LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison) & Axed Theory Night Concert Review!!

Tonight's post was supposed to be 100% devoted to our first concert review since November (believe it or not), but we have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to announce as well, and I don't wanna force a third post today and get everything lost in the mix, so I'll plug that first before the show review! Read on below for details, and don't forget to check out this month's YouTube Channel Profiles in the post below this one! (EDITED, 9:37 PM)

Local metal cover trio Caveman Morrison will be playing at The Roosevelt Hotel TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, but the band just launched the Facebook event page for it last night (even admitting the gigs wERE announced last minute), so maybe they're a late replacement for a cancelled act? This comes just one night after drummer Johnny Belanger rocked The Rosie with The Bear Hunters (more on that in a second), and I believe these will be Caveman Morrison's first concerts since Redundant bassist James White returned to their lineup, so hopefully the guys get back into the same rhythm they had during James' first stint with the band! Admission should be free for these 10:00 PM shows, and there's a 19+ age limit in place. Check the above links for more details! Late notice or not, Caveman Morrison are known for their entertaining and prolific metal & hard rock covers, so don't miss them at The Rosie TONIGHT & TOMORROW! For a preview, here's Caveman Morrison covering Foreigner's "Blue Morning, Blue Day" from James' original run as their bassist!



Now, here's my review of last night's "Axed Theory Night", which marked the first multi-band Thursday night concert at The Rosie at 5 months, and the first all metal Thursday nighter there since the last regularly scheduled Rosie metal night in July! The Roosevelt Hotel was how I remembered it last, and there was a decent crowd all things considered, but how did the bands, all of which were making their 2013 debuts, do last night?

Opening the night was local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters in their first local concert since August (not counting their Sudbury show in December), and it sure didn't feel like that long since they last played here, as they were back to their usual brutal tricks! Their set was full of established originals like "Render This Void", "Dominate", and "Karma", along with an instrumental demo of a new song named "Servitude" that sounds promising in itself, and the guys seemed to be in fine form overall! Aside from some muddled guitar audibility early on, Mitch Sirie & Josh Stephney were great and very technical, and Nik Deubel's vocals were very brutal and devastating as I expected (though I wish he threw clean chorus singing back in some songs.) Overall, it's great to see The Bear Hunters bringing their melodic death metal attack back to the local stage, and hopefully it won't be another half year wait for the next one, but keep a trip to Sudbury in mind next month for their second gig outside of the Algoma District!

Taking the middle slot (and replacing dropped headliners Annex Theory) were the Sault's only blue Chinese metal crash punk quartet Sykotyk Rampage, and while I did see some more negative responses to their set from some fans, I enjoyed what they did! As long as you come into their sets with an open mind and focus on the fun drinking & party atmosphere, you'll find stuff to like, as the fan sing-a-long during their "Fuck You, I'm Drunk" cover should attest to! Their somewhat shortened set included a mix of newer songs like "Bucket of Ham" & "Never Ending Life" with their established drinking songs like "Drinking on the Weekend", while guitarist Dirk Becker got into full anger mode on two songs, trading the guitar for a pitcher of beer to focus on angrily yelling & singing while jumping on tables, which was cool in & of itself! Their set also went by the smoothest, with no microphone issues (ust their usual rampage) and new bassist Tony Briglio's really coming into his own live, including more effective backing vocals! Though different from the death metal bookending sets, Sykotyk Rampage put in a fun middle act, and stay tuned for updates on their next studio work!

Headlining last night were local death/grind trio Shit Liver in their first public local concert since July (though they also played in Sudbury in December), and I regretfully had to leave really early in their set, as I had to be up early this morning for some personal commitments, but I made sure to stay long enough to get a few photos and a video! From what I saw, they put in a very brutal set of original material that brought a wall of moshable noise and crust to their fans, and the moshpits were lively! Their set included older originals like "Contribute Or Perish" and "Shift Liver" along with some visibly newer tracks like "Hate Shit Sooer" and "Liverated", and while their set was very delayed due to microphone issues, I can't complain about what I saw compared to earlier sets of theirs! I wish I could have stayed longer, but hopefully Shit Liver's set was as devastating and brutal as people expected, and I promise I'll see the whole thing next time out! (Also, if you noticed a burned CD at their merchandise table, that was an "unmastered demo" of their album featuring 5 originals. I don't think they were selling it at all, but I can't wait to hear the tracks!)

Overall, it was great to finally see another local concert after almost 3 months! I could blame the lower show amount recently and my own personal life, but that was still too long for me to not see anything, and I'll try my hardest to ensure that doesn't happen again! All 3 bands were on their games, and I'm sure we'll see much more of them in 2013! I got dozens of photos as usual, so click here to check them out (or visit the SMS' Facebook page), and I have videos of The Bear Hunters playing "Overthrown", Sykotyk Rampage playing "Hay Zeus", and Shit Liver playing "Helen Kellers", which you can check out below!







That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes likely tomorrow, including info on the recent Woods of Ypres/Juno Awards article in The Sault Star! Thanks everyone!