HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...TAYLOR YORK

Incredibly, this third of Paramore is only 23.

23. Damnnnnnn.

So Taylor, happy birthday! Personally, I can't wait to hear what you guys have been brewing up in the studio - I was away from a computer when I heard the news about Paramore's new self-titled album, due out on April 9th 2013, so nothing about it until this post. But needless to say, I'm excited and intrigued to hear what's been going on in the Paramore camp. 

The first single to come from Paramore is to be called Now, but for now that's all we've got to go on. More as it happens.

WEEK IN REVIEW; 10/12/12 - 16/12/12

So, in case you missed any posts from this last week (there weren't many, to be fair), this is the first of what I hope to instate as weekly round-ups. So heeeeere we go!

• theNOISE expanded into the realms of it's own social media accounts; I'm now on Twitter as @yesthisisnoise, and you can follow/Tweet posts using the above ^ buttons. Google Plus happened as well, but I don't get it so... Facebook and MySpace are to follow soon, and I have every intention to begin occasional vlogs, so a YouTube account may also see the light of day.
• You can also get in touch with me via email, at yesthisisnoise@gmail.com
• Review-wise, I put out my views on new albums by Rolo Tomassi and Parkway Drive (btdubs, they're both great albums. What does btdubs even refer to?). I even got retweets from Rolo and PWD's shouty man Winston, which was awesome in a nerdy, internet way.
• And finally, because it was only a quiet week, the only news item I deigned to report was the addition of the mighty Mastodon to Download Festival 2013.

Ok, so that was a brief week in review! Stay tuned this coming week for reviews of Marmozets, Blitz Kids, Deftones, a long-overdue review of Muse live in Madrid, among others!

Only 8 days until Christmas now (like you didn't know), so to help you stay festive, here's Corey Taylor's X-M@$!

ALBUM REVIEW; ATLAS by Parkway Drive

ATLAS by Parkway Drive
9/10
Serious stuff from Oz' finest metal export - deep, thoughtful, developed, and of course, brutal as f*ck.

You only have to look at the themes of PWD's releases over the years to see how they've matured as a band - from the early days of Killing With A Smile that hated things, through existence and monsters in Horizons and exploring the concept of feeling lost in Deep Blue, we arrive at the end of the world in Atlas. Yet through all this they've grown into and maintained a status as maybe the best metalcore act in the world, and this new release continues that upward trajectory - as a group, they have really pushed the boat (surfboard? They are beach bums at heart...) out and created something special.

A stand-out aspect of Atlas is the ambition, in terms of both content and musicality. The message of the album is clear; we've got a screwed-up planet that needs fixing; "there will be no future if we don't learn from our mistakes" (Dark Days). It's a big message, and this underlying theme stays strong throughout the 48 minutes of top-quality metal, but never overrides the music. But that music...

The voice is as much of an instrument as anything else, and vocalist Winston McCall has the most powerful voice I've ever heard in metalcore - watch live videos of PWD if you don't believe me - and it's a voice on form here, ripping out deep growls and strong highs without difficulty, but also exploring the more mellow semi-spoken side of vocals when the music takes that turn. McCall also delivers the lyrical content of Atlas with fantastic force - it's a dream combo of anthemic, memorable and overall memorable lyricism sung with emotion and belief in the content. 

As hinted at, we are treated to Parkway's more melodic side amongst the classic riff brutality that they're so good at. It is, in fact, one of the main ways that this album is so ambitious. The opening track to an album has to be killer and set the tone for the rest, and Sparks delivers with a quiet intro that builds into a grand, epic strings-fest that puts the whole album on a huge scale. Tracks such as The River and Atlas explore a more semi-acoustic vein, and darker, moodier riffs come to light on The Slow Surrender. But there is still the crushing heaviness that we know so well throughout, most evident on lead single Dark Days and album highlights Snake Oil & Holy Water and Blue & The Grey, the two tracks that see out the album, and these are as brutal as ever. 

In Atlas, Parkway Drive have produced a record that I would go as far as calling a metalcore classic. It has power in abundance, anthemic songs as far as the eye can see, some truly epic goosebump-inducing moody moments (intro to Dark Days. Trust me) and explores a more thought-provoking side without diluting what the band fundamentally are. A triumph.

WELL HEY THERE SOCIAL MEDIA

I'm jumping on the social media bandwagon, but only after it's just circumnavigated the globe with Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman. I'm slow to latch onto things.

BUT...the exciting* new thing what I done did was to create both a Twitter and Google +1 account for this here blog, and you can do up to all 3 of the following with such ease by clicking the various buttons, now at the top of each blog post;

1. Follow the blog's Twitter @yesthisisnoise
2. Tweet my posts
3. +1 my posts. I'll be honest though, I haven't got the foggiest idea how Google + works. I may understand eventually. I'm treating it as a hipster Facebook. Can anyone offer an explanation on G+?

And now I must away! for there are albums that need listening to and subsequent reviews that need doing!

The irony of this post is of course that you may well read this from Twitter anyway. But please FOLLOW ME (WHOAHOHOHOOHHHHHHH)! Ten points to Gryffindor if you get that reference.

* excitement not guaranteed, although probable.

BADASS DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL NEWS

So in my eyes the lineup for Download Festival was already looking significantly badass, headlined by Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein and supported by, among others, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bullet For My Valentine, 30 Seconds To Mars, Motorhead, The Gaslight Anthem and Stone Sour. Then, these guys happened to the lineup.

 Being my absolute favourite band that isn't Muse (who will always hold the top spot), the addition of Mastodon to Download's bill is almost magnetically drawing £200 for a weekend ticket out of my bank account.

ALBUM REVIEW; ASTRAEA by Rolo Tomassi

Rolo Tomassi; ASTRAEA
8/10
Sheffield math-nutters find their sound in ambitiously polished space epic.

There is no denying that Rolo Tomassi are not, nor will they ever be, to everyone's taste. The same can be said for any band, in all honesty, but RT more so than the majority of bands. For years they have been an (in this reviewer's opinion) an underrated gem of Britain's rock scene, with great potential that they have come so close to delivering with their earlier efforts. And finally, with Astraea, they have come of age with an album that appeals to a wider audience, while maintaining their classic, quirky-x1000 strangeness.

As a record, Astraea develops their sound from the often unmitigated chaos they've been occasionally prone to, into a thing of genius that is still fundamentally said chaos at heart. Imagine, if you will, a piece of stained glass smashed into pieces and rearranged into a gorgeous mosaic - there's beauty at it's core, anarchy in the process and an eventual finished artwork made of the results of this entropy. 

Musically there are a lot of influences to be heard - riffs with hints of prog metal and djent (Gloam, The Scales of Balance), near-classical moments (Prelude II: Echolalia), take-note-Trent-Reznor post rock (a beautiful draw into the opener Howl) and haunting/mental synth-work littered throughout. Much credit is due for the new members of RT, following their reshuffle; new guitarist Chris Cayford and bassist Nathan Fairweather's influence in the creative process is distinctive, as both guitar and bass are pushed hard into being bloody awesome (the bass in the middle of Illunis is one of my favourite parts of the record). 

Vocal-wise, frontwoman/adorable banshee Eva Spence's screams are stronger and more powerful than ever, ably supported by synthman brother James. Yet in Astraea a more concerted foray into clean singing is evident, with Eva's voice utilised far more in the albums quieter/moodier moments - a microcosm of all this comes in lead single Ex Luna Scientia.

Astraea is an excellent album, hands down. My only criticism comes from one singular moment, the transition between Prelude II: Echolalia and my favourite track Echopraxia - it's the abrupt shift in tempo that sets RT apart, but it's almost too abrupt and violent for me. That said, it's one small blip in an album that crests and subsides in power and beauty, from the post-rock intro to the sweeping grandeur of closer Illuminare. 

The quintet's best work yet - a well-developed record that brings refinement to their classically gorgeous chaos, without losing their individual edge.

SO I'VE BEEN A TAD QUIET.

I keep making grand statements about revamping the blog, getting going again, only for it not to happen. Partially, I blame my computer, for working then not working then (currently) working again, though I'm not optimistic. I also blame (not quite the right sentiment) everything I've been doing here in Spain - travelling, working - basically, a lifestyle change that's pushed this, my baby, out of the way. And I'm happy to let it do so. 

BUT! I'm used to my new lifestyle now, and I'm dialling in how to make the time to do everything that I want to do, which includes trying to get this above and beyond its' former 'glory'. Think of it as a pre-emptive New Year's Resolution if you will; 2013 will be the year I start actually doing things and not procrastinating. Not all the time anyway. 

My aims, as ever, are simple. Post more. Expand. I may start vlogging, might be a fun experiment. If I invest in a new laptop that could handle such demanding tasks as video filming/editing. Anyway, I have one final act for 2012, to round off the year- ironically one of the things that made me start a blog on Tumblr, 2 and a half years ago, the first incarnation of what you're now reading - it's the first theNOISE Music Awards!

Keeping it small-scale, so I don't swamp myself, I have a few categories:

• Best Band of '12
• Favourite Live Band (an admittedly narrow category of course, dependent on who I've seen)
• Best Song...
• Best New Band
• Things To Watch in 2013
• Best EPs/Mini-Albums of 2012
• And the main event...Top 10 Albums of  2012
• I also feel appropriate to add 2 extraneous categories created for the the recipient(s) alone.
• Maybe a 'Things That Were In Some Way Sh*t In 2012'

So, I said there wouldn't be many...slight lie, but I've got most of them shortlisted, and I'm beginning work on them now. I'm thinking of putting them out just after Christmas, mainly to allow myself the time to add finishing touches to reviews, but I will chuck out a few band names now to give an idea of what's to come.

Up for my valuable awards are;
Gojira, Parkway Drive, Falling In Reverse, Blitz Kids, Muse, While She Sleeps, Biffy Clyro, Deftones, The Chariot, Enter Shikari, Neurosis, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Gaslight Anthem and Baroness, among many others. I still haven't decided Album of '12, for me the biggest, so it's going to be an arduous few weeks of listening to music. Oh life. x