Wednesday the 13th: Abhorrent - The Elegance of Asymmetry

     Let's keep yesterday's technical death metal train rolling, shall we? It's not Tech Tuesday any more, but then again it isn't really Wednesday anymore either, so who cares? Jam some Abhorrent already.

     If you don't know Abhorrent, you should, and chances are you know at least one of its members -- the regular lineup alone includes members or former members of The Faceless, Absvrdist, and Spawn of Possession, to say nothing of the guests that crop up on the band's latest Intransigence. Of course, none of that pedigree counts if the beats aren't blasting. Now, I could reassure you, but wouldn't things just be better for all of us if you just checked out "The Elegance of Asymmetry" for yourself? The answer is yes. Yes it would. So crank it, and annoy the non-metal fans in your life.

Tuesday the 12th: Atlantis Chronicles - Within the Massive Stream

     Strap on your air hose and make sure your diving bell is in good working condition, because your Tech Tuesday post for the 12th is going to take us under the sea for the latest from the French death metallers in Atlantis Chronicles.

     The sophomore nautical-themed Atlantis Chronicles LP, Barton's Odyssey, is due out in March, but we're getting our second taste of what's in store in the form of "Within the Massive Stream", a suitably massive slab of speedy melodic death metal. If I had to pick a comparison, I might say the musicianship of The Faceless meets the melodic sensibility and recent lyrical themes of The Ocean, but I think you should just check this one out for yourself. If my description sounds good to you, so much the better. And if it doesn't, well, don't let my lazy imagination hold you back. Give "Within the Massive Stream" a listen and leave a comment with your own succinct description. I dare you.

Tuesday: Arkaik - Digital Shroud

     It's belated Tech Tuesday time, but don't worry, it's not going to be another Arsis or The Faceless track. No, I've got something new for you today, courtesy of California tech-death act Arkaik and their new record Lucid Dawn.

     Generally speaking, Lucid Dawn is a tech-death fan's dream, with blistering riffing and drumming sitting comfortably along side crusty vocals and just enough proggy tendencies to spice things up nicely. Your Tech Tuesday track "Digital Shroud" is no exception, with furious energy giving way to an avante garde-sounding bass solo that leads back into a relentless finish. Crushing and technical, Arkaik and Lucid Dawn are definitely worth a listen or two for fans of the genre.

Tuesday: The Faceless - The Spiraling Void

     Fans of The Faceless will no doubt have heard the news (and perhaps even the new song) by now, but both are definitely tasty enough to warrant their own Tech Tuesday post.

     First, the news, which is that the latest lineup to join Michael Keene under the Faceless banner includes a couple of guys from the band's Planetary Duality days, most notably former-and-now-current-again vocalist Derek "Demon Carcass" Rydquist. History would try to tell us that this lineup might not be the most solid long-term, but longtime Faceless fans seem generally pretty stoked that the Planetary Duality-era team is back at all.

     Second, the song, an unsurprisingly technical and proggy number called "The Spiraling Void" that sounds right at home on the possible spectrum of progression since Autotheism. Besides the new track, most news out of The Faceless HQ lately has been tour (and lineup) related, so no word just yet on a new record. But a new single is always a good sign that more new material might be right around the corner, and I for one would very much appreciate an album's worth of stuff like "The Spiraling Void".

Entheos - Specific Meaning in a Group of Dots

     You may well have previously heard of Entheos, a supergroup of sorts featuring former members of bands like The Faceless and Animosity. Now you're going to get the chance to hear them too!

     Entheos only just released their debut EP a few days ago, but I would already count myself among those anxious for a full album. Primal is a fearsome, all-too-brief slice of sometimes djenty, sometimes proggy tech-death. Riffing and blast-beating turns on a dime, but there are some sweet grooves to be found too, and even some glitchy electronic elements.

     Check out lead track "Specific Meaning in a Group of Dots" for a start, but definitely give the rest of Primal a spin too. The hype machine was pretty spot-on with this one.

Irreversible Mechanism - Infinite Fields

     Getting all caught up today with a Tech Tuesday post for fans of The Faceless, Arsis, and other similarly techy stuff.

     International outfit Irreversible Mechanism are about to unleash their debut LP Infinite Fields at the end of the month, and now we all get to hear the title track. "Infinite Fields" is shreddy and epic to the point of being operatic -- some choral work wouldn't sound out of place in a couple of spots. It's not exactly breaking the tech death mold, but if the rest of the album Infinite Fields is of the same calibre as "Infinite Fields" the song, this could still be one of the year's stronger showings. Check it out.

The Great Airport Mystery - Eris

     Space and science fiction are rich sources of inspiration for many metal bands, but the actual application or execution of such themes can be a little hit or miss. Sometimes you get something suitably epic and badass (The Faceless' Planetary Duality comes to mind), but sometimes you just get something silly and B-movie. Today's song, and the EP whence it comes, is anything but silly and B-movie.

     The EP in question is Voyager, the latest from self-described space metal band The Great Airport Mystery and a continuation of the interstellar concept begun on their debut LP The Great Spaceport Mystery. Voyager consists of only three tracks, but there's a lot packed in there: appropriately spacey atmospherics; big, sometimes djenty grooves; equally big vocals that remind me more than a little of Perry from Circles. There's even some sci-fi lyrics going on that don't sound terribly corny and cheesy. Bonus!

     The net result of all of the above is that Voyager does indeed succeed as a proggy little slice of space metal, so much so that it's got me interested both in checking out the band's previous The Great Spaceport Mystery and in keeping an eye out for whatever these guys do next. If you think you might be in the same boat (spaceship?) start with EP opener "Eris" and go from there.

Last Tuesday: The Faceless - Legion of the Serpent

     Getting on to Tuesday now, and that means you could probably stand to hear a Tech Tuesday tune.

     The only news out of The Faceless HQ recently has been less than stellar, with the gist of things being that it's once again pretty much just the Michael Keene show. But then hasn't it always been that way? I for one don't really care if it's just Michael running the show or not, so long as I don't have to wait too much longer for some more tasty jams like this Tech Tuesday track.

     "Legion of the Serpent" might be an older cut, taken from the band's 2008 masterpiece Planetary Duality, but it was certainly a crowd favourite when I saw them The Faceless at Heavy TO back in 2012. It's had a special place in my heart since that show, so please enjoy "Legion of the Serpent" with my compliments.

Twenty Questions* with Aaron from Killitorous

     The August long weekend is upon us already, and the first thing that's made a lot of us around here think is, "where the fuck did July go?" But rather than mourning the rapid demise of the summer, why not celebrate the fact that it's not going to be an age of the earth before you get to read another Twenty Questions interview.

     Well, another Eighteen Questions or so, anyways. This time out I had a chance to fire some e-mails back and forth with one of the dudes from Canadian tech death band Killitorous, and in my fanboyish glee at getting to subject Aaron to my own special brand of electronic interrogation, I missed the fact that Killitorous does in fact have label support now and asked them about it anyways. How embarrassing! (The guys are getting distribution from Galy Distribution in North America and Trendkill in Europe and the UK, by the by)

     Nevertheless, I still have a nearly-full compliment of questions and answers for you to check out, courtesy of one of the guitarists of one of today's up and coming tech death bands. Yeah, yeah, the phrase "up and coming" is a bit of a cliche, but I really think these guys are going to be leaders in their sub-genre. If Party, Grind doesn't grace some end of the year "best of" lists, I'll eat my beard.

     So without further prevaricating about the bush, enjoy some Q&A with Aaron from Killitorous, and be sure to party and/or grind this Civic Holiday.





- LN: For the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know who you are, please identify yourself and the band you play for.
     Aaron: My name is Aaron "Shredder" Homma. I play guitar for Killitorous. I also play for Vital Remains, Immersed who is on hiatus and have played with The Kindred and Erimha. I also guitar tech'd for Ill Nino. I've gone around....hahaha

- LN: Tell us a story: how did the band come to be?
     Aaron: I had quit The Kindred (at that time the band was still called Today I Caught The Plague) because I wanted to play way more technical and brutal music. So I started Killitorous, which was my msn messenger tag at the time...haha (old school). This was a longer time ago than anyone thinks....7 years ago.

- LN: You guys play a style of death metal that is, how shall I say, pretty fucking heavy, not to mention pretty tech. Did you guys set out with this sound in mind, or has it evolved over the life of the band?
     Aaron: To be honest...yes, we wanted to be tech and brutal AS FUCK....but still sound like no one, or maybe like everyone....really we wanted to sound like all our favourite bands mixed into one. Which just happens to be brutal and techy.

- LN: Can you tell me about any influences, musical or otherwise, that guided your decision to adopt such a heavy sound?
     Aaron: It's kinda crazy, because we have been around so long that we have such a strange array of music that's influenced the band to have the catalogue of songs we play now.... anything from See You Next Tuesday, Psyopus and I Wrestled a Bear Once to Nile, Cryptopsy and Origin. Really we love so many styles and bands it's hard to say. Basically you should ask us what hasn't influenced us because that would be an easier and less lengthy answer.

- LN: In your videos it looks like you play 6-string guitars with a 4-string bass (ie: a “conventional” tuning setup), and it doesn’t sound like you guys tune down a whole lot, if at all. And yet, you guys have riffs as heavy and badass as anything from a band with extended range instruments and/or super low tuning preferences. So I'm curious, what tuning do you use, and why? Was this a conscious decision or did it just kinda end up that way?
     Aaron: We play in drop C, and the reason is because we play not only high or low. We play the whole guitar, constantly. So we decided to keep the tuning as legible as possible, but still as heavy sounding as possible...so for us Drop C made sense.

 - LN: Your turf according to Facebook, essentially the southern Ontario/Quebec 401 corridor, is basically my neighbourhood too (Kingston here), so I’d like to know if there’re any bands in the area I should know about that I probably don’t already. In your humble opinions, who’s heavy and good in this part of the country?

     Aaron: Too many to ever mention. BUT I will tell you that from what I have seen touring the world, is that we have the BEST calibre of bands, and my personal favourites all reside in NOT only Ontario/Quebec...but the whole country of Canada.

 - LN: Once again according to Facebook it looks like you’ve been playing a few shows lately, but do you have any plans for more extensive touring? Somewhere like, oh I don’t know, say Kingston, would love to have a metal band of your face-melting calibre.

     Aaron: We are doing an Eastern Canada tour in August/Sept. but also we are touring the U.S.A this year....and other places ;) we did sign to a European Label after all!!!

- LN: Your indiegogo campaign looks like it was pretty successful. Would you think about going the same route for album number two?

     Aaron: It depends really on so many things...mainly, when running a band these days it can be hard to make it happen without the support, also for us unless people wanted it, we didn't want to record it or even waste our time. For us a Kickstarter campaign for the album just made sense.

- LN: Speaking of album number two, I know Party, Grind only just came out, but have you guys done any work for your second record? I for one could definitely do with some more Killitorous sooner rather than later.

     Aaron: We have almost finished writing the new album, we are trying to keep things rolling rather than touring the album TOO much. So I'd say we will really start working on it once we are finished the touring cycles for Party, Grind.

- LN: How about a few quick ones, like: favourite Nicholas Cage movie?

     Aaron: Raising Arizona tied with Leaving Las Vegas tied with Faceoff tied with Adaptation.

- LN: Favourite Jim Carrey movie?

     Aaron: Ace Ventura 1, but as he is from the same hometown as me (Newmarket, Ontario, Canada) I must say EVERY movie holds a certain place in my heart.

- LN: The Black Dahlia Murder or Carcass?

     Aaron: Neither, Hall and Oates.

- LN: Arsis or Archspire?

     Aaron: That's is an unfair question, because although I spent majority of my high school comm tech class listening to "We are the Nightmare", Archspire are my boys and one of the bands/group of dudes, myself and my band respect in Canada. UNFAIR, NEXT QUESTION!!!!

- LN: Now for a few of my standard closers: If you could make everyone stop what they’re doing and listen to one song right this minute, what song would it be?

     Aaron: Godking, because I feel it is the perfect blend of everything Killitorous has to offer.

- LN: If you could ask any member of any band any question, who would it be and what would you ask?

     Aaron: Darryl Hall, why did you let the drums be on the off beat in the video for "Private Eyes!?"....aggravating! see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLfoy2XsFw

- LN: Dream Tour: who would you guys open for, or who would open for you?

     Aaron: I would love to tour one day with Nile...because they are my fav. metal band ever.

- LN: Almost done. What have you been listening to lately?
     Aaron: In the genre of metal I have been listening to the newest Cryptopsy, Cattle Decapitation and Unhuman...ALOT but I still listen to really everything, LOVE the new Chromeo, Daft Punk and still can't stop listening to Lana Del Rey.

- LN: Last one! What’s your favourite metal album of all time?
     Aaron: Akeldema by The Faceless.



     And as always, in response to Aaron's awesome answers I say the following:
- good sensible tuning, drop C. Excellent choice.
- I, too, am finding that the longer I write this blog, the more Canadian bands I discover that rival anything being done anywhere else in the world. No matter what your musical flavour of choice, heavy or otherwise, Canada has got you covered.
-Interesting, Face/Off but no Con-Air *or* The Rock...
- the first Ace Ventura movie is indeed the correct answer, although I used to love The Mask when I was a kid. Also, not that it means anything to anyone, I have family in Newmarket, so yay Newmarket!
- I had a hunch that "Arsis or Archspire?" might be a tough one when it occurred to me in all its alliterative glory. I'm glad to have presented you with a conundrum.
- Excellent choice of favourite metal album Aaron.

     That's another Twenty Questions down (rounding up, at least...) and another band added to the Litany of Heroes. Who'll show up at Loud Noises next? You'll just have to wait and see. For now, have a listen to today's Song of the Day for an example of Killitorous doing what they do. You'll be glad you did

Chris Letchford - The Star Boys

     Time for a little something light and jazzy for your Saturday evening courtesy of Chris Lecthford, whose work I'm sure you're familiar with even if you can't quite place his name.

     Chris's guitar work with instrumental prog-heads Scale the Summit already has a decidedly jazzy bent to it, so it should come as no surprise that his forthcoming solo LP Lightbox is shaping up to be a pretty solid instrumental jazz record. He's even had the good fortune to get Evan Brewer (bassist extraordinaire, lately of The Faceless), Mark Michell (bassist from Scale the Summit), Steven Padin (drummer to the stars in The Reign of Kindo) and Danny Pizarro (pianist/keyboardist, also from Kindo) to combine their powers as his backing band. So basically, this record has had bucketloads of talent thrown at it.

     Lead single "The Star Boys" is a little all over the place, but in a good way. Chris changes direction just enough to keep you guessing, but not so much as to leave you disoriented. Well, you might be disoriented, but it'll be by the intricacy and complexity of the musicianship rather than the meandering course of the song. Instrumental fans and jazz freaks alike should take notice of this one.

Aronious - Disillusionment I

     Fancy something heavy and evil-sounding to cap off your Sunday evening? Take heart, for I have just the thing for you my friend.

     Aronious have both heaviness and evil-soundingness in spades, and while they're not mind-blowingly unique or anything, they're also not especially derivative either. Techy, fleet-fingered riffing brings loose comparisons to mind (The Faceless perhaps, or maybe Arsis) but doesn't stray into territory that makes you think "oh, this is just this song or this band".

     Check out "Disillusionment I", the opening track from the band's debut EP Truth in Perception, at volume and see if it's appropriately evil for your purposes.

Son of Aurelius - Mercy for Today

     Imagine if The Black Dahlia Murder and Arsis made sweet, sweet metal love to each other, and one of them got knocked up, and then nine months later pre-Michael-Keene-show The Faceless acted as midwife for the resulting baby. That baby, my friends, could very well be named Son of Aurelius.

      I came across these guys a few years ago (so long ago that I can't even remember how) but only recently got around to picking up a copy of their 2010 debut LP The Farthest Reaches. I now wish I hadn't forgotten about them for so long, because I could have been singing their praises this whole time. The eleven tracks on The Farthest Reaches are a sampling of some of the tastiest technical melo-death (melodic tech-death?) I've heard in ages that wasn't written by one of the three bands mentioned above.

     You might not feel quite as enamoured with these guys as I am, but I definitely think you'll dig them at least a little. So check out "Mercy for Today", the furious opening salvo from The Farthest Reaches, and discover for yourself what seems like the Internet's best kept metal secret.

Song of the Day: The Faceless - Planetary Duality II: A Prophecies Fruition

     California tech-death band The Faceless (aka The Michael Keene Show) no doubt picked up a lot of new fans with last year's stellar Autotheism, which was a perfect blend of Opethian beauty meets Arsis-up-to-11 beast.

2012 Round-up, Part 1: Loud Noises Ten Best of 2012

     If you follow any metal blogs at all (or any blogs or websites about anything, really) you know that this time of year is “Best of” season. Everybody and their mother’s dog is sounding off about their favourite albums of 2012, and dammit that bandwagon is looking a little empty without me. I've got opinions about how 2012 went down, and although I get the sense it'll be a bit like pissing into a hurricane, I'm nevertheless going to undertake the valiant effort of making those opinions known to you, dear reader. So having said all of that, it is my pleasure to present to you part one of the Loud Noises 2012 end of the year round up: the Loud Noises Ten Best of 2012!!

     Now, before we get started, there is one important thing to keep in mind: my tendency towards indecisiveness. You see, I often have trouble making firm and confident decisions. Deciding what to have for dinner can prove quite vexing some days. So as you might be able to imagine, the task of ranking my favourite albums of the year and culminating definitively with a choice that I think stands above all others is one that might very well unburden me of my sanity. In the interest of keeping me from coming completely unhinged, I've decided to just tell you about my ten favourite albums from the past year, in no particular order, just a list, here's ten great records you should check out, bam, done. In fact, just so you can't infer anything unintended from my choice of structure, I'm not even going to number this list of epicness. How do you like them apples?

- Skyharbor - Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos
   Tremendously talented international bands spawned from bedroom and basement recording set-ups seem to be becoming increasingly common in the overlapping worlds of heavy and progressive music, but for my money India's Skyharbor comes out well ahead. Combine complex, melodic, and of course heavy guitar riffs with drums dripping groove and powerful vocals from my boy Dan Tompkins, and you've got an album I've listened to an absolute shit ton of this year, and an album that's so much more than mere djent. It's sometimes easy to forget that Blinding White Noise is Skyharbor's very first release. I for one will be very excited to hear where this group goes next, and I think if you heard them you would be too.

- The Contortionist - Intrinsic
   I could describe The Contortionist's album Intrinsic in one of two ways: I could wax loquaciously about how Intrinsic is a stellar sophomore effort that shows The Contortionist to be a band maturing very nicely. I could talk about how Intrinsic strikes a careful balance between being grand and expansive and being lean and focused. I could talk about how while I maybe don't think it deserved the sheer volume of hype it received online prior to its release, I do think it's a cool and diverse album from a young band that is definitely worthy of your attention. Or I could just use one word to sum up Intrinsic: keyboards! Either way, I was very glad I picked this one up, and very bummed when The Contortionist ended up not playing here on Hallowe'en due to Veil of Maya dropping out of a Canadian mini-tour. Come on back, guys!

- Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It's Personal
   Speaking of hype, we all knew Periphery's second full length was going to be a monster, if only because the interwebs told us so. A bigger, badder record with more of everything fans liked about the first one, and indeed more input from band members whose names aren't Misha Mansoor. My only complaint about this album is that every song is so chock full, so 110%, that it loses a bit of the impact it might have with a bit more ebb and flow, a bit more dynamics. Of course, I can't really fault Periphery too much for crafting an album that is monotonously good, can I? Periphery might need some new tricks when the time comes for Periphery III: Back to the Periphery, but for the time being Periphery has upped their game in every way for Periphery II.

- The Faceless - Autotheism
   The observant reader will by this point have noticed at least one trend in this best of 2012 list, namely that a number of these albums were highly anticipated and greatly hyped before their respective releases. The latest release from tech/death prodigies The Faceless was no exception. OK, maybe it was a bit of an exception, in the sense that it fully warranted both anticipation and hype. I jumped on the The Faceless bandwagon with Planetary Duality, which I really dug, so I was really excited to hear the follow-up, and I was really pleased with the result. Hell, the opening three track "Autotheism" suite alone is worth the price of admission, and there's six other tracks on the record! Some fans might not have been able to get into the proggier direction guitarist/songwriter/singer Michael Keene chose for his band (those who say saxophone has no place in metal, for example), but I for one think the step up from Planetary Duality to Autotheism bodes extremely well for the step from Autotheism to wherever The Faceless ends up next.

- Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage
   I could say a lot of things about Gojira's fantastic 2012 selection of doom and groove, L'Enfant Sauvage, most of which have probably already been said a dozen times on a dozen websites, but I think the most ringing endorsement of this album I can give anyone is to say that it made a Gojira fan out of me. Prior to hearing this album, I was a casual, lukewarm Gojira fan at best, really only knowing a few of their more "mainstream" songs. But L'Enfant Sauvage is all killer, no filler, with every song being solid and not at all skippable, which I find is something to be said for an album of any genre, let alone a genre as potentially pummeling as metal. If L'Enfant Sauvage can make a Gojira convert out of me, it can make a convert out of anyone.

- Trioscapes - Separate Realities
If I could say a lot of things about Gojira's L'Enfant Sauvage, then I can't say enough about the debut album from three-piece jazz fusion act Trioscapes. Among the many glowing statements I might make about Separate Realities: it'll make a jazz fan out of even the most staunch metalhead, especially when you consider that one full third of its membership (bass player Dan Briggs) does double duty in both Trioscapes and prog champs Between the Buried and Me; it'll also make jazz fans out of your friends and associates when played at gatherings and get-togethers (yeah, I've put Trioscapes on at parties, to largely positive reactions); Trioscapes'll even give metal-fan you and your non-metal-fan girlfriend something badass to share. Yes, with its deep, deep grooves and super funky riffs enough for days on end, Trioscapes' Separate Realities is the great jazzy equalizer.

- Deftones - Koi No Yokan
   2010's Diamond Eyes is widely hailed as a return to form for the Deftones, a rebottling of the lightning of the seminal White Pony, and if you accept this logic then 2012's Koi No Yokan is proof positive that Diamond Eyes wasn’t a fluke and Deftones are capable of making lightning strike the same spot again and again and again. It's too bad that original bassist Chi Cheng is still recovering from a very serious car accident more than four years ago, but at least Sergio Vega is continuing his terrific job of holding down the low end of things. As a result, a playthrough of Koi No Yokan doesn't leave one wondering "Aw, where's Chi?" but rather "Wow, Deftones can still write a captivating album, can't they?" They're not reinventing the wheel or their sound, but then why should they? With Deftones it's long been about the quality of their songs rather than doing something radically new with each record; as far back as White Pony, Deftones had found the rough formula for what works for them, and they've been playing around with that formula ever since. Sometimes the resulting collection of songs is more Diamond Eyes and sometimes it's more Saturday Night Wrist (which is a good record, don't get me wrong). Koi No Yokan is a rock solid collection of songs, which is a pretty lofty achievement in my book.

- Baroness - Yellow & Green
   2012 was a tumultuous year for Baroness to say the least: in July they released Yellow & Green, the much anticipated follow-up double album to killer sophomore effort Blue, to widespread acclaim, and then in August they were involved in a pretty serious bus crash while on tour in England. The band is recovering well from their various injuries (which included broken bones and fractured vertebrae) but it's still a major setback in a career, and a terrifying event for anyone to undergo. However, it seems like Baroness will rise again and forge ahead, so Baroness fans can take heart and, in the meantime, take pleasure in a double album that's as dark and melancholy as it is plaintive and beautiful. Listeners expecting a straight up increase in "heaviness" might be disappointed, but listeners looking for a deep and interesting listen will find it here in spades.

- Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence
   As we've already seen, 2012 was a year with some pretty big, pretty highly anticipated releases, and the latest prog-metal opus from Between the Buried and Me was no exception. The band's track record of producing works of technically magnificent madness dovetailed nicely with the introductory EP Hypersleep Dialogues they released in 2011 as a teaser for Future Sequence to create an atmosphere of rabid expectation. And then they delivered, blowing us all away with an audio roller coaster ride through the stars. I think I'm personally still a bigger fan of The Great Misdirect, because I just really like how that collection of songs hangs together as a piece of music, but there's no denying that Future Sequence is a slice of Between the Buried and Me at the top of their game. If you're at all a fan of technically progressive metal or Between the Buried and Me, and have somehow not heard this record yet, stop what you're doing and go get a copy right now. Then come back, put it on, and finish reading this. Or just finish this first. Either way, don't run away for good just yet, because we're not quite done yet...

- Sylosis - Monolith
   The latest slab of thrash from the purveyors of shredding from Reading may not have been a record widely anticipated by the metal world at large, but I've been a fan of Sylosis since their first EP so I was definitely looking forward to it. And if 2012 is any indication of what 2013 might be like for Sylosis, by the time they get around to recording the follow-up to Monolith I won't be the only one who's excited. For now we all have to be satisfied with Monolith, the third full length album from modern British thrash titans Sylosis, and it's a doozy. I fee like it might lack a little of the fire, a little of the magical spark, that connected me so well with some of their earlier work, but that's not to say Monolith isn't...well, monolithic. From one end to the other it's tasty metal goodness. Sure, there's some quieter bits, and some slower bits, but the sheer riffage-per-minute numbers on this one are off the charts. I always try to talk Sylosis up to my friends who like metal, so let this be (another) lesson to you: if you somehow don't know Sylosis by now, get to know them. Like I said, after releasing Monolith in 2012 and then snagging a tour spot opening for Lamb of God, Sylosis are poised for a 2013 that you'll want to be a part of.

Well, there you have it, ten records that I listened to a lot of in 2012 and that I think I liked more than anything else I heard released last year. No doubt you're already familiar with at least some of these, but hopefully there's at least one you don't know and can check out, because you know how I like turning you on to new stuff. Aww yeah you do. Anyways, until part 2 of the 2012 year end report is ready for your collective eye- and ear-holes, why don't you crank some of the above? You won't be sorry you did. Schuss!

Song of the Day: High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine

     Today's band put out a new record earlier this year, and while I haven't heard anything from it yet, they're definitely one of those metal bands that I'd like to listen to more of than I do and be more into than I am. I do however have a copy of their previous album, and just in case you don't know them I'm taking a track from that one for today's song.

Song of the Day: The Faceless - Autotheism: Movements I, II, III

     Super buzzed-about tech death metal band The Faceless released their third album, Autotheism, in August, and it's a doozy. I guess I'm well behind the curve on this one, since it came out a month and a half ago, but I've been listening to it a bunch over the last week or so. I liked The Faceless before; Planetary Duality is an opus of sci-fi tech-death goodness, and they played a great set this summer at Heavy TO. But Autotheism has gotten in my brain like some kind of ear-burrowing space slug, thanks in no small part to today's song. Today's songs, actually. What do I mean?

Heavy TO Pit Report - Part 1: The Bands

     I told you I'd have some thoughts from Heavy TO, and here they are, even if it did take me a week to write them down. And I have so many thoughts that I think I'm going to make this a two-parter. In this first installment, I'm going to go through each of the bands we actually payed attention to (ie: the ones we went to see) and give little baby reviews of their sets. I'm not going to try and remember set lists or anything like that (mostly because it's 2012 and the Internet does that shit for me), I'm just going to give you my impressions of each band's performance. So let's go!

Song of the Day: The Faceless - Prison Born

     Heavy TO prep continues apace today, with a track from a young band that seems to be the up and coming tech-death darling de jour. The fact that they announced the completion and impending release of their new album Autotheism sort of out of nowhere, the fact that we've so far heard only a minute-long snippet of the new stuff even though the record comes out next week, and the fact that their last record, Planetary Duality, was so awesome all combine to make Autotheism an album I'm pretty stoked for, and I'm certainly not the only one. Yes, you may have figured out by now that I'm talking about The Faceless.

Song of the Day: Periphery - Scarlet

     There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if you're listening to metal in 2012, you have at least heard of Periphery before. Exactly how you feel about the band that Bulb birthed* might vary, and might have a lot to do with how you feel about this whole "djent" thing they're one of the leading purveyors of, but I know you know who they are. They just released their second full length, Periphery II: This Time It's Personal, and they're on the Summer Slaughter tour alongside the likes of The Faceless and Between the Buried and Me. Oh yeah, did I mention that all three of these bands are playing Sunday at Heavy TO?