The Mars Volta - The Widow

     If you'll allow me to wax poetic for a moment,tonight's post is a sip of champagne poured out onto the ground  for a fallen musical homie.

     I've been a fan of The Mars Volta for a long time, and even though their work got less and less focused with each album (with the possible exception of Noctourniquet) I was bummed to hear the news that the band has broken up. It marked the end of a weird, proggy era.

     Tonight's song, however, is aimed at anyone who isn't aware of just how normal and straight-forward a song The Mars Volta were capable of writing. Have a listen to "The Widow" from 2005's sophomore LP Frances the Mute and see what you think.

Koloss Ist Ein Monster

     Welcome back for another round! Couldn’t resist, could you? Maybe you’re back because last time I promised that next time (ie: this time) would be heavier. Sure, from a certain point of view The Mars Volta are kinda metal, kinda heavy – musically technical and complex, lyrically oblique, vocals like Queen on acid, and they can take a few listens to really get into – but from another point of view, and held up against another kind of band, they’re really not very heavy or metal at all. I wrote about them last time in no small part because they released a new record the week of March 27th, which put them back on my musical radar. Coincidentally, the same week (in North America, anyways) as Noctourniquet was released, another kind of band put out another kind of album as well, both of which are most definitely metal. That band is Meshuggah, and their new album (in case the title of this post didn’t give it away already) is called Koloss.

The Blogman Cometh

     Salve, fellow metalheads, and welcome to Loud Noises, my new blog primarily focused on heavy music. As often as I can get around to it (once every week or two seems super optimistic at this point, but we'll see), this space will struggle to contain my thoughts, opinions, musings, and general ramblings about all the music that's near and dear to my big, bearded heart.