For our first proper news post of the month, let's look at some recent video uploads from bands on both sides of the border, and we'll start with some longer videos from two prominent original metal bands in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula, like St. Ignace progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown! According to their Facebook page on October 21st, H.L.T.C. were "just waiting on our artwork" and "then we will release this album", which heavily hints that their long-planned full length album will be available soon! No official word since on a release date, but the day after their above Facebook post, the band shared this video on their YouTube channel where frontman Brandon West talks directly to the camera in dark room with purple lighting. Here, he reiterates the album's status, but the back half is devoted to bloopers of him trying to shoot this earlier in the day.
Effective if brief means of hyping up the album, and it's different seeing a band member talk directly to the camera like this! No word on if the stuttering/quick-replay edits to the first half are Max Headroom-inspired or not, but that was my impression from them. Give H.L.T.C.'s new video a watch below, and stay tuned for more on their album release! (Full disclosure, the picture of Joe Biden is one of multiple used for visual effect, and appears to be in reference to a blooper. I will not comment further on political topics here unless they have a tangible connection to local music.)
Next up, here's a new video from Sault Ste. Marie classical metal band Theatre of Night's YouTube channel, as uploaded on Halloween, and it features 22 minutes of "epic metal instrumental" songs, five of them to be precise. The songs are entitled "Arise", "Inside You", "Recurring Dreams", "The Elements" (no relation), and "Blood On My Hands", and if those titles sound familiar, it's not just you, as these songs were all previously originals by Theatre of Night's 2009-2013 sister band End of Existence! In case you forgot, they were the local/Grand Rapids epic death metal band that spiritually succeeded I.S.O.M. after that band's initial demise, and they released a self-titled album in February 2012 featuring these five songs, albeit before being stripped of Bob Helsten's vocals (granted, he left E.O.E. shortly before that album came out, and he was never in Theatre of Night anyway).
Guitarist Steve Giles' brother Greg, credited as "G. Giles", is listed for supplying drums as a "former member" (Greg left Theatre of Night in 2014), but End of Existence bassist Bryan Kindel is not credited at all, perhaps implying that he didn't actually perform on the album? I don't know if posting these instrumental takes is a sign of things to come for Theatre of Night or not, but it's good to hear End of Existence's brand of symphonic brutality again, even with the emptier feeling given Orb's removal! Good slideshow too with lots of fitting images, though oddly, none with Craig. Give all five songs a listen, and check out End of Existence's full 11 song album (with vocals) on Spotify & elsewhere!
We'll close today by heading north to Sault Ontario, starting with a new video from local party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page that serves a double purpose! Originally posted on October 28th before a re-post from their TikTok page yesterday, the video proper is a 17 second teaser for their upcoming music video for their cover of Saul Williams' "List of Demands (Reparations)", much like in their prior commercial for last month's Alien To The Ignorant concert, though here, there's overlaid text saying "Sault Ste. Marie's first taste of party metal" and the date November 21st, 2012. In the post for the video's TikTok re-upload, the band announced the first of at least two contests and "a series of special Facebook live events" to help promote the video release, with the first contest being for a $100 Station Mall gift card, and you can enter by liking the band, tagging a friend in the post, and sharing it yourself.
The draw date for this contest is Friday, November 19th, and I presume the video will finally be unveiled on the 21st. Looks like Paul & Amanda are putting in the effort to get buzz for the music video, and it'll be interesting to see how it pays off, so visit The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page to enter the contest, and stay tuned for more from their camp!
Finally for today, here's one more video from The Apocalypse Afterparty's Facebook page, but not of them. Rather, it's of local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters playing "Servitude" during their set at the aforementioned Alien To The Ignorant concert at Mellow D's Underground last month! Admittedly, this isn't an optimal view of the band, as there's large white text (complimentary though it may be) overlaid on the video, it's only 16 seconds long, and a trippy post-production filter was put on the video where everything is overlayed in mirrored colour tints. Nik also sounds a little like Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost here! Give it a look below, and hopefully The Bear Hunters are back out there soon!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!
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