Super Tuesday

     I used to follow American politics somewhat closely, back during the... ahem...tumultuous term of Bush II. As a Canadian, it's a little hard not to. We're so closely commercially and culturally linked, and on top of that our own politics are so much...drier than those of our neighbours to the south. Don't get me wrong, as a voter I like the fact that the Right and the Left in Canada are both pretty Centrist positions. But as a spectator, I can't deny the appeal of a little political drama, things like mudslinging and the like. I don't really follow any sports closely, so stuff like that can be fun to see when they're not my politicians. Hence, I used to follow American politics. I haven't payed as much attention to this election as I did the last couple, but I still maintain more than a passing interest in Obama vs. Romney.



     What's all of the above doing in this metal opinion blog? Well, it's all part of the long fucking walk towards today's post: Super Tuesday. In American politics, Super Tuesday is a Tuesday in February or so of an election year when the most states hold their primaries, which will eventually determine which candidate is nominated by each party come convention time.

     But fuck that.

     In my world, Super Tuesday this year is October 9th, and if you're a metal fan, you might already have some inkling why. If you don't, I'll tell you: there's some really good bands releasing what should be some really good albums that day. Who, you ask?

     Coheed and Cambria are back with another mouthful of an album, The Afterman Part 1: Ascension. Having finished the main story arc of The Amory Wars (Google it) with their last outing, Coheed and Cambria are going back for a prequel of sorts with a double album tracing the story of Sirius Amory, creator of the Keywork and namesake of the aforementioned Amory Wars. If you're not a Coheed fan, or you're just into the music and don't know anything about the overarching plot, then you have no idea what I'm talking about, but that's fine. Judging by the first single "Domino the Destitute", for which Coheed have filmed a video, there's plenty of tasty Coheed goodness awaiting the listener even if they're not following the plot. There have been some line-up changes since last time around (original drummer and Weerd Science MC Josh Eppard is back in the fold, and original bassist Mic Todd is out) but I'm still looking forward to seeing if Claudio and Company have anything left in the tank after five concept albums in the last decade or so.

     A personal favourite of mine, British thrash gods Sylosis, also have a new record coming out on October 9th, and I for one am STOKED. It's called Monolith, and based on both their track record and what I've heard from their studio videos, it should be suitably huge and imposing. I've written about how awesome Sylosis is before (in a What You Should Be Listening To post a couple of months ago) so I won't dwell too much longer on the subject here, except to say this: Sylosis will be big in the metal world. They've got two solid EPs and two solid LPs under their belts, and there isn't any indication that Monolith is going to be anything other than fucking solid. Add to that their opening spot on tour this fall with Lamb of God, In Flames, and Hatebreed, and you've got the makings of some metal monsters. You heard it here first: this is going to be a big fall for Sylosis

     The last band I need to talk about is one I'm sure you're all familiar with, and I'm also sure you're all aware that they've got a new album coming out. Between the Buried and Me are set to continue the epic sci-fi prog-metal tale the started with last year's EP The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues in their new full-length The Parallax II: Future Sequence and I know I'm not the only one who's excited. Their last couple of albums (2007's Colors and 2009's The Great Misdirect) were phenomenal, and the introductory EP Hypersleep Dialogues seems to indicate that all systems are go for another round of focused prog insanity. Add in the stellar set I saw them play in August at Heavy TO and the rave reviews that are popping up on the Internet even as I write this, and you've got every reason to get on the bandwagon of anticipation for this one.

     That's a pretty good amount of awesome to pack into a single day of releases. Am I missing anything? Is there another Super Tuesday coming up that you think is even super-er? Let me know. Otherwise, you've got two weeks to listen to everything else you want to listen to this fall, before one or more of these records consumes your listening time like it's going out of style. You've been warned!