Sunday the 7th: Killswitch Engage - Cut Me Loose

     Last month we got our first taste of the upcoming new record from metalcore veterans Killswitch Engage. Now we've got sample number two of Incarnate, and it's a bit of a shift of gears for the guys. Will it be your cup of tea? Read on to find out.

     First Incarnate single "Hate By Design" was more in line with your standard Killswitch single -- riffy, energetic, and ready for radio, assuming your local radio station plays anything approaching metal -- but second single "Cut Me Loose" is a bit slower, equally catchy in the choruses but a bit more of a grindy crusher in the verses. Killswitch are the reigning metalcore kings, though, so there's a couple of breakdowns/change-it-up-for-a-second sections in there too. It's still most definitely patented Killswitch Engage, just think "The Return" or "The Arms of Sorrow" rather than "In Due Time or "Never Again" and you'll be plenty prepared to see how you like the latest from Killswitch Engage.

Wednesday the 20th: Killswitch Engage - Hate By Design

     I know, I know, if we're following the linear rules of conventional temporal mechanics, the new Killswitch single (which came out this week) doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a post from last week. But you know that flouting the laws of space-time is one of the things I'm all about, so happy Wednesday the 20th kids, it's "Hate By Design"!

     Killswitch Engage's latest offering of tight metalcore Incarnate is due out in March, but "Hate By Design" is our first taste, and it's... decent. I don't think it's going to blow you away, but then I was never expecting that. It's a solid Killswitch song, but not an instant classic, and not even as instantly "in my brain" as "In Due Time" was last album cycle. The flip side of all this, however, is that if you dug Killswitch's "return to form" occasioned by the return of Jesse then you're probably going to remain on board for the ride that is "Hate By Design" and looks to be Incarnate. Check it out.

Friday: Killswitch Engage - Strength of the Mind

     Your Friday song this week is one of those songs that just kind of fell into our laps. We all knew it was about time for these guys to be working on some new material, and we may even have heard that some writing was going on, but I for one was taken pretty much by surprise when I heard about the new Killswitch Engage single on Thursday.

    Spoiler alert: "Strength of the Mind" does nothing to reinvent Killswitch's sound. If you were hoping that the guys would go all proggy on your next time out or something, I'm afraid you'll be pretty disappointed. If, however, you're looking for some classic Killswitch, look no further: "Strength of the Mind" combines some familiar-sounding-if-still-badass meaty metalcore riffing with the kind of positive message that Jesse (and Howard, really) has always espoused. A big chunk of Killswitch's catalogue could be classified as "self-help metal" without any sarcasm or derision. This one is for anyone who needs a little self-actualizing boost this morning. Crank it.

Deftones - Elite

     You know me, all warm and fuzzy for the past, so let's keep yesterday's nostalgic train going with a Flashback Friday post from an album of roughly similar vintage (give or take) to Killswitch's Alive or Just Breathing.

     I say "give or take" because of the two-year gap between KSE's 2002 record Alive and Deftones' seminal classic 2000 album White Pony. But White Pony might as well have come out yesterday, so awesome do I continue to find it. Deftones have put out a lot of great material over the years, and even a lot of great stuff since 2000, but White Pony remains pretty unmatched in terms of its wall-to-wall goodness.

     If you want an example of said wall-to-wall goodness, look no further than "Elite", four minutes of intensity that to this day remains one of my favourite Deftones cuts period. Between Chino's vocal delivery and Abe's always-muscular drumming, there aren't a ton of Deftones tracks that'll get me going like this one. How about you?

Killswitch Engage - Self Revolution

     If I had one of those signs like factories in cartoons always seem to, with the little number placards denoting the (usually comically few) number of days since the last accident, today would be the day I reset the sign for 'number of days since last missed Song of the Day'. Oh happy day.

     Since it's Thursday, I'm going to keep this on-time post nice and simple with a nice little throwback to a track from one of the best albums by one of modern metal's biggest names. We could go back and forth all day about how to order Killswitch Engage's catalogue, particularly when it comes to the newer stuff I think, but I don't think any KSE fans would argue that 2002's Alive or Just Breathing is among the band's best.

     So your actually-on-time Throwback Thursday song for this week is one of my favourite cuts from that masterpiece of metalcore, namely "Self Revolution". Break the foundations, collapse the control, and start the revolution within... by cranking this song.

Sunday: Killswitch Engage - Loyalty

     A few weeks ago I posted about the latest one-off from Mastodon, a new track called "White Walker" they cooked up for a Game of Thrones compilation album, of all things. It's actually a surprisingly good track (ie: not just a shitty cash-in), so I figure you might want to know if there's anything else cool on the second Catch the Throne mixtape.

     And lo, there's at least one other Thrones-themed cut from this record that you might be interested in. Or not. Either way, bottom line, there's a new Killswitch Engage song for you to jam. Most of the songs off this Catch the Throne mixtape have a particular Game of Thrones-related subject, and Killswitch's "Loyalty" is focused on the southern kingdom of Dorne and its ruling House Martell.

     If that kind of nerdiness means nothing to you, try this: "Loyalty" feels a little like it could have appeared on 2013's Disarm the Descent in terms of its balance of hookyness and heaviness. If you dug anything from Jesse's return to the band, check this one out, Game of Thrones fan or not.

Monday: Veil of Maya - Mikasa

     My slacking off over the last couple of days might make me kinda late to this party, but I'm going to post about it anyways because I've seen a considerable amount of butt-hurt expressed on this one so far. Yes, you guessed (and read) it right: I'm talking about the new Veil of Maya song.

     You know, the one with *gasp!* cleans in it, something which apparently still divides metal fans, or at least Veil of Maya fans, quite sharply. And sure, the cleans are one of the several contributing factors that makes "Mikasa", lead single from the forthcoming Matriarch, sound catchy and hooky, like a breakdown-ier Periphery. There's even a Killswitch-y riff or two, if we're talking comparisons.

     But at the end of the day, none of the above matters one way or the other if you dig something. And dig this I do, at least more than I typically dig Veil of Maya. I don't know if this is the sound all of Matriach will have, and I don't know if I this is the sound I want all of it to have, but for now, I for one am cool with Veil injecting a smidgen of pop flavour into their typical djent-death-core batter.

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?

In Search of Sun - The World is Yours

     Between some seriously heavy stuff and some seriously proggy stuff, some among you might have found the last couple of days' worth of songs a little mentally taxing. For you, I've got something nice and straightforward this evening.

     "The World is Yours" by the Brits in In Search of Sun is a pretty catchy little number, but it's still got a soupcon of substance to it. Some cool guitar work, including a couple of super catchy riffs, lead the way here, making for a "radio friendly" metal song that's sharp and punchy. It makes me think of Bullet for My Valentine, if Bullet weren't quite so radio, quite so overproduced. Or maybe Killswitch Engage, if Killswitch were a little more radio. I don't know.

     It's not necessarily my usual cup of tea, or yours either, but "The World is Yours" is a fun song with a fun lyric video, so why not take a break from the extreme this evening and settle in for three minutes of good time.

Song of the Day: Killswitch Engage - The New Awakening

     Just a quick one for you tonight, and one that you might have already heard elsewhere. But just in case you haven't, here you go again. Don't say I never do anything for you.

Song of the Day: As I Lay Dying - 94 Hours

     Killwitch Engage's apparent return to something approximating form, as evidenced by yesterday's song, got me thinking about other bands of yore that could stand a smidgen of their old fire. That in turn got me thinking about As I Lay Dying, which has led me to today's song. Ta-da!

Song of the Day: Killswitch Engage - In Due Time

     By now you've all more than likely already heard the first single from Killswitch Engage's forthcoming Disarm the Descent, entitled "In Due Time", either in the form of the initial radio rip that hit the interwebs or else the official version that has since supplanted it. However, just in case you've been in some sort of Rip Van Winkle super slumber from which you've just now awoken, and the first thing you do is check Loud Noises (aww, don't I feel hypothetically special now?), today's song is for you.

2012 Round-up, Part 2: 2013 Top Prospects

     Guten tag, kinders, it's time for part 2 of the Loud Noises 2012 Year End Round-Up. This time around we've got my 2013 Top Prospects list. Like a hockey scout watching the juniors for the next big star I'm on the lookout for the year's big records, not in the sense that I'm trying to get ahead of the curve a predict the next big thing (although you know how I like spreading metal love to the masses) but more in the sense of letting you know which gestating records that I'm looking forward to are likely to be birthed in 2013. How's that for an analogy, eh? Basically, I'm answering this question: of the bands I'm currently digging, who's got new material in the works that we're probably going to hear this year? Simple, right? Let's just see, shall we?

Song of the Day: Enter Shikari - Mothership

     We're going to change directions again today, moving from yesterday's Canadian indie-emo-alt-rock to some British post-hardcore electro-metal* in my ongoing quest to provide you, dear reader, not just with some rockin' tunes, but with some rockin' tunes you might not already know. To that end, let's talk about Enter Shikari.

Heavy TO Pit Report - Part 1: The Bands

     I told you I'd have some thoughts from Heavy TO, and here they are, even if it did take me a week to write them down. And I have so many thoughts that I think I'm going to make this a two-parter. In this first installment, I'm going to go through each of the bands we actually payed attention to (ie: the ones we went to see) and give little baby reviews of their sets. I'm not going to try and remember set lists or anything like that (mostly because it's 2012 and the Internet does that shit for me), I'm just going to give you my impressions of each band's performance. So let's go!

Song of the Day: Killswitch Engage - Numbered Days

     Heavy TO approaches ever closer, and that means more songs from more bands playing this weekend. Today we've got another band that has new material in the works, and another band I'm pretty stoked about seeing: Killswitch Engage. I'm also stoked to see them back with original vocalist Jesse Leach, who's recently rejoined the band. It's one of the many things that informed my choice of song today.