Darkest Hour - Into the Grey

     We're just going back a few years for today's Throwback Thursday, but that doesn't make the song in question any less badass. While we're at it, let's call this a request for new material as well as a throwback, because Darkest Hour is just that cool.

     Darkest Hour also has a pretty hefty back catalogue, so when exactly are we throwing back to? How about 2009's The Eternal Return? I hope the sound of that floats your boat, because your Throwback Thursday song this evening is Eternal Return closer "Into the Grey", a track that I've always found works really well as a capper to an a record. Darkest Hour are a reasonably prolific band, so although their most recent LP Darkest Hour just came out last year I'm pretty confident we won't have to wait too long for new stuff. In the meantime, crank this one.

While She Sleeps - Our Legacy

     It's 'core time again for your Saturday song, this time from a band I've written about a couple of times before, but not in a while. They've got a brand-spraking-new record out, so I figure it's about time we revisit British metalcore act While She Sleeps.

     If first single "Our Legacy" is any indication, While She Sleeps' new album Brainwashed is melodic metalcore with a capital 'M' on both. Melody and sing-along-ability are here in spades, but there's some nice chunky riffing happening here too. Think more recent Darkest Hour with the overt technicality turned down some and you'll get at least some sense of the flavour of While She Sleeps. Check this one out if you're looking for something fun to share pints and stories over this weekend.

Dreamshade - Dreamers Don't Sleep

     Today's song was recommended on Facebook a while back by none other than the dudes in Darkest Hour (or at least the dudes running their Facebook page) and today I'm finally getting around to passing it along to you.

     "Dreamers Don't Sleep", the latest single from Swiss act Dreamshade, is a bit of heavily melodic, almost poppy metalcore, vaguely reminiscent of Bullet For My Valentine blended with Come Clarity-era In Flames, with some Killswitch Engage-y riffing in there for good measure. The result is another fun metalcore track in the vein of Sunday's Oceans Ate Alaska song. You like fun, right?

New Year's Day: Darkest Hour - Be Forewarned

     Happy New Year everybody! I know I'm still a little behind the real world calendar, but here in Loud Noises land it's Thursday now, which means so long 2014, you hideous old crone! Hello 2015, you nubile young vixen!

     For this Thursday New Year's Day, I'm throwing it back a bit to Darkest Hour's 2001 sophomore LP So Sedated, So Secure for the first "official" post of 2015. Of course, I'm cheating just a little, in the sense that the song I've chosen is actually a bonus track from the 2006 re-issue of said album, but it's still a throwback of at least eight years, so it's enough for a Throwback Thursday.

     In fact, I picked Darkest Hour's cover of Pentagram's "Be Forewarned" not only because it harkens back to the band's early career but also because it's got a serious 60s Batman-type vibe going on with one of its riffs. I trust you'll know which one I mean when you hear it.

Thursday: Darkest Hour - Tranquil

     We'll get there, people, we'll get there... And in order to do so, this Throwback Thursday post will just be a quickie,  throwing 'er back about a decade to one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands.

     Darkest Hour has had a central place in my musical world since I fell in love with 2003's Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation. It's one of those records that is not only awesome musically but also an important part of my musical history and my listening tastes at the time. I listened to the shit out of Hidden Hands.

     But pretty much equally important for me was Darkest Hour's follow-up two years later, 2005's classic Undoing Ruin. I listened to the shit out of this one too, becoming familiar with it back to front, inside and out. Pretty much every track on this album is a gem in its own way, but album closer "Tranquil" has always stood out as especially badass, from its furious riffage to the fact that it closes out the album with the same melody line that opened it. Pretty solid way to throw it back for this Thursday post if you ask me.

Saturday: Instar - We're Getting Older

     Just a quick late-night post for today, with something a little weird and spacey (figuratively and literally) to get you thinking this weekend.

     "We're Getting Older" is the latest track from self-proclaimed purveyors of adventure prog Instar, and its nearly six minutes of shifting grooves and ambient synthiness (aka figurative spaceyness) feature several guest session appearances from a variety of contributors, including Darkest Hour drummer Travis Orbin.

     Add in the fact that the song is lyrically sparse and instead interspersed spoken-word bits primarily concerned with the image of a starship and the listener's reactions and speculations and emotions on seeing said starship for the first time and you end up with the aforementioned literal spaceyness. For maximum effect, have a listen while staring up at the stars and contemplating our insignificance in the universe.

The Contortionist - Feedback Loop

     New album news just keeps rolling in, and I for one won't complain. Just as Darkest Hour have stopped teasing us and declared that their next disc will actually be self-titled (despite the hashtag Fuck Waiting Around to Die), the death-proggers in The Contortionist are teasing their next LP Languauge, due out in September.

     Alas, while Darkest Hour have given us a sample song from their forthcoming disc, The Contortionist have thus far only released a teaser snippet, leaving me to mine the band's first two LPs for a commemorative song to recommend to you. The song I've chosen, "Feedback Loop", is a perfect example of the juxtaposition of 'beauty' and 'beast' The Contortionist went for on 2012's Intrinsic, but with only a teaser to go on I have no idea how Language will stack up in comparison. Just groove to "Feedback Loop" for now and we'll check back when the boys release a song, OK?

Saturday: Darkest Hour - These Fevered Times

     More good news for metal fans with taste similar to mine (in addition to Dan rejoining Tesseract, of course) is the announcement of a release date for the latest from Darkest Hour.

     Based on all the promo stuff up on the band's Facebook page and the like, the record seems to be called Fuck Waiting Around to Die, and it's due out on the fifth of August, which really isn't that far away when you consider just how fast June has flown by. Based on the little teaser the band's posted, it sounds pretty much like you'd expect Darkest Hour to sound, but we'll all have to wait a bit longer to hear something more substantial.

     In the meantime let's celebrate the good news with a blast from the band's past. "These Fevered Times" is a relatively brief salvo of tasty metalcore and one of my favourite tracks from 2005's Undoing Ruin. It has all the Darkest Hour hallmarks -- good riffs, some shreddy leadwork, the trademarked DH drumbeat, acerbic John Henry vocals -- and it is, in this author's humble opinion, perfectly place on what is all around a classic album. Give it a spin.

New Year's Day: Darkest Hour - Blessed Infection

     Next up we have a song to start the year off with a bang, even if it is a belated one.

     Your New Year's Day song is "Blessed Infection" from 2009's The Eternal Return by Darkest Hour. Period posts appearing in my Facebook feed would have me believe that new Darkest Hour material is in the works, and if this is indeed the case, this longtime fan would be one happy camper.

     Hopefully 2014 will bring us some new Darkest Hour, but for now we'll have to settle for this quick blast of "Blessed Infection".

Song of the Day: Darkest Hour - The Sadist Nation

     OK, seriously, just one more example of my theory about first songs on albums and then we'll get back to new shit. I promise.

Song of the Day: Devin Townsend - Grace

     There's absolutely no denying that Devin Townsend is stupidly talented. I've always been more of a fan of his production work than his personal musical output -- his production credits include Darkest Hour's Undoing Ruin and Deliver Us as well as Misery Signals' Of Malice and the Magnum Heart and Controller, just to name some of my faves -- but Devin can play a lick or two on the guitar too, and carry a decent tune, and keep a beat...

Song of the Day: Darkest Hour - The Misinformation Age

     In Monday's Song of the Day post I likened the vocal style of Northlane's Adrian Fitipaldes to that of Darkest Hour's John Henry. It was more "vaguely reminiscent of" than "dead ringer for", and maybe you think even that kind of broad comparison is unwarranted, but either way I got to thinking that It's been a bit since we've done a Darkest Hour song.

Song of the Day: Northlane - Dream Awake

     I've been rocking Northlane's new album Singularity all day and I'm finding it pretty tasty. It's pretty djenty, and as such it's not exacly the most unique album out there, but there's something about it that I'm diggin' on that I can't quite put my finger on.

Song of the Day: Darkest Hour - Veritas, Aequitas

     I'm tired, so I'm going to bed. But you should click on the jump.

     Take thirteen (yes, thirteen) minutes out of your otherwise shitty evening and listen to the epic Darkest Hour slow-burner "Veritas, Aequitas" from their 2003 classic Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation. It's all the proof you need that Darkest Hour aren't all Swedish melodeathcore. They've got an instrumetal side too.

2012 Round-up, Part 3: An Open Letter to All the Bands Out There

     Well everybody, it’s finally here! What’s “it”, you ask? Why, the only-slightly-overdue third and final installment of my 2012 Year End Round-Up. But what could it be? I’ve already discussed what I liked best about 2012, and some of what I’m excited for in 2013, so what’s left? It’s a little something that’s been on my mind for a while now (years, really) and while I’ll be stupidly, ridiculously surprised if anything at all comes of it I still feel like getting it off my chest, and so you still have to read it...or not... Anyways, here we go!

Dear (INSERT BAND NAME HERE)
     Hey guys, how’s it going? My name’s Sean, but my friends call me TheBeard, and I write a wee little blog about metal and heavy music called Loud Noises. You’ve likely never heard of it, but that’s not at all surprising and actually kind of inconsequential. I’m penning this plea today simply as a fan of the kind of music you play.
     You see, I live in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, a city of about 150,000 right on the 401 maybe halfway between Toronto and Montreal. We’re also within a couple of hours of Ottawa, Brockville, Bellville, and Trenton, just to name a few of the other, smaller cities in southeastern Ontario that you’ve probably never heard of. We’ve got a world-class theatre, numerous bars and restaurants that feature live music, and a relatively new arena with a maximum capacity of 5,000-6,000. Since we’re a tourist town on Lake Ontario, we’ve also got lots of hotels and accommodations, many of them in the downtown area near the theatre, restaurants and bars, and the arena. Oh, and Kingston is home to a university and two colleges, giving it a relatively high (albeit somewhat seasonal) population of young people spending money at all those restaurants and bars.
     So why does it sound as if I’m trying to sell you Kingston like I’m the head of its tourism board? Simple: it’s because I am. Trying to sell you on Kingston, that is. Not head of Kingston’s Tourism Board. I’m trying to sell you on the idea that Kingston could and should be a viable stop on your next tour, especially if you’re going from Toronto to Ottawa or Toronto to Montreal or Toronto to Quebec City or any combination thereof, really, as long as you’re travelling along the 401...which you will be, if you’re trying to get anywhere in Southern Ontario.
     Now, I’ve seen a lot of good shows in Kingston over the years, so some of you must already agree with me. Alexisonfire, Protest the Hero, Moneen, Darkest Hour, Misery Signals and Tool (!) are among the bands I love that I’ve been fortunate enough to see right in my own backyard (so to speak), and there’s been at least a couple of shows over the years (Megadeth, anyone? Or even Devin Townsend?) that have rolled through town without me checking them out.
     My gripe, and the reason I’m writing this to all of you musicians out there, is the phrase “over the years” in the preceding paragraph. Unlike the lucky residents of, say, Toronto, who probably get to see at least a couple of really good metal/heavy-type shows a month (for the obvious trade-off of having to live in Toronto...) Kingston's lucky to get a couple a year. Don't get me wrong, I've seen a bunch of really cool shows in my hometown, including those listed above, but it's taken me since I was in high school to do it. That's around fifteen years for Kingston to get the kind and frequency of acts Toronto or Montreal gets in just one or two.
     Now, I can hear what you're saying already, you cynical economics major you: with a population in the millions, Toronto is a much bigger market than a city like Kingston and therefore a much safer bet financially for a touring band, especially one in a relatively niche genre like metal. I don't think it takes any special financial acumen or inside knowledge of the music industry to figure out that the bigger your potential audience, the better your chances of filling a venue. The odds of finding five hundred metalheads to pack a club are just better in a place with more potential metalheads. But hear me out. Clearly there is at least some economic viability to including a Kingston stop on your tour, or else acts wouldn't keep doing it. Of the bands I mentioned above, Alexisonfire, Protest the Hero, Moneen, and Darkest Hour (at the very least, these are just some off the top of my head) have played Kingston repeatedly since I've been a fan. On top of that, if you step outside our beloved genre for a moment, you'll see that such acts aren't alone. Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, ZZ Top, Alice Cooper, Skrillex (another one that surprised me), deadmau5, Elton John, Metric, and Stone Temple Pilots, to name just a smattering, have all played somewhere in the city in the last five years or so. Why, just this week it's been announced that Sting is coming to town in June.
     But you don't give a shit about any of those acts; why aren't metal bands playing here too? Why indeed? I think the big factor is, as discussed in the paragraph above, that Kingston is perceived as being too small a market. And admittedly, it *is* a small market when compared with the big cities of Canada and the US. But even as a small market it has some advantages, like the location factor I've already talked about. If you're a metal band with stops in Toronto and Ottawa on non-consecutive nights, you could add a date in Kingston on the off night much more easily than trying to include cities outside the basic "route" of your tour. And although the market is smaller, meaning less potential ticket buyers, the venues are also correspondingly smaller. A "big arena" show in Toronto means 20,000 people, while the closest equivalent in Kingston is 5,000 or under. That's an easier arena to sell out for sure. Not a big enough band for 5,000 even in a bigger market? No problem. Remember that theatre, and all those bars and restaurants with the live music? I've seen shows at a bunch of those places, and some of those shows have been pretty fucking heavy. And like I said, we've got lots of young people here with some disposable income who might very well jump at some metal if you gave them the right show.
     Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not naive enough to think you can just "add a date" in the middle of tour. Stopping in Kingston on your way from somewhere to somewhere else would require time, planning, and money, and investing any of these things in tour dates that might not pay off is a risk. I fully understand and appreciate this. But I counter with the idea that stopping in smaller places, like Kingston, is also an investment in building a devoted fanbase. Even in today's age of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, when so much of a band's interaction with its fans is online, it's still true that a band's career is really made or broken by their touring, by their getting their music in front of as many audiences as possible. I feel like an old man saying it, but good old fashioned hard work is still the way to make your name and your fans as a band. Take one of my examples from above as..well, as an example. Protest the Hero, a band that's been playing to little crowds like those at a comedy club in Kingston for years, chose to launch an indiegogo campaign to crowdfund their next album. And then as you've probably read somewhere or other by now they shattered their $125,000 goal in 24 hours. They've still got 20 days left in the campaign and they've already raised nearly $250,000. That's support directly from fans and it sure as shit wasn't earned by Protest only playing big cities. They've earned it touring the globe, playing anywhere and everywhere.
     Well guess what, (INSERT BAND NAME HERE)? Kingston is anywhere. And everywhere. Yeah, chew on that for a second. Then come back and please seriously consider everything else that I've said. I see your Canadian tour dates listed on your Facebook page, and I see some cities in Ontario other than Toronto and Ottawa, and I wonder why Kingston can't appear among them more often. In fact, I challenge you to play Kingston sometime in 2013. Shit, if we're cool enough for Tool, we're cool enough for you. Why not stop by and find out for yourself?

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you soon,
Sean, aka TheBeard @ Loud Noises

Song of the Day (25th): Bing Crosby - God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

     I know I said yesterday that I'd be back later and everything with another song, but yeah... that clearly didn't happen... Oh well. 'Tis the season, right? Anyways, I'm back today, and Loud Noises is back on track with its regular schedule of programming, starting with a Christmas ditty.

Song of the Day: Darkest Hour - With a Thousand Words to Say But One

     Today we've got a song from one of my favourite bands. I've been a big fan of Darkest Hour for years now, since 2003's Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation, but it was 2005's Undoing Ruin that really cemented Darkest Hour in the hearts and minds of metal fans, myself included. Just as Hidden Hands opens with an ass-kicking barn-burner ("The Sadist Nation"), Undoing Ruin likewise has a really great opening song, which you can use to open your day (OK, your mid-afternoon...).

     Your song today is "With a Thousand Words to Say But One" by Darkest Hour. And as a bonus, this album is so good that if you're fortunate enough to own a copy, I hereby implore you to simply put today's song on and then simply sit back and enjoy. Either way, if today's song doesn't get you going, you should perhaps watch out for rag-tag groups of survivors combing your area for supplies, because you may in fact be dead and just walking around with the rest of us.

Free Randy Blythe!

     Seriously, Czech Republic. What the fuck?

     So I'm traversing the internet the other day, minding my own business, when scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed I see a post from Darkest Hour sending their love out to Lamb of God and Company in the wake of vocalist Randy Blythe's arrest for manslaughter (!) in the Czech Republic.

     Say what?

     I've got a few other posts in the works, but all of that has to go on the back burner for a second because I would tremendously fucking remiss if I didn't comment on what has to be one of the biggest stories in metal right now.

     First off, the facts as far as I know them, with credit and thanks for the info going to the good people over at Metal Sucks (here's the link I've been following, in case you'd rather read it from someone other than me). The situation stands thus: Lamb of God was in the Czech Republic this week, specifically in Prague for a show, when Randy Blythe was arrested on charges of manslaughter connected to a concert in May of 2010. At this concert, a fan apparently leapt on stage (repeatedly, according to a statement from Lamb of God's publicist) and became engaged in some kind of physical altercation with Randy, which ended with Randy pushing the fan off the stage and back into the crowd where he hit his head. This fan later died from his injuries. Randy was taken into custody on either Wednesday or Thursday, but was released on bail yesterday (June 30), and will be in Prague until at least tomorrow (July 2).

     Let me preface the following by saying that if Randy is guilty of something, he should be held accountable. Money, fame, being from a different country, even being the lead singer for an internationally renowned metal band --  none of these things should protect a person from culpability for their actions, especially if those actions are illegal, or worse, lead to the injury or death of another person. As much as I love Lamb of God, if authorities in Prague have evidence that can prove Randy  responsible for this fan's death, then unfortunately Randy should be made to face the music*.

     That said, there are a few things about this story/situation that give rise to my reaction from above (serisouly Czech Republic, what the fuck?), the first of which being the timing of the whole thing. I admit my complete ignorance of Czech laws, meaning I have no idea whether or not there might be some sort of statute of limitations on a crime like manslaughter, but I would think that if there was any evidence at all to suggest Randy's being more than superficially responsible, it would not take two years to bring charges against him. I realize police investigations don't happen overnight, and that various forms of evidence take time to assemble and analyze, but come on. This incident  occurred at a show, presumably in full view of hundreds or even thousands of witnesses, with footage from the show supposedly being up on Youtube, and yet it would seem that authorities have needed two years to build enough of a case again Randy?

     Again, I profess legal ignorance; maybe the wheels of justice simply turn slowly. But the fact that this happened at a metal show brings me to my second point: this happened at a metal show. Metal shows are inherently dangerous. Hell,  any concert where people are crammed together, hot and sweaty, possibly crowdsurfing, possibly with a few beers in them, can get a little rowdy, and as a result attendance at any big concert, not just a metal show, can carry with it a certain level of bodily risk. Now take into account the fact that metal can be an aggressive, high energy style of music, and you have a situation in which any reasonable-minded person realizes there is at least the potential for injury. Anyone who tells you otherwise has clearly never been to a metal show.

     To say that you take your life in your own hands when you attend a metal show would of course be overly dramatic, but there is a kernel of truth there. You as an autonomous attendee do have a measure of control over your own safety at a concert. If you don't want to risk being dropped (or having your wallet, shoes, etc, stolen...), you don't go crowdsurfing. Simple. If you don't want to get slammed by that scary-looking guy in the circle pit, you hang back more toward the edge of the crowd. And if you aren't prepared to jump off the stage and into the crowd, or be "helped" off by security, with all the ensuing risks to your safety that leaving a stage in such a manner entails, you don't fucking climb onstage in the first place. Again, simple, no?

     But let's leave that responsibility on the part of the fan aside for now and move to the other thing I want to comment on, the responsibility Randy and the other guys in Lamb of God have for their safety. Every metal fan worth his or her salt knows that on December 8, 2004, Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed by a fan at a Damageplan show in Columbus, Ohio. Now I'm not saying this Czech fan had any ill intentions whatsoever, or that he even had the appearance of having any, but then I wasn't there. I don't know how threatened Randy or anyone else felt or didn't feel, and while it is terrible that this situation ended with the death of the fan, I would like to think that if Randy, or any member of any band, felt threatened by a fan, they should have at least some recourse to defend themselves other than politely asking said fan to vacate the stage in a timely fashion. This seems like a case where this recourse, maybe a shove and a "back the fuck up, buddy" might simply have led to the accidental death of the fan in question, which I suppose is why these are charges of manslaughter and not murder. I guess from where I sit there's just something not quite right about looking to assign blame for a tragic accident at an inherently (somewhat) dangerous recreational event more than two years after the fact

     OK, rant over. I'll close by saying that I just hope this situation gets resolved quickly and fairly. If Randy is guilty of something, he should be held responsible, and if he's not, let him get back on the fucking road already.

     And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.








* I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.