YouTube Channel Profile Series: SYKOTYK RAMPAGE - Topic

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile! In our last monthly feature post of the summer months, we have another spotlight of a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk music/concerts. This month's selection is a YouTube Music channel for a prominent local band, if not as comprehensive as you may expect, so here's what you should know on it!

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SYKOTYK RAMPAGE - Topic (http://youtube.com/channel/UCrjvSyO3DGjK1fVMyvgT3kw)

Owner:  If anyone, Sykotyk Rampage guitarist/singer Dirk Becker, though the channel is auto-generated to facilitate the band's catalogue being available on YouTube Music

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 19th, 2022; Videos posted that day and on March 19th, 2024

Channel Summary: Four different YouTube channels exist to host parts of the back catalogue of local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage on YouTube Music, with this particular channel hosting two albums of theirs from 2013, incidentally both part of concept chronologies. 32 songs are hosted between the two albums.

Why You Should Watch: Given how fragmented (and incomplete) Sykotyk Rampage's discography is represented on YouTube Music, this channel is really only for band completionists who regularly consume streaming music via YouTube. Their complete 70+ album discography is available on their Bandcamp page, which should be stop #1 for fans of the masters of the crash, but if you had a particular affinity for these two albums, note their YouTube presence!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

GATES: The earlier of the two Sykotyk Rampage albums on this channel is "Yamaraja" from August 2013 (its sequel followed two years later), which notably uses one word titles for all songs on offer except the self-titled closing number. Notable for being one of their first albums with bassist Tony Briglio (joining Dirk, singer/drummer Paul Becker, and guitarist Shane Kokis), "Yamaraja" is an album that I have yet to review on the SMS (with how many Sykotyk Rampage have, who knows when I will!), but as good a place to start as any here is the opening song "Gates", which will appeal to fans of their Paul-sung crash rock originals, complete with background chanting to go along with the loose theme around Hindu gods. There's more where that came from on the full album!

Intro to Revenge: The longer and more popular album of the two here is October 2013's lengthily titled "Adventures Of Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy 2: Revenge Of Professor OCD & The Crimson Nipple" (the first album in this series immediately preceded it and the third "Adventures Of..." album came out in 2014). Another concept album ("Chastity Boy" is Tony's band nickname) featuring "story" tracks peppered in between the songs, the most popular upload on this particular channel is the opener "Intro To Revenge". This one features Tony setting up the storyline for the album and where things picked up from the first album in this series. Not a song in itself beyond the backing music, the story being set up is definitely sykotyk and it'd be a fool's errand to sum it up here (especially when I don't know when I'll be reviewing Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy's adventures here), but it'll start you on book #2 of this epic story!

American Dreamer: Of the actual songs on "Adventures Of Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy 2", I most want to highlight "American Dreamer" for its near-7 minute length and the fact that, as of this writing, it has zero hits on YouTube. I know Sykotyk Rampage have dozens of albums to comb through, but no one has played this song there? Starting with a solid bass solo, this is a showcase for Dirk's distinctive punk snarl on lead vocals, which don't get deployed enough on their albums, and the freewheeling nature of their improvised hybrid rock attack comes through well without seeming overlong despite the length! Give this and much more a listen above!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around September 26th for another randomly selected channel, and this time, it's via Vern03, who filmed six videos at the Heaven & Hell/Megadeth concert here in 2007! Look for that on or around September 26th, and for more news and notes on the site next! Thanks everyone!

New Sykotyk Rampage & Haggith Material, Plus An Old RedD Monkey Video!!

Happy September, everyone! Hope you guys pumped "Outro: The End of August" by Woods of Ypres to help send off the summer months, and we're running full gear into the fall, so what's in store for today? We have an archive video relating to a prominent local band, and the latest practice audio recordings from another, but first, here's some info on a bunch of new songs and upcoming albums from one of the most creative local hard rock bands!

Some of the latest studio material from the original crash band is now online, as Sykotyk Rampage quietly uploaded two new albums to their Reverbnation page on Friday! Previous indications hinted that the alternative/blues rock quartet had 5 albums in the works, but in fact, they have at least 8 planned for this year, and yesterday's uploads were completely new to me, so what should you know? They're titled "Yamaraja" and "Beat Your Ox With A Bag Of Kittens", and though they were first to be posted, they're considered the band's 42nd & 43rd albums, with 6 more forthcoming. The albums mark the studio debut of current bassist Tony Briglio, and all 8 should be around 12 songs in length. For reference, the remaining albums are called "Adventures of Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy", "Revenge of Professor Perv &  The Crimson Nipple", the three previously unveiled titles "Eye For An Eye", "Wonder About Baby", and "Sykotyk Rampage", and the new reveal "Environ-Mental Suits", with covers for each available at this link. In terms of content, none of the songs on the two revealed albums are familiar from live shows, but "Beat Your Ox..." seems mostly comprised of drinking songs, and "Yamaraja" is almost entirely comprised of one word song titles.

As well, the "Adventures of..." and "Revenge of..." album titles feature stage names for band members (Paul Becker & Tony on the former, Dirk Becker & Shane Kokis on the latter), but could that point towards a heavy focus on songs sang by those specific members? Tony does provide some vocals on at least some of the songs (in fact, all 4 members sing on the track "Bag of Kittens"), but I haven't heard the new albums in full yet to fully know how much singing he adds. I'll note that like their last 7 albums, the newest uploads are not up for sale as a digital album, and are currently only available as a free stream, but if they formally make it to their online store, I'll let you guys know! Sykotyk Rampage's oddly creative original material is back in full force from what I've heard (especially if the album covers are any indication), and I'm definitely curious to hear the new albums in full (for sale or not), so stay tuned for updates as they roll in, and check the above links to hear the new postings!

Next up, here's another "new album" of sorts, courtesy of local grunge quartet Haggith! The second of their live in-studio recording sets to be posted on YouTube (following "In Sesh" from August 7th), this one's called "Swamped", and it was recorded on August 8th at PaperClip Productions before finally being uploaded to their YouTube channel yesterday. Shorter in length with just 5 songs, the tracks include "If You Get Out Alive", "Rage Train", "No Cure For Insanity", "I Am", and "Anthem", none of which were featured during the "In Sesh" recording. On a first listen, "Swamped" (which isn't getting an immediate release to non-YouTube sites) sounds good, and of comparable quality to "In Sesh", but given that each features unique songs from the same lineup during the same timeframe, your enjoyment of "Swamped" may depend on your personal song preferences. Myself, I'd like to see Curtis McKenzie play guitar a bit again, as some songs do sound emptier without a second guitar, but other than that, the guys are on form! Check out "Swamped" below, and follow the above links to head straight to the individual songs, or to hear/watch other uploads!



Finally for today, here's an older YouTube video of local cello punk/hardcore trio RedD Monkey that we couldn't slide into our last all-RedD Monkey showcase coming later this week! This clip comes from the Total Chaos-headlined all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall on November 21st, 2010 that they were among the openers for, and it was filmed by attendee Darcie Piche for what appears to be the official YouTube channel for defunct local punk trio The Fury. However, aside from drummer Joe Bumbacco's then-membership in The Fury, the channel has no other direct connections to that band. The video features RedD Monkey playing "Monkey's Paw (5th Wish of the Swamp Donkey)", and the audio generally holds up (if sounding a bit tinny), but the lighting is way too dark with only flashes of visibility. If you can get past the lighting, you'll find a quality performance of one of their more aggressive tracks, so give it a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!