A New Album Release, New Videos, And More!!

As our backlogged news is slowly chipped away, we'll touch on a few more assorted items, new videos from two separate Sault Ontario acts, and leading off, the release of the first new hard rock album of the year, so here's what you need to know!

Dafter, Michigan hard rock artist Sweetkenny (Kenneth Sutton) released his 11th solo album "Slobber" on Sunday via his Bandcamp page! Coming in advance of a planned CDBaby release on January 15th, "Slobber" will likely be the first of three 2015 albums if his recent recording frequency is maintained for the coming year. Recorded last year at Waterfall Records, this is self-described as a "heavy rock, vocal, instrumental, high energy, fun album" which mixes instrumentals and full songs with vocals, "Slobber" has songs based around a "let me help you" feeling, though the intent of the "Slobber" name and pirate motif are somewhat vague. The album features 10 songs (all recorded solely by Ken), and it can be bought at the Bandcamp link above for $12, though physical copies will likely be $9.99 on CDBaby when released. If you're a fan of SweetKenny's prolific hard rock output, you'll want to check this out, but is a review of "Slobber" on the horizon?

We do plan to review a new SweetKenny album soon (very likely later this month), but we're actually going to take a look at his last 2014 CD "Amazonian" instead, as it's slightly heavier, but "Slobber" remains very possible for a review as soon as the summer once the 6 month buffer period (to avoid showing a bias) is cleared, though we may have to pick between that and a future SweetKenny release if his recording schedule remains busy. In any event, pick up "Slobber" and more albums at the above links!

Next up, here's the first new video from Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy's YouTube channel in six months, as posted yesterday! A cover of Def Leppard's instrumental "Switch 625" (itself Alex's first hard rock cover in over a year), this will be of extra note to A.T.D. fans via drum tracks provided by drummer David Peredun, though he isn't drumming live in the video (and I have no clue if this collaboration is a sign of life for Ashes To Dust.) More similar to Alex's earliest covers due to the lack of vocals, it's a strong rendition with nice energy, and it's great to see Alex posting videos again, so give it a look below!



Also, here's a new teaser video from local doom/punk band The Revolution, as posted on their Facebook page on Christmas! The video features Austin McCrae & Brandan Glew (no new bassist yet) playing a new original song that is planned for their forthcoming debut EP, though it suddenly cuts off 86 second in, and was uploaded sideways for some reason. It's a little cymbal heavy, and Austin's hard to hear, but I imagine this will hold up with other tracks when they have a full lineup and work out the kinks! Check out The Revolution's new video below!



Finally for today, here's three shorter news items from the last little while, and these are in alphabetical order by band or event name:

• Barring a sudden sign of life, we'll be moving local modern hard rock band Acention to our inactive band links by Saturday due to a year's inactivity, last posting on their Facebook page on January 10th, 2014. Featuring alumni of Haggith, Skeyes of Seven, and These Sins Of Time in their various lineups since 2012, Acention showed some promise and ambition, but they never played live during their run. I was hoping that Acention would have finally gotten off of the ground, but best of luck to Dalton, Josh, Cayne, and other former members in the future!
• A new review of AlgomA's "Reclaimed By The Forest" was posted on Boxing Day on the Italian metal site Metalhead.it on Boxing Day, albeit in Italian. Reviewer Matteo Piotto gave the CD an 8.5/10, calling it (according to Google Translate) "pitch black, claustrophobic, and oppressive" but also "a monument to the heavy sound", comparing the vocals to that of Godflesh. Good review, so give it a look at this link and with a translator!
• A new individual award has been announced for the Tidal Records Battle of the Bands at The Canadian Nightclub in March, as Bomb Energy Drink will be providing the "highest energy act" with a case of cans of Bomb and large t-shirts for each band member. Interesting, and I'm curious to hear what other awards are announced for what should be a huge event! Our source is promoter J.D. Pearce on the Facebook event page yesterday.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!