First, let's talk about March Into Regression, who were playing their second live concert since their name changes from Bring The Misery & Unleash The Blackened Sky, and their first Sault Ontario show since June of last year! Believe it or not, there was even more lineup ambiguity last night, so I'll address everything I noticed as we go. First, their bassist last night was Tyler St. Amour, who quietly returned to his former band to replace Dan Souliere at some point after their return gig in Laird. Not sure why Dan left, but it's odd that in both of M.I.R.'s incarnations, he left after their first gig. Either way, it was good to see Tyler on stage again with his brother and old bandmates, even if he only played three songs. For reasons unclear to me, he didn't play on two songs with the rest of the band, or their set-ending jam covers, but when he was playing, he sounded good! As for the vocalist position, singers Josh Stephney & Jeremy Hannah actually traded lead vocals for the first six songs of their set, each doing three songs, rather than performing together. That's not something you see every day, but it gave the band distinct flavours! With Josh singing, it reminded me of an old Bring The Fallen set, which included two BTF covers as well as Black Dahlia Murder & Lamb of God renditions, and his growling was nice to hear again over a year after Bring The Fallen's last show!
When Jeremy sang, their set included some newer original material and more of a hardcore sound, with Jeremy breaking out some higher pitched clean singing and effective harsh vocals that contrasted well with Josh's songs. Years after I last saw Jeremy do metal live, it was nice to see him front a heavy band again, and hopefully I'll get a video the next time around! The rest of the members were effective, with Christopher Neveau fitting in well on rhythm guitar, Ray Cowan's lead guitar work standing out as usual, and Travis St. Amour returning to the Rosie stage with lots of fast and dynamic drumming! In fact, he was the only person to play on every song last night, including the last three covers, which took on an informal jam session feel, with him & Josh joined by former guitarist Daeson Lesage for some loose & incomplete covers of Bring The Fallen, Metallica, and Megadeth material (Josh's Bear Hunters bandmate Nik Deubel even joined in for the Metallica cover!) On the whole, March Into Regression's set was a mixed bag, with the music quality & chemistry improved from last year's Bring The Misery sets, but the informality & minimal fuller lineup performances dragged down the quality a bit. Hopefully for their next concert, things will be tightened up to compliment the members' musical talents!
Next up last night were local hardcore quartet Changing Waves, who delivered a much better set than the disappointingly small crowd number on the floor would indicate! Where'd everyone go? Though their set was abbreviated due to a broken guitar string, they pumped through some heavy originals like "Kiss My Ass Again", "Tital", and my new favourite "Scum City", along with some well recieved Austrian Death Machine and System of a Down covers, and they sounded about as good as they ever do! Benjamin Kallonen's yelling and developing clean vocals meshed well on their varied original material, and I'm liking the increased inclusion of backing vocals from Mike Hagerman and Terrence Gomes, which helped add a new layer on the vocals, especially on Mike's part! Changing Waves' development and heaviness is definitely helping them make more of a local name, and I enjoyed their set before it was abbreviated, but aside from the exclusion of "Jung Jung", I can't complain too much. Hopefully next time, there's more people up front though!
Finally last night was local death metal/hardcore quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre, in the first time I've seen them in 2 months, and though Kyle Umgeher's beard was absent, their deathcore onslaught was not! The guys busted out an energetic set of original material and select covers for their fans, who thankfully added some life to the floor, and they rocked the Rosie with songs like "Make Death Wait", "Vampiric", and "Let It All Bleed Out" in their headlining set! The talent was there, as Andrew Angelic ripped some nice shredding riffs & solos (when they weren't looking for his pick), and Adam Veale's bass work stood out once again, but Steve Rhodes didn't really show as much stage presence as I'm used to, mostly pacing left to right on the stage. Also, and this is a point I've never really thought about before, but I'd like to see the guys play a bit less breakdowns. I'm not against them, but I wouldn't say they're always needed for a band of their intensity. Still, they had a great and very heavy set that ended the night well without too many caveats, and don't miss them next week at the second Sewer Swampstravaganza at The Oddfellows Hall!Overall, last night's show was pretty good, though maybe not as long or tight as some Thursday nighters I've seen. I took a bunch of photos, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook page! As for videos, here's March Into Regression (with Josh Stephney on vocals) covering The Black Dahlia Murder's "Deathmask Divine", Changing Waves playing their song "Distance", and finally, The Valentine's Day Massacre's original "Vampiric"!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for some overdue news stories tomorrow, including some major new shows! Thanks everyone!
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