The Latest Updates & Album News From The Realignment Project!!

Let's talk about local industrial metal solo project The Realignment Project in this single-topic post today, so what have they been up to since we last left off with them in November? Well, on the 7th of that month, project leader Matt Hicks revealed that their fourth EP would be called "Let You Fall", which he had already finished recording at that point (remember, T.R.P. released three EPs last year alone). On November 10th, Matt confirmed both the final album cover and the release date of January 2nd (this past Friday!), with the track listing following on the 16th, notably specifying that "Scatterbrain" was retitled from "Nitwit" for one reason or another. You can see "Scatterbrain", "Where Did You Go?", and "By Myself" from that album being tracked in vertical videos linked here, here, and here from their Facebook page that same month. In a surprise announcement on November 24th, Matt announced that The Realignment Project had signed a label deal!

As teased in this video, he is working with East London Recordings, a British indie label that help independent artists release physical albums, and they have released T.R.P.'s first two 2025 EPs "Afterthought" & "The Frustration Sessions" together on vinyl, one EP on each side! East London uses a print-on-demand method from ElasticStage for making albums, which is also what Mike Haggith's MorningStar Records utilizes for physical album pressings, but I have no idea if Matt was aware of that prior. It does appear that ElasticStage's 12'' vinyl records have a 23 minute limit per side, which affects "The Frustration Sessions". Rather than drop a song, Matt opted to edit down four of its songs to fit ("Minor Outburst" alone is chopped down by 50 seconds). Keep that in mind before buying, but if you want some local industrial rock on vinyl, it costs $43.90 at this link!

This would imply that their third EP ("War Songs") & "Let You Fall" will be similarly combined for a vinyl release, but if East London does release them thusly, note that both EPs exceed 23 minutes, so expect edits on both sides. "Let You Fall" was successfully released on Friday, and if you believe promotional postings, it is "available everywhere". Definitely not true, as it isn't even on Amazon Music at press time, among other services, but you can currently stream it on YouTube (with lyric video postings ongoing), Apple Music, Spotify, Boomplay, and KKBox, and it is buyable on Bandcamp (name your price) and iTunes ($5.94). Given our ongoing album review backlog, The Realignment Project are currently pencilled in for April, as No Arrow, Sykotyk Rampage, and Handsome Sandwich all had albums that beat the yet-to-be-reviewed "War Songs" to market.

In the event that "War Songs" and "Let You Fall" get a joint vinyl release by April 30th, I would review both at once, as that would be a singular local album release, but if this was a one-and-done, we'd just review "War Songs". Either way, I'll be looking at new music from The Realignment Project in the spring, and Matt never stops, as he was already working on his fifth EP as of December 13th! Also last month, Matt was interviewed about The Realignment Project by David Oman of the British blog PlayedByDavid, where David interviews various indie musicians, seemingly all being posed the same questions. In Matt's interview, he outlines his musical background, favourite original songs, his songwriting and recording process, favourite musicians, future plans, and more, and he gives some good detailed thoughts on the topics at hand! In terms of scoops, the biggest one is that he's planning to release T.R.P. CDs.

This would be through ElasticStage (no word on if he'd be combining them like on vinyl), and while Matt is not planning on playing live in this project, he hasn't ruled it out either. It's great to see The Realignment Project staying exceedingly productive, and hopefully 2026 sees more quality music from them, so stay tuned for more from Matt soon, and here's the lyric video for the opening/title track from "Let You Fall"! Thanks everyone!

The Realignment Project - "The Frustration Sessions" EP Review!!

It's now time for our 194th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and as our current backlog of new local metal/hard rock albums plods into a new month, we're actually jumping a couple months back in the timeline to look at local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project's sophomore EP "The Frustration Sessions"! Independently released to major streaming services on April 28th, the four month delay for our review was due to it coming out just three months after their debut EP "Afterthought", which we reviewed in February. I have long had a self-imposed buffer period of six months between album reviews from the same project (to avoid showing a bias), hence why we didn't look at this EP in the spring. The Realignment Project is still led by former Dirty Virgin drummer/Riverin frontman Matt Hicks without extra credited performers. You can buy this EP on mp3 format on Bandcamp on a "name your price" model or on iTunes for $5.94.

Meanwhile, it can be streamed on Bandcamp, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and KKBox, but consider buying it to support Matt's work! Song titles are linked to their Bandcamp copies. With six songs running for about 25 minutes, let's begin our look at "The Frustration Sessions"!

The EP leads off with "Rocketship", which is about taking off on a rocket to live on a new world after humanity stripped Earth of its resources. This song definitely leans way more to industrial than metal, with a steady percussion beat, synth instrumentation, and a melancholy pace that rarely deviates from the initial trajectory. Matt's low melancholy singing does get across the bleakness of the song's message, but it's just not that varied and lively for my preferences, and definitely not a rocker. Interesting change of pace to start though! Next up is "Minor Outburst", which contrasts kinda dance rock verses with intense hardcore screaming on the choruses, at a level of aggression that I don't remember "Afterthought" having! The pointed lyrics feel like this might as well be the title track for the EP given the varying frustrations on display, but the techno beat on the verses is too much of a contrast, and the whispered bridge was hard to discern words in.

Still a big improvement for metal content, and it'd be neat to hear Matt scream like this more in T.R.P. originals! Third here is "Static",  with the title referencing static in outside pressures, hatred, and distractions in life. A little more aggressive and pointed then the opener, but this is definitely more reserved and ominous as a constant whole than on "Minor Outburst". Not a bad composition, and it has an eerie ambiance a little more vocal diversity, but the lyrics are very repetitive, especially given its runtime. I didn't mind it though!  The second half of the EP begins with "Fireside", which has more pointed commentary and anger to it, with screamed choruses and more of a traditional rock song structure while still having an electronic ambience. Again, this song has repetitive lyrics, but I like the pacing, the bass line, and intensity that contrasts well with the industrial effects, so it's a welcome diversion for fans of the project's heavier side!

The longest song on offer is the penultimate cut, namely the 6+ minutes long "Stupid", which is basically about how humanity is stupid for letting corporations and personal jealousy and greed get in the way of improving our world. In tonal structure, this feels like "Rocketship" with the choruses of "Minor Outburst" for the first half, but there is an extended bridge that feels very Rage Against The Machiney, albeit with industrial instrumentation laid in. While a little too long, the verses are more substantial here, and there's good aggression where needed here, so this is a late highlight! The final song is its shortest, the 2+ minute "Medicated (A Spade Is A Spade)", which calls out the perceived over-medication, brainwashing, and control over the populace. This is basically one lengthy extended verse with lots of rhyming before the subtitle is invoked when shouting the chorus over and over. I appreciate the direct messaging, but this song doesn't feel finished.

Making this basically a poetic rant didn't leave a lot of room to make a standalone song beyond having a dark industrial essence, but it fits in line with other Realignment Project offerings on this EP, and it was well put together despite being so cramped! So, how is Matt's second solo outing? Similarly inconsistent for my preferences, but the songs have definitely evolved, and you do get a sense that Matt was in a different place when writing these songs, with a darker feeling and more social commentary about society's ills, as opposed to the more personal material on "Afterthought". While the songs are not uniformly heavy, he puts aggressive screamed vocals to more effect on choruses here, and is making more of an effort to sing on verses. Everything is well composed, and Matt has a good ear for techno and industrial effects, so fans of his solo work dating back to the Riverin days will like how things are coming out!

Is it better than "Afterthought"? I think that EP was a little more lively as music, and had less repetitive lyrics, but Matt did expand his range as a singer here, and it is heavier at its peaks (especially on "Minor Outburst" and "Fireside"). I think I like it a smidge more, but industrial fans should be eager to check both out at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's album review, and we get back to our chronological timeframe for new reviews next month when we look at local emo/folk punk solo project Agnosticism's June 2025 EP "Atticcore Fornication". Watch for that in September, and for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), New Album Updates, And More!!

For this final post of the month, we have updates on upcoming albums featuring local metal talent, but first, here's LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for he months ahead!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will make his way to the newly opened Beck's Bar at least thrice in mid-2025, with Sunday matinees booked for May 11th, July 20th, and August 31st! His show there on the 11th will be his first gig at the former Vibe Lounge in about fourteen years, back when his band Caveman Morrison were in full force, so this has been a long time coming even if it's now solo! Beck's live music schedule is slated to feature live bands on Saturday nights with matinee performers on Saturdays and Sundays, both at the slightly unique start time of 3:00 PM, but all three of Tym's dates here are Sunday affairs, with the August 31st show falling on the Labour Day long weekend. Hopefully Tym gets a strong reception at this new-ish Goulais Avenue venue in two weeks and beyond! All three dates are 19+ affairs with no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, here's some news on two new/upcoming local metal albums, starting with a brand new release, as local industrial metal act The Realignment Project released their new EP "The Frustration Sessions" on Monday! According to their Facebook page, it is "now available everywhere", and by "everywhere", they mean Bandcamp once again, as well as YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and even the Taiwanese streaming service KKBox, all of which now host T.R.P.'s debut EP "Afterthought" as well. "The Frustration Sessions" can be bought in mp3 format on Bandcamp on a "name your price" model, and on iTunes for $5.94, so consider buying it to support Matt's work! As well, the first song "Rocketship" got a lyric video for the project's official YouTube channel, as four songs from "Afterthought" also got at the time. Matt had also teased a lyric video for "Static" in this Facebook "Reel", but it has yet to be made public.

Given the close timeframe since The Realignment Project released "Afterthought" in January, a review of "The Frustration Sessions" isn't imminent. I reviewed their debut in February, so with the buffer period of six months that I enforce to space out reviews of the same act to avoid showing a bias, I currently have this new EP slotted in for a review in August. That said, fans of industrial rock and Matt's old band Riverin will definitely want to check out "The Frustration Sessions" at the above links, and give the "Rocketship" lyric video a watch below!

Also, here's the latest from Sault Michigan metal solo project X's & Y's, who have confirmed that their second studio album "Ruination Coactive" will be released to major streaming services and in limited CD copies on Friday, June 13th! The track listing reveal from last month may have hinted towards this release timeframe, as one song is named "The Gemini Machine". Technically, the album's name is "Яuiᴎдтюᴎ Koдcтive" given the faux Cyrillic, but spell that at your own peril. To go along with the impending album release, X's & Y's have launched a BigCartel page to sell extant CD copies of their debut album "The Obsidian Dream", stickers of both albums' cover artwork, and even "Ruination Coactive" keychains. Keep all this in mind to support X's & Y's and original E.U.P. metal! Yes, the URL references Werehold Records, project leader Jason Mills' old indie label that he used as an imprint for "The Obsidian Dream" (hint for future plans?)

We'll know more on "Ruination Coactive" in about a month & a half, and a formal album review should be in order for the SMS this summer, but here's a new teaser video from X's & Y's' Facebook page on April 2nd featuring Jason "dubbing some stuff (that he) wasn’t happy with the first million times". The 23 seconds-long clip has him riffing on a guitar, albeit not hooked up to an amplifier, so it sounds like tinny acoustic strumming. No point commenting on it yet, but it's an effective teaser at the studio metal material ahead, so give it a watch for yourselves below!

Finally, here's the latest from Sault Ontario crossover thrash quartet Hails, who are on a new CD release of their own! While its official public on-sale date is June 7th, the cross-Canada compilation album "Punk Canada Vol. 4" (featuring covers of domestic Canadian punk bands) is available early from Ha!ls members for $20, and it features them covering Toronto punk legends The Almighty Trigger Happy's song "Meathook". As best as I can gather, this cover isn't available yet for streaming, but if you want to hear it, former Saultite Ash Richtig's Windsor band Avoid The Comment Section, and more right away, give Hails a shout! In terms of an embeddable video to send things out with, guitarist Carmen Muto is the focus of this new video from Ha!ls' Facebook page of him playing some sweeps on his guitar for 14 seconds. Why this horizontal landscape video was uploaded in pillarboxed vertical dimensions, I don't know, but Carmen shows his skills nicely here!

Hails will play their first show of 2025 on May 8th (one week from tomorrow!) when they open for The Dayglo Abortions at Soo Blaster, so stay tuned for our preview of that and much more from Ha!ls as this year rolls along! Give the new "Sweepman" video a watch below (and Brent, I'm sorry!)

That's all for now, but weekend concert previews are on the way next! Thanks everyone!