Saturday Afternoon Double Header

     I wanted to post a song yesterday evening. I really did. But saving the world from the machinations of Nazi Germany (aka playing Axis and Allies for like five or six hours) got in the way. I apologize for defending your freedoms. No need to thank me.

     So first up this afternoon we have a song for yesterday, and since WW2 was the order of the evening, we're stepping into the musical history books of my youth and going with System of a Down's "War?" from their self-titled debut.

     For today's song we'll pick something a little more current. Well, a lot more current. Protest the Hero's Volition came out officially this past Tuesday (a couple of songs/videos had already been released before it leaked a week or two ago) and now that I've had some time to spend with my copy, I for one can say that it slays.

     I'm still undecided as to where I'd rank it in the Protest canon, but I have decided that it is, at the very least, a worth addition to said canon. Soaring vocals? Check. Badass, quick-fingered guitar riffs? Check. Bass that actually does something besides follow the guitar? Check there too. And tight, machine-like drumming from Chris Adler? Double check.

     "Yellow Teeth" has all of the above, so check it out as yet another example of just how solid a record the boys in Protest have put together in Volition. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of rip of this album yet on Youtube, so you'll have to just have to go stream the whole album, paying special attention to track five for that yellow goodness. Have at 'er!

Protest the Hero - Drumhead Trial

     Thanks apparently to some early radio leakage, we've all got another new Protest the Hero track to help keep our appetites for the new album sated for a little longer.

     "Drumhead Trial" also gives us another example of Chris Adler's drum work with the band, and also happens to feature Ron Jarzombek (from Blotted Science, among other bands) doing some guest guitar soloing. All of this adds up to another solid Protest song. Does it matter that all people can say about the recently revealed Volition album art (which seems to me to be a pretty unsubtle statement about voyeurism and objectification in our modern times) is "ZOMG bird gang rape!!1!"? Not in the slightest.

     So take a few minutes right now to put on some "Drumhead Trial", and then take the rest of your evening praying to whatever gods you see fit in the hopes that this record will drop sooner.

Song of the Day: Protest the Hero - Clarity

     Unless you've spent your day under a rock or otherwise completely cut off from the world somehow (lucky you), you've likely already jammed the brand spankin' new Protest the Hero song. But just in case you missed it, Beardy's got you.

Song of the Day: Nine Inch Nails - Came Back Haunted

     OK, before I get to today's song, there's one thing I want to mention first. I've said before (more than once) that I'm not interested in being a music news blog per se, but just in case you haven't heard, Protest the Hero drummer Moe Carlson is leaving the band to go back to school. No permanent replacement has been announced yet, but the indiegogo-funded album the boys are working on will have none other than Lamb of God's Chris "I am a drumming robot" Adler behind the kit as their studio drummer. Colour me even more stoked for this album's apparent fall-ish release.