our heart, mind, and soul.

The magical system established by LeGuin is an interesting one. On Earthsea, wizardry is an art of men, while women art are usually about healing etc. Yes, the world of Earthsea is very chauvinistic. There is some kind of old language (or old tongue), which how magic is usually conducted (although not all magic use it). Also, those old-language are written as rune, which also has the power to do magic. This magical system reminds me strongly to those God-Word on Inheritance Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin. Or maybe it's more correct to say that Inheritance Trilogy magical system is similar to Earthsea Trilogy. Every magic on Earthsea is based on balance, or equilibrium: you do nothing to upset the world's balance or equilibrium. This aspect is just like those Discworld magic, its also work on equilibrium basis.

Reading Earthsea Trilogy will give you those lost-in-time feeling. The pace is moderate, not too slow, but not too fast either. The plot is simple and straight forward, easy to follow. And the finale of each book is simple, nothing to give clue that the story is nearing it finale, it just... finished. But the end capable of giving you the feeling of fulfillment. Maybe the finale is not very spectacular (compared to novels like Mistborn, Black Jewels, The Wheel of Time, etc), but it's has it's own charm: the bitter-sweet feeling you got after finished reading. Very recommended.

Update: last Sunday I went to our local bookstore and look what I found on the shelves:

The Tombs of Atuan and A Wizard of Earthsea

The Farthest Shore

All Three Book. Love the cover, very nice!

If I'm not mistaken, its priced about $5 or $6 (45-60 ribu rupiah). Very cheap, considering the quality of the story. I don't know the translation, because I haven't got them, yet. I planned to picked them next month, because this month book budget is already null lol.


However, I took home a copy of Indonesian version of The Eye of The World, the first book from The Wheel of Time, because I'm interested comparing the original (English version) with the translation version. I'm wondering how much the nuance and atmosphere of the book could be captured and translated into the Indonesian version. Just wait for it, I got to finish one or two more review and one and half books before that.

Review: dbE PR10 earphone

To be honest, I actually rather dislike earphone because my rather special (yes, I'm special. Get over it) ear shape which causing discomfort after wearing earphone for several minutes. Those shape also make wearing earphone a hassle because it fall out easily. But I got stuck to earphone because when I'm at work and want to listen to music, I can't wear my trusted AudioTechnica SJ33 headphone because its pretty big (it's supra-aural after all), while my MEElectronic M6 isolate too much noise so I can't hear if the phone ringing or if someone call me. So I get this cheap earphone which from our local audiophile forum said great (for the price).
Warning: as I said before, I haven't got many experience with earphone/earbud as I rather dislike them. Take this review with grain and salt.

The Package.
This earphone come with a thin cardboard box. Inside is the earphone itself, a pair of foam, a cloth pounch (which is great, I even used it to store my cellphone sometimes lol), and some papers.

The box. Simple and elegant.

  
The Build.
The build is pretty decent, the construction is much better than those cheap earphone which come with your cellphone, your portable music player or buy at those electronic store. Not as good as my MEElectronic M6 (which priced higher) but I think it can stand some rough handling (yes, I'm clumsy). The cable is on the thin side. Better than those cheap earphone, though, and made from some rubber which nice to touch. Again, not as good as M6 cable (which very good, and very nice to look at).

The earphone and the cloth pouch included.

Another view.

The Sound.
This earphone got about 100 hours usage, so I'm pretty sure the sound wouldn't changed again (burned in, so to speak). So, how the sound? To state it simply: bright.

This earphone got those nice sparkle on high register, making guitar bite, and female vocal sounded nice and forward, just the way I like it. BUT, high male vocal just neither as nice nor as forward the way female vocal is. Not recessed, just not as forward as female vocal. I tried this earphone with wide range of male vocals, from Il Divo, Sam Sparrow, Il Volo (this trio young classical crossover is GREAT!!!), Joe Jonas, Gregorian to Scotty McCreery, it's always the high male vocals which bit strange while low male vocal are pretty nice and forward.

Mid-tone are pretty nice, again, with sparkle to it, while low are tight and punchy. Drum sounded so nice and punchy on this. Compared to M6, PR10 low are mostly centered around mid-bass. I can hear it clearly on Joe Jonas 'See No More' both on vocal version and instrumental version. The dark, sultry cello on the song didn't as clear as on M6. Sub-bass is almost non-existent, but then maybe because it didn't isolate at all, so the sub-bass tone got loss dunno where (dimanaa~~ dimanaa~~ Ayu Ting-Ting, anyone?)

Sound-stage (or head-stage) is pretty cramped, creating on-stage and in-your-face feeling. Instrument separation is so-so, again, my M6 is better. On simple arrangements like on solos or acoustic sessions this isn't seen, but move to more complex, many layered piece, like Florence + The Machine or some Mozart classical piece, and you can hear how the instrument just smashed together.

Isolation, like I said before, is practically non-existed. None. At. All. So, if you plan to listen to music on the public transportation, please use IEM instead. Save your ear and hearing by not blasting LOUD music to it, IEM will isolate noise so you don't have to BLAST your music volume. Also, IEM will good to your karma, or sin-level, or whatever you call it, as you won't disturb fellow passenger with those tiny-tiny sound from your earphone just because you BLAST is to the MAX. Please, use IEM (In Ear Monitor) instead.

What this earphone do better from my M6 is how the high and mid sounded so airy and... free. No more cramped and boxed sound, everything is just has this nice breath to it. M6, because of its IEM nature, just didn't have the same airy feeling.
Also, PR10 gave me this feeling how the sound frequency is whole, while M6 sounded like it got some drop on mid then peak on high-tone. Okay, maybe male vocal isn't very good, but it's not that bad. Vocal on M6 sounded rather thin compared on the PR10. On PR10, vocal is thicker with sparkle on it, not thin and boxed like M6 is.


The Verdict.
For about USD 11 (it's priced IDR 100.000 locally), I think this earphone is great. Maybe not as good as MEElectronic M6, but then M6 is priced higher (about USD 15-18). And yes, my AudioTechica SJ33 absolutely murder both on sound-quality. But then my SJ33 is priced at USD45-58, which 5 times PR10 price. So, if you still stuck with those cheap earphone from your portable media player or cellphone, or any others, try this earphone from dbE acoustic. It's really bargain for the price: cheap but good.

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Thank you, Arif, for the photos, they are great!!! :D

Review: Demon Squad by Tim Marquitz

I got lot of recommendation of good books (especially from fantasy genre) from Fantasybook review site. But I kind of bored, because lot of those fantasy novels are placed on somewhere far away, or unknown world, or or, oh you know what I mean. And most of those stories using this old kind of story-telling, which bore me to death. Okay, not to death, and I still LOVE fantasy novels. But I want something DIFFERENT, story take place on simpler setting, place easier to imagine. Good were my imaginations, it still need break now and again.

So, I browse and browse and browse, and stumbled upon this novel by Tim Marquitz. It's from his series called 'Demon Squad' and took place on alternate version of OUR world. Fantasy with demon, angel, magic took place on OUR world (albeit the alternate version one)? I'm on it.

The first novel is titled "Armageddon Bound", the second one is "Ressurection", and the third is "At the Gates". I will review only the first two book, because I haven't got my paw on the third book (just you wait, book!!!) YET. So here you go.

On the first paragraph, we already meet violence. The main character, Frank "Triggaltheron" Trigg, is assaulted for information of an angel called Scarlet, although it's not for long because he didn't know where the angel in question is. From there the story continued. Yup, no 'proper' character introduction etc, even I learned the history of the main character (which is part Devil, btw, and direct nephew to Lucifer himself. And yes, that Lucifer, you know, the one who was the brightest angel then fallen etc etc?) some where along the story line.

Like I said before, this books took place on alternate version of our world, where angel, devil and magician (or wizard) are live together on earth (not ALL of them of course, some still dwell on heaven or hell), what with the  departed God and Satan. Ops, did I say departed? Yes, in this novel world, God make truce with Satan then depart to unknown place (possibly void, as Trigg think later), leaving the world (as in heaven, hell and human realm) to take care for it selves

Lot of intrigues and double crosses and heavy dose of Trigg remarks of women bodies (he's a horn dog, if I have to say so) and lot and lot of actions. Actually, most of story line are composed of actions (in which Trigg usually got out-classed - both physically and magically - and got pounded and generally got lucky), with several recurring characters.

Character development is rather sparse. Almost all character in this novel are having those 'set' character with limited or none development. On good side, it refreshing because there are none of those psychologist-like character delve. But on bad side, it made the characters rather two dimensional and too simple, almost no dept to it.

From story side, I think this novels rather interesting. The twisted world, lot of actions, rather simple but funny main character, several surprise and twist on ending are very nice. Really, this novels are what I need, nice break from stuffed world of fantasy novels. The pace are rather fast, with nice story building. But I got this feeling like, the ending on first novel are too abrupt. The 'bridge' to finale are too short, not enough suspense building before the characters got to main actions. The second novel are better, but still not long enough. Or maybe I just too used to those nerve-racking finale fantasy novels (Wheel of Time series, anyone?)

I really like the simple, funny, rebellious but very manly Trigg. He is really different with the main character from other fantasy novels I've read. I think this is the first time I read a novel where the main character is a street prowler, a thug, to speak. I just wish other characters are as strong as him. Strong as in characterization, not on power level. In fact, Trigg placed on rather low power level, what with his rejection on Anti-Christ position. Ops! Did I just spoil it for you? :D

For you who want light fantasy novel, or just want a light reading (although with lot of actions packed on this novels it can't be called 'light'), or liked angel-demon book, or just want to try something else, I recommend you to try this book. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't. I personally can't wait to get my paw on the third book...