Tons Of Woods Of Ypres & David Gold Updates And News!!

Almost a week after we last devoted a post on the SMS to local blackened doom metal standouts Woods of Ypres & their late frontman David Gold, we're giving him and the band the total spotlight again today, for a stacked post including lineup details on both of the upcoming tribute concerts in Ontario, your first taste of "Keeper of the Ledger" and where you can hear the album officially right now, details on a very cool album project, and more, so here's all that you need to know!

More official details are now out for April 7th's Ypres Metal Fest at The Canadian Nightclub, which is (of course) in David Gold's memory, as promoters have finally launched a Facebook event page for it! First, I'll note the new lineup additions, specifically for the local openers, as local metal quartet Garden of Bedlam (who were previously confirmed via The Sault Star), local death metal outfits The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver (themselves playing for the first time in 2012), and local punk trio Redundant have been officially confirmed as opening bands! Note some very fitting choices among the openers, as The Bear Hunters were the last band to open for Woods of Ypres at a local concert, while Redundant frontman Justin Langlois was a very good friend of David's, so they'll surely add a lot to this event! Dismembertainment also confirmed the previously reported news that Woods of Ypres members Joel Violette & Rae Amitay will do a special acoustic set at the Ypres Metal Fest, though where it will be slotted on April 7th isn't currently known. More acts could possibly be announced, though that's not a guarantee, and even if none are, there's 10 high profile and talented bands (including 6 out of town acts) gathering at The Canadian on April 7th for this amazing cause!

Similarly to the Toronto tribute show (which I'll have more on a bit), all proceeds from the Ypres Metal Fest will go to both the Gold family for David's final expenses and to the planned David Gold Music Scholarship at Sault College, which sounds like an awesome gesture! Ticket prices have yet to be announced, but they'll reportedly go on sale by the end of the week in some form. Check the above links for the rest of the current details! As I said earlier this month when I first mentioned this concert, Rich Moreland is outdoing himself with this quality of a concert event, and it'll be awesome to see a Dismembertainment-promoted show again, and at The Canadian for a change! David deserves the tribute and honours, and hopefully this is one of the biggest metal shows the Soo has ever seen!

In other tribute-show related news, the "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" release show/David Gold memorial concert at The Annex Wreckroom in Toronto on April 5th has seen some more updates, including more additions to that show's lineup, including Toronto-based solo artist Morgan Rider (best known as frontman of the Celtic metal band Bolero), Toronto progressive metal band Sixes & Sevens, and Ottawa classical/folk project Musk Ox, who notably guested on "You Are Here With Me (In This Sequence Of Dreams" on 2009's "Woods IV: The Green Album", with more bands to be announced. Sounds good to me, and hopefully the Toronto tribute goes off without a hitch, so stay tuned for updates on that as well! Two more notes before we jump to the next topic, one being that a new shipment of Woods of Ypres shirts is now on sale! David's mother and brother are modeling the new shirts, which are basic but classy, in photos on the David Gold's Legacy Facebook page, and if you're interested in details on pricing, shipping, and sizes, e-mail davidypresgold@gmail.com! And, I wanted to note this eerie article by Michigan blogger M. James Homme on his blog Homme Alone, where he encountered some very weird connections and similarities to David and Woods of Ypres after discovering them recently. Check it out at this location, it's definitely an interesting read!

Also in Woods of Ypres updates, an official tribute album in David Gold's memory has officially been started, as bands have already begun signing up to contribute covers of Woods of Ypres material to the project! The CD is being produced through Hamilton label Northern Storm Records and Sudbury's Archaic North Entertainment (ran by Wolven Ancestry frontman & Ypres Metal Fest participant Mark "Lord Defiler" Howitt), and a Facebook group for the project can be accessed at this location, where bands can still sign up and show interest to cover some of David's songs! Among other postings there, organizers are seeking input on the name of the album ("A Heart Of Gold: In Memory Of David Gold" is winning at the moment), and more details are to be announced, but who's tentatively lined up to contribute a Woods of Ypres cover? Many of the bands playing the Sault Ste. Marie and/or Toronto tribute shows are planning to contribute, including Kittie, Novembers Doom, Panzerfaust, Pagan Ritual, Eclipse Eternal, Empyrean Plague, and Gypsy Chief Goliath (among others), but this is all tentative as of right now, and bands could drop out or be added. For the record, no local bands have signed up yet to possibly contribute a cover, but if any have plans, I don't know of them yet. Check the above links to inquire about participation or get caught up on the details!

This sounds like another great tribute to David's memory, and I can't wait to see and hear the final product, but until then, a couple of covers and videos that could hint at what we'll hear are online! Click here to hear Gypsy Chief Goliath frontman Alex Petrovich cover "Shards of Love", and here to hear them cover "Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)", and though they're not lined up to cover this song on the album, check out Calgary metal band Gales of Avalon's cover of "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground" at this location! Both are good in their own ways, so check them out, and stay tuned for updates on this tribute CD!

And finally, while we knew that Woods of Ypres' final recorded album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" had been on official sale in Europe for a couple of weeks, Earache Records' news blog has confirmed that the album is now available on iTunes! The physical release in North America is still slated for April, but if you want to buy this album right now on iTunes, you can do so at this location! It goes for about $12.50 Canadian with $1.50 for individual tracks, but you may need to do some trickery with the nation your iTunes account is linked with to buy it right now. Note that the iTunes release omits "Kiss My Ashes Goodbye" as a physical album exclusive, but it is revealed there that the two "Kiss My Ashes Goodbye" tracks are now combined as one for the official release. Nice to see "(Part 1)" remain on the CD! As for the last remaining song to be released, "Keeper of the Ledger", is it online to stream yet? Why yes, yes it is! YouTube user yasen4fun uploaded the 6 minute-long track to his YouTube channel yesterday, officially making the whole album (aside from the vinyl-only producer's mix of "Finality") available for online streaming. How is the track? I'll hold full thoughts until early next month, let's just say that much. For now though, here's Woods of Ypres' new song "Keeper of the Ledger"!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's review of Sykotyk Rampage's 27th album "Karrs" TOMORROW and maybe another news post at some point in the next few days! Thanks everyone!