Sunday: Left to the Wolves - Slave: Mother Earth

     If, like me, you grew up listening to any form of blank-core (ie: metalcore, deathcore, emocore, what have you...) there's a decent chance you still like to put some of that kind of thing on from time to time. Maybe you always go back to the same old stuff you love, but maybe, like me, you also enjoy discovering new acts doing some aspect of the genre/subgenre well.

     We've been over this idea before (ie: new takes on old core sounds) but it's a concept I like to revisit anytime I come across something that fits just right, like Kentucky's Left to the Wolves. The latest release from Left to the Wolves, In the Absence of Humanity, combines deathcore riffing and drumming with some melodic groove and some blackened feel and atmosphere -- think Gojira if the fanatical Frenchmen were less into groove and feel and more into crushing core brutality.

     Your Sunday song "Slave: Mother Earth" probably isn't going to blow you away with its extreme technicality or progressiveness, but if you want something with a good amount of meaty heaviness to it, Left to the Wolves might be right up your alley. Check them out.

Friday: Sanzu - Those Who Sleep in the East

     Want to scare your parents/neighbours with the metal you listen to? Blast your Friday song at high volumes, and I guarantee that, at the very least, elderly people in your building will think the end times have come.

     I could probably spend a week or two featuring nothing but Australian acts (hey, now there's a theme idea...), so fertile is the land down under when it comes to killer music. Your Friday band, Sanzu, are no exception, with their very Gojira-esque sound that rolls in and pummels you like a stormy sea.

     The guys in Sanzu have already been making some waves this year with their EP Painless, and now comes word of a debut LP Heavy Over the Home to be released before the end of the year, complete with a single and video to get everybody jazzed. If "Those Who Sleep in the East" is any indication, this one could squeak onto some Best of the Year lists for sure. Might Sanzu make yours? Check 'em out and see.

Saturday: Gojira - Pain is a Master

     As a service to any of you who patiently sat through all the metalcore this week, I'm going to keep the tr00 metal going in this belated Saturday post. As such, I encourage you to enjoy a cut from the most recent album from France's best metal export.

     It's been a few years since Gojira unleashed L'Enfant Sauvage on us, so we're about due for some new stuff, but for the time being we have to make due with what we've got. That's why your Saturday song is "Pain is a Master" from the aforementioned L'Enfant Sauvage. Whatever blackened, doomy genre label you choose to affix, it should be plenty metal enough for you.

Thursday: Black Tongue - Falsifier

     I've never really given much time to British sludge-doom slingers Black Tongue, but that might be something I have to rectify. Thankfully the guys are helping me get acquainted by providing a new old song for me to jam.

     "Falsifier" is the title track from the band's debut EP, but since said EP is getting the remix/remaster treatment for a worldwide release on Century Media, the song's making the internet rounds once again. And what a song! "Falsifier" definitely proves that metal doesn't have to be fast or especially technical to be heavy as fuck, while at the same time proving slow and relatively simple doesn't suck.

     Grab a few HUGE meaty riffs, play like 'em like good barbecue (ie: low and slow), season with a little bit of dark atmosphere here and there in the background, and you've got a recipe for some tasty headbanging. Think downtempo Gojira and you'll be headed towards the right track.

LAGO - Concede to Oblivion

     The weekend is upon us at last, so you could probably use some heavy shit to jam out while you're taking in some sun and some of your poison of choice, right? I thought so, which is why today you're going to listen to LAGO.

     Phoenix, Arizona's LAGO are set to release their debut LP Tyranny this fall, and they've already got a song streaming its way around the interwebs entitled "Concede to Oblivion". Why should you listen to the latter and possibly become interested in the former? I can't speak for the whole of Tyranny yet, but "Concede" is some rock-solid death metal that I find reminiscent of mid-catalogue Opeth, or maybe the deathier parts of a good Gojira song.

     It might be a little early to tell for sure, but I'd keep an eye on LAGO if this kinda of death metal is your thing. They could be a force to be reckoned with in an album or two. Get in on the ground floor today.

Cyborg Octopus - Pukefeast Inc.

     Yesterday I went with something smooth and jazzy as the soundtrack for your Saturday night chillings, but today I've decided you could use something a little heavier to cap off your weekend and get you set up right for the week to come.

     The name of today's band says it all: Cyborg Octopus. If a band with a name like that isn't capable of some awesomeness, then I think we're all pretty much doomed. Lucky for us the band's debut EP Primordial does indeed feature some quality death metal, with some acoustic guitars, some jazzy bits, and a couple of other pinches of various flavours throw in for shits and/or giggles. It might not be the best melange of this kind you've ever heard, but it's still pretty rad, and pretty promising coming from a young band too.

     Better still, they're a metal band with a bit of a social conscience, a la Cattle Decapitation or even Gojira. Your song today, "Pukefeast Inc.", is an attack on agribusiness, GMO's, and the general evils of the modern food industry, and it's a tasty slab of what I would label deathcore in the truest sense -- death metal with a little hardcore gravy on top. Don't feel bad about ingesting this particular octopus.

Gojira - To Sirius

     The latest Godzilla movie came out a couple of weeks ago, and by all the accounts I've heard is actually pretty entertaining -- not going to win any Oscars or anything, but a fun flick nonetheless. But you know what would be more fun than a Japanese monster destroying all in its path? A French monster destroying all in its path!

     Yes, I'm using the new Godzilla as an excuse to put some Gojira in front of you (as if an excuse was required). For some big, stompy heaviness, put on "To Sirius" from the band's 2005 record From Mars to Sirius. That main verse riff is enough to make anybody want to demolish some buildings, so crank it up and unleash your inner kaiju.

Song of the Day: Gojira - Mouth of Kala

     In my recent Ten Best of 2012 post, I talked about how Gojira's L'Enfant Sauvage was my gateway into a band that I had previously only been kinda meh about. As I said in closing, I assumed that everyone was familiar with most of my list, but now a doomsday scenario occurs to me: what if you don't know Gojira, or you're like I was before my Franco-enviro-metal conversion? Today's song has been chosen with that hypothetical you in mind.

2012 Round-up, Part 1: Loud Noises Ten Best of 2012

     If you follow any metal blogs at all (or any blogs or websites about anything, really) you know that this time of year is “Best of” season. Everybody and their mother’s dog is sounding off about their favourite albums of 2012, and dammit that bandwagon is looking a little empty without me. I've got opinions about how 2012 went down, and although I get the sense it'll be a bit like pissing into a hurricane, I'm nevertheless going to undertake the valiant effort of making those opinions known to you, dear reader. So having said all of that, it is my pleasure to present to you part one of the Loud Noises 2012 end of the year round up: the Loud Noises Ten Best of 2012!!

     Now, before we get started, there is one important thing to keep in mind: my tendency towards indecisiveness. You see, I often have trouble making firm and confident decisions. Deciding what to have for dinner can prove quite vexing some days. So as you might be able to imagine, the task of ranking my favourite albums of the year and culminating definitively with a choice that I think stands above all others is one that might very well unburden me of my sanity. In the interest of keeping me from coming completely unhinged, I've decided to just tell you about my ten favourite albums from the past year, in no particular order, just a list, here's ten great records you should check out, bam, done. In fact, just so you can't infer anything unintended from my choice of structure, I'm not even going to number this list of epicness. How do you like them apples?

- Skyharbor - Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos
   Tremendously talented international bands spawned from bedroom and basement recording set-ups seem to be becoming increasingly common in the overlapping worlds of heavy and progressive music, but for my money India's Skyharbor comes out well ahead. Combine complex, melodic, and of course heavy guitar riffs with drums dripping groove and powerful vocals from my boy Dan Tompkins, and you've got an album I've listened to an absolute shit ton of this year, and an album that's so much more than mere djent. It's sometimes easy to forget that Blinding White Noise is Skyharbor's very first release. I for one will be very excited to hear where this group goes next, and I think if you heard them you would be too.

- The Contortionist - Intrinsic
   I could describe The Contortionist's album Intrinsic in one of two ways: I could wax loquaciously about how Intrinsic is a stellar sophomore effort that shows The Contortionist to be a band maturing very nicely. I could talk about how Intrinsic strikes a careful balance between being grand and expansive and being lean and focused. I could talk about how while I maybe don't think it deserved the sheer volume of hype it received online prior to its release, I do think it's a cool and diverse album from a young band that is definitely worthy of your attention. Or I could just use one word to sum up Intrinsic: keyboards! Either way, I was very glad I picked this one up, and very bummed when The Contortionist ended up not playing here on Hallowe'en due to Veil of Maya dropping out of a Canadian mini-tour. Come on back, guys!

- Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It's Personal
   Speaking of hype, we all knew Periphery's second full length was going to be a monster, if only because the interwebs told us so. A bigger, badder record with more of everything fans liked about the first one, and indeed more input from band members whose names aren't Misha Mansoor. My only complaint about this album is that every song is so chock full, so 110%, that it loses a bit of the impact it might have with a bit more ebb and flow, a bit more dynamics. Of course, I can't really fault Periphery too much for crafting an album that is monotonously good, can I? Periphery might need some new tricks when the time comes for Periphery III: Back to the Periphery, but for the time being Periphery has upped their game in every way for Periphery II.

- The Faceless - Autotheism
   The observant reader will by this point have noticed at least one trend in this best of 2012 list, namely that a number of these albums were highly anticipated and greatly hyped before their respective releases. The latest release from tech/death prodigies The Faceless was no exception. OK, maybe it was a bit of an exception, in the sense that it fully warranted both anticipation and hype. I jumped on the The Faceless bandwagon with Planetary Duality, which I really dug, so I was really excited to hear the follow-up, and I was really pleased with the result. Hell, the opening three track "Autotheism" suite alone is worth the price of admission, and there's six other tracks on the record! Some fans might not have been able to get into the proggier direction guitarist/songwriter/singer Michael Keene chose for his band (those who say saxophone has no place in metal, for example), but I for one think the step up from Planetary Duality to Autotheism bodes extremely well for the step from Autotheism to wherever The Faceless ends up next.

- Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage
   I could say a lot of things about Gojira's fantastic 2012 selection of doom and groove, L'Enfant Sauvage, most of which have probably already been said a dozen times on a dozen websites, but I think the most ringing endorsement of this album I can give anyone is to say that it made a Gojira fan out of me. Prior to hearing this album, I was a casual, lukewarm Gojira fan at best, really only knowing a few of their more "mainstream" songs. But L'Enfant Sauvage is all killer, no filler, with every song being solid and not at all skippable, which I find is something to be said for an album of any genre, let alone a genre as potentially pummeling as metal. If L'Enfant Sauvage can make a Gojira convert out of me, it can make a convert out of anyone.

- Trioscapes - Separate Realities
If I could say a lot of things about Gojira's L'Enfant Sauvage, then I can't say enough about the debut album from three-piece jazz fusion act Trioscapes. Among the many glowing statements I might make about Separate Realities: it'll make a jazz fan out of even the most staunch metalhead, especially when you consider that one full third of its membership (bass player Dan Briggs) does double duty in both Trioscapes and prog champs Between the Buried and Me; it'll also make jazz fans out of your friends and associates when played at gatherings and get-togethers (yeah, I've put Trioscapes on at parties, to largely positive reactions); Trioscapes'll even give metal-fan you and your non-metal-fan girlfriend something badass to share. Yes, with its deep, deep grooves and super funky riffs enough for days on end, Trioscapes' Separate Realities is the great jazzy equalizer.

- Deftones - Koi No Yokan
   2010's Diamond Eyes is widely hailed as a return to form for the Deftones, a rebottling of the lightning of the seminal White Pony, and if you accept this logic then 2012's Koi No Yokan is proof positive that Diamond Eyes wasn’t a fluke and Deftones are capable of making lightning strike the same spot again and again and again. It's too bad that original bassist Chi Cheng is still recovering from a very serious car accident more than four years ago, but at least Sergio Vega is continuing his terrific job of holding down the low end of things. As a result, a playthrough of Koi No Yokan doesn't leave one wondering "Aw, where's Chi?" but rather "Wow, Deftones can still write a captivating album, can't they?" They're not reinventing the wheel or their sound, but then why should they? With Deftones it's long been about the quality of their songs rather than doing something radically new with each record; as far back as White Pony, Deftones had found the rough formula for what works for them, and they've been playing around with that formula ever since. Sometimes the resulting collection of songs is more Diamond Eyes and sometimes it's more Saturday Night Wrist (which is a good record, don't get me wrong). Koi No Yokan is a rock solid collection of songs, which is a pretty lofty achievement in my book.

- Baroness - Yellow & Green
   2012 was a tumultuous year for Baroness to say the least: in July they released Yellow & Green, the much anticipated follow-up double album to killer sophomore effort Blue, to widespread acclaim, and then in August they were involved in a pretty serious bus crash while on tour in England. The band is recovering well from their various injuries (which included broken bones and fractured vertebrae) but it's still a major setback in a career, and a terrifying event for anyone to undergo. However, it seems like Baroness will rise again and forge ahead, so Baroness fans can take heart and, in the meantime, take pleasure in a double album that's as dark and melancholy as it is plaintive and beautiful. Listeners expecting a straight up increase in "heaviness" might be disappointed, but listeners looking for a deep and interesting listen will find it here in spades.

- Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence
   As we've already seen, 2012 was a year with some pretty big, pretty highly anticipated releases, and the latest prog-metal opus from Between the Buried and Me was no exception. The band's track record of producing works of technically magnificent madness dovetailed nicely with the introductory EP Hypersleep Dialogues they released in 2011 as a teaser for Future Sequence to create an atmosphere of rabid expectation. And then they delivered, blowing us all away with an audio roller coaster ride through the stars. I think I'm personally still a bigger fan of The Great Misdirect, because I just really like how that collection of songs hangs together as a piece of music, but there's no denying that Future Sequence is a slice of Between the Buried and Me at the top of their game. If you're at all a fan of technically progressive metal or Between the Buried and Me, and have somehow not heard this record yet, stop what you're doing and go get a copy right now. Then come back, put it on, and finish reading this. Or just finish this first. Either way, don't run away for good just yet, because we're not quite done yet...

- Sylosis - Monolith
   The latest slab of thrash from the purveyors of shredding from Reading may not have been a record widely anticipated by the metal world at large, but I've been a fan of Sylosis since their first EP so I was definitely looking forward to it. And if 2012 is any indication of what 2013 might be like for Sylosis, by the time they get around to recording the follow-up to Monolith I won't be the only one who's excited. For now we all have to be satisfied with Monolith, the third full length album from modern British thrash titans Sylosis, and it's a doozy. I fee like it might lack a little of the fire, a little of the magical spark, that connected me so well with some of their earlier work, but that's not to say Monolith isn't...well, monolithic. From one end to the other it's tasty metal goodness. Sure, there's some quieter bits, and some slower bits, but the sheer riffage-per-minute numbers on this one are off the charts. I always try to talk Sylosis up to my friends who like metal, so let this be (another) lesson to you: if you somehow don't know Sylosis by now, get to know them. Like I said, after releasing Monolith in 2012 and then snagging a tour spot opening for Lamb of God, Sylosis are poised for a 2013 that you'll want to be a part of.

Well, there you have it, ten records that I listened to a lot of in 2012 and that I think I liked more than anything else I heard released last year. No doubt you're already familiar with at least some of these, but hopefully there's at least one you don't know and can check out, because you know how I like turning you on to new stuff. Aww yeah you do. Anyways, until part 2 of the 2012 year end report is ready for your collective eye- and ear-holes, why don't you crank some of the above? You won't be sorry you did. Schuss!

The United Nations of Metal

    I’ve got something kinda fun planned for this time out. Or at least I think it’s fun. Maybe I’m just a big dork. Anyways, some set-up: I recently got thinking about how insular we metal fans can be. I mean, we do listen to a pretty niche genre of music. Even your most mainstream modern metal bands, your Lamb of Gods (Lambs of God?), your Killswitch Engages, your Slipknots (OK, maybe Slipknot is a bad example...), even bands like these aren’t getting top 40 radio play, or appearing on People magazine, or even being followed by douchebags from TMZ. Even the biggest fish in the metal pond are seldom caught by the nets of mainstream popular culture. (How’s that for a metaphor?)

Song of the Day: The Dillinger Escape Plan - Widower

     A couple of days ago, when posting Gojira's "Liquid Fire" as the Song of the Day, I mentioned that these Frenchmen have pulled out of Heavies TO and MTL to rejigger their schedule, and that they've been replaced by The Dillinger Escape Plan. Either way this affects Saturday, and since I'm going on Sunday, I won't see either band. But I can still make you listen to them with me!

Song of the Day: Gojira - Liquid Fire

     Day 2 of Heavy TO prep here, and today I'm going to go with one of the bands that was originally on the bill but has had to back out -- there are in fact two now. If you've been following the Randy Blythe story at all you know that Randy is still in jail in the Czech Republic, so any summer dates Lamb of God had scheduled, such as Heavy TO and Heavy MTL, have been cancelled. In Flames have awesomely taken Lamb of God's spot at both shows.