Mage

Mage may refer to:

Wizard (character class)

The Wizard is a type of magical character class in certain role-playing games, including role-playing video games. Wizards are considered to be spellcasters who wield powerful spells, but are often physically weak as a trade-off. Wizards are commonly confused with similar offensive spellcasting classes such as the Warlock and the Necromancer. However, a Wizard's power is based on the arcane and a Warlock or Necromancer's power is based on darkness or death. Wizards are primarily based on wizards from assorted fantasy literature. Other terms used to describe the classification include Mage, Magician, and Magic User.

Dungeons & Dragons

The Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper franchise has three base character classes, with access to "arcane magic", that could be considered wizards:

Wizard

The wizard is a "genius student" of arcane magic, who has studied the subject for years. He practices until he is able to command magic with ease. The wizard must prepare spells daily. They are normally called 'magic-users'.

Magician (paranormal)

A magician is a practitioner of magic who attains objectives or acquires knowledge using supernatural means.

Some modern magicians, such as Aleister Crowley and those who follow the traditions of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis, describe magic in rational terms, using definitions, postulates and theorems. Aleister Crowley said "the magician of the future will use mathematical formulas".

The paranormal kind of magician (unlike the stage illusionist) can also be referred to as an enchanter, wizard, mage, magus or thaumaturgist. These overlapping terms may be distinguished by some traditions or some writers. When such distinctions are made, sorcerers are more often practitioners of evocations or black magic, and there may be variations on level and type of power associated with each name.

Some names, distinctions or aspects may have more of a negative connotation than others, depending on the setting and the context. (See also Magic and Magic and religion, for some examples.)

Phrase

In everyday speech, a phrase may be any group of words, often carrying a special idiomatic meaning; in this sense it is roughly synonymous with expression. In linguistic analysis, a phrase is a group of words (or possibly a single word) that functions as a constituent in the syntax of a sentence—a single unit within a grammatical hierarchy. A phrase appears within a clause, although it is also possible for a phrase to be a clause or to contain a clause within it.

Common and technical use

There is a difference between the common use of the term phrase and its technical use in linguistics. In common usage, a phrase is usually a group of words with some special idiomatic meaning or other significance, such as "all rights reserved", "economical with the truth", "kick the bucket", and the like. It may be a euphemism, a saying or proverb, a fixed expression, a figure of speech, etc.

In grammatical analysis, particularly in theories of syntax, a phrase is any group of words, or sometimes a single word, which plays a particular role within the grammatical structure of a sentence. It does not have to have any special meaning or significance, or even exist anywhere outside of the sentence being analyzed, but it must function there as a complete grammatical unit. For example, in the sentence Yesterday I saw an orange bird with a white neck, the words an orange bird with a white neck form what is called a noun phrase, or a determiner phrase in some theories, which functions as the object of the sentence.

Degenerate (album)

Degenerate is the third studio album by British death metal band Trigger the Bloodshed, released on 24 May 2010. It is the band's first album to feature Dan Wilding on drums; it was produced by Trigger the Bloodshed with Mark Daghorn, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen.

Background

Degenerate was recorded in early 2010, self-produced by the band with Mark Daghorn, mixed and mastered by the Danish producer Jacob Hansen. It was the band's first album that introduced drummer Daniel Wilding, formerly from the Belgium-based band Aborted.Degenerate was also released in a six-panel digipack complete with a re-recorded bonus track of "Whited Sepulcher" from the band's debut album. A music video directed by Dave Kenny was released for the song "The Soulful Dead".

Reception

Rock Sound stated: "The record produces a hectic attack on the senses through the obvious avenues of rapid drums and hyperactive guitars and, though expected, produces immensely impressive results."

Terrorizer commented the album: "Opening with the lurch 'n' smash grooves of 'A Vision Showing Nothing' (...)", "Still firmly in the hyper brutal camp of Aeon and Hate Eternal, the Trigger sound rarely relents, but a new found sense of melodic inciseiveness has its hands on the steering wheel throughout the dynamic but dense likes of Hollow Prophecy , A Sterile Existence and wickedly bleak closing track Until Kingdom Come" and stated about the album: "Another impressive show of enhanced strength and maturity", (...) "Forceful, confident, and defiantly extreme, Degenerate is exactly what British death metal needs."

Dude Ranch (album)

Dude Ranch is the second studio album by American pop punk band Blink-182. Recorded at Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, California with producer Mark Trombino, the album was released in the United States on June 17, 1997, jointly through independent label Cargo Music and major label MCA Records. MCA signed the band in 1996 following moderate sales of their debut Cheshire Cat (1995) and growing popularity of the trio in Australia. Dude Ranch was the band's final recording released on Cargo and their last with original drummer Scott Raynor before he was dismissed from the band in 1998.

The band recorded the album during the winter of 1996–1997. With lyrical material written on the band's nonstop tours over the previous years, as well as completed songs, the band recorded with Trombino in sessions that lasted for five weeks. During the production for Dude Ranch, the members of Blink-182 were plagued with difficulties only made worse by the rushed schedule: bassist Mark Hoppus and guitarist Tom DeLonge, co-vocalists for the band, were having vocal problems and Raynor had to record his drum tracks with both heels broken, on crutches.