Good Tiger - Snake Oil

     The social media watchers among you have likely already heard of Good Tiger, a low-level supergroup born from the ashes of The Safety Fire and fronted by one Elliot Coleman, whose fairly deep resume includes some time in Tesseract, you'll remember. Well, now you get to hear Good Tiger, in the form of the first single from their successfully crowdfunded first album.

     "Snake Oil" has moments where it sounds like you'd expect it to -- something written by a significant portion of The Safety Fire -- but on the whole it feels more post-something than anything else. Truth be told, Finch comes to mind pretty readily on this one, but that's not a bad thing. It just means Good Tiger sounds less djenty and more... something else than I'd thought it might be.

     We're probably going to have to wait a while for the full album to finish brewing in the indiegogo money the guys in Good Tiger have gotten, but so far, you'll find no complaints here.

Sunday: Finch - Anywhere But Here

     I wrote about Finch's new record Back to Oblivion a few weeks back, but now that I've had some time to chew on the whole album, I feel like it's time to give you another reason to get into the band's return to the land of the living.

     This time around I'm picking the other of the two songs we got to hear before the record's release, "Anywhere But Here", for the simple reason that it's one of the songs on Back to Oblivion that I feel best harkens back to the band's old energy while still looking forward to what Finch might sound like if the guys continue on after this record. I just hope they will continue on to a fourth record, and beyond, and that it doesn't take them so long to do it this time.

Finch - Two Guns to the Temple

     I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that I love surprises, but I do love when you forget about something you're looking forward to and then it kinda creeps up on you and BAM! pounces on you like an ambushing predator.

     Case in point: back in the spring I learned that badass post-hardcore band Finch had come out of hibernation and was working on a new album. I then, unfortunately, proceeded to forget this knowledge so deeply and completely that my discovery today that Back to Oblivion will be out next week catches me totally by surprise.

     At least it's a pleasant surprise, and one accompanied by a couple of new tracks the band's released over the last couple of months to promote the record, including today's song "Two Guns to the Temple". I don't know if Back to Oblivion will live up to the lofty standard set by its predecessor Say Hello to Sunshine, but the off-kilter vibe of "Two Guns to the Temple" is a pretty good start.

Visions - Korma

     British tech-core band Visions have had a lot of obstacles thrown at them in the last couple of years, including at least one line-up change and the collapse of their label Myriad Records, but perseverance is the name of the game for these underdogs.

     I've featured these guys a couple of times before, mounting troubles and all, and it's nice to be able to pick another one of their songs without the impetus being some drama or other. Perhaps the best part, though, is that the band has obligingly put out a new song, so I can recommend you check out their very latest.

     The song in question is called "Korma", and its got some big riffing and some big vocals. Since the band's drumming position is still vacant, they had a little help on this track from one Mike Malyan, whose name you could certainly be forgiven for being familiar with: Mike is not only the current skinsman for his fellow Brits in Monuments, he's also part-time live and touring beatmaster for French electro-metal project The Algorithm.

     Mike's confident style and overall chops are right at home in Visions, and while I have no idea whether A) this is a permanent line-up arrangement, or B) this track represents work on a new album, I will be so bold as to say that this particular collaboration results in a solid slice of aggressive energy. Think later-catalogue Finch done just a little more metal, and you'll be ready to have a go at "Korma".

Saturday: Finch - Bitemarks and Bloodstains

     When I first decided to feature another song by (In my opinion) underrated post-hardcore band Finch, I figured it would be another entry in the "defunct bands I wish would come back from the dead" book. But some quick internet research tells me that Finch seem apparently to have reformed and begun working on what will become their third album. Colour me stoked!

     So instead of this being an "I wish this band would get back together and put out some new material" post, this is now an "I hope this band's new material approaches the awesome of a song like this" post, and the song in question is "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" from Finch's rocking sophomore disc Say Hello to Sunshine.

Song of the Day: Envy on the Coast - Head First in the River

     If I'd been writing this blog two or three years ago, I would most definitely have already featured today's song.

Song of the Day: Finch - Insomniac Meat

     I'm a firm believer in album openers. It's important to get your record started off on the right foot. Do, and you can establish momentum that carries listeners through the rest of the audio experience. Don't, and you risk losing listeners early.

Song of the Day: Finch - Ink

     Along with 2013, the theme week I've dubbed Resurrection Week continues apace today with another song from a defunct band that could do us all a favour and try for just one more album. Today's band is one I've mentioned at least once before, but one that I'll bet not all of you are familiar with. Today's band, dear reader, is Finch.

Song of the Day: Finch - Worms of the Earth

     Today's band has been rolling around in my head as an idea for Song of the Day for a while now, but I could never think of the right song to showcase them to those of you who might not know them. Today, however, it came to me.

Song of the Day: The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Ocean and The Sun

     It's Sunday (still, for a little bit at least) which means your song for today is going to be a little bit laid-back, a little less metal. Today's choice struck me as a bit of a no-brainer, given the whole "weekend-chill-vibe" thing, since I haven't even ever mentioned this band yet and they're definitely worth mentioning. The Sound of Animals Fighting was a super-group of sorts, counting members of Finch, Rx Bandits, Chiodos, and Circa Survive among its alumni, though the band has disbanded since the release of its third and final album in 2008. Still, the three album catalogue they produced is pretty interesting and definitely worth checking out.