Saturday: Sevendust - Not Today

     Think back a couple of days, to when I mentioned that good things come in threes. Today I prove that they really do (honest!) as long as you're not in a hurry or anything.

     I think you'll find this one worth the wait, because I certainly did. You should all know what a big Sevendust fan I am, and you should all also know by now (hopefully, or I'm not doing my job...) that Lajon and Company have a new record coming out in October. We got first single "Thank You" maybe a month or so ago, and now we've got sample number two.

     "Not Today" is the kind of track that's going to appeal to all the old school Sevendust fans out there: it's 100% groove and syncopation, but still catchy. If the rest of Kill the Flaw sounds like this, it could be a rock-solid Sevendust record for the ages.

Friday: Sevendust - Thank You

     Goddamn life, always getting in the way of work. If you'll remember, before the weekend I was withing spitting distance of being caught up after the last... I don't know, month or so, spent in varying states of behindness. But a full weekend, including Saturday spent at a local writer's expo (I don't just write stupid blog posts, you know) ate up all the time I would have used to finish the job.

     But no matter, the inevitable has only been further delayed, not averted altogether, and once again the New Music Gods apparently feel I need a hand because they've sent me some metal manna from heaven. What's more, this one comes at me out the blue, since I didn't even know your Friday band was at work on a new record.

     I've made no secret of my love for Sevendust, so I'm actually kind of excited to hear that the band's 11th album Kill the Flaw is done and will be out in the fall. Even better, today we got our first taste in the form of first single "Thank You", a decently heavy, decently catchy number that sounds pretty Sevendusty. It's not at the same level as their best, but it's also better than their worst, you dig? Check it out and see what you think.

Sunday: Stryper - Yahweh

     So "Yesterday" may have been "Sadder Day". So what? Don't get too down, because now it's time for Funday with something a little... lighter? Sillier might be nearer the mark, depending on where you stand, but here goes nothing anyways!

     The in-a-nutshell-backstory is this: in addition to penning much of Sevendust's best material, guitarist and songwriter Clint Lowery has apparently had a hand in writing the latest single from everybody's favourite 80's band, Stryper. "Yahweh", from Stryper's upcoming Fallen, is thematically predictable (coming from Stryper) but if you can look past that, it's crunchy enough in an old school kinda way.

     Stryper's not going to be replacing Sevendust in my rotation any time soon, but it's still interesting to see what a talented guy like Clint gets up to in his "off" time. Just don't scroll down and start reading comments. There be dragons there...

Tuesday: Earthside (feat. Lajon Witherspoon) - Mob Mentality

     Back in May, I posted about the sweet cinematic prog of Connecticut's Earthside, but maybe you listened to"The Closest I've Come" and thought that something was missing. Something vocalish, maybe. Well, the band's most recent single should fill in the blank nicely, and it's your Tuesday song.

     The extra puzzle piece here is a predictably killer vocal performance from none other than Sevendust's Lajon Witherspoon on Earthside's latest "Mob Mentality", and while I do wonder for a moment how Lajon ended up getting hooked up with Earthside, I'm definitely not complaining. Big, powerful prog plus a big, powerful voice equals a winning combination. The only downside here is that there's just a single track of said combo rather than a whole album. Something to think about guys?

Thursday: Sevendust - Feel So

     OK, rapid fire, let's do this catch-up thang for real this time, starting with a classic cut for your Throwback last Thursday from one of my go-to "retro" metal bands.

     I've waxed lyrical about the place of Sevendust in my youth and my musical "upbringing", so I won't belabour the point here. Instead I'll just say that, for my money, you can't get much better Throwback Thursday material than the first couple of Sevendust albums. So give it some volume for "Feel So" from Sevendust's 1999 sophomore record Home.

Sevendust - Denial

     Unplugged week continues apace here at Loud Noises, and tonight we're getting in the wayback machine for a bit of a blast from the past.

     Last year saw nostalgic favourite of mine Sevendust release an acoustic album that's equal parts old and new material, and while Time Travelers and Bonfires may not have made my end of the year Ten Best list, that doesn't mean it's not a great record. Both the new songs and the re-imagined versions of classic Sevendust numbers are well done and worthy of inclusion in an acoustic theme week, but for my money we're going to have to go with one of my old favourites.

     Have a listen to the acoustified take on "Denial", originally from Sevendust's 1999 album Home, and marvel at how this piece of my musical youth can be at once familiar and unfamiliar in nearly equal measure. If you don't want to revisit some more Sevendust by the end of it, then you sir are a terrible, terrible monster. There, I said it.

Sevendust - Trust

     Growing up, one band my friends and I could all agree was awesome was Sevendust. The punkier people, the more metal people, the rockier people, all of us could find common ground in Sevendust. Putting on some of the Dust was seldom a bad call.

     Now we're all older, some of us married, some with kids, but Sevendust remains a unifier, only made more powerful by the passage of time and the added veneer of nostalgia. Now, putting on some Sevendust incites discussions not only of how good they were, but also how good they still are, how well their catalogue (or at least their first couple of albums) have held up.

     I'm sure my group of friends isn't alone in continuing to dig us some Sevendust even after all these years, and I'm also sure that Sevendust's latest release will cause a whole lot more renewed Sevendust love in a whole lot more old Sevendust fans. Time Travelers and Bonfires is the band's first acoustic studio album, and something of a different beast from their previous acoustic live album, 2004's Southside Double-Wide.

     Where Double-Wide was an album of (mostly) old Sevendust songs, recorded on an acoustic tour, Time Travelers is a mixture of new acoustic songs combined with old songs that have been reworked specifically for the acoustic format of the new album. This gives even numbers we've heard acoustically before, like today's classic "Trust", a refreshing feel while still leaving the song something that can sit alongside the original version just fine. Sevendust fans should definitely check out this album if they haven't already.

Monuments - I, The Creator

     June is shaping up to be a good month for new metal. Yesterday I was talking about Mastodon's new album Once More 'Round the Sun, which comes out on the 24th of June, and today I'm directing you to the first song to be released from Monuments' sophomore disc The Amanunensis, which comes out the day before (in Europe anyways, we'll have to wait a week or two over here across the pond).

     I've featured the British prog djentlemen of Monuments and their first album Gnosis a couple of times before, mostly for their much-better-than-average djentish riffing and miles deep grooves. But "I, The Creator", the first song we heard from The Amanunensis, gets the nod today for throwing a stronger sounding sense of melody into the mix.

     Some among you will of course decry things like an increase in clean singing as being too poppy (or something more colourful). But think about it this way: the formula of groove-centric metal plus catchy melodies is what yielded Australia's Circles. Or Sevendust, for that matter. If Monuments were to evolve in the direction of either of those bands, it wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen. Have a listen to "I, The Creator" and see what you think.

Thursday: Sevendust - Licking Cream

     Next up, for yesterday we're going with a blast from the past that came up on my shuffle recently and gave me a dose of nostalgia to concentrated to ignore.

     Your Thursday song is "Licking Cream" from Sevendust's sophomore 1999 disc Home, a track that features Skin from Skunk Anansie delivering a vocal performance capable of sitting right there alongside Lajon's in terms of power and feeling. Aspiring female singers/musicians should take note: women in music don't need to sexualized to be capable of making an impact.

     Add in the fact that I feel Sevendust is arguably one of the forefathers of djent (yes, you read that right) and you've got a little piece of history right here. Get edumuhcated right now.

Sevendust - Waffle

     I'm once again late with this quickie post for Saturday, this time by a few hours instead of thirty minutes, but something tells me you'll survive.

     Your song for Saturday is "Waffle" from Sevendust's 1999 album Home. Sevendust is one of those nostalgia bands for me, harkening back to the formative years of my musical taste (aka high school) so when this track came up in the car the other day I said a prayer of thanks to the Shuffle Gods and made a mental note to remind all of your out there of just how solid some of their material is. Consider yourself reminded.

Song of the Day: Haji's Kitchen - Nocturnus

     Today's band is one I've been very remiss in not sharing with you before now. I've known about them at least since the summer, having learned of them because I'm a bit of a Dan Tompkins fanboy (as you may already know) and prolific chap that his is, he does some vocal work on their latest album. But I've just never gotten around to picking a song for you to listen to... until now...

Song of the Day: Sevendust - Black

     Won't you step into the Wayback Machine with me for today's song? Well, not way way back, just back to my time in high school. One of the better bands to get big around the time of nu-metal (though they weren't necessarily quite a nu-metal band themselves) was Sevendust. My friends and I listened to lots of Sevendust, and while they had a lot of great songs back then ("Denial", "Waffle", and "Bender" come immediately to mind), I think our favourite was -- and still is -- today's song.

     Your song today is "Black" by Sevendust, off of their 1997 self-titled debut. Put it on and bask in the nostalgia.