Friday, May 4, 2012

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Hey guys, this is a special auto-post while I'm at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion for the all ages outdoors metal show, and because I'm still trying to clear out a backlog of news, I thought I'd get these up on the site before the review! So here's our first local metal video showcase of the month, and today, we've got videos relating to one band's new album, a yet-nameless band's latest videos, and some new solo performance clips, so read on below for what you need to know!

We'll start with this latest video from Sault Michigan classical metal trio Theatre of Night, and it serves as a promo video for their upcoming second album! Uploaded onto their YouTube channel on Tuesday, it reveals that the album will be entitled "The Dawn's Early Light" (alluding to lyrics in "The Star Spangled Banner"), and it will serve as a "dramatic & haunting tribute" to the U.S. Armed Forces. Likely their last all instrumental album before beginning work with Gaby Koss, the video reveals that they'll cover songs like "The Star Spangled Banner", "Taps", "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic", and the themes of all of the American military branches among the 12 planned songs, along with playing clips from three tracks. The video itself isn't anything too shocking, just images of the nice album artwork with some filters and effects. My only gripe is that the intro seems very out of season, given that they included audio from their version of "Carol of the Bells" in a video from May, but I know it's more because it's from their last album than for anything else. Other than that, this is a great promo for their new album, which already sounds like it'll be on an even grander scale than "Christmas Night" was, so check out the full video below, and stay tuned for "The Dawn's Early Light" this summer!



Next up, remember the young local band from recent Superior Heights Collegiate sets that have been featured in videos uploaded by YouTube user adamscovers? Well, two more are now up of this young (but talented) trio, as posted late last month, including their covers of Shinedown's "If You Only Knew" and (as embedded below) Billy Squier's "Lonely Is The Night!" These differ from the previous 8 videos of this band in that multiple cameras are used: The normal one to the band's right, and a more central one, and lots of transitions, rotations, and zooms are used on these videos. Plus, the band members have switched guitar & bass this time around, so note that as well. The more we see of them, the better their video quality gets, but how does this band sound on these covers? They definitely handle harder material better than ballads, as their Shinedown cover sounded a bit off, but I'm still impressed with their talent! The bassist in these videos (who I believe is named Liam Seymour) has a solid voice, and these guys definitely can go far, but hopefully we can learn some more on them at some point! Check out their Billy Squier cover below, and much more at the above links!



Let's close this post with new videos, starting with a new solo performance clip from Trail's End & London Gentlemen drummer Jake LaLonde! Posted onto his YouTube channel on Tuesday, it's of him covering Godsmack's "Straight Out Of Line", and he definitely has it down pretty well! Like his other recent solo videos, this is from an overhead view in black & white, and his skills are as clear as ever! The original backing track sounds downtuned a bit though, but that could be to skirt copyright rules. Check out Jake's new video below, and keep an eye out for more news from his solo & band work!



And finally, here's the latest solo performance videos from ApolcayptiCDistroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh! Both of these are Tom Petty covers on the acoustic guitar, as posted earlier this week, but they differ from most of his recent uploads in that Jesse does sing in them! He doesn't do a bad job on either "Free Falling" or "Learning To Fly" (as embedded below), but the limits of his vocal range can be felt, especially on the "Free Falling" cover. The video quality could be cleaner too, but overall, if you want some mellower covers, these might work! If you prefer Jesse and ApocalyptiCDistroyeR's heavier work though, you may wanna steer clear. Check out his newest Tom Petty covers above, and here's "Learning To Fly"!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for my review of last night's metal show at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

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