The Black Dahlia Murder - Black Valor

     Today's song comes once again from time spent with my brother, and I promise that this time it's a tad more metal than As I Lay Dying. You see, we were driving, and today's band happened to come up on the 'ol Shufflatron, causing my brother to chuckle, shake his head, and say "blastbeats, eh?". Yes, my figurative son. Blastbeats.

     Your song today is "Black Valor", the opening track from 2009's Deflorate by The Black Dahlia Murder. I know I'm a bit of a latecomer to the TBDM party, but Deflorate is the album that cemented my love for this band and what they do. And that includes blastbeats. Everblack is nearing two years old now, so perhaps wishing for some new Black Dahlia Murder wouldn't be a complete waste, but for the time being we'll just have to jam some of this quality old shit. Go.

Sunday: Slipknot - My Plague

     A couple of days ago, I threw it back for Thursday with an old school As I Lay Dying song. Today you're getting a slightly belated Slipknot Sunday sequel in the form of something from my favourite 'Knot album evar!

     Spoiler alert: it's 2001's Iowa. Slipknot's done a lot of good shit since then, but for my money this is still the best encapsulation of the madness that is Slipknot at their best. I've featured several songs from this record before here at Loud Noises, but today you're getting "My Plague" for your Slipknot Sunday (the album version, not the slightly-neutered 'New Abuse' remix). Iowa is an angry album in general, but "My Plague" in particular is a caustic slice of finely-honed Corey Taylor vitriol. Anyone who grew up on some Slipknot will feel right at home cranking this old chestnut again.

Thursday: As I Lay Dying - Through Struggle

     I'm going to throw it back for a belated Thursday post, because this afternoon my brother reminded me that, whatever you may think now of Tim Lambesis, As I Lay Dying write some solid riffs back in the day. Like this one.

     "Through Struggle" from 2005's Shadows Are Security was always a favourite among my friends and I, and for good reason. That opening riff will get your head going. You can't help it. Like most of this album, it's nothing flashy, but it is catchy, and while not everything on this record has aged very well, this one's still fun if you ask me.

     If, like me, you used to listen to a lot of metalcore, you're probably already right there with me on this one for a Throwback Thor's Day. If you didn't, or you're not, why not try to be for a few minutes?

Wovenwar - Profane

     I've chosen today's song almost despite myself. Although I was a pretty big As I Lay Dying fan for their first several albums, my interest waned with their last couple, and I've followed the whole Tim Lambesis thing and the subsequent resurrection of AILD-sans-Tim as Wovenwar with only a little more than passing interest.

      When the band first started teasing the new material, I was just kinda "meh" about it. Ditto for when the first song came out, a track called "All Rise", if I recall correctly. But for some reason the latest track to make the internet rounds, "Profane", is grabbing me a little bit more.

     Sure, it's not really anything new -- the riffing could be As I Lay Dying stuff as easily as Wovenwar -- but its straight-forward heaviness still merits some head-bangery. "Profane", out next week on the band's self-titled debut Wovenwar, is "radio heavy", but in a good way.

Within Ruins - Gods Amongst Men

     Tonight's tasty riffage comes courtesy of Westfield, MA's Within Ruins from their latest disc, the forthcoming Phenomena.

     "Gods Amongst Men" is hardly reinventing the wheel: the riffing is vaguely (but inoffensively) djenty, the drumming is pretty -core, and the vocalist sounds like a bunch of different guys a bunch of different times. But this one's definitely a case of being greater than the sum of its constituent parts.

     I'm not the hugest fan of the super-compressed guitar tone, but other than that this could be a great As I Lay Dying song that never was, if AILD had the occasional bit of bloopiness. If nothing else, "Gods Among Men" is proof that there are still bands making metalcore out there, and at least some it is worth listening to.

Sunday: As I Lay Dying - An Ocean Between Us

     The strange and unfortunate case of As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis may be all but over with his guilty plea a month or two ago, but it seems the rest of the band is indeed going to solider on in some form or another.

     Recent posts to the Instagrams* of each of the remaining band members teased some snippets of new music the guys are working, and while it doesn't really sound terribly different from standard As I Lay Dying, it does sound a tad fresher to me, a tad more hungry. Maybe new whatever they're going to be called will actually be better than As I Lay Dying had become?

     Notice the question mark there? Yeah, I'm going to hold off proclaiming glory or doom for now. Until we have more concrete evidence on which to base a real opinion, let's listen to some older AILD and go with the title track from 2007's An Ocean Between Us.

*Yeah, that's a thing now. Instagram is a source of news.

As I Lay Dying - Confined

     I mentioned playing some Metallica back in the day in yesterday's big mega-post, and today we're going to go with another song we really used to dig when I was an undergrad.

     Your song today is "Confined" from As I Lay Dying's 2005 disc Shadows Are Security, a pretty solid metalcore song if you ask me. I've discovered a lot of new music since this album came out, especially since I started writing this blog, much of which has taken me beyond the rather limiting metalcore formula of As I Lay Dying. But I can't deny them their place in my musical history, and I won't deny that there are a bunch of As I Lay Dying songs that I still enjoy, like "Confined". So hate on, haters, while I and anyone who cares to join me will be rocking out like it's eight to ten years ago.

Song of the Day: As I Lay Dying - The Darkest Nights

     I'm pretty sure I've made this clear before, but just in case some of you haven't pick up on it, I'mma spell it out for you: this is NOT a music/metal news blog.

Song of the Day: As I Lay Dying - 94 Hours

     Killwitch Engage's apparent return to something approximating form, as evidenced by yesterday's song, got me thinking about other bands of yore that could stand a smidgen of their old fire. That in turn got me thinking about As I Lay Dying, which has led me to today's song. Ta-da!

Song of the Day: As I Lay Dying - Greater Foundation

     Today's song is one of those no-brainers. There's a new album out by a band that I follow, and they've got a single with a video. If that's not the recipe for instant Song of the Day action, I don't know what is.

Song of the Day: As I Lay Dying - Meaning in Tragedy

     My friends and I used to be big fans of As I Lay Dying. We haven't been as enthusiastic about their last couple of albums because they're definitely a band that has "found their sound" and seems content to rest on their admittedly heavy laurels. But their first couple of albums were apparently just what the doctor ordered when they came out, with Shadows Are Security being a real classic, and the album that made the band.