R.I.P. Sabrina Pelchat

The Sault Metal Scene sends it's deepest condolences to the family and friends of former Chronic Demonic/Project Legion singer and Shadowthrone guitarist Sabrina Pelchat (a.k.a. Sabrina Strange, Ririe Lavoie, Isla Encanto, and Riina Rampage), who reportedly passed away yesterday, as per numerous personal Facebook postings. Details on services have yet to be publicized as of this writing, and we will let you know if we hear anything on that front, but you can offer condolences on this memorial Facebook page launched by her friend April Fogal. Sabrina had been a talented, albeit sporadic sight in local metal bands since 2013, and was a skilled singer & karaoke/open mic fan that was also very artistic, parlaying her metal fandom into a brief stint as a YouTube interviewer with 62nd Chamber Productions. In recent years, she had been more enigmatic in her online presence, most recently performing in Shadowthrone with her partner, Pillory frontman Robert Sartini, and she had been aiming to launch a new black metal band this summer.

We had our differences from how she viewed some of our coverage, but I always respected her work, and in recent months, she had e-mailed me private videos of her practicing black metal vocals towards future band projects so she could get input on them. Though she never fronted a band that made a prolonged live impression, those that know her definitely knew her talents. Sadly, most videos of her band work are either private or were deleted as she retreated from social media in the past year, but here's her interview with 4/5ths of The Bear Hunters from October 2013, which is a fun and loose interview, and it's a shame she didn't do more of these. R.I.P. Sabrina, you will be missed!

New Concert Videos, A Band Page Discovery, And More!!

Hey guys, I know many of you are awaiting our review and videos from Soo Band Roulette on Saturday night, and under normal circumstances, they'd be up already, but I'm out of town on a bad internet connection. I had uploaded photos from the show on our Facebook page first due to time constraints, with the videos intended to go up last night, but each attempt is stalling, so things are on hold for a bit. I'm hoping the connection will improve tomorrow (something's going on with Bell internet in this area), so thanks for your patience, and the review & videos will be up this week! Now, here's a new news post to clear out some recent items, including new concert videos, a band link find, and more, so here's what you need to know!

While fans may have missed out on seeing Danger Cats members at Soo Band Roulette (it's all in the luck of the draw), a new video of the full band at The Rockstar Bar for Late & Loud's farewell concert can now be seen at For The Music Inside's YouTube channel! Uploaded on Saturday, this video (of the girls playing their original "Wanted Man") is the latest delayed media from F.T.M.I.'s coverage of the concert, coming almost a month after the show. Better late than never, as it's a nicely recorded video of one of the girls' better originals! The lighting can be a little warm, but fans will have nothing to complain about otherwise, so give F.T.M.I.'s new Danger Cats video a look!



Next up, remember local punk supergroup Brad Example & The Role Models, who recently reunited for the (regrettably abbreviated) Public Animal show in July? Well, we finally have found an online page for them, courtesy of this old MySpace page from 2006! Originally, we had rolled them into our full coverage after our punk expansion last month without a working link (a'la Northwest), but due to the lack of the full band name on the page (a 25 character limit stopped "Models" at "Mode" in the URL, for example), the page slipped us by originally. Given MySpace's massive layout overhauls, there's not much to say on the page itself, but Brad did upload some photos (including this close up photo of his bass, now on The Rockstar Bar's ceiling), and 4 songs from their early run ("365", "Revolution", "Flaming Castle", and "LemonLips") can now be streamed there, so how do these sound?

It is nice to hear some good quality studio tracks of The Role Models, which should appeal to Inner City Surfers fans, and Brad's gritty singing fits whether singing on a bluesier song or a faster hardcore punk-influenced song! It'd be nice to see The Role Models play more than they tend to, but give their old MySpace page a look, and they're now finally in our band links!

Also today, a new video of local/Toronto punk standouts Treble Charger is now online, this time from a recent outdoor festival gig of them playing their classic song "Red"! Uploaded on August 21st, the band sounds good on this clip, but Treble Charger are admittedly the second story of this video, as the title and content focuses on a soccer player's reactions during the performance, and the band aren't zoomed in to or directly filmed. Note as well that the host channel is heavily themed around Polish language videos and soccer clips, but I can't 100% confirm right away whether this was performance was overseas or not. Fans should give it a look for a recent Treble Charger live clip though, so here it is!



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

• According to their most recent Facebook page posting, local grunge/alternative quartet Haggith's next local concert will be as part of the festivities for this year's Soo Zombie Walk on Saturday, October 25th, but they didn't indicate a host venue, or clarify if it'd be part of the expanded afternoon entertainment like last year, or during the afterparty. Stay tuned for updates!
• I've regrettably deleted new local metal project Shadowthrone and guitarist Sabrina Strange's solo project (most recently under the Isla Encanto name) from our band links to the recent deletion of their Reverbnation (and only online) pages, with Sabrina's YouTube channel also closing around the same time. No public reason has been made for the deletions, but this is disappointing, especially coming so soon after Shadowthrone's debut at Das Bunkerfest. Hopefully things are alright, as Sabrina and Robert have talent, and fingers crossed we hear more music from them in some form!
• Local punk/grunge solo project Telephone & Address have revealed that their new CD will be titled "Need Not Apply", and the cover art for it (which looks similar in style and texture to "The Rotten EP") can also be seen at their Facebook page and at this link. Like Chris' last disc, "Need Not Apply" is being sent for registration with SOCAN, and it will cost $15, but will there be copies for sale at the IDNS show on Saturday? Check above for more album info!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Soo Band Roulette review as soon as I can after videos finally get online, and for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post hopefully tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

As an extremely busy July winds down, we have enough videos to do another local metal video showcase post on this Wednesday morning, so what's on tap? Recent concert videos of the public and private varieties from each side of the border, plus new footage from a pair of linked local artists, so read on below for what you need to know on these!

Video footage of Munising, Michigan metal quartet Infathom's Summerfest appearance outside of The Savoy Bar & Nightclub in the Soo this past Saturday can now be checked out online! Uploaded by attendee Michael Cole on Sunday (and joining his videos of Infathom's Nick Cam Jam set in our area last fall), he shot 21 videos during the concert, so what can be seen within? All covers, the videos (in rough upload order) include renditions of Puddle of Mudd's "She Hates Me", Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy", Black Stone Cherry's "Lonely Train", Papa Roach's "Lifeline", "She Loves Me Not", and "Between Angels & Insects" (the latter two uploaded in one video), Three Days Grace's "(I Hate) Everything About You", Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness", Pantera's "Domination", Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", Creed's "My Sacrifice", Alter Bridge's "Open Your Eyes", Guns 'N Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine", Bowling For Soup's "1985", Buckcherry's "Lit Up", Avenged Sevenfold' "Gunslinger", System of a Down's "Toxicity", Seasons After's "Gettin' Even", and A Day To Remember's "Right Back At It Again", plus a between-song jam, so click each link to see each performance!

Note that the Creed & Alter Bridge videos are also combined into one video, and followed each other likely due to the original bands sharing mostly the same lineup, sans lead singer. Better quality videos than we usually see from The Savoy just from the proximity to the band alone, these videos must capture the vast majority of Infathom's show, and their talent and chemistry is evident, though some songs sound a bit empty and tinny without a second guitar, and Dillion Semasky's vocals do tire on some more aggressive tracks.  Infathom fans (especially ones who don't see their full solo gigs often) will definitely enjoy these videos, so check them out above, and here's Infathom covering two Papa Roach songs!



Next up, remember how we shared two videos from a recent private metal concert on the site on Friday featuring out of town metal bands? Well, we can complete that July 21st trifecta, as a video of local openers AlgomA is now viewable via singer/bassist Marty Chase's YouTube channel last week (though AlgomA's own channel has it's own copy too.) Filmed at the exact same high angle as his Disabler & Bushwhacker videos, this captures AlgomA playing their newer original "Phthisis" followed by "Electric Fence", so click each link to go direct to that specific song! Just as intense as fans will have come to expect from AlgomA, the guys sound extra brutal and make the most of their familiar surroundings, though the audio remains a bit muffled. Check out AlgomA live at "Six Two OH" below!



We'll close today with two new videos featuring Pillory frontman Robert Sartini, including this clip of his newest band Shadowthrone playing a new original song! Uploaded to guitarist Sabrina Strange's YouTube channel last week, the song is entitled "Hatred Flows For The Harlot", which was also recently uploaded in audio form to the band's Reverbnation page. Though instrumental at present, intended lyrics are included in the info section on YouTube, and the song has a doomy groove to it at this early stage! The video's slightly grainy looking though, and you can't see much of Sabrina at this angle. Check out Shadowthrone's new song above and below!



Finally is Robert's newest solo guitar cover video, which is of another Putrid Pile cover, specifically their song "Food For The Maggots", as uploaded to his personal YouTube channel on Monday! Not explicitly labelled to his Gorrifier solo project (which appears to be original-centric), Robert described his equipment and tuning well in the info section, and remarked that he learned this song by ear. It turned out well, and it's got a nice brutal tone, sounding very close to the original track! Check it out below, and stay tuned for more news from his active projects as we hear it!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's CD review in our likely next post! Thanks everyone!

Three New Local Metal Bands, Hempfest's Relocation, And More!!

We're back with a new news post on this Saturday afternoon, including some assorted recent notes, some disappointing news regarding another local summer concert festival, and in a brief detour from our punk band features, three new metal bands to add to our links, so here's what you need to know!

We have three new metal bands to add to our links today, though all are linked through common members, so what should you know? I came across these pages through recent searching on Reverbnation, and though the biggest of the three has been active since February, it took so long to make it to the SMS because their members currently aren't active on Facebook, and with no pages there, we didn't get to Reverbnation as fast. The lead project is Shadowthrone, whose members include ex-Chronic Demonic/Project Legion frontwoman Sabrina Strange (a.k.a. Ririe Lavoie & Isla Encanto) on guitar, alongside Pillory/Crimson Crusade guitarist Robert Sartini on drums. An instrumental project so far, Shadowthrone have 4 songs posted, and they have early promise with a heavy sound, though we'll have to see how the band progresses, possibly with a fuller lineup! To add to that, both Sabrina & Robert have active solo projects as well, Robert's being a technical death metal solo project named Gorrifier, and Sabrina's being an extension of past solo work that you may have seen on Facebook, as credited under her Isla Encanto moniker.

The Gorrifier original song postings are very reminiscent of Robert's entertaining recent solo guitar videos, and noticeably heavier than his recent band work, while Sabrina's new/old solo material continues to showcase her singing and guitar ability well, and it's nice to see her keeping at it! All three projects are now listed in our active band links, and here's some videos from two of the projects, first from Shadowthrone, as Sabrina posted live demo videos of their originals "Ancient Slaves", "Alien Power", and "Dark Motive" onto her YouTube channel last month! Given the setting, these could be polished a bit, and some of the camera angles aren't perfect, but I like where Shadowthrone are going! See more above, and here's "Alien Power"!



There's no Gorrifier videos on Sabrina's channel (check Robert's above for similar recent covers), but she does also have her short solo keyboard cover of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Mephistopheles" uploaded there, which she plans to add guitar and other elements to. Well performed and dark, though the camera angle might be too close (I like the "fans" on the keyboard though!) Check out her solo performance below, and stay tuned for more from all 3 projects when we hear it!



Next up, we have some bad news for Hempfest fans, as the annual marijuana culture & concert festival is no longer being held in the Sault area. Owner Robert "Willy-Jack" Neron announced on the Hempfest Facebook page last month that the festival can no longer afford to be hosted in nearby Ophir due to higher initial costs there, so to keep the festival alive, Robert has moved Hempfest to his hometown of Moonbeam, which is 20 minutes east of Kapuskasing and 8+ hours north of the Soo. Robert had previously hosted the 2010 Hempfest there on short notice after getting the rights to the event, but had returned the event to Ophir for the past 3 years. This year's Hempfest will still take place from August 24th-31st (closer to it's timeframe in the 2000s), and similarly to last year's tribute band theme, will be based around rap & DJ performers this year, with many regional artists still playing despite the relocation. Given that we already knew the hip-hop theme, this won't be a new loss for the metal/punk calendar, but this is definitely disappointing for area Hempfest fans, especially if you don't find the 8 hour drive to Moonbeam to be feasible.

Regardless of anyone's views on the event, Hempfest was a successful and long running establishment in the area, and in a year where the Rotaryfest Second Stage also isn't occurring, it definitely is a blow to the local summer festival roster. That said, if moving it to Moonbeam can keep Hempfest alive and more financially sustainable, then we wish it the best, and hopefully Hempfest can come back to the Sault area in the future if possible! Check the above links for details on Hempfest in Moonbeam next month!


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

• Haggith drummer Mike Haggith is working on a remastered version of his 2012 solo CD "Neighbourhood Watch",  which will see a more equalized balance of the instruments and feature some re-recorded vocal tracks, while an instrumental demo will be added to "The Day The Lights Went Out", and the aptly named "Far Too Long" will be slashed in length and re-arranged completely. Look for it's re-release in September, and click here for for full details on the remastering and what to expect from it!
• Local thrash metal band Pillory have reportedly added Devon Lucier to their lineup as their new bassist, replacing Tyler St. Amour and reuniting him with his Crimson Crusade bandmate Robert Sartini. Though not announced on Pillory pages yet, Robert's Shadowthrone bandmate Sabrina Strange confirmed his addition in personal conversations. Sounds like a quality addition, we'll have to see how Devon holds up on bass when Pillory return to the stage!
• Though unannounced on band pages that I've seen, local/Toronto alternative/punk standouts Treble Charger played a set at The Lachie Music Festival in London, Ontario on June 28th, sharing the stage with notable bands like Gob and The Glorious Sons. Hopefully that show went awesome, it looks like it was a great event, and not just because The Trailer Park Boys hosted!

 That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon, plus our first of our defunct punk band "introduction" posts! Thanks everyone!