For one last time (well, this year), here's our newest "Where Are The New Albums? post, as we're again looking at the current release whereabouts and public updates on albums in the works from Sault Ontario hard rock acts! No changes in entries from last month, but half of the six this time have updated information, as noted with their title in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!
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Bone Yard 225's debut album
Rumoured Songs: "F.A.F.O.", "Gypsy Spell", "Fuck!", "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (Mike Posner cover)
Background: After months of teasers
that they were planning to record original music (as previewed in their
live concerts prior), local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225
began releasing their own songs on major streaming services in July
2024, a whopping fifteen years after the pre-225 band debuted as a
country cover quartet. Their first three singles (all recorded at their
home studio) were posted online by January, though it took until May 2025 for the band to confirm on their Facebook page
that they were indeed working on a proper album. It's not immediately
clear if their existing three singles will be included, but it's not a
given, as Jonesy Land fans saw with "Zoom-Out". As of August 11th, it was reportedly "album tracking time", while this video
from three days later shows bandmates Alex D'Ettore and
Warren Reville recording backing vocals for their cover of Mike Posner's
"I Took A Pill In Ibiza". That will be one of "a couple of covers" for
the album, as confirmed by frontman Greg Simpson during recent concerts. "Fuck!" was renamed "The F Word" on streaming services last month, but it's not clear if the less explicit name will stick on the album.
Current Release Status: In
that Facebook post from May 30th, your local 225 said that "the album
is coming along nicely", and they hoped to release it "by the end of
2025", but Greg has since adjusted the timeframe to "early 2026" when mentioning it during live shows. While
singer/drummer Greg Simpson did release an EP with his old band
Stiffler's Mom, it's hard to compare the release methods and schedule
given that "The Demo" came out in 2004. It is neat to see that Greg, Alex, and Warren are going all in on a studio album, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in!
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Bullet Train's upcoming EPs
Rumoured Songs: "Atmosphere", "Illusions", "Profit", "Wayside"
Background: The current hard rock
band from former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchsion
and ex-Fort Creek bandmates Robin "Bones" Lee and Anthony Fabiano,
Bullet Train have existed solely as a studio band so far, releasing four original songs recorded at their own home studio to their YouTube channel in 2024, all very much influenced by their take on current
events. After a quiet summer due to "life's trials", Bullet Train
resurfaced on their Facebook page last September to reveal that they were working on two
demo EPs, with the first one entering post-production as of the 9th,
though it's not clear if their 2024 singles will be on them.
Current Release Status:
No idea yet, especially as this band has no prior track record for
releasing albums, though all three band members have experience writing
and recording studio material to varying degrees. Bullet Train claimed
in September of last year that a release date for EP #1 would be
announced "in
the upcoming weeks", but he
band will hit a year without a public update on band activity on Christmas Eve. It'll
be interesting
to see if Bullet Train have more updates in store, so keep tabs for
further updates!
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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite
Rumoured Songs: "The Cities Alive & It's Angry"
Background: Ever
the prolific artist & songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal
musician Chase Wigmore has been working on an extensive rock opera for years (once claimed to be a 33 part work),
originally named
"A Story
About A Kid Named Todd". Worked on in between his other unrelated solo
albums, released for sale or otherwise, Chase posted a lengthy
elaboration of the rock opera in 2022, now titled "The Chaotic
Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release
timeline. Clips of songs have surfaced on his Facebook page,
as have full songs not explicitly tied to the album, as well as the final artwork. In more recent promotion, Chase has
hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final solo album as part of aims to focus on his personal life more
than his prolific original material.
Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.
Current Release Status:
Chase elaborated on Facebook last summer that the album was 95% done
earlier that year when the files "got trapped on my desktop's hard
drive", and he had been unable to procure a backup of the material or
recover the files as of that post. In any event, three of the full songs
uploaded to Facebook in the previous year were clarified as not being
planned for "The Chaotic Rite", but they could surface on a separate EP.
Fingers crossed that Chase is able to save this album and put it out
when able, especially given the years that he's put into the making of
it!
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Convergence - In Bloom
Rumoured Songs: "Gemini", "In Bloom", "Breaking News", "It Ate The F&$%ing Moon", "Kraken Mara", "You Are Not Flesh", "The Ebb"
Background: Just over a month after releasing their sophomore EP "Dead And Dreaming",
local progressive metal band Convergence announced in February 2024 that EP #3 would be named "Gemini", with its cover artwork
being released at the same time. Teaser clips of most songs from the EP were posted on their Facebook page and their YouTube channel throughout
much of 2024, but most prior media was wiped as they retooled as a full
band, now including singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio and drummer David
Peredun. Convergence have been working in studio recently with
producer Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio, documenting the sessions in
Facebook "Reels", and while they did get cagey about the endgame for the
studio sessions, they have confirmed in concert that the EP (now named
"In Bloom") is still in progress. Live versions of early instrumentals
(now with vocals) have also been played in their early sets. A new version of "The Ebb" (first seen on their 2023 EP "One") with vocals will reportedly be released to streaming services on Christmas.
Current Release Status:
No clue, and given the complexity of their music yet their independent
studio trappings so far, that could bode a quick or lengthy timeline for
"In Bloom" to come out, depending on what angle you take. Since their
modern studio cycle commenced in 2023, things have been relatively
steady for Brendan and Jake as a recording act, and here's hoping that
Convergence keep that up for their third offering!
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Fort Creek's debut album
Rumoured Songs: "One For The Road", "Sweet Rosie"
Background: Background: Local
southern/hard rock band Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to
record an EP since February 2020, but they wouldn't release any samples
until almost two years later when they shared (now-deleted) clips of
their original song "Hammer Down" on their Facebook page.
The guys would play it regularly at concerts from 2022-2023, with
studio sessions taking place in early-mid 2023 as well. After the
departure of bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer
Anthony Fabiano (both now of Bullet Train) in the fall of 2023, Fort
Creek opted
to abandon material recorded with them "as a show of good faith", and
have been working on new material and rebuilding their studio over the
past two years. Now featuring Phil Greco on drums, their first single
(the acoustic "One For The Road")
was posted online in January, with the band confirming plans to now
record a 10 song album at Jettison Studios prior to returning to live
concerts. Their new single "Sweet Rosie" was said to be coming next, and
they teased being back in studio to record that very song as of August
31st.
Current Release Status:
Prior release timelines for their debut EP reflected their early 2020s
lineup's material, and Justin, Shane, Bill, and Phil have largely kept things
somewhat close to the vest prior to putting out "One For The Road".
There are a lot of
unknowns,
especially given the 5+ years of production time and their decision to
basically start over in 2023, and that this is a band
that was primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit
before their rhythm section left. It
will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned for
updates!
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The Realignment Project - Let You Fall
Rumoured Songs: "Let You Fall", "Where Did You Go?", "Scatterbrain", "By Myself", "The Last Time You See Me", "Find My Way Out"
Background: The solo industrial
hard rock project led by former Riverin frontman and Dirty Virgin
drummer Matt Hicks, The Realignment Project got off to a fast start as a
recording act, independently putting out three EPs in 2025 alone (January's "Afterthought", April's "The Frustration Sessions", and October's "War Songs"),
Fans of T.R.P. will have noticed that Matt has begun songwriting and
recording for future EPs before his next ones were even released, and
that remains true for their next effort, as Matt confirmed on their Facebook page on October 15th that he was already tracking vocals for their fourth EP, and had began the demos for EP number 5. Matt confirmed last month that EP #4 would be named "Let You Fall", and confirmed the final track listing on November 18th, which notably omits "What Have We Done", an instrumental released at the beginning of the November (unless he changed its name). Teaser videos of the sessions were posted on Facebook throughout the past month.
Current Release Status: Matt has confirmed that this EP will be released on major streaming services on January 2nd, surely making it the first local hard rock album release of 2026, and we may see a physical release on vinyl too (perhaps in combination with "War Songs"), as Mike is now working with East London Recordings to release the album in print-on-demand vinyl. Follow The Realignment Project on social media for
continuing updates, and we'll have more on "Let You Fall" in a regular post soon!
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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around January 2nd (incidentally, the release date of "Let You Fall"), while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next week. That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
After a nearly two year long hiatus, Mikey & His Uke are back! We last heard from the local/Toronto punk supergroup project when Mikey Hawdon concluded his "Dookie" 30th anniversary series of Green Day covers in November 2024, but the BookcluB/Dos Amigos frontman surprised us by posting a brand new remotely-filmed cover of The Dandy Warhols' "Bohemian Like You" onto their YouTube channel last week. For their big return, Mikey sure got a stacked lineup of musicians from afar for this cover, including Bangles guitarist Vicki Peterson on vocals, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen, Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald, Poison drummer Rikki Rockett, and former Runaways bassist Jackie Fox (a 4 day champion on Jeopardy!) on backing vocals. As usual, Mikey starts off strumming his ukelele before dropping the pretense and playing rhythm guitar. The cover is very sound, and everyone performs well with some unique levels of staging!
Next up, here's the latest from local industrial metal solo act The Realignment Project's Facebook page, so what has Matt Hicks has been up to in the past couple of months? Much of that time was spent working on their second full length album, and in the most substantial teaser video from the sessions in that span, Matt posted this video on August 14th of a new song in progress via his tracking computer. He gave what appear to be lyrics for the song in the description, but what we hear is just the bass and drum tracks for the then-unfinished song. Sounds good to me for what it is! As of August 19th, the album was 75% done, and six days later, Matt posted this amusing video that shows an insight into his alleged "creative process". Vertical or not, I have a feeling that there is some real basis to the scenarios presented! Songwriting for the album was still ongoing on September 2nd, and by the 14th, he was tracking vocals for songs then in progress.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Matt announced on the 18th that he was already working on demos for T.R.P.'s third full-length album, and you can't knock the hustle! Back to album #2, post-production had begun by the 23rd, and five days later, he showed off some expansions to his home studio in this video soundtracked by a Motley Crue song. Last week, Matt confirmed their second album was done, and he confirmed on Friday that the album will be named "Signal Decay", with a release lined up for December. This is on par with the release timeframe for The Realignment Project's first full-length album "Long Cold Winter", which also came out two months after its sessions ended. In the interim, Matt posted this teaser video on Facebook featuring a groove metal-inspired instrumental section of one of the new songs. As usual, I'll hold comment pending our review of the full song and album next year.
Finally for today, here's a new video discovery from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown! The band proper has been publically dormant for over three months, but I came across this during our profile on guitarist Jaxon Massaway's YouTube channel,
and it presumably slipped my notice because it is a "Short" video (re:
vertical, brief, and classed separately than regular videos, though it
is embeddable here and isn't temporary like a Facebook "Story"). This
comes from their set opening for Born Of Osiris at The Vernors Room at The Crofoot Ballroom
in Pontiac in May 2024. It's a borderline drum-cam video (Jaxon was
still HLTC's drummer here), but it's not super well positioned for that
purpose, and you can only see Nathan, Christian, and Blaze (debuting
with the band as a one-off DJ here) from behind, and Brandon isn't in
frame at all. It's a promisingly heavy performance, just a poor angle,
vertical, and way too short. Still, give it a look below!
