Lots Of Recent Updates From Heavy Lies The Crown!!

It's been way too long since we've talked about St. Ignace metalcore quintet Heavy Lies The Crown on the SMS, so let's get caught up on what they've been up to in the past month+ in this single topic post!  On August 20th, the band posted this 30 seconds-long GoPro video on their Facebook page of bassist Christian Bailey playing an apparent new original song, starting off with raw audio before being transposed with the full band. Sounds promisingly heavy while it lasts, and the vantage point is cool! More clips followed that day from what looks suspiciously like a video shoot based on the lighting, including Christian B. talking to a prop skull in this brief video, and this promotional video for their set in Alpena at the French Road Bash the following week, featuring on-camera remarks from guitarist Ted Olson & drummer Jaxson Massaway. Not sure what the background hum is from, but it helped get the word out with good humour!

The band later clarified on August 22nd that, despite the lighting & skull, they apparently weren't making a music video (yet) and that the media from the 20th was just practice, but video of them jamming their song "A Hell Bound Heart" in that space was posted that day in this video, set to the song's studio version. Guitarist Christian Thanasiu (who missed some dates in August due to illness) is not seen on camera, while singer Brandon West is only seen headbanging and not in frame with the rest of the band. Maybe he was manning the camera? Regardless, this is the best quality video footage of the current Heavy Lies The Crown lineup that I've seen yet! A clip from their "Voices" music video was also shared on August 25th with an inspirational quote about being a musician appended to it. Before the Alpena date on the 27th, more band photos were shared, albeit largely blurry & incomplete, though Christian T. was back in them.

They did get a video of Alpena metal band Katharsys Theory at the French Road Bash, but most of their fallout was just thank yous and general comments of the night. Hopefully the concert was a hit across the board! On September 4th, Heavy Lies The Crown got played on Saginaw/Midland FM rock radio station Z93 during their program Michigan Made, which focuses on playing independent Michigan hard rock/metal bands every Sunday night at 8:00 PM. Not local, but always good exposure, and kudos to Z93 for putting a spotlight on rising in-state acts! If you're curious, Z93 (WKQZ 93.3 FM) reaches from around Grayling to Flint on the I-75, and once Rock 105 fades out, it's the next FM mainstream rock station if going south/southeast. Also on September 4th, H.L.T.C. teased new songs named "Red Apple" and "Celebrate The Night", but they weren't sure if the former would outdo other new material of theirs.

Another clip from their "Voices" music video was shared that day, this time with video filters allegedly bringing the video to "PS1 mode", but given the heavy pixellation and grayscale, this reminds me more of Sega CD mode. Following their Alpena date, the band's next gig was further south in the state, opening for Wholeheart & I Decide I at Mulligan's Pub in Grand Rapids on September 17th, with Brandon promoting it and the Michigan metal bands they were opening for in this video from August 25th featuring music video clips of each band. The show reportedly went well, and Jaxson was on drums rather than I Decide I's Barak Haring, who filled in for him in their prior Grand Rapids trip. Photos and videos were posted on Facebook, including this clip of a mouse stowing away on their vehicle as they were driving home, but none of the guys on stage.

H.L.T.C. have teased that they are taking time off following the Grand Rapids show in order to work on new material and music videos, with one song complete and planned for a video that is reportedly their softest song yet. More recently, they announced hiring a new booking agent (contact dedfishproductions@gmail.com for details on how to get them on an upcoming Michigan concert), and the band did note on August 23rd that relatives of Brandon's were doing a haunted house (apparently an annual occurrence) in St. Ignace this month, and teased playing a Halloween party in town there, date unclear. We'll keep you posted if this happens, as H.L.T.C. still haven't played an honest-and-truly public local concert! Embedded below is a new song sampler, with the video partially titled "Something we thought of trying", as set to visuals of the song being played on a vinyl record with post-production effects.

Whether they "thought of trying" this as a full song or releasing material on vinyl isn't 100% clear, but fans are digging the instrumental clip, which has a dream-like but still hard edged sound that will appeal to prog metal fans. As this isn't something Facebook can content match to H.L.T.C.'s own postings of their albums on streaming services, it can be embedded below, so give it a look, and visit the above links for much more on what Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to as of late!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!