Tuesday: The Black Dahlia Murder - A Shrine to Madness

     All you Black Dahlia Murder fans out there have likely already heard the news about the band's new album. We've known for a while that a new record was in the works, but now we've got the full scoop: Abysmal is done and set for release in September. We've even gotten the chance already to check out the badass artwork that'll grace Abysmal in the fall.

     But a new song is still nowhere to be seen. That'll probably change in a couple of weeks when the pre-orders go live, but for now we're left to relive old glories in anticipation. So why not join me in turning up the volume on "A Shrine to Madness", the opening track from The Black Dahlia Murder's 2011 record Ritual, while we await the boon of new material. I know it's not quite the same thing, but some TBDM is better than no TBDM at all, right?

Sunday: The Black Dahlia Murder - Den of the Picquerist

     Remember everything I said in "yesterday's" Saturday Torche song, about being relaxed and not wanting to be pummeled? Throw it out the window. This Sunday mini-post will snap that chill like a Slim Jim.

     The Black Dahlia Murder are known for thrashy melodeath at breakneck speeds, but "Den of the Picquerist" from the band's 2011 disc Ritual is a cut above. Its minute and a half of fast and furious face fucking has a 90's speed punk kind of feel to it. If the pace of your average Black Dahlia Murder song is a full run, this one's a flat out sprint. See if you can keep up.

Sunday Night Mega Post Fun Time

     This certainly does seem to be a shit time of year as far as my keeping on track with Loud Noises goes, doesn't it? But rather than spinning some yarns about the tag team of work life and personal life conspiring against me to prevent other shit getting done, let's just knuckle down and get caught up, shall we?

     First off, a song for Friday. We're going to go with something a little under the radar, a little less well-known perhaps than some of the stuff I post about, but something that's still tasty all the same. I've posted about British band Visions before, but their techy 2011 disc Home is too cool to only acknowledge just once. They've had a couple of hurdles thrown at them, including their current search for a new drummer, but I'm hoping that their chops and a little bit of perseverance and elbow grease can see them through. Check out "Machines" for some idea of the kind of chops I'm talking about.

     Next is Saturday. We're going deathier for Saturday with a track by one of my favourites, The Black Dahlia Murder. Sometimes, immediately after the release of a band's new record, you can't wait for their next album because the new one didn't impress, and sometimes you can't wait for that next album because this new one kicked so much ass you're still thirsty for more. The Black Dahlia Murder definitely fall into the latter category, and their last couple of records (Deflorate, Ritual, Everblack) have kicked ass and left me thinking "why couldn't this be a double album or something?" Listen to "Necropolis" from 2009's Deflorate and see if you get the same feeling.

     Finally, it's Sunday song time, and for today we're going with the spastic energy of Exotic Animal Petting Zoo. The song is "A) Translations" from the band's 2008 debut LP I Have Made My Bed in Darkness. They too leave me wanting more, even though their second LP Tree of Tongues only came out in 2012. Just like with Visions above, I hope line-up changes don't wreck Exotic Animal Petting Zoo's momentum.

The Black Dahlia Murder - On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood

     Between the week of instrumental stuff and yesterday's Cynic tune, things have been a little bit proggy around here. So tonight I feel like we need to get back to basics, so to speak, and feature a song that just stomps in and says Fucking Metal. And I've got just the song in mind.

     Your song tonight is "On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood" from 2011's Ritual by none other than The Black Dahlia Murder. I could have gone a lot of different directions to arrive at something Fucking Metal, but for my money TBDM is one band that absolutely crushes every time they come up to bat. Even within the band's catalogue, I could have picked any number of tracks that display balls out heaviness, but "On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood" just might be my favourite track off of Ritual, not to mention being pretty high on my list of favourite songs from the band's whole discography. Plus that's a pretty Fucking Metal title too, right?

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?)