End Of Existence's End, New Videos, And More Updates!!

Just when I think we're out of backlogged news, they pull me back in, so we have another post on this Tuesday evening! Today, we have some more recent updates to one of our monthly feature series, a new song from a local solo project, and some new solo performance video discoveries, but first, here's news on a prominent local band's apparent end, so here's what you need to know!

It looks like Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids metal band End of Existence have dissolved. A status on the E.O.E. Facebook page on April 10th says "End of Existence is now Theatre of Night", which seems to indicate either a "merger" with their (more recently active) orchestral metal band, or just a shift in focus. Also, the End of Existence website has either been closed or had it's domain name expire, which could also be telling for their status. Partial successors to the mid-late 2000s local metal band Integrated System of Machines, End of Existence had been active since 2009, and they slowly worked on numerous original songs and videos over the next 3 years, leading to the February 2012 release of their self-titled debut CD. Activity slowed down after the departure of singer Bob Helsten (now of Powerslug & Toast) earlier that year, and End of Existence (who I don't believe ever played a live concert) had unsuccessfully searched for a new singer in recent months, last posting non-Theatre of Night updates in January. It's disappointing to see End of Existence reach their own "end of existence", but they leave us with a lot of very solid epic death metal material from their run!

In all fairness, I do think it would be somewhat redundant to operate two similar bands sharing almost the same lineup, so this might be a good streamlining move if Theatre of Night continue with their original metal material plans. Hopefully their E.O.E. work isn't forgotten, and best of luck to Gaby, the Giles brothers, and Craig with Theatre of Night, so stay tuned to the SMS for updates (and of course, best of luck to bassist Bryan Kindel in the future too, he's a solid bassist that would be an asset in a Michigan band going forward!)

Next up, here's a new video discovery from the YouTube channel of Sault Michigan singer Melissa Strand, of Toast, Swayze Train, and Electric Motor Fish fame! Last year, Melissa posted four solo covers there, including solid renditions of Alanis Morissette & Adele songs, but embedded below, we have her solo acoustic rendition of Alter Bridge's "Open Your Eyes"! Apparently her second take of this song, it's well performed & recorded, and it definitely sounds different (in a good way) in this video! Softer, but nice, so check out Melissa's solo Alter Bridge cover below, and stay tuned for more metal/hard rock performance clips from her and/or Toast as they roll in!



Also in new videos, a new original song from Sault Ontario grind solo project Crucify The Whore was uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel earlier today, though I won't say the title here to avoid the potential for offending some readers (it's sexual in nature.) Uniquely for C.T.W. songs, it's an instrumental, so readers who don't take to guttural pig squeal vocals might appeal to that! There's something here musically, with good guitar riffing and some blast beats, but the repetitious structure, short length, and muffled recording quality don't help. As the third image on the video features some potentially offensive imagery, I'll just embed the song below, but give it a listen if you want, and stay tuned to the Facebook pages of Blood Shed Productions' grindcore projects for updates on their next demos, including an upcoming Crucify The Whore/Brutaly Fatal split release!

Finally for today, here's some more assorted updates to our Defunct Local Band Profile Series to make posts in it more accurate and current! In our Garage Inc. profile, I added a reference to former singer Jacob Rendell's newer local band The Pesto Shirts, while I restored a photo to the Bring The Fallen profile and added emphasis to the similar later band Giwakwa, who share 2 B.T.F. members. Also on our Paraside profile, I restored a photo and made edits to the reflect the likely end of Changing Waves (the more successful later band that also featured the Hagerman brothers.) Finally for today, I made updates to our joint profile on Lorax & Hands of Betrayal to replace some bands that Lorax members were in to note more prominent or recent bands (such as Constructed Apocalypse, The Suicide Kings, and Stillbroke), while for Hands of Betrayal, I noted guitarist Mike Libertoski's current role in the aforementioned Toast, and de-emphasized his Galactic Alignment solo project (which has essentially blended with his usual solo work.) Check the above links for the updates, and stay tuned for more!

That's all for today, but stay tuned soon for weekend concert previews, this month's newest Defunct Local Band Profiles, and more news! I can't promise a new post tomorrow, but if this is the end of our 71 day posting streak, thanks to everyone for following along over the last 10 weeks, and stay tuned for more SMS updates as soon as I can fill a new post!