It's been over a month since we last updated you guys as to what St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to, so what's new from their camp since late February? We'll start on February 24th, when "Heavy" posted on their Facebook page to reveal that singer Brandon West had tracked 6 of the planned 8 songs for their next studio album, and "what a change in sound we have had". Good to hear some big updates, and it will be interesting to hear how far this change in sound goes! The following day, Brandon starred in this brief video to tease that they were getting a new band logo designed that would be printed on a wide range of new merchandise, even patches. Among their postings the next day, the band teased wanting to have a featured guest vocalist on the new album, but "I guess no one wants to be a part of it". We'll let you know if they did end up finding someone!
In a "Reel" (unembeddable here as ever) on February 28th, we see their tracking computer's monitor showing a new song in progress. The music is a snippet from their existing song "Time Diffuser Or Something Else", but the teaser is still always welcomed! Entering a new month, the guys shared a clip of their "Jell-O" music video from 2023 on March 3rd, and gave production credits for it there (directed by Robin Gem, edited by Brandon, and audio production by Josh Marr). Now you know who is responsible for that very bloody video! On March 14th, H.L.T.C. announced another new concert downstate, which saw them open for Monroe metal band Theta at the Influence The Band Headquarters on April 11th in Taylor (5 hours south of here, outside Detroit), but before then, they played their first concerts of 2025 in late March. Teaser photos from their rehearsals were shared to Facebook as well around March 15th.
This video (which is just five seconds long) was uploaded featuring the band (minus Jaxon) in their jam space, and while it focuses on a solid drum line from Blaze Beairl, it's incredibly short, almost to a point where I question why they uploaded it. A slightly longer (12 seconds) video of "some tomfoolery" is embedded below, and it features Blaze, Kaycee, and Christian all playing a song together. Not sure that the shaky-cam was needed, but it's a nice teaser of what's to come, so give these a watch above and below!
Along with their teased "new developments, new sound, (and) new us", Heavy Lies The Crown's first concerts of the year took place downstate over the second-to-last weekend of March, hence why Blaze had to miss Exit 808's involvement in that weekend's Musicians Unite fundraiser in the Soo. Firstly, the guys made their debut in Oscoda (3½ hours southeast of Sault Ste. Marie) on March 21st when they headlined night #1 of the outdoor Cabin Fever Fest II. Here, they notably shared the stage with Lansing hard rock veterans Mr. Denton On Doomsday, who played up here multiple times in the 2000s. The following day, they drove another 3½ hours southwest to Battle Creek, where they and three other bands opened for Wisconsin death metal band Squidhammer at Feed Them!, an annual food drive concert at The Music Factory put on by the organizers of the annual Michigan Metal Fest, though there was a hiccup on the road, as seen in this two seconds long video.
Media wasn't immediate from Cabin Fever Fest, but the guys had cameras rolling at Feed Them!, including this clip of the interior of The Music Factory (now with an extra H.L.T.C. sticker), and this video of Squidhammer's headlining set (always cool seeing a female death metal vocalist!). A video of Heavy Lies The Crown's set was posted the following day before being abruptly deleted, but their next video is still up, and it features Brandon promising that media from both shows was on the way, and asking fans where they should play next. The first actually-still-up video from that weekend is from the Battle Creek concert, as filmed by the band-affiliated West Productions, and it features footage of multiple bands that night, albeit without raw audio of any of them. Instead, Heavy Lies The Crown's own song "Marble Skin" is included as the backing audio, and as Facebook content matched it, I can't embed it here, so click here to watch it.
I'd really rather hear the live concert audio, especially with all of these "new sound" teasers from Heavy, but Tiffany & crew got some great and high quality visuals in Battle Creek, and it looks like a fun & brutal time was had by all for a great cause! Visit the above links for more from that weekend, we'll pick things back up from H.L.T.C. with their April 2025 activity soon, and weekend concert previews are up next! Thanks everyone!
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