Wednesday: Piano - Expire

     It looks like Tesseract are back in the UK after their North American tour, so what better time to shift gears to another of Dan Tompkins' musical endeavours, international slice of awesome Piano. Last year's Salvage Architecture was another great record under the post-something umbrella, and silly me, I haven't featured a song from it since it came out. Oversight: corrected.

     "Expire" is a high-energy slice of melodic post-hardcore that's imbued with buckets of heart by Dan's vocals and the harmonies and back-ups of his Piano bandmates. There's even hints and flashes of technicality to the frenetic riffing-and-chording that really reminds me of the great screamo-type stuff I listened to in years gone by. I swear, I WILL convince each and every one of you that all those blank-core labels don't have to be dirty words.

(Bonus, Jonas: the link above includes intro-type prelude "Inspire" too -- if you just want "Expire", head to about 2:30 or so and enjoy!)

Saturday: Zeta - Silent Waves

     While I'm kinda sorta on the subject of Tesseract and vocalist Dan Tompkins, I've got the first single from Dan's latest project for your Saturday song. Ready for some mellow, 80's-style synthwave jams from Dan and none other than the Chimp Spanner himself?

     Oh, sorry, did I forget to mention that supertrio Zeta consists of produced Katie Jackson, Dan Tompkins, and Paul Ortiz of Chimp Spanner fame? And yet, this combination of a couple of famous prog names (and one with whom I feel I should be more familiar, but am not) doesn't sound at all like you might expect -- assuming, of course, you might be expecting something somewhere in between Tesseract and Chimp Spanner.

     What you are going to get from Zeta's first single "Silent Waves" is a chill synthy vibe that could have come right out of the mid-to-late 80's.  This kind of thing isn't really my cup of tea, and it's not necessarily yours either, but worth at least checking out for fans of either Dan or Paul, I think. What say you?

Friday: Tesseract - Dystopia

     Speaking of new albums (as I was the other day when I was wondering how you're liking the new Refused disc), what does everybody think about Tesseract's latest Polaris? You haven't had nearly as much time to sit with it as you've had for Freedom, but perhaps you've still got some first impressions?

     I've been a big Tesseract fan since One, so I'm maybe a little biased, but here's what I'm feeling so far: Polaris didn't blow me away right out of the gate. Definitely rock-solid, but not mind-blowing. It does, however, grow on me with each listen - not a "grower" in the traditional sense that you didn't really like something at first but then warmed up to it, moreso in the sense that it was something good, and just keeps getting better.

     That's where I'm sitting with Polaris right now; I'm still discovering all the little notes and nuances, increasing my enjoyment of the record every time through. We'll just have to wait and see where I ultimately put this one in Tesseract's catalogue, but for now I'll say I'm super pleased with album three. So pleased, in fact, that I can't really decide which song to point you towards today (since you've already had both of the singles) meaning I'm just going to start you at the start. Your Friday Tesseract song is therefore Polaris-opener "Dystopia". Press play and let the whole thing ride.

Saturday: Tesseract - Survival

     Maybe I should see a proctologist, because I seem to have a horseshoe up my ass. Any time I fall a little too far behind on my daily duties here at Loud Noises (which seems to be happening too much lately... but then, you know that...) the gods see fit to drop a new tune or two in my lap to get my wheels turning again.

     Such is the case with your Saturday song, the latest single from Tesseract's forthcoming third album Polaris. Once again, the name of the game in "Survival" is "groove", and the lads deliver a couple of whoppers in this track. I could really get behind an album's worth of this kind of big, slinky grooves. Come see what I think about Polaris in, oh, about ten days' time.

Marty Friedman - Jasmine Cyanide

     Your little bit weird Wednesday post this evening is a B-side from guitarist Marty Friedman that features a couple of unexpected cameos.

     Dan Tompkins' appearance on "Jasmine Cyanide", an off-cut from Marty's latest Inferno, is maybe a little understandable; Dan's got a great voice, and a growing resume as a session musician. But the inclusion of Canadian rocker Danko Jones is a bit more of an oddity, both conceptually and musically. I don't know if I'm quite sold on the rap-esque vocals he brings to the table, but rather than pontificate, I'll let you ruminate for yourself.

Good Tiger - Snake Oil

     The social media watchers among you have likely already heard of Good Tiger, a low-level supergroup born from the ashes of The Safety Fire and fronted by one Elliot Coleman, whose fairly deep resume includes some time in Tesseract, you'll remember. Well, now you get to hear Good Tiger, in the form of the first single from their successfully crowdfunded first album.

     "Snake Oil" has moments where it sounds like you'd expect it to -- something written by a significant portion of The Safety Fire -- but on the whole it feels more post-something than anything else. Truth be told, Finch comes to mind pretty readily on this one, but that's not a bad thing. It just means Good Tiger sounds less djenty and more... something else than I'd thought it might be.

     We're probably going to have to wait a while for the full album to finish brewing in the indiegogo money the guys in Good Tiger have gotten, but so far, you'll find no complaints here.

Monday: Tesseract - Messenger

     You all know I like to alliterate with the Metal Monday, but another start-of-the-week thing I sometimes do (though not in a long while, I don't think) is a New Music Monday. And wouldn't you know it, the heavens have opened again and dropped a tasty morsel into my lap. Thanks heavens!

     Another thing you should all know is that I like (as in, really like) both Tesseract and Dan Tompkins, so hearing Dan was back with the band was great, and hearing they had a new album ready for a fall release was even better. But now I've got the icing on the cake pumping from my speakers right this minute in the form of the first single from Polaris.

     And what a single! My only complaint? At less than four minutes, "Messenger" is perhaps a little short. But while it doesn't overstay it's welcome, it does bring the funky groove that's the Tesseract version of heavy, and that's exactly what I was looking for more of on this album. More, please!

     There are some mix and production issues, especially with the vocals, that people are getting butt-hurt about to varying degrees, but I think if you take "Messenger" as just a representative taste of Polaris and don't get too bent out of shape about every little thing, you'll be just fine. Or maybe I'm just a bit of a fanboy? Whatever, just check out "Messenger" already.

Saturday: Skyharbor - Celestial

     By now all you Skyharbor fans out there will likely have heard the news, but for those who haven't: singer Dan Tompkins is, alas, parting ways with Skyharbor and dedicating himself completely to his work with Tesseract (real blow for Tesseract fans, right?) and presumably his other solo/session stuff.

     Skyharbor fans take heart, however, because the band has already introduced the world to Dan's replacement, American vocalist/producer Eric Emery, and even provided a little taste of what's in store for us as far as Eric's Skyharbor vocals will be concerned. Click right about here to sample Eric's take on Guiding Lights lead single "Evolution".

     Facebook tells me tracking for a new Skyharbor single is about to begin, so maybe we'll hear Eric on some new material sooner than we think. In the meantime, however, we're going to go back to square one for your way-late Saturday Skyharbor song. Go back in time a bit and check out the epic "Celestial" from Skyharbor's superb debut Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos and then join me in counting down the days until we get some Eric-led Skyharbor.

Friday: islnds - Momnts

     My segue into your belated Friday post isn't quite as direct as Wednesday-to-Thursday was, but bear with me and we'll get there alright. To start: you know instrumental prog act Scale the Summit, right? Well guitarist Chris Lecthford has some more solo work just over the horizon that you might be interested in.

     This time around it's in the form of new project islnds (rather than simply Chris Letchford solo stuff) and accompanying new album History of Robots, which features some guest vocal work from a few familiar faces. First single "Momnts", for example, features Joey from The Reign of Kindo, and promo material indicates Tesseract alumnus Ashe O'Hara is involved as well.

     Musically speaking, things are a bit more mellow than Scale the Summit (not that StS is the heaviest thing in the instrumental prog world) but Chris' musicianship and melodic sensibility is still plainly evident. Spin this if you need a laid back jam tonight.

Wednesday: Fellsilent - Age of Deception

     As the saying goes, it never rains but when it pours. In addition to the memorial service the week before last that I mentioned in a previous post, I've also spent some time over the last week or so dealing with some damage to my car, caused by someone backing into it while it was parked. Yeah, I know, right?

     Anyways, without going into detail, I'll just say that the responsible party is being uncooperative, making this whole thing more trouble and stress than it should be. The net result for you has been another unfortunate hiatus, but we're going to start once again getting things back on track today, starting with a little something for your last Wednesday track.

     Climb into your Wayback machines and set that dial thing on the dashboard to 2008 for a cut from the first and only LP by British pro-djent-itors Fellsilent, The Hidden Words. There's a lot of good stuff on this one, if this is the kind of thing you're into, and today I'm going with album closer "Age of Deception" for the forward glimpse it gives us into some of the sounds of Tesseract to come. Angular grooves abound, so limber up your neck before hitting up the link on this one.

2014 Round-Up: 2015 Top Prospects

      Since we're already almost a sixth of the way through 2015, it's about goddamn time I got part 2 of my 2014 round-up posted, right? Lucky for me, none of the records I anticipate below have come out yet, but there's one or two that are right around the corner, so you'd better get reading!

Tool - ??? (???)
     I thought I'd get this one over and done with right off the bat. Everybody and their mother's dog knows that Tool operates on a much longer album cycle than virtually anybody else on the planet, but since it's been almost nine years now since the release of 10,000 Days even Maynard and company are getting to be about due for some new material. The last year or so has seen a number of rumours and vaguely enticing social media posts that seem to suggest work on a new record is ongoing, perhaps even nearing completion, but just when we might get to hear any of this new material is anybody's guess. I'll believe this one's coming when I'm holding a copy in my hand.

Uneven Structure - La Partition (summer)
     It's been nearly four years since France's Uneven Structure blew me and a lot of other listeners away with their so-much-more-than-just-djent debut LP Februus, but the band is finally putting the finishing touches on the follow-up to this masterwork of dense groove and atmosphere. The internet buzz seems to think that this one will be out by the summer, and I for one hope the internet is right for once. La Partition could well be a monster, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Chimp Spanner - ??? (???)
     Regular readers will know that I'm a fan of progressive instrumental music, so the prospect of new material from everybody's favourite one manimal army Chimp Spanner is something I'm 100% onboard with. 2014 saw a new track called "Aurora" unleashed upon the interwebz in demo and playthrough form, but Mr. Ortiz was otherwise largely silent, studio-wise, instead spending the year playing shows and festivals around England and across Europe. That's all well and good, but Chimp Spanner fans elsewhere in the world (read: me) are due for their own dose of Paul Ortiz, and a new record would be the perfect way for us to get it.

Blotted Science - ??? (???)
     Speaking of instrumental prog, tech supertrio Blotted Science also seem to be working on some new jams. Their 2011 EP The Animation of Entomology was an absolute beast, a labyrinthine slice of technicality and compositional virtuosity -- guitarist Ron Jarzombek utilized a "Twelve Tones in Fragmeneted Rows" system of his own design to cook up all the weird and wonderful riffs and chord progressions on the EP  (ask your music-nerd friends to explain it to you). Of course, you don't have to have a graduate degree in music theory to appreciate the madness contained on this EP, or to be excited about the prospect of further experiments from the Blotted Science laboratory.

Dance Gavin Dance - Instant Gratification (April 14th)
     By any standard of modern music you'd care to name, Sacramento post-hardcore act Dance Gavin Dance have had a pretty prolific run so far. Five studio albums, an EP, and a live record in the last eight years or so would be a good track record for any band in any genre, but for band that writes stuff that's a little heavier, a little more technical, it's downright impressive (even if DGD aren't the heaviest or the most technical band in the world...). DGD has undergone several line-up changes over the years, particularly in the vocalist department, so it's always good to get the news that the guys are back at it again with new material.

Coheed and Cambria - ??? (spring/summer 2015)
     Times flies when you're having fun, doesn't it? It seems like Coheed's stellar (pun sorta intended) double album The Afterman came out just yesterday, but second installment Descension is already two years old. Seen in this light, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that Claudio and company are gearing up for another record. Coheed and Cambria's catalogue has its ups and downs, but The Afterman was a bit of a return to form, so the prognosis (pun kind intended yet again) for album number eight looks good.

The Fall of Troy - ??? (???)
     Like Dance Gavin Dance, this is another one of those bands that tr00 metalheads might look down their nose at a little bit, but I've been a Fall of Troy fan a long time. As such, the news that they were getting back together definitely piqued my interest. The subsequent news that they might be working on new material hooked me even more. There's not a whole lot of word on what form new material might take, or when we might hear it, but the fact that singer/guitarist Thomas Erak has left his gig with Chiodos seems to bode well for a return to full-time TFOT recording and touring. The stars fell out of alignment for me a few years back when I had tickets to one of their farewell shows and the couldn't attend, so here's hoping that I'll get another shot to catch them on the road, preferably supporting a new record.

Deftones - ??? (???)
     A new Deftones record is always something to get interested in, if not excited about, and this one should be no exception. The chances of this one being the "lost" album Eros, the last recording the band did with late bassist Chi Cheng, may be slim to none, but the fact remains that Chino and Company have been pretty strong on their last couple of outings. Assuming that the band's next effort is more Koi No Yokan or Diamond Eyes than Saturday Night Wrist -- which might be a pretty big assumption, who knows -- new Deftones material could kick a surprising amount of ass.

Mandroid Echostar - ??? (???)
     As is the case with so many of the entries on this list, there's not much information to go on here -- no title, no release date, no single, nada -- but Facebook tells me that the actual recording process is indeed complete and the band has moved on to the mixing stage. These guys are not only "friends of the blog" (oh how I love being able to say that, even if it's only very loosely true), they're also stupidly good at crafting catchy, shredtastic pop-prog. Keep doing Canada proud, boys.

letlive. - ??? (???)
     I got into The Blackest Beautiful in a big way. Chief among the reasons for this is definitely the fact that, as I've said umpteen bazillion times before, letlive. feels like the successor band to perennial tease Glassjaw, and boy do I loves me some Glassjaw, especially Worship and Tribute. That album's got such a vibe, such an energy, and letlive. manages to tap into that same kind of vibe and energy in spades. I've have no idea what direction the follow-up to The Blackest Beautiful will take, nor do I even know what direction I want it to take, but I can't wait to hear it.

Tesseract - ??? (???)
     A new Tesseract record. With Dan Tompkins back in the mix. Need this Tesseract-loving, Dan Tompkins fanboy say more? No word on when this one's dropping, but in my opinion it can't be soon enough. For now I'll just have to content myself with waiting for the live album/DVD Scala/Odyssesy that's still, at the time of this writing, "coming soon".

The Ocean - ??? (???)
     I may be a bit of a latecomer to the 'The Ocean' party, but I got into the band's last record Pelagial pretty hard. Progressive post-metal with a veritable fuck-tonne of groove, and a high concept to boot? Sign me up. The guys in The Ocean have some pretty deep shoes to fill (see what I did there?) with a follow-up to Pelagial, but if they can pull it off, it would very likely be an Album of the Year contender.

Plini - The End of Everything (March 11)
     Last but most certainly not least is another "friend of the blog", namely Australian guitarist Plini, whose third EP The End of Everything will be coming out in just a couple of weeks' time. Since Plini's previous work is some of the most badass-yet-chill songwriting I've ever heard, the culmination of his trilogy of EP's is definitely something I'm looking forward to -- I've got my preorder in and everything. If guitar-based instrumental jams in which songwriting doesn't take a back seat to technicality but is rather served by it are your thing, The End of Everything should be perfect for scratching your itch. Now all Plini needs to do is stop going to school and traveling around helping people long enough to write an LP already.

     And there you have it: a small selection of upcoming and possibly upcoming albums that I'm looking forward to this year. I'm sure I've probably missed scads of records-in-progress by scads of great bands, but these are some that I've read about, or at least heard rumours about, that have got me stoked up for the next ten months or so.
     Now, you may have noticed a trend in the entries above, namely the profusion of question marks sitting in for actual album titles and release dates. You may also wonder why this profusion is so...well, profuse. In a nutshell, it's because that's the sum total of the information I have about these records. Contrary to what you might think, I have very little insider information about any of the above (read: none).
     But rather than just write about the few albums I do have solid title-and-date information for, I thought it'd be more fun to give you a cross section of some of the stuff I'm looking forward to, or just hoping for, in 2015. If even half of the aforementioned new material ends up coming out this year, 2015 is going to be nice and heavy.

Dzyen (feat. Ashe O'Hara) - As One

     With all the excitement among Tesseract fans at having Dan back in the band (and, more recently, the hints and rumours of an upcoming Tesseract live album...) it might be easy enough to forget that previous singer Ashe O'Hara is also a ridiculously talented vocalist in his own right. Want to know what Ashe has been up to lately?

     Doing a guest spot on the upcoming LP It's Pronounced 'Zen' from British progressive metal band Dzyen, for a start. Dzyen have recently released the first video from It's Pronounced 'Zen' (a record that'll feature a whole mess of skilled singers, including another familiar face mentioned above) and wouldn't you know it, Ashes kills it.

     "As One" may not blow you away with how incomprehensibly prog or tech it is, but it's got some good groove, a catchy melody or two (and not catchy in that way that makes you want to remove that earworm from your brain with an icepick), and there's even a tastefully shreddy guitar solo tucked in there just for good measure. Oh, and there's some guy named Ashe, too. Check it out.

Tesseract - Origin

     It's day three of Unplugged week, and today I've got a song for you from an acoustic EP by one of my favourite modern bands. Give you three guess who...


     Those of you keeping track at home will no doubt have it on your scorecard that the British prog-djentlemen in Tesseract are now onto singer number four, who also happens to be singer number one. But if your memory is as good as your note-taking, you should also remember that in between debut LP One and sophomore effort Altered State the band put out an EP of acoustic re-imaginings of some material from One with singer number two, Elliot Coleman. Confused? Don't be. All that matters right now as far as you're concerned is that tonight's acoustic interpretation of "Origin" comes from the Perspective EP, and that it's pretty sweet. Everything else is just details.

     Incidentally, show of hands, who thinks another acoustified Tesseract EP would be a pretty swell idea, this time featuring stuff from Altered State? I thought you might. Get to work guys!

(For the sake of comparison, and the other Dan fanboys out there [Danboys?], why not also have a listen to an acoustic version of "Origin" the band did with Dan before Elliot even came along?)

Heights - SOLAR (Bringer of Chaos), LUNAR (Bringer of Light)

     Tesseract fans among you should know Jay Postones as the curly-haired beatmaster at the back of the stage that keeps everything rolling along funkily. But did you know that Jay has another pretty rad project on his resume? Now you know!

     Not surprisingly, Jay's other band Heights is nice and proggy, an instrumental counterpoint to the powerful vocal work that has been one of the cornerstones of Tesseract's sound through every vocalist change. Also not surprisingly, Jay's drumming is as solid as always, even if Heights isn't necessarily as "heavy" as Tesseract, per se.

     All comparisons aside, the important bit of takeaway here is that Heights are working on their third album, the proggily titled Phantasia on the High Processions of Sun, Moon, and Countless Stars Above, and that they've recently released a track from said album. Besides having its own appropriately lengthy title, "SOLAR (Bringer of Chaos), LUNAR (Bringer of Light)" is a melodic journey of fairly epic proportions. It starts out with a recurring darkly labyrinthine groove and ends up in decidedly brighter territory, like sunlight coming through clouds. How's that for a poetic description for you? Sink your teeth into some Heights already.

Clement Belio - Revive

     Hopefully your Sunday has been going at just the right speed for you: mellow enough that you get some solid relaxation going on, but not so mellow that you get lulled into an unscheduled nap. Accordingly, I've got some progressive jazz that should tread that line nicely for you.

     French musician Clement Belio created a masterpiece of variously influenced prog jazz in Contrast, in the artists words a "melting pot" of influences, styles and bands. Some parts are more inspired or influenced by something else, while others are more direct homages in one way or another to a style or sound.

     Today's song is one of the latter, "Revive", which seems in many was to mimic the style of Tesseract; layers of atmospheric guitar arpeggios, funky drum grooves, and even a bit of sax work give "Revive" the flavour of Altered States without ever veering into either cover territory or the land of outright borrowing. The result is a heavy-ish kind of track that sits comfortably among the other jazz gems Clement has come up with. Rock yourself to sleep tonight.

Sunday: Piano - Disappearing Ink

     Regular readers (yeah, you two) should know by now (because I keep telling you as much) that I'm a big Dan Tompkins fanboy. You know the guy: the once-and-future frontman for the British djentlemen in Tesseract and the voice behind India's Skyharbor, to name just two of the awesome projects with which Dan's involved.

     Two not enough for you? Require further evidence of Dan's raditude? OK, how about Japan-based post-whatever band Piano? With Dan's formidable vocal help, these guys have been plugging away in relative obscurity for quite some time now, releasing a couple of cool EPs in the last eight or nine years. But now, for whatever reason, the stars have finally aligned and Piano has an LP coming out in a few weeks.

     Being the fanboy that I am, Salvage Architecture would be worth checking out just for Dan's presence on it, but it sure doesn't hurt that this record's shaping up to be exactly my cup of tea. Have a listen to first single "Disappearing Ink" and then join me in rejoicing at the fact that a) there's going to be new Piano material widely available come the seventeenth, and b) it's so goddamned good.

Saturday: Darkest Hour - These Fevered Times

     More good news for metal fans with taste similar to mine (in addition to Dan rejoining Tesseract, of course) is the announcement of a release date for the latest from Darkest Hour.

     Based on all the promo stuff up on the band's Facebook page and the like, the record seems to be called Fuck Waiting Around to Die, and it's due out on the fifth of August, which really isn't that far away when you consider just how fast June has flown by. Based on the little teaser the band's posted, it sounds pretty much like you'd expect Darkest Hour to sound, but we'll all have to wait a bit longer to hear something more substantial.

     In the meantime let's celebrate the good news with a blast from the band's past. "These Fevered Times" is a relatively brief salvo of tasty metalcore and one of my favourite tracks from 2005's Undoing Ruin. It has all the Darkest Hour hallmarks -- good riffs, some shreddy leadwork, the trademarked DH drumbeat, acerbic John Henry vocals -- and it is, in this author's humble opinion, perfectly place on what is all around a classic album. Give it a spin.

Friday: Tesseract - Lament

     As I seem to say all the time, regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of the work of Dan Tompkins, original Tesseract vocalist and current Skyharbor pipesman. I am, however, also a fan of the vocalist on Tesseract's second LP Altered State, Ashe O'Hara, so yesterday's news that Ashe is leaving the band and Dan's back in is somewhat bittersweet.

     Who knows what this might mean for the band's longterm future, or for the future of Dan's other big project Skyharbor, who just finished a successful crowdfunding campaign for their second LP? The only thing that looks certain at this point is that album number three, and its subsequent touring cycle, will see Dan with the band once more.

     As I said, I really dug Ashe's work on Altered State, but being such a fan of Dan's I'm excited to see where he'll take things for Tesseract 3.0. For the time being, let's have something from One so the latecomers to the Tesseract party will know what I'm on about with this Dan Tompkins guy. Here's One album opener "Lament".

Album of the Week: Tesseract - Altered State

     The weather's been a little proggy around here lately, so I'm going to keep it going with this week's pick for Album of the Week. Chances are good you know these guys already, and reasonable that you like them too, but I dig them so much that I try to convert people whenever I can. Your album this week, therefore, is Tesseract's latest, Altered State.

     I honestly have a hard time telling you which Tesseract record you should check out first. Both their debut album One  and their sophomore effort Altered State are masterpieces, and among my favourite records of the last five years. One has the benefit of featuring the band's first singer Dan Tompkins, currently lending his pipes to another favourite of mine, Skyharbor.

     But being a progressive band means Tesseract's sound is in a different place now than it used to be, so I think it would be best to get you into their latest album first, so you can get a handle on where Tesseract is at now. Whether you then go back to their back catalogue (LP One and EP Perspective) or look forward to their next effort is up to you. Either way, Altered State is beautifully crafted piece of modern prog that deserves to be experience as a single, complete piece of music, so

Friday: Cloudkicker - L.A. After Rain

     After "yesterday's" post about Intronaut and the tour they're about to embark upon, in which I mentioned how I should feature a Cloudkicker song again soon, are you at all surprised that today's post is in fact a Cloudkicker song? Really? You are? You really shouldn't be you know.

     I know Ben's been a really prolific guy under the Cloudkicker moniker, but the 2012 LP Fade was how I first came upon his work, and it's a record I really dig, so I'm going with another track from that one, namely "L.A. After Rain". If your fancy gets tickled by epic and well-written instrumental post-metal, then Cloudkicker will satisfy your cravings.

     And if Tesseract, Intronaut and Cloudkicker are stopping anywhere near you, do me the personal favour of catching the show. I will live vicariously through you.