Thursday, June 27, 2013

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Caste Of Shadows

After a slight delay, it's time for our last monthly feature post of June 2013, and it's this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! This series profiles, discusses, and critiques one band each month that is based outside of Sault Ste. Marie, but features (or used to have) at least one Saultite/area resident in any of their lineups, and this month's selection is one of the newest projects from a prolific local alum who's been a member of a number of bands here & out west, so read on below for what you need to know, get the scoop on weekend concert previews and new shows in Sault Ontario in the post below this one, and if anything's missing or incorrect, let me know! (Updated on November 27th, 2014)
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Caste of Shadows (Lethbridge, Alberta)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics. This information is incomplete. If you have any additions or corrections, e-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com!)

Chad "Douglas Wingcock" Neufeld (vocals)
Logan Woolf (guitar)
Marcell Puurveen (bass)
Arik Wagner (drums)

Dave Gibb (bass)
Paul Melanson (bass)
"Tiny" ????? (vocals or drums?)
Ken ????? (vocals or drums?)

Official website: http://www.casteofshadows.net
Official Facebook page: http://facebook.com/pages/caste-of-shadows/108906212509238
Official Twitter page (current): http://www.twitter.com/casteoshadows
Official Twitter page (original): http://www.twitter.com/casteofshadows
Official SoundCloud page: http://www.soundcloud.com/casteofshadows

Local Info: A familiar veteran of the local scene, Sault Ontario native Paul Melanson has been tearing up the Lethbridge, Alberta region with his guitar & bass talents since the mid-late 2000s, which have seen him perform in projects like Daemon Rage, Igniter, Gravity Crash, and his current role as bassist in the Lethbridge/Calgary-based Metallica tribute band Damage Inc.! You may also know Paul from his local work as a singer & guitarist in past local metal bands like Malediction, Gutwrench, and Under The Gun, among others, but if you wanna hear his current work, his current home of Lethbridge is where to be! 

Band Bio: Launched circa March 2010, Caste of Shadows are an extreme metal band that are making an increasing name in the Alberta metal scene. Amidst some lineup shuffling, they debuted in August 2010 as openers for Psycomantium, and they've since played a number of regional concerts, opening for bands like My Own Chaos and Reverend Kill among other opening and headlining slots. The band also have also held recording sessions at least twice, with five posted recordings from 2010 sessions streamable online. The band's recent lineup has been fairly stable since 2011, aside from bassist changes, including Paul Melanson's addition in March 2013 to replace the departed Dave Gibb & departure 7 months later. After a year's break, the band returned in September 2014 for new gigs, so look for more from them soon!

It's usually a good sign when a metal band's sound is hard to pin down, and Caste of Shadows definitely throw in a lot of different sounds & styles. At times, their heavier and more aggressive sound has Children of Bodom-esque touches, but they also have more modern hard rock and metalcore influences on other songs, with Chad Neufeld's vocals showing a lot of diversity to handle different styles without selling out! Musically, I never got a huge view of Paul's work with Caste of Shadows, but if he stacked up with Dave Gibb, they'll be in good hands! Logan Woolf's guitar riffs tend to be very heavy and catchy from what I've heard, and their chemistry and adaptability is matched up well with a good energy in concert, where I think their aggression really comes across higher. I'd like to see them play their heavier style more, but I appreciate how they're not tied into one subgenre, and hopefully their current lineup builds on past successes and makes an even larger name, perhaps even with shows out east?

The best source for Caste of Shadows media is their 5 studio-recorded EP songs on Soundcloud and their website, so give those a listen for some high quality originals, but as for videos, there's not a lot. YouTube user SVTake2 uploaded a pair of live videos from a 2011 concert, and a cell phone video from a recent outdoor concert is up too, but the angle's not great. I've embedded this video from last year courtesy of guitarist Logan Woolf's YouTube channel, so give it a look for some live Alberta metal action!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month in this series, we'll look at a band that's a bit overdue given how much they've done since adding a Saultite to their lineup, but for our July installment, we'll be looking at London, Ontario death metal band D3athcharg3r, who feature Valentine's Day Massacre bandmates Steve Rhodes & Andrew Angelic in their current lineup! Watch out for this on or around July 26th, and stay tuned for a new Sault Michigan-focused news post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

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