With a new year upon us, here's our first "Where Are The New Albums?" post for 2026! This monthly feature series looks at the current release statuses of upcoming albums from local metal, hard rock, or punk bands who have publically confirmed that sessions have began in studio for them. We actually have two albums to remove this month, one due to its successful release on Friday (The Realignment Project's "Let You Fall", more on that soon), and one due to the band in question now being publically inactive. For the remaining four entries, entries with new information have the title in italics. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!
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Bone Yard 225's debut album
Rumoured Songs: "F.A.F.O.", "Gypsy Spell", "Fuck!", "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (Mike Posner cover)
Background: After months of teasers
that they were planning to record original music, local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225
began releasing their own songs on major streaming services in July
2024, a whopping fifteen years after the pre-225 band debuted as a
country cover quartet. Their first three singles (all recorded at their
home studio) were posted online by January 2025, though it took until May for the band to confirm on their Facebook page
that they were indeed working on a proper album. It's not immediately
clear if their existing three singles will be included, but it's not a
given, as Jonesy Land fans saw with "Zoom-Out". As of August 11th, it was reportedly "album tracking time", while this video
from three days later shows bandmates Alex D'Ettore and
Warren Reville recording backing vocals for their cover of Mike Posner's
"I Took A Pill In Ibiza". That will be one of "a couple of covers" for
the album, as confirmed by frontman Greg Simpson during recent concerts.
"Fuck!" was renamed "The F Word" on streaming services last month, but
it's not clear if the less explicit name will stick on the album. The band was still "in the studio finishing shit" as of December 4th, source here.
Current Release Status: In that Facebook post from May 30th, your local 225 said that "the album is coming along nicely", and they hoped to release it "by the end of 2025", but Greg has since adjusted the timeframe to "early 2026" when mentioning it during live shows. While singer/drummer Greg Simpson did release an EP with his old band Stiffler's Mom, it's hard to compare the release methods and schedule given that "The Demo" came out in 2004. It is neat to see that Greg, Alex, and Warren are going all in on a studio album, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in!
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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 solo album as part of aims to focus on his personal life more
than his prolific original material.
Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.
Current Release Status:
Chase elaborated on Facebook in mid-2024 that the album was 95% done
earlier that year when the files "got trapped on my desktop's hard
drive", and he had 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 2023 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 - In Bloom
Background: Just over a month after releasing their sophomore EP "Dead And Dreaming",
local progressive metal band Convergence announced in February 2024 that EP #3 would be named "Gemini", with its cover artwork
being released at the same time. Teaser clips of most songs from the EP were posted on their Facebook page and their YouTube channel throughout
much of 2024, but most prior media was wiped as they retooled as a full
band, now including singer Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio and drummer David
Peredun. Convergence worked in studio last year with
producer Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio, documenting the sessions in
Facebook "Reels", eventually confirming in concert that the EP (now named
"In Bloom") is still in progress. Live versions of early instrumentals
(now with vocals) have also been played in their early sets. A new version of "The Ebb" (first seen on their 2023 EP "One") was released to streaming services on Christmas Day.
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 "In Bloom" to come out, depending on what angle you take. Since their modern studio cycle commenced in 2023, 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 album
Rumoured Songs: "One For The Road", "Sweet Rosie"
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 2022-2023, with
studio sessions taking place in early-mid 2023 as well. After the
departure of bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer
Anthony Fabiano in the fall of 2023, 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 two years. Now featuring Phil Greco on drums, their first single
(the acoustic "One For The Road")
was posted online in January, with the band confirming plans to now
record a 10 song album at Jettison Studios prior to returning to live
concerts. Their new single "Sweet Rosie" was being recorded as of August 31st, and a teaser of the song was posted to their Facebook page on New Year's Eve.
Current Release Status: Prior release timelines for their debut EP reflected their early 2020s lineup's material, and Justin, Shane, Bill, and Phil have largely kept things somewhat close to the vest prior to putting out "One For The Road". There are a lot of unknowns, especially given the 5+ years of production time and their decision to basically start over in 2023, 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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We also have one album to remove this month due to its now unlikely release status with the band in question falling inactive, so here's what you should know on that:
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Bullet Train's upcoming EPs
Rumoured Songs: "Atmosphere", "Illusions", "Profit", "Wayside"
Background: The new 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 existed solely as a studio band, releasing four original songs recorded at their own home studio to their YouTube channel in 2024, 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 in September 2024 to reveal that they were working on two
demo EPs, with the first one entering post-production as of the 9th,
though it's not clear if their 2024 singles would have been on them.
Reason For Removal: Despite claiming in September 2024 that EP #1 would have a release date announced "in the upcoming weeks", Bullet Train have not issued a public update concerning band activity since Christmas Eve 2024, past our one year inactivity threshold, so we'll be moving them to our inactive band links. Hopefully we hear more from Cory, Bones, and Tony in time, as they were a promising band for fans of modern hard rock!
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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 February 2nd, while our next monthly feature post will likely be our first Defunct Local Band Profile, scheduled for Saturday. That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
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