Saturday: Slipknot - AOV

     Were you, like me, pleasantly surprised with how good Slipknot's last record was? After the mixed bag that was All Hope is Gone, I didn't know what to expect from .5: The Gray Chapter. I certainly didn't expect the level of kick-ass that I got.

     Slipknot has always been a volatile set of relationships, something that only seems to have gotten more and more true as the years and albums have piled up. With a couple of the original nine now gone, perhaps the most important of which being bassist Paul Gray, it's hard to know how much gas Slipknot have left in their collective tank. Factor in the time Slipknot traditionally takes between albums, and it would seem that their alums may well be numbered.

     So let's celebrate the return to form the band accomplished with .5: The Gray Chapter by jamming heavy rager "AOV" at a decent volume, OK?

Thursday: Slipknot - The Shape

     For this week's belated Throwback Thursday post, I feel pretty confident that a trip back to what is arguably Slipknot's masterpiece will be received well by most of you. If you would prefer some other hit of nostalgia, by all means, leave a comment and I'll make it happen.

     But for now, we're going to give "The Shape" from 2001's Iowa a spin. Like the rest of this record, "The Shape" has an unstoppable, frenzied energy to its choruses that kick me in the balls every time I hear Corey scream "everything else is just dust and filth". Iowa is a grimy, chaotic album, and "The Shape" is a perfectly grimy, chaotic snapshot from it. Mosh down Memory Lane with me, won't you?

Sunday: Slipknot - Killpop

     I've been spending some quality time with the latest Slipknot album .5: The Gray Chapter lately, and I've come to the conclusion that it's a pretty damn good addition to the Knot catalogue, and my favourite offering from the band in years. With the recent release of a new video for one of the album's standout tracks, who am I to deny you a still-belated Slipknot Sunday?

     Now, unfortunately for me, my favourite cut from The Gray Chapter isn't the song to have gotten the video treatment in question. But since "Killpop" is a great song too, and now has a typically weird, typically Slipknot music video, it's the obvious choice for your Sunday song. Doom pop verses give way to groove metal choruses, but my favourite part is how far the song comes from its sparse opening to the chaotic onslaught of its dense ending. Quite a journey for just four minutes, don't you think?

Sunday: Stone Sour - Creeping Death

     Did you hear the one about Stone Sour becoming a cover band? Only it's no joke -- more anecdote, or fact even. Yes, Corey and Company have put together an interesting set of covers for the first of three EPs surely intended to give Stone Sour fans something to chew on until Slipknot's current album cycle wraps up.

     The EP in question is called Meanwhile in Burbank... and the interesting set list in question draws cuts from the catalogues of Alice in Chains, Judas Priest, Kiss, Metallica, and Black Sabbath. Maybe not the strangest, most diverse mix in the world, but a decently respectable one nonetheless. For your Sunday song, however, there can really only be one candidate.

     "Creeping Death" has been one of my favourite Metallica songs for years (as a historically-minded metalhead, what's not to like about a biblical metal song?) so for this past Sunday I'm going to suggest you check out the new Stone Sour version. It's not light years different or anything, but at the same time I think the guys managed to not fuck it up, which is worth a listen in itself.

Sunday: Slipknot - My Plague

     A couple of days ago, I threw it back for Thursday with an old school As I Lay Dying song. Today you're getting a slightly belated Slipknot Sunday sequel in the form of something from my favourite 'Knot album evar!

     Spoiler alert: it's 2001's Iowa. Slipknot's done a lot of good shit since then, but for my money this is still the best encapsulation of the madness that is Slipknot at their best. I've featured several songs from this record before here at Loud Noises, but today you're getting "My Plague" for your Slipknot Sunday (the album version, not the slightly-neutered 'New Abuse' remix). Iowa is an angry album in general, but "My Plague" in particular is a caustic slice of finely-honed Corey Taylor vitriol. Anyone who grew up on some Slipknot will feel right at home cranking this old chestnut again.

Last Wednesday: Slipknot - Vendetta

     Another day, another couple of much belated songs. For your Wednesday Christmas Eve, you're getting some bread-and-butter straight-up heavy. Hope you don't already have it.

     "Vendetta" from 2008's All Hope is Gone (is that record really six years old already?) is, in my opinion, one of Slipknot's best heavy songs in years. If 2004's Vol. 3 showed Slipknot's diversity and ability to come up with some less abrasive material, All Hope is Gone reminded everybody that the band was still a metal band somewhere inside, and tracks like "Vendetta" are the reason why.

     The blast-beating, trem-picking opening along is reason enough to check this track, but the masked marauders will keep you around with a thrashy-sounding verse riff and a slow, grinding breakdown-turned-outro. Slipknot's latest offering might not be your cup of tea (I'm not especially stoked on it) but this one should serve as proof that Iowa wasn't the band's last really good heavy outing.

Slipknot - The Negative One

     I'm already a few days late to the party on this one, so I'd better hurry up and get it over with lest I become even tardier.

     All the recent online teasing from Slipknot has finally culminated in the streaming of a new song, "The Negative One", our first taste of the band's new material minus Paul and Joey. It's not the best Slipknot song, but it might belie the quality of the rest of the band's next record.

     Since there isn't really any further news about when such a record might be released, for now we'll have to content ourselves with "The Negative One". Have any thoughts about the new track upon listening? Leave a comment below, whydoncha?

Twenty Questions - Matt and Martin from Pomegranate Tiger

Well howdy, stranger. Beginning to wonder if, after six months or so of radio silence, I'd ever be back with another Twenty Questions interview? Oh ye of little faith...

     Yes, it's true, it has once again been far too long, but I am indeed back with another twenty of my inane questions for another one of heavy music's up and coming bands. Today we're going to learn a little more about some pretty complex, pretty progressive instrumental metal from Matt Shaheen and Martin Andres, guitarists from Pomegranate Tiger. Take a look.

Saturday's Song: Slipknot - Snuff

     Yes, I know I'm a few hours late with Saturday's song. I'll blame the weather, because the wintery blast we're currently in the midst of receiving has a great deal to do with my getting posts posted on time. Or not.

     Anyways, by now the well-informed among you may already have heard that Slipknot has parted ways with drummer Joey Jordison (or maybe it's the other way around), so today (or yesterday, now) we're going with a Slipknot song to commemorate the final nail in the coffin of Slipknot as we knew it. First Paul Gray's death in 2010 and now the loss of Joey add up to what will be a very different band on their next record.

     So as a kind of ceremonial chalice-raising to the end of the beast that was, your song for Saturday is "Snuff" from 2008's All Hope is Gone. It might be a little too Stone Sour for some Slipknot fans, but it's a cool song, and a good one too.

Slipknot - Everything Ends

     Tonight we're kicking-off the couple of formatting changes I talked about earlier today with a song that comes courtesy of the good ol' gods of shuffle.

     Those fickle deities must have known that I needed some energy on my way to work this morning, and the boon they decided to impart upon me works equally well for some aggro-stress relief at the end of the day, too.

     "Everything Ends", from Slipknot's 2001 classic Iowa, strikes me as a big fact musical middle finger to whatever's bothering you. Maybe this is the rebelliousness of youth talking, but given the fact that I was a teenager when this album came out, "Everything Ends" felt like a "fuck you" to everyone and everything in my way.

     I'm sure Corey had something or someone specific in mind when writing lines like "You're wrong, fucked, and overrated/I think I'm going to be sick and it's your fault", but to my younger self it read like a generalized expression of rage and frustration. Emptied of much of the proverbial piss and vinegar of youth, my older self still gets a certain kind of aggressive catharsis from "Everything Ends", and that's why it's your song this evening. Turn it up and bang your head.

Song of the Day: Slipknot - All Hope is Gone

     Yeah, I know, I'm late. Let me explain though. We were at a social gathering this evening for the birthday of one of my colleagues, and we've only just arrive back at our domicile. Posh enough for you? Good.  Oh, and there's also this thing called Sim City that's nibbling at my time too. But enough excuses. Time for metal!

Song of the Day: Slipknot - Left Behind

     Just a quick one tonight, as I've got to get to bed so I can get up for work tomorrow morning. I was trying to think of good songs or bands to feature while we're on our voyage in the Wayback Machine, and I think I've come up with a doozy.

Song of the Day: Slipknot - The Nameless

     Nothing super new today, although I should have a few new things for you in the coming days, so today we're just going to do a cool (and perhaps underappreciated song) by a band I'm sure you all know.

Song of the Day: Slipknot - Disasterpiece

     We're almost done working our way through my favourite bands from day one of this year's Heavy TO festival, but we haven't done the Saturday headliner yet, and they're a big one. I saw Slipknot way back in the day (2001, to be exact) when they were just about to release Iowa, and it's really too bad that they're playing Saturday instead of Sunday, because I'd love to see them again. I guess I'll just have to settle for cranking some Iowa on the way to the show on Sunday.