I haven't really gotten excited about a Trivium record in a few album cycles now, so I don't think I can be blamed for being caught off guard by the news that the band has a new record coming out this fall. Lucky for all of us who've been in the dark, Trivium have got a new single to go along with it too.
Supposedly, the new record's title track "Silence in the Snow" was written during the sessions for 2008's Shogun. Now, to me that sounds a little bit like Matt and Company attempting to pander to their fanbase, but at least the band seems to recognize what lots of people considered their heyday to be. I think I'll just play it safe and reserve judgement as to which era of Trivium's catalogue Silence in the Snow evokes most until I've heard more of the record.
Any road, for the time being we can all give "Silence in the Snow" a couple of spins. It's a bit more of a mid-tempo radio number, with Matt's big cleans giving things an almost power metal kind of feel. It's probably not going to be a lot of people's cup of tea, but like I said, October is a ways off yet, and this might just be the tip of the iceberg. Let's all just wait and see, shall we?
Friday, 31 July 2015
Thursday, 30 July 2015
Tuesday: Agent Fresco - Wait For Me
Do you want to feel some feels and get your funky groove on? Lucky for you there's Iceland's Agent Fresco, because they've got the chops to get the job done in four minutes or less. Ready? Let's go!
"Wait For Me" is the latest single from Agent Fresco's impending new record Destrier, due out next week, and once again I'm enjoying it despite its being about as far from metal as it possibly could be. But something about "Wait For Me"'s combination of sparse instrumentation and production in the verses meets big electro-funk choruses tickles me in the the weird place that Agent Fresco seems to have this knack for finding.
Then you throw in the powerful vocal performance, the accompanying video, and the story behind said video (it's at the top of the comments, I won't get into it here) and you've got a recipe for those feels I was talking about. You'll want to play this one a couple of times, but there's just a little bit of melancholy in each play. Powerful stuff from Agent Fresco and Destrier.
"Wait For Me" is the latest single from Agent Fresco's impending new record Destrier, due out next week, and once again I'm enjoying it despite its being about as far from metal as it possibly could be. But something about "Wait For Me"'s combination of sparse instrumentation and production in the verses meets big electro-funk choruses tickles me in the the weird place that Agent Fresco seems to have this knack for finding.
Then you throw in the powerful vocal performance, the accompanying video, and the story behind said video (it's at the top of the comments, I won't get into it here) and you've got a recipe for those feels I was talking about. You'll want to play this one a couple of times, but there's just a little bit of melancholy in each play. Powerful stuff from Agent Fresco and Destrier.
Monday: Meshuggah - Obzen
When I want a Metal Monday song, there are a few bands that I can count on as go-to touchstones for straight up heavy. Your belated Monday song for this week comes from one such band. Prepare yourself.
I've read that the title of Meshuggah's obZen is, among other things, a sorta kinda portmanteau of "zen" and "obscene", and "obscene" is definitely a word I would use when describing my favourite Meshuggah material, as in "obscenely heavy". Longtime readers may by now have noticed my fondness for Meshuggah's sixth album, and while it's not the only one I dig, it is the one that got me into these crazy Swedes, so it's got that special "popped my Meshuggah cherry" place in my heart, y'know?
So for Metal Monday I'm going with obZen title track "Obzen", a muscular tour de force of angular chugging and aggression. Doesn't it just make you want to mosh someone into the ground? Here's a fun game: next time you're at the office, put on "Obzen" and work your co-workers into a circle pit by the water cooler. If you need help, just show them that video of scenes from The Wolf of Wall Street cut to (you guessed it) Meshuggah so it looks like Leo's headbanging away in perfect time. Everybody will jump right on board after that.
I've read that the title of Meshuggah's obZen is, among other things, a sorta kinda portmanteau of "zen" and "obscene", and "obscene" is definitely a word I would use when describing my favourite Meshuggah material, as in "obscenely heavy". Longtime readers may by now have noticed my fondness for Meshuggah's sixth album, and while it's not the only one I dig, it is the one that got me into these crazy Swedes, so it's got that special "popped my Meshuggah cherry" place in my heart, y'know?
So for Metal Monday I'm going with obZen title track "Obzen", a muscular tour de force of angular chugging and aggression. Doesn't it just make you want to mosh someone into the ground? Here's a fun game: next time you're at the office, put on "Obzen" and work your co-workers into a circle pit by the water cooler. If you need help, just show them that video of scenes from The Wolf of Wall Street cut to (you guessed it) Meshuggah so it looks like Leo's headbanging away in perfect time. Everybody will jump right on board after that.
Wednesday, 29 July 2015
Sunday: Psykup - Color Me Blood Red
If only I could derive nutrition and energy from alliteration, I'd never need to sleep or eat again. Maybe some day science will catch up with my dreams, but for the time being I can glean only dorky satisfaction from chaining together words starting with the same letter or, as is the case with your Sunday song, the same letter sound. Yes, it's a wee bit of a cheat, but when you see it I think you'll let me off the hook.
After all, the "p" is silent, so technically giving you a Psykup Sunday is a perfectly cromulent thing to do (bonus points for anyone who gets that particular bit of wordplay). But who or what is Psykup? Well, they're French...and insane. The scattershot trio of influences listed on the band's page at the Season of Mist Bandcamp -- Strapping Young Lad, Primus, and Alice in Chains -- is as minimally descriptive as it is representative of the weirdness that is Psykup.
So let their madness do the talking and check out "Color Me Blood Red", the opening track from Psykup's 2008 album We Love You All. This one's as hard to nail down as Jello, so you should enjoy every minute of its fat, nearly ten minute running time. Go on, get messy.
After all, the "p" is silent, so technically giving you a Psykup Sunday is a perfectly cromulent thing to do (bonus points for anyone who gets that particular bit of wordplay). But who or what is Psykup? Well, they're French...and insane. The scattershot trio of influences listed on the band's page at the Season of Mist Bandcamp -- Strapping Young Lad, Primus, and Alice in Chains -- is as minimally descriptive as it is representative of the weirdness that is Psykup.
So let their madness do the talking and check out "Color Me Blood Red", the opening track from Psykup's 2008 album We Love You All. This one's as hard to nail down as Jello, so you should enjoy every minute of its fat, nearly ten minute running time. Go on, get messy.
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
Saturday: The Kindred - An Evolution of Thought
Let's keep the ball rolling with a little bit of proggy-smelling post-hardcore courtesy of the Canadians Formerly Known as Today I Caught the Plague. (I suppose it's been long enough that we should all probably stop making reference to how they used to be called something else, but hey, I needed an intro.)
The Kindred's sophomore disc Life in Lucidity (their first under the new The Kindred moniker) is more than a year old already, but it's got an energy and a style that still feels fresh to me. It's hard to describe, so here's the deal: I could name a dozen bands that The Kindred and Life in Lucidity remind me of (for example, I get some Coheed and Cambria, some reined-in Mars Volta, some Protest the Hero...), or you could just listen to "An Evolution of Thought" and check 'em out for your own self.
Of course, the flipside to me still enjoying your record that's been out more than a year is that no matter how fresh it remains, new material can never come soon enough. So, The Kindred, new record, yes?
The Kindred's sophomore disc Life in Lucidity (their first under the new The Kindred moniker) is more than a year old already, but it's got an energy and a style that still feels fresh to me. It's hard to describe, so here's the deal: I could name a dozen bands that The Kindred and Life in Lucidity remind me of (for example, I get some Coheed and Cambria, some reined-in Mars Volta, some Protest the Hero...), or you could just listen to "An Evolution of Thought" and check 'em out for your own self.
Of course, the flipside to me still enjoying your record that's been out more than a year is that no matter how fresh it remains, new material can never come soon enough. So, The Kindred, new record, yes?
Monday, 27 July 2015
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.
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.
Friday, 24 July 2015
Thursday: Thursday - Signals Over the Air
Time for another Throwback Thursday song, and this week I've got the perfect pick in the form of a track from celebrated emo/screamo/post-hardcore act Thursday. A Throwback Thursday song by Thursday. Get it? Get it?! Yeah, you get it.
2001's sophomore disc Full Collapse remains my favourite Thursday record, probably due in no small part to it belonging to a rose-coloured part of my youth, but they've got a catalogue with lots of other good stuff in it. Full Collapse follow-up War All the Time is one such solid record, and a piece of work that fans of the genre should check out.
And to make sure that you check it out you do, I'm going to hook you the same way Thursday hooked me on War All the Time back in 2003, with the album's first single "Signals Over the Air". Catchy, singable, and with just enough groove to get your head going, "Signals Over the Air" is a great example of just how much better than your preconceptions "emo" can be.
2001's sophomore disc Full Collapse remains my favourite Thursday record, probably due in no small part to it belonging to a rose-coloured part of my youth, but they've got a catalogue with lots of other good stuff in it. Full Collapse follow-up War All the Time is one such solid record, and a piece of work that fans of the genre should check out.
And to make sure that you check it out you do, I'm going to hook you the same way Thursday hooked me on War All the Time back in 2003, with the album's first single "Signals Over the Air". Catchy, singable, and with just enough groove to get your head going, "Signals Over the Air" is a great example of just how much better than your preconceptions "emo" can be.
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