LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Ethereal Tomb & Go Skateboarding Day), Plus New Sault Michigan Videos!!

Here's another news post to check out before another weekend concert preview cycle begins, and it includes new videos from the E.U.P. and two interesting LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for Sault Ontario fans, so here's what you should know on this Wednesday night!

The tenth annual local celebration of Go Skateboarding Day goes down on Saturday, June 21st at Queen Elizabeth Park outside of the John Rhodes Center, and for a ninth straight installment, there will be live bands! In a big change from past years, the advertised promoter this year is local punk/metal guitarist Mikhal Muto, with Dustin Jones/Tidal Records nowhere to be found on the Facebook event page. No public word as to why Dustin isn't visibly involved with this year's local Go Skate Day, but Mikhal has loads of promotional experience to keep the free and all-ages skateboarding action going! Like in past years, there will be contests, prizes, and snacks from sponsors and supporters. Local crossover thrash quartet Hails will play Go Skate Day for a third straight year on the 21st, joining The Cover-Up as the only bands to play this event three times, though all members but Carmen also played there in 2022 with different bands.

Two bands new to Go Skate Day will hit the stage atop the big ramp on the 21st, namely death/thrash metal trio Pillory in a rare outdoor concert from them, as well as newer local space rock duo The Spaceship Opening (featuring ex-Redundant bassist Andrew MacDonald), who still don't have a known online page. As well, Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson will bring his turntable mixes back to Go Skate Day for the first time since 2016, so don't miss his skilled tunes as well! This is a FREE & ALL AGES event, skaters do not need to register to take part in that way, and things run from 1:00-5:00 PM. Weather permitting, this should be a fun time, so visit the above links for more details!

Next up, Ha!ls have one more show announcement to take note of, this time indoors at Soo Blaster on Wednesday, July 16th, where they will open for a touring trifecta of metal bands! Making their local debuts on this night are Barrie/Toronto doom metal band Ethereal Tomb, Brampton hardcore quartet Mile End, and Chilliwack, B.C. hardcore punk quintet Smuther, which presents an interesting style contrast with all three bands having distinct sounds that may not gel with all listeners, though Ethereal Tomb & Mile End do play together often. Stoner and screamo fans will find a lot to like here, let alone with Hails' locally tested fury as they continue the lead-up to the Ripcordz show late next month! Another Mikhal Muto-promoted concert, this is all ages as usual for Soo Blaster, with doors opening at 6:30 PM and an admission fee of $15 at the door or via online tickets to be revealed. Visit the Facebook event page for more on this intriguing concert!

The second half of today's post takes us to Sault Michigan, starting with lots of new videos of local hard rock quartet The Nameless at The Merchants Bar on Saturday night! These were first uploaded to new drummer Jamie Costner's personal Facebook page on Sunday, with the band sharing them publically a couple of hours later. The five videos are all included in a batch post, though lengths are inconsistent. Therein, you will see The Nameless covering Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black" (the only one of the five shot vertically), The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California" and "By The Way", Nena's "99 Red Balloons" (perhaps the Goldfinger version?), and Wolfmother's "Joker & The Thief". "By The Way" is embedded below as it is the longest of the five videos, and notably, frontman Joshua LaCoursiere just sang on the Chili Peppers covers without playing guitar, which is true to the Peppers' lineup.

It's good to see some new videos of The Nameless in concert (they had only uploaded two of their own to Facebook prior to these), and they have a good handle on all five songs on offer here, with the Chili Peppers covers having an extra aggression to them that adds to both songs! Jamie slots in well behind the drumkit, and Mike has some solid guitar work in particular here, so don't miss these new Nameless clips at The Merch above and below!

Finally, here's an advance single from local metal solo project X's & Y's' upcoming sophomore album "Ruination Coactive"! Uploaded to their YouTube channel yesterday, this video is for the album's opening track "Arrival", with the song set to spacey yet cubist visualizer effects. I won't comment on the song yet, as I plan on reviewing "Ruination Coactive" on the SMS this month, assuming it is released as planned on June 13th, but check out X's & Y's newest song for yourselves below!

That's all for now, but another busy round of weekend concert previews begins next! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: End Of Existence

It's time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and in this month's spotlight feature on a local metal, hard rock, or punk band from the past (randomly selected as ever), we're heading back over a decade for a look at a prominent and partly local metal band featuring many familiar faces. Here's what you should know on them!

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End Of Existence

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie/Grand Rapids, Michigan

Genre: Epic/Death Metal

Lineup:

Bob "JagerBob" Helsten (Integrated System Of Machines), vocals
Steve Giles (Theatre Of Night), guitar/iPad effects/studio bass
Bryan Kindel, bass
Greg Giles (Theatre Of Night), drums
Craig Harrison (Theatre Of Night), keyboard

Audio/Video: End Of Existence released their self-titled and only album to digital platforms on February 29th, 2012. To this day, the album is still available on Apple Music and Amazon Music for streaming and as an mp3 download, so if you want to hear what the guys cooked up 12 years ago, stream it there! A cover of Johnny Cash's "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" was among their minimal material not featured on the album. Unfortunately, all of their YouTube videos were made private when drummer Greg Giles rebranded their YouTube channel after his own solo art company Giles Arts, so public videos from their run are limited today. Here's one of their few surviving public videos, for their song "Sun Is Gone"!

Info/Analysis: A studio-only band who were spiritual successors to the mid-late 2000s local metal band Integrated System Of Machines (albeit after some members moved to Grand Rapids), End Of Existence were launched by the Giles brothers in 2009. The band regularly posted and promoted their original material throughout the early 2010s, with their full lineup coming together in August 2011. Despite singer Bob Helsten's departure at the start of 2012, End Of Existence released their album with him on vocals at the end of February, and soon afterwards, they announced plans to find a new vocalist and change their name, encouraging applicants to sing on demos on their Reverbnation page. Nothing publically came of this, and End Of Existence announced their own end of existence in April 2013, with the Giles brothers and Craig shifting focus to their side project, classical metal band Theatre of Night, though Greg left in 2014.

Steve & Craig continue that project to this day, and they re-issued five E.O.E. songs as an instrumental Theatre Of Night EP in 2021, while Greg has also re-posted their material on Giles Arts social media pages. Whether you got into End Of Existence via I.S.O.M. or not, they stood on their own as a suitably heavy and grandiose band with strong musicianship, effective harsh vocals, and a some good atmospheric qualities above the technicality, and it is a shame that they didn't last longer or play live, let alone that their material isn't as available today as it once was. Buy or stream End Of Existence's surviving media above!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series returns on or around June 10th for a profile of a band that is proof that I randomly select bands for this series. Next month, we'll return to Sault Ontario for a look at local/Ottawa hard rock band Bad Chug, who we just featured on the site in March via an also-randomly picked YouTube Channel Profile. Hopefully when the focus isn't around their videos, things will be fairly distinct three months later, so look for that then, and for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

For our first proper news post of the month, let's look at some recent video uploads from bands on both sides of the border, and we'll start with some longer videos from two prominent original metal bands in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula, like St. Ignace progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown! According to their Facebook page on October 21st, H.L.T.C. were "just waiting on our artwork" and "then we will release this album", which heavily hints that their long-planned full length album will be available soon! No official word since on a release date, but the day after their above Facebook post, the band shared this video on their YouTube channel where frontman Brandon West talks directly to the camera in dark room with purple lighting. Here, he reiterates the album's status, but the back half is devoted to bloopers of him trying to shoot this earlier in the day.

Effective if brief means of hyping up the album, and it's different seeing a band member talk directly to the camera like this! No word on if the stuttering/quick-replay edits to the first half are Max Headroom-inspired or not, but that was my impression from them. Give H.L.T.C.'s new video a watch below, and stay tuned for more on their album release! (Full disclosure, the picture of Joe Biden is one of multiple used for visual effect, and appears to be in reference to a blooper. I will not comment further on political topics here unless they have a tangible connection to local music.)

Next up, here's a new video from Sault Ste. Marie classical metal band Theatre of Night's YouTube channel, as uploaded on Halloween, and it features 22 minutes of "epic metal instrumental" songs, five of them to be precise. The songs are entitled "Arise", "Inside You", "Recurring Dreams", "The Elements" (no relation), and "Blood On My Hands", and if those titles sound familiar, it's not just you, as these songs were all previously originals by Theatre of Night's 2009-2013 sister band End of Existence! In case you forgot, they were the local/Grand Rapids epic death metal band that spiritually succeeded I.S.O.M. after that band's initial demise, and they released a self-titled album in February 2012 featuring these five songs, albeit before being stripped of Bob Helsten's vocals (granted, he left E.O.E. shortly before that album came out, and he was never in Theatre of Night anyway).

Guitarist Steve Giles' brother Greg, credited as "G. Giles", is listed for supplying drums as a "former member" (Greg left Theatre of Night in 2014), but End of Existence bassist Bryan Kindel is not credited at all, perhaps implying that he didn't actually perform on the album? I don't know if posting these instrumental takes is a sign of things to come for Theatre of Night or not, but it's good to hear End of Existence's brand of symphonic brutality again, even with the emptier feeling given Orb's removal! Good slideshow too with lots of fitting images, though oddly, none with Craig. Give all five songs a listen, and check out End of Existence's full 11 song album (with vocals) on Spotify & elsewhere!

We'll close today by heading north to Sault Ontario, starting with a new video from local party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page that serves a double purpose! Originally posted on October 28th before a re-post from their TikTok page yesterday, the video proper is a 17 second teaser for their upcoming music video for their cover of Saul Williams' "List of Demands (Reparations)", much like in their prior commercial for last month's Alien To The Ignorant concert, though here, there's overlaid text saying "Sault Ste. Marie's first taste of party metal" and the date November 21st, 2012. In the post for the video's TikTok re-upload, the band announced the first of at least two contests and "a series of special Facebook live events" to help promote the video release, with the first contest being for a $100 Station Mall gift card, and you can enter by liking the band, tagging a friend in the post, and sharing it yourself.

The draw date for this contest is Friday, November 19th, and I presume the video will finally be unveiled on the 21st. Looks like Paul & Amanda are putting in the effort to get buzz for the music video, and it'll be interesting to see how it pays off, so visit The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page to enter the contest, and stay tuned for more from their camp!

Finally for today, here's one more video from The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page, but not of them. Rather, it's of local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters playing "Servitude" during their set at the aforementioned Alien To The Ignorant concert at Mellow D's Underground last month! Admittedly, this isn't an optimal view of the band, as there's large white text (complimentary though it may be) overlaid on the video, it's only 16 seconds long, and a trippy post-production filter was put on the video where everything is overlayed in mirrored colour tints. Nik also sounds a little like Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost here! Give it a look below, and hopefully The Bear Hunters are back out there soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Abhorrent Forest - "The End Of Life" EP Review!!

To close out the month, here's our 91st monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and first of 2017, as we're taking a look at new local instrumental black metal project Abhorrent Forest's debut EP "The End of Life"! This EP was surprisingly released on January 9th via their Bandcamp page (in one of their first major public acts), and is also available for streaming on YouTube. Abhorrent Forest is the new solo project from ex-Despised Eyes/Death Rise guitarist Will Tholberg, who goes by the stagename Old Man Wyrn (or just "Wyrn") for this project, as also seen in the dormant black metal project Dullahan. "The End of Life" was independently recorded last year, and the album can be bought on Bandcamp using their "name your price" model, but it can also be downloaded free there if you so desire. Still, consider buying it to support Abhorrent Forest's work, especially as a new solo project in a town not heavily stacked with this genre! Running for a half hour across five songs, let's begin our review with the first track!

"The End of Life" opens with "Witness to History", which is actually the EP's shortest song despite running for just over 4 minutes. A heavy and crushing instrumental that takes influence from old school black metal, the song has a little too much cymbals during lengthy bridges, but the guitar work is solid and suits the genre, and the main riff has a catchy quality! The song and it's title are screaming for vocals though, and hopefully Wyrn looks at that for the future, but so far so good for black metal fans! "Winter Wrath" follows next, which kicks off more reserved than it's predecessor, but it does have faster stretches and will appeal to those hoping for grim and bleak metal. This song doesn't feel as polished and tight as "Witness to History" did, and it has a tendency to meander at time, but the drums are tight, and the brutality is full scale at it's peak. Solid track for fans, but I prefer the opener.

Third is "Meandering River of Fire", which is a steadier paced number that almost sounds like a black/doom metal hybrid at times, and while the song itself doesn't meander like "Winter Wrath" could, it's essence does fit the title, and it just screams even more for someone to add vocals. The song never gets too fast, but I like the guitar work especially late, and the bass suits things well also. This track gives some good visuals to suit the provided material, and it's a definite highlight of the EP so far! The penultimate track is "Hollow" (no relation to the old local metal band), which also keeps things at a medium pace, and it has a good sound that feels as dark and cold as you'd expect black metal to! That said, the song always feels like it's slowly building up towards a huge ending, but it doesn't have a true blow-off at the end that truly deviates from what came before, especially thanks to it's extremely abrupt ending. Overall though, it's an effective track with hard hitting guitar, though again here, cymbals can be overdone.

Abhorrent Forest's debut EP closes with the 11 minute long "The Void in Life", and no, the length isn't a typo! Probably the most unique aspect of this song is the usage of spoken word vocals, and while they sound sampled, I can't 100% make them or their source(s?) out, as they're buried in the music. They do help break things up a bit though, and add an eerier vibe to the song, especially earlier on when they're quieter. The song itself is more of the same black metal intensity as before, just longer and more stretched out, but it never gets too repetitive, which is a good sign! There's enough variance and tempo changes to go around, and the drum programming fits well, so this is a solid closure to this release, and believe it or not, never feels overlong!

So, what are my final thoughts on 'The End of Life"? Overall, this is a promising debut effort from Abhorrent Forest, and while it won't be all listeners' cup of tea, it is a satisfying collection of instrumental black metal that genre fans should easily take to! Old Man Wyrn came into this knowing what to play and how to approach it, and he mostly succeeded, with crushing guitar work, solid tempo changes, and nicely programmed drums uniting into some grim but entertaining instrumentals! "Meandering River of Fire" is arguably my favourite track, but there are things to look at addressing on future releases. The EP could have toned down cymbals on some tracks, "Winter Wrath" felt a little sloppy at times, and I couldn't make heads or tails of the spoken word on the closer, but on their own, those are minor. The lack of sung or screamed vocals didn't help for the imagery of some songs, either, and while they'd be an asset if used correctly, but they're not a complete necessity throughout.

Abhorrent Forest are a promising black metal project, and while we haven't heard publically from them or Wyrn since the release of this EP, hopefully they keep at it and bring more black metal to the Soo area! Buy or stream "The End of Life" at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, but what's coming next month for our CD reviews? Given it's sudden online release (more on that soon), the new split vinyl EP from local doom metal trio AlgomA and Finland's Hooded Menace is very likely for February, so stay tuned for more on that soon, and keep watch for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Metal Project & Album, Skeyes Of Seven Updates, And More!!

Before we dive into another weekend's concert previews, here's a new news post on this snowy Wednesday, so what's in store for today? Well, we have some assorted notes regarding three local acts' active statuses, lots of recent updates from a prominent hard rock band, and first, here's a surprise new band and album to take note of!

We have a new local metal solo project to add to our links, and they are Abhorrent Forest, the newest endeavour from ex-Despised Eyes/Death Rise guitarist Will Tholberg! Going by the stage name "Old Man Wyrn" or simply "Wyrn" for this project, Abhorrent Forest launched their Facebook page in October, but only commenced with major public postings this month. Musically, Abhorrent Forest are an instrumental black metal act, and in a surprise reveal just on Monday, their debut album "The End of Life" is already on sale via their Bandcamp page! You can download it free there, but it is available for purchase too via Bandcamp's "name your price" model. It's not every day that you see a new black metal album release in this area, let alone one this abrupt, but kudos to Will for putting this out! Without giving too much away, it's a huge departure from his past public band work, and should appeal to fans of underground minimalist black metal.

As this is a brand new album release available for paid sale, "The End of Life" is very possible for a CD review on the SMS this month, so keep that in mind, and you can also stream the whole album below via Old Man Wyrn's new YouTube channel, so check out Abhorrent Forest above & below!



Next up, here's the latest from local hard rock band Skeyes of Seven, who have been busy as of late, so what's new from their camp? First off, the band has finally confirmed the quiet reveal from last fall of a new second guitarist, that being Kyle Sweet, who you may recognize from performing with frontman Cory Murchison during his solo set at March 2014's Medifest fundraiser, and previously with The Sault Ste. Marie Pipe Band. This gives Skeyes of Seven two guitarists for the first time since Alain Fletcher moved to bass in 2014, and Kyle was a good fit in last year's initial cover video with him! The band still has a drummer vacancy though, and be sure to message them above or guitarist Ron Baxter at this link if you're interested in trying out! As for Skeyes of Seven's long-awaited debut EP "Stare at the Sky', we are still awaiting a full paid release, but the whole EP is now online to stream via Skeyes of Seven's YouTube channel, so what should you know?

Confirming a 6 song run-time, "Stare at the Sky" will feature their songs "See The Truth", "Pretend", "Enough", "Fallen Faith", "Cognitive Dissonance", and as embedded below, "Crawling Back Into Reality" (yes, they did delete two of their older studio tracks and re-post them.) No word on if the night sky motif on most videos will be the album cover, or on when that will see it's paid release, but the instrumental "Crawling Back Into Reality" notably differs by having a slideshow of shots from the band's run so far. It includes pictures dating back to their first show, even including ex-members Mike Mannarino & Jonny Amendola in some shots, and closing with outtakes from their introductory video with recent drummer John Mignacca (who drums on the EP.) My biggest problem with this video is that they include never-before-seen clips of Skeyes of Seven jamming and in studio, only to dub them over with the studio track, even ones with Cory visibly singing, despite the song having no vocals.

I wouldn't want the song broken up, but I'm sure fans would want to see these clips on their own, so hopefully they make their way online at some point! Still, it's great to see things finally nearing completion and release for Skeyes of Seven's debut EP, especially given how sporadically they've played live since debuting in 2012, so check out the songs on "Stare At The Sky" above & below, and stay tuned for updates!



Finally, here's some shorter assorted news items from the last while, all via our latest scan of our active band links, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• We have moved local punk supergroup Killer to our inactive band links, as they have not made a public posting of any kind since January 6th of last year. A non-seasonal sister band to Toystock 2015 performers The Rude-Offs, Killer themselves have never played live, despite a strong lineup comprised of Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Stiffler's Mom alumni. For what it's worth, The Rude-Offs dropped out of last year's Toystock, but their lack of activity also coincided with much of Destroilet's year-long stage hiatus, so take those however you want. Hopefully we see Greg, Greig, John, Christian, Adam, and Matt back in some form!
• In a post on his solo project's Facebook page in May of last year, Din frontman Mike Haggith noted that with The Din "making some pretty big waves" in recent months, his next solo album (the "Neighbourhood Watch" re-recording) isn't currently a priority, despite him teasing that album that same February. At least Mike acknowledged why his solo project hasn't been active lately, but hopefully he can complete "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited" at some point, and of course, follow The Din for his high energy current original band work! We'll leave his solo project in our active links until May, unless there's new activity beforehand.
• We have also moved Mourning Wood drummer Glen Thomas' hard rock studio project The Mourning Glory (named before he joined the former) to our inactive band links, as he hasn't posted anything public on that project since his New Year's forecast post on his message board one year ago today. The Mourning Glory had promise, but don't miss Glen and Tony Kajnar in their current active projects The Peace Vibe and Flat Stanley!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Gob & Archelon Concert Previews, Plus More Recent Updates!!

The Halloween weekend is creeping up ever closer, so let's kick off our previews of the seasonal punk and metal action with previews of two big pre-Friday shows! We'll likely have three Halloween weekend concert preview posts, with one for Sault Ontario shows from Friday-Saturday, and another for Sault Michigan in general, with The Brains show on Sunday also very much in mind for wherever it can fit, not to mention possible late notice events. Along with some assorted recent items, here's what you should know for our first of the Halloween previews!

One of the biggest punk concerts of the year goes down TONIGHT, when Langley, B.C. punk veterans Gob make their long awaited return to the Soo at The Rockstar Bar! The Juno nominees were last seen here when they headlined at the former Outback in January 2009, so it's been a long time coming for fans of their classic songs like "Soda" and "I Hear You Calling", and you won't want to miss the punk rock energy and enthusiasm like only they can bring TONIGHT! Also, for you Sum 41 fans, keep in mind that guitarist Tom Thacker is Gob's frontman. Unlike in 2009, local punk bands will open for Gob tonight, and they include local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades (in what personal Facebook postings are hyping as their last set of the year), newer local indie/punk quintet Northwest (in their first set since the release of their self-titled digital EP), and local punk trio Redundant (in their first public concert of the fall), so all should be great fits to open for Gob tonight! Remember, Oakville punk band Seaway are not playing tonight (they were only on eastern Canada dates, the Soo not being among them), so Northwest were added last month to replace them.

Promoted by Jack Spades frontman J.D. Pearce, admission for tonight's show is $20 in advance and apparently at the door too (a higher door charge isn't publicized), but if you pay $25, you'll get a copy of Gob's new CD "Apt. 13" upon entry, so keep that deal in mind! If you wanted to get your tickets online, you can also buy them at http://www.brownpapertickets.com. This is a 19+ concert, and everything starts TONIGHT at 9:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! An almost 6 year wait for a new Gob concert in the Soo is too long, so I hope to see you guys there TONIGHT, and here's Gob live in Toronto in 2012!

Also on the Halloween concert schedule is the second annual Devil's Night concert at The Oddfellows Hall TOMORROW NIGHT! After last year's October 30th concert helped launch promoter Tyler St. Amour's promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment, he's going bigger and better for it's encore tomorrow, with H.N.E. (in association with Blood Shed Productions) hosting twelve different acts at The Oddfellows Hall, so who all is playing? The announced headlining band is Sudbury groove metal quintet Archelon in their local debut, and they should brutalize fans tomorrow, but they actually aren't the last act on the bill. The 1:00 AM slot actually belongs to local experimental musician Chase Wigmore, who will be making his long awaited return to the stage after a 5 month work hiatus, so welcome Chase back home by checking out his creative originals at night's end! Archelon will instead be second last at 12:00 AM.

As for the rest of the lineup, local grunge/alternative quartet Haggith will play before them at 11:00 PM (in their first Oddfellows set with their current lineup), while the rest of the bands have shorter half hour timeslots each. Local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore will take the stage for their own brutal originals at 10:00 PM, while local cover metal rockers Project 421 will play their first set since the departure of singer Curtis McKenzie at 9:15 PM, but will Blair handle lead vocals, or is there a surprise in store? The aforementioned Chase Wigmore's grind duo project This Is Your Band On Drugs will also return to the stage for a set at 8:30 PM, while Blood Shed Productions goregrind duo Rotopsy will hit the stage at 7:45 PM, and local doom/punk trio The Revolution (formerly the second Brutaly Fatal) will rock out at 7:00 PM. Also, former Strange Coyotes bassist James Watterworth (credited under his Delusionair Lionhair alias) will kick off the rock band portion of the day at 6:15 PM.

The Devil's Night action will start at 5:00 PM with local rappers (a first for a Heavy North Entertainment show), with Blood Shed-affiliated rappers Phat Boii, Miracle Man, and Mikey Thomas splitting an hour to start the show, so if you want some hip-hop, be there early! Admission will be $5 in advance (through promoters) or $7 at the door tomorrow night, this is absolutely ALL AGES, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details! This is a stacked lineup to be sure, and fans of last year's Devil's Night show will like the familiarity (all official performers but The Bear Hunters and Crimson Crusade are back), so again, I hope to see you guys there TOMORROW! For a preview, here's Archelon live in Spanish!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• In a neat surprise announcement, local death metal band The Bear Hunters have revealed that their CD release show at The Canadian Nightclub on November 29th will be ALL AGES! The news was revealed on the Facebook event page on Monday. No word on if the possibility of no age limits was a factor in moving the event from The Algonquin, but this is great for all Bear Hunters fans, so don't miss the show and CD release next month!
• I've again deleted Strongs, Michigan metal project East Branch from our band links, due to the deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page. The Werehold Records-affiliated project was active as recently as June's Friday the 13th song posting event, but activity has been quiet since. Hopefully they reemerge at some point, perhaps on Friday, February 13th?
• I've changed the link for defunct local/Grand Rapids metal band End of Existence from their Reverbnation page (which has since been deleted) to their Facebook page, which is still used to promote drummer Greg Giles' solo company Giles Arts. I wish they wouldn't have deleted and privatized so many of their online links, but at least Facebook's still active!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more Halloween concert previews in the coming days, and we'll see you guys at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for Gob! Thanks everyone!

A New Album Release, LemmaFest Fallout, And More From Sault Michigan!

Before we touch on fallout from the Heart concert this past weekend, we have an all-Sault Michigan post on this Tuesday morning, including some fallout and updates from this past weekend's LemmaFest, some assorted recent notes, and first, news on a recent album release, so here's what you need to know!

Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock artist Kenneth Sutton (a.k.a. SweetKenny) released his ninth solo album "This End Up" last week, and our sincere apologies for being late to the party on this one! Self-described as a "heavy rock, beer drinking, bar band, high energy, fun album", this album features 10 songs (including instrumentals and tracks with vocals), with Ken promising freestyle playing and something for everyone to enjoy within! Like on most of his past records, Ken handles all instruments and vocals, with no credited guest input. Copies of "This End Up!" can now be bought on Bandcamp for $12, and while physical copies are likely in the works through CDBaby, he has yet to post sale copies there. In any event, you can stream all 10 tracks at this link, which also includes brief info on the songs' themes. Everything sounds good for this newest album (with SweetKenny's next CD "Amazonian" already in the planning stages), but when can you expect a review of "This End Up!" on the site?

Perhaps as soon as next month if all goes according to plan, as our review of Mike Haggith's newest solo CD is still in the works for this week(end), though I'll note that we have yet to review either "Ink" or "Cracks In The Wall" from his recent repertoire either. The latter is a bit old now for a "new" review, but I plan to listen to both of his 2014 albums to pick the heaviest for our next SweetKenny review, and we'll let you know when that's determined! Pick up "This End Up!" and more SweetKenny albums above!

Next up, here's some early fallout from the fourth annual LemmaFest, which was successfully held this past Saturday outside of the Dondee Lanes! While we await some extra lineup and sound confirmation from Nightmare Grin and Mr. Fister (plus the usual giant photo album), the first known concert video from this year's installment is now online courtesy of local alternative hard rock trio Plastic, so what should you know? Obviously, the tarp over the stage from 2012 didn't make a comeback, but aside from that, the staging was similar to past years. The video below was filmed by attendee Christy Nealen (and publically shared by Plastic yesterday from her personal Facebook page), and it's of their cover of Thin Lizzy's "Cowboy Song", so how does their new lineup sound? The audio quality could be a bit cleaner from the video, but the guys have a good handle on this classic, with Zac Crook's vocals fitting nicely, and Aaron DePalma fills Paul Burns' shoes well on drums! Check out the full performance below, and hopefully more videos turn up!



Also in the realm of LemmaFest videos, local filmmaker Wayne Kozeyah released his short documentary about LemmaFest and the late Mike Lemma at Saturday's event, but he finally gave the OK for fans unable to attend to check out the final product on YouTube, as per his post on the LemmaFest 2014 event page! Originally uploaded to his YouTube channel in April (albeit in a still unlisted form), this was produced as part of a course project at Lake Superior State University over the past year. Along with host bumpers & narration from Wayne, remarks from Mike Lemma's friends (including LemmaFest founder Scott Green) are included where they remember Mike and their time hanging out with him, their reactions to his sudden passing in 2010, and the inception and organization of LemmaFest the following year and beyond. Assorted clips of some bands from last year's event and scattered other gigs are featured along with numerous event photos, and for reference, Scofflaw's Barney Gravelle contributed a music piece named "Lex" for the film as well.

This documentary short is great to see why LemmaFest is such a well anticipated event, and it does a great job of selling it to prospective attendees, so kudos to Wayne on a job well done! It'd have been nice to get more remarks on Mike or the festival itself from the band members, but that's all I'd have recommended. I urge fans of LemmaFest to give the documentary a look below, and stay tuned for more on this annual event!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page in recent months, I've replaced defunct local funk/hard rock band Clownsack's link on the SMS with their still-active MySpace page, which still features songs, videos, and photos of theirs from their mid-late 2000s heyday. They were a unique and entertaining band, hopefully they reunite at some point down the road!
• I've deleted defunct Pickford metal band Dust N' Bones from our local band links, as their Reverbnation page has been converted into a repository for the members of Theatre of Night's collective music ideas that aren't guaranteed to make it to official T.O.N. material. This isn't a Dust N' Bones evolution or officially a new band, just an apparent space for stuff they're working on in general, but there's some promising ideas, so give the new Harrison/Giles material a listen via the above link!
• Power Slug/Nose Dive drummer Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone) has made his long awaited return to metal singing, albeit in a non-local project. The band is Astrogenta (a self-described "internet band" largely based out of the Ukraine), who actually added Orb to their lineup last October, and they're currently working on an album named "Distance Does Not Matter", which you can hear samples of (with vocals) at this link. Hopefully he finds some big success with Astrogenta, so keep an eye on them!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post tomorrow morning (featuring Heart videos), and I'll see you guys at The Canadian TONIGHT for Anciients, Havok, Wretched, Black Wizard, and The Revolution! ALL AGES, $20, don't miss this awesome metal lineup! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: END OF EXISTENCE (Official)

After a day's delay, it's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, our monthly look at a YouTube channel with at least a 50% concentration of local metal-relevant videos! As randomly selected from our 173 current channel subscriptions, this month's featured channel is once again based across the river, and they have a lot of solid footage to look at from them, so read on below for this month's YouTube Channel Profile!
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END OF EXISTENCE (Official) (http://www.youtube.com/endofexistenceband)

Owner: An original member of defunct Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic death metal band End of Existence (identity unclear, but likely guitarist Steve Giles or drummer Greg Giles)

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 17th, 2010; Videos posted from September 2010 through January 2013

Channel Summary: End of Existence maintained their official YouTube channel for most of their run together, uploading 16 videos there, mostly comprising of their original material set to effective slideshows of dark imagery and the band members, with credits & links at the end of each. The videos include copies of most of the songs from their 2012 self-titled CD (except "The Elements", "Inside You", and "12.21.12"), along with two copies of their "Sun is Gone" music video with different colours, five promotional trailer/preview videos for their album, and one cover song.

Why Should You Watch: Mainly because this is the best source for videos of End of Existence, who were one of the most talented new metal bands out of Sault Michigan in the early 2010s, and it's a shame they never played a live concert! Their videos are all well put together and definitely fit the band's material, so be sure to watch them, not just listen to them. Fans of their predecessor local band Integrated System of Machines may also want to check out the E.O.E. channel, but keep in mind that the band has not used this channel actively since their early 2013 breakup, though 3/5ths of their lineup remain active in the local classical/metal project Theatre of Night, who feature similar videos at their YouTube channel.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

SUN IS GONE: Considered End of Existence's only full "music video", this March 2011 clip for their song "Sun is Gone" shares visual similarities with their more prolific slideshow videos, but it features more live video of the band's then-trio lineup performing this brutal song, which is one of the highlights of their album! I would argue that the heavy filters don't lend themselves perfectly to video of this kind, and the spoken word section is a bit over the top (despite Bob Helsten's very presidential setup in the video), but the Giles brothers show off their skills well, and it's an interesting clip to get more of an angle of End of Existence as a band! Note that this video was later re-posted in January 2013 as their last channel upload, albeit in black & white for one reason or another.



Crying Tomorrow - END OF EXISTENCE: Uploaded in November 2010, this early YouTube copy of the E.O.E. original "Crying Tomorrow" is the channel's most popular upload, with over 2,600 views at present. It follows the general template visually of most of their other videos, using heavy orange/red filters, panning & zooming pictures & video footage, and imagery of nature, the Earth, and the environment, which is very effective, and lends well to the still shots! Featuring backing vocals from Bob's former Elipzis bandmate Rachel Kiger, this is a nice slower song, but it is often heavier than required given the tone and lyrics.



Ghost Riders - END OF EXISTENCE: The last new song uploaded to End of Existence's YouTube channel is (curiously) a cover of the country music standard "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend". Uploaded in October 2011, the video teases that this song would be included on their self-titled CD to be released that fall, but I don't believe it made the final cut of the album, which didn't come out until February 2012. A far cry from Johnny Cash's version, End of Existence definitely metallized this song and made it their own, including slowing down the tempo, but country fans may want to be careful just in case. Note as well that this song features later additions Bryan Kindel on bass and Craig Harrison on keyboard, and watch for assorted credits, information, and lyrics scrolling along the bottom of the screen!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! For next month's installment of this monthly feature series, I have randomly selected three channels for the first time in 2014, as the first channel we picked only had three audio recordings from the same band, so I picked two single video channels to fill everything out. As a result, we'll be looking at the channels of YouTube users flangel22 (featuring three Stillbroke songs), Alanoth (featuring a live video of the former half-local project 2wo Man Baand), and pearls666 (featuring the only public video of Unbound's original lineup), so watch out for these on or around March 22nd! That's all for now, but stay tuned for a new news post either tonight or tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

End Of Existence's End, New Videos, And More Updates!!

Just when I think we're out of backlogged news, they pull me back in, so we have another post on this Tuesday evening! Today, we have some more recent updates to one of our monthly feature series, a new song from a local solo project, and some new solo performance video discoveries, but first, here's news on a prominent local band's apparent end, so here's what you need to know!

It looks like Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids metal band End of Existence have dissolved. A status on the E.O.E. Facebook page on April 10th says "End of Existence is now Theatre of Night", which seems to indicate either a "merger" with their (more recently active) orchestral metal band, or just a shift in focus. Also, the End of Existence website has either been closed or had it's domain name expire, which could also be telling for their status. Partial successors to the mid-late 2000s local metal band Integrated System of Machines, End of Existence had been active since 2009, and they slowly worked on numerous original songs and videos over the next 3 years, leading to the February 2012 release of their self-titled debut CD. Activity slowed down after the departure of singer Bob Helsten (now of Powerslug & Toast) earlier that year, and End of Existence (who I don't believe ever played a live concert) had unsuccessfully searched for a new singer in recent months, last posting non-Theatre of Night updates in January. It's disappointing to see End of Existence reach their own "end of existence", but they leave us with a lot of very solid epic death metal material from their run!

In all fairness, I do think it would be somewhat redundant to operate two similar bands sharing almost the same lineup, so this might be a good streamlining move if Theatre of Night continue with their original metal material plans. Hopefully their E.O.E. work isn't forgotten, and best of luck to Gaby, the Giles brothers, and Craig with Theatre of Night, so stay tuned to the SMS for updates (and of course, best of luck to bassist Bryan Kindel in the future too, he's a solid bassist that would be an asset in a Michigan band going forward!)

Next up, here's a new video discovery from the YouTube channel of Sault Michigan singer Melissa Strand, of Toast, Swayze Train, and Electric Motor Fish fame! Last year, Melissa posted four solo covers there, including solid renditions of Alanis Morissette & Adele songs, but embedded below, we have her solo acoustic rendition of Alter Bridge's "Open Your Eyes"! Apparently her second take of this song, it's well performed & recorded, and it definitely sounds different (in a good way) in this video! Softer, but nice, so check out Melissa's solo Alter Bridge cover below, and stay tuned for more metal/hard rock performance clips from her and/or Toast as they roll in!



Also in new videos, a new original song from Sault Ontario grind solo project Crucify The Whore was uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel earlier today, though I won't say the title here to avoid the potential for offending some readers (it's sexual in nature.) Uniquely for C.T.W. songs, it's an instrumental, so readers who don't take to guttural pig squeal vocals might appeal to that! There's something here musically, with good guitar riffing and some blast beats, but the repetitious structure, short length, and muffled recording quality don't help. As the third image on the video features some potentially offensive imagery, I'll just embed the song below, but give it a listen if you want, and stay tuned to the Facebook pages of Blood Shed Productions' grindcore projects for updates on their next demos, including an upcoming Crucify The Whore/Brutaly Fatal split release!

Finally for today, here's some more assorted updates to our Defunct Local Band Profile Series to make posts in it more accurate and current! In our Garage Inc. profile, I added a reference to former singer Jacob Rendell's newer local band The Pesto Shirts, while I restored a photo to the Bring The Fallen profile and added emphasis to the similar later band Giwakwa, who share 2 B.T.F. members. Also on our Paraside profile, I restored a photo and made edits to the reflect the likely end of Changing Waves (the more successful later band that also featured the Hagerman brothers.) Finally for today, I made updates to our joint profile on Lorax & Hands of Betrayal to replace some bands that Lorax members were in to note more prominent or recent bands (such as Constructed Apocalypse, The Suicide Kings, and Stillbroke), while for Hands of Betrayal, I noted guitarist Mike Libertoski's current role in the aforementioned Toast, and de-emphasized his Galactic Alignment solo project (which has essentially blended with his usual solo work.) Check the above links for the updates, and stay tuned for more!

That's all for today, but stay tuned soon for weekend concert previews, this month's newest Defunct Local Band Profiles, and more news! I can't promise a new post tomorrow, but if this is the end of our 71 day posting streak, thanks to everyone for following along over the last 10 weeks, and stay tuned for more SMS updates as soon as I can fill a new post!

Recent Sault Michigan Updates, Including Band Breakups, Songs, Page Deletions, And More!!

While I'm out at The Algonquin Pub with The Ripcordz and local metal openers, I have a special auto-post for you Sault Michigan/Eastern U.P. readers on our 48th straight day of SMS posts, so what do we have today? Along with some recent assorted news, we have two likely band breakups and two other familiar hard rock band page deletions, but first, let's start with some more upbeat news courtesy of new material from a regional solo artist, that being Dafter solo musician Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton, who posted a couple of new original songs onto his YouTube channel in the past couple of weeks! One is "I'm Lost Without You" from his most recent EP "Doo Hickey", but the other is a brand new track named "Burn Notice" (title inspired by the show), and the song comes complete with an epic action movie-style graphic! A hard rock instrumental, it's not blisteringly fast, but it's well performed and has a nice groove to it's riffs (though no word on if it will be on an album of the same name or his announced next disc "Perception".) Check out "Burn Notice" below, and stay tuned for more SweetKenny updates!

Next up, we have two band breakups/descents into inactivity to note across the river, starting with the news that young Sault Michigan hardcore band The Eleventh Hour have apparently parted ways. A reason wasn't announced, but their Facebook page (and only online page, sadly) was recently deleted, which usually indicates that a band broke up. Featuring Hoist The Sails & Chained Memories alumni, their early demos showed promise, but I've found that newer extreme metal bands in Sault Michigan have often struggled to get off the ground. Hopefully the guys all stay active in music, and best of luck to Sean, Cathy, Cody, Josh, Joe, and their other former bandmates in the future! The other likely defunct band is Elements of Madness, a Sault Michigan/Newberry hard rock project that was active from June 2011 through last April, and they'll have hit a year since their last Facebook page update on Thursday, so it's very likely they've fallen inactive too. Their YouTube samples had glimmers of promise, but I don't think they ever were able to get off the ground beyond those clips. Like with The Eleventh Hour, I wish Cody, Tyler, Joe, Kyle, and Landon nothing but the best going forward, and hopefully they get in new bands down the road!

Also today, here's notes on two defunct Sault Michigan hard rock bands that now have no surviving online pages, those being the early 2010s Nixxon Dixxon-successor bands Splitshot & Trail's End. Both had their Facebook pages deleted for unknown reasons at some point in recent months, though both haven't been active in a year or more anyway, so that's likely linked. As you may remember, Splitshot saw Nixxon Dixxon's Chris Hubbard & Kyle Beaumont joining forces with their dads and singer Dave Menard for covers-centric shows all over the Eastern U.P. from late 2010 until the end of the next year, later adding Nixxon Dixxon bandmate Jake LaLonde on drums after he returned from the Musicians Institute in California. After Chris, Kyle, and Jake launched Trail's End in the fall of 2011, Splitshot disbanded by the end of the year, and Trail's End (who had some original material) played live a handful of times in early 2012 before quietly parting ways, with Chris joining Dave from Splitshot in 415E, and Kyle & Jake joining forces with Fallen Heroes in The London Gentlemen.

These page deletions haven't meant a loss of major info, and aside from Trail's End's song "Run" (which was deleted from their YouTube channel for unknown reasons too), they had no media, but these (and The Eleventh Hour) still contribute to a pet peeve of mine, which is broken up bands deleting any trace of their existence. Fans still wanna read up on & check out defunct bands, and I wish old pages would be left alone so that we didn't rely mainly on memories for our old band remembrances. Still, I know their current bands have already accomplished a lot more than Splitshot & Trail's End did, and hopefully they see much more success soon, but maybe down the road, "Run" or some videos of either band will finally surface!

Finally for today, here's four shorter recent stories from the Sault Michigan area, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or artist name:

• Toast guitarist Mike Libertoski is looking for a singer to provide vocals for at least three of his solo technical/progressive metal original songs ("Information", "Matter", and "Particles"), all of which are streamable on his Soundcloud page. If you're interested, send vocal samples or a message to Mike at this location, and hopefully he finds someone who can match his noticeable talents!
• Local classical metal standouts Theatre of Night have posted a new song named "Winter" onto their Reverbnation page, which may be a reworked variant of the deleted "A Wintery Mix", but it has a very heavy symphonic metal feel that fans of their earlier original work should appreciate! Check it out at the above links, and look for more Theatre of Night originals soon!
• After a few months of quiet activity, Eckerman studio/label Werehold Records revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that they may find some new material to share online during "spring cleaning", and it may not have to wait for another Friday the 13th posting spree in September to get unveiled. Might we finally hear Awaken Eidolon in these plans, among their diverse metal/techno roster of Michigan artists? I'll keep you guys posted!

That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for my review of the Ripcordz concert! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), End Of Existence Updates, And Next Month's CD Review!!

I wasn't expecting to have a new post up tonight, but with an extremely short notice LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT, I had to pump one out! So for today, we have that (and some related new shows for later this month), updates on a local band's new album, and all of the latest news from End of Existence, but let's start with all of the new concerts! (UPDATED, Thursday at 2:18 PM)

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will bring his solo acoustic concerts back to the stage for three more 2012 dates, starting with two shows this weekend at two of his recent favourite venues! These will be Tym's first solo concerts in almost two months, and they include a trip to The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on Trunk Road (NOT The Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River) THIS FRIDAY and a return to The Eagles Club in Heyden THIS SATURDAY! (Note that this show was incorrectly listed as taking place tonight originally, but was corrected within a few hours. Apologies for any confusion!) The other new show sees Tym returning to The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on December 28th, in what I assume is Tym's last solo show of the year. It's always nice to see more heavier music in the east end, and hopefully Tym's shows at The Roadhouse and The Eagles Club go off without a hitch!

All have 10:00 PM start times, you must be 19 to attend any of them (I believe), and none have an announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Tym always delivers a proficient and fun night of metal and hard rock classics at his solo shows, so keep his upcoming dates in mind, and stay tuned for previews of his concerts this weekend!

Next up, I'd like to officially confirm our first CD review of 2013, and it will be of local old school hardcore punk quintet Destroilet's new CD! The first full length release (and second overall) from Destroilet, it's not yet officially on sale, but drummer Matt Waples was kind enough to drop off an advance copy with me earlier today, so I can confirm some extra details on it! The liner notes confirm that the 6 new songs on the disc were recorded at "The Litter Box", which I assume is a home recording studio, while guitarist John Conway did the production and mixing for the new recordings. My assumption that they were covering the Nirvana song "Tourettes" was correct, while the liner notes also credit their cover of "Evil God Hater" to The Fuckin' Burnouts (so I assume the Fistmagnet version was itself a cover.) The liners include lyrics for just one song (the original "Eternal Fire"), and the disc is styled like a vinyl record, as was the case last year. Finally for new details, the CD is ordered with the 2012 originals first, then the 2012 covers, and then last year's EP in the exact same order as it was on that release.

I have yet to hear the new CD in full (last year's songs and online preview tracks aside), but I'm eagerly awaiting to shortly! As soon as full release details (and yes, a hopeful return to the stage) come out, I'll have them here, but for now, check out their cover of "Evil God Hater" at their MySpace page (which is brand new to stream there), and as for our review? I've got it pencilled in for early January, so keep an eye out!

Thirdly today, here's the latest news from local/Grand Rapids classical metal band Theatre of Night! Two weeks after we posted some info on the band's planned second re-release of their debut album "Christmas Night" , we have some big news from their camp, but not related to the 2012 reissue. Over the past couple of days, the band posted audio versions of their renditions of "What Child Is This?" and "Carol of the Bells" onto their Reverbnation & SoundCloud pages, both featuring German soprano vocalist and metal musician Gaby Koss, who joined the project in April. These mark the first publically available audio recordings of the band with vocal accompaniment, but how does Gaby add to these tracks? She adds a very talented classical voice to both songs, and she has clear operatic skill, especially on "What Child Is This?", which has a better mix on a first listen. According to SoundCloud, Theatre of Night's long planned "Christmas Night" reissue with Gaby on vocals will be released next fall, and will feature brand new recordings and mixes, while it will reportedly also feature some other yet-disclosed guest musicians.

This all sounds very optimistic, but what about the announced 2012 re-release of "Christmas Night"? We've heard little for announcements since last month, but two of the bonus free download tracks may be up on their Reverbnation page for streaming, including a rendition of "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" and an original (I assume) named "Dreams of Winter Night". They seem likely for a reissue of this Christmas/seasonal CD, but there are a number of older tracks there as well that never made it to their released albums, so I figure we'll find out more soon for everything new that's in End of Existence's plans! Finally for Theatre of Night updates, drummer Greg Giles did mention to me in recent conversations that they plan on recording some new metal songs with Gaby on vocals, while also indicating that they're still searching for a permanent lead singer for their still-active main project End of Existence (message the guys if you wanna try out!) Check the above links for all of the current details, and I'll keep you all posted when updates roll in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews, this week's classic video, and much more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!