“Now I’m not pretty and I’m not cool, but I’m fat and I’m ugly and proud so fuck you”

As an overweight teen with long hair I was bullied for my appearance so this was my mantra.

Ironically songs like Surfacing now get me through those tough times at the gym.

Songs like Vermillion part.2 and Danger keep away I’d say had a pretty big effect on me, mainly because they took me off guard after the first two albums. The extended danger keep away is now one of my favourite tracks ever, people get so distracted by the image, stage shows and (lets be honest) manufactured interviews, but forget too easily that their creativity as musicians, and ability to craft songs and albums using such a diverse palette of genres, techniques and instrumentation is actually quite remarkable.

Having said that, I bypass volume three quite a lot, and although AHIG is generally one of peoples least favourite albums, it’s actually one my favs, it came out during a particularly tough time getting through my parents divorce and I thought it represented a true return to form, with the music, masks and album artwork.