Canvas

The Brits have done their best to hype and sell this band as the limey contender to the noisecore sweepstakes. However, it's quite common knowledge that only North Americans can play noisecore properly and past Canvas recordings have sounded like someone left their Breach records on 45 rpm. Okay, so Lost In Rock isn't noisecore as the Dillinger Escape Plan, Coalesce or Drowningman know it, but it's a worthy and interesting take on the sound. First off, Canvas have the gall to chug around the E-string like Neurosis of Knut might, sacrilegiously varying tempos, moving into sludge-like grooves and climactic dirges. Secondly, their singer sounds like he's getting gang-poked by the Unsane, which can sound as frightening as it sounds. Next, they write some pretty epic length tracks that evoke a range of emotion from the listener ("Hail The Sky" and "Elephant Shoes" being the most evocative). Finally, these guys (and two guest gals) aren't afraid to experiment - if you hadn't already clued into this - with soundscapes, guitar noise, acoustic guitars and meandering structures.