LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Metal Massacre II), New Pillory Footage, And Much More Updates!!

With the last full week of April in full swing, let's tackle most of our remaining backlogged stories today, including some assorted recent updates, new videos from the Blood Shed Weekly YouTube channel, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a house party sequel, so here's what you should know!

After the success of April 14th's Metal Massacre house party show, promoter/Twistory frontman Josh Amendola is bringing it back for an encore on Saturday, May 7th (next weekend, in other words!) Yes, Metal Massacre II will return to the residence at 124 Anna Street three weeks later with an expanded lineup, so who can you expect? Largely the same lineup, but with Rotopsy out and local doom metal trio AlgomA in for their first local set since the Black Tremor/punk rock bingo event, and they should melt many faces next Saturday! The remaining performers include local thrash/death metal trio Pillory, new local death metal duo Twistory (who still lack an online page), and new local death metal quintet Kaepora Gaebora, so if you liked them 11 days ago, or missed out entirely, keep this house show in mind! Josh also noted on the Facebook event page that more guests and a daytime acoustic set of some kind may also be added to the lineup, but neither has been formally elaborated on since.

As well, Metal Massacre II may be moved a day earlier to Friday, May 6th pending AlgomA's availability, which is definitely a sign of their value as headliners: Why replace them if they can't make the original date when you can change the date instead? If the date is moved, we will let you know. Either way, this is another "pay what you can" show with no announced age limits, and presumably to accommodate the potential acoustic daytime set, a 4:00 PM start time is listed. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more on Metal Massacre 2 at 124 Anna Street!

Next up, here's a new video of the aforementioned Pillory from April 14th's inaugural Metal Massacre show, courtesy of the Blood Shed Weekly YouTube channel on Friday! Arguably our best and longest look yet at Pillory with any lineup, the video (filmed by Brutally Fatal's Austin McCrae) features Pillory playing their new songs "Angst of Existence" & "Sculptor of Cadavers", a new song whose name wasn't announced, and then songs that appear to be called "The Passing", "Aboard Apprehension", and "Affairs of Eternal Sickness" to seemingly cap their set, though the names may be incorrect. Afterwards, an encore is started where Robert, Jordan, and Bret jam some very familiar sounding instrumentals, so click the above links to go to each song! It's worth noting that Pillory didn't play any songs from their 2013 debut EP "Cringe at the Cross" that night, though whether this is a casualty of their death metal transition, lineup changes & reunion, unhappiness with the disc, or just how the night's set shaped up isn't clear.

In any event, Pillory sound nice and brutal on this video, with Robert Sartini's growling definitely improved with time, and Bret Shuttleworth's drumming is on point, but the post-effects on the video (including colour changes, spinning and wave effects, and captions) don't add anything practical to the video. Still, this is a great look at the new and heavier Pillory lineup, so check out the full set below!



Also today, here's an update video from Blood Shed Productions co-founder/Brutally Fatal frontman Austin McCrae on the aforementioned Blood Shed Weekly channel from April 15th, where he updates fans on events with the local grindcore/rap label, so what should you know? Hyped as "another update" (referencing a video that isn't listed on the channel anymore), Austin starts by referencing the success of the aforementioned Metal Massacre house show and his Pillory & Rotopsy videos from it (complete with explaining why he didn't film the other bands.) He next noted that the label is planning to start using forms and agreements regarding music releases and rights for label departures and commitments to Blood Shed, and among other assorted notes, he referenced looking into buying newspaper advertising, and establishing permanent staff roles for the label. Austin also referenced a couple of planned summer concerts that the label is hosting, but neither has a confirmed venue yet.

The shows in question will be headlined by Winnipeg punk band Grave Party on June 20th and Victoria death metal band Iskra (in their second local show of the year) on August 2nd, and while The New American was teased on the event pages linked above,we'll hold on adding them to our concert listings until everything is finalized. Austin closed by noting a new webseries called "BreakingSh!tWithBloodShed" which is exactly what it says on the tin, and we may note that on the site soon as well. Informative, if geared to Blood Shed's official staff and crew, so check the above links and watch below for more!



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

• The aforementioned Kaepora Gaebora have been added as the fifth and final local opening band for THIS SATURDAY'S Motherfuckers-headlined concert at The Oddfellows Hall, as per promoter J.D. Pearce on the official Facebook event page on Saturday, in what will be their second concert and first ever show outside of a house party. They'll be opening at 7:00 PM, so if you're curious in seeing how Joey, Dan, Daeson, Jeph, and Kevin sound, be at The Oddfellows Hall on SATURDAY NIGHT, and stay tuned for updates!
• Though it's tough to gauge their active status given their minimal online presence, we've moved local/Toronto indie punk veterans Treble Charger to our inactive band links, as the Juno nominees haven't made a visible public statement since their Mill Square concert last February. With that said, Greig & Bill may very well have new material and shows in the works, so if anything is publically announced through news media or official sites, we'll be sure to let you know!
• The newest episode of SooToday's (migrated from the outgoing Local2's) music webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper spotlights the recent Record Store Day festivities at The Rad Zone, and within, you'll see interview clips with the likes of Rad Zone owner Paul Muncaster and staffer/Garden of Bedlam bassist Evan Belleau on the day's importance, sales, and finds. Local doom metal trio AlgomA's recent split vinyl EP with Chronobot is given a heavy feature by Evan, heavily praising it for being a new local contribution to Record Store Day. Solid episode with lots of deserving vinyl love, so check out the full episode at the above links!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hard Rock Band, Plus Shit Liver's Album Release!!

I know many of you guys are expecting our review of Saturday night's Dank Fest, and it's coming, but I thought I'd put a new news post up first just to keep things rolling, as yesterday was a lost day due to uploading 10 videos (which can be a slow process with Facebook.) Also, I know that Jack Spades' album saw it's digital release yesterday too, but as I don't want it to get buried in this post, we'll give it full coverage in our next news post to give it proper attention (pick it up at this link though, it sounds great!) Now, we have another local album release and a new band to mention, so here's what you need to know!

We're pleased to officially add newer local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control to our official coverage on the SMS! Though active since October of last year, we had stalled a bit due to many of their older song postings and shows being acoustic and softer in tone, but as you saw at Dank Fest on Saturday night, they rock hard and have enough aggression to go around! Originally named Junkie Nation, their lineup features Fever Tops frontman Michael Mikus on vocals & guitar, Steve Edwards (who replaced Anthony Marcello) on bass, and Social Suicide alum Keeghan Rosso on drums, and some fans may recognize them from a number of appearances at Superior Heights Collegiate's Funnplugged concert series since their December live debut. In the past two months, they've also played a number of dates at Gusto's Bar & Grill in the Wellington Square Mall, while the guys also rocked the east end mall on Saturday afternoon before Dank Fest as part of The Rad Zone's Record Store Day festivities.

We'll cover full thoughts on their Dank Fest set tonight, but if you like bands like Haggith and No Arrow, The Pixo Control should fit right in! They already have a solid slate of original recordings via Michael's YouTube channel, including original songs like "Quick Little Quarter" and "Tall Ships", plus Michael's solo material and some older Fever Tops songs, and there's a nice freewheeling alternative sound that definitely benefits in a live setting with an audience, but they tone things down well for softer settings. There are some rough patches at times, but they have a solid sound and energy, and as they're still young, they have plenty of time to shore up things! In fact, they already got some recent press via the new episode of Local2's web series Tuned with Donna Hopper, which leads off with Record Store Day interviews with The Rad Zone's Paul Muncaster & Evan Belleau (a.k.a. Garden of Bedlam's bassist) and store patrons (including Toronto radio host & Saultite Andrew Keachie), so be sure to check those out if you're love vinyl, as it's a huge day every April 19th!

A short clip before the episode-capping bloopers covers The Pixo Control's aforementioned Record Store Day set, which definitely shows some Nirvana influence in the featured songs, though it'd have been nice to have some interview clips with them. Another solid episode of Tuned (there's also some rap footage and non-metal concert calendar mentions midway through), but for some new full live footage of The Pixo Control, here's the guys live at Superior Heights earlier this month playing their song "Land of the Moles"! Far camera angle and scratchy audio, but it has a folksy alternative nature that works well, so check it out below!

Finally, no less than two local metal albums came out yesterday (adding to Rotopsy's demo EP from Friday, it was a huge weekend on that front), and one was the expected release of Shit Liver's self-titled debut album! Two years after sessions began, the local/St. Catharines grimecore trio posted digital copies of their self-titled album to their new Bandcamp page yesterday, as well as posting streaming copies of the album (in individual song & full album files) onto their YouTube channel. This is the final cover (the full artwork can be seen here), and the half hour album features 15 songs (more than previously indicated), and they are "You're Scared", "Shit Liver", "Sooer Livin'", "Hellen Kellers", "Shift Liver", "Pennotration", "(Friendly Old) Uncle Joe", "Fabricated Nonsense", "It's Not My Problem", "Survival of the Shittest", "Hateroleum", "Or What", "Contribute or Perish", "Drowning In Shit", and "Shit Will Prevail", with "Liverated" and old OBCD covers like "You Speak of Weak" as notable omissions.

The band said on their Facebook page yesterday that a physical release is delayed due to the holiday weekend (no word on possible release shows), but the Bandcamp digital copy is available on a "name your price" model (a'la Insipid Brutality's album), so you can pay nothing or anything you want! Though it's a little odd that they don't credit their local ties much on Bandcamp (or list any album credits there), it's great to finally see Shit Liver's album come out, as it's been far too long! Check out the full album's YouTube posting below, and pick it up at the above links, or keep posted for news on local physical availability!



That's all for now, but stay tuned TONIGHT for our Dank Fest review, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profiles tomorrow, and full coverage of Jack Spades' EP release and more in our next full news post! Thanks everyone!