Hyfetch exists, and is really great. It comes with a lot of pride flag color options for the art, and is continuing to update the code for regular neofetch as well, since neofetch is dead (to access regular neofetch, use the "neowofetch" command).

Hyfetch also just added support for fastfetch, so the output is more detailed and not as slow! I like seeing the info and the colors every time I open up my terminal, so this is a really great addition. To use fastfetch with Hyfetch, just install fastfetch (I use Fedora, it's in the repos), and then use the "hyfetch --config" command. If you don't yet have hyfetch you don't have to use the config, it will ask you when you use the hyfetch command for the first time.

Just a little PSA, carry on

There's been a lot of memes going around, but I genuinely have a question. If PSL were on the ballot, I would obviously vote for them. However, they're write-in only in my state. Would writing in PSL have the same effect, or could the vote more easily be invalid or ignored.

In other words, is it better to vote for Greens if PSL is write-in only?

EDIT: THANKS FOR INPUT! I've decided to write in Hilary Clinton, have a wonderful day!

But really probably writing in PSL. Elections don't matter too much though, so I'm ever in an area where PSL is active, I'll make sure to join (which has been the plan for a while). Thanks again!

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Hi everyone! I thought this album would be a good one to start off this arc. I don't know how long I'll keep up with it, and it won't be a daily thing, but I'm hoping we can get some discussion going about what we like and don't like about certain djent songs and/or albums.

The Amanuensis is probably Monument's most popular album, and it's definetly considered by most people to be their best work. It marks a departure from their sound in their first EP and Album, with cleaner vocals and screams as well as different styles of riffs and a less audible bass (rip). I believe this was also the first album to feature riff writing from their (at the time) other guitarist, Olly Steele.

There's a lot to love about this album. All instruments and vocals are really good and fit together and the writing is really impressive. My favorite part of the album is probably the end, with Saga City-Jinn-I, The Destroyer, just going from Saga Cities cleaner melodies, to Jinn's rapid riffs and screams, to I, The Destroyers more slow, lower riffs and deep screams.

If you haven't heard this album before, it's a classic, so give it a listen! Come back and tell me what you think about it, or post your live reaction as you're listening to it

Uh... I've been listening to this and absolution a lot lately so enjoy. I honestly haven't given this version of the album a listen through, because the people I got the album from are liars, but it's the newer remixed version. Also got this one from YouTube and not my own music library, so let me know how the audio quality is.

When I decided to host the mega again a bit ago, I had no idea what to make it about (of course). So it fell between two topics: a post on the importance of sleep, or a post on just how much I love Fire Emblem: The Sacred Echoes. Well, I felt like the importance of sleep was well-known, and could always wait for the next time I host a mega. I wanted to make sure I hit the Sacred Echoes iron while it's hot, because I've almost finished my play through at this point, and it might genuinely be one of the best games I have ever played.

Sacred Echoes feels so polished, considering it's a fan-made romhack of Sacred Stones, with the goal of bringing the 3DS game, Shadows of Valentia (SoV), to the GBA. Everything about the game aesthetically is very well-done, from the portraits, to the battle sprites, and literally anything else that could be thought of about a game. This includes new character writing, which helps the game in areas where Shadows of Valentia was a little, well, off. That's what I want to go over first, and although I've made a post before, I had only played a little bit of the game. Being at the end, I've noticed more things, and grown to appreciate this game even more than I already did.

Let's start off with the relevant (and interesting) bits: Sacred Echoes actually does a really good job at representing a variety of backgrounds, while also being diverse in a way that doesn't feel like it's simply to have a token character. This game doesn't suffer from the cracker curse, for example. Although most of the characters are white, there is more than one person of color () . In terms of LGBTQ+ representation, it's even better. There are many gay/lesbian characters, whose sexuality actually plays a role in the plot and how they interact with others. There's also an aroace character, Lukas, who goes through a whole arc of self-discovery in his support conversations (support Python). It's good stuff, and not things I would normally expect from a Fire Emblem game. I hesitate to bring up the (possibly) only trans character in the game, Jesse. HOLD ON, NO HESITATION AT ALL! I just decided to do more research, and I wasn't just projecting. He is 100% trans, and it's in supports, and it's relevant to his plot and backstory, so it's just like the rest of them, thank goodness, I was worried he was a token. So yeah, support Clive and Jesse. Good stuff, and good luck getting to the end of the game so they can actually meet, one fights for Alm and the other for Celica...

This is Jesse

Here's some dialogue between Clive and Jesse, in the context of a will:

Clive: Only the following will be yours - your mother's wardrobe, her jewelry box, and all corresponding contents.

Jesse: Urgh. Even from halfway in the grave he's trying to tell me what to wear. So yeah, he's still the same tyrant he always was. Hasn't changed a bit.

In terms of character background, it's more diverse than one would think, and it addresses the issue of feudal class. Not all of the characters are nobles, and one of the main characters is a commoner from a random village. The plot regularly deals with the fact that nobles and commoners do not get along. However, it does not try to redeem most nobles. If they aren't proving themselves with their actions, they're probably shitty. Even if they are supposedly "one of the good ones", there's usually some underlying prejudice that comes out when you might not expect it. I love it so much, and I am extremely impressed that the plot doesn't try to redeem nobility as a whole, but rather allows the noble characters within the cast to have character development that feels less like justification and more like re-education.

Pictured is the class traitor Lukas absolutely destroying Fernand

For other details about the story, I'll link my original post. I don't want to drag this on too long, and I mention most of the improvements there. It also includes where to find the patch for the game, and how to play the game for yourself. If you enjoy SRPGs, or are new to the genre, I recommend this game. It has an easy mode for the newbies, and hard mode for those of us who hate ourselves (/s), and a normal mode for everything in-between

The Echoes cast is amazing, and I love how they interact with each other and the world. Each character stands out, and they feel unique in their relationships with the other characters. Even characters that suffer in SoV, like Faye and the Masked Knight (has a name but it's spoilers), benefit from the Sacred Echoes writing, making them actually enjoyable characters. The villains of the game are also great. I don't want to go too deep, because I don't want to spoil too much, but they aren't just pure evil, and for that I applaud the SoV writers. Berkut is probably the highlight of the game, being the heir to the throne of the empire. I am once again asking you to play the game, because IT IS SO GREAT, and I would not have expected these good of villains to pair with Alm and Celica, as well as their armies.

Pictured is the Masked Knight being a gay little guy. The other guy (Saber) is threatening his life...

Everything about the game design is also amazing. It's GBA Fire Emblem, so the animations are peak and the pixel art is stellar. The maps are improved from the original SoV maps, and they are definetly much better, and much less repetitive. Classes in the game are fun in how they work, each character being able to promote 2-3 times. Mages also work really uniquely and well in this game, with spells costing HP to cast. They learn spells as they level up, rather than by purchasing tomes, which makes for (in my opinion), better gameplay. Sacred Echoes also adds the GBA weapon and magic triangles!

All in all, Sacred Echoes is a great game, and even if you never ending up playing it, you now know of its existence. It stands out as a great romhack, as well as a great Fire Emblem game, AND it has the gay. Can it really get better than that?

If you want my original (and more in-depth) analysis, check out my original post. It's mostly about what Sacred Echoes improves upon the original Shadows of Valentia.

Hope you enjoyed my little nerd-out session, and have a good week everyone!

DOWNLOAD SACRED ECHOES: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/o9v75blehaid1re2i8qou/ALhV8LN1A59jdFIP6HYRH3c?rlkey=d7fl1m8qh9gl7ztmnim33euu1&e=1&dl=0

PATCH TO AN EXISTING SACRED STONES ROM: https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/

Join our public Matrix server! https://matrix.to/#/#tracha:chapo.chat

As a reminder, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.

Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.

Remember yesterday, when I posted about the We Are The Foundation EP? This is similar to what could have happened had Monuments continued with the style. 2 vocalists, vintage djent, Monuments and TesseracT in one, raw but good production, bass (kind of)? It's all here.

It took me a bit to find this. I don't believe it's on Spotify or any other streaming service, and unless someone recommends the album, it's not very discoverable. So you could say that the words were indeed hidden. Anyway, this album is really great, and extremely unique. Now, I say this every time, the artists I listen to are all different, but this album is different different. It's aggressive and simultaneously atmospheric and melodic. This can probably be attributed to the John Browne (Monuments) and Acle Kahney (TesseracT) combo, and they write really well together. Of course, Neema Askari and Joe Garrett also write really well, with their parts playing off of each other, similarly to Neema and Greg in the Monuments EP. Although I think that Neema and Greg are definitely better in this regard, Joe does provide a different feel on vocals with his deeper screams that contrast more with Neema's iconic whatever he does.

So what happened to Fellsilent? They died. TesseracT was beginning to get popular, and Acle probably liked working on his own project rather than working on Fellsilent, so he left the band. Following him, the drummer and Joe left as well, leaving just John and Neema. That was pretty much it. John already had Monuments, so he began working on the project he had established, and Neema hopped on (only to be kicked off). Just like that, Fellsilent was done, and while it would have been really interesting to see where they had gone, The Hidden Words is a great album, and we now have TesseracT and Monuments (well, Monuments might be done now) to carry Fellsilent's legacy.

Oh wait, you might want singles. Immerse is really good, as is Double Negative and Age of Deception. Now go listen to the album!

I'm back pretty early, aren't I? I believe I've posted this EP before, but this time I'll give the lore drop and analysis.

Greg Pope and Neema Askari were a set of vocalists on Monuments that joined after Fellsilent (pre Monuments + TesseracT) fell apart. Neema was on Fellsilent, but Greg was new. This is mostly irrelevant though, as when Monuments released this EP and opened a live show for Periphery with this lineup, it was clear just how well their voices worked together, and how well their (albeit unique) vocals fit over the music. Getting into rumor and/or I'm not sure territory here, but they were both under the belief that Monuments was over, so they "left" the band. Clearly the band wasn't actually done, and they picked up another vocalist (Matt Rose). This led to a song being cut (Memoirs) which they actually tried releasing, but Neema and/or Greg threatened legal action due to the iconic chorus. So, we got Gnosis, with completely re-worked vocals, and Greg and Neema were nowhere to be found.

So where does that leave this EP? Well, it was only released on myspace, so the compression and mixing is kind of raw garbage. Not even good raw, if it wasn't this good I would not be listening to it. But it IS that good. It's catchy, the vocal style is unique and executed well, the riffs are Gnosis riffs so they're good. What's bittersweet about this EP is, this is what Gnosis could have been. This music with Gnosis mixing would have been an amazing debut album, rivaling The Amanuensis. Instead, most people prefer the instrumental version of the album, and rank it lower, if not the lowest, out of all of the Monuments albums.

Before I leave yet again (no I'm not listing singles it's only three songs), I want to discuss lyrical themes. They sound left-wing and political, something that did happen on Gnosis (a bit more vaguely), but just completely died after that.

Like, this is explicitly anti-capitalist. When I heard this I went nuts. Gnosis was vague, but this was much better, especially lines like "Refuse the system because the system will re-use you" and even just "We Are The Foundation".

This one is sadder to me, because it hits close to home. I thought I knew it all, thought I knew what actually had to be done to help people. Then I learned how the world really works, how things are done intentionally with the knowledge that people are hurt and exploited. Even if we manage to fix a world that's actively decaying, what of the souls lost along the way? What of the souls who we lose every day to the system, the cycle? When will enough people see past the brainwashing, the propaganda, and realize these things, that money is irrelevant, that their worldview is likely built on lies?

Something else lost with Greg and Neema was songwriting. The themes were good, the lyrics themselves were good, just everything about this EP and this band had so much potential, not just to be a good band, but to spread a message. That didn't happen, though. So I'll sit here, still listening to this EP, thinking of what could have been, while appreciating what happened. Gnosis is still a great album, as are The Amanuensis, In Stasis, and Phronesis (except for lyrics on Phronesis, they're really bad). Enjoy this EP, it's quite the gem, even if the mixing is mid.

When I first found this album, it was an instrumental version, and for a month or two I thought that was the only version of the album. As nice as instrumentals are, I am a vocals person at heart, so I didn't listen to it. After burning myself out on The Amanuensis and In Stasis for the first time, I found it again and decided to give it a shot. Then I heard vocals, and I was confused. Turns out it did have vocals, and I just happened to get the wrong version . So what makes Gnosis stand out, and why do I enjoy it?

Well, I'm glad you were totally asking that question. This album is raw, especially compared to other Djent albums from the time. Yes, P1 and One were both more raw than P2 and Altered State, but Gnosis is another level of raw in it's production and style as a whole. The guitar tone is something that really stands out, and yes I say this like half of the time, but listen to it and you'll see what I mean. It sounds like a machine, and it definitely works for this album. Also, AUDIBLE BASS OH MY GOSH!!! Obligatory "bring back bass". The vocals are also really interesting and uniquely raw. Monuments has always had a vocalist issue, which meant that they have music with like 5 different vocalists out there. This album was done by Matt Rose, and while some people don't like his vocals, I think they really work on this album. The raw mechanic guitar tone combined with his harsh screams is something you have to hear to really understand what I'm describing.

So, what's the issue with this album*? I'll leave that for the day 5.5 post on the "We Are The Foundation" EP, becuase there's a bit of Monuments lore that needs to be gone over. Long story short is that the album was supposed to be done in a different style with different vocalists who were maneuvered/deceived out of Monuments. Either way, this album is still really good, and definitely stands on its own. If you need singles, listen to Admit Defeat, removed, and Regenerate. As always though, if you have the time listen through the whole album. It has quite a unique sound, one that never got returned to, and likely never will.

Alright, I'm feeling quite tired today, so you all are getting the rapid-fire round this time.

What I like: Vocals are great, up like an angel, down like a wounded ox. Guitars are great, as is usually the case with Periphery. It djents, its great, it has its super harsh moments on songs like The Price is Wrong and will have you emotional by the time you've finished Lune.

What could be improved: Where's the bass? I heard that bass play-through of Prayer Position and the bass line was so good, why can I barely hear it in the mix. I'm not asking every band to sound like TesseracT, but at least take notes in terms of mixing an album. Other than the lack of bass, this album has amazing mixing.

What do you all think of this album? It took a bit to grow on me, but I grew to like most of the songs on it. While always liking Lune and The Price is Wrong, the rest of the album got better and better to me the more I listened to it. Especially the Habitual Line-Stepper to Flatline to Absolomb, the whole second half of the album is probably my favorite.

Long ago, the world lived in a relative peace. Guided by nature, the people lived off of the land, paying their respects to the gods that assisted them in their daily lives. Then, the Divine arrived. Its light blessed all, allowing for great prosperity in exchange for the Luminae people's devotion. Declaring the unified Holy Kingdom of Auran, the Divine maintained a more physical presence than the gods of nature that came before it. The Divine could be seen, could be talked to, and could be felt. It was by all means their leader, as well as the arbiter of their salvation, as they saw it.

30 years ago, the Auran Federation broke out into war. Now a nation ruled by a parliament and a president, corruption and exploitation had greatly expanded, especially in the magic-rich province of Iberia. As a result, the people of Iberia began the Iberian Revolution, overthrowing their provincial government. A declaration of independence was made official, and the revolutionaries formed the People's Republic of Iberia. Outraged at this aggression, the federation declared war on the new nation in order to reclaim it. The Iberians by all means should have lost. However, they re-discovered a long dormant power that hadn't been used since before the era of the Divine.

Earth magic is a classification applied to spells that use the caster as the source rather than a god or patron. It requires years of study, years that the Iberian revolutionaries had spent reading through ancient texts that were forbidden by the federation. They had waited to rebel until this magic was mastered, and it was exactly what balanced the scales. Earth magic was not only unaffected by the Divine like elemental magic, but could counter the power the Divine provided to its followers.

The war was still one that was devastating, on both sides. The Divine Church therefore had a decision to make. Keep the war going, or try to restore peace and become a mediator. So, they organized talks between both Iberia and Auran, and they came to a decision. Iberia would maintain all of their land, but not reach past their boundaries. Auran would cede the two provinces bordering Iberia to the church in exchange for an end to the war and the promise of a pacified Iberia. The church then took the provinces it had received and formed the Divine Caliphate, a church turned nation. After five years, the fighting had finally ended, and the war was officially over. A few things happened with this resolution, though. Things that would change the course of Luminae forever.

The Divine had strained itself during the war, giving greater powers and boons to the nation it had created all those years ago. As a result, it seemingly dissipated, fading out of physical existence like the gods of nature had done before it. The Earth magic the Iberians had used in the war also vanished, which was not at all expected. How could something they seemingly controlled just dissapear? The answer is still not known today, though the People's Republic has dedicated many resources to uncovering the reason for its disappearance. Other than these occurrences, the world moved on from the conflict. Auran and Iberia even began to trade with each other, seemingly putting behind them the wounds of conflict. Behind the facade was a bitterness, though. The ruling class of Auran didn't like having to pay full price for resources from the magic-rich lands, while Iberia never forgot the other provinces of people they left behind. As for the Caliphate? It maintained the Divine Church in the two nations, while also having the Caliphate act as a buffer between them. People of one nation could not reach the other without passing through the Caliphate, after all, and the church had managed to put themselves into quite a powerful position.

This brings the world to the present day, a day where people continued to live in a tense peace, a peace that would not continue for long...

It would be really cool if I could find out how to make a map, wouldn't it? Sure, I could use existing maps and put my nations over them, but wouldn't it be so much better if it was more original?

The world itself is something newer to me. I haven't really considered a fantasy setting, even though I love fantasy, though the idea of a conflict and world that goes into its politics is something I've wanted to do for a while. Nothing here is concrete or final, and I'm open to suggestions and feedback, but I needed to make sure I have some sort of groundwork, some sort of world that the story I want to tell can take place in. I also want the characters I'm writing to feel like they live in a world, in a context, and so making sure I don't end up with a Fire Emblem 7 kind of situation is pretty important to me. Let me know what you think! Should names be changed? What should the names of cities be within the countries? What should the Earth/Dark magic be called? I look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Wow, okay. I didn't know I had a cult until a few months ago, and they actually make really good music. W Cult! I remember making a post about a track on this album, but I think it's time for the whole thing, don't you think?

Where to start. I found this album when I was looking for prog metal albums with female vocalists for the sake of voice training purposes, and what I found was quite the gem. I had never listened to "post-metal" or Cult of Luna before, Mariner was quite the departure from my djent. I really enjoyed it on the first listen through though, and it's now one of my favorite albums. Julie's vocals are great, I was not expecting what she would do on this album but it really makes this album. I actually don't know the band members for this band, but whoever does the deeper screams is also really good, and the two of them sound really well with each other. The instrumentals are also great, and in a way they create a feeling of immersion with patterns and powerful riffs. The riffs will often take their time, letting you take the whole thing in before its gone, and I love that about this album. Everything just works well together! Also, there's no singles today, I guess you could listen to Chevron or Cygnus but this album is best experienced in its entirety.

That's going to be all for today's rec. Let me know if you enjoy/enjoyed this album or not, and feel free to give me some recs as well. I'll be back tomorrow