Demon King/Celestial Scourge Concert Video Showcase!!

Today's post takes us to Christopher Paci's excellent YouTube channel for the first time since late last year for some new concert videos, and while I don't know where he has been since October, it's good to see him back with his camera rolling! His first concert videos of the year were actually at The Irish Rovers' concert on March 14th, but 10 days later, he was at Soo Blaster for that night's Demon King-headlined concert from Underground Events SSM, and he filmed all five bands there across seven videos! We'll hold the Pillory video for our next post of videos from Chris' channel to keep things at a consistent length, but let's start with the headlining Nashville death metal band, who got two videos here. Chris filmed Demon King playing their set-closer "Tyrannical Reign Of The Deciever", and as embedded below, their set-opener & new album's title track "Death Knell", so how do these videos turn out?

Effectively in the "second row" for the last two bands (with zoom deployed), Chris got some solid footage of Demon King that accentuates their brutally crunchy sound well, and the bass resonates nicely in particular, so give their Soo Blaster videos a watch above and below!

Next up, Chris also filmed two videos from co-headlining Norwegian tech death metal quartet Celestial Scourge on March 24th, including their set-closer "Ancient Forms" and, as embedded below, their first song "The Advent Of Deities". Definitely a more progressive and mathy sound, but with more guttural vocals than we saw with Demon King, so note your death metal preferences accordingly, but Celestial Scourge definitely melted faces at Soo Blaster, if these videos are anything to go by! Check them out as well!

For the opening three bands, Chris only uploaded one video apiece, and for the night's other touring band, he filmed London, Ontario death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve playing their song "Omnipotent Panopticon". If you look them up and are curious, no, guitarist Nicholas Luck is not the same-named local musician who fronted Aldous in the early-mid 2010s. If you saw Sentiment Dissolve at Jay's last year, this won't be a surprise, but they are clearly having fun up there (look at their attire!), and they deliver an intense tech metal sound with enunciated growling vocals that will appeal to many metalheads, so don't bypass their video below either!

We'll close this post with the later-slotted local opener, namely progressive metalcore quartet Convergence in their first live concert set of 2026! I am not immediately certain of this song's name, as it doesn't match their two released studio singles since Stephen joined, but to be fair, I can't check if it's a song that was previously on "Dead And Dreaming" because they delisted that instrumental EP. Effectively complex and brutal sound here with very skilled guitar work and strong harsh and clean vocals, and it's good to see some all-too-rare live video of Convergence, so give this a look below!

That's all for now, but when we pick things back up from Chris' channel (ideally soon), we'll look at the Pillory video and what he shot at his most recent hard rock concerts, so stay tuned for all of that in the near future, plus more recent news and notes! Thanks everyone!

The Demon King/Sentiment Dissolve Concert Preview, Plus Convergence Updates!!

Today's post heavily circles around a big metal show tomorrow night that we're previewing to lead off with, and one of the opening bands has a lot going on to talk about afterwards. Here's what you should know!

We'll start with a special Tuesday night concert preview, as three touring death metal bands from three different countries will descend upon Soo Blaster TOMORROW NIGHT! The bands in question are Nashville-based death metal quartet Demon King (not Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King), London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub in May 2025), and Norwegian tech death metal quintet Celestial Scourge. Quite a feast of brutality is incoming for local metalheads tomorrow, so if you just miss original touring death metal, give all three bands a listen to see what you think, and hopefully you can swing coming out on a work/school night! Your local support bands tomorrow are death/thrash metal trio Pillory (who opened last year's Sentiment Dissolve show) and progressive metalcore quartet Convergence, both in their first concert of 2026.

Both should get faces melting early, and we'll have more from Convergence in a second! Promoted by Mikhal Muto's Underground Events SSM, tomorrow's show is an all ages affair at 7:00 PM, and tickets cost $15 in advance through the local openers, at Soo Blaster, or online at this link (the door charge jumps to $25). If you can make it for this one, you'll be in for a crushing night of metal, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Demon King live a few months back!

Next up, here's the latest from the aforementioned Convergence, who surprised fans by releasing the second advance single from their upcoming album on "all streaming platforms" this past Wednesday! Of course, "all" platforms is impossible to guarantee, but it's in the usual places and in a few you may not think of first, including Bandcamp. The song in question is "Gemini", which was once planned to be the title track for their third EP dating back to February 2024, but as you know, the band wiped most of their back catalog as an instrumental duo and have been reworking some of their older material for their next album. Of note, you can still hear their 2022 debut EP "One" on Bandcamp, albeit with new cover artwork, but there's no sign of their follow-up "Dead & Dreaming" there, implying that the songs from that EP will at least partially resurface with vocals ("The Ebb" already did, after all).

The Bandcamp postings for both "The Ebb" and "Gemini" glean some more info on both songs, including full lyrics, the inspiration behind both, and confirming that Swedish musician Adam Roxner is mastering the album. While I always found it odd that "Gemini" was going to be the name of their unfinished third EP, Convergence explained that the name was influenced by how it started production when they were still just a studio metal duo (and that "it also just sounds cool"). To promote the song's release, guitarist Brendan Christie was actually interviewed by 104.3 The Fox midday DJ Zenga McCurdy on Friday, and the band helpfully posted the interview to their YouTube channel over the weekend. Neat to see Zenga promoting and talking to an original local rock band! I don't recall Dan or Mitch doing something similar when they were on the former Q104. What all does Brendan talk about and reveal in this 6 minute interview?

Zenga asks about Convergence's sound and influences, what you can expect from tomorrow's Demon King concert, how to buy tickets, how Sault Ste. Marie locals have taken to Convergence since launching, the album plans, and what to expect from their stage show. Of note, Convergence plan to release two more advance singles "in the next couple of months" before the full album comes out, and he did confirm that the album will have more songs that predate Stephen & David's additions to their lineup. Good stuff that helps sell the band well to Fox listeners, and Zenga came off well when asking questions, so give the whole interview a listen above! A guitar playthrough video featuring 33 seconds of the song was also posted to the band's Facebook page, complete with tabs, but I'll embed the full song here via Convergence's official lyric video on YouTube, also featuring some space imagery behind the lyrics.

Pending our eventual review of the album, I'll hold comment on "Gemini" for now, but everything is very well produced and put together so far, so give the lyric video a watch below, and check out much more from Convergence at the above links (and don't miss their first show of the year tomorrow night!)

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes as this week rolls along! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Demon King, Project 906, And Generations), And More!!

Here's a packed news post for your Monday night reading, which mostly features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next three months on both sides of the border, plus an inactive band note, so let's get things rolling!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced five upcoming concerts for the next month and a half, courtesy of their Facebook group yesterday, so where can you see them next? The band will return to The Kiln at Searchmont Resort for Saturday nighters on January 24th and February 21st, so clearly their debut there on January 3rd was a hit for them to get rebooked this fast! You can also see Valerie, Joe, Pierre, and Tony back at The Full Throttle Saloon for two more concerts on Saturday, February 14th & Friday, February 27th, with the former falling over the Family Day long weekend (and on Valentine's Day). Lastly, their busy February will also include a one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub on Friday, February 20th, and because that venue never books the same band on consecutive nights, and The Kiln only books bands on Saturdays, the two gigs pair well to keep them busy all weekend!

The Kiln and Water Tower Pub gigs are all at 8:00 PM, the Full Throttle Saloon shows are at 9:30 PM, all are 19+ events, and none have an announced cover charge. Fans of this veteran group will want to circle these winter dates on their calendar, so visit the above links for more details! 

Next up, Family Day weekend for Sault Ontario = Presidents' Day weekend for Sault Michigan, and hard rock fans in the E.U.P. won't be lacking either, as local blues/hard rock cover quintet Project 906 will return to Snow's Bar & Grill in nearby Cedarville for a Valentine's Day concert of their own on Saturday, February 14th! The band mentioned this show at the end of their Facebook post thanking everyone for coming to see them at The Merch on Saturday night, but didn't note that the show will coincide with the annual Les Cheneaux Islands Snowsfest, the annual winter festival held jointly in Cedarville and Hessel over the long weekend. Full event details are forthcoming (check back on the Facebook event page), but this will be the (at least) fifth straight year where either The Islander Bar or Snow's Bar included a regional hard rock band playing at Snowsfest that weekend, typically during the annual pub crawl. Project 906 previously did the honours in Cedarville in 2023. 

We'll let you know when more comes out regarding the exact itinerary for Snowsfest and how bands tie in, but it's good to see 906 making the hour's trek again for what should be a busy weekend! Expect a 9:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge on Valentine's Day. See above for more from updates from Project 906 and Snowsfest!

Also newly announced is a big Sault Ontario death metal concert for the spring, as Nashville-based death metal band Demon King will make their local concert debut on Tuesday, March 24th at Soo Blaster! Not to be confused with Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King (though imagine if they were added to the bill!), Demon King bring their own brand of technical blackened death metal to the forefront, and they have a ferocious and punishing sound that should start a good sized pit in two months' time! A multi-national touring roster will also include London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this past May) and Norwegian death metal band Celestial Scourge. Both will deliver the brutality you expect, and how often do bands literally from Norway come here? Local openers will include death/thrash metal trio Pillory and progressive metal quartet Convergence.

Both local bands are making their first announced live concert appearances of 2026, and they are solid choices to set the tone! Promoted locally by Mikhal Muto via his newly created agency Underground Events SSM (more on them soon), this all ages concert has a 7:00 PM start time, and while tickets are not on sale yet, they will cost $15 in advance and $25 at the door, and will be available through the local bands, at The Rad Zone, and online. If yo u love death metal, especially of a technical and complex variety, you won't want to miss out on this concert, so visit the Facebook event page for more details!

Finally, I have moved local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters back to our inactive band links. This may not come as a surprise to many readers given their sporadic updates in the 2020s, but the band was last publically active on January 13th of last year, when they posted a belated music video for their song "Collapse The Sun" on YouTube, one of two new music videos spearheaded by guitarist Mitch Sirie that month. After previously being inactive from late 2021 onward, The Bear Hunters awoke from "hibernation" in July 2023 to play a private event that drummer Johnny Belanger put on at Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn. Despite teasing that they'd be working on new music, no updates followed for almost a year, when Mitch said on their Facebook page that a final album and concert would be in the works, as connected to a contest relating to wearing band t-shirts.

Updates never came on the album or farewell gig, and while the two videos from last January (including a music video for their live favourite "Squirrel Buddy") were welcomed by long-time fans, the "Collapse The Sun" video was 100% archival content, and "Squirrel Buddy" was co-opted from Mitch's 2023 solo project Sir Hell, and only featured Johnny among other Bear Hunters members in audio or video. Mitch did say "slay tuned for more" at the time, and hopefully we do get more eventually, but their activity levels have been slow since the end of 2017, and members have talked about the eventual end multiple times in recent years. Hopefully we do hear from Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny again, even if it's only once more, but stay tuned for more updates on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Sentiment Dissolve Concert Preview, New Live Videos, And 104.3 The Fox Updates!!

I hope everyone's long weekend is continuing on a good trajectory (and if you're in the E.U.P., hopefully your Memorial Day long weekend goes well next week!) Today's post features new live concert videos, local radio station updates, and leading off, one more long weekend concert preview, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Here's a special Victoria Day concert preview, and if you're into death metal, you'll wanna head to Jay's Piston Broke Pub TOMORROW NIGHT for this one, as London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve and Brantford tech/deathcore quartet A Tyrant's Lament will make their local debuts here! Both relatively newer bands as far as Southern Ontario extreme metal goes, Sentiment Dissolve's technical and proficient brutality will be complimented nicely by A Tyrant's Lament's rawer but still skilled aggression, so don't miss out on both bands tomorrow at the former Roosevelt Hotel! Local death/thrash metal trio Pillory and heavy metal trio The BAG (both last seen at The Pit at Soo Blaster) will open tomorrow, with this being an appetizer of sorts before The BAG open for Switzerland's Virvum & Stortregn at Jay's in July. Talented local metal with hard hitting originals will be an ideal kickoff tomorrow!

This stop on the Dissolving Tyrant Entities tour has a 19+ age limit, 8:00 PM start time, and an advance ticket fee of $10 at this link (the price jumps to $15 at the door). While taking place on a statutory holiday, this will be a work/school night for many, but it will be awesome to see some legit extreme/death metal from afar on a local stage, and hopefully there's a decent turnout so that we can have more "Rosie metal nights" anew! Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Sentiment Dissolve live!

Next up, here's a surprise find from when I was looking up potential uploads from The Dayglo Abortions' show at Soo Blaster earlier this month, as I did find videos of them there... albeit from 2023! These come from attendee Rick Sutherland, who only uploaded them to his YouTube channel in March of last year, hence why I never even found them until now. As of this writing, the videos have three views combined, so let's rectify that! Rick filmed the Victoria, B.C. hardcore punk legends for eight minutes of their 2023 local set across three videos, which see them playing their original songs "Sacks Of Meat" and "Proud To Be A Canadian", but the longest of the three is embedded below. Not the highest framerate going here, but Rick had a good view of the stage and the front rows of fans rocking out two years ago, and they still packed in lots of intense fury and attitude into their set, so give The Dayglos' new-ish 2023 videos a watch!

Also today, here's our first look at a heavier local music act rocking Beck's Bar (the former Vibe Lounge) on Goulais Avenue, and this is specifically of local hard rock quartet Half Past there on April 26th for their opening weekend! The 6 minutes-long video features the guys covering most of Tool's "The Pot", which will be old hat for guitarist Alain Fletcher given his old(?) Tool tribute band Parabol. Jordan's voice does get strained at points on this cover, but it's solid throughout, and it gives us a look at the effective staging and lighting at Beck's for bands! If only they hosted live bands more than once a week. Give this new Half Past video a watch below!

Let's wrap things up with programming updates from Sault Ontario rock radio station 104.3 The Fox, which I haven't noted on here in over a month, so what deviations from the norm have they offered on air since? On the Easter long weekend, The Fox and their sister rock stations in Rogers Radio's Ontario loop held a Classic Rock Long Weekend playing just 1950s-1980s songs for three consecutive days in their music rotation. In other words, if you love the Classic Rock Sundays there, you got a triple dose for Easter! Personally, I wanna hear newer stuff too, but I know I don't speak for all rock radio listeners in the market. In lieu of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series that night at 8:00 PM, CJQM morning DJ Heather Williams hosted a Power Up special on AC/DC (in advance of their Canadian tour this year) featuring archival interviews with Angus Young & Brian Johnson. That would have neat for AC/DC fans!

Another programming stunt is ongoing for the Victoria Day/May 2-4 break, namely the Time Machine Long Weekend, where a different year in rock music history is beinfg relived in half hour blocks for three straight days (as in, you'll hear just songs from 1974 for a half hour, then maybe 1996, then maybe 2021, etc.) Fun idea, so look for that on the former Q104 through tomorrow night! As best as I can tell, there was no artist/genre theme week this past week, and I haven't seen any reference to a Sunday Night Vinyl Series episode tonight. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sentiment Dissolve) & More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Tonight's post wraps up this weekend's hard rock concert previews, but to lead off, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that should pique the interest of readers who like death metal, so here's what you should know!

Extreme metal fans may want to make a point of heading to Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Victoria Day, as two Southern Ontario-based death metal bands will be making their local concert debuts there on Monday, May 19th! Your headliners on this night are London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve, a newer group who bring a highly technical sound with a catchy groove and brutal riffs to the table, and their EP "The Orwellian Dream" is quite promising for genre fans, so don't miss out at the former Roosevelt Hotel next month! Co-headlining next month are Brantford technical/deathcore band A Tyrant's Lament, who bring their own pounding and aggressive brand of death metal to the table, and while rawer on average, they will punish nicely at Jay's! Two local support bands will take the stage on Victoria Day, including death/thrash metal trio Pillory in their second show of the year and first stop at Jay's since their revival.

Always good to see Robert, Blair, and Bret back at it, and don't miss them at "The Pit" at Soo Blaster next week! Also playing at both next week's and next month's metal shows are metal trio The BAG, who have been making many fans in recent months with their rollicking metal originals and covers, and hopefully they start the night off right at Jay's next month! Presented by London's Sick Set Dude Promotions, this 19+ concert begins at 8:00 PM and has tickets running for $10 in advance (presumably through the local openers and at Jay's) or $15 at the door. Nice little throwback here to the halcyon days of The Roosevelt Hotel being a metal hotbed, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this concert!

Next up, let's continue this weekend's hard rock concert previews with three Saturday nighters, and we'll start with local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9, who will make their debut at Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s on-site Tap Room TOMORROW NIGHT! Concerts at the 50 Pim Street brewery/nightclub that cross our radar are far from common, especially as they lean towards solo and acoustic performers from what I've seen, so it is neat to see Silent 9 taking their show to the Tap Room tomorrow, and hopefully their upbeat mix of classic and hard rock covers find a strong audience of Northern Superior patrons and existing fans alike! This concert has a relatively early timeframe of 8:00-11:00 PM, a 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge, and if you want to see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve in action, they don't have an advertised public gig after this for almost a month. See above for more details, and for a preview of tomorrow's Tap Room action, here's Silent 9 live!

Also this weekend, local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will return to Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! This is the third and final concert (so far?) in HeadFirst's collaboration with the Dennis Street nightclub that sees the show proper accompanied by drink specials, custom menu items themed after the band and their songs, while merchandise will also be on sale, complete with discounts if you wear their gear... but that's not all! HeadFirst announced on their Facebook page yesterday that "we are filming some music video clips at the bar" and they were looking for extras for what they are filming. One assumes it's just performance footage with a lively audience, presumably for the lead single of their upcoming album "Road Trippin'", but more should come to light tomorrow! Remember, "Road Trippin'" is released in three weeks at the release party at Soo Blaster.

As usual for HeadFirst's three-night(?) residency at Shooters, tomorrow's show has a 9:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. Whether this is it or not for these special HeadFirst concerts, come on down tomorrow for a fun evening of hard rocking originals and proficient covers from this fast-rising young group, so visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's HeadFirst live!

Finally for this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, let's head across the river to St. Ignace, Michigan, where Sault Ste. Marie hard rock/classic metal quartet Tarnished will debut at the Driftwood Sports Bar at 590 North State Street TOMORROW NIGHT! This "special performance" continues the long-running St. Ignace waterfront nightclub's initial recent run of live musicians, and will be Tarnished's first show since rocking The Merch last week. Fans of 1980s metal and hard rock will find a lot to like from Alex, Josh, Chris, and Ron's covers, perhaps with some originals sprinkled in for good measure, and hopefully Mackinac County fans pack the house for this rare Tarnished stop at a St. Ignace venue outside of the Kewadin umbrella! This one-nighter has a 9:00 PM start time tomorrow with no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 or older to attend. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!