YouTube Channel Profile Series: Woods Of Ypres - Topic

After a slight delay, here is this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we look at another YouTube channel whose content is at least 50% made up of content from local metal, hard rock, or punk musicians! This month, our latest random selection takes us to a YouTube Music channel from the biggest metal band to ever call the Soo home, so here's what you should know!

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Woods Of Ypres - Topic (http://youtube.com/channel/UCUKasoaU68XYA7_d9wjQRKg)

Owner:  If anyone, Earache Records, though the channel is auto-generated to facilitate Woods Of Ypres' catalogue being available on YouTube Music

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 16th, 2014; All videos uploaded in the early 2010s, and last revised from September 23rd-24th, 2025

Channel Summary: The official YouTube Music channel for Woods Of Ypres' five mainline studio albums, these 57 songs were originally uploaded to YouTube Music well before last fall, but these are the more recent versions. Of course, this is all posthumous, as the local/Toronto blackened doom metal band dissolved shortly after frontman David Gold passed away in December 2011. Note that channel technicallty only has five its own videos, as the rest are taken from Earache's proper YouTube channel or their Earache Catalog channel (particularly earlier songs and non-singles in the latter case)

Why You Should Watch: If you're a fan of Woods Of Ypres, and prefer YouTube (Music) for your streaming needs, this is a must stop channel to hear their best known songs from Windsor to the Soo and all points within! However, the channel only features their five albums (re-)issued by Earache Records, omitting their output that was solely released via David's indie labels Krankenhaus and Practical Art Records. Missing here are their 2009 compilation album "Independent Nature 2002-2007" (though its songs are all on YouTube Music via their original albums), the "Allure Of The Earth" single from 2009 (featuring a cello cover by outside musicians), and 2011's "Home" single (featuring two songs from the still-unreleased EP "Woods 4.5: You Were The Light"). For official video content from his and the band's lifetime, visit David's personal YouTube channel.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

A Meeting Place And Time: I'll start with their first EP, 2002's "Against The Seasons: Cold Winter Songs From The Dead Summer Heat" for two reasons. One is that it has the most differences from later work (a black metal-centric sound with David just drumming), and also that these songs are the only ones that were directly uploaded to the YouTube Music channel, rather than being appropriated from other Earache channels. By far their most popular song from this Windsor-era EP, it features strong ans nicely suited guitar and bass work from Brian McManus and Aaron Palmer, and their alternating harsh and clean vocals were on point while also being reminiscent of what David brought to the mic on later albums. Definitely a standout of their early period before things got doomier!

 

Woods of Ypres - I Was Buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Official Video): Possibly because its represented on YouTube Music via its music video, the most popular upload on this channel is "I Was Buried In Mount Pleasant Cemetery" from 2009's "Woods 4: The Green Album", where David was joined by his former Gates of Winter bandmate Bryan Belleau on guitar and Pennsylvania-based brothers Shane & Evan Madden on bass and drums. Receiving over 4.1 million views at press time, the video (filmed in Southern Ontario in 2010 after Thrawsunblat's Joel Violette replaced Bryan) captures the guys playing one of their best known melodic doom-era originals on a porch while David walks through the title cemetery. Well shot and edited with an aesthetic perfectly capturing the "W4" themes, and it's a must watch video for fans of local-era Woods Of Ypres! Note that Earache has not posted their own copy of Woods' 2007 music video for "The Northern Cold".

Woods of Ypres - Adora Vivos (Official Audio): I wanted to highlight a song from Woods' Juno Award-winning final and biggest album "Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light", but rather than go with one of the better known songs from it, here's "Adora Vivos", which was one of my favourite cuts from the album despite being being the second-lowest streamed song from it on YouTube Music. One of Woods of Ypres' heaviest songs from their late period work, it crushes while still telling a poignant message, with David telling us to love the living while they're still alive, and not to worship those who aren't here to appreciate the sentiment. Fans haven't necessarily taken to that when honouring David and his music, but it's a very solid song from him and Joel, and don't bypass it on the full album!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around November 26th, and now, we can focus on the Halloween weekend concert previews! Stay tuned!

New Videos From Mikey & His Uke, Tym Morrison, And Earache Records!!

Today's post features a recent live-streamed concert, some surprise news on a prominent album re-release, and to kick things off, local punk musician Mikey Hawdon's two newest quarantune videos, courtesy of his YouTube channel! Today's newest one is a cover of Beck's "Loser" alongside Mikey's Inner City Surfers bandmate Dave Bahun on guitar & bass, as well as post-production editor Dean Glover on drums. In a surprise twist, Mikey is not playing ukelele at all, just handling vocals, but it is a fun cover while it lasts, and it retains the spirit of the original! Embedded below is yesterday's quarantune, a cover of the 1960 rock hit "Happy-Go-Lucky Me" by Paul Evans, which is notable in that Mikey reunites with his old Rising Tide bandmates Dustin Jones and Sheldon & Marshall Jaaskelainen for this video! In this case, Mikey's uke is the only instrument, with everyone sharing vocal duties, though this does bear some similarities to softer Tide originals.

It's great to see a pseudo reunion of The Rising Tide's 2010-2016 lineup here, and while the song is a surprising choice, they pull it off well with enthusiasm and good harmony! Give it a watch below, see much more from this daily video series above, and look for quarantune #76 tomorrow!

Next up, here's a surprising announcement, as defunct local black/doom metal band Woods of Ypres' final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" is reportedly being re-issued with bonus tracks! This announcement was made last week by Earache Records' US label manager Al Dawson on their Instagram page and the video embedded below during his daily series of postings there. The video first features Al reminiscing about how he met their late frontman David Gold circa 2009 during the "Green Album" tour cycle, his first impressions of their music and live show, and how the Earache deal came to be, including what appears to be his side of the "You Were The Light" sessions and why Earache didn't go with that as the band's first label release (as you'll recall, two of those 5 songs came out on the independently-released "Home" vinyl single in 2011.) Al then reflects on David's passing at the end of that year and Woods' musical progression.

Al revealed at the end that they will be including "some of those unreleased tracks" in a planned "Woods V" re-release scheduled for "October or so", and while it's left a little vague on whether he just means the other three "You Were The Light" songs or perhaps demos we didn't know about at all, it would be nice to hear them all these years later! However, despite saying in the video that Earache was "working with his family", actual Gold family members didn't seem to be immediately aware of this announcement in the Instagram comments. Hopefully there were just some crossed wires between the Golds and Earache, as I know fans would be eager to honour David's memory by buying these songs! Watch Al's announcement below, but in the interim, you can watch David, Joel Violette, and the Maddens recording the songs from "You Were The Light" at this link, while Joel remixed the otherwise unreleased "Accounting For Your Cruelty" for David's last YouTube upload.

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A post shared by Earache Records (@earacherecords) on May 22, 2020 at 1:59pm PDT

Finally, local hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison's 17th live-streamed concert took place on his YouTube channel yesterday, so what should you know there? Starting about 14 minutes in, Tym's set includes covers of Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are", A Great Big World's "Say Something", Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman", Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", Ratt's "Round & Round", The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes", Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me", Tesla's "Love Song", The Who's "Pinball Wizard", and Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", before bringing back his Spanish guitar instrumental. Afterwards, Tym covers Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", Days Of The New's "Touch, Peel, And Stand", The Beatles' "Lady Madonna", Extreme's "Hole Hearted", Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", ...Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" ...

...Billy Joel's "Piano Man", Alice In Chains' "Down In A Hole", and finally, Kim Mitchell's "All We Are". Eagle-eyed metalheads will also catch Tym playing some Yngwie Malmsteen, Megadeth, and White Zombie songs on request, but none were full with vocals. Aside from "All We Are", this was a completely different set from Tuesday, and there's some nice new and surprise cuts to take in during this live-stream! If you're not a Billy Joel fan, tread lightly. Tym performed well despite obviously warm conditions, but there were some glitches in the video where the feed jumped ahead a second or so. Give the whole concert a watch below, and look for more next month!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

"Woods V" Release Updates, Studio Updates From Sault Michigan, And This Week's Classic Video!!

Here's some more news for this Monday evening for you SMS fans, so here's what's on tap! Tonight, we've got this week's classic video, new studio material previews from a couple of Sault Michigan bands, and leading things off, some cool news relating to Woods of Ypres, so here's what you need to know!

Let's kick off today's post with some Woods of Ypres news, and as this week's banner on the site would imply, "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" is officially on sale now.... well, it is overseas! Due to longer processing lead times over here, it won't be in stock for American markets until April, but if you order from Earache Records' European store, you can get your orders shipped right away so you can give David Gold's final recorded material a deserved complete listen! Click here to pick up "W5" on CD and/or vinyl from the European Earache distro, and note that there are still packages to get the album with a t-shirt or poster. I haven't heard anything about an iTunes release for "Woods V" yet, but I'd have to imagine it's coming soon. For the record, I haven't heard of either "Keeper of the Ledger" or Siegfried Meier's vinyl-exclusive alternate mix of "Finality" being up to stream online yet, but I imagine it'll only be a matter of time before both turn up in some fashion. Lastly on this CD, I know I haven't mentioned any reviews of "Woods V" yet, but I plan to feature many in an upcoming post. Without David to tell fans about the majority of them, they often slip my casual radar, which is why they haven't hit the SMS yet. Stay tuned for more "W5" news as it rolls in!

Before we completely move to our next story, I wanna note something about Woods of Ypres' planned European debut this past Saturday, where they would have opened for British thrash standouts Evile at the HMV Next Big Thing event in Manchester, England. At the show, Evile paid tribute to David by playing their 2011 song "In Memoriam" for the first time ever, which is an awesome gesture, and videos of the performance are now online! Click here to check out at least three videos of the performance, and kudos to Evile for doing this for David's memory!

Next up, Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic metal quintet End of Existence are keeping the anticipation up for their planned debut album at the end of the month, as they posted an album teaser video onto their YouTube channel yesterday! It's just 1:41 long, and the visuals are mostly effects over their orange globe logo, but it does feature a 70 second snippet of a previously unreleased original song named "12.21.12", presumably referring to the Mayan apocalypse theories centered around that day. It's definitely a promising and heavy clip, but I'll hold full judgement until we both hear the full album and I get a chance to review it. Little else is known yet about this 13 song release, but as we inch closer to the end of February, we should hear more, so keep an eye out! For now, here's a teaser, and as more comes in, I'll have it here!



Thirdly, here's some news and updates from new Sault Michigan metal sextet Hoist The Sails! Like End of Existence, this band featuring Analog Deficiency & Seeking Reverence alumni have been hard at work on new material of their own lately despite no announced live debut date yet, and we can now get some more tastes of their work thanks to a couple of new postings on their Facebook page. One is the first full original song from their planned EP recording sessions, entitled "Mind Over Matter", and you can now stream it at this link. How does it sound? Very good, actually! It has a catchy groove, excellent guitar work, and interesting dual harsh vocals in the verses, and the clean singing doesn't sound out of place either! These guys definitely seem to know what they're doing musically, and it's hard to believe this has came together so suddenly! The other new media on their Facebook page seems like it'd be another preview, but it's actually a comedic clip of singer Travis Theel doing some intentionally bad clean vocals with some band member reactions, and it shows that they have a good sense of humour about everything! I see big things from Hoist The Sails if they keep on this same path, and hopefully we hear much more from them soon, so keep an eye out for updates, and check them out at the above links

And finally for today, here's this week's classic video! After a three week run of videos not tied into an upcoming concert (thanks in part due to a lot of light weekends), this week's does tie in with a band at an upcoming show, that being local deathcore quartet (and this Thursday's Rosie metal night participants) The Valentine's Day Massacre! Before frontman Steve Rhodes joined the former View To A Kill, he made local waves as State of Misery's singer in late 2010 and early 2011, as you may remember, and some off-YouTube videos from their run are still floating around online. One is of them playing their original song that I think was called "Bleed" at a jam session circa December 2010, which was one of four posted to the band's Facebook group on January 3rd of last year. The quality's similar to the other three videos (two of which we've already put on our YouTube channel), but it shows State of Misery's original lineup doing what they did best, and the song is brutal with catchy elements! I may have the title wrong, as they had a couple songs with titles similar to "Bleed", so if I'm incorrect, please let me know! This video was originally filmed by attendee Ashley Lacasse, and you can see the original video at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=114911331914493.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to State of Misery and Ashley for the work they did in this video & performance, I'm just trying to share this video with a wider audience like it deserves! It's a solid performance, and State of Misery definitely attracted a good local following in their brief run, so give this newest classic video a look below, and go see Steve's current band rock The Rosie on Thursday!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news as the week moves along! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Ypres Metal Fest) Plus Lots Of "Woods V" Updates!!

It's time for a very exciting post at the SMS which is split into two related halves, one dealing with a major upcoming album release, and the other dealing with a major LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's all that you should know!

The David Gold memorial concert in Sault Ontario is indeed official, and I can now tell you guys some official details on the event! Titled the Ypres Metal Fest, it's being held by Dismembertainment in their first announced metal concert of 2012, and quite a stellar lineup of metal bands will gather at The Canadian Nightclub in honour of late Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold on April 7th, so here's who to look for at this huge concert event! London, Ontario all-female metal quartet Kittie (fronted by David's girlfriend Morgan Lander) will headline this huge concert in what should be a fast and furious set of extreme metal! Though best known for their gold selling 1999 debut CD "Spit", Kittie have released much more (and heavier) material since then, and they should deliver a brutal set for fans in attendance on April 7th in their local debut! Joining them at the Ypres Metal Fest are veteran Chicago doom metal band Novembers Doom, who played with their friends in Woods of Ypres at a few of their American tour dates in recent years. Their death metal and gothic inspired sound is a very good fit at this concert, and they should impress all who attend with their heavy and brutal metal assault!

Also, Sudbury black metal standouts Wolven Ancestry will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario on April 7th, after a three and a half year absence, having last played here in November 2008 at The Grand Theater (with Woods of Ypres on the lineup too, ironically!) Wolven Ancestry have always been one of Northern Ontario's highest profile extreme metal bands, and it'll be great to see them back in the area after so long! Toronto melodic death metal quartet Hallows Die will make their third appearance in the area in the past year as well, last being seen opening for Napalm Death at Feedback in October. After sharing the stage with Woods of Ypres a few times themselves last year, they should also deliver a solid and brutal set of their original material on April 7th as well, so don't miss them! The out-of-town lineup will be rounded out by Windsor stoner metal band Gypsy Chief Goliath in their Sault Ontario debut, and they have a unique sort of sound you don't get much of in the area, and they'll be sure to leave a good mark on fans at the Ypres Metal Fest! There will be local openers as well, and I know who's tentatively lined up, but they're not 100% finalized yet, so stay tuned for official word on that front!

Timeslots, admission prices, and other more specific details on this major concert have not been revealed yet, but given it's location, I assume this will likely be a 19+ event. Stay tuned for more official details as they come in, and thanks to Dismembertainment's Rich Moreland for telling me about these first details and giving the go-ahead to announce them! This is shaping up to be a huge concert for both the local metal scene and in David's memory, and if you love metal, do yourself a favour and reserve April 7th on your calendars! I know Rich and David had been planning for a while to launch an annual metal festival in the Soo, and it's a shame that this is happening without David around to help bring it to fruition. I'm sure it'll feel like he's never left when this all goes down though! Stay tuned for updates on this show as word comes in, as Rich is outdoing himself with this great lineup of bands, and hopefully it's a huge hit to ensure future Ypres Metal Fests in the area!

Also of note as a related concert, a David Gold tribute show will take place two days before the Sault show on April 5th in Toronto at a venue to be announced, and it will serve as the "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" CD release show. Specific details on it haven't been announced beyond a post on the official David Gold tribute Facebook page, but it'd be cool to see former Woods of Ypres members play at that in some fashion. I'll keep as you posted as word comes in for it!

Also in Woods of Ypres-related news today, the band's label Earache Records recently addressed many of the lingering questions that fans have had about the release of "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" and some other future band notes. In direct reply to a question from fan Chris Schneck on their "Ask Earache" blog, you can read the full post at this location, but here's the new and major stuff addressed in that post. At the time of David Gold's death on December 21st, "W5" was being mixed by British producer John Fryer, and their new lineup was scheduled to play their first ever overseas gigs next weekend, including sets opening for Evile in Manchester, England and Xerath in Nottingham, England, and though David's passing prevented either from happening, you can get details on what would have been at this link. The "Ask Earache" post briefly noted David's downbeat and world-weary outlook in December phone interviews prior to his death, and later discussed what to expect from the "W5" release. The North American release for the CD will take place two months after the official release on February 13th due to longer pressing plant lead times over here, so although it won't appear in physical stores until April, the American release date does coincide better with the Ontario tribute shows!

The extra track "Keeper of the Ledger" was also addressed, and it was noted that it wasn't in the free leaked copy of "Woods V" so it would be an album exclusive, which is why the second "Kiss My Ashes Goodbye" track (which doesn't look like it will be on the actual "Woods V" release) replaced it in the free copy we got in December. The track listing was also altered from what we downloaded to better reflect David's preferences for the album, and "Ask Earache" also noted that no band photos will be present in the packaging, as David hadn't chosen which ones he specifically wanted in the booklet. Though not addressed in the post, I've read on Woods of Ypres' forum that the "W5" t-shirts that are being sold on Earache Records' online store along with the CDs originally had a "David Gold, 1980-2011, R.I.P." message on the back (as seen here), but it was later removed at the request of David's family. Seems odd to me, but hey, if it's what they want, it's better to honour their request! Finally, the "Ask Earache" post noted that they still hope to re-release Woods of Ypres' first three albums under the Earache umbrella in 2012, though it's not known if "Woods 4.5", any other older releases or singles, or any unreleased material will see the light of day through Earache Records. Check the above links for the new "Woods 5" updates!

It's very nice of Earache Records to offer an honest and detailed answer to many of the "Woods V" questions we've had recently, and hopefully we'll hear a lot more about this album and any future posthumous news on Woods of Ypres this year! There's a lot of exciting stuff to come, and it's sad to know that David isn't here to be a part of it, but he still lives through his music! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes from David, Woods of Ypres, and anything else in the local metal scene in the next week and beyond! Thanks everyone!

Lots Of Woods Of Ypres News And Notes!!

Well guys, it's been a bit since we had a post dedicated to one band, but this post focuses around one very notable band in particular from Sault Ontario, that being blackened doom metal standouts Woods of Ypres. and though there's still sadness surrounding the untimely passing of David Gold last month, there's also some exciting news to get to concerning the band, so let's get right to most of the Woods of Ypres news I have for you guys!

Let's start with some more news about the future of Woods of Ypres. An official statement has been released by guitarist Joel Violette (who I'd assume is the band's de facto leader now) onto Earache Records' news blog on Friday, where he addressed his feelings towards David's passing and what lies ahead. He noted the additions of Brendan Hayter & Rae Amitay to their lineup in November and their European tour plans for this spring, but admitted that it's hard to say what's next for the band. Joel noted that he and David had a lot of projects planned for Woods of Ypres for the future, and that David would want them to be heard. Whether they'll eventually see the light of day isn't currently known, but according to Joel, the fact that David was the heart and essence of Woods of Ypres will always be kept in mind when factoring in future band activity. As of right now, Joel will focus on promoting and releasing "Woods V" on schedule, and Earache Records will be working closely with the Gold family going forward, but the future beyond "Woods V" remains to be seen. To read Joel's full statement on the future of Woods of Ypres, visit this location!

Personally, while I am a full proponent of putting out unreleased or demo material (like the remaining "Woods 4.5" material and their cover of Bathory's "Lake of Fire"), I don't know how much further Woods of Ypres should be taken after David's passing. Even if the go-ahead was there from the Gold family to continue the band in a live or studio setting, David would be very hard to replace effectively (he basically was Woods of Ypres), and it wouldn't seem right having no original members left if they did. Maybe I'm wrong though, but that's my two cents. As Woods of Ypres or not, I think Joel, Brendan, and Rae should stick together in some sort of band, as I think they have old and new music to share with the world, but who knows what lies ahead.

For now, it appears to be a "one day at a time" scenario, starting with the "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" release, which is still on schedule for a release on February 27th in accordance with the the wishes of David's family and bandmates. I think the release was pushed back from a late January release that David alluded to last year, but maybe that's to include some tribute material in the album booklet (I'm not sure.) If you want to ensure you get your copy of the new album, then good news, as Earache Records are now taking pre-orders for the CD and related packages! Click here to see the differing "Woods V" merchandise, which includes the album on CD for $12, on limited edition coloured vinyl for $20, and in varying packages which include items like t-shirts and posters. The vinyl release includes one record in differing colour choices with 10 tracks and a second 7'' vinyl with just "Alternate Ending" and a special mix of "Finality" by "Woods V" producer Siegfried Meier that is exclusive to the vinyl. Click the above links for pre-ordering details!

Also, since the album was leaked last month, the "Woods V" album cover by David D'Angelo has been edited to include the band's logo and a new title font, and the track listing has been altered as well according to the postings on Earache Records' store. Now, it only lists one of the "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)" tracks, while adding a new song named "Keeper of the Ledger". I don't know whether the title was just changed or this is is a new song, but if I hear more, I'll let you guys know!

Definitely consider pre-ordering "Woods V", as Earache Records is offering free shipping on the CD-only packages, and this will ensure that you get Woods of Ypres' last recorded studio album on-time when shipping starts next month. If nothing else, stay tuned for "Woods V" updates as they come in, and make sure to pick it up whenever you can! While we're on the subject of Woods of Ypres albums for sale, David's sister Marie has revealed a list of band merchandise that the family has stock of for sale. As posted on his personal Facebook page on Thursday, the family has copies of all Woods of Ypres CDs except "Woods 4: The Green Album" along with copies of the "Allure of the Earth" and "Home" vinyl singles and two types of band posters. If you're interested or want to inquire about pricing, e-mail Marie at mariechristinegold@hotmail.com, with PayPal transactions made through davidypresgold@gmail.com. Additional merchandise will be made available for purchase alongside the "Woods V" release and (this is news to me) a planned David Gold memorial concert! Details for it are not public yet, but if this goes down (hopefully locally), it should be a can't miss show, and if word comes out about it, I'll let you guys know for sure! For now, pick up your Woods of Ypres albums and merchandise (old and new) at the above links and help cover David's final expenses!

Finally for this all Woods/David post, some new concert videos from Woods of Ypres' last tour have been posted online! A YouTube user named Kyle (online handle "opeth027") posted 5 videos from Woods of Ypres' concert at The Magic Stick Lounge in Detroit on May 11th onto his YouTube channel on Friday. The videos are of Woods of Ypres playing their songs "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)", "Wet Leather", "Awaiting The Inevitable", "Falling Apart", and "Pining (For You)", so click each link to watch each video! Most are full, but "By The Time You Read This" has a late start. The audio quality on these videos is pretty good, as is the video quality, though the lighting doesn't seem to be up to par, especially when it comes to ex-drummer Evan Madden's visibility. Kudos to Kyle for finally uploading these videos, and seeing as this was the closest show to the Soo on their last tour, maybe it holds some extra significance? Either way, these are nice videos, so check them out at the above links, and here's Woods of Ypres playing their song "Pining (For You)" in Detroit from this past May!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our next Defunct Local Band Profile on Bring The Fallen tomorrow, followed by more news and updates this week! Thanks everyone!

David Gold/Woods Of Ypres Updates, Plus More News!!

Well, this is sure turning out to be one of the more depressingly memorable days in recent history for the scene, isn't it? It's still very disheartening to know that David Gold from Woods of Ypres has died, and we're gonna feel this one for a while yet, but I thought I should boost some morale with some happier news for this post tonight, which half relates to David, with some general positive news from the scene at the end. That said, definitely check out my tribute/memorial post to David below this one for early details on the accident, a brief retrospective, and my own thoughts.

Now, let's get this post started with some very cool news for you Woods of Ypres fans, as the band's label Earache Records has released Woods of Ypres' final recorded album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" online for free in David's honour! This is 100% legit, as reported earlier today by the popular metal news site Metal Injection, and if you want to download "Woods V" for free, just click here, select "Download Files to My Computer", and go from there! The download includes 11 songs (8 of which we haven't heard before today) and it also includes lyrics for each song, though no album artwork is included, oddly enough. Still, this is a complete class act of Earache to release this material early for fans & friends of David and the band, and hopefully "Woods V" spreads like wildfire across the metal community! That said, I have no idea what the future holds in terms of formally releasing "Woods V" through Earache, as in delays or changes to the material, but knowing that Woods of Ypres as a band have likely died with David, I'm not entirely sure what's next. For now though, definitely enjoy "Woods V" by downloading it at the above links!

What do I think? It's way too soon to accurately say, I'm just glad to have this material available at this time. It's definitely dark with a lot of morose and depressing moments, but there's some hard hitting doom tracks as well. I can't accurately assess anything yet, and I still plan to formally review "W5" next year. If you don't want to download the album or are having trouble doing so, YouTube user malaise666 has uploaded all but the opening two tracks (which are already on YouTube anyway) onto their YouTube channel, so click here to stream the rest of "Woods V" there, and here's a haunting new song named "Alternate Ending" to check out. The lyrics definitely have more of an impact knowing what happened yesterday, I'll say that much.



Also in David Gold news, some more news sources in the Barrie area are covering the accident that appeared to take David's life. CTV News Barrie's Facebook page reported yesterday that a 31 year old man was killed on Highway 400 on Wednesday (a day earlier than we had thought) after being struck by oncoming traffic, and a later article by The Barrie Examiner has confirmed that David was indeed killed in said incident. According to The Barrie Examiner's article, which is very complementary of David & his musical past, the cause of the accident is currently under investigation. The Sault Star reprinted the Barrie Examiner article on their website earlier today as well. I'll absolutely keep tabs on this as more word comes out, cause I'm sure many of you want some more answers, but for now, click the above links for updates.

In happier, yet still sad news, David's sister Marie has confirmed details about a memorial gathering in his honour which will take place Wednesday, as she previously hinted towards on his personal Facebook page. It will take place at The Canadian Motor Hotel (upstairs, presumably) at 410 Pim Street on Wednesday from 1:00 PM-6:00 PM, though it will likely go later than that. It'll be a casual get-together for friends, family, and fans, and Woods of Ypres t-shirts and merchandise are encouraged to wear to the event. Pizza, wings, and beer will be on hand for attendees who wanna remember David. For more details, contact Marie at (705) 975-2700. Formal details about his final arrangements have not been publically released beyond this get-together, nor has an obituary been posted online to my knowledge that could have details to that effect. It's nice to see David's family organizing a get-together for everyone to come and remember him by, and hopefully there's more happiness and joy in remembering the great times and music he gave us among the attendees. Myself, I want to at least make an appearance, but we're only getting back from Detroit that day, so it depends on timing, I suppose. Fingers crossed, but regardless, this will be something that anyone who knew David won't want to miss, so stay tuned for updates on that and other arrangements. R.I.P. David!!
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Now, I know that David is obviously the biggest story of the day, but there's other news to report, and I want to lighten the mood a touch, so here's a couple extra stories from the local scene. Firstly, Brimley hard rockers Half A Man have announced the addition of Infathom singer Dillion Semasky to the band, officially making them a quintet (maybe a quartet if Denny Breslin did leave? I don't know for sure.) The news was broken on the band's Facebook page yesterday, though it's unknown how this could impact the album that Half A Man was working on for much of this summer. Dillion is best known as the singer in the Ishpeming metal band Infathom, who you may remember from LemmaFest this past June. Though not locally based, Dillion does live in the area, and it'll defintiely be interesting to hear how he adds to Half A Man! His singing style strikes me as more aggressive and extreme than much of Half A Man's material, which always had a Black Label Society vibe in my opinion, but we'll be sure to see some awesome material and progress from this new look Half A Man lineup in the coming weeks! Check the above links for more details!

And finally, here's our latest Christmas surprise, and like yesterday, it's another full demo from a local band, this time from defunct Sault Michigan hard rockers Elipzis! Featuring alumni of End of Existence, Riot! By Night, Kilacel, and One Past Mars in their lineups, this talented quartet made a quick splash in the local music scene during their brief one year run, playing numerous high profile concerts all over Michigan, including a number of stops in the Sault area. Elipzis disbanded this summer after 3/4ths of the band formed a new Muskegon-based hard rock quintet named RedStone Riot, but fans are sure to remember their local work fondly. Last year, many of Elipzis' concerts featured a demo CD on sale for interested fans, and though it was just a burned CD with no real packaging, it featured 6 nicely recorded original songs from their original lineup, and I was able to buy one when I saw Elipzis at the WRIF Jingle Ball in Warren, Michigan last December. The featured songs are "Six Shots", "Freedom", "Take Me On", "Missin' You", "Forensic Truth", and "Father", and in honour of the holiday season, I've posted each one onto our YouTube channel for you guys to check out, so click the above links to hear each song!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!!! All credit for these songs goes to the former members of Elipzis, I'm just trying to share this out of print material with the world like it deserves! Also note that all of these songs except "Missin' You" & "Father" are posted on their MySpace page as well, so you can here them there also. This material is really catchy with some great melodic singing from Rachel Kiger and some nice hard rock grooves, and even if this material doesn't find it's way into RedStone Riot setlists, it's worth preserving and enjoying, so check out the opening song on Elipzis' demo below, and much more at the above links!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for continued coverage of the passing of David Gold & the future of Woods of Ypres over the next while, along with weekend concert previews, our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Repetitions, and more news as we roll closer and closer to Christmas and the end of 2011. Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Bear Hunters & Half A Man) & More Assorted News!!

Hey guys, I have more news to share on this Tuesday evening! For today, we have some new bands on a massive upcoming all ages show, the latest from Woods of Ypres, and our next weekly classic video, but first, here's two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

The next metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel will be THIS THURSDAY, and two of the scheduled bands are now confirmed! Apologies for the short notice though, an official statement on the lineup wasn't made until last night. The two confirmed bands are local melodic death metal quartet The Bear Hunters and grimecore rockers Shit Liver, both no strangers to Rosie metal nights! This actually adds to a busy weekend of concerts for Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger, who'll also play there on Friday and Saturday with Browbeat! Sounds like a good pair of bands to start, but the third band hasn't been confirmed as of this writing. The Rosie metal nights' Facebook page says the third band will be announced today, so I'll likely update this when the band's identity is released. I expect the same house rules as previous shows at The Rosie had, so it'll have a 9:30 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Check the above links for more details! Sounds like fun, hopefully I'm healed up from this lingering cold by then so I can come out! Stay tuned for the SMS for updates!

Meanwhile on the new show front, Brimley hard rockers Half A Man have announced another concert for Sault Michigan this year, as they'll hit The Merchant's Bar on March 26th! They'll be the only band on the lineup for this show, and as best as I can tell, temporary drummer Mikey Bishop will still be with the band for it. Looks to be about standard for a bar show, with an 11:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 21+ age limit, as cited on this poster for the concert. I've also seen that Half A Man are now selling band t-shirts, so consider picking one up if you go to this show! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and the above links. This should be a good concert, and there's plenty of advance warning for you guys so you can clear your schedules to go see this talented hard rock band across the river! As always, stay tuned to the SMS for updates!

Back to The Bear Hunters for a second, as they've been added to the lineup of a major upcoming concert! They and local indie rockers The Tenagens have been added to the April 9th all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall, boosting the amount of bands to TEN, including seven metal bands! The Bear Hunters and The Tenagens will join SBD, Sativa Rose, State of Misery, As It Stands, Shit Liver, extreme metal band WinkStinger, RedD Monkey, The Fury, and maybe Bring The Fallen, if they're still together by then. I imagine Bring The Fallen would be replaced if they broke up in the interim, but until we hear otherwise on their status, they're still on for this show. As such, this is the full lineup at present, and it surely has many local music fans very excited! An all ages show with a double digit number of local rock bands, who could turn that down? Click here for full current details, and if new details come out, I'll have them here!

Now, here's some Woods of Ypres news! Firstly, a bunch of brand new merchandise from the band is now available to preorder on Earache Records' official online store! These include the re-issues of "Woods IV: The Green Album" ($12 on CD, $30 or higher for vinyl packages), and a fittingly green t-shirt ($18) featuring the album artwork and a lyrical passage from "Wet Leather". Yes, the first line you thought of from the song is on the shirt. The items officially go on sale next month, but if you want to pre-order, click here! I especially like the vinyl record packaging, which come in coloured vinyls that suit the band and specific songs well! If you're looking for a black shirt though, the special edition "Heart of Winter" shirts in honour of their three piece show in Virginia last Saturday are still available in limited quantities, so click here for details! Also, Woods of Ypres have announced a bunch of new concerts on their upcoming Canadian tour, including a March 18th date in New Brunswick, and a number of dates for a Western Canada tour swing in May! All are now listed in our out of town concert listings. Click here for full details, and stay tuned for some more big news from Woods of Ypres locally very soon!

And finally, here is this week's classic local video! I wanted this one to be earlier to make up for two straight weeks of a late upload, but with so many special feature posts on the horizon, I didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle either. As always, I'm tying this video in with an upcoming concert performer, and in this case, it's Maximum RNR frontman (and Saultite) Brenton Ellis, a.k.a. Diamond Brent Panther! I could have easily picked a Lion Ride video for this week, but I wanted something that was closer in line with Maximum RNR's sound, so I picked a video from the inactive local hardcore quartet Detroit! Brent and his bandmates from Lion Ride & The Labour Of... tore up the stage from 2008 through early 2010 with their brand of fast paced short hardcore songs, including at a well recieved show on December 27th, 2008 at The Oddfellows Hall! I think this was a CD release show for their debut "Let The Hammers Fly", but don't quote me on that. An attendee at this show filmed the video below, of Detroit playing their original "Blue Collar", and drummer Mikey Hawdon later uploaded it onto his personal Facebook page.

The original video can be seen at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=54906547992. I MEAN NO INFRINGEMENT WITH THIS UPLOAD! People should be exposed to Detroit, and this is a good performance! All credit goes to Mikey Hawdon and the original filmer for this upload, they did the hard work! Good performance of a solid song, one of their longer tracks, though the audio is scratchy and the lighting does no favours to the quality. Still, it's a good performance and their energy shines through! So check out Detroit playing "Blue Collar" in 2008 below!



That's all for tonight, but stay tuned tomorrow for our first feature post in a packed stretch of posts on the SMS! This starts with our next Defunct Local Band Profile on Divinity Collapsed, so watch out for that tomorrow! Plus, we have a Maximum RNR profile, our next CD review (likely of Bad Side's last album), our new poll, and more news to come, so stay tuned for all of that! Thanks everyone!

Assorted News From The Past Week!

Now it's time to clear out the news desk a bit more by sharing a few stories that got lost in the cracks over the past little while. With all those concert reviews and the end-of-year special posts, I am admittedly behind on new stuff, so that explains the high amount of posts so far to start 2011. Things should get back on a normal pace soon, but first, here's some assorted stories from the last week or so! Because all could feasibly be a top story (except the last paragraph), I'll organize our first four in alphabetical order by band name. So, let's get things started, but remember to check out our latest "Where Are The New Albums?" post from this morning immediately below! We'll start with Sault Michigan hard rockers Bad Side, and this is stuff that I had previously referred to in our post where we looked back at 2010, but I never devoted an actual news post section to it. It appears that the band has officially decided to break up. There's never been an official statement to that effect, but the fact that they produced a graphic of a Bad Side tombstone (with the year of death being 2010), that about says it all. Honestly, this isn't too surprising, when you add things up. The band went on a hiatus in late 2009, cancelling scheduled local dates in the process, and following the firing of singer Melissa Krahnke and guitarist Jason Mapes from their radio jobs at Yes FM and The Bear last year, both of them moved from the area. Jason now lives in Nashville, where he's working on a solo album with other former Bad Side members, and Melissa now lives in Pennsylvania, where she works at the the radio station 98.5 KRZ. So their shows this past summer in Milwaukee were basically their farewell gigs, which is odd when you consider that you'd think their last shows would be local. Even still, they had a great five year run that produced many memorable concerts and three albums, and add one more thing to that: a retrospective DVD/CD combo! According to the band's Facebook page, it will be titled "Live After Death", and it will feature the band's music videos along with live videos, demos, interviews, and more! A video showcasing the intro of the DVD was also posted, which you can watch at this location! Good stuff, it appears to be a performance from their Milwaukee Summerfest show. It's still a shame to see Bad Side breaking up, but you never know what might happen down the road, and as updates come in for "Live After Death", I'll let you all know! Next up, here's a new locally-related video from a metal band that came through town last summer! You may remember on August 11th when Toronto instrumental progressive metal trio The Isosceles Project played at The Canadian Nightclub as openers for Skull Fist. Well, here's a side you don't see from many bands who play here, as the band posted a new installment of their tour blog onto their official YouTube channel! It's almost 8 minutes of what appears to be the post-concert party and gathering that the band had with fans and band members! There's lots of swearing and alcohol to go around, so if you're easily offended, don't watch. It is however mostly talking amongst the band and other attendees about the concert and such, so if you're expecting live concert clips or road footage, you won't find it. It's a good video though, and this is the kind of stuff you might have been a part of before with other local bands, and parts are amusing too! Check it out below, and fingers crossed that The Isosceles Project come back through here one day, they're an awesome band! Next up, do you remember in December 2009 when local photographer Curt O'Neil posted photos from the Kiss Battle of the Bands onto his official website, specifically of Lion Ride's sets? Well, I did mention in my review of Lion Ride's show last week that he was snapping pictures at this most recent show as well, and a sneak peek at his shots is now online! Five photos are now up, one each for Mikey, Marky, Marco, Iron Mike, and Carmine, and they're all great quality! Makes me want to see the rest even more! I didn't mention this in my review, but Curt got special on-stage access for some photos, which led to shots like this one of Mikey Lion singing right in front of the crowd! Who's that guy on the far left though? He doesn't look very metal. There's a lot more photos from Curt to come, and Donna Hopper too, so when the rest make it online, I'll let you all know! For now, click here for Curt's first photos from the Lion Ride concert, and I've also added Curt's website to our "Other Local Metal Links" list on your left! And next, we have the latest news and notes from Woods of Ypres! Again, this is stuff I had referred to in the past, but never devoted proper attention to. It has been announced on Woods of Ypres' Facebook page that their 2009 CD "Woods IV: The Green Album" will be reissued by their new label Earache Records on CD and vinyl on March 14th. Nice to see W4 get a wide release like this, as it is a great album (if depressing at parts), but this likely will spell a delay for "Woods V: You Were The Light", which David alluded to in his Governor's Ball interview. After all, if they put two Woods of Ypres albums out in the same timeframe, one (or possibly both) would suffer in sales, so it makes sense to stagger them and devote attention to one at a time. So we'll likely have to wait until the summer (at the earliest) for "Woods V", but it should be worth the wait! With that said, the band has a few more independent copies of Woods of Ypres' independent back catalog for sale, so if you want information on how to snag these albums, click here! And finally, the metal blog Antivenin included "Woods V" on their list of the most anticipated albums for 2011, including references to the reaction over their "breakup". Check it out at this location, and stay tuned for more Woods of Ypres news as I hear it! And finally, here's some updates I made to recent special feature posts on the SMS. I've made many of them date accurate to reflect this new year we're in, but the following are just factual edits or additions. Our Defunct Local Band Profile on M7K now reflects guitarist Mike Vincent's most recent work in The Bear Hunters. From our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series this past summer, I edited the Recognition and Sin Stereo profiles to reflect the removal of their iLike pages as "band pages", as they aren't really. Also from that series, I edited the Gates of Winter profile to reflect the addition of Jon Morrison on drums, but I did specify in the profile that he was not a band member when GarageBand was active, and he was only added to make the page accurate at present, as the band are still together. Finally, I edited our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Lion Ride guitarist Mark Rand's solo project, as he is now going by his real name for his solo work, instead of his Lion Ride stage name Marky Lion. With that said, I also made it date accurate to refer to the fact that his show with The Mark Rand Band last month has came and went. As more edits become necessary, I'll have them for you! That's all for tonight, but I have a big update concerning our poll tomorrow as well, which has to do with "ballot stuffing". Details are coming tomorrow, along with more news, so stay tuned!