Sykotyk Rampage's Newest Albums, Woods Of Ypres Tribute CD Updates, And Much More!!

The last week has been heavily leaning towards Sault Michigan updates, and as the days went on, a slowly large amount of Sault Ontario news hit the desk, so it's about time we clear most of it off by covering recent news on this side of the border! Today, we have updates to one of our monthly feature series, the latest David Gold tribute album updates, and much more, but first, here's news on a prolific local hard rock band's newest material!

Local alternative/blues/hard rock quartet Sykotyk Rampage have posted their other four albums from last year onto their Reverbnation page over the past few days! Joining the previously plugged "The Cross" and "Will Do Anything, Seriously?", the band's 30th-33rd albums "Anal Disruptions", "Jonathon, Your Music Sucks!", "Smells Really Good On A Bad Night", and "Sykotyk Ramp-Age" are now available for streaming, so click each link to hear them! That all said, what should we know about these albums? They each feature 10-12 songs, and while almost all are listed via the above links, "Anal Disruptions" is missing three songs (tracks 6, 8, and 9) that are so far only available via the full song listing on their Reverbnation page. Much of these songs are brand new, but a few have been heard live, such as "Drugs & Beer" on "Anal Disruptions" and "Roll A Doobie" on "Jonathon, Your Music Sucks!" The vast majority of songs feature Paul Becker on lead vocals, with only a select few (roughly 1-2 on each album) sung by Dirk Becker, and there's an unidentified female guest singer on at least one track as well.

As well, the album "Sykotyk Ramp-Age" almost entirely features song titles starting with numbers, aside from the closing track "Wanga Danga Comes Of Age" (marking that character's return to their original material after a lengthy hiatus), though I didn't detect a visible theme beyond the titles. And finally, I believe these are among the last new albums featuring Brian Cattapan on bass (given his presence in 3 album covers), so I'd assume Tony Briglio will handle bass duties on their next original sessions. I have yet to hear every one of these albums yet (2 more to go!), but let's just say long time fans won't be disappointed with the content or quality, so stream them above! Now, I won't commit to reviewing any of these albums yet as they're not offically for sale as digital albums (counting the "Genius Mushrooms" albums, they're now up to 8 straight that are just free postings), but if and when any are added to their Reverbnation store, we'll review at least the heaviest of the new 6! Yes, I'm aware you can buy some of these tracks individually for $1.29, but that's through a charitable Music For Good campaign, and are all single downloads without an explicit "album-for-sale" bundle component or packaging.

Still, half of the proceeds from purchases of these songs will go to World Vision, which is an awesome cause, so consider buying your favourite singles above, and stay tuned to the SMS for news on Sykotyk Rampage's next shows and material!

Next up, here's the latest updates on the planned Woods of Ypres tribute album "A Heart of Gold"! Organizers have announced that they are now accepting pre-orders for the album (as per it's Facebook group last week), so what should you know? To pre-order your copy, send $10 (towards a digital download copy) or $20 (towards that and a double CD package) via PayPal to pkuhr@comcast.net as a PayPal gift, not by any other means. When sending, include your e-mail address and/or mailing address in the note section to ensure that your copy/copies are sent to you (as the gift feature doesn't send addresses by itself.) It looks like organizers are moving forward with fundraising for a physical run of the tribute CD, and they need to raise $3,000 total before releasing any links to the final product. Check the above links for more details! I know that they're past $227, which is a great start, but I encourage everyone to send in pre-orders to get this tribute album off the ground! David Gold did similar fundraising for Woods of Ypres' albums, so hopefully a similar support drive turns up for the tribute album! Stay tuned for updates!

Also today, here's three assorted stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, promoter, or venue name:

• Local singer/concert promoter J.D. Pearce (a.k.a. Johnny Pints) is looking for local opening bands for various concerts that he's promoting this year. He specified punk and thrash for genres, but long time fans of his concerts should know he books metal bands often too, so if anyone out there wants in on any of his upcoming shows, check out his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Friday!
• Though major details are forthcoming, and a release date is a ways off yet, Haggith drummer Mike Haggith will apparently release his 46th solo album "The Tower" through the Haggith band's local label/recording studio PaperClip Productions this year! Aside from posting the cover on the label's Facebook page, and describing it as a "good paced rock album with lots of heaviness", little is currently known about it, but stay tuned for updates!
• Local coffee shop & acoustic concert venue The Steamy Bean (on Great Northern Road, not Spring Street) has closed, and will be re-opened as Bruno's Breakfast and Waffle House in a few weeks. This might not seem like a major loss, but The Steamy Bean had offered up live bands and performers for many years, including scattered heavier acts like Tym Morrison & These Sins of Time, and long-time customers are bound to be bummed out. Click here for more details!

Finally for today, here's some updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series, to make each profile more up to date and current! In our Skid Row Battle profile, I added a link for Crank Sound Distribution (now that they have online pages) and I also updated the recent information on competitors Sue Inside (the last surviving band from the battle), mainly to hint to their likely inactive status, not having updated online pages since April 2012. In the 2008 Case's Music Battle profile, I replaced The Glass Statues, March Into Regression, and State of Misery in the section for notable newer bands with battle alumni with Lazer Queen, Unbound, and With Blood Builds Character, as they're more recent examples. I also replaced General Striker with Lazer Queen on the YMCA Battle profile for similar reasons, while also updating Sue Inside's information for similar reasons as on the Skid Row Battle profile. Finally for today, I added Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney to Giwakwa's lineup in the section for notable newer bands with battle alumni on both the YMCA & Algoma University Battle profile, while also adding Creedon & The Animal Detectives drummer Terrence Gomes' newest band The Northern Tragedy to that same section. There's more to come, so stay tuned for more updates on this series this week!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, including fallout from TONIGHT'S Sebastian Bach show! Thanks everyone!