LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Brutally Fatal), Bear Hunters CD Release Fallout, And More!!

With concert reviews taking up the last few days, we finally have our first news post of December for you guys today, and yes, this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post is guaranteed to be next! Today, we have a new guitar video, plenty of updates from a recent CD release and it's launch show, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month!

A new house party concert from Blood Shed Productions will take place on Boxing Day (Friday, December 26th), and yes, it's location is publically advertised! Termed a "Bloody Boxing Day Basement Jam", there's a huge lineup currently planned for this event, so who all's playing? The scheduled headliner is Strange Coyotes guitarist Chase Wigmore in a solo set at 11:30 PM, while Blood Shed death metal acts Brutally Fatal and Rotopsy are slated for 10:45 & 9:15 PM. Notably, local metal/rap project The Apocalypse Afterparty will play a local set for the first time since September at 9:15 PM that night, but how will their set look and sound given teased lineup additions and their own recent songwriting? We'll know for sure then! Goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore will take the stage at 8:30 PM, while the 8:00 PM slot is currently vacant, and we'll let you know when it's filled!

The opening four acts are all rappers, including Mikey Thomas at 7:30 PM, Legitly Logic (formerly Dillionaire, a.k.a. Rotopsy's Dylan Taylor) at 7:00 PM, Miracle Man at 6:30 PM, and Phat Boii at 6:00 PM. To be held at 11 Hearst Street (downtown/centrally located) and partly as a makeup for a halted Boxing Day private gig last year, this ALL AGES show has no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a stacked event for the Blood Shed, so keep it in mind if you love similar events, especially given the season!

Next up, here's some fallout from The Bear Hunters' CD release party at The Canadian Nightclub on Saturday! The show and release was covered before and after the fact in separate SooToday articles by Donna Hopper, so what's in them? On Saturday before the show, an article went up to hype the event, which featured remarks by guitarist Mitch Sirie on the troubled recording process for "Eternal Hibernation", their work with White Wreckords to complete the album, and why he went the do-it-yourself route to complete the CD. Solid read, if dated now given that it was pre-show! As for after it, Donna's article recapping the event went up on Monday, where she called "Eternal Hibernation" a "powerful 10-song release", and remarked briefly on the event itself. As expected, she got some great photos that night (albeit in black & white), including 15 of The Bear Hunters and 5 of Brampton's Livid & The Bloodthirsty, though sadly, none of Haggith's opening set.

Excellent photos as always, so give them a look above! Also, video cameras from Local2 were on hand, presumably for an upcoming Tuned episode, so we'll let you know when they make it online! As for The Bear Hunters' CDs themselves, here's some info on the contents of each! Both "Eternal Hibernation" ($10) and the prior EP "Collapse The Sun" ($2 in limited quanitites) were released & mastered through Mitch Sirie's new independent company Edge of Eden Productions, and were recorded at White Wreckords with producer James White. Both professionally packaged with album booklets, full lyrics, and artwork by Kevin Powe, "Eternal Hibernation" is dedicated to late original rhythm guitarist Andres Duchesne, who has a tribute photo & message on the inner tray liner. It's booklet includes large individual photos of each band member, along with full credits, shout outs, and thanks to everyone who helped along the way.

Of note for the lyrics, singer Nik Deubel wrote almost every song himself, save for "Succumb To Eternity" (which bassist Justin Lam wrote), while Nik & Justin both wrote "Casualties of War", and Nik & Mitch both wrote "Render This Void", so there's some insight if you didn't know the minds behind the words! As for the "Collapse The Sun" single, that features the studio version of "the title track, a live version of said song, and a 2011 demo instrumental of it, mainly to show how it's evolved since the early days. The live version was recorded at the 3 Inches of Blood concert at the former Roosevelt Hotel (now Reggie's West) on July 9th, 2012, and to my surprise, it's actually a mastered audio copy of the video I shot from their set at that show! I'm not complaining, I'm glad to see that the guys liked it and put it to a greater use! "Eternal Hibernation" t-shirts are forthcoming within the week, apparently, while The Bear Hunters' attention now shifts to new CDs.

According to their Facebook page on Sunday, the guys plan to have an online store up and running in the coming weeks to sell digital copies of their CDs (no word on if it'll be on Bandcamp or not), while tentative plans are to release their "Aftermath" EP (featuring leftover songs from older songwriting sessions) "early next year", with their second studio album "The Dead Testament" following late next year. No word on Rad Zone availability yet, but it looks like The Bear Hunters are well on their way, and it's great to finally have the CD out! Look for our review of it later this month, and stay tuned for more from their camp!

Finally for today, here's a new solo guitar performance video by Exiled guitarist Joe Jenkins! Uploaded to his YouTube channel yesterday, this is of the Sault Michigan-area guitarist jamming his own original compsition "Pitch Black", which he previously demoed on his YouTube channel in March via this link. Shot from below, you get a good angle of his playing with this video, and the song remains a solid hard rock number that would be neat to see fleshed out with a full band! Solidly done, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Joe & Exiled!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post either tonight or tomorrow, with weekend concert previews and more to follow! Thanks everyone!