Our Newest Metal Morpheus Episode Recap!!

Single topic post today, as another new episode of local metal radio show Metal Morpheus debuted on The Borderline on Sunday night, so what should you know about it? Following last week's heavily (and divisively) topical episode, host Josh Amendola brought back his planned series of alphabetical spotlights of the metal scenes of countries from around the world for this week, and after previously jumping ahead six countries to look at Austria for differing topical reasons, he headed back to the regular order yesterday to look at metal bands from Andorra, an extremely small (but highly developed) principality on the French/Spanish border. For context, Andorra is only barely more populated than Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario! I am surprised that Josh didn't lump Andorra in with the next A countries in line, which also have small metal scenes, but he made Andorra alone work by playing local bands for almost half of the episode's runtime.

The slightly shorter 55 minute episode begins with Josh noting that you can now hear The Borderline on FM radio locally at 107.5 FM, which is news to me! In checking around for details, they launched an FM transmitter downtown on or by January 22nd, and it is low power with an estimated distance of 5-7 km from the originating source, presumably their 527 Queen Street East home base. From my checks of the CRTC's website, there has been no public application for a new FM station at 107.5 FM, so the short range may indicate that their transmitter is the biggest they can get without needing a federal license. For the record, I did try to pick up The Borderline at 107.5 FM from about 2.5 km away, and the signal did not come in (disclosure, I didn't test it downtown), but if 5-7 km is just the furthest reported signal, the range could be comparable to the transmitters used at drive-in theaters. Your mileage may vary!

In any event, you can hear The Borderline 24/7 online at this link, but FM availability is great for anyone in range, and who knows what this could lead to! Back to the Metal Morpheus episode proper, Josh next gives some statistics about Andorra & its native music, before moving into the country's very small roster of prominent metal bands, so much so that the first FOUR songs come from the same band, namely melodic death metal sextet Persefone, including their songs "In Lak'ech" (3:00), "Underworld: The Fallen & The Butterfly - Act I: Clash of the Titans" (10:35), "Mind As Universe" (17:00), and "The Demise of Oblivion" (21:50). Josh finishes the Andorran half of the episode with a song from ambient black metal solo project De Veneficas Inferi, namely "Daemonic I, Stone Witches" (30:05). The final 21 minutes of this episode belong to local metal acts, so who got played in the back half?

In order, Josh plays defunct hardcore punk band The Harsh Heads' song "Carolly" (35:15) from their kinda-released album "First Hated Then Forgotten", three songs from mysterious mid-2000s extreme metal solo project Recognition (their self-titled track [39:05], "Flying Ashes" [43:00], and "First" [45:05]), late 1990s hardcore punk band Proposition 86's song "Another Lost Cause" from their EP (47:15), and defunct Sault Michigan groove metal band Lower S.E.S.' song "Bold" (51:00) from their EP. Before playing the final song, Josh did hint that he wants to do more themed episodes apart from the alphabetical country series once he finishes with the As, and for reference, 6 countries that start with A come after Andorra (obviously excluding the already-covered Austria), with Angola next in line if Josh stays in alphabetical order. Solid episode overall that takes Metal Morpheus back to its 2021 form with quality music all around!

Some of Josh's pronunciation of Catalan terms wasn't great (points for trying, of course), and for variety's sake, maybe he should have stretched out to include more than two Andorran bands, but Persefone are a strong and heavy group in their own right, and the locals on offer were fun to hear again! Hear this and other back episodes of Metal Morpheus at the above links, and tune in for the next episode (Angola or otherwise) on Sunday night at 9:00 PM and/or on-demand after the fact! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! 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!

News From Mike Haggith, Woods Of Ypres, As It Stands, And More!!

Happy Boxing Day, everyone! Hopefully your Christmas was awesome, and hopefully you guys got lots of stuff! If you guys were expecting an official announcement on the New Years Eve metal show at Foggy Notions, then you might have to wait a bit, as official word hasn't been given beyond the promoter's personal Facebook page. Plus, the lineup might still need adjusting too. Something's gotta come soon though, so keep an eye out! For today, we have assorted news from the last little while, so here's what you need to know! Oh, and previews of concerts taking place tomorrow through Wednesday are coming TONIGHT!

We'll start with local solo artist Mike Haggith, who announced on his Facebook page on Thursday that he has postponed the release of his next album "Suspended Animation" due to the music lacking a certain "drive". He also announced that the album's track listing will be greatly altered to remove songs that aren't up to his standards, and to add new ones. What this will mean for some of the instrumental takes posted on his Reverbnation page isn't known yet, but stay tuned for updates on the new release info! With that said, Mike has uploaded three full songs from "Suspended Animation" with vocals onto Reverbnation, those being "Sun Perfume", "The Institution", and a new addition to the setlist, "Trinity". I won't go into heavy detail with my opinions on them, as I still hope to review this album down the road, but I will say that the vocals complete each track! Of course, there's a lot of Mike Haggith solo material that's came out recently too if you're getting anxious, and it's now supplanted by the addition of his "Live At The Outback" album onto his ReverbNation store!

It features only three of the announced tracks, with "Tuning" unavailable. Odd, but really, would you count guitar tuning as a "song"? The three posted tracks from the album go for 99¢ each, or $3.25 as a whole, with ringtones going for $2.49. If you wanna buy Mike's first ever solo live album, click here! Video uploads of two of the live tracks can be checked out at this location as well! I'm still leaning towards a review of "Laps In A Lake Of Fire" over "Live At The Outback" if I do review a Mike Haggith album next month, unless the "Suspended Animation" delay isn't that long. Time will tell though, as there many announced local metal albums that we're waiting for, so I couldn't guess what we'll review next at all! Stay tuned though, and check out the above links for all of the newest Mike Haggith solo material, as there's a lot of songs worth your time!

Next up, here are the latest news items from Woods of Ypres, now back in action following frontman David Gold's return to Canada! On Thursday, he announced a rough timeline of upcoming band events on Woods of Ypres' Facebook page, starting with writing, rehearsals, and DVD editing in January and February! That's all good to hear, especially the unexpected news about a DVD! That'll be interesting, I wonder what we'll get in that? Then, it's mentioned that "Woods IV: The Green Album" will be reissued worldwide through their new label Earache Records, with a warm-up Canadian tour planned as well. David mentioned the Earache reissue news on his Governor's Ball interview, and it's nice to see the album get wider press! Looks like "Woods V" will be pushed back as a result, but it'll be worth it when it comes out! And as for the warm-up Canadian tour? Fingers crossed they play a show here! David also added that the band hope to write and rehearse more in April, followed by the beginning of full time touring "everywhere" in May. Awesome news, hopefully this plan sticks without delay! One more quick Woods of Ypres note: Their first merchandise item on Earache Records' store is now on sale! It's a $5 Woods of Ypres patch, pick it up today at this location! Stay tuned for more Woods of Ypres news as I hear it!

Thirdly today, here's the latest news from local hardcore quintet As It Stands! Firstly, if you've been wondering why we haven't heard anything lately concerning their show tomorrow at The Speak Easy, here's why. The band deleted the Facebook event page, alluding to a likely cancellation for the show. That's a shame, it'd have been fun! They have been keeping busy booking some Southern Ontario shows for next month though, including a new show in Ottawa on January 29th with hardcore band After the Vendetta, and more news on their January 28th concert in Windsor with The Voodoo Mafia. It's amazing how quickly they've been able to secure out of town shows after their return, that's a very good sign! They also announced that their original material (presumably their two newest originals) are now on rotation at Energy Rock Radio, which is awesome! It'd be nice to hear their original EP on there too (If you have a copy or the songs from it, let me know!) Get full details on the above stories at their official Facebook page! The future's looking very bright for As It Stands, I'll keep you posted with more news as I hear it! And of course, make sure to see them on Tuesday at the Soo Music Mash-Up show at The Oddfellows Hall!

Fourthly, three local metal bands have launched brand new Facebook pages! One is the new Facebook page for local hard rockers Stillbroke, which is (more or less) their first updated news or information on an official band page in quite a long time. The new page is pretty sparse at present, but it does confirm the band's current lineup (including new bassist Mitch Sirie), so it's worth becoming a fan of to stay in the loop! Speaking of bands featuring Mitch Sirie, his death metal band The Bear Hunters also have a new official Facebook page as well! It includes the band's lineup, a logo, and lots of amusing anti-bear statements! Good stuff so far, remember to check them out on New Years Eve, once I find out more info! And the final new Facebook page is courtesy of new local death metal quartet State of Misery! Nice to see a page from them that anyone can join and become a fan of! It confirms their lineup and also includes influences, an "odd" biography statement, and mentions that page updates and news are coming "soon". Good to hear! I'm a fan of all three pages, and if you guys want to keep updated, I'd say you all should too!

And finally, just some news on three link deletions from the SMS. I deleted two bands from our listings, those being defunct local solo project Recognition and Sin Stereo, who are now better known as Stiffler's Mom. I left them on the SMS following the shutdown of their only internet pages on GarageBand because it looked like they were on iLike with their songs posted there. On recent link checking, I found that their iLike "pages" were neither official nor featured any real audio or band material. It's nice to see iLike add them to their server, but they're certainly not real band pages, so I finally deleted them from our listings. I also edited both bands' entries in our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series (linked above) to reflect the reality of their internet page situation, with media links on both now taking you to my YouTube uploads of the songs on the SMS' YouTube channel. The other deletion was for the old website for Hempfest, which has long since changed owners and isn't directly run by people connected with Planetary Pride anymore, as the old site was hosted through there. So there's the deletions, in case you guys were wondering where certain links went!

That's all for now, but stay tuned TONIGHT for my previews of concerts taking place through Wednesday, and just for reference sake, I plan to attend ALL FOUR shows that we're previewing tonight! Stay tuned!

GarageBand Profile Mini-Series: Recognition

Hey guys, it's time for the first installment of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, where we post the GarageBand profiles and songs of the six local metal/hard rock bands on the site, which as we know, is shutting down on July 15th. This is today's first installment, and the mini-series will continue for the next 15 days with five more profiles to go at 3 day intervals. Remember, aside from spelling/grammar edits, link/video updates, award condension, and some additional useful artist info and analysis, this is a closely transferred copy of the original GarageBand profile, with everything relevant still intact. Enjoy today's first GarageBand profile! (UPDATED: December 26th, 1:53 PM)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recognition

Genre: Hardcore Metal
Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

Bio: N/A (There was no posted Recognition biography)

Members: N.J. (Composer; I can't identify the full name of "N.J.", but their online handle on their user page was "nenadsrbija", if that counts for anything)

Artist URL: None (This was Recognition's only internet page. If the band or it's creator have other pages, they're likely other under names)

Sounds Like: Snot, System of a Down

Influenced By: Snot, D.R.I., Pantera, ...older metal bands

Songs (With Top Awards):

Rev It Up (Ranked #188 out of 351 in Metal on June 30, 2006)
Zoom (Ranked #149 out of 349 in Metal on June 27, 2006)
Recognition
No Name
War Zone
Nova
Sacrifice
Flying Ashes
Finasl
First

SMS Analysis: Recognition never appeared to take off beyond an instrumental solo project in the summer of 2006, which is a shame, because "N.J" (whoever he is) has some good guitar skills! The songs above show it, he has a taste for good riffs and the rest of the instrumentation is solid in backing roles. Nice use of sound effects on songs like "War Zone" and "Rev It Up" too, they were great to set the tone of the material! My big complaint, and it is big, is that the songs are repetitive. They feel like endless riffs, and a few share extremely similar structures, like "War Zone" & "Sacrifice". From what I've heard, "N.J." would have been a great rhythm guitarist in a band back then, and hopefully his lead skills and originality have gotten better since, cause "N.J." has real promise! Of course, if you can tell me more about Recognition and the man behind it, let me know by e-mail at robertfigures@hotmail.com!

Videos: Recognition had no videos at all, and because there's no other official band pages, I have uploaded all 10 Recognition songs to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! Because I didn't think they were substantial enough to warrant individual videos, I have combined all 10 songs into three YouTube videos, and you can check out the entire Recognition catalog below!






----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you guys enjoyed our first installment of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series! It returns on Saturday as we'll take a look at the solo projects of Gates of Winter frontman Lee Maines, who has made his presence felt on a couple of GarageBand solo pages. Remember, the series continues for the next two weeks through July 15th, so stay tuned for more archives of GarageBand profiles of local metal acts! Stay tuned to the SMS tonight for more news and updates!