I’m not a sentimental person by nature, not the type to look back and say “remember when?” — except perhaps in cases of bitching — but I just wanted to take a second and mark this as the 2,000th entry I’ve done on The Obelisk. Pretty sure I had no idea on January 31, 2009, when I put up the first test post what was going to happen 1,999 posts later. Hard to remember what I was feeling, other than pissed at being recently-laid-off, but yeah, here we are.

Thanks as always to everyone for reading. I know some of you have been with it since the beginning, and if that’s you, or even if you just stumbled on this site while Googling to find out what happened to StonerRock.com, found this post, and aren’t ever coming back, it’s appreciated. Obviously more in the case of the former than the latter, but whatever. There have been days where this site has been my only reason for getting out of bed. Here’s to the next couple thousand posts to come.

Well, there they be. We were up a bit from April, which was good, and between May 1 and 31, 2011, The Obelisk received a whopping 217,772 page views. I continue to be amazed. April was an exhausting month, May was too and June doesn’t look like it’s going to be any different, but it’s great to know people out there are checking in on the site and hopefully getting some use out of it.

I’m supposed to leave in about an hour to catch Ghost in NYC, and I have a shit-ton of work to do before I do that, so I’ll make this quick. The 217,772 page views came from an astounding 125 countries. Most visits were American (the UK was second), with California dwarfing New York, despite NYC having the single most city hits. In the “faraway places with one hit each” category are Bahrain, Oman, Montenegro, the Palestinian Territories, Kyrgyzstan and, Azerbaijan. Wherever you are, hi from Jersey.

If you kept up with the battle from last month between Finland and Sweden, then you’re probably Swedish. This month, Sweden was up 628 to Finland‘s 488. Yes, Finns, I know, I should have interviewed Amorphis, and for that, I apologize. I’ll see what I can do to rectify the situation as promptly as possible.

As I write now, there are a total of 700 members registered on the forum, with 2201 topics on all the boards and 30,399 total posts. If you haven’t registered yet, go for it. Rumor is they’re starting pantsless Thursdays on there and moderation is nil. Internet chicanery at its finest.

Let’s get down to business:

audiObelisk: I owe a podcast, and I know that. I’m away most of this weekend and I can’t seem to stop working until like 7PM every day, so it could be next weekend before it’s up. I put a poll on the forum to see what people wanted it to be, and a heavy psych theme is currently kicking “all-Black Sabbath“‘s ass, so unless the tide turns before the poll ends, that’s what we’ll roll with whenever we can roll with it. As soon as possible.

In the meantime, tomorrow I’m going to post an album from a band called Ex that rules, so make sure you check in to catch that.

Reviews: I’m still behind. Woo hoo. In the next month, you’ll see reviews of Ulver, Zombi, Dark Castle, the Melvins, Tank86, The Book of Knots, Nero Order, Lord Vicar, Zombi, and many more. Tomorrow is Orthodox. After that is Clutch. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine, but there’s a whole pile of stuff that needs to get done and so help me Robot Jesus, I’ll get there.

Features: Having Karl Simon from The Gates of Slumber pick out his favorite Saint Vitus tracks ruled. If you have any ideas for other features like that, let me know. I’d love to make more of that happen. In the meantime, I’ll have interviews coming up this month with Sourvein (that should be by the end of this week, next week at the latest), artist David D’Andrea, Witch Mountain, and more.

The Maple Forum: If you look at the frontpage of this site right now, you should be pretty well informed of what’s happening with The Maple Forum. The Blackwolfgoat album, Dronolith, fucking rules (thank you for emailing in your comments on it), and is available here. I have 25 copies left. Clamfight just issued a studio update on the recording of their next full-length, and of course we’ll have more on that as they get closer to finishing and we get closer to the release. And in case you didn’t see it, Kings Destroy killed when they played with The Gates of Slumber and Orange Goblin this past weekend. You can get their record here or here.

Live reviews: Not much news here, but I hope you’ve been digging the photos. Like I said, tonight I’m going to see Ghost in Manhattan, and then this weekend is Sea of Bones, Curse the Son and King of Salem (among others) at Fuzz Fest in Connecticut, so fun abounds. Looking forward to it.

That’s about the long and short of that. I think the air conditioning in my office has been shut off (pretty sure it’s on a timer), so I’m in a hurry to move it along with the evening, but thank you for reading, commenting, posting, whatever you’ve been doing, this month. Keep doing it. I think there’s something cool happening here and the momentum going into this summer is excellent. I can’t wait to see where this all ends up.

As always, much appreciated,
JJ Koczan
Halving Piecemeal Taskmaster

I knew the April numbers would be down from March. It’s getting warmer, people are on the computer less, and as we’re still up by nearly 10 times what we did in April last year, I’m not at all about to start complaining. Thank you all for reading and for commenting, registering on the forums, lurking, whatever. It all makes a difference, and I mean it.

The numbers for this month alone were 211,114 page views. As of this post, there are 664 registered users on the forum and a total of 26,753 posts, with 22,243 in General Discussion. That rules, no doubt about it, but what’s even cooler is that in just this last week, we passed the one-million mark for 2011. Between January 1 and April 30, 2011, The Obelisk received 1,028,995 page views, Unbelievable. I don’t even know what to say about it other than “awesome,” so I’ll stick with that. Awesome.

But back to April and the matter at hand. The map shows hits from all 50 states and 116 other countries around the world. In the US, California trounced New York 5,422 to 3,202, and in a close battle I’ve been watching for at least the last two weeks, Finland beat out Sweden by 682 visits to 678. Oh Sweden, you already got your own podcast. What else must I do?

There were hits from Uganda, Kenya, Uruguay, Senegal, the city of Shanghai, one from Afghanistan, one from Mongolia, one from Uzbekistan, and over 4,000 from the UK. Yes, the UK beat out the major urban metropolis less than 25 minutes from where I’m sitting. Go figure.

Lots to talk about and I’m short on time, so here goes:

Reviews: Can we talk seriously for a second? Does anyone read the reviews on this site other than the bands involved? It’s okay to say they’re too long, or they’re too wordy, I can take it. I’m starting to wonder if they need to be toned down. I don’t want people to go all glassy-eyed every day when I start a post with an album cover. That’s not what I’m shooting for here. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, if you’d be so kind, and in case you’re keeping track, I’m about 35 reviews in the hole, which is better than last month’s 40. By about five.

Features: Well, Justin Broadrick of Jesu/Godflesh is this week, and at some point after I write up the questions I’ll have an email interview with artist David D’Andrea, as well as Six Dumb Questions with Nether Regions, and there are a few other things in the works. I’ve had horrible luck in doing so in the past (I’m not even going to give you the link), but I’m trying to set up a chat with someone from Orange Goblin about their return to American shores, so we’ll see how that goes, and I want to get Lo-Pan and Sourvein going too over the next couple weeks, so stay tuned. Now that the spring semester is over, I’ll hopefully have a little more time to set these things up so I don’t get so backlogged like I have been.

The Maple Forum: As previously reported, I’m expecting the Blackwolfgoat CDs this Wednesday, and I very much look forward to their arrival. I haven’t talked to the Clamfight dudes in a couple weeks (it was kind of nuts leading up to the end of the term, doubly so with the Roadburn trip), but so far as I know they’re scheduled to start recording soon, so I’ll have updates on that as well. Kings Destroy are going to be playing this month with Orange Goblin and Naam in NYC at Santos Party House, and although I’m sold out of it, you can get their album, And the Rest Will Surely Perish from the band here, or at All That is Heavy at this location. Like all the best things in life, it is cheap and wonderful.

audiObelisk: I’ve been doing more single-track stuff, and that seems to be going decently well. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying it. This month’s podcast, now off the frontpage (download it here or by clicking the banner in the sidebar on the right), has surpassed in a week what the last one did in more than a month, so that’s a cool sign. Glad people are listening to that, as it’s pretty much a day’s worth of work to make. But fun, like all this crap.

Roadburn: No news here, but I wanted to take a second to reiterate my appreciation to everyone who took the time to read the posts from Roadburn in The Netherlands this past month. If you missed it, all the posts are here, but if you already saw the writeups and the pics, thank you again for bothering to look it up at all. I had a blast over there once again and hope to make it over in 2012, but you never know what a year will bring, and either way, it means a lot to me to know someone other than The Patient Mrs. and two other people saw it. Not that it doesn’t mean a lot that The Patient Mrs. and those two other people did, but you know what I’m saying. Extra special thanks to Walter one more time.

I guess that’s pretty much what I have to say to everyone too. Thanks. I don’t mind admitting that this spring semester — even more than the fall one, which I didn’t think would be possible — demolished my sorry ass. Seriously, it was not pretty. I’ve got to head to my last class of the term in about 10 minutes though, and it occurs to me just how much The Obelisk is what I wake up for every day. Yeah, I have to be at work, yeah, I have to be at school (obligations of my own doing, and I don’t want to seem like I’m complaining about either, because I’ve got it pretty good as regards both), but it’s the chance to write and gradually shape this site over time into what it’s become that I really consider to be most pivotal, and you should know you’re a huge part of that. A much bigger part than I am.

So yeah, thanks again. All my best to you as spring turns to summer, and whether you’re inside on the computer or outside living what I’ve heard referred to as “real life,” I hope all is well on your end and that if I can be of any service one way or another, you’ll please let me know.

Much appreciated,
JJ Koczan
Half-Timbered Protestant Taskmaster

We were up a bit in March, and by “a bit,” I mean 44,000 page views ahead of February’s numbers. That’s encouraging to see. I don’t know what to say. Things are cool right now. I’m breaking my ass to keep the blog side of the site updated, with work, school and “real life” (whatever that’s about) taking up a goodly portion of my every day, but something like this makes me feel like it’s worth my time to do so, so thanks. I’ll keep showing up as long as you will. Probably longer, but only in that “tragic fall from grace can’t let go” kind of way. Cue the sad music.

The Obelisk received an astounding 284,538 page views for the month of March 2011. As of the writing of this post, there are 23,541 posts and 621 registered members on the forum. The General Discussion board alone has 979 topics, and the new TV/Movies Discussion has already passed Live Reviews in both topics and posts. I guess people watch more tv than they go to shows. Probably better for keeping their jobs, which I can relate to.

Looking at the map, the site had visits from all 50 states — doubled the Wyoming numbers going from 3 to 6 — and 115 other countries around the globe, including the much-in-the-news Libya, Syria and Iraq. There were also hits from all over the South American continent, including Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile and Peru. In the US, sunny California gave not-nearly-as-sunny New York a vicious spanking. Not even close. A special “hello” to whoever checked in from Napa. I liked Napa.

Alright. We’ve got business to handle and this is the last thing on my to-do list before I can go home for the weekend, so let’s get to it:

Kings Destroy: I’m putting them first for a reason. I have FOUR (4!) copies of the album left. I’ve been saying all along, and it’s been true all along, but never quite so much as now: if you want one (and you do), get one while you can. You can buy from the link in the sidebar, or the official Maple Forum shop.

The Maple Forum: Well, you already saw the store link, but here it is again, just in case. Monday or Tuesday I’ll be officially announcing that forum030, the third release, will be Blackwolfgoat. Figure I’ll let the cat out of the bag early for anyone who reads this far and give the details after the weekend. As with Clamfight — the impending forum040, in case you missed it — we’ll be working with the good people at Earsplit PR (site here) on the Blackwolfgoat record, so there will be plenty of information to come, including the release date. Like everything else so far, it will be a limited edition pressing.

audiObelisk: The latest podcast seems to have been reasonably well received, and we’ve had two track premieres in the last two days (here and here), so I guess there’s no shortage of activity there, which is fun. Music on a music blog — who’d have thought? These things seem to be a measure of the webublog hierarchy these days, so while the likes of Stereokiller and MetalSucks get the big first tracks, I’m happy just to be included where and when I am. Hopefully there will be more of that stuff going forward.

Features: My interview with American Heritage will go up next week (it just has to!), and after that I have Hour of 13 and Graveyard in the can. I kind of went nuts with interviews in February, but I’m almost caught back up, so I’ll get on setting up more phoners one of these days. I apparently just don’t know what to do with myself if I’m not buried nostril-deep in work. Speaking of…

Reviews: Remember how last month I said I was 30 reviews in the hole? Well, after a month of hard work and perseverance, I’ve managed to whittle that down… to 38. I’m an idiot.

Again, if you’re waiting on a review, your patience is appreciated. In April, we’ll have discs from Liturgy, Megasus, Against Nature, The Osedax, Bong and more, but I just can’t do more than one of these reviews a day (did you see that Pentagram writeup???), so thanks for sitting tight.

Roadburn: I fly out to The Netherlands on Wednesday, April 13, to attend, and write about, and photograph, this year’s Roadburn festival at the 013 Popcentrum in Tilburg. If you’re going, I hope to see you there. I’m the guy drooling over all the merch and shelling out Euro after Euro for the espresso machine, for future reference.

Visual Archive: Basically, it comes down to Slevin being busy at work and me not wanting to bother him. That’s really the holdup on the process. I was thinking of making a board on the forum for live photography and poster/album art in the meantime, as a kind of compromise, but I need to see how far along he is with the coding and if that’s just completely undercutting work and time he’s already put in, which of course is not what I want to do. One way or the other, we’ll get there.

That’s enough out of me. If you’re reading this (and even if you’ve stopped reading already and gone to get a sandwich or do whatever it is people do when they’re not sitting in front of computers), thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you, too. For commenting, for posting on the forums, for correcting my factual and typographical errors, for liking stuff on that Facebook thing I keep hearing so much about. All of it. Really. Thank you.

More to come,

JJ Koczan
Hoax Poke Taskmaster

The post-StonerRock.com settling process continues, and while I’m sorry to say it doesn’t look like The Obelisk is going to be getting 300,000 page views every month, I’m extremely thrilled to see there’s a real community developing on the forums and people are beginning to relax and post freely about whatever they feel like. As I’ve said all along since I started the blog more than two years ago, it’s a learning process. We’re still growing.

As of this post, there are 556 registered users for said forums, 762 topics in General Discussion and a total of 18,646 posts on all the boards. Compelling numbers, and if you’re a part of them, thanks, but if you’re just lurking and checking out what other people have to say, thanks too. Whatever. I’m just glad people are interested and I’m not posting to myself.

The Obelisk as a whole had an astounding 240,152 page views for February, with visits from all 50 states and 111 other countries around the world. People checked in from everywhere from Guyana to Kenya, Turkmenistan to Mongolia. In the US, California once again beat New York for the most visitors, and there were a whopping three hits from Wyoming. I’m pretty sure that’s either Dick Cheney or Kevin Costner, as between the two of them they own most of the state, so hi to whichever it is.

No matter where you come from, thank you for checking out the site, or for reading, or for coming back, or for leaving a comment to a review or anything else. Anything. It’s easy to forget because that’s the nature of the intertubes, but I’m an actual human being, sitting at a keyboard, typing this. And when I say that your involvement means a lot to me, please know that I’m sincere.

There’s a lot to come in the next month and I’m pressed for time (which seems to be eternally the case these days), so let’s get to business:

Poster/Live Photo Archive: File this under “coming soon.” As a kind of third-arm extension of The Obelisk and another way to kill time looking at stuff to blow off work, I’m looking this month to launch a user-contributed live photo and poster archive. If you’re signed up for the forums, you’ll be able to post pictures and/or show fliers for concerts big and small, or just click through and browse as you will. Slevin (bless his heart) is working on the hard coding now, and hopefully within the next month or so we’ll be ready to go. Accordingly, I hope to integrate the visual side more with the regular blog, as you can see in recent live reviews and the interview with artist Brian Mercer. Look for more stuff like that to come.

Kings Destroy: Have tour dates posted. If you missed them, they’re here. They’ll be in Florida this weekend and they have a couple killer shows in New York coming up as well. I just sold another copy of And the Rest Will Surely Perish, and so have 11 left. You can buy it using the PayPal link in the sidebar or in with the tour dates.

The Maple Forum: Kind of up in the air at this point. The next release was going to be from killer Massachusetts rockers Cortez, but they might be working with another label now instead (can’t really blame them, given my lack of distribution), and I got the second album from Darryl Shepard‘s drone project Blackwolfgoat for consideration, but now he’s got a new band going and I’m not sure what’s up with that. I’ve put out feelers for a couple acts, and I’m hoping things come together for a Clamfight full-length release on The Maple Forum over the summer, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some other label snapped them up as well, what with all their unapologetic ass-kickery. We’ll see how it goes.

Reviews: As of today, I am no less than 32 records in the hole for reviews. That means I’ve got 32 items on my “Review to Do” list here on my desk and a couple more at home waiting to be added. I’m sorry if you’re waiting on one, if you’re in a band or are a PR or label representative. Please know I’m doing the best I can, but part of really wanting to get to know a record before I review it and wanting to give each album its fair due means it takes time. There’s a long line, but in the next month, expect reviews of Grand Magus, The Glasspack, The Machine, Grails, Nether Regions, Baby Woodrose, SubRosa and more. I’ll keep trying to do one a day and hopefully that’ll wear down the pile some, but if you’ve been waiting, that’s why.

Interviews: If all goes according to plan, Wo Fat will be posted before this week is out, and I’ve also got Suplecs, Shroud Eater, Red Fang and American Heritage in the can. Bit of a backup there as well, but some really cool chats that I think are worth the wait, and a few new Six Dumb Questions features too. Those are always fun.

audiObelisk: I owe you a March podcast. This past weekend was basically dedicated to homework and this weekend I have more work to do and less time to do it. Maybe Sunday evening I can put it together, but it might be another week before it goes up. In the meantime, there’s a lot of killer sounds lately from the likes of The Flying Eyes (new song), Rwake (reissue stream) and Hour of 13 (new singer demos) to keep busy with. Look for new Godstopper and Black Cowgirl shortly.

Alright, that’s enough news. Time to get back to work and start transcribing that Wo Fat interview so hopefully I can get out of the office by 10PM tonight. Here’s to the night shift.

Thank you for reading and being a part of this.

JJ Koczan
Hobbledehoy Pragmatist Taskmaster

My friends, it’s a whole new day. We’ve switched hosting companies, and two years in, I feel like The Obelisk is a brand new website. You’ll notice the banner atop the page says “No Longer Under the Command of General Error,” and if you’ve tried to get to the forum in the last couple days, you know what that means. We were simply getting too big for Yahoo to handle, and the site kept crashing as a result.

With the new host, not only do the blog and the forum stay operational, but they’re both also much, much faster. Posts go up quicker, you don’t have to wait as long for things to load, and most importantly, the forum doesn’t take a shit every time more than 15 people are on it. I couldn’t be more stoked. I’ve been nerding out to my new webmail interface all afternoon.

Now, the numbers. Being off Yahoo‘s hosting means we’re also off their count for page views. Google is now the official count, and they put it at 293,161 for January, which is pretty damn good. I expected some settling down after December’s chaos, the demise of StonerRock.com, repopulating album reviews, etc., and what’s also killer is that more than 30 percent of those page views were from new visitors. Hopefully if you were one of those people, you saw something here that made you want to come back.

According to the map, The Obelisk got visits from all 50 states again (California once more beating out New York) and 119 other countries, including Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. I don’t want to take full credit for the rise of democratic rebellion in those nations and elsewhere in that part of the world, but I’m sure the hearty debate taking place every day in General Discussion played no small part.

Seriously though, these are beautiful places that I probably won’t ever see with my own eyes, and I thank you all for checking in to see what’s happening here. My mind is continually blown.

Even after losing some posts in the server switch, at the time of this writing, the forums have 502 registered members, 1,023 topics and 14,173 total posts and counting. Unreal.

Let’s do some business:

audiObelisk: Before the week is out, I hope to be streaming a track from The Georgian Skull‘s new album, as well as the entirety of the second Hour of 13 record, which is up for reissue on Earache this month. This month’s podcast is killer as well. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you should.

The Maple Forum: Well, the third Maple Forum release is kind of on hold while the band entertains offers from… uh… better labels. Maybe affirms my good taste, but it doesn’t do much for giving me stuff to announce. I’ve got 35 copies of the Kings Destroy disc left and I have the feeling a few more are about to go. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, use the Paypal button in the sidebar or click here.

I still have a couple things on the docket for later this year, so stay tuned for announcements to come.

New Stuff: I have a couple ideas for new sections of the blog. If I’m feeling brave, I might try and implement one or more of them in the next month. Like the dude who’s taken six years to put out his next album, I don’t want to force anything and want to see how it all happens naturally.

Interviews: Wino goes up tomorrow or Thursday, depending on time and, honestly, the weather and whether or not I have class tomorrow. Also in the can at this point are Weedeater, Earth and Wo Fat, and I’ve got chats lining up with Suplecs and Shroud Eater among others not yet confirmed or spill-beansable. Good stuff coming though.

Reviews: Crowbar, Tia Carrera, God Ox, Desert Storm, The Devil Rides Out, Grayceon — there are a lot to come. I still have that Agalloch too that’s been sitting around for ever. They’re not hurting for hype, but hopefully I’ll get there.

Where to Start: I like that these always get a good response. If all goes according to plan, I should have another up by the end of this week. Next week at the latest.

It’s been kind of a crazy winter so far with snowstorms, downtime for the forums, my semester starting and all kinds of crap going on, but I hope February settles down a little. Shows this month with Wino/Scott Kelly and the aforementioned Agalloch and Weedeater should keep things interesting either way. I also bought a new camera, so maybe my pictures won’t suck so much anymore.

Or, more likely, they’ll still suck, but with more megapixels.

The Obelisk is two years old today.

Thank you as always.

JJ Koczan
Hoebag Pearshaped Taskmaster

Between Dec. 1-31, 2010, The Obelisk received 314,110 page views. That’s according to Yahoo. Google puts it at 371,002. That is for the single month of December, and it’s more than I had for the entire year leading up to that point. After November, I felt good about 20,000. In December, we did that in a day after the forum went up. Seriously, the numbers for December were so astoundingly huge, I had to decrease the font size to make the image fit.

There was a dip for the holidays, but we still had visitors from all 50 states in the US and 114 other countries on six continents, including Senegal and Ethopia in Africa and Bhutan, Pakistan and Bangladesh in Southern Asia. There were even three visits from Azerbaijan! I don’t know about you, but I think that fucking rules.

Of course, the difference is the forum. As of today, Jan. 3, there are 426 registered users and over 8,500 posts. I’m hoping bands and labels will take to using the News/Band Updates board to fill people in on what’s happening, and that The Obelisk becomes the central hub and online resource of this scene. It’s a growing process, and clearly, it’s growing.

I hope you’ll take the time to register and check out the forums, and when/if you do, I hope you get some good out of them. I’m not planning any real changes in terms of how things are done on the blog proper, but I will be switching hosting companies in the near future, and that will rule. Really looking forward to that.

Here’s what else is up for January:

Kings Destroy: The album is selling well. I have 48 copies left and so far all the response I’ve seen has been positive. Of course I love And the Rest Will Surely Perish, but it’s nice to see it doing well with other critical types. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, do so here or in the sidebar of this page.

The Maple Forum: I’m not ready yet to announce what the next release will be. I’ve been teasing it for a while, and we’re almost there, just bear with me a little longer. And do yourself a favor — listen to Kings Destroy.

2010 Stuff: I’ll be posting the results of the readers poll in the next couple days. In the meantime, I want to thank Walter and the Roadburn crew for using one of my quotes for the top of their own readers poll list. If you haven’t checked that out yet, it’s here. I’ll have some loose ends stuff for 2010 to casually wrap this week, then we’ll get moving on the New Year in full force.

Interviews: I’m slated to talk to Laura Pleasants of Kylesa in about an hour, so stay tuned for that this week, and I’m also hoping to set up chats with Suplecs, Weedeater and several awesome others in the coming weeks, so there’s plenty to come. We’ll have more Six Dumb Questions features too, because those are fun.

Reviews: Let’s see what we’ve got: Mr. Peter Hayden probably tomorrow, followed this week by Ghost (finally), Buck Gooter and Weedeater. Also records from Immolate, Sons of Tonatiuh and Agalloch to get to, and others. I seem to be perpetually behind, but we’ll get there one way or the other. Hey, it’s the internet. Who needs immediacy? Oh wait…

audiObelisk: I’m listening to this month’s podcast as I type this, and it wasn’t just punch-drunk slobbering last night when I posted it, it actually does rule. If you missed last month’s, that’s still available as well.

On the Radar: Has been neglected in the face of all the year-end stuff, but now that that’s over with, we’ll pick up right where we left off. This is one of my favorite features on this site and there’s no way I’d let it go for too long without one.

Thanks to you all as always for reading and commenting on the blog, and for signing up for the forum and posting there. I’m blown away by the success of the forums and of The Obelisk in general, and I hope that as we enter 2011 it will prove useful to you in one way or another.

All the best,
JJ Koczan
Holding Pattern Taskmaster

It was down to the wire yesterday, and with all the increased hits from the Kings Destroy CD releasing, I thought we had a chance, but in the end we fell just short of October’s numbers to land at 20,673. If not for the lull for Thanksgiving and the Friday after, we’d have made it easily. Still, not a complaint by any stretch. Those are still amazing and I’m incredibly thankful. It’s almost exactly twice as many page views as last November, so I’m thrilled all the way.

According to Google, between Nov. 1 and 30, The Obelisk had visitors from all 50 states and 115 other countries around the world (including such troubled regions as Iraq and Pakistan). The most visited pages (aside from the frontpage and second page of posts) were the Monster Magnet interview and this month’s podcast, and 56 percent of those who stopped by had never been here before. Much appreciated. I hope you found something worth coming back to.

In addition to the killer numbers, there’s also cause for celebration as this is my 1,500th post on the site. It’s an occasion I’m marking with big orange letters thusly:

There. Glad we got that taken care of.

Lots of good things to come before we close out 2010, so let’s get to the rundown:

The Best Of 2010: This year I’m getting over myself with the whole “lists are bullshit” thing and embracing it wholesale. Every day in December (starting today), we’re going to count down another of the top 20 albums of the year. This includes Xmas day and all other holidays. If my calculations are correct, we should finish right on New Year’s Eve with the number one record. If my math is off, well, at least we’ll be close. Number 20 is coming right up after I finish this post.

The Maple Forum: I had 15 orders for 19 total copies of Kings Destroy‘s And the Rest Will Surely Perish within the first 24 hours of putting it on sale. Those went out in the mail today. If you haven’t purchased your copy of the record yet (which is incredible, if I haven’t said that enough), do so here. In the coming weeks, I’ll have songs streaming, a show wrap for the CD release party, and much more. Stay tuned, and please know that if you already bought one or were planning on doing so, the number of copies is limited and your support is met with sincere gratitude.

I’ll have the announcement about The Maple Forum‘s first release of 2011 coming in the next couple weeks, but I’m very excited about it as well, and please know that if you’re spending money on a Kings Destroy CD, it’s going to be put to good use on the impending forum030.

Interviews: I’ve been sitting on a chat with Bob Pantella of Monster Magnet about his Riotgod project for about two months now, and I’d definitely like to get it in before the New Year comes, so keep an eye open for that. I’ll also have my interview with Cough bassist/vocalist Parker Chandler going live before this week is out, and Six Dumb Questions with Whores of Tijuana and Aussie doomers Adrift for Days. As ever, more to come.

audiObelisk: Well, it’s December, so I guess I owe a December podcast. This weekend’s looking like a twofer show-wise, plus the usual homework, so it’ll be tough, but I’ll do my best.

Reviews: I have the new Crowbar record, so be on the lookout for that. Also, the new Might Could album Small Stone is releasing is a Southern metal monster and will be written up within the next week to coincide with the label’s putting it on iTunes. There are new Agalloch and others to come as well.

Where to Start: I’ll be honest, I’m running out of ideas for Where to Start posts. I’m putting out the call: If you have any requests or things you’ve always wondered about, drop a comment and let me know. Those are always a lot of fun, so I definitely want to include them more, rather than just let the category die off for lack of use. Need some input on this one.

As ever, I’m sure there’s more, but that’s plenty to chew on either way. December a lot going on, so please stay tuned, and as always, thank you for reading, commenting and most especially for coming back for more. Between real life, real life and real life, The Obelisk is like my version of psychotherapy, and if anyone else out there gets something out of it, then it’s all the more special. I know I say it all the time, but thank you. Really. Thank you.

Humbled,
JJ Koczan
Holding Position Taskmaster