Anciients/Havok Concert Review!!

It's now time for our review of last night's Anciients/Havok concert at The Canadian Nightclub, but be sure to check out lots of fallout from Friday night's Heart concert in the post below this one! The attendance last night wasn't great, and likely not at the level that promoters were hoping, but the Tuesday scheduling and ticket prices may have factored into some fans' attendance or lack thereof. The fans that did come out had a visibly great time though! It was also weird seeing ribbons cordoning off some paths in the bar area, but I wasn't sure of the purpose. Now, let's talk about all 5 bands!

Opening last night's show was local doom/punk trio The Revolution (formerly the second Brutaly Fatal) in their first show under their new name, and while there's a lot of work to do, they have a unique blend of styles that will appeal to metal and more melodic rock fans! Mostly playing originals (though ending with Weezer & Kiss covers), Austin McCrae's clean vocals continue to develop nicely, Rainey Vincent's bass work was pretty good, and Brandan Glew was equally up to task on drums! Where they fell short was in stage presence and crowd engagement, as the guys barely interacted with the crowd and did very few introductions, and compared to their Swampstravaganza set, things seemed more aloof. As well, Austin strummed the same chord on his guitar repeatedly between song breaks, which seemed to throw off fans who didn't know if the song had ended, and I think it contributed to a lower crowd response during their set. It's all growing pains though, and hopefully The Revolution can build on this in time for their next live set!

The first of four out of town bands last night was psychedelic/doom metal quartet Black Wizard, who rolled through a rollicking set of 1970s-inspired metal that any The Sword or Black Sabbath fan would instantly take to! Though not harbouring the all-out aggression of some of the day's later bands, the melodic and classic sound definitely took many in attendance by surprise, especially with some of the bluesy touches! Frontman Adam Grant had a nice command of the stage with his excelelntly matched vocals and guitar skill, and both he and Kenny Cook are solid compliments on the six string! Eugene Parkomenko also was a standout on drums, and while I will say that they'd probably have gotten a better reaction if they were at a local show with bands closer to their sound, Black Wizard definitely left their mark, and hopefully they'll roll back through the Soo in the future!

The middle band was Charlotte, North Carolina death metal quintet Wretched in their second local concert appearance, and while the crowd wasn't as large as the 3 Inches of Blood show two years ago, Wretched definitely did something right, as they got the first moshpit of the evening, and didn't play any differently compared to the crowd level! Like in 2012, singer Adam Cody was a sparkplug, completely owning the stage with his aggressive growling vocals and intense stage presence, and the instrumental members held up their end of the bargain too! Steven Funderburk & Joel Moore provided some of the best guitar solo moments of the night, and Andrew Grevey's bass playing was skilled and well ranged as well! Wretched played this show just like they would any other, and their intense death/thrash hybrid would be more than welcomed back to town again!

Co-headlining last night's concert were Denver, Colorado thrash quartet Havok, and they may well have stole the show with their blistering old school speed metal onslaught! Fans of the recent thrash metal renaissance will have been right at home with Havok's proficient set, which seemed to go by way too fast as they played tracks from their numerous releases, including select cuts from their new album "Unnatural Selection". Keeping on-stage banter to a minimum (aside from a rant about karate kicking in the moshpit), Havok were on fire from bell to bell, and though I could barely hear David Sanchez's vocals up front, he and the guys completely overcame that, with Pete Webber's drumming particularly impressing throughout the night, and the guitar work melted many a face! I just wish Havok had more guitar solos, but overall, they had quite the impressive set, and it's proof that the Soo needs more thrash bands!

And finally, your headliners last night were Vancouver progressive metal quartet Anciients, and they definitely made up for their exit from last year's Skeletonwitch tour with a technically impressive set of melodic metal! I will say right now that they might be the most similar band to Woods of Ypres that we've seen in the Soo in quite a while (yes, that's a compliment), with frontman Kenny Cook (also a guitarist in Black Wizard) demonstrating a darker and more complex angle of his musical talents on songs like "Raise The Sun" and "Giants". Shorter set than you might expect given the length of some songs, but the creative time signatures and doomy yet melodic sound (plus the skilled guitar work of Kenny and Chris Dyck) kept things rolling well! The balance of dark rhythm and harsh passages was a nice appealing fit, but in retrospect, their set was somewhat of an anticlimax coming after Havok, as many fans had their peak reactions and energy for them, but that owes to their stylistic differences only. Great set, and hopefully Anciients come back here down the road!

Overall, this was a great concert and full of something for the taste of every metalhead in attendance, but I just wish the attendance was better. I will note as well that SooToday and Local2 were on hand filming and getting photos of the bands, so might we see a review/photo album and Tuned episode in the coming days? Stay tuned when/if we do! Our photos from the show can now be seen at this link or via our Facebook page, and as for videos, here's The Revolution playing "Murder For Sport", Black Wizard playing "Eliminator", Wretched playing "Morsel", Havok playing "Give Me Liberty... Or Give Me Death", and Anciients playing "Faith & Oath"!











That's all for today, but stay tuned for our first of the weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lopstock & The Danger Cats), Plus The Anciients/Havok Concert Preview!!

In what's shaping up to be a big week at the site, we're starting with a post half dedicated to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, and half to a special extended concert preview for a major metal show going down TOMORROW in Sault Ontario! I know many of you guys are waiting for Heart fallout, and some recent uncovered Sault Michigan stories, and I guarantee that they're coming this week, so look out tomorrow and beyond for them! Now, let's begin this post with the two new shows!

Local alternative/hard rock trio The Pixo Control will be playing at a special ALL AGES concert event THIS SATURDAY at LopLops Lounge, appropriately called Lopstock! Obviously playing on the Woodstock name and motif, this will be an all-day show featuring 5 confirmed bands and more artists to be announced, as promoted by Jackson Reed at Ears & Eyes Online, and while The Pixo Control are the only "heavy" band on the lineup, there's lots of young local music talent to discover this Saturday! The announced headliners will be local blues rock quartet The Frasiers, with the other announced acts including a band named Mashagama (genre & identity yet unknown), the aforementioned Pixo Control, acoustic rock trio K.I.C.K., and newer garage punk quartet Gnaeus, with more acts to be announced this week. Admission will be $10 on Saturday for this all ages show, which begins at noon and is projected to run until 7:00 PM. For more details on Lopstock, visit the official Facebook event page! It will be interesting to see how this show does, especially if it's a test to make this an annual event, so keep Lopstock in mind for your weekend plans, especially if you like softer and more varied styles!

Next up,another new concert will take place in just over three weeks, as Jamie Vincent and Oh! Right Arm! Promotions will bring more mayhem back to The New American Pub for the first time in 2014 when they promoted a show there on Tuesday, July 15th! The headliners will be Edmonton garage/blues rock quartet The Archaics, who aren't metal, but have an old school rock sound that many fans of the classics should take to, so don't let them pass you by if you love retro and psychedlic sounds! The local openers will cover the hard rock angle for you guys though, as all female quartet The Danger Cats (in their first ever New American set) and grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back (fresh off of their Cochrane gig at the Touch of Death festival) will set the tone with their diverse and engaging sounds! A rare 19+ show from Jamie's usually all ages promotional work, this show will begin at 9:00 PM on July 15th, and there is a $5 cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and stay tuned for more on this intriguing concert!

Finally, here's an extended concert preview for a special Tuesday night concert TOMORROW that many local metalheads have been anticipating, as four out of town bands will descend upon The Canadian Nightclub for an ALL AGES night of brutality! The headliners of this show will be Vancouver progressive metal quartet Anciients, who'll make their local debut at around midnight tomorrow, over a year after dropping out of last summer's Skeletonwitch concert at the same venue! Recent Juno Award nominees, their melodic and intense sound should find an audience for fans of brutality, so be there for their set! The opening bands (in what amounts to a merger of two separate tours) include Colorado thrash quartet Havok at 10:45 PM, North Carolina death metal quintet Wretched (last seen making plenty of fans 2 years ago at the last 3 Inches of Blood show) at 10:05 PM, and Vancouver stoner metal quartet Black Wizard at 9:25 PM, for what should be an explosive night of metal! Remember, San Francisco doom metal duo Black Cobra are not playing this show anymore, having dropped out due to a conflicting concert on the same date.

The local openers will be local doom/punk trio The Revolution (formerly the second Brutaly Fatal), who will replace Pillory tomorrow in their Canadian Nightclub debut, and they should provide their own improving sound to help set the pace, so come early for their set! They'll be on at 8:00 PM or shortly after for this rare all ages show from promoter J.D. Pearce, and advance tickets can still be bought at The Canadian, The Rad Zone, or at this link for $20 (note that the door price may be higher.) For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This might just be the heaviest lineup of the year in the Soo, and I know that J.D.'s really hoping this is a hit so he can bring in more pure metal & all ages lineups, so come occupy a venue TOMORROW NIGHT, as this is a great deal for any metalhead!  There's a little something for every taste, as Anciients' talent speaks for itself, Wretched alone should pull in fans who loved them at The Rosie in 2012, Havok have been making waves among thrash fans, and doom lovers will want to be here early themselves! I really hope to see you guys there, and for a preview, here's Anciients live in Vancouver last summer!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news tomorrow, be it Heart-related or from Sault Michigan (or both?) Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Anciients & The Elements), A New Local Band, And Shit Liver Updates!!

We're back with some big news on this Tuesday afternoon, so what's featured today? New updates and media from a relocated local metal band's most recent show, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next weekend and this summer with some big lineups, and first, a new local band playing one of them, so here's what you need to know!

New local alternative/funk rock quartet The Elements have finally launched a Facebook page, so we can finally add them to our local metal band links! Self described as "always a good party", you may remember that they debuted at the inaugural Heavy Thursday at The Roosevelt Hotel last month, and we'll touch on their next show in a second. Like last month, their lineup includes ex-Side FX singer Rob Speers, Jack Spades/Winkstinger guitarist Jesse Cook, Redundant/Caveman Morrison bassist James White, and ex-Changing Waves drummer Alex Hagerman, with The Elements' current logo and nicknames on Facebook themed after "Breaking Bad". Their sound description cites covers from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, Pearl Jam, and Weezer, among others, which doesn't really hit how heavy they often were at their debut, and hard rock lovers shouldn't have anything to worry about from their live show! The guys are now in our active Sault Ontario band links, but when can you see them live next?

At The Grand Theatre on Saturday, March 22nd, when they host a medical marijuana benefit event named Medi-Fest 2014 that night! The show is in support of the expiring Medical Marijuana Access Regulations program and to fight repeals of them to help save people's rights to use marijuana for medical usage. The Facebook event page has all the information about that angle of this event, so head there to read up on all that! The Elements will be joined at this show (just their second ever) by bassist James White's punk band Redundant (who played The Grand as Motion Carried early in their run) and newer local classic metal quintet Project 421 in their Grand debut, while a new local band named Obviously D'uh is also credited on the lineup. No information on them yet, but I'll let you guys know as soon as we hear anything! The lineup will be rounded out by Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison in a rare solo set (and his first live concert appearance in almost a year), so there's a nice diverse lineup of local talent!

Admission will be via a donation of at least $10, though as of right now, the only advance tickets are via e-mail at theelementssoo@gmail.com, so keep that in mind if you want your tickets before next weekend! An 8:00 PM start time is announced, and it's not clear whether this will be 19+ or not. For more details, check the above links! Though I don't smoke marijuana at all, I know it has a lot of medical benefits, and I hope this show gains a lot of funds and support for the MMAR as intended (and even beyond that, this is a really solid lineup of bands!) Stay tuned for more, including on who Obviously D'uh are!

Next up, we have a massive lineup of out of town metal bands hitting The Canadian Nightclub on Tuesday, June 24th, including a long awaited local set from Vancouver progressive metal quartet Anciients! As you may remember, they dropped out of last June's Skeletonwitch show (and it's connected tour) to join Lamb of God on the road, but over a year later, we have a makeup date for their technical and often melodic brutality! They're just one of five out of town bands that night from two combined summer tour runs, and they'll be joined on June 24th by Colorado thrash quartet Havok, North Carolina melodic death metal quintet Wretched (yes, the same guys who nearly stole the show from 3 Inches of Blood at The Rosie in 2012), San Francisco doom metal duo Black Cobra, and Vancouver stoner metal quartet Black Wizard, for what should be an explosive night of metal! No word yet on potential local openers, but this is quite a package of bands, so you guys won't want to miss this show!

Promoted by J.D. Pearce, details on admission costs and ticket availability aren't public yet, but this show has a listed 8:00 PM start time, and I assume it will be 19+. For more current details, visit the official Facebook event page! What an awesome and stacked lineup of touring metal talent, and every band brings something special to this show, from Havok's full speed thrash assault to Black Wizard's retro-influenced psychedelia, and Wretched's return alone should get a lot of fans excited! Stay tuned for updates as we hear them!

Finally for today, local/Toronto grimecore trio Shit Liver have some new updates, so what should you know from their recent surge of Southern Ontario activity? The guys will make their first appearance in St. Catharines at a hardcore show on March 20th (full details here), while a video from their breast cancer fundraiser show in Niagara Falls last Friday is now shared on their Facebook page! Filmed by attendee Hayley Smash, she also got a few dozen photos of their set which you can check out at this link. The video is Shit Liver's first public video since they moved, and it features the guys playing their longer original "Liverated" to their usual brutal standards, so fans of theirs should be right at home with this clip! My only complaint is that the host venue had low lighting, but things are solid otherwise! Check out Shit Liver's new video below, their new photos above, and don't miss their local return at the Fuck The Facts show in May!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and concert previews this week! Thanks everyone!

3 Inches Of Blood Concert Review!!

Hey guys, it's finally time for my review of Monday night's 3 Inches of Blood concert at The Roosevelt Hotel! Apologies for the delay, but I had video upload issues earlier, and I had some personal stuff going on today. I was slightly late, but you could tell it was packed just from the fact that the merchandise tables were set up in the foyer before you actually entered the bar itself! Similarly to the Dayglo Abortions show last summer, the tables bordering the floor were understandably moved, as the attendance for this show was very large, easily the biggest for a Rosie show in over a year from what I can tell! That said, how'd the bands do?

First up was Battle For The Blood winners Winkstinger, and earning the right to open this show must have helped them put things into first gear, as most people I talked to said they sounded better than usual! I'll say that they sounded a bit tighter and a bit more sober, but their extreme intensity came through as well as you'd expect! However, things looked a bit different on Monday, as Winkstinger introduced Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti to their lineup, replacing Jason Ladouceur. A public statement never came out for why Jason left, but it looks like it happened at some point in May, and with Winkstinger playing as a quartet for their June gigs, Anthony was likely added late last month. While Jason will be missed (hopefully he gets in a new band soon), Anthony fit right in with Winkstinger for their short (though high impact) set, and it was good to see him on stage again following Sativa Rose's ongoing absence! Another new element of Winkstinger's set: covers, and not just their Otis Redding instrumental that generally opens their set. The guys busted out covers of Pantera's "Mouth For War" and Lamb of God's "Redneck" (Free Randy Blythe!) that sounded very good for their style of metal, and I'm curious to hear more covers when they next play a longer set!

Everything else was on form or better from what I usually expect from a Winkstinger concert, with Alan Wells' unique screaming vocals tearing through the crowd, and Jesse Cook was stellar as expected on guitar for songs like "Where'd We Go Wrong" and a set ending new original, but on the whole, this was a nice debut for Winkstinger's new lineup, and hopefully things only get better and heavier from here for them!

Next up Monday night was local melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, and they pumped out a dependably heavy set of originals for the growing number of fans at The Rosie that night! Compared to the last time I saw them live (two weeks ago opening for Hallows Die), not a lot changed, but on originals like "Succumb To Eternity", "Deception", and "Bloodthirst", they hopefully impressed the populace and made some new fans! Justin Lam's bass work was as solid as ever, as was Mitch Sirie & Josh Stephney's shredding guitar work, while Nik Deubel's growling seemed to be a notch more aggressive, possibly owing to the bands that they were opening for! Honestly, my only major gripe with their set was some sort of issue involving feedback with the guitar amps, as part way during their set, it actually got slightly painful at points to hear, but that was corrected. If you enjoy melodic death metal, The Bear Hunters delivered that in spades, and they knew to play as brutally as possible for the occasion!

Third on the bill was North Carolina death metal quintet Wretched (no "The" needed), and when an out of town band who isn't headlining a concert can get calls for an encore, you know they did something right! They unleashed a huge dose of energy on the crowd on Monday with hard hitting technical death metal originals, with some thrash flourishes, and activity on the floor definitely grew a lot for Wretched's set! Lots of their praise definitely should go to Adam Cody for his intense vocal style and stage presence, even jumping into the crowd a couple times to help start some pits, and on songs like "Imminent Growth" & "Deplorable Miscaluclations", they brutalized their local fans, and seemed to enjoy every second of it! My only major issue is that their lengthy instrumental (I think it was called "The Exodus of Autonomy") seemed like too long of a stretch in between their hard hitting fast paced songs with vocals, but their talent was present throughout, especially from guitarists Steven Funderburk & John Vail. It was awesome to see the local fans give Wretched such a deservingly great reception, and hopefully they devastate a local audience again in the future!

And finally was the main attraction, Vancouver power metal standouts 3 Inches of Blood, and the best way to compare the crowd was to combine the intense moshing and activity of the Dayglo Abortions with the herd of cows density from Kittie's Ypres Metal Fest set, but with a band of this talent and notoriety, I can see why we were unhinged! The guys played songs from all over their career, like "Metal Woman", "Lords of Change", and "Battles & Brotherhood", and they never relented on some excellently played riffs and melodies! Now, I admit still not being high on Cam Pipes' vocals, but his ability to sing in a falsetto that well for the whole set deserves props, and I actually like Justin Hagberg's harsh vocals better than Jamie Hooper's, so that worked out well personally! He and Shane Clark tore up some great solos and riffs on Monday night, and though he was sorta off to the side for their whole set, it was great to see the excellent Byron Stroud live on bass! It was quite an experience to see 3IOB live, and any band whose music can lead to crowd surfers getting caught in ceiling fans must be doing something right! Their mix of power metal and more aggressive subgenres has took them very far, and it's awesome to see them back in town. Anyone there should definitely hope 3 Inches of Blood will be back down the road!

Overall, this was an intense and very entertaining concert, and kudos to J.D. Pearce for bringing this package of bands here on Monday night! Same for Dirk & Shane from Sykotyk Rampage for helping with sound, they did a solid job! If this is any indication, J.D.'s next show (Anvil at The Canadian on the 25th) will be just as big, if not bigger, so stay tuned for updates on that! I took lots of photos at the show, so check them all out at this link or via our Facebook page, where we've also posted a "Tag Yourself" crowd photo (they're back!), so if you see yourself in this crowd shot, click here and tag away! And yes, I got videos, so here's Winkstinger's new lineup playing "Where'd We Go Wrong", The Bear Hunters playing "Collapse The Sun", Wretched unleashing their song "Birthing Sloth", and 3 Inches of Blood playing their very heavy song "4,000 Torches"!









That's all for now, but keep an eye out for a possible new news post later today! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Driven), 3 Inches Of Blood Concert Preview, And Much More!!

Our busy July at the SMS continues tonight with another news post, and today, we have some Sault Michigan/St. Ignace concert venue details & changes, new concert videos from a recent hardcore punk show, and a preview of a major metal concert TOMORROW NIGHT, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this fall at a new location for our coverage!

Cheboygan hard rock trio Driven have two more St. Ignace stops lined up this year, but not at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino. If you've followed Driven in recent years, you'll know that one of their favourite area venues is Timmy Lee's Pub, "the U.P.'s official welcome center", which has hosted live music frequently in recent years (and we'll talk a bit more about the venue itself in a bit), but Driven will return to Timmy Lee's Pub at 748 West U.S. Highway 2 in St. Ignace for a concert weekend on what should be August 31st & September 1st! Their schedule says September 1st & 2nd, but that'd mean they were playing Saturday and Sunday, which I think is wrong, but if my assumption is what's wrong, I'll correct that on here! These join shows at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino at the end of that month as well. Also, note that I missed Driven's shows at Timmy Lee's this past weekend, but with the news and posts we've been swamped with this month, I'm regrettably not surprised. Apologies to Driven & their fans for the missed dates, but don't miss their next St. Ignace stops in 2012!

Their upcoming shows at Timmy Lee's should have 9:30 PM-ish start times and 21+ age limits, while a cover charge hasn't been announced. Check the above links for more details! It's good to see Driven coming back to St. Ignace more this year, so stay tuned for more on their next local trips on the site as I hear of it!

We'll get back to some Sault Michigan venue news in a second, but first, here's a big Sault Ontario concert preview, as 3 Inches of Blood are coming to The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT! In their at least second show here (having rocked the Soo circa 2003), this very popular and talented Vancouver power metal quintet will bring their fast paced power metal sounds (with occasional death/hardcore flourishes) to what should be an impressive crowd tomorrow at The Rosie, including material from their new album "Long Live Heavy Metal"! Also of note: their current bassist is Fear Factory/Strapping Young Lad alum Byron Stroud, which is notable in & of itself! Joining them on their Long Live Heavy Metal Canadian Tour are Charlotte, North Carolina thrash/death metal quintet Wretched (not The Wretched as some local press have called them), and they'll be sure to melt faces with their hard hitting blend of metal sounds and venomous lyrics tomorrow as well! The local openers include local melodic death metal notables The Bear Hunters and Battle For The Blood winners Winkstinger, both of whom will have some diversely entertaining originals for their fans at The Rosie tomorrow night, so be there early so you don't miss them!

Admission will be $10 if there are any tickets left at the door, which isn't a guarantee. At last word, tickets were still available at The Rosie and at Music Depot, while The Rad Zone's supply was sold out, so if you don't have your ticket yet, there's your options! This will be a 19+ event, and the doors open at 9:00 PM tomorrow night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be quite a huge concert, and hopefully I'll see you guys all there for it! While I admittedly find the vocals for 3 Inches of Blood to be very forced, their music quality and talent is top notch, and I wouldn't miss this show for anything, and the openers will bring their own brutality as well! Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's 3 Inches of Blood's music video for their new song "Metal Woman"!



Thirdly tonight, here's some new videos from a recent concert, namely Maximum RNR's local return at The Rockstar Bar on June 30th! The 705 Video Magazine's Fred Kember shot 3 videos of the Toronto hardcore punk quintet's latest local concert that were uploaded to the 705VM YouTube channel the day afterwards, and though the same scratchy audio problems that plagued their Garden of Bedlam videos are back here, they give a nice quality look at Maximum RNR in action, especially for frontman (and Sault native) Diamond Brent Panther's on/off stage intensity! When I said he's his own mosh pit, I meant it, and you can see proof in this video, this video, and the one below (not sure of the song titles, they didn't mention them live), so give these videos a look above and right here!



Finally for today, here's the Sault Michigan venue news I alluded to above! First, in terms of Timmy Lee's Pub in St. Ignace, it's definitely a popular bar from what I can tell, and they also have a full menu and TVs for sports events, so it seems like a nice enough location, even being featured in the Yooper Bars book from last year, and having merchandise for sale! Regulars will know better than I for it's appeal, but check out their website and their Facebook page for more! Also of note: their Facebook page includes rare live photos of defunct local hard rock band Splitshot (pictured) from a May 2011 show there with their original lineup, and it's good to finally see the guys live over 6 months after they broke up, even as photos! Finally, we've added both Timmy Lee's & the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino to our Sault Michigan (and area) concert venue links at the bottom right, while moving two to our Other Local Metal Links, those being The Savoy Bar & Nightclub and Zim's. Neither have hosted a metal/hard rock show in over a year that I've heard about, so to keep the concert venue links current, I moved them out of that section, but if I hear of one or both returning to active metal/hard rock booking, I guarantee I'll move them back!

That's all for today, but I'll see you guys at The Rosie tomorrow night for 3 Inches Of Blood, and if I can get some stories for a new news post tomorrow, I'll get one up! Thanks everyone!