It's now time for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, as we again look at the current release whereabouts of upcoming announced metal, hard rock, and/or punk albums, CDs, and EPs from local acts! This month's entry has some substantial updates, including a newly announced album and one with updates (both are noted with their titles in italics), and a removal due to a band breakup, so keep all of that in mind. 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: "A Song For The Apocalypse", "The Speciesist", "The Cities Alive & It's Angry", "From Beyond The Clouds"
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 in 2022, now titled "The Chaotic
Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release
timeline. Clips of songs have surfaced on his Facebook page,
as have full songs not explicitly tied to the album, and the final artwork. In recent promotion, Chase has
hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final
eponymous solo album as part of aims to focus on his personal life more
than his historically prolific rate of original studio material.
Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.
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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Fort Creek's debut EP
Rumoured Songs: "Hammer Down", "Battlefield"
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 any samples until almost two years later when they shared this snippet of their single "Hammer Down" on their Facebook page, later posting this 72 second clip. The guys debuted it at their headlining concert at Soo Blaster
in June 2022, and have played it live regularly since, but they have
yet to
release any full tracks online. The band has been
working in studio throughout 2023, revealing that "it's coming along" in a
Facebook post on March 22nd, and teasing new recording sessions following earlier "learning experiences" there in
May. A new original named "Battlefield" was teased in this picture from studio sessions in September, and they confirmed that they made "big progress in the studio" as of December.
Current Release Status: Fort Creek revealed in a comment reply on their Facebook page on April 17th that their originals are "set to be released this fall", which follows their unrealized plans to release an EP in "late summer", then "late 2022", all obviously since passed. There are a lot of unknowns either way, especially given the 3+ 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's first EP
Rumoured Songs: "Without You", "Party Fuel", "Change A Bit", "No Idea", "All Done Now"
Background: Before even releasing
their full-length debut album "Deconstructed" in May, local
alternative/hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich revealed that not all of
their existing originals would be on that album, with plans to instead
release them and some brand new songs on a forthcoming EP. On September
13th, they began recording this EP (which will reportedly have seven
songs) with producer Greig Nori at the Algoma Conservatory of Music,
with bass & drum tracks complete as of September 29th, and Mitch
Sirie was finishing guitar parts as of December 21st, with vocals still to go. At least five of the seven songs have had their names revealed in concert setlists. After only
contributing to the packaging on "Deconstructed", bassist Rafael Medina
will perform on this EP, and a "Reel" of him recording in studio was posted to the band's Facebook page, though the song was unclear. It's also not clear if new guitarist Brandon Ruch will be involved in the recordings or not.
Current Release Status:
To be determined, and while they're not recording this EP at the same
place as "Deconstructed", note that the sessions for that album at
Unsalted Audio wrapped up four months before the album release. If the
timeline is similar, than we wouldn't see Handsome Sandwich's EP until
at least mid-2024, but it will be interesting to see how things progress
in the coming months!
Mike Haggith's "Face To Face" live albumRumoured Songs:
"MorningStar", "The Best You Never Had", "Into The Setting Sun", "Come
On Home", "I've Seen It Before", "If Ever Comes The Day", "Suburban
Dream" (The Din cover), "Out Of My League" (The Din cover), "Potato
(Should've Known Better)"
Background: In the lead-up to the staging of his joint storytellers "Face To Face" concert with local folk/country musician Brian Tremblay at The Art Hub on Spring on May 26th, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith announced plans on his Facebook page to release a live album from this event through his indie label MorningStar Records,
including a vinyl pressing. If this comes to fruition, it's not clear
if Brian's half of the concert (he and Mike alternated songs), let alone
the stories, would be included on the final product, which would
necessitate at least a double album on vinyl. In any event, you can
watch the entire "Face To Face" live-stream at this link.
Current Release Status:
Little has came out about the "Face To Face" live album plans since
first announced, and while that show went off without a hitch for Mike
(unlike Rotaryfest), it understandably wasn't his first musical
priority last summer, with his new studio album "All The Best In All You Do" being released as planned in July. We'll let you know when/if more comes out on this live album in any form!
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", "The Village"
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" that 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 2022, but whether that
exact recording will be included on the band's own album is unclear.
After an 8 month public break, the band released a music video for their
song "The Village" in June.
Current Release Status: No clue,
which isn't helped by The Uncanny Valley's age and relatively unfamiliar
profile for many readers, and their 9 months away from new updates may be concerning for some as well. 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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Vanity First - Identity Crisis
Rumoured Songs: "Off With Their Heads", "Get Out"
Background: In a surprise announcement on their Facebook page on Friday, local punk trio Vanity First revealed that they had recently been working on their second album, named "Identity Crisis", with cover artwork also unveiled and a new single named "Off With Their Heads" released to major streaming services. Details on the recording sessions weren't publically revealed, but Mike Haggith reportedly "played a small part in bringing the album over the finish line", as per his Facebook page. It's not clear if Vanity First's 2022 single "Get Out" or their re-recorded version of "Playboy Magazine" (which was recorded with producer Dustin Jones at Mission Control Studios) will be a part of the new album or not. This will be Vanity First's... first album since singer Andrew Beggs took over bass duties in lieu of the departed Nick McClelland, and their first since tacking "First" to their name.
Current Release Status: The guys plan to release "Identity Crisis" to major streaming platforms next month, specific date unclear, but expect it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Bandcamp, and YouTube, the services where they released "Off With Their Heads" to on Friday. No word on a physical release, but their "Vanity" demo was sold on CDs in 2022. Despite the complete lack of prior word that Vanity First were recording an album in recent months, fans should welcome this album when it comes out, so stay tuned for updates over the coming month+!
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As well, an album has been removed from this series due to its now-unlikely release status given the band-in-question's breakup, so here's what you should know on it:
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Far From Fine's debut album
Rumoured Songs: "Relapse", "This Way Again", "Poison In My Mind", "Broken", "Whiskey Dick"
Background: The recent punk/hard rock band
from former Suicide Kings bandmates Mike Gaetano & Mitch Sirie
and ex-Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi, Far From Fine signalled that they wanted to record a debut album
as early as their debut gig (under their original name Ravencore) at
Toystock in November 2022, as hyped on SooToday. The renamed group went public in April and outlined their early plans on their Facebook page, including the names of four original songs. Far From Fine were recording at Mission Control Studios
with producer Dustin Jones from (at least) May 26th-30th, sharing
videos of Mitch and Matt tracking material there. It's not clear
whether ex-drummer Austin "Mickey" McCrae or his replacement Blair St. John would have factored on the final
product, but you can see Blair & company playing ten original songs at Lopstock III in July at this link, albeit mostly not introduced by name.
Reason For Removal: While a public statement never came as to their breakup, Mitch revealed last month in a personal Facebook comment about band submissions for this year's Northern Vibe Festival that "we're no longer a band". This came following 5 months of public silence since their last set at the Ripcordz concert in September. Historically, a band breaking up is a bad sign for the prospects of releasing an album that they hadn't released yet, hence why this album is being removed from the series, and it is a shame that their sessions in May have been put on the shelf, but hopefully they surface in some form down the road!
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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around April 2nd, while our next monthly feature post will be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, which is projected to hit the site on Sunday. That's all for now, but look for more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
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