Most of my Throwback Thursday posts lately have been little baby jumps back in time, a decade or two, at most -- trifles, really. For this Thursday's post, I'm genuinely throwing it back a ways -- forty years or so, if you're counting. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin usually get lumped in with classic rock, or sometimes mentioned in the same breath as bands like Black Sabbath when discussing the origins of heavy metal. And while both of those classifications are valid, there's so much going on across the breadth of Zep's catalogue that one can find whatever genre they want given only minimal searching, or none at all. Groovalicious funk, anyone?
Your Throwback Thursday song for this week is "Trampled Under Foot" from Zep's 1975 album Physical Graffiti, a raunchy slice of relentlessly driving funk that you can't help but bob your head to. Take a break from getting out of whatever comfort zone you usually inhabit, pile into your car, roll the windows down, and crank some Zep, starting with this one.
Showing posts with label Black Sabbath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Sabbath. Show all posts
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Sunday: Stone Sour - Creeping Death
Did you hear the one about Stone Sour becoming a cover band? Only it's no joke -- more anecdote, or fact even. Yes, Corey and Company have put together an interesting set of covers for the first of three EPs surely intended to give Stone Sour fans something to chew on until Slipknot's current album cycle wraps up.
The EP in question is called Meanwhile in Burbank... and the interesting set list in question draws cuts from the catalogues of Alice in Chains, Judas Priest, Kiss, Metallica, and Black Sabbath. Maybe not the strangest, most diverse mix in the world, but a decently respectable one nonetheless. For your Sunday song, however, there can really only be one candidate.
"Creeping Death" has been one of my favourite Metallica songs for years (as a historically-minded metalhead, what's not to like about a biblical metal song?) so for this past Sunday I'm going to suggest you check out the new Stone Sour version. It's not light years different or anything, but at the same time I think the guys managed to not fuck it up, which is worth a listen in itself.
The EP in question is called Meanwhile in Burbank... and the interesting set list in question draws cuts from the catalogues of Alice in Chains, Judas Priest, Kiss, Metallica, and Black Sabbath. Maybe not the strangest, most diverse mix in the world, but a decently respectable one nonetheless. For your Sunday song, however, there can really only be one candidate.
"Creeping Death" has been one of my favourite Metallica songs for years (as a historically-minded metalhead, what's not to like about a biblical metal song?) so for this past Sunday I'm going to suggest you check out the new Stone Sour version. It's not light years different or anything, but at the same time I think the guys managed to not fuck it up, which is worth a listen in itself.
Sunday, 16 November 2014
Sunday: Foo FIghters (with Zac Brown) - War Pigs
It's been a long time since I've done a week of themed posts, but that doesn't mean the concept hasn't crossed my mind lately. For a while now I've been toying with the idea of doing another one, biding my time and collecting possible material. Lucky for you I've finally decided that this week is the week.
So what theme have I chosen for the next seven days of posts? Hold onto your duvets people, because it's the return of Under the Covers of Darkness week! Maybe I'll start calling it Under the Covers of Darkness 2: The Re-Darkening. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just get to the covers instead.
We're going to kick things off with a recent cover of a song you should all be familiar with. About a month ago, Foo Fighters did a week-long residency on Letterman as part of the promotion for their new album Sonic Highways and the accompanying HBO mini-series of the same name, and the Foos started their week the same way I'm starting mine: with a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".
It's a little condensed, a little trimmed in a spot or two, but can you really blame them? The original Sabbath version clocks in at around eight minutes long, making it perhaps a tad ambitious for a late-night spot. Regardless, any way you slice it up, it's still good to see some Sabbath on TV in 2014, which is why "War Pigs" is your first cover for the week. See you tomorrow, war pigs.
So what theme have I chosen for the next seven days of posts? Hold onto your duvets people, because it's the return of Under the Covers of Darkness week! Maybe I'll start calling it Under the Covers of Darkness 2: The Re-Darkening. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just get to the covers instead.
We're going to kick things off with a recent cover of a song you should all be familiar with. About a month ago, Foo Fighters did a week-long residency on Letterman as part of the promotion for their new album Sonic Highways and the accompanying HBO mini-series of the same name, and the Foos started their week the same way I'm starting mine: with a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".
It's a little condensed, a little trimmed in a spot or two, but can you really blame them? The original Sabbath version clocks in at around eight minutes long, making it perhaps a tad ambitious for a late-night spot. Regardless, any way you slice it up, it's still good to see some Sabbath on TV in 2014, which is why "War Pigs" is your first cover for the week. See you tomorrow, war pigs.
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Twenty Questions with Andrew from Eidola
Hey everybody, happy Friday! It's been a while since the last Loud
Noises interview, and it's time once again to rectify this unfortunate
situation. As always, I try to keep things interesting around here, and
to that end I've gone with a band that's somewhat less "metal" this time
out, but no less awesome for it.
So: who, or what, is Eidola? Why don't you read on to find out?
- LN: Why don’t we start by getting your name, what you play, and who you play it for.
Andrew: My name is Andrew Wells, I sing and play guitar for a band called Eidola from Salt Lake City, Utah.
- LN: Band nomenclature is a constant fascination to me, so I’m going to subject you to the same question I ask everybody: where did your name come from? You’ve got some stuff on your Facebook relating to the Greek word “eidolon”, but I’m wondering how you came to this as the source of your name?
Andrew: We went through hundreds of names when we started. We wanted something short and simple, but with some contextual weight to what we wanted to do as a project. Originally I wanted to name the band Jagannatha after a Hindu deity. One of the first songs we wrote together was entitled Eidola from the core semblance of multiple ideals being grouped together as an amalgamate. After a week of playing together and writing lyrics to that song we decided to swap the names. It just felt better that way and the lyrics ended up fitting much better under Jagannatha.
- LN: How did Eidola first come together?
Andrew: Eidola first started after my previous band Follow The Earth broke up, of which Brandon and James were both a part of. After a few weeks of writing by myself I met up with my old high school nemesis Matt Dommer and it was magic. Eventually we recruited James Johnson and Harold Riding to start mapping out songs and developing live show aesthetics. We recruited Zac Bryant (My Fair Fiend) and recorded a home demo 4-song EP. When Zac bounced to play in Sea Swallowed Us Whole we recruited Matt Hansen and fell in love. I had known that dude for years from multiple local bands and always admired his playing, so I asked him if he wanted to join up with us. Brandon and I are brothers, so we kept in contact for about a year after FTE broke up. When we signed to Blue Swan and started writing Degeneraterra I wanted to take the band to new heights and recruited him on guitar. The guy is insanely talented and we could not be more stoked to spend sweaty nights in the van with him.
- LN: Your music isn’t exactly overly technical, but it isn’t exactly simple either. Do any of you have any musical training, or are you all essentially self-taught?
Andrew: The definition of technicality is always funny to me because it's incredibly subjective! I think the reason we didn't do a lot of crazy shredding on The Great Glass Elephant was because we were really focused on creating a conceptual atmosphere and concentrated more on the dynamic elements than the mixed meter structures and polyrhythms. The new album's concept certainly called for much more technically inclined parts matching the dynamic elements and we're really excited to release it. A few of us are self-taught, and a couple of us have some formal training, so it creates an interesting balance.
- LN: You guys are from Utah, which is not necessarily somewhere those of us out here on the internet might think of as a hotbed of interesting music, heavy or otherwise. Prove us ignorant and narrow-minded and tell me about anybody cool I should know about from your neck of the woods.
Andrew: Hahaha that is the best way I've ever heard that phrased! Utah is surprisingly rich with talent. Whether you're looking for metal, indie-folk, pop, electro-hippie-jam-stank band music; Utah has got you covered. Cool bands I would recommend checking out? Visitors, Wearing Thin, Captives, Grass, I Am Designer and My Fair Fiend are all incredible bands that I would highly recommend looking into.
- LN: Like I said, I dig names, so I’m curious about the name of your latest record, Degeneterra. The meaning, so to speak, of that title might seem somewhat obvious, in an etymological sort of way, but I’m curious about what it means to you guys.
Andrew: So DegeneRAterra was a title we came up with when observing the scope of the album. We wanted to offer up something that really captured a conceptual piece that James and I had been refining for like six years. The original idea for the name came from the physics term for the third stage of the entropic cycle of the universe, The Degenerate Era. After a few weeks of kicking that name around I think it was Matt that suggested we bring the words together and add the extra "r" to add real world relevance to the term in an attempt to create something we hadn't really seen or heard before. Degeneraterra was the result, and we could not be more satisfied with that decision.
- LN: From what I can tell online, it looks like Degenterra is your second full-length album. How has the writing and recording of Degeneterra differed from that of The Great Glass Elephant?
Andrew: It was completely different! Without going into too many details the differences were stark. Writing for TGGE was pretty scattered and laid back, over the course of many months. Degeneraterra was a much more consolidated writing process with a very detailed conceptual basis in mind. I quit my job for six months and locked myself in my house to write, refine, re-write and demo out Degeneraterra. The Great Glass Elephant was recorded over the span of like seven months in various shady locations. It was done pretty much DIY with the help of a guy named Randy in Provo, UT. Degeneraterra was recorded at the incredible Pus Cavern in Sacramento with Josh and Will, so the experience was completely different. Will and Josh were hands on producers too, which we really liked, and the outcome is vastly different than anything we've done to this point.
- LN: How did you guys get hooked up with Will and Blue Swan Records?
Andrew: We got hooked up with Will through Sergio Medina of Stolas. We opened for Stolas on the "Living Creatures" tour and we just hit it off. I ended up giving them a copy of TGGE, word got back to Will and we had some lengthy talks. After a while of pre-pro demos being sent back and forth we worked out a deal, drove to Sac, and made an album.
- LN: You’re about to release Degeneterra this fall – what’s next? Maybe some touring?
Andrew: We are indeed! The wait has been arduous for a lot of people that have been with us from the start, but all good things come with time. We are working with Josh and Will to ensure this is the best release it can possibly be before we put it out. Once it's out there we want to tour as much as humanly possible. 400 shows a year? Yes please!
- LN: Speaking of touring, any plans to come north of the 49th? Canada – specifically eastern Ontario – would love to have you...
Andrew: I would absolutely love to come to Canada! If we can swing it, we'll be there in 2015 ;)
- LN: How about a few quick ones, like: Dance Gavin Dance or Secret Band?
Andrew: DGD fasho. Love me some Tilian and Tim. And now Aric from HTS has been killing it with them, so yeah. DGD.
- LN: Favourite Blue Swan labelmate?
Andrew: Stolas. We wouldn't be where we are without them. Plus, Sergio and I are pretty damn close. I would do anything for that guy.
- LN: Band you wish were a Blue Swan labelmate? (Hint hint, Will...)
Andrew: That's a tough one! If we're offering hints to Will, I would probably have to say my boys Visitors from SLC.
- LN: Favourite city or venue to play?
Andrew: SACRAMENTO! Hands down. We opened for Birds and HTS on a tour last summer and it was amazing. The crowd was insanely receptive and we loved every minute of it. Eidola has never played there, but Houston slays pretty hard. We would love to get out there and show Crimson Arrow and Mosaic Dream some love.
- LN: Worst tour or show story?
Andrew: Oh Jesus. . . There are a few. The worst tour story I have is way too long. Basically, we got stranded in Los Banos, CA on our way to Los Angeles. We took our van into the shop and the mechanics gave us some bull shit story and said it would be a week to get it fixed. We ended up renting a u-haul and towing the van, trailer, and gear to Vegas only to find out the fucking mechanics cut our breaks and fried our engine computer.
- LN: Now for a few of my standards: If you could make everyone stop what they’re doing and listen to one song right this minute, what song would it be?
Andrew: "Something" by Snarky Puppy. Lalah is one of the most talented singers I have ever heard. Her voice is mind blowing.
- LN: Dream Tour: who would you guys open for, or who would open for you?
Andrew: Dream tour for me would be: Deftones, Circa Survive, From Indian Lakes, Eidola. Hands down.
- LN: Almost done. What have you been listening to lately?
Andrew: Personally, I've been listening to a lot of Snarky Puppy, but I've always got a slew of artists on repeat. The new From Indian Lakes jams are incredible, Hail The Sun's new album "Wake" is one of the best records I've ever heard, and I'm extremely excited for the new Stolas jams.
- LN: Last one! What’s your favourite metal album of all time?
Andrew: Favorite metal album?! Too many to choose from! Probably Panopticon by ISIS or Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Both of those albums were what got me into heavy music in the first place and will always remain sacred in my heart.
As usual, my Jerry Springer-esque Final Thoughts before I wrap this one up:
- I know Eidola isn't a heavy-as-shit metal band, but Hindu deities = heavy-as-shit, metal band name-wise. Just saying.
- I don't know what I was expecting when I asked about Eidola's worst tour story, but somehow I'm not at all surprised to find that it involves the band's van. If I ever win a shitload of money in the lottery or something, I'm going to buy some bands some better vans.
- I'd see that tour, Andrew. Make it happen. ;-)
- Hail the Sun's new album Wake *is* pretty awesome. Methinks those guys have some more Songs of the Day in their future...
- Excellent choice of metal albums. Panopticon's where it's at in terms of Isis, and obviously Paranoid is a piece of heavy metal history.
And there you have it. Another day, another round of questions. Got a suggestion for who I should grill next? Leave a comment, and then stay tuned!
So: who, or what, is Eidola? Why don't you read on to find out?
- LN: Why don’t we start by getting your name, what you play, and who you play it for.
Andrew: My name is Andrew Wells, I sing and play guitar for a band called Eidola from Salt Lake City, Utah.
- LN: Band nomenclature is a constant fascination to me, so I’m going to subject you to the same question I ask everybody: where did your name come from? You’ve got some stuff on your Facebook relating to the Greek word “eidolon”, but I’m wondering how you came to this as the source of your name?
Andrew: We went through hundreds of names when we started. We wanted something short and simple, but with some contextual weight to what we wanted to do as a project. Originally I wanted to name the band Jagannatha after a Hindu deity. One of the first songs we wrote together was entitled Eidola from the core semblance of multiple ideals being grouped together as an amalgamate. After a week of playing together and writing lyrics to that song we decided to swap the names. It just felt better that way and the lyrics ended up fitting much better under Jagannatha.
- LN: How did Eidola first come together?
Andrew: Eidola first started after my previous band Follow The Earth broke up, of which Brandon and James were both a part of. After a few weeks of writing by myself I met up with my old high school nemesis Matt Dommer and it was magic. Eventually we recruited James Johnson and Harold Riding to start mapping out songs and developing live show aesthetics. We recruited Zac Bryant (My Fair Fiend) and recorded a home demo 4-song EP. When Zac bounced to play in Sea Swallowed Us Whole we recruited Matt Hansen and fell in love. I had known that dude for years from multiple local bands and always admired his playing, so I asked him if he wanted to join up with us. Brandon and I are brothers, so we kept in contact for about a year after FTE broke up. When we signed to Blue Swan and started writing Degeneraterra I wanted to take the band to new heights and recruited him on guitar. The guy is insanely talented and we could not be more stoked to spend sweaty nights in the van with him.
- LN: Your music isn’t exactly overly technical, but it isn’t exactly simple either. Do any of you have any musical training, or are you all essentially self-taught?
Andrew: The definition of technicality is always funny to me because it's incredibly subjective! I think the reason we didn't do a lot of crazy shredding on The Great Glass Elephant was because we were really focused on creating a conceptual atmosphere and concentrated more on the dynamic elements than the mixed meter structures and polyrhythms. The new album's concept certainly called for much more technically inclined parts matching the dynamic elements and we're really excited to release it. A few of us are self-taught, and a couple of us have some formal training, so it creates an interesting balance.
- LN: You guys are from Utah, which is not necessarily somewhere those of us out here on the internet might think of as a hotbed of interesting music, heavy or otherwise. Prove us ignorant and narrow-minded and tell me about anybody cool I should know about from your neck of the woods.
Andrew: Hahaha that is the best way I've ever heard that phrased! Utah is surprisingly rich with talent. Whether you're looking for metal, indie-folk, pop, electro-hippie-jam-stank band music; Utah has got you covered. Cool bands I would recommend checking out? Visitors, Wearing Thin, Captives, Grass, I Am Designer and My Fair Fiend are all incredible bands that I would highly recommend looking into.
- LN: Like I said, I dig names, so I’m curious about the name of your latest record, Degeneterra. The meaning, so to speak, of that title might seem somewhat obvious, in an etymological sort of way, but I’m curious about what it means to you guys.
Andrew: So DegeneRAterra was a title we came up with when observing the scope of the album. We wanted to offer up something that really captured a conceptual piece that James and I had been refining for like six years. The original idea for the name came from the physics term for the third stage of the entropic cycle of the universe, The Degenerate Era. After a few weeks of kicking that name around I think it was Matt that suggested we bring the words together and add the extra "r" to add real world relevance to the term in an attempt to create something we hadn't really seen or heard before. Degeneraterra was the result, and we could not be more satisfied with that decision.
- LN: From what I can tell online, it looks like Degenterra is your second full-length album. How has the writing and recording of Degeneterra differed from that of The Great Glass Elephant?
Andrew: It was completely different! Without going into too many details the differences were stark. Writing for TGGE was pretty scattered and laid back, over the course of many months. Degeneraterra was a much more consolidated writing process with a very detailed conceptual basis in mind. I quit my job for six months and locked myself in my house to write, refine, re-write and demo out Degeneraterra. The Great Glass Elephant was recorded over the span of like seven months in various shady locations. It was done pretty much DIY with the help of a guy named Randy in Provo, UT. Degeneraterra was recorded at the incredible Pus Cavern in Sacramento with Josh and Will, so the experience was completely different. Will and Josh were hands on producers too, which we really liked, and the outcome is vastly different than anything we've done to this point.
- LN: How did you guys get hooked up with Will and Blue Swan Records?
Andrew: We got hooked up with Will through Sergio Medina of Stolas. We opened for Stolas on the "Living Creatures" tour and we just hit it off. I ended up giving them a copy of TGGE, word got back to Will and we had some lengthy talks. After a while of pre-pro demos being sent back and forth we worked out a deal, drove to Sac, and made an album.
- LN: You’re about to release Degeneterra this fall – what’s next? Maybe some touring?
Andrew: We are indeed! The wait has been arduous for a lot of people that have been with us from the start, but all good things come with time. We are working with Josh and Will to ensure this is the best release it can possibly be before we put it out. Once it's out there we want to tour as much as humanly possible. 400 shows a year? Yes please!
- LN: Speaking of touring, any plans to come north of the 49th? Canada – specifically eastern Ontario – would love to have you...
Andrew: I would absolutely love to come to Canada! If we can swing it, we'll be there in 2015 ;)
- LN: How about a few quick ones, like: Dance Gavin Dance or Secret Band?
Andrew: DGD fasho. Love me some Tilian and Tim. And now Aric from HTS has been killing it with them, so yeah. DGD.
- LN: Favourite Blue Swan labelmate?
Andrew: Stolas. We wouldn't be where we are without them. Plus, Sergio and I are pretty damn close. I would do anything for that guy.
- LN: Band you wish were a Blue Swan labelmate? (Hint hint, Will...)
Andrew: That's a tough one! If we're offering hints to Will, I would probably have to say my boys Visitors from SLC.
- LN: Favourite city or venue to play?
Andrew: SACRAMENTO! Hands down. We opened for Birds and HTS on a tour last summer and it was amazing. The crowd was insanely receptive and we loved every minute of it. Eidola has never played there, but Houston slays pretty hard. We would love to get out there and show Crimson Arrow and Mosaic Dream some love.
- LN: Worst tour or show story?
Andrew: Oh Jesus. . . There are a few. The worst tour story I have is way too long. Basically, we got stranded in Los Banos, CA on our way to Los Angeles. We took our van into the shop and the mechanics gave us some bull shit story and said it would be a week to get it fixed. We ended up renting a u-haul and towing the van, trailer, and gear to Vegas only to find out the fucking mechanics cut our breaks and fried our engine computer.
- LN: Now for a few of my standards: If you could make everyone stop what they’re doing and listen to one song right this minute, what song would it be?
Andrew: "Something" by Snarky Puppy. Lalah is one of the most talented singers I have ever heard. Her voice is mind blowing.
- LN: Dream Tour: who would you guys open for, or who would open for you?
Andrew: Dream tour for me would be: Deftones, Circa Survive, From Indian Lakes, Eidola. Hands down.
- LN: Almost done. What have you been listening to lately?
Andrew: Personally, I've been listening to a lot of Snarky Puppy, but I've always got a slew of artists on repeat. The new From Indian Lakes jams are incredible, Hail The Sun's new album "Wake" is one of the best records I've ever heard, and I'm extremely excited for the new Stolas jams.
- LN: Last one! What’s your favourite metal album of all time?
Andrew: Favorite metal album?! Too many to choose from! Probably Panopticon by ISIS or Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Both of those albums were what got me into heavy music in the first place and will always remain sacred in my heart.
As usual, my Jerry Springer-esque Final Thoughts before I wrap this one up:
- I know Eidola isn't a heavy-as-shit metal band, but Hindu deities = heavy-as-shit, metal band name-wise. Just saying.
- I don't know what I was expecting when I asked about Eidola's worst tour story, but somehow I'm not at all surprised to find that it involves the band's van. If I ever win a shitload of money in the lottery or something, I'm going to buy some bands some better vans.
- I'd see that tour, Andrew. Make it happen. ;-)
- Hail the Sun's new album Wake *is* pretty awesome. Methinks those guys have some more Songs of the Day in their future...
- Excellent choice of metal albums. Panopticon's where it's at in terms of Isis, and obviously Paranoid is a piece of heavy metal history.
And there you have it. Another day, another round of questions. Got a suggestion for who I should grill next? Leave a comment, and then stay tuned!
Friday, 18 July 2014
Sleep - The Clarity
It's Friday, and it's summer, so all of you out there should be doing your very best to max and/or relax. But maybe you need a little help getting to Chilltown, perhaps some of the, ahem, herbal variety. Stoner metal legends Sleep have got you covered.
The band has recently begun streaming the first new piece of Sleep music written in nearly twenty years, and at nearly ten minutes long "The Clarity" is about as epic a bit of Sabbath-influenced droney stoner doom as you'd expect. It's not as proggy or as tech as a lot of my usual fare, but sometimes something a little more direct is called for. Check it.
The band has recently begun streaming the first new piece of Sleep music written in nearly twenty years, and at nearly ten minutes long "The Clarity" is about as epic a bit of Sabbath-influenced droney stoner doom as you'd expect. It's not as proggy or as tech as a lot of my usual fare, but sometimes something a little more direct is called for. Check it.
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Song of the Day: Cake - Long Line of Cars
I know, I know, I said I had something planned for yesterday afternoon or evening, and I did. But I got sidetracked. By sleeping. But I'm back at it today, and you will indeed get my little treat this afternoon... right after we deal with our usual business.
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Song of the Day: System of a Down - Snowblind
We've had another snow day here in Kingston, so I've raided my memory banks for good snow-related songs. I think the song I've chosen for today qualifies.
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Song of the Day: Cake - War Pigs
Afternoon everyone. Today we're back doing day two of Under the Covers of Darkness Week here at Loud Noises, and I've got a good one for you. Yesterday's song, Thrice's cover of "Eleanor Rigby", while being cool, was a pretty straight-forward cover. It was heavier, sure, but definitely recognizably "Eleanor Rigby". Today's cover is a little further afield from the original -- in some very good ways.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Song of the Sunday: Black Sabbath - War Pigs
It's Remembrance Day here in Canada (or was yesterday ...) and it's hard to come up with an appropriate song that isn't too cheeky or one of the ones they play at ceremonies at 11:11. So I've just gone with a song I think is a good war song, but not overly silly or "metal".
Your song for yesterday is Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" (ok, the name is a little silly maybe...) the first track from the epic 1970 album Paranoid. Lest we forget...
Your song for yesterday is Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" (ok, the name is a little silly maybe...) the first track from the epic 1970 album Paranoid. Lest we forget...
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Songs of the Weekend/Classic Rock Week Kick-Off
OK, I missed doing a song yesterday, but unlike usual I have a valid excuse: we were at a friend's wedding yesterday. But on the plus side (for you, anyways) is that it kind of gave me the idea for today's Song, and possibly some direction for the rest of the week. Allow me to explain.
For a while now I've been contemplating doing a week (or more than one, if things go well) of themed songs. The idea I've been kicking around is a classic rock week, but not in a traditional sense so much as with the spirit of metal in mind. Some classic rock is considered to be directly presaging early metal, while other stuff may only have elements that have found their way into some form of metal or other, but the bottom line is there's a lot of good stuff from back in the day that's not The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or some other band you here on classic rock radio all the time (not that any of those bands isn't good). Now, I know classic rock isn't the most cutting edge music and that most of you will have heard most of it before. But maybe you're a young metalhead who hasn't heard it all and is curious about what came before. Or maybe you have heard everything before but just need to be reminded that metal isn't the only thing under the sun. Either way, I've been thinking for a while now that a week of classic rock might be a fun idea.
Then last night we're at this wedding, my girlfriend and I, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen comes on, and it seems like everybody in the room is belting out every word. That led me to the thought today that maybe I should take that as a sign that now's the time (the time is now*) for a classic rock theme week. So starting today, this week here at Loud Noises is Classic Rock Week, and today's a double feature because I missed yesterday. And your first song, as you might have guessed, is "Bohemian Rhapsody" from 1975's A Night at the Opera. At first glance, not very metal at all, but take another look. Operatic vocals (quite literally), multi-instrumentation, an unorthodox arrangement and some heavy riffing are all qualities of this song that you might also expect to find today in proggier stuff like Opeth, making "Bohemian Rhapsody" a song that still rocks and sounds fresh today.
So that's yesterday. Now today. Your second song is one more traditionally connected with metal, namely "War Pigs" from Black Sabbath's 1970 classic Paranoid. If I have to tell you why this one's metal, you should probably just leave now.
* a million bonus points to anyone who can correctly guess the classic rock reference there.
For a while now I've been contemplating doing a week (or more than one, if things go well) of themed songs. The idea I've been kicking around is a classic rock week, but not in a traditional sense so much as with the spirit of metal in mind. Some classic rock is considered to be directly presaging early metal, while other stuff may only have elements that have found their way into some form of metal or other, but the bottom line is there's a lot of good stuff from back in the day that's not The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or some other band you here on classic rock radio all the time (not that any of those bands isn't good). Now, I know classic rock isn't the most cutting edge music and that most of you will have heard most of it before. But maybe you're a young metalhead who hasn't heard it all and is curious about what came before. Or maybe you have heard everything before but just need to be reminded that metal isn't the only thing under the sun. Either way, I've been thinking for a while now that a week of classic rock might be a fun idea.
Then last night we're at this wedding, my girlfriend and I, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen comes on, and it seems like everybody in the room is belting out every word. That led me to the thought today that maybe I should take that as a sign that now's the time (the time is now*) for a classic rock theme week. So starting today, this week here at Loud Noises is Classic Rock Week, and today's a double feature because I missed yesterday. And your first song, as you might have guessed, is "Bohemian Rhapsody" from 1975's A Night at the Opera. At first glance, not very metal at all, but take another look. Operatic vocals (quite literally), multi-instrumentation, an unorthodox arrangement and some heavy riffing are all qualities of this song that you might also expect to find today in proggier stuff like Opeth, making "Bohemian Rhapsody" a song that still rocks and sounds fresh today.
So that's yesterday. Now today. Your second song is one more traditionally connected with metal, namely "War Pigs" from Black Sabbath's 1970 classic Paranoid. If I have to tell you why this one's metal, you should probably just leave now.
* a million bonus points to anyone who can correctly guess the classic rock reference there.
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