Two weeks worth of gems.

Having been away from my blog for two weeks I've missed some pretty big and awesome stuff, so here's a kind of condensed post about some of my favourite news from the last fortnight!

Enter Shikari finally released news of a new album, tour and released a brand new single, The Last Garrison. Shikari, being one of my favourite bands, rarely disappoint me and this single almost did. On a first listen I was unsure but a few more tries and I have now deemed it awesome. It's not as aggressive sounding as some of their previous singles but it still has intense passion and trademark genre-bending sounds that make this band leaders in their field. "Can you hear the war cry!?" shouts Rou Reynolds and the answer is yes, and it's bloody exciting!

Foo Fighters have been at some serious single releasing too. In the last fortnight they've released three singles of their long awaited album, Sonic Highways, and it's been nothing but great. First single. Something From Nothing, boasts pure rock 'n' roll vibes whilst second single, The Feast and the Famine sees some classic Foo Fighters sounds. Latest single, Congregation, too sees Foo Fighters showcase everything we love about them and more and it's a beautiful teaser to keep us going until the album is released later this month. If you just can't wait, Sonic Highways, a documentary about the making of their latest album, is on weekly on BBC Four with the first three episodes available on iPlayer now.

A surprising single came out this fortnight; Sun Riders by Krokodil. Now whilst it's known that this man loves something heavier from time to time, it was quite a surprise to hear Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil provide actual vocals on the brand new Krokodil track. Although the single lacks a certain punch, the vocals provided by Simon work beautifully with the dark and murky metal tones consistent throughout the single. Here's to hoping we see Simon Neil doing more stuff like this in the future!

After Bring Me The Horizon released Drown, things were looking super exciting. Until Don't Look Down was released that is. Part of Radio 1's Rescore of Drive, Bring Me The Horizon teamed up with Foreign Beggars to create something quite strange. It doesn't sound like Bring Me The Horizon, not at all, and although it fits with the film, it doesn't fit with the bands sound. It was a nice try and I'm sure the boys enjoyed doing something so completely different but if Don't Look Down is a sound that is going to be carried through to the future, Bring Me The Horizon are in trouble.

Now for a double whammy of radical gnarly awesomeness... WHILE SHE SLEEPS AND CANCER BATS ARE TOURING TOGETHER!!!!! Excitement is rife in the world of metal about this because both bands create crazy sounds and put on amazing live shows. Not only is there a tour but While She Sleeps will release new album, Brainwashed, early next year, as will Cancer Bats with their new album, Searching For Zero. And as if that wasn't enough, both have released new singles! Arsenic In The Year Of The Snake is Cancer Bats through and through: it's rough around the edges, grizzly and yet another power single about the things that matter. But it's New World Torture that is the star of this news. While She Sleeps have got it all: chants, gang vocals, break downs, build ups and riffs galore. It's an insane single and is a testament to how hard this band are working to create some of the best metal around today.