I try to bring you guys new music, and I talk about new albums that I'm stoked about, but it's never been my intention to keep you thoroughly up-to-date on all the latest news in the biz. There's lots of other sites (ie: the ones where I get MY news from...) that were already established when I started this and already doing a million times better at that end of things than I could ever hope to, and I've never had the time or the desire to try and muscle into a fraternity of metal journalism that is way out of my league.
Instead I've put Loud Noises firmly in the music/metal opinion column. Like I said, I feature new music and new albums, and I do occasionally talk about current events-type stuff, but I'm basically just making shit up. I'm not really trying to keep you abreast of the goings on in the metal world, or even in a particular genre. I'm essentially just keeping you abreast of what I'm listening to. The real people in my life don't necessarily always want to hear me ramble on about metal, so you're just picking up the slack.
But every once in a while something happens that I feel I would be remiss to ignore, and the last week or so has been... tumultuous, let's say. First, we had the passing of Slayer guitarist and riff master Jeff Hanneman, which I'm sure you've all read about by now. Now, I've never been a huge Slayer fan (always fell on the Metallica side of that old debate) but it's always sad to see a bastion of whatever thing you're into leave the world before their time. It is also, however, a little heartwarming to see the kind words from other bands and labels pop up in my Facebook feed or on some of the aforementioned stellar news sites. Metal can be a very divided genre rife with xenophobic subgenrefication, and sure, every group of people has its dicks, but the sheer quotient of good people in metal community always amazes me. Whether it's people rallying behind Randy Blythe or just people picking up someone in a pit who's fallen down, metal fans are by and large a solid bunch. It's just too bad I'm not necessarily reminded of it until bad happens to bring us together.
Speaking of something bad (yeah, it's a segue like a sledge hammer, fuck off) this week also saw the arrest of As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis on charges of soliciting someone to kill his estranged wife. From what I've read, the case against Tim looks pretty damning, assuming of course the prosecution has the evidence to support their charges. But I'll say the same thing now that I said about the Randy Blythe affair: if Tim is innocent, I really hope he is proven so, and if he isn't, then he needs to face the proverbial music. Yeah, I know, hiring someone to kill your wife isn't quite the same as being involved in the accidental death of a fan at a concert, but my point remains the same. Celebrity shouldn't protect people who break the law, especially when someone's death is involved. So like I said, as a fan of As I Lay Dying's older stuff at least, I hope that somehow the wrong guy has been gotten, but if Tim is indeed guilty, then as a fan of As I Lay Dying's older stuff I hope he's found to be so and punished accordingly.
Having said all of the above, I've still got to do a song for today. So in the interest of hoping things turn out alright (hey guy, be an Optimist Prime, not a Negatron) your song tonight is "The Darkest Nights" from As I Lay Dying's 2005 album Shadows are Security. It sounds kinda quaint to say now, but my friends and I listened to a ton of this album when it came out, and it still makes it into the rotation now and again. Here's to having something to carry you through your darkest nights, whatever they may be.
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