After a slight delay due to some concert previews, here's this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, and it's an eventful installment! In our monthly look at the current release whereabouts of upcoming albums from local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands, we have one removal due to its successful release (Sykotyk Rampage's "Waerlogas Sagas 1"), but there is a new entry this month, and of the six acts featured this month, all but one have updates! As always, they are noted with their title in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!
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Bullet Train's upcoming EPs
Rumoured Songs: "Atmosphere", "Illusions", "Profit"
Background: The current hard rock band from former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchsion and ex-Fort Creek bandmates Robin "Bones" Lee and Anthony Fabiano, Bullet Train have existed solely as a studio band so far, releasing three original songs recorded at their own home studio to their YouTube channel earlier this year, all very much influenced by their take on current events. After a quiet summer due to "life's trials", Bullet Train resurfaced on their Facebook page on September 1st to reveal that they were working on two demo EPs, with the first one "nearing completion", though it's not clear if their early 2023 singles will be a part of them.
Current Release Status: No idea yet, especially as this band has no prior track record for releasing albums, though all three band members have experience writing and recording studio material to varying degrees. It'll be interesting to see how fast things come along for Bullet Train, so keep tabs on their Facebook page for further updates!
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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite
Rumoured Songs: "The Cities Alive & It's Angry"
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, as well as the final artwork. In MORE 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 prolific rate of original material.
Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.
Current Release Status:
Chase elaborated on Facebook last month that the album was 95% done earlier this year when the files "got trapped on my desktop's hard drive", and he has been unable to procure a backup of the material or recover the files as of that post. In any event, three of the full songs uploaded to Facebook in the past year were clarified as not being planned for "The Chaotic Rite", but they could surface on a separate EP. Fingers crossed that Chase is able to save this album and put it out when able, especially given the years that he's put into the making of it!
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Convergence - Gemini
Background: Just over a month after releasing their sophomore EP "Dead And Dreaming",
local progressive metal band Convergence announced on
February 9th that EP #3 would be named "Gemini", despite the obvious
twin implications of that name. The cover artwork
for "Gemini" was released at the same time, with the band asking fans
if they should release singles in advance or put it all out at once.
While we have yet to hear full songs of any kind, teaser clips most songs from the EP have been posted as of the title track and "In Bloom" were posted as "Shorts" videos on their YouTube channel since May. Guitarist Brendan Christie revealed the names of all five songs in
a recent Facebook conversation, one named after the band's prior name
Kraken Mara. New drummer David Peredun (who was confirmed to have joined
the band in late February) will presumably make his studio debut with
Convergence here.
Current Release Status: No clue, and given the complexity of their music yet their independent studio trappings so far, that could bode a quick or lengthy timeline for "Gemini" to come out, depending on what angle you take. Since their modern studio cycle commenced last year, things have been relatively steady for Brendan and Jake as a recording act, and here's hoping that Convergence keep that up for their third offering!
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Fort Creek's debut EP
Rumoured Songs: "One For The Road"
Background: Background: Local
southern/hard rock band Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to
record an EP since February 2020, but they wouldn't release any samples until almost two years later when they shared (now-deleted) clips of their original song "Hammer Down" on their Facebook page. The guys would play it regularly at concerts from June 2022-August 2023, and were working in studio throughout 2023, revealing that "it's coming along" in a
Facebook post on March 22nd of last year, and teasing new recording sessions following earlier "learning experiences" there that
May. After the quiet departure of bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer Anthony Fabiano (both now of Bullet Train) last fall, Fort Creek opted to abandon material recorded with them "as a show of good faith", and have been working on new material and rebuilding their studio over the past year, with an acoustic single named "One For The Road" teased as their "first release".
Current Release Status: Prior release timelines for their debut EP reflected their early 2020s lineup's material, and Justin, Shane, and Bill have largely kept things somewhat close to the vest beyond optimistic teasers in the past year. There are a lot of unknowns, especially given the 4+ years of production time and their decision to basically start over last fall, and that this is a band that was primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit before their rhythm section left. It will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned for updates!
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Handsome Sandwich's first EP
Rumoured Songs: "Without You", "Partyfuel", "Change A Bit", "No Idea", "All Done Now"
Background: Before even releasing
their full-length debut album "Deconstructed" in May 2023, 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 then-guitarist Mitch
Sirie was finishing his 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 an unidentified song in studio was posted to the band's Facebook page. It's not clear if new guitarist Brandon Ruch will be involved on the EP in some fashion or not, but Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling may appear again, as he guested with them to play "Partyfuel" at last month's Northern Vibe Festival.
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. An article about the band
from The Sault Star in June noted that the seven new songs "will
likely be released as singles", but whether this points to a change of
release plans or is just an acknowledgement that they have seven
individual singles to put out, I don't know. It will be interesting to
see how things progress
in the coming months!
Mike Haggith's "Face To Face" live album
Rumoured 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, 2023, 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 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 2023), it understandably wasn't his first musical
priority last summer, with his newest studio album "All The Best In All You Do" being released as planned last July. We'll let you know when/if more comes out on this live album in any form!
I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around October 2nd, while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, likely hitting the site next week. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
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