Monday: Revocation - Leviathan Awaits

     Everybody and their mother's dog should really know by this point that Revocation kicks some serious ass.I've been in no doubt about this for a couple of albums now. But recently I had the chance to snag a copy of their 2009 sophomore album Existence is Futile (yeah, I'm still a physical media kinda guy, fuck off) and I've been jamming that shit hard for a few days now.

     You know what I've learned? Even in the early stages of their career, Revocation kicked serious ass. They were just as rock-solid back then as they are now. Whatever genre adjective you want to slap on them -- thrashy, deathy, techy, old school, blackened, proggy -- they all stick and Revocation does them all with aplomb. Need proof? Make today another Metal Monday, join me in the land of Existence is Futile, crank "Leviathan Awaits", and then rinse and repeat as necessary.

Saturday: Alustrium - The Atheist Phenomenon

     Themes and theme-days are fun and everything, but some days you're just looking for some straight up heavy to knock your face off. This is a post for one of those days; put it in your pocket and bust it out as needed.

     The specific flavour of heavy we're dealing with is progressive death metal, but don't let that first bit turn you off if you're not necessarily the biggest prog nerd. Prog fan or no, the source of your Saturday song, Alustrium, has got you covered. Need further proof? How about this: the touchstone that springs to mind first when listening to Alustrium's latest A Tunnel to Eden is Revocation.

      Take that for what you will, for my money the fleet-fingered riffing, tight rhythm section, and proggy-but-not-too-proggy flavour of a track like "The Atheist Phenomenon" smacks of Revocation, making A Tunnel to Eden a delicious option for those looking for a little more variety in their progressive death metal diet. Yum!

Friday: Black Fast - I Conspire

     So close, and yet so far... I can almost taste the on-timedness of these last couple of Songs of the Day, so let's charge down the home stretch, shall we? And let's start with something badass to have kicked your weekend off with (I know that sounds wrong, but trust me, it's grammatically sound...)

     Step 1: Open beer.
     Step 2: Turn up stereo/ipod/laptop/cellphone volume.
     Step 3: Volume's not right; give it a little more.
     Step 4: Now jam "I Conspire" from the upcoming Terms of Surrender by Black Fast out of St. Louis, a riffy, ever-so-slightly proggy-and-deathy neothrash outfit that certainly lives up to its name -- they're definitely fast, and at least a little blackened. If you need an endorsement other than mine, consider this: Black Fast are touring with Revocation in the fall. Convinced now? Just play the track already!

Monday: Revocation - Scorched Earth Policy

     You know how I like a Metal Monday post, which is one of the many reasons why I give thanks to Zeus for bands that can be depended upon to put out consistently kick-ass material that I can readily go to when I want something straight up heavy to share with all of you.

     Revocation is most definitely one of those bands, mixing melodic deathcore with modern thrash and throwing in all kinds of other elements for good measure. When I'm looking to metal up a Monday (or any other day, really) I know Revocation will deliver no matter what I put on. But such an embarrassment of riches sometimes leaves me a little too spoiled for choice, leading me to let the universe show me the correct path.

     And once again, the universe provides, in the form of a new lyric video from straight out of Camp Revocation. "Scorched Earth Policy" is one of my favourite tracks from last year's Deathless, and it's easy to see why: razor-sharp riffing and machine-precise drumming that both turn on a dime are two things that are always up my alley. If they're up yours too, happy belated Metal Monday.

Monday: Revocation - Witch Trials

     It feels like it's been a while, so let's keep catching up with a straight up Metal motherfucking Monday taken from one of last year's best records.

     Now, the observant and/or detail-oriented among you might note that I didn't actually name Revocation's latest, Deathless, as one of my top ten albums for last year. That's partly because I just liked other stuff better, but also because I simply hadn't sunk my teeth into Deathless as much as I did a lot of other stuff.

     But over the last couple of months I've had occasion to revisit Deathless and really get cozy with it, and I've come to appreciate just how badass an album it is. Revocation have to be commended for crafting a(nother) great modern metal record -- fast, heavy, tastefully technical, and just laden with enough proggy, jazzy, and generally un-metal elements to keep things consistently interesting.

     I could recommend virtually any track on the album and be reasonably assured I'm not steering you wrong, but for your Metal Monday I'm going with album closer "Witch Trials" because it's got all of the above in just the right ratios. Start at the end of Deathless, but don't stop there.

Revocation - Madness Opus

     If Revocation's prior track record isn't enough on its own to get you jazzed about the upcoming release of Deathless in mid-October, the latest track they've released from Deathless should go a long way towards fixing that.

     "Madness Opus" is a suitably thrashy Revocation track, chock full of labyrinthine riffing and topped off with some sexy leadwork. Befitting the song's titular existence as an ode to insanity, the nearly six-and-a-half minute running time oscillates between speedier parts and more down-temp sections, but all of it is nice and meaty.

     If you've waited this long to jump on the Revocation bandwagon, you've been missing out, and should rectify this situation post-haste. Deathless is shaping up to be a monster of a metal album, and you don't want to be that one guy that gets left behind on this one. Find out why everybody loves Revocation RIGHT NOW.

Revocation - Deathless

     It's only been a couple of weeks since the last time I feature a Revocation song, but the guys have finally released a song from the forthcoming Deathless so there's not way you're not getting another Revocation track today. Suck it up, buttercup.

     The track in question is in fact "Deathless", the album's title track, and it's pretty undeniably Revocation: thrashy deathy metal with some elements of sleazy rock and just a smidgeon of a whisper of progginess. It's a pretty good bar to set with the first single, and I for one can't wait for the October release of Deathless.

Sunday: Revocation - Across Forests and Fjords

     Speaking of Revocation, it's been a bit since I last featured a track by the masters of modern thrash, so it's about time I pushed the boys from Boston on you once more.

     Tonight I've decided to pick instrumental track "Across Forests and Fjords" from the band's 2009 sophomore disc Existence is Futile in an effort to show just one way in which these guys could well have what it takes to be inheritors Metallica's thrash crown -- namely, that "Across Forests and Fjords" could sit alongside any of Metallica's great instrumental tracks.

     Tall claim, you say? Maybe, but I genuinely believe these dudes can do it. With another album on the way as early as this fall, Revocation is definitely another of those bands you need to know if you don't already, so give "Across Forests and Fjords" a spin and start from there.

Saturday: Vale of Pnath - Sightless

     I've got a little catching up to do this evening, and I'm going to start doing it with some razor sharp, thrash-tinged tech death.

     If I had to pick a genre for them, Denver's Vale of Pnath are solidly tech death, but they've got veins of other minerals running through their seam of tech death ore. Take your Saturday song as an example: "Sightless" has all the speed and ferocity needed for technical death metal, but some of the riffs and chord progressions would sound equally at home in a Sylosis or Revocation track.

     It's nothing new, but if you're into this kind of thing it sure is tasty. And if you're not into this kind of thing, it's time you got into it. So check out "Sightless" and Vale of Pnath tonight and get in to It.

Album of the Week: Sylosis - Conclusion of an Age

     Alt-rock not doing it for you, Monday-wise? I know Cake might not be enough to help you get over the demise of the weekend, so I've decided to get back to this blog's roots with this week's album. Hopefully some 'shredding from Readin' will be just what the doctor ordered to set your week up right.

     Long-time readers will by now be pretty familiar with my love for British thrash titans Sylosis, but just in case you're late to the party, let me try and sum things up as succinctly as I can. Think Metallica if they never lost their edge. Think Revocation from across the pond. Basically, think classic thrash mentality meets modern metal technicality.

     OK, that might not be the most succinct description, or the most descriptive, but maybe it's giving you just enough of an urge to check these guys out (assuming you don't already dig 'em). Their entire catalogue is good, but this week I'm recommending their debut LP Conclusion of an Age. They've upped the ante on every one of the their recordings, but for my money they've yet to come up with something that's better start to finish, end to end, than Conclusion of an Age. So have a listen (or five) and then come back and tell me what you think.

Wednesday: Revocation - Scattering the Flock

     Not content to rest on their well-deserved laurels for even a moment, reigning modern thrash kinds Revocation are apparently already back in the studio at work on the follow-up to last year's stellar self-titled disc.

     News doesn't go beyond the initial, work-is-being-done phase, but Revocation is the kind of band that can excite me even with such scant details. When might we hear this new material? LP or EP? Who knows! And who the fuck cares?

     It hasn't been that long since my last Revocation song (ie: only a few days...) but this kind of news is too juicy not to commemorate. And yes, I just called news of a new Revocation record juicy. I will ignore your scorn and crank the brutal "Scattering the Flock" from the aforementioned Revocation and give thanks that there's still at least one metal band out there with a serious fucking work ethic (I'm looking in your direction, Tool...)

Thursday: Revocation - Spastic

     I know Revocation's killer self-titled LP only came out last year, but I'm already ready for new material -- and not in a "palate cleanser" kind of way. No, I really dig Revocation, and I just can't wait to hear what the guys come out with next.

     Revocation's work in general, and Revocation in particular, is chock full of riffs that are singable while still heavy as fuck. I can't count the number of times I've found myself humming something from a Revocation song even when I'm not listening to anything. Today's song features just such a riff.

     The main riff to "Spastic" is appropriately weird and dissonant-sounding, but I defy you to listen to the song a couple of times without it getting stuck in your head. "Spastic" is also an instrumental track in the vein of the best from the first few Metallica albums, late-in-the-running-order displays of technical prowess like "The Call of Ktulu" and "Orion". Revocation has definitely taken up the thrash torch.

Revocation - Reprogrammed

     I mentioned today's band in my Ten Best of 2013 post, and I've featured their stuff as Songs of the Day before too. Seriously, if you don't know Revocation by now, you really, really should.

     "Reprogrammed" is the closing track from Revocation's third LP Chaos of Forms, and the band couldn't have picked a better way to cap off such a great record. The song thunders in with a typically intricate riff and doesn't really let up much until it fades out four minutes later. There's even some of David Davidson's always tasty lead work, a cherry on the metal sundae, if you will.

     OK, maybe I'm fondly remembering the ice cream I had earlier, but the fact remains the Revocation are FUCKING AWESOME. Pick up an album or a concert ticket today and prepare to be blown away. Djenty-proggy-jazzy-type metal is certainly strong right now, but between these guys in the US and Sylosis in Britain straight up thrash is alive and well too.

2013 Round-up: Loud Noises Ten Best of 2013

     Well, it's finally time to sit down and look back on the year that was and celebrate the fact that 2013 was a very strong year for heavy music of every stripe. My belief that we shouldn't judge a year until it's actually done, coupled with my very gradual (read: glacial) working pace over Christmas, has put me several weeks behind where I originally intended to be on this, but now that 2013 exists only in our memories, and I've got all my ducks in a row, I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon of musical criticism (every other metal website out there has of course had their "Top X of 2013" lists up for, like, two months now).

     Now, before you read the following list and then explode with rage at my selections, let's establish right now that these are my personal favourites from last year, the albums that I would say I spent the most time listening to and enjoying. I am in no way saying that these are definitively or objectively the ten "best" albums from 2013. Yes, the words "Ten Best" do appear in the title of this post, but in the context of being the Loud Noises Ten Best, not the Ten Best. So there. I refuse to take any responsibility for any butthurt you might incur from the omission of your favourite band or album.

     So, without further ado, and in no particular order, please enjoy the Loud Noises Ten Best albums of 2013.

- Tesseract - Altered State
     Tesseract's first LP One left me such a fanboy that I probably would have lapped up new material like a cartoon cat with a saucer of milk regardless of its quality. What good fortune then that follow-up full-legnth Altered State is so goddamned awesome. Call it metal, call it prog, call it djent if you feel you must, but whatever label you choose to apply to Tesseract, you can't deny their infectious groove and rhythmic power. More than perhaps any other band represented on this list, Tesseract are a band you can put on for your non-metal head friends and still reasonably expect them to enjoy it. Yeah, you read that right: Tesseract are an accessible metal or "heavy" band, but in a way that renders "accessibility" a good quality instead of a dirty word.

- The Ocean - Pelagial
     If you'll pardon the nautical pun, Pelagial is album with a very deep concept. The idea, if I understand things correctly, is that the sonic journey of the album from start to finish is supposed to represent or replicate the experience of descending into the depths of the ocean. Of course, Pelagial doesn't adhere to this template rigidly, but rather does so just enough to sketch out the concept's bones. The prettier, prog-rockier early parts of the record, replete with piano parts, give way to denser, more prog-metally parts, and things get doomier mood-wise as we get further down. Interestingly, Pelagial is also one of several albums I've come across lately (another being Tesseract's Altered State from above) that come with both a regular version of the album and an instrumental one. Regular readers will know I'm a fan of instrumental music, but it's a true testament to The Ocean's songwriting and musicianship that Pelagial is just as enthralling without any vocals at all.

- Revocation - Revocation
     Thrash is dead! Long live thrash! I've heard the whole movement of which Revocation can be considered part called retro-thrash, or re-thrash, but there's nothing retro about the Boston band's badass sound. What Revocation plays is decidedly modern thrash, an evolutionary leap forward from the kind of metal bands like Metallica used to play back in their heyday. And yet, Revocation has a classic feel too, like it would be at home alongside any era of fast and furious metal. Revocation is also one of those albums that satisfies with its own awesomeness at the same time that it whets the appetite for more awesomeness to come. Songs like "The Hive", "Archfiend", and "Invidious", to name just a few, make me very excited to hear what Revocation will come up with next time out.

- letlive. - The Blackest Beautiful
     Yet another year has gone by without a major new release from post-hardcore legends Glassjaw, making them the genre's equivalent of Tool in terms of productivity. An album like The Blackest Beautiful, however, is enough to make you say "go ahead and take your time, Glassjaw". I don't know that everybody would agree with me on this one, but I really feel that letlive has the vibe of a "spiritual successor" to Glassjaw, especially with The Blackest Beautiful. They've got the same blend of energy, aggression, and pop sensibilities and vocal stylings. Glassjaw's Worship and Tribute is still a classic, but letlive might have crafted the modern equivalent in The Blackest Beautiful. And if they haven't done it here, their next album is going to slay.

- Misery Signals - Absent Light
     This one is a little like Tesseract's Altered State, in the sense that I've been a Misery Signals fan for a long time and would probably have been satisfied with just about whatever Misery Signals came up with. I don't know if it's possible to re-bottle the lightning of earlier Misery Signals albums (2008's Controller is still my favourite) but Absent Light is still a rock solid balance between the dense technicality of Misery Signals' more recent work and the earnest aggression of their early stuff. As a supporter of the band's Indiegogo campaign, I for one am fully satisfied with the album that the band came up with, and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

- East of the Wall - Redaction Artifacts
     A word I often like to use about the sound and style of the band above, Misery Signals, is "dense". This is a word that could also be applied to East of the Wall's latest, Redaction Artifacts. "Dense" in the sense that there's so much going on. If you read even the occasional post around here, you'll know I like to try and compare bands to other bands, to help all of you get a bit better handle on things before you press play. East of the Wall had me stumped, and in the best possible way. Redaction Artifacts is unorthodox, but not inaccessible, technical, but not overly so, disharmonious, but not amelodic... I could keep pulling juxtapositions out of my ass all day, but a better use of your time would be to just go on Youtube and find out for yourself exactly why East of the Wall and Redaction Artifacts resist my attempts at classification and description.

- Anciients - Heart of Oak
     As I've made clear in an Anciients Song of the Day, Heart of Oak is a hard album to pin down. It's a well-forged alloy of Mastodony post-metal, Opethian prog, straight-up death metal, and healthy helpings of classic metal and rock. Sprinkle in some impressive drum work, some vocal variety, and some truly tasty guitar leads, and you've got a delicious brew that is, incredibly, only the debut LP from this Vancouver band. I can only imagine what a little maturity will do for a band that's already this technically sophisticated.

- Plini - Other Things
     I don't know if it's cheating a little or not to include an EP on my list of ten best "albums" of last year, but I don't really care. Plini is an incredibly talented guy, and he's put out some incredibly rad music in the past year, but his first EP Other Things was how I initially discovered his work, and of all his releases so far it's the one that's spent the most time coming out of my speakers since I got it. More than almost any other act on this list, I can't wait to hear what's next from this rising star, and that's saying something. It'll be absolutely criminal if Plini doesn't eventually get huge.

- Protest the Hero - Volition
     Another longtime favourite of mine, Protest the Hero could almost do no wrong on this one. Me and thousands of other Indiegogo contributors basically said (or gambled) as much when we threw scads of money into a Protest-shaped hole in the internet. News of drummer Moe Carlson's departure disheartened as much as word of his session replacement Chris Adler excited. In the end, we needn't have worried about a thing: Protest's technicalilty is still top notch, and while the prog is dialed down, the songwriting is dialed way up. These are some of the best songs -- not collections of cool riffs and parts strung together -- of the band's career.

- Circles - Infinitas
     The debut LP from Australia's prog-djent darlings Circles demonstrated that not only can the band craft riffs but songs as well. That was the thing about the band's 2011 EP The Compass: it was full to the brim with tasty riffs and bits, but the songs weren't always cohesive wholes so much as these riffs and bits strung together serviceably (sound familiar? *cough* Protest the Hero *cough*). Don't get me wrong, I really really dig The Compass, but for the most part you can't really build any kind of a career with just a good collection of riffs. You need some solid songs. Circles seems to think so too, as they brought an album's worth of solid material to the party with Infinitas. With initial outings as strong as The Compass and now Infinitas, this is yet another case of me being well stoked to hear a sophomore LP.

     Aaaaannnnd there you have it. Not exactly ringing in the new year punctually, but as they say, better late than never. Right? Right?!

Song of the Day: Revocation - Archfiend

     If, as I've often said before, Sylosis has inherited the thrash crown laid down by bands like Metallica et al., then they've done so as Britain's representative only. Boston's Revocation is most definitely  current American champion of releasing records that contain 110% of the daily recommended dose of riffs in each and every song.

Song of the 14th: Revocation - Invidious

     Moving right along, we've got some banjo-shreddin' goodness for yesterday in the form of the latest song from Revocation's upcoming self-titled monster.

Song of the Day: Ramming Speed - Grinding Dissent

     Re-thrash... Neo-thrash...  The thrash revival... Whatever name you prefer (or despise), the fact remains that thrash is back. Or it never went away. Either.

Song of the Day: Revocation - The Hive

     I was late getting aboard the Revocation re-thrash bandwagon, but when I heard last year's EP Teratogenesis you can bet your sweet ass I jumped on that shit like a fat kid on some cake. Or whatever other simile you'd prefer.

Song of the Day: Revocation - No Funeral

     I know it hasn't been all that long since I did a Revocation song, only a couple of weeks, but I've recently picked up a copy of their 2011 full length Chaos of Forms and I'm really getting into it and them. So today you get another Revocation tune. Lucky you!

Song of the Day: Revocation - The Grip Tightens

     Yesterday I promised you that today we'd be back to business as usual here at Loud Noises and I don't intend to disappoint. I think Classic Rock Week went well, and I might explore other ideas for theme weeks in the future*, but for now it's time to get back to some metal. And today's song has the added bonus of having a fun video to go along with it.