Song of the Day: The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Ocean and The Sun

     It's Sunday (still, for a little bit at least) which means your song for today is going to be a little bit laid-back, a little less metal. Today's choice struck me as a bit of a no-brainer, given the whole "weekend-chill-vibe" thing, since I haven't even ever mentioned this band yet and they're definitely worth mentioning. The Sound of Animals Fighting was a super-group of sorts, counting members of Finch, Rx Bandits, Chiodos, and Circa Survive among its alumni, though the band has disbanded since the release of its third and final album in 2008. Still, the three album catalogue they produced is pretty interesting and definitely worth checking out.

Song of the Day: Queens of the Stone Age - Better Living Through Chemistry

     Once again it's the weekend (funny how they come around every week, eh?) and since there's only a couple of them left this summer, I thought maybe I'd go back to the template from last weekend, by which I mean picking some songs that are perhaps a little more laid back, a little more chill. As is so often the case, the band was the easy choice. My friends and I listened to a ton of Queens of the Stone Age through high school and into university; the first three QOTSA albums in particular were never far from our Discmen (yeah, I'm that old). The choice of song was less obvious, given that QOTSA can rock a laid-back groove with the best of them (*cough* Kyuss *cough*), but I think I settled on one that will take your day and set it to "chill" without too much difficulty.

Song of the Day: The Fall of Troy - Rockstar Nailbomb

     Afternoon everyone (or morning for me, as I just got up). I had to have a little Think to come up with the band for today's song, but once I got it, the old tried and true method of picking the song that first exposed me to said band kicked in, and Robert's your mother's brother. Inspired by yesterday's song (love you Kelsey!) I ended up going with another noodley, emo-y kinda band that's still capable of some heavy.

Song of the Day: Dance Gavin Dance - Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most

     Today is a very special day here at Loud Noises, with a very special song to go along with it. Three years ago this evening, my girlfriend Kelsey and I went on our very first date (it was Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, if you're wondering, which you probably aren't). It was super awkward, but maybe that's how I knew it was the start of something special. Three years later, we've been through a lot together, and we've had a lot of special shared musical memories, but one sticks out as the first song we connected over. It may not be Metal with an upper case M, but tough titties.

Song of the Day: The Contortionist - Holomovement

     Today I've got an adventure in Progland for you to embark upon. Ever heard of The Contortionist? Yes? No? Maybe so? Well you should hear of them. Their second LP, Intrinsic, was released last month, and while they're not yet ready to unseat a band like Between the Buried and Me for prog-metal supremacy, they're definitely worth checking out if, like me, you're a fan of this kind of thing, and I don't doubt that Intrinsic will appear on more than a few "best of 2012" lists come the end of the year.

Song of the Day: Circles - Eye Embedded

     Another day, another song here at Loud Noises, and today, like yesterday, I'm going to do a little retreading of ground from days gone by. A week or two ago, I posted my United Nations of Metal with a whole slew of international recommendations. Maybe you checked them out, maybe you didn't, but today I intend to make sure that at least one of these bands gets a little attention from you.

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!