Where Are The New Albums? (December 2022 Update)

After a slight delay, here's our final "Where Are The New Albums?" post of the year, where we're looking at the newest public updates on the whereabouts of upcoming albums from local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands! This month has no removed entries, but Chase Wigmore's successfully released "We Are All Going To Die" is obviously removed from his existing write-up. Five of the seven acts below have newly updated information, as noted with the titles in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!

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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite

Rumoured Songs: Multiple

Background: Ever the prolific artist & songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore has been working on an extensive rock opera for years (once claimed to be a 33 part work), originally named "A Story About A Kid Named Todd". Worked on in between his other unrelated solo albums, released for sale or otherwise, Chase posted a lengthy elaboration of the rock opera earlier this year, now titled "The Chaotic Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release timeline. Clips of songs from the album have surfaced on his Facebook page, as well as the final artwork, while in promotion for his last release, Chase has hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final eponymous solo album.

Current Release Status: Your guess is as good as mine for when this will finally come out, but remember that Chase is very prolific and varied in his musical interests, and not every album of his has seen a formal paid release, either by finishing it's lifespan as a demo, or by being released online for free. Regardless, he has been working on the rock opera for years to ensure a quality product, so stay tuned for updates from his camp!
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Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's fourth album

Rumoured Songs: "Lost & Found", "All Broke Down", "No Control"

Background: Local Celtic punk veterans Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide began recording sessions by October 2018 at Dustin's own Mission Control Studios, as per their Facebook page. In January 2019, the band confirmed that they were indeed recording a fourth studio album (and first since 2012), which will presumably be released through Tidal Records, and will also be their first album with second guitarist Liam Seymour & drummer Chris Johns. While "All Broke Down" was initially cited as the first single in December 2018 (source here), the first two released singles were "Lost & Found" in March 2019 & "No Control" in December 2020. Credits on the above songs' music videos note that Kyle Whittaker at Strange Pumpkin Studios in St. Catharine's is mixing the album, as he has done for multiple Tidal/Mission Control releases. Dustin posted a handful of solo songs on Tidal Records' YouTube channel in 2020, but it's not publically known whether or not they'll also be used as new Tide originals.

Current Release Status: When The Tide shared a teaser clip for "Lost & Found", they mentioned that the album was "coming soon", which doesn't tell us much, especially as the band has only posted sparingly on Facebook since the end of 2020 (in fact, they're nearing our one year's public inactivity marker). This may be partially due to fiddler Sheldon Jaaskelainen's recent out of town commitments, with Dustin focusing on Jonesy Land, The Cover-Up, and Bookclub since. Still, with recording sessions well along the way, and two music videos now public, it's likely that Dustin and company aren't early in the process, but we'll let you know if more comes out on the album!
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Fort Creek's debut EP

Rumoured Songs: "Hammer Down"

Background: Local southern/hard rock quintet Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to record an EP since February 2020, and while the pandemic lockdowns may have gave them more time to record, they wouldn't release a sample from the sessions until almost two years later when they shared this snippet of their single "Hammer Down" their Facebook page, later posting this 72 second clip. The guys debuted it at their headlining concert at Soo Blaster in June, and have played it live regularly since, but they have yet to release any full tracks online. It's not clear if new rhythm guitarist Bill Brouillard will be part of the recordings, or if his predecessor Matt Sibilo's tracks will remain on the final product.

Current Release Status: Fort Creek originally planned to release the EP in "late summer", but their Rotaryfest Stage 1 write-up says that it will come out in "late 2022". We're there now, and the band has since returned from their three month hiatus, but whether the break was to work on the EP isn't publically known There are a lot of unknowns either way, especially given the 2 years of production time and that this is a band primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit (though some members do have experience in name original bands, especially Tony). It will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned!
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Handsome Sandwich - "Deconstructed"

Rumoured Songs: "All Or Nothing", "Bitter", "No Entry", "No Idea"

Background: After taking a year+ long hiatus during the pandemic, local "no genre" band Handsome Sandwich reunited last summer with a new lineup, with Jesse Cook & Johnny Belanger now joined by singer Taylor Emlaw, guitarist Mitch Sirie, and (as of this summer) bassist Rafael Medina. Via their new Facebook page & YouTube channel, the band almost instantly began teasing a debut album (after previously being covers-only from 2017-2020), posting videos of them playing original songs. In June 2021, Handsome Sandwich revealed that the album had began pre-production, with recording at Unsalted Audio with producer Dustin Goodall. The band also confirmed in July that guest saxophonist Josh Norling will appear on their new song "No Entry". Last month, the band confirmed that the album's name was changed from "Lettuce" to "Deconstructed", and that recording sessions had wrapped, with Jordan Zadorozny set to mix the tracks at Skylark Park in Pembroke

Current Release Status: If you believe Taylor's on-stage remarks at The Soo's Got Talent in October (source here), the album is slated to be released on May 5th, an oddly specific date given the then-7 month time gap. Regardless on if that date will prove to be true, the new look band has definitely hit the ground running since resuming activity last year, and they have gotten a positive reception for the new material so far, so stay tuned for updates from Handsome Sandwich's camp when they have them!

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Mike Haggith - "All The Best In All You Do"

Rumoured Songs: "I've Seen It Before", "Twist of Fate", "If Only You Could Hear Me"

Background: During his live-streamed Facebook concert in February, local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith revealed that he was working on his newest studio album, entitled "All The Best In All You Do". Like his other Thompson-era albums, this will have an overarching concept, this time about the transition out of depression and being manipulated by others, into a happier personal life. At the time, Mike was 35% done with the album, and he has played two new originals planned for it in live-streams and in his 2022 concerts in both Thompson and the Soo, as well as "If Only You Could Hear Me", a still-unreleased song from early in his time in Thompson. A single version of "Twist of Fate" was unveiled in July, and live videos of all three songs can be found on Mike's Facebook page and/or YouTube channel.

Current Release Status: Given Mike's day job and personal commitments, he hasn't been as active on social media in recent months, but he is playing live dates and presumably working on recording the new album where time allows. It is worth noting that Mike strongly hinted that he's moving out of Thompson in his live-streamed concert from last month, but he has yet to publically elaborate on that or how it may affect the album. Hopefully things are progressing naturally in studio, and we'll keep you posted!

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Mike McCleary - Fallout From Midnight Tides

Rumoured Songs: Unknown

Background: After taking a couple of years off from public updates on his solo music (and taking down much of his prior back catalog from streaming services), local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary announced on his Facebook page in January that he was working on new original music. In April, Mike clarified that this would be an instrumental album (his de-listed albums all had vocals) inspired by his own curiosity and creative thinking. Mike has since posted a sampler video featuring the planned album artwork and title, and he also revealed the album's planned track structure (seven songs, three being 7+ minutes long), but has kept most specifics close to his vest.

Current Release Status: Mike was very optimistic about the album's progress, but was intentionally not putting a public timetable on when it will be completed, and things were complicated when his hard drive containing his new music crashed last month (the files still hadn't been recovered as of the 10th, and no updates have followed). Hopefully he can recover everything and that this isn't a huge bump in the road towards his new album, but we'll keep you posted when we hear more!

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The Uncanny Valley's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "The Uncanny Valley", "Glowin'", "Middle Man", “This Love is Psychedelic”, "Stuck In Rotation", “Sweet Like Sugar”, "Fumbling Through"

Background: The new classic hard rock band from 2019 Soo's Got Talent winner Adrian Sullivan, fans will have seen original material of theirs right from the start, as The Uncanny Valley debuted their own songs in their first live concert at The Canadian on New Year's Eve 2019. Live concert & jam session videos have followed on their Facebook page featuring their own material as well. After posting a teaser audio clip of "Sweet Like Sugar" in September 2020, they posted the full studio version of "Middle Man" last October, finally confirming there that they are working on their first album. The guys did record a studio version of "Stuck In Rotation" at Unsalted Audio for the Clusterfolk Music Festival and a related compilation album in April, but whether that exact recording will be included on the band's own album is unclear.

Current Release Status: No clue, which isn't helped by The Uncanny Valley's age and relatively unfamiliar profile for many readers, not to mention the complications of the pandemic, but they have played a number of local concerts in the past few months. That said, they are a talented group who seemed to be taking the right steps for the future, and hopefully more updates on The Uncanny Valley's debut album follow in some form or another when ready!

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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series should return on or around January 2nd to kick off 2023 in this series, while our next monthly feature profile will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Saturday. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!