Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (The Final Friday!!)

(Updated on October 17th) Before we get too deep into this post, just a late notice heads-up on a band switch for concerts this weekend, as Traverse City, Michigan metal trio Scarkazm will replace sister band Peril TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT for their shows at The Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace. "Unforeseen circumstances" regarding Peril drummer Brooks Elliott were cited for the switch, as per Scarkazm's Facebook page, though seeing as both bands share a 2/3rds identical lineup, Scarkazm can slide in very easily. Don't miss Scarkazm's metal and hard rock covers TONIGHT & TOMORROW in St. Ignace, and hopefully all is well with Brooks!

Now, today's post is otherwise devoted to the ninth installment of Sault Michigan-area independent label Werehold Records' Friday the 13th music posting event, but unfortunately, this will also be the last installment. After 5½ years of delivering new label music on each Friday the 13th (save for November 2015), this is indeed "the final Friday", with Werehold owner Jason Mills confirming that in a personal conversation last month, noting that the events didn't take off like he thought they would. I find the news disappointing, as this was always a welcome and positive blast of metal on the supposedly unlucky day, but if it has to end, what better time than in October for the Halloween season? In fact, they're going out with a bang, as a record-tying nine new songs were posted today for the occasion! One song comes from Brimley artist Leonard LeBlanc's electronic solo project Palaver, entitled "You'll See Her Eyes, If You're Hungry", in his first Friday the 13th song since March 2015.

While not overly heavy, this song has a nice rhythm and 1980s-retro feel, so give it a listen if you're a fan of electronic instrumental music! On the metal side of things, four of this year's initial songs are actually from a debuting group named Shatterhand, so what is there to say about them? This is a new project from the aforementioned Jason Mills on guitar alongside Manton, Michigan-based singer/guitarist Timothy Simon Birdsall and Lansing-based multi-instrumentalist Mitchell Wells, who mans a solo project there under the name Mitch Michelle (or Barph Blahgo). As the band's only 1/3rd local, and don't have an online page yet, they won't be immediate additions to our band links, but it's great to see some new blood on the Werehold roster! Both the band and today's songs are all named after old NES video games, including songs named "Abadox", "Phantom Fighter", "Vice Project Doom", and "Nightshade", so how did they sound?

While these songs don't yet have vocals (which won't be a shock compared to usual Friday the 13th output), Shatterhand have promise, and I like the hybrid of groove metal with more of a progressive and electronic element, which has to be influenced by Mitch's own solo career, which is quite eclectic and varied. Unfortunately, all of the Shatterhand songs were quietly deleted for unannounced reasons a few days later, (very unusual for the label to do that) but hopefully they resurface, as I liked where Shatterhand were going!

Also, reports of the demise of Jason's solo project The 1,000,000,000's Who Died are premature, as they also returned for the final Friday the 13th event! We originally removed them from our band links in June when it was discovered that their Facebook page was taken down, but the page was quietly restored in recent months, so the page must have been automatically deactivated in a Destroiletesque fashion. Yes, The 1,000,000,000's Who Died are back in our active Sault Michigan band links! Last heard on the May 2016 installment, the Soo/Isle Royale project is featured with new songs named "Conquer the Rest" &, as embedded below, "Glass Coffin", which are both short, though this is par for the course with this act. An included bass solo adds some zest to the song, which both harbouring a technical aggressive attack and programmed blast beat drums for good measure, so give The Billions Who Died's new songs a listen as well!



Finally, I thought it was appropriate to come full circle with Werehold Records' Friday the 13th saga, by ending with the very first band we started our coverage of this event with, namely local metal project Life's Eclipse! They're featured in two songs from today's upload spree, including, "Houses" from the "The Dark Kingdom" album, and as embedded below, "A.C.L.D." from "Deeper In The Woods". The former again features Mitch as a guest musician, albeit here on a mellotron keyboard, and the song is a massive departure for Life's Eclipse, taking on a quiet, reserved sound that is honestly more reminiscent of medieval folk, but it's nice to see Jason and company spread their wings! As for "A.C.L.D.", that delivers more brutal instrumental metal action that existing fans will take to, and hopefully some of these albums will see a paid release at some point! Give Life's Eclipse's newest songs a listen above & below!



That's all for the Friday the 13th new music events from Werehold Records, which were fun while they lasted, but hopefully everyone stays musically active and keeps new material rolling when available on YouTube or other platforms! For what it's worth, the next Friday the 13th is in April, but unless there's a reversal of plans, don't expect anything special in six months, though stay tuned for more news here as it rolls in! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Peril & Scarkazm), A New Band, And Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 11!!)

Three of our last five posts had at least half Sault Michigan content, and we're doubling down with a fully American post on this Friday the 13th! Hopefully the date's not a bad omen. Below, you'll find the newest content from a local metal label, and some video discoveries of a newer local band, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for mid-2017!

Following up on their first gigs of 2017 TONIGHT & TOMORROW in St. Ignace, comment replies on this photo of veteran Traverse City classic metal trio Peril have confirmed some new gigs from both them and their sister metal band Scarkazm for later this year! Typically, I don't condense separate new show announcements into one paragraph, but given Peril & Scarkazm's shared band members and the fact that only one weekend from each was confirmed (in the same post, no less), a combined feature in this instance was appropriate. First, Scarkazm will hit the E.U.P. for the first time this year with rare stops at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Friday, May 21st & Saturday, May 22nd, so keep those in mind for some hard hitting metal action! Meanwhile, Peril will play at the Soo Kewadin for the first times this year on Friday, June 16th & Saturday, June 17th.

If you can't make Peril's St. Ignace shows this weekend or in March, here are your presumable next chances, so circle mid-June on your calendars! Both Scarkazm & Peril's May/June weekends have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charges, as usual. It's great to see both of Jeff & Adam's bands powering into 2017 with some more gigs for Yooper fans, so check the above links for full details on these and other currently announced dates in our area!

Next up, you may be familiar from our coverage of some recent multi-band events in the Sault Michigan area that bands without an online presence have been a fairly common sight, so unless you see them live, find a fan video, or find personal account references, they'll be something of a mystery. One such band was The Karstens, who played the Bay Mills Bands Together fundraiser concert in Brimley last May, and other than my assumption that they were a family band (given the name), I had nothing on them. However, a fan named Bubby Frasier got a hold of me online over the last few days, noting positive word of mouth and concert appearances through August of last year for The Karstens, and asked if I had any extra info on them. Between the two of us, we tracked down videos on two YouTube channels of them, and some personal Facebook postings, so here's what I've got. As it turns out, The Karstens are very much a fit for our coverage, and they'd be in our links if they had an online page!

Visibly a quartet (though occasionally seen as a three-piece), I can't confirm the band's full lineup or instrument roles, but one personal Facebook posting suggested that two band members were named Paul LeBlanc and Raymond Kavo. Neither are familiar from our past coverage of the E.U.P., but the band looks relatively young. YouTube users Wabaanimkii and racosun have uploaded 3 and 2 videos respectively from both a jam session and concerts in Brimley and Sault Ste. Marie between April & August 2016, so how do they sound? Musically, I'd call them experimental or alternative metal, and if you like Buckethead, you'll definitely want to take notice, as they cover The Deli Creeps' "Bend Up", "Shadows", and (as embedded below) "Can I Have A Ride" in three videos, plus Buckethead's "The Way To Heaven". That video segues into a cover of Flipper's "Sacrifice", which is covered in full at this link too. Huge kudos to The Karstens for playing some stuff you don't typically see covered in the area, especially in Sault Michigan!

In case you missed The Karstens at Bay Mills Bands Together, their Back Bay Grill & Games show, or Downtown Days in August (apologies for missing the latter two for coverage here), then look for well played if avant garde covers, with the singer/drummer's distinctive deep voice and strong guitar among The Karstens' highlights! They could be a little more animated on stage, but assuming they're still active (I've read nothing new referencing them since August), they have a bright future! Check out much more from The Karstens above & below, and hopefully more turns up! Thanks again to Bubby for his help in getting the above information!



Finally for today, it is Friday the 13th, which means that local independent metal label Werehold Records is back for their eighth Friday the 13th new music posting event! However, this year's only features two new songs for a second straight 13th, and in this case, both songs come from the same band, Werehold's flagship metal project Life's Eclipse. Both dated to the late 1990s, presumably for their initial inception and original recording dates, the songs are entitled "Perihelion" (no relation to the long-gestating Gates of Winter album), and as embedded below, "Pathway". The former is a little drum heavy and scratchy in sound, but "Pathway" is a ripping, fast-paced number that groove metal fans will appreciate, and if there are ever plans to complete these songs with vocals, that will be a highlight! It's just a shame that the Friday the 13th new music events are continuing their steady decline in number that followed their nine song event in June 2014, including skipping November 2015 entirely.

Werehold Records has been a reliable sight for original metal action in the E.U.P., if not live concert acts, and I hope that Jason and company can beef up activity and content in the near future, especially with another Friday the 13th coming up in October! It will be the Halloween season, so there's no better month to go big. Check out "Pathway" below, and see more from Werehold Records above!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this weekend! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 9)

As we just celebrated Friday the 13th for the second of three times this year, Sault Michigan-area independent record label Werehold Records partook in a new music posting event for a seventh straight occurrence of this unlucky day! Fresh off of last month's Friday the 13th event (yes, two in two months), the label uploaded four new songs onto their YouTube channel on Friday, resulting in another abbreviated spread of new music, but hopefully the studio repairs are coming along! However, this month's uploads do not include new material from label acts Awaken Eidolen, Drayton Fever, East Branch, or Moss, though the latter were featured last month. Longtime fans and followers of Werehold Records should take to this month's uploads though, so here's what we got in alphabetical order!

We'll start with label owner Jason Mills' solo side project The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, whose new song is entitled "Faith Eraser". Hinted at being included on an album named "Warskematik", this instrumental clocks in at just under 2 minutes, but it delivers the metal goods with a melodic and crushing riff and a solid groove throughout! Not as artificial sounding as some of their prior tracks, so give "Faith Eraser" a listen below!



Next up is "For the Burning" from Jason's main band Life's Eclipse, which he said was "one of the original 5" (as in, the first songs that they wrote/recorded?) In any event, it's likely planned for their "Shadow Over Superior" album. Though also an instrumental, this has a catchy aggressive bite to it that is just dying for some harsh vocals to round it out! Great drum track too, so check it out below!



Also among today's tracks is "Explosions at the Ice Factory" by Brimley electronic artist Leonard LeBlanc's Palaver solo project, which has a catchy techno beat, but admittedly doesn't have the "video game music" vibe of some of their earlier songs. Quality work for electronic fans though! We'll close with "Born Frownin'", the first new song in nine months from Strongs backwoods metal trio Swampghas, so how does it sound? A demo from their planned "Raco Tower Incident" album, it's also an instrumental, and it has more of a lower groove to it without much of a varied melody. Grimy and effective, give it a listen below as well!



The next Friday the 13th on the calendar will strike in November (which will also be it's only occurence in the next 14 months), so might we see a bigger splash of new Werehold material in the fall? I'm very curious to find out, but be sure to check out all of their work at the above links to tide yourselves over until then! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and features in the coming week! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 8)

Yesterday was the first Friday the 13th in 8 months, so it's once again time to look at another new music event from Sault Michigan-area metal label Werehold Records, in their sixth straight Friday the 13th with new song uploads to their YouTube channel, and first of three for 2015! It should be noted that for this installment of the Friday the 13th Werehold postings, there are just four new songs, with label head Jason Mills credited to Scholomance Studio currently being "torn up", which impaired their larger plans for today (source here in a comment thread.) The next Friday the 13th is actually next month, so might things be fully realized then? For now though, we'll look at yesterday's songs, which don't include new material from Awaken Eidolen, Drayton Fever, East Branch, or Swampghas, but Werehold loyalists should like what we got, so here's the new songs in alphabetical artist order!

We'll start with Jason's solo metal project The 1,000,000,000s Who Died (remember, they weren't really from Isle Royale), whose new song is called "Allegiance to Nothing". An instrumental that morphs from dramatic horror movie music to crushing epic metal in short order, it's a solid track with great guitar work, but it's not that long, and it does sound a bit too processed at times. Give their new track a listen below!



Flagship Werehold metal band Life's Eclipse are next with their song "Cell Differential", to be included on their long gestating album "Invasion". It's not new (originally written in 2005), but it's still a strong addition to their original material, with a more melodic take on their usual brutality and a nice catchy feel that would go great for driving in a fast car! However, it too is an instrumental at present. Check out Life's Eclipse's newest posted song below!



Also from Friday the 13th is the newest song from Strongs/Eckerman hard rock band Moss, entitled "The Bright Lights of Anywhere"! Apparently recorded in less than 45 minutes (though it's the longest of yesterday's songs), it's also an instrumental, but takes on more of a mainstream hard rock sound, albeit with a dark edge that would still lend itself well to aggressive vocals. I can picture a vocal melody in my head for it, which is probably a good sign for it's composition! Strong work from Moss, so give it a listen below!



The last new song is "Snake Eyes" from Brimley electronic project Palaver, which isn't metal, but it again harbours the "dark video game music" sound that they've done well in the past, with the latter hald reminding me of music from a movie fight scene. Strong work if you're into techno genres, so check it out too! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news over the weekend, and keep watch for more new music from Werehold Records on Friday, March 13th! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 7)

As promised, our second half of our feature on Sault Michigan area label Werehold Records' newest Friday the 13th new music is now up on the site! Though this is the fifth time that Werehold have posted new music from their affiliated artists on Friday the 13th, this is just the second where we can't fit everything into one post of a reasonable length, so we saved the last four alphabetically for this second post. As a result, visit yesterday's post to hear new music from The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, the long awaited Awaken Eidolen, Drayton Fever, and East Branch! Moving further down the alphabet, let's first look at the newest song from Werehold's flagship band, Eckerman metal quartet Life's Eclipse, which is entitled "Firebreather", so what should you know? To be featured on an upcoming album named "Invasion", this is an instrumental metal track that has a nice heavy riff and solid groove & melody, plus extra guitar effects and keyboard parts for good measure, and it lives up to Life's Eclipse's past standards! Give "Firebreather" a listen below!



Next is Life's Eclipse frontman/Werehold owner Jason Mills' regional hard rock band Moss, whose Friday the 13th song is a rough version of their original "Trilobite". A mid-paced rocker, it's suitably heavy and has a solid rhythm, but it's also an instrumental. I will say that it's not as rough as the YouTube description implies, and fans of Moss and local hard rock should definitely take to this track, so check it out below!



Brimley electronic project Palaver also contributed a new song this year, named "3636", and while it's not a metal song, it is dark and has the vibe of a boss theme in a 16 bit video game, for what that's worth. As far as electronic music goes, Palaver deliver the goods, so check out their new Friday the 13th song above! Finally for this latest Friday the 13th is the newest song from Strongs "backwoods metal" trio Swampghas, and it's entitled "The Starving Rust". To be featured on their long gestating debut album "The Raco Tower Incident", this song is similar to some of the other songs from Friday, but it has a slower and more straightforward sound with less frills (and no vocals again either.) Existing Swampghas fans will have little to complain about, and Jason, J.R., and Doug are in usual form, so give their newest song a listen below!



Although this is the only Friday the 13th of 2014, Werehold fans may want to buckle their seats, as there are three Friday the 13ths next year, including two consecutive in February and March, so if Werehold Records keeps up the tradition, 2015 will be the biggest year yet! Look out then and before for more news and material from Werehold Records, and stay tuned for more local metal and hard rock news and notes soon as well! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 6)

For the fifth time since April 2012, Eckerman, Michigan label/studio Werehold Records have posted lots of brand new music onto their YouTube channel to coincide with Friday the 13th, so in this special feature post today, we'll look at the first half of the new songs! In fact, there's nine today for the first time since the inaugural Friday the 13th spree two years ago, courtesy of 8 acts (mostly of the local metal variety), including our long awaited first glimpse at a mysterious project, but we're going to break up our coverage of the new Werehold tracks into two posts due to the amount, with the other coming this weekend. We'll touch on the songs in alphabetical order by artist name, so Life's Eclipse, Moss, Palaver, and Swampghas' new songs will definitely be in the second half! Now, to the first four songs, one of which being a new song by Isle Royale extreme metal quartet The 1,000,000,000s Who Died entitled "Pile of Tongues", and while the band is still somewhat of a mystery, there's promise in this short instrumental track, especially guitar-wise! That said, the drums sound very artificial, and they can be a bit too relentless, but give it a look at this link!

Moving to local bands, we finally have our first public look at Awaken Eidolen, a band that Werehold Records has teased in postings since last summer, but revealed nothing else on until today, so what do we know now? Well, the name alludes to waking the dead, but we still don't have an online page, confirmed lineup, or home base for them yet, but their new song "The Urge" is definitely a metal track! An instrumental rocker, it's got a steady crunch to it that's reminiscent of some other Werehold projects, but perhaps more melodic. I'm digging it, and hopefully we'll learn more on Awaken Eidolen soon, so give "The Urge" a listen below!



Next is the only project to get two songs on this newest Friday the 13th spree, that being local thrash solo project Drayton Fever! Led by Half A Man alum Doug Reed, his new songs (ironically both 4:58 in length) are called "The Browning" & (as embedded below) "Beatnik", so how did these turn out? "The Browning" has more of a groove metal/Pantera vibe to it, while "The Beatnik" has more of a diverse spread, ranging from a grungy into to full thrash at it's peak. Doug's vocals are effectively harsh, and these songs definitely fit with past Drayton Fever originals in intensity, so check out "Beatnik" below and more above!



Lastly for today's Friday the 13th Werehold coverage is "XYZ", the new song from Strongs metal project East Branch! Led by Swampghas' J.R. Johnson, you largely only hear from East Branch on Friday the 13th, and this is their most unique track yet, consisting entirely of what sounds like sputtering machinery or repetitive drum beats. I'm sure there's a message here that I'm not getting, but it's a far cry from their past songs, which lean to a dark metal base. Interesting if nothing else, so give "XYZ" a listen below!



Remember, we'll complete our look at Werehold Records' newest Friday the 13th posting event either tomorrow or Sunday with a look at Life's Eclipse, Moss, Palaver, and Swampghas' new songs, so be sure to come back to the SMS over the weekend for them and more news and notes from the area! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 5)

As you should remember, yesterday was Friday the 13th, and to mark the occasion, Eckerman, Michigan metal label/studio Werehold Records went on another song uploading spree on their YouTube channel! Last seen in July, this is the fourth time that Werehold Records dedicated this "unlucky" day to new music from their talented artist roster, so I found it appropriate to spotlight the material once again for you guys! In terms of exclusions, there's no new tracks from The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, Awaken Eidolon, East Branch, or Moss, nor did we get any from some of the featured artists from the September 13th installment, such as local guitarists Mike Libertoski & Scott Savoie. Actually, only 4 artists were featured yesterday, including Brimley techno project Palaver, whose new track is entitled "Jotunn" (Icelandic for "giant"), and it's a chaotic (if short) electronic number that keeps with their dark techno sound nicely, so give it a look at this link! Now, to the new songs from Werehold metal projects, and as before, they're in alphabetical order by band name!

One of the songs is from Swampghas drummer Doug Reed's solo project Drayton Fever, and while it's not a new track, it is an unreleased instrumental demo from his planned debut CD "The Longest Summer", as originally recorded way back in 2005. Entitled "Fleshwork", it's a solid and hard-charging metal number that would be cool to see with a higher recording quality and with vocals, and I really like the guitar work on this one especially! Hopefully we get some more news from Drayton Fever in 2014, and check out "Fleshwork" below!



Also among the "new tracks" is "Dreams & Nightmares" by Werehold's flagship band Life' Eclipse! From their album "Shadow Over Superior" (and one of the first 5 songs that guitarist Jason Mills wrote way back in 1995), "Dreams & Nightmares" stacks up with Life's Eclipse's other studio work with great instrumentation and a catchy groove, but it comes across as short to me, and like "Fleshwork", this version's an instrumental. I like where it's going for sure, so check out this "new" Life's Eclipse demo below!



Finally for this newest Friday the 13th, Strongs "backwoods metal" trio Swampghas (featuring the aforementioned Jason Mills & Doug Reed) were the main focus yesterday, as four instrumentals from a 2006 demo were posted onto YouTube as well! Entitled "Bog", "Eckerman", "Struggle", and "Killbilly", these were recorded solely by Doug and guitarist/East Branch mainman J.R. Johnson with the intent of reforming the then-defunct Swampghas, though Jason noted that these songs were recorded in 2 hours while "whiskey drunk". Compared to newer Swampghas material, the production quality and songwriting isn't as refined as we've been accustomed to, but it's a nice look at some early work from this talented regional metal band, and hopefully their still-forthcoming "Raco Tower Incident" CD delivers even harder! Check out the first song "Bog" below, and hear more at the above links!



The next Friday the 13th comes our way in June, so keep an eye out then for more original U.P. metal from Werehold Records, unless some more stuff makes it's way to the public in the interim! That's all for today, but I'll see you guys at The Canadian Nightclub in Sault Ontario TONIGHT for Bam Margera as Fuckface Unstoppable! $25 at the door, 19+, 7:00 PM! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 4)

For the third time (and first since July 2012), Eckerman, Michigan independent label/studio Werehold Records have uploaded a bunch of new songs from their artist roster to their YouTube channel yesterday in honour of Friday the 13th! This has become a recent trend for this very entertaining label, and 7 songs have went up to YouTube to mark the day, so what should you know? In terms of exclusions, there's no new tracks from The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, Drayton Fever, East Branch, Moss, the still un-revealed Awaken Eidolon, or any projects involving Power Slug drummer Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone), though Werehold head Jason Mills told me in a Facebook conversation that Bob was never fully affiliated with the label. For non-metal and non-local uploads yesterday, two of the songs ("Exponential" & "Pow-Wow Nightmare") came from Brimley techno project Palaver, which are both darker electronic tracks that fans of their other work should like (particularly "Pow-Wow Nightmare"), so check them out via the above links!

Another upload came from (surprisingly) an Australian metal project named Atrophyac, and they're extremely good! Tristan Close is an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist, as displayed on the song "Mass Control", and though I don't know the extent of his connections with Werehold, give Atrophyac's music a listen at their SoundCloud page, as he's got a great thing going! Now to the local metal uploads (in alphabetical order), starting with... Galactic Alignment?! At least for yesterday, the Mike Libertoski-led technical death metal project is under the Werehold banner, and their newest song "Abort the Export" was uploaded by Werehold for Friday the 13th! Also uploaded to Mike's SoundCloud page last week, this is his first Galactic Alignment song posting in 4 months, and it lives up to past expectations for the Toast guitarist's solo work! Very fast, technical, and heavy, and Mike's considerable talents are on full display once again! Hopefully we hear more Galactic Alignment songs soon (perhaps with vocals), but give "Abort the Export" a listen below!



We couldn't go on without looking at label flagship band Life's Eclipse's newest song, so next is the Eckerman metal quartet's newest demo "Face of Horror"! Projected to be on an album named "The Dark Kingdom", the description only credits guitarists Jason Mills & Joe Semasky for the track (no sign of David Mills or Casey Amo), but aside from missing David's vocals, it sounds full and very brutal! Well paced and full of crushing riffs, this continues the promise that Life's Eclipse have constantly shown, and it'd be nice to hear a lot more from them! Give "Face of Horror" a listen below!



Also from Friday the 13th, we have a recent solo track from Mike Libertoski's former Swayze Train bandmate Scott Savoie! As you may remember, the former Insipid Brutality guitarist has recorded a number of original metal tracks for his SoundCloud page in the past year, and yesterday's upload ("Resorting to Pyre") was one of three that Scott posted in May. A thrash metal original with vocals, it's blistering and very heavy, and Scott's vocals are effective! Thrash metal fans would be well served to check out this song, but Scott has songs of numerous genres on SoundCloud, so listen to "Resorting to Pyre" below and more above



Finally, Strongs "backwoods metal" trio Swampghas ended their long absence of activity with a new song upload of their own for Friday the 13th, courtesy of their song "Beneath the Whitmarsh"! A very short track (coming in at just under 2 minutes), this song is expected to be on their long gestating debut CD "The Raco Tower Incident". It's an instrumental (at least in this version), but it delivers heavy metal goods and a raw edge for what we do get, and I really like Doug Reed's drumming on this one! Check out "Beneath the Whitmarsh" below, and hopefully we hear more from Swampghas soon!



That's all for this latest Friday the 13th event from Werehold Records, and compared to the 15 month wait from the previous installment, the next one could be a lot sooner than you think, as the next Friday the 13th will fall in December of this year! Christmas season tie-in too, perhaps? Time will tell, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site hopefully tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 2)

As promised, here's the second half of our look at the Friday the 13th song uploads by Eckerman, Michigan label/studio Werehold Records from their roster of local bands and artists! As uploaded to their YouTube channel on Friday, we already mentioned the posted material from Life's Eclipse, East Branch, The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, and Palaver, but four more songs by four more local metal-relevant acts remain to share on here (and there's vocals to hear on most!) For the sake of fairness, we'll go in alphabetical order by band/artist name for the remaining videos. Read on below for all you need to know, and check out the first half of our look at the Friday the 13th uploads at this location, and check out the post below this one for the latest David Gold/Woods of Ypres stories!

We'll start with a new song from the Eckerman/Strongs metal quartet Moss, in what amounts to their first new song posting since the deletion of their old PureVolume page! The recently reactivated band featuring the Mills brothers of Life's Eclipse fame made this original song tentatively named "Call Me Nothing" for the Friday uploads, and though it's not complete (it's an instrumental demo), it has promise as a hard rock number! It's a bit slower paced and not as blistering as some of the new Werehold songs, but I like it's sound well enough, and hopefully a complete version makes it online at some point! Check out Moss' new song "Call Me Nothing" below, and the next three tracks have vocals, I promise!



Next up, one of the new songs on Friday came from veteran local musician Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten! The former I.S.O.M. singer and ex-Clownsack/Elipzis drummer has been quiet on the local scene since leaving End of Existence in February, and while his solo project's MySpace page hasn't seen a recent update, this song is credited to him alone, so it's good to see him still doing music, and allied with Werehold Records! That said, this song is actually a solo rendition of an earlier End of Existence song named "12.21.12" from their debut album that came out in February (yes, the review's coming soon), and with this being written by Orb, a solo cover does make sense! The backing music sounds very simplistic and artificial compared to the End of Existence version of this track, which alludes to the Mayan apocalypse theories on December 21st, but Orb's singing voice is on brutal form from what I'm used to, and hopefully we hear more from his solo work soon! Check out Orb's new solo version of "12.21.12" below!



Our second last song from the Werehold Records Friday the 13th spree is a short new song from Strongs metal trio Swampghas (featuring members of other Werehold bands), and it's a solid metal number named "Struggle"! Presumably to be on their debut album "The Raco Tower Incident" (whose pretty cool album cover was posted onto their Facebook page yesterday), this is a dirty and straight forward metal track with some nice aggressive singing, and it lives up to their earlier posted originals well! I'm curious to hear more from Swampghas, but if you're in for some quick and heavy aggression, give "Struggle" a listen below, and stay tuned for more from Swampghas as it comes in!



Finally, this is a song called "Minion" by a newer local metal act named Wearwithal. This band features the aforementioned Bob Helsten on vocals & drums, along with Swampghas/ex-Half A Man drummer Doug Reed (also of Drayton Fever) on guitar, but fans may recognize the two musicians as former bandmates in the short lived local metal band Great Bodily Harm! When shared on Werehold's Facebook page, Wearwithal were described as "the half of Great Bodily Harm that decided to continue on" (ex-GBH members Kirk Labadie & Chris Leask are not a part of Wearwithal), but it's good to see Bob & Doug still making music together! "Minion" keeps on the same groove metal path as Great Bodily Harm's originals did, though maybe with less of a hardcore influence, and the vocals flow really well with the very heavy riffing! Solid first track from Wearwithal, and hopefully we hear more from them soon, so check out their song "Minion" below!



I hope you guys enjoyed the songs and postings from Werehold Records' Friday the 13th blitz of new material! I needed two posts to do the wide array of bands' and songs justice, and hopefully these acts are gaining some more fans and attention as a result! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news, last month's poll results & this month's new poll, and much more shortly! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 1)

In the first of a special two-post spotlight, we're looking at the audio uploads made on Friday the 13th in a blitz of new material by Eckerman, Michigan label/recording studio Werehold Records! Well hyped in advance, the label ran by Life's Eclipse/Swampghas guitarist Jason Mills has always had a solid roster of bands and musicians from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and though they've generally not been frequent sights at local concerts, the Werehold roster has always had a lot of talent to speak of! On Friday, the label posted no less than nine new audio recordings from Werehold artists onto their YouTube channel, and from what I understand, there are hopes to repeat this spree of song postings on future Friday the 13ths (the next one is in July.) From what I was told, the Paradise, Michigan thrash project Drayton Fever was slated to have a song be a part of the Friday uploads, but it wasn't finished in time, which is disappointing. Still, there are 9 songs to check out, and almost all are of a metal or hard rock variance! Though some are out of our "local" range, there's a lot of local talent among the artists on this talented local label, so here's what you should know for the first chunk of Friday's uploads!

Let's start with two new uploads from Eckerman, Michigan metal quartet Life's Eclipse, whose songs were featured in two of the nine song uploads on Friday! The two songs are entitled "Prom Queen On Crutches" and "Electrography", both of which are likely to be part of the album "The Chemicals To Make You A Better Person", judging by the used picture on both videos. Both tracks are instrumentals, which isn't reflective of the songs' final quality, but Jason told me that the vocal tracks that were done for these songs didn't turn out well, so they were posted as is for the Friday the 13th Werehold uploads. Still, these are well recorded and have a nice metal sound going for them! If anything, the two songs sound very similar, but "Prom Queen On Crutches" has a catchier groove that's easier to headbang along with. There's some repetition late, but adding vocals would likely help for both tracks. Check the above links to hear both of these promising Life's Eclipse demos, and here's "Prom Queen On Crutches"!



Also among the new uploads are a couple of Upper Peninsula acts' newest songs, and though I don't know a whole lot on either, they're worth mentioning for sure! One is a new song entitled "Whispers Removed" by the Isle Royale metal act known as The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, and like the Life's Eclipse songs, it's an instrumental demo. I know very little on this band & their members, but Werehold Records' MySpace page describes them as what it'd sound like "if Terminators decided to play music". Interesting sound on "Whispers Removed", with a technical metal sound with some solid driving riffs, though the song has a very low tone. Hopefully we hear more from them soon! Another new track from Friday the 13th was "Still Standing" by the Brimley electronic/breakcore project named Palaver, and though it's the only real "non-metal" song of the nine new Werehold uploads, it sounds pretty good for it's style! Like with The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, I know extremely little about Palaver, but for electronic music, it's definitely edgier and not as repetitive as some other songs of similar genres that I could mention! Check the above links for more on both of the above bands and their material!

Finally for our first half of the Werehold Records Friday the 13th uploads, here's a new song from a band known as East Branch! I don't know a whole lot about them, except that they were once known as Jaar, they appear to be from Strongs, Michigan, and I believe that one of their members is J.R. Johnson from Swampghas (please correct me if I'm wrong.) That said, while I may not know their full lineup or band history, their new song from Friday (entitled "Black Market Body Parts") is a solid instrumental metal track! The song sounds a bit reserved in it's production, but it's slow deliberate pacing help give it a cool vibe, with some nice heavy riffing thrown in. so check out this new original from East Branch below, and I wonder if an online page will turn up?



That's all for now, but our look at the Werehold Records uploads from Friday will continue tomorrow with a look at the remaining four songs, including appearances by bands featuring Life's Eclipse and Great Bodily Harm alumni! Stay tuned for that tomorrow, along with more news shortly! Thanks everyone!