New Archive Video Uploads Of No Arrow & Faithless Sin!!

Just a heads up, this post is the first on the SMS that I've had to make using Blogger's new editor interface which was rolled out earlier this year. I am not an immediate fan of it, and I have already had to check online help forums to answer questions about where certain things are, so if anything looks amiss, that's why. Hopefully things are sorted out soon!

Today's post is devoted to archive videos from prolific local rock musician Joe Falco's YouTube channel, which we alluded to in a post on the site three weeks ago, as Joe was in the late stages of a massive upload streak of videos from his run in live bands in the mid-late 2000s. Let's start with the biggest of his past groups, namely 2005-2011 grunge/alternative rock trio No Arrow (née Murder Playground), who are the subject of 25 of his videos in the last few months! These include a now-band official upload of all 12 songs from their unreleased studio album "Souls For Sale" and a few videos that were previously uploaded on frontman Dann Pichette's YouTube channel. Joe's uploads, brand new or otherwise, include three videos from a weekend at The Canadian Nightclub in April 2007, two from a Sault Area Wrestling event at The Elks Lodge that fall, two from The Speak Easy at Algoma University, three from Madison's Pub (now The Harp Bar & Grill), a rehearsal jam of "One On The Line", and a Fitswitch parody under their original name.

Embedded below is 62 minutes of an early No Arrow set at Madison's Pub in November 2006, though it doesn't capture the entire performance due to tape limitations. Featuring Dann and Joe alongside original bassist Jason Bourcier (more on him in a bit), this concert took place on Jason's birthday, and it features 17 songs, though only 5 are originals at this stage. In order, you can see the guys play Local H's "All Right, Oh Yeah", Helmet's "Unsung", The Melvins' "Revolve", their original "Bleed Your Hate", Nirvana's "Stain", The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", their unreleased album's title track "Souls For Sale", Local H's "Cool Magnet", their own "Genocyde Revealing", The Melvins' "Youth of America", part of Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick" with a guest guitarist, their original "Delayed Reaction", Local H's "Bound For The Floor", Motorhead's "Ace of Spades", their own "One On The Line", and two final Local H songs (part of "Everyone Alive" and "All The Kids Are Right".)

It's awesome seeing a lengthy No Arrow video like this, albeit 14 years later, and while the VHS camcorder quality isn't ideal (smartphones weren't ubiquitous yet), the raw intensity is on full display!  Of course, any fans of Local H will want to give this a special look, especially as you don't hear them covered often nowadays. Give this video a watch below, and check out much more from No Arrow's mid-late 2000s heyday at the above links!

Speaking of bands that Jason and Joe were in together, let's now look at another old band that Joe has uploaded content from, namely their old 2005-2007 thrash metal band Faithless Sin! Here featuring Jason on vocals (a'la Operation: Killdozer) and Joe on guitar, this band also features guitarist Frank LaTassa (Quite Frankly), bassist Ryan Gratton (Chronic Demonic) and drummer Mark Parent in their lone video, but Mike DiPasquale preceded Frank in the band, and Gates of Winter alum Jonathan Harvey drummed in their brief 2010 reunion. Faithless Sin never got far off the ground, and have no known public concerts to their name, but some members did more collectively in their successor band Time of Ruin from 2007-2008. Joe has uploaded four videos representing Faithless Sin, including two crude audio copies of originals ("Chaos Reigns" & "River Flows Cold"), plus a better quality recording of two Slayer covers. Embedded below is Faithless Sin's only surviving video!

Also filmed via that VHS camcorder, this is very much a jam session recording, and Joe is very forthcoming in the video description if a song was a jam or rough, plus what he wishes the video would have captured from their setlist at the time. In order, the guys can be seen playing Slayer's "War Ensemble" as a soundcheck, Megadeth's "She-Wolf", In Flames' "Behind Space 99", Sepultura's "Refuse/Refist", their combined version of Slayer's "Die By The Sword" & "Black Magic", a jam of Pantera's "Fucking Hostile" from a different camera angle, another loose jam of Metallica's "My Friend of Misery" with Joe on vocals, two separate run-throughs of their original "Chaos Reigns" (a first-time jam and a proper performance), and finally, Metallica's "Blackened". Camera aside, this raw and brutal rehearsal captures a promising band that I'd have liked to have seen go further locally! Our view of Faithless Sin is only optimal on the Pantera cover though.

On songs that Joe doesn't give a disclaimer for, everyone sounds tight and dialed in, and Jay's groove-influenced growl adds the extra bark (that's a good comparison), and given that Frank had just joined the band, he fit right in on certain songs! Give Faithless Sin's archive videos a watch above and below, and stay tuned for more from Joe's channel in the coming days!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: syrfer72, Ryan Gratton, and turnerup100's Channels

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we once again take a look at 1-3 randomly selected YouTube channels with a 50% (or more) ratio of local metal, hard rock, and punk videos, so you guys can read up on them, watch their content, and hopefully subscribe! For a third straight month, we're looking at multiple channels due to the first channel selected having minimal content, but like last month, the second channel had a similar situation, so we have a full maximum of three today! There's still some interesting and varied stuff to check out from the last decade, so check out this month's profiles below!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
syrfer72's channel (http://www.youtube.com/syrfer72)

Owner: YouTube user syrfer72 (full identity unclear)

Channel Timeline: Launched on December 31st, 2006; Only video posted on August 11th, 2010

Channel Summary: This channel's only video is of hard rock legends Kiss playing one of their signature songs "Detroit Rock City" during their memorable headlining concert at The Essar Centre the day before the video's upload. Filmed from roughly the centre of the floor, you get a good (but far) angle of Kiss and the loud pyrotechnics, and the audio quality's respectable, but the video quality is fairly blurry. This was a great concert from Gene, Paul, and company, and this video (among others from this show) capture it well! Note however that syrfer72 has not updated their channel since 2011.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Gratton (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3k0cqMC7zqWscCNfubvaGw)

Owner: Chronic Demonic bassist Ryan Gratton, also known from past work with bands like Faithless Sin

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 19th, 2012; Videos posted in September & October 2013

Channel Summary: Though Ryan still actively uses his channel, he's only uploaded two videos there, and none in over a year. One is an audio recording of him and a friend playing an acoustic song named "A Camel Named Bill", but his only SMS-fitting video is of his defunct thrash metal band Faithless Sin covering Slayer's "Die By The Sword" and "Black Magic" back in 2006. Featuring their original lineup (including Ryan, Fitswitch alum Jason Bourcier on vocals, guitarists Joe Falco and Frank La Tassa, and drummer Mark Parent), Ryan apologized for the audio quality on these covers, which were recorded on a video camera and converted to audio, but they're not that bad, just lacking some clarity. The guys had a strong sound here, and the video is definitely worth a listen, though the band was arguably beat in prominence by their late 2000s successors Time of Ruin.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
turnerup100's channel (http://www.youtube.com/turnerup100)

Owner: A member of the second 2011-2013 version of defunct classic/hard rock band Turner Up, though their specific identity is unclear

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 15th, 2012; Only video posted that same day

Channel Summary: Though ostensibly created as an official Turner Up YouTube channel, the only video uploaded there was of their then-sister band Havadder, who shared four members with Turner Up for the duration of their second run. Featuring Turner Up's Jason Roy on vocals & guitar, Robert Brown on guitar, Travis Sharpe on bass, and Scott McLurg on drums alongside Havadder-only guitarist Jason Nisbet, this video comes from a gig at The Nicolet Tavern (now The Rednecks Saloon) on January 6th, 2012 where they covered Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome", and it's a well done rendition of this 1990s rock hit! The lighting is inconsistent, and the audio's slightly muddled, but it's one of the better videos of this Havadder lineup, though all but Jason Roy have since left the band and formed the similar new cover band The Thrill Junkies last year. Note as well that this channel hasn't been visibly updated since Turner Up's dissolution.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, we'll be looking at multiple channels for a fourth straight month, as the first that we randomly selected only had two videos total, so we added one more small one to fill it out. With that said, we'll close the year for this series with profiles of YouTube user schloppster's channel (featuring two Clownsack music videos, in our first Sault Michigan profile in this series since May) and the channel of YouTube user mckersie1984, who uploaded two copies of a Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide song! Look for those on or around December 22nd, and stay tuned for more soon! Thanks everyone!

New Song Uploads & Much More Recent Updates!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Today at the SMS, we're mostly tackling some smaller news stories, especially as a few big concerts are still awaiting either a venue confirmation, a public announcement that they're indeed happening, or this weekend's concert preview posts, as at least two were announced too late to warrant posting twice in a stretch of a few days. Along with some feature profile updates and more notes, we'll start with some new song uploads, so read on below to get caught up!

First, we have a surprise new live recording upload from defunct local metal band Faithless Sin! Bassist Ryan Gratton (now of Chronic Demonic) uploaded this to his YouTube channel yesterday, and it features their 2006 lineup covering "Die By The Sword" & "Black Magic" from Slayer's first album "Show No Mercy". According to his personal Facebook post on this upload, the lineup present here includes Ryan alongside Winkstinger's Jason Bourcier on vocals, guitarists Joe Falco & Frank La Tassa, and drummer Mark Parent. Ryan did apologize for the recording quality, but it's not unlistenable, just a little rough sounding, especially in terms of vocal clarity. The guys have these songs well in hand, and it's a nice sampling of the sound that Jason & Mark brought to Faithless Sin's late 2000s successors Time of Ruin! Check out Faithless Sin's Slayer combo below, and stay tuned for updates on the members' current & next music projects!



Next up, here's a new song from local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore! Expected to be on their forthcoming full length demo early next year, this song is called "People These Days", and it was uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel on Sunday. Compared to many of their earlier songs, the instrumentation sounds fuller and more complete (I like the guitar work), but it's fairly muffled in contrast to Ringsnaps Gibson's pig squeal vocals, which are still going to polarize listeners who aren't existing fans of the style. I like the musical expansion though! Check out "People These Days" below, and stay tuned for more from the label soon!



Also today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or store name:

• Local sludge/stoner metal trio AlgomA are looking for someone who can film and record their concerts for 62nd Chamber Productions film projects, as per 62nd Chamber's Facebook page yesterday. Experience with video camera & audio recording equipment is a plus, and for now at least, the position is a volunteer role. If you're interested in helping out, message singer/guitarist Darby Wigwaus at boydrendell@gmail.com!
• Spring Street music/lessons shop Colosimo's Music Store has apparently already closed. A statement hasn't been made, but their Facebook page & website are both down, and there has been no employee posts on their surviving Facebook groups since May, so I take it they quietly closed local operations this summer. It's disappointing that they couldn't succeed longer here, but with 4 established Sault Ontario music stores to compete with, they were already in a crowded market. I've moved Colosimo's to our "Other Sault Ontario Links", and best of luck to all of the former staff!
• Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night have posted two new instrumental demos onto their Reverbnation page, presumably towards their next albums, including a new version of "A Wintery Mix" and a brand new track named "Nosferatu's Dream". Very solid for both, dark and orchestral in tone (though "A Wintery Mix" is heavier), so give it all a look at the above links!

Finally for today, here's some updates to some of our monthly feature posts! Starting in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, I added a link to the Fresh Magazine interview with Downtown Showdown winners Bring The Fallen in our profile of that battle, as the interview was a prize for their victory, while I replaced the recently inactive Daybreak Johnnies with the newer band The Hydra's Teeth (who also have Late & Loud members) when noting the later bands of performers at the Humane Society Battle of the Bands in our profile of it. Finally, I edited notes on the Battle for the Blood profile to note that the scoring for that battle was done by a paper voting ballot, not by crowd reaction, as a battle under similar rules and promotion is in the works (and we'll have more on that here when announced, so stay tuned!) Moving back to our YouTube Channel Profile Updates, I edited references on our profile of Stillbroke's YouTube channel to further emphasize their breakup last year (with Jesse & Sam moved out of town, it's more than a hiatus at this point) Lastly for now, I expanded the videos on all 2011 profiles & the remaining Sault Michigan profiles in this series. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews this week, including last month's poll results & this month's new poll on Friday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Theatre Of Night), SweetKenny & Mike Haggith Updates, And More!!

We have more news to get to as we kick off the last week of May 2013, but before that, I'll note that I'm bumping our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Giwakwa guitarist Chris Page's old band Lead The Dead to tomorrow so I don't de-emphasize the content of today's post, which includes a preview for a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! It's for a great cause too, and it's the debut of a popular local band, so I wanted to give that the proper attention, so for that and more updates from two local solo projects and much more, read on below!

Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night will make their live concert debut TOMORROW in the parking lot of The Corner Pub Bar & Grill to help honour Memorial Day! Apologies for the short notice, the Facebook event page was only just created on Friday night. For the occasion, Theatre of Night will be playing numerous songs from their second album "The Dawn's Early Light" (with "Taps" kicking things off at 12:00 PM), and there'll also be a barbecue & silent auction to help benefit The Forgotten Eagles of Michigan, an organization that helps assist war veterans in the state. For Theatre of Night, this will be their first live set in the area that I can source, and if so, I believe it will be the first public concert that Craig Harrison & the Giles brothers have played together since I.S.O.M.'s 2009 breakup! Note that the songs being performed are all instrumentals, so I wouldn't expect singer Gaby Koss (who lives in Germany anyway) to be featured. There's no admission price or posted age limits for this benefit event, and everything starts at noon tomorrow. Check the above links for more details!

It's great to see Theatre of Night playing a live local concert finally, and given their proud American heritage and recent material, it's awesome to see them paying tribute to those lost protecting their freedoms! Hopefully this is just the first of many live concerts for them, and if you can make it down to The Corner Pub tomorrow, donate generously and rock out for a great cause! For a preview of tomorrow's event, here's one of Theatre of Night's promo videos for their American/patriotic themed album "The Dawn's Early Light", which you'll hear songs from tomorrow afternoon!

Next up, here's the latest from Dafter, Michigan solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton! First, he's revealed a tentative release date of June 30th for his sixth original studio album "Perception" (album cover pictured), and he plans to upload songs from it soon as a preview. No word yet on the full direction or length of it, but the most recent song posting on his Reverbnation page ("Magic Girl") mixes a hard rock groove and spoken word verses, so if it's on the album, it might be heavier-leaning! Now, if it comes out as expected this summer, we won't review it on the site until September at the earliest, as it'll be too soon from our review of his last album "Doo Hickey" in March, but it'll come if it does get released! As well, Ken put the call out for musicians in the Upper Peninsula to join a band on May 13th, presumably featuring him, though no word on if this will be an extension of his solo work or something completely new. This could be very interesting, so message him at sweetkenny@sweetkenny.com if you're interested, and stay tuned for more from SweetKenny!

Also today, Haggith drummer/local solo musician Mike Haggith has completed his YouTube channel transfer by posting four more back albums of his onto his new YouTube channel! His old "Sid Fucktard" channel has been deleted, along with some older audio tracks (he cited only bringing "relevant" material over), though I believe anything that didn't come over was posted before he moved to Sault Ontario, so nothing too familiar to local fans is gone. The new channel now has full uploads of 7 of his last 10 solo studio releases (only "Ace" and the not-previously-uploaded "For My Fallen Angel" & "The Best of Mike Haggith: Volume 2" aren't featured), though in at least one case ("The Curse Was The Cure"), the track listing is altered as an effective "re-issue". Among the postings were a couple of demo tracks that weren't released in this form on his albums, including a 2010 studio demo of "In A World" from his solo/The Thorns album "Laps In A Lake Of Fire", and a 2011 instrumental demo of "The Day The Lights Went Out" from "Neighbourhood Watch"!

Both are clearly unfinished, and "In A World" has some messier elements, but there's good stuff in each, so check out the instrumental take of "The Day The Lights Went Out" below, and stay tuned for more from Mike, the Haggith band, and The Din as I hear it!



Finally for today, here's three more assorted recent news items, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Local all ages concert promoter/Algoma drummer Jamie Vincent appears to have secured a show for Vancouver drone metal project Ahna on June 27th, as per a posting on his promotion agency's Facebook group two weeks ago, but full details and confirmation of the show have yet to come out. It's great to see Ahna finally get a local booking, and stay tuned for updates!
• I've updated our GarageBand Profile on T H E I D to further emphasize the now-inactive status of drummer Matt Hicks' more prominent later band Dirty Virgin, who have not made any public updates since last spring. Hopefully we see him back at it with Riverin or another project soon though!
• I've also updated our Defunct Local Band Profile on Faithless Sin to reflect frontman Jason Bourcier's recent addition to Winkstinger's lineup, as the profile was posted before Winkstinger publically confirmed that he had joined on bass. Not a major edit, but it makes the information more current, so I thought I'd acknowledge it, and don't miss Winkstinger's return on Wednesday night!

That's all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Lead The Dead! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Cherubic Red & Faithless Sin

It's the 10th of the month, so it's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! As usual, this monthly feature series looks at 1-2 local metal/hard rock bands that have either broken up or fallen inactive, in order to profile their history, material, and major events for current readers, and as the first band we picked this month had no available media, I picked another band to fill out this double post! Today, we have a band each from both sides of the border, and though neither lasted a long time, they have their own distinct info to share, so read on below for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! (Updated on August 28th, 2013)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cherubic Red

Genre: Experimental/Industrial Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members:

Steven Dahlke, vocals/guitar
Nick Moreau (Plastic), guitar/bass/drums

Info/Analysis: Originally named Cash Only, Cherubic Red were a short lived industrial hard rock project that was active in the Sault Michigan area from roughly August 2009 until February 2010. Describing their sound as "rhythmic destruction", along with crediting numerous influences, old blog postings on their MySpace page from late 2009 indicated plans to release a single named "An Deinem Herzen" (German for "In Your Heart"), though the band went inactive before any media could be posted. They also had a close relationship with defunct local grunge band Half Stupid (who Steven Dahlke once promoted shows featuring), but little else is known on Cherubic Red that I can find. The influences and postings seem promising for a more unique local hard rock project, and hopefully we'll hear some of what Steven & Nick were working on at some point down the road!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faithless Sin

Genre: Thrash Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Jason Bourcier (Winkstinger, Fitswitch, No Arrow), vocals
Joe Falco (No Arrow, Flashback), guitar
Ryan Gratton (Chronic Demonic), bass
Jonathan Harvey (Gates of Winter), drums

Mike DiPasquale (Time of Ruin), guitar
Frank LaTassa (Quite Frankly), guitar
Mark Parent (Time of Ruin), drums

Info/Analysis: Primarily active from 2006-2007, Faithless Sin were visible and busy during their initial run, including releasing their song "Chaos Reigns", but major activity died down after the departure of guitarist Mike DiPasquale in September 2006, and updates ended the following spring. Plans to relaunch the band with a new name & sound led to the creation of a separate new band named Time of Ruin (featuring Jason, Mike, and Mark from Faithless Sin), who were active from 2007-2008. Most of Faithless Sin's original lineup relaunched the band after a three year hiatus in August 2010, but their reunion was short lived, and they disbanded for good that fall. Personally, I'd say that Time of Ruin should be looked back on & remembered first given that they did more (and actually played concerts), but at least Faithless Sin had posted media! "Chaos Reigns" is a solid extreme metal track with nice guitar work and an intense feeling, but the recording quality isn't very good. Still, if you liked Time of Ruin or the other local bands that Jason fronted, check out Faithless Sin's only posted original song below!



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this month's defunct profiles! Next month, we'll look at another Sault Michigan band, but which one? By random selection, I've chosen Insipid Brutality, the defunct local black/death metal band who just released a posthumous album last year, so watch out for what should be an interesting single-band profile on or around June 10th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for at least one new news post this weekend! Thanks everyone!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Entropy), Plus Faithless Sin, Woods Of Ypres, And Gates Of Winter News!!

Now with the new poll out of the way (VOTE IN IT TODAY!), we can get back to focusing on local metal news and updates, and we have some big updates for you guys, including the latest Woods of Ypres news, one hell of a drummer snag from a local band, and some clearing of the air involving an apparent band website, but first, a VERY SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

I apologize for not having this show until today, it was not in the Hot Spots section in Sault This Week, the band don't list any dates prior to this Thursday on their MySpace page, and an event page advertising it didn't pop up online until yesterday, so bear with me. Toronto alternative hard rockers The Entropy will be playing at Coch's Corner TONIGHT at 10:00 PM! Expect no cover charge and a 19+ age limit, as is typical for Coch's Corner concerts. This show is one of many dates on their current "Cities Will Fall" Canadian tour in support of their new EP, and this show should be a good one! The Entropy play a standard effective style of hard rock with unique vocals and a nice groove, it's radio friendly but has some bite on a few songs! I dunno if I'll be out for this one, but see what you guys think of The Entropy (and get more information) at the above links or at their official website! Considering that this is also a preview for the show, here's a video of one of their older singles, "Nothing New"!

Now, onto some news from local bands, and we'll start with some VERY cool news from Faithless Sin! The newly reunited thrash metal band have announced the addition of former Gates of Winter drummer Jonathan Harvey to their new lineup! Jonathan will fill the spot originally held by Mark Parent in Faithless Sin's original incarnation, and this news was officially announced yesterday on the band's Facebook page. In case you don't remember, Jonathan replaced current RedD Monkey drummer Kevin Overton in Gates of Winter in late 2006, and remained with the group until early 2008, after which he was replaced by Woods of Ypres' David Gold. He drummed on Gates of Winter's 2008 LP "Lux Aeterna", but was only credited as a session musician because it came out after he left the band. This is (to my knowledge) the first band we've seen him publicly acknowledged as a member of since leaving Gates of Winter, and I for one am very excited! I was a big fan of Jon's drumming and was very disappointed when he left Gates. Kudos to the guys in Faithless Sin for snapping him up! No word yet though on who Faithless Sin's new second guitarist will be, or if they're even going to get a second. I'll keep you posted on that and more as I hear it!

While we're on the subject of a Gates of Winter related topic, I wanted to clear up a confusion that some of you may have in regards to their old website. As you'll likely remember, Gates of Winter had an official website in their heyday, the link of which was http://www.gatesofwinter.com. In 2009, the site went down, presumably from failure to renew the domain name. But if you go there now, you'll still get a Gates of Winter page featuring a band biography, a quote-filled review of "Lux Aeterna", information about the album, and some YouTube videos. I don't know if anyone out there assumed that this is an official band member-controlled site or not, but let me definitively say: It's not. Someone purchased the domain name and turned it into an unofficial Gates of Winter fan site (it even says that on the front page), and not a completely accurate one either. "Lux Aeterna" is continually spelled wrong, the band biography is outdated by a couple of years, and it says that Jon Harvey now plays for a band named The Orchid. A Jon Harvey does play for that band, but he's a short haired folk/indie bassist from Halifax, not the long haired local metal drummer. I do appreciate whoever bought the domain to keep it alive as a Gates of Winter fan page, but I just wanted you guys out there to not be fooled. Still, check it out, it's mostly well written!

To close today's post, we have lots of updates from Woods of Ypres as recording sessions at Stereo Soul Studios wind down for their final album, "Woods V", and more! All instrument recordings are done, and vocal recording began on Monday. David Gold confirmed that the vocals will include "cleans, dooms, blacks and brutals", and everything sounded excellent as of Tuesday! David had one song left vocally to do on Thursday, but we've heard no word since on if it's finished or not, though I imagine it probably is. That's the last we've heard on the status of the recording sessions, but here's some other tidbits. In a reply to a question on if there'd be "Woods V" related merchandise, David replied by saying "SOLD!!!!! :)" (Yes, there was a smiley), with more details to come soon about everything else. Maybe there will be more merchandise, interesting! For more details and information, visit the "Woods V" topic on the band's official forum, where you can also find a couple new quotes that COULD add more theories and ideas to the whole "where is David moving and why are Woods ending?" saga.

That's not all though, as the last Woods of Ypres merchandise (well, pre-"Woods V", at least) is on it's last call! David Gold posted a list of the last available merchandise in a photo album at his personal Facebook page, including number counts of what's left. Among the merchandise left, there are two different band t-shirts in different sizes, along with all of the band's albums (including "Independent Nature" & the "Allure of the Earth" vinyl), the "Woods IV" promo packs with all the South Korean goodies, as well as band scarfs, toques, posters, and patches. There are LIMITED NUMBERS LEFT of the merchandise, so if you want more information, click here! You have until TOMORROW to send in orders, and they are ONLY being accepted by PayPal order via e-mail to woodsofypres@hotmail.com. The last orders will be shipped on Wednesday, and shipping is included. GET YOUR ORDERS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! To close today's post, we have a new Woods of Ypres video from their show in Stockbridge, Georgia last month! This was uploaded onto YouTube user finalxuprising's YouTube channel yesterday, and it's of the band playing "The Shams Of Optimism" & "Crossing The 45th Parallel"! Good angle and video quality, but the audio gets staticy if it's too loud, so turn your dials down. Not bad, check it out below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned to The Sault Metal Scene tomorrow for our second Defunct Local Band Profile featuring the defunct metal project M7K! And of course, by Tuesday, our newest profiles of out of town bands with local members will be up as well, as we discuss Hellhitch and Kilacel! Stay tuned for those, and much more, very soon!

Faithless Sin's Return, The Latest Kiss Updates, And More!!

One final post in the lead up to the local concert event of the year, and yes, we have new Kiss updates, along with the latest on a local drummer's entry in a major contest, but first, the return of a notable local metal band! And remember to check out this morning's post with new concerts, a Skull Fist preview, and the latest from Woods of Ypres in the post below, and for an extended preview of the Kiss concert, click here or check two posts below this one!

Faithless Sin are BACK! Last seen on stage in 2006, the local thrash metal band that (more or less) evolved into Time of Ruin have officially reunited with new internet pages in tow! Currently, the band includes three of their old members, including former Time of Ruin/Operation: Killdozer frontman Jason Bourcier (you'll also recognize him as a former bassist in Fitswitch & SIGHdEFECT, among other bands), No Arrow drummer Joe Falco on guitar (you may remember him as part of the local cover band Flashback), and bassist Ryan Gratton! The other two band members from their last incarnation, drummer Mark Parent & Quite Frankly guitarist Frank LaTassa, are apparently not taking part in the band's return. Not a lot to say yet about Faithless Sin's return, they have launched a new Facebook page and a new MySpace page, but their old MySpace page is still online. Their Facebook page has some descriptions of their sound, and claims that we'll hear some updates and songs soon! We'll have to see, but I know I'm happy to see them back! I remember seeing them once or twice locally, and Jason's thrash projects are always worth seeing, though I wish they lasted longer! Check the above links for more, including their original MySpace page, which has an live jam session clip of their original song "Chaos Reigns"!

And now, the latest Kiss updates as we inch ever closer to this major concert event! Firstly, I can guarantee you that there was no inclement weather to stop Gene Simmons and company from making it to town for this show, as this photo will attest. A SooToday reader spotted one of Kiss' trucks on The International Bridge at 11:45 this morning, took a picture, and submitted it to SooToday, so if there's any skeptics out there still doubting this concert, voila! Next, videos have been posted on The Sault Star's official website featuring interviews with two subjects recently quoted in Kiss-related Sault Star articles! One is Rachelle LaBrecque's interview with The Rad Zone's Len Ward about the Kiss concert, the festivities surrounding it, and their extra stocking of Kiss merchandise at The Rad Zone in the lead-up to the show. You can check it out by clicking here! The other is Brian Kelly's interview with Ward 2 Councillor Terry Sheehan about his Kiss/Sault Ste. Marie t-shirt, and his hopes and plans for meeting with the band and attending the concert! Click here to watch, and note that I can't embed these videos here, so you'll have to visit the links to view the videos.

Two more notes. Firstly, I can confirm that my ticket says that camera are NOT allowed at the concert. That being said, people are bound to break that rule, so do so at your own risk. And, one more Sault Star article for you guys today, this being an interview conducted by The Sault Star's Jeffery Ougler with Kiss drummer Eric Singer! Eric discusses the pressure and reaction he still faces from replacing Peter Criss, Eric's take on our original December date's cancellation, how their tour is going, his past work with Alice Cooper, and he dropped a few hints as to what we might expect tonight as well! He vows that there'll be bigger and better effects and more pyro than we would have got last year, so watch out for that! Good article, check it out at this location, and stay tuned to this post over the next few hours if any new updates about the Kiss concert come to light!

(UPDATE 5:15 PM) Kiss are in Sault Ste. Marie! SooToday's David Helwig reports that the band landed in Sault Ontario at 3:39 today via a Raytheon Hawker 800 twin-jet aircraft. They left from a show in Indianapolis at 2:25 PM today. Click here to read the update, and click here for Donna Hopper's photo of a familiar face! And remember, a pre-show gathering featuring Len Ward, Terry Sheehan, Josh & Evan Belleau, and tons of Kiss fans will take place at 5:00 PM at Foggy Notions, so head on down there to get ready for the concert!

Finally for today, here's some more updates on Nixxon Dixxon drummer Jake LaLonde's quest to earn a full scholarship from Hollywood's Musicians Institute! Fans have really jumped on the bandwagon to support Jake and vote for him in the Full Ride Scholarship Contest, because he was in SIXTH PLACE out of 600 musicians yesterday! When I checked today, he was in third on the daily count, so it shows that people, fans, family, and supporters are really getting the votes in! The higher Jake gets, the more likely that The Musicians Institute will select him for the live finals in Hollywood on September 3rd! You have just FIVE DAYS TO VOTE, so click the above links to get on that! Remember, you have to register first, but that's simple and no different from most sites that need an account. It should be noted that in one e-mail sent to people supporting Jake through a Facebook event page for the campaign that Jake is apparently going to attend The Musicians Institute this fall regardless of if he wins or not, so I wonder what this will mean for Nixxon Dixxon? A new drummer? A hiatus during the school semesters? A breakup? I can't say, but the band don't have scheduled concert dates past this month, for what that's worth. Fingers crossed they're not breaking up though, they're too good of a band! I'll keep you posted on Jake's quest for the full ride, and of course, VOTE FOR JAKE TODAY!!!

That should be all for now, but as I said earlier, if new Kiss information comes out prior to when I head downtown for the concert, then I will edit this post with the news! Stay tuned if something does come out, and if nothing does, I will see you guys at The Essar Center TONIGHT and at The Rockstar Bar after the show! It's time to rock n' roll all night, and party every day!!!