Sunday: Nasty Toaster - Plastic Hips

     This isn't this first time I've defended metalcore and all its subgenre brethren, and by Odin's beard it shan't be the last! Your Sunday slice of something approaching metalcore reminds me a little of the warped love child of Every Time I Die and older Architects. Want to hear what that sounds like?

     If you answered yes, have a listen to French flavour-blending metalcore band Nasty Toaster, who manage to cover a lot of tasty, tasty ground on their 2014 self-titled EP. Nasty Toaster is a weird and wild four tracks, and I could probably start you off anywhere on the disc, so let's do what comes naturally and start at the start with EP-opener "Plastic Hips", a perfect example of all the big, bombastic metalcore that Nasty Toaster has to offer. Go on and give it a shot -- you'll be glad you did.

While She Sleeps - Crows

     Apparently I'm in a bit of a metalcore mood lately, because I've picked another offering from the land of chuggity chugs and breakdowns for your song this evening. And hey, what do you know, it's a bit of a throwback for this Thursday evening too.

     British metalcore act my have come a ways since their 2010 EP The North Stands for Nothing, but it's still my favourite release of theirs and the one with which I'm most familiar. As such, it's once again the source of your While She Sleeps Song.

     At less than three and a half minutes long, "Crows" is brief and relatively to the point, like most of the material on The North Stands for Nothing. It's got some decent melody going in its chord progressions too, reminding me a little of mid-career Architects. But besides everything else, it's a fun little metalcore song, and while the band's sound may have evolved in four years plus, I still digs me some of the old stuff. Czech it out.

Saturday: Architects - Save Me

     I've written before about how I think British band Architects are under-appreciated, at least over here on this side of the pond. I don't know if they're loads bigger in Britain or something, but in my (admittedly limited) social circles it always seems like I'm the only person who's into them. It's a bit of a shame, really.

     So today we're delving into the band's back catalogue for the closing track, "Save Me", from 2007's sophomore Ruin. Back then Architects were a bit more of a metalcore band, but that's not to say they weren't a good one. They've evolved since then, but some of my favourite Architects songs are from their first couple of albums, including Ruin, so have a listen to "Save Me" and dig that opening riff!

The Arusha Accord - Last Rise of the Fallen King

     Whether or not it's a bad word in your household, the "metalcore" umbrella can cover so much ground, can't it? Case in point: when first hearing British band The Arusha Accord, my initial thought was "OK, some tasty strain of metalcore then..."

     But there's so much more going on with The Arusha Accord than some chugga chuggas and some screamed vocals. They're techy, proggy, and even mathy -- think a little Dillinger-esque, maybe some The Safety Fire, or some early Architects -- but they've also got some cleans and harmonies in there that leather-clad metal purists might deride as "emo" -- a heavy, techy, Silverstein comes to mind.

     It's a well balanced mix of tech and melody that makes The Echo Verses an interesting listen from start to finish. That finish is where we're stopping today, with album closer "Last Rise of the Fallen King". It opens with a very Toolish guitar and bass part, and it only gets better from there.

Architects - Naysayer

     I've come to the conclusion that sometimes it's better to be just a casual fan of a band. Be the devoted fan, checking Twitter for album updates and reading every single spot you can find anywhere, and you'll only end up disappointed when some mastering error or shipping mishap delays the release of a long-awaited album.

     Best the casual fan, however, getting distracted by a myriad of other things and checking in with a band only occasionally or not at all, and you'll simply be pleasantly surprised every time they come out of the studio with fresh material and you happen to stumble upon it.

     Such is the case with British post-hardcore metalcore band Architects. I've been a fan since the band's first album, but the last several have caught me by surprise, and I think I've enjoyed them more because of it. So I'm pleased to have found "Naysayer" kicking around Facebook today. If its initial blast beats are anything to judge by, the forthcoming  Lost Forever // Lost Together should be plenty heavy.

Post-Christmas Four Way

     Why hello, stranger. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you and yours. I've been off for a few days, eating myself silly first with my family and then my girlfriend's, but now I'm back at it and back with you for your regularly scheduled Loud Noises programming. You know what that means: some Songs for the past couple of days.

     First up is Christmas Eve. I've decided that last year's Christmas Day song is going to be this year's Christmas Eve song, so your song for Tuesday is/was Bing Crosby's version of the classic carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". This has been one of my favourite Christmas carols since I was a wee lad, and I can't think of a better version than Bing's.

     Christmas Day is going to see Christopher Lee's "Jingle Hell" as your song for the day. Metal fans and movie dorks alike will already know that Christopher Lee has recorded a metal song or two in his day, and this year he put out another couple of Christmas tunes, including this one. Christmas carol by a 90+ year old not doing it for you? What about a Christmas carol from Dracula? Or Saruman? Talk about bang for your buck, "Jingle Hell" gets you all three.

     For your boxing day song, I'm going to point you in the direction of "Music Box" from Thrice's 2005 disc Vheissu because I'm not terribly clever and I want a "box" themed song for Boxing Day (wiki it my American friends). This is, in my opinion, a very underrated album from a key transitional period in the history of this band. They were transitioning away from their earlier, heavier sound and towards some even more post than the post-hardcore they had been, and in the process they managed to craft an album of rock solid songs, not one of which can be considered filler.

     Last up we have your song for today, aka Friday, and speaking of underrated, we're going with a song by British metalcore/mathcore/whatevercore band Architects. I've been a fan since 2006's Nightmares, and while this band too has evolved well beyond where they started, they're still putting out quality metalcore (for lack of a better word) that should appeal even to those for whom "metalcore" is a four-letter word. Check out "Follow the Water" from 2009's Hollow Crown to see what I mean.

Song of the Day: Architects - The Darkest Tomb

     OK, today we're actually back to business as usual, for realsies, which means heavy music. I often try to come up with something you're probably not familiar with, and today I think I've got one. UK-based Architects* aren't a new band, but they might be new to you. They've also got a pretty deep catalogue now, so if you like today's song at all, you can chart their progression from techy, mathy metalcore through to more "mainstream" post-hardcore and (somewhat) back.

     Your Architects song today is "The Darkest Tomb" from their very first album, 2006's Nightmares. I can't remember if this was the first song I ever heard by these guys (which would make it an archetypal Song of the Day here at Loud Noises) but I do remember this being the first song I really dug. It made me give a little bit more time to the rest of the album, and I've been a fan ever since, even if never a huge one. And listening to this song now, I think it still holds up as one that will make you want to hear more of Nightmares.

* I phrase it this way because that's how you have to look them up online. There seems to be at least of couple of bands called Architects in the US, hence the distinction.