Heavy Lies The Crown - "Notions" EP Review!!

It's now time for our 207th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and we have finally entered this calendar year as our dig through our new album release backlog continues! This month, we're taking a look at the first local metal album of 2026, namely St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown's second EP and fourth paid album "Notions", which was independently released to major streaming services on January 30th. "Notions" compiles five of the six one-off studio singles that Heavy Lies The Crown released after April 2024. Lead singer Brandon West and guitarist/ex-drummer Jaxon Massaway are credited on streaming for production and mixing the EP at North Shore Audio, but I have not seen any firm credits as to who played on what song. During the timeline of these songs' recording, they were joined by guitarist Nathan Switzer, guitarist/drummer Kaycee Mason, bassist Christian Cook, and drummer Blaze Beairl.

All but Blaze have since left HLTC, though note that Brandon has reportedly drummed on some prior studio material despite not being explicitly credited as such. Also, note that the cover artwork for the EP was designed by Christian before he left the band. "Notions" is available on multiple streaming services, including the big four (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music), and you can buy it in mp3 format via iTunes for $4.95, though like their prior releases, it isn't available on physical formats. Note that the formal EP was never uploaded to Spotify, but all five songs are individually streamable there. This is a short EP, as its five songs only clock in at 12 minutes, so let's begin this review!

First up is the title track "Notions", which has a suitably djenty opening riff, but feels more industrial and processed, with Brandon's vocals less raw and more layered. The song is very heavy, but it kinda feels like it's not really going anywhere, and the sludgy breakdown late (while likely a mosh pit starter live) ends the song on a bit of an anticlimax. Honestly, "Notions" comes off like it's a heavy stylistic change but without the freewheeling spark and variance in styles that I was hoping for. Next is "Shame", which is an instant improvement from its cleaner, less processed sound, including Brandon screaming in full voice overtop of the music. It's just a shame (natch) that it's an EP-low 80 seconds long! This feels extremely unfinished, like it's all verses and choruses with no instrumental time to breathe. A crushing song while it lasts, and fans of their earlier material should take to it!

Another sub-2 minute song caps off the EP's first half, namely "Marble Skin". which shares more in common with the title track, if not as mechanical sounding. Riff is punishing, the drums are the best that we've had yet, but it again has the vocals in a more processed, layered-in-the-mix state, and I'm not sure that ending songs with breakdowns is ideal. If anything, they should be a bridge to a final chorus, but given the length, I guess it had to go somewhere? Not a bad song but the deathcore influence, vocal processing, and brevity don't help it. The longest song here is next, namely "Road To Detroit" (inspired Heavy's road trips downstate), and the softer intro does help set the tone, as does the return of Brandon singing clean on verses! This feels more introspective than other songs on offer, and harsh vocals are more accent items than a focus, and this honestly gives me Deftones vibes, which isn't something I can say often about a local band!

While not their heaviest song by any stretch, it drives along well with an effective atmospheric vibe, and while their recent music has otherwise trended more extreme, it would be interesting to see Brandon, Jaxon, and crew do more stuff like this! The curiously titled "Happy Fun Fun" closes the EP, and things end on a heavy note, with djenty riffs, aggressive vocals, and more of a deathcore essence again, though like on too many songs here, the vocals come off too processed and layered, rather than letting Brandon let loose at the forefront. Suitably creepy spoken word and piano work fitting the title is also included here (it makes sense if you've seen the music video), and while the song is an effective closer that improves on some things, it still ends somewhat abruptly, and could have done more with the vibe of innocent childhood items in an unsettling horror setting like this.

So, what are my final thoughts on Heavy Lies The Crown's new EP? It's not their peak for my preferences, but if you're more into modern deathcore, you'll like how things have drifted! This is a short listen (probably too short), though the guys did say upon release that "Notions" was "a glued version of what we have to offer at this moment", and if that's the case, I'd have glued more on. I do miss the guitar solos that have largely been absent since the self-titled album (a.k.a. "Knucklebutter"), the drift towards deathcore and end-of-song breakdowns isn't necessarily for me compared to their earlier stuff, and I would really prefer Brandon's singing to be clear and audible and not so processed. Musically, everyone performs well with strong riffs, but when the best song ("Shame") doesn't even clear 90 seconds, it just left me wondering why they didn't fill these songs out moreso.

Deftones fans will like "Road To Detroit", and recent fans will like these songs, but I really would have included their mid-2024 single "These Walls". I don't know if it was omitted due to being co-written by Nathan before he left the band, or if the clearer metalcore structure, 4+ minute length, and clean choruses didn't fit where Heavy were at last year, but it would have been a highlight for me. What we do get is solid enough, just not at their peak for my preferences, but buy/stream "Notions" above and see what you think! I hope you guys liked this month's album review, and next month, we're staying in Michigan for a look at local metal solo project X's & Y's' new EP "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars"! Thanks everyone!

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates & New Tour Videos From The Spring!!

It's been three months, so what have St. Ignace, Michigan deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown been up to since we last left off with them in early May? Surprisingly, not much, but too much time has passed, so let's get caught up! When we left off our last post on HLTC, they had just finished their multi-state spring tour run, and while the video that ended that post was sadly deleted from Facebook due to the new one month time limit on live-streams, a raw video of them covering "Friend" from the last gig at The Jordan Inn in East Jordan was shared to their Facebook page on May 5th. This features guest vocals from Jay Clemons (drummer of the Detroit-area metal bands Influence and Nothing After This), who had sang on this song on multiple gigs on this loop. Just as a reminder, new bassist Bubba Hillz did not join this tour, and this was among the shows that didn't even have a guest bassist present.

Bubba is still in the band's profile and cover photos on Facebook, but they haven't always been transparent when it comes to lineup changes, so we'll have to see if he is on the low end when they return to action. What we see and hear in this clip is suitably chaotic, and Brandon and Jay add to the brutality with their joint screaming, so give this a watch below!

Later that day, frontman Brandon West starred in this horizontal(!) update video from his vehicle where he noted that they're taking a week off after the tour, but would soon "push for new music", as they "have developed a new sound on the road". Specifically, he noted that they want to remove "a lot of our slower songs, and, like, happier songs", and even namedropped certain originals that they removed from their set on this tour for that reason. While not bad songs, he said that they wanted to find "our focus of our sound", and you could infer that Heavy Lies The Crown want to be faster and heavier going forward. I hope this doesn't mean a loss of melody in the trade-off, or that they completely disown songs like "*69", "Notions", and "Road To Detroit"! Three days later, Brandon asked in the video embedded below where fans want to see them tour when they hit the road next.

Specifically, Brandon sounded optimistic about touring out-of-state again, particularly in Wisconsin. Brandon did directly note wanting to play more shows in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but said that through his contacts to that point, it was hard to get a foot in the door an hour north unless you were a weekend bar cover band (he should contact Serious Business or Soo Tang Records, and if able to cross the border, Sault Ontario promoters!!) If you can help get HLTC booked locally or elsewhere, or play on the same bill with them, message Brandon above, and check out the video below!

After asking for new merchandise suggestions on May 14th, Heavy Lies The Crown took a month+ break from updating their Facebook page, returning via the upload of this video on June 20th from an unidentified concert, of Brandon draping a t-shirt over drummer Blaze Beairl's head mid-song, and he kept on drumming without missing a beat. The loud staticy noise and 12 seconds-long runtime do not help, but it's fun for what it is! Two days later, a longer (if still very short) video from their show at the Petskull Brewing Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on April 29th was shared, featuring 27 seconds of Brandon, guitarist Jaxon Massaway, and Blaze (no guest bassist here) rocking out. The corner-stage angle is a unique look at the ferocity, with Brandon being a powder keg of energy here, so check out this brutal but short look at a rare out-of-state gig a watch below!

To close, the band's most recent video is from June 23rd (they have been idle from Facebook for well over a month now), and it features them playing 15 seconds of "Rewind" at the tour kickoff at the Eaton Rapids Craft Company on April 24th. This show was one of the early ones here that did have a guest bassist, namely Emily Barnett from the Athens metalcore band Fault Of The People. While brutal with Brandon's energy levels and screaming at top levels, this is far from ideal, not just from the length. For one, the stationary camera looks like it's pointing at the wall beside the stage, so you only see Brandon and Emily in frame, with the focus on Brandon's back when he's facing the crowd. The audio sounds dubbed in in post, which is proven by vocals being heard when Brandon's mic isn't at his mouth (note that the video description does say "Rewind edit"). Why not trust the raw audio, especially for 15 seconds?

Despite the brevity, the file's runtime is over 24 minutes long, which is otherwise a black screen. I felt like I was watching the finale of The Sopranos! If you do want to see a better angle of the stage (despite the identical length, vertical orientation, and cartoon cowboy hat added in post), click here for an earlier Eaton Rapids video that we featured on the SMS in May. With the teasers of longer/fuller videos and even vlogs from the tour, I do hope that Heavy posts more when they're ready, but the teasers sure leave you wanting more, so give everything so far a watch above and below!

We are now surprisingly caught up on Heavy Lies The Crown despite the three month gap, but hopefully they emerge from their dormant summer in full force, so stay tuned for more from them in the future, and for more news and notes on the SMS next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Heavy Lies The Crown) & More Winter Updates From Their Camp!!

It's been two months since we last talked about St. Ignace, Michigan deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown on the SMS in regards to new activity, so what have they been up to as of late? We left off in mid-December, and we'll pick things back up on the 13th of that month with this short Facebook video from singer Brandon West (again introduced here as "Heavy" despite no other band members being present), where he teased the impending delivery of their newest round of official H.L.T.C. hockey jerseys. They arrived three days later, featuring artwork by bassist Christian Cook, and you can see how they turned out at this link! Jerseys were largely made to order with limited extras, but message the band to see about possible availability or to express interest in possible future orders. The band's last proper musical updates of 2024 were their second and third "Studio Update" videos.

Studio Update #2 from December 16th covers similar ground to the first one (footage of guitarist Kaycee Mason and drummer Blaze Beairl tracking material for their forthcoming third full-length album), but does so in colour, while Studio Update #3 from the 21st focuses on Christian (with those hands, though!), albeit in black & white. No sign of Brandon or "travelling" guitarist Jaxon Massaway in either upload, and both continue to use the same clip of "These Walls" as the backing audio. Good to see things progressing throughout the winter, so give the new update videos a watch!

While not featured in the above update videos, Brandon was slated to wrap up vocals "soon" as of January 9th, when the band also teased the possibility of adding more tracks to the album after reviewing what they've recorded so far. The following week, they teased possibly including a featured artist on their new album, and asked fans for suggestions, while they said that "I think these songs are gonna hit different" on January 23rd. Starting later that month, H.L.T.C. began announcing concerts of theirs for 2025, and the first will see them rock Cabin Fever Fest 2 at the From Huron Out Pub in Oscoda (3½ hours southeast of the Soo) over the March 22nd weekend. Twelve bands are scheduled to play this two night festival, including Lansing experimental hard rock band Mr. Denton On Doomsday, who Sault Michigan readers may recall from multiple local gigs in the 2000s. Nice to see them in an SMS post again after 16 long years, albeit not for a local date!

Regarding their new album, they posted a Facebook poll on January 27th to inquire about physical formats to potentially release it on (as far as I'm aware, their two  albums and their debut EP were digitally exclusive). CDs won in a landslide, but we'll let you know if you can actually hold the next album when it's released! On January 28th, Heavy Lies The Crown shared two "Reels" on their Facebook page featuring footage of their set at Fight Breast Cancer With Music at The Delft Theater in Escanaba in October, finally letting us see video footage from that night with actual live audio (they previously only posted a highlight/teaser compilation featuring multiple bands, but with "These Walls" dubbed over). One is of them playing "*69", while the other "Reel" is not labelled as to which song. Click on each to see them, as "Reels" remain unembeddable on external websites and unplayable in background tabs.

While it is great to see actual raw footage from their last concert of 2024, they are horizontal landscape videos forcibly pillarboxed into the vertical "Reel" dimensions, and while they have text captions above, why let these videos be so tiny when they don't have to be? Also on January 28th, H.L.T.C. announced a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for actually local fans, as they will host their third annual 2nd Street Music Festival at 376 North 2nd Street in their St. Ignace hometown on Saturday, August 9th! Like in the past two years, this is being hyped around Brandon's birthday, and further details are to be confirmed, but it's great to see the guys playing a proper E.U.P. show again! We're lucky to see Heavy Lies The Crown in our coverage range twice in a calendar year. If this is similar to the last two installments, this will be a FREE & ALL AGES outdoor event at 7:00 PM with a few extra bands (last year featured Tarnished and Hannahville metal band Ghidora.)

We'll leave things here for now, but they have been quite active posting videos/"Reels" on Facebook in the past three weeks, so it shouldn't be too long before we look at more from Heavy Lies The Crown on the site. 

Heavy Lies The Crown Updates & Videos From Last Month!!

It's been almost a month, so let's catch up on what St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to in recent weeks! When we last left H.L.T.C., they were preparing to headline the second annual 2nd Street Music Festival on August 10th in their hometown (an all too rare public gig of theirs that is truly "local" for SMS purposes). A "Reel" (unembeddable here as ever) was shared to their Facebook page during the event featuring a few precious seconds of Hannahville death metal band Ghidora's opening set, though it seemed to have been more to focus on headbanging fans. When we previewed the 2nd Street Fest on the SMS last month, I did warn of a 30-40% chance of rain in St. Ignace that night, and unfortunately, those odds didn't swing in the outdoor event's favour, as it did rain during the concert. In spite of the weather, the show went on, and hopefully everyone had a good time! Before getting into videos from that night, there is a big lineup change to address.

On August 13th, the band revealed on their Facebook page that guitarist Nathan Switzer would be leaving the band again after their show in Grand Rapids on August 23rd. In that post, they referred to Nathan as "our filling (sic) guitarist", despite never visibly referring to Nathan's return as temporary until then. Nathan initially returned to replace Ted Olson on guitar in March, and while things definitely seem amicable with him, remember that he does still live downstate, which may complicate things re: availability for shows and practice and whatnot. Hopefully he stays active in music in any event! The band has brought on Alpena-based musician Kaycee Mason to replace Nathan going forward, who followers of H.L.T.C.'s gigs may know as the drummer of the metal band Katharsys Theory, who they have shared the stage with multiple times for gigs in the Northern Lower, most notably the annual French Road Bash.

Kaycee is better known as a drummer, but how is he as a guitarist? We can see a glimpse in the public videos shared on Heavy Lies The Crown's Facebook page from the 2nd Street Music Fest! If you want to see Kaycee with the guys (after reportedly learning their set in just a week & a half), you can see him guesting with them on "Choke" in this clip. From what I understand, Kaycee was filling in for Nathan for this concert, but signed on as the full replacement after how well things went, though given that both are currently bald, you'd be forgiven for not knowing something changed without reading the band's posts! Also, frontman Brandon West's hair is shorter than ever! Sadly, while not a "Reel", it runs for just 20 seconds, was shot vertically, and is very dark, but things sound good while they last! A better look can be seen in videos shared from attendee Veiruz Grimnirson's personal Facebook page, so what did he film that night?

One clip runs for just 9 seconds and features a moshing attendee during H.L.T.C.'s set, but embedded below is a horizontal (if partially sideways) 3+ minute video that features Kaycee leaving the stage to rock out with attendees on the lawn. Given how wet and slick the stage looks after the rain, I don't blame him in the slightest! I do wish the crowd was bigger (and that it hadn't rained), but the first local gig with Kaycee and Blaze in the fold seemed like it went over well for the enthusiastic metalheads in attendance, and their ferocious original sound is shown off well in Veiruz's video, so check it out for yourselves below!

Cycling back to the August 13th post that announced their guitarist switch, Heavy Lies The Crown finally acknowledged the departure of drummer Jaxon Massaway there. According to the band's post, Jaxon (who was replaced by Blaze Beairl in July) "left to travel the country for a little bit", but will be coming back to the band when he returns, albeit switching to guitar when he does. This would restore H.L.T.C. to a quintet for the first time since Christian Thanasiu left in March 2023, but we don't know when Jaxon will be back in Michigan yet. I do hope to talk about Jaxon's original music in an upcoming post in any event! Interestingly, Heavy Lies The Crown said that they are "in our second phase" in this post, even though this is the (by my count) seventh live lineup that they've had since forming, with Brandon as the only constant. Heavy Lies The Crown next played live over the August 23rd weekend, starting when they opened for Glassfield in Grand Rapids.

We'll touch on what happened there and at this year's French Road Bash in Alpena (Kaycee's official debut as their permanent guitarist) the next day in an upcoming post, but hopefully this single-band post helped us get caught up on what Brandon, Christian, Blaze, and the new/old crew have been up to last month, and that doesn't even include the teased new song that they wrote when Nathan came back (entitled "These Walls"). Stay tuned for much more from Heavy Lies The Crown on the site soon, and for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (BookcluB), New Videos, And More!!

Today's post is roughly evenly divided between the Twin Saults, including some new videos and related updates from two E.U.P. metal acts, but we'll lead off in Sault Ontario with a new punk cover video and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a linked project, so here's what you should know!

Online page-less local alternative/punk cover band BookcluB will perform at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery on Sunday, June 23rd as the headline musical act during that day's teddy bear picnic! Covering an event like this for the SMS is new to me, but the venue isn't, as Thomson Farms hosted a brief weekly series from Tym Morrison at their on-site Wine Barn in the fall of 2019. The event next Sunday is indeed a teddy bear picnic, which Thomson Farms is hosting for the first time this year, and attendees of this family friendly event will get to take part in crafts and activities, a barbecue, tractor rides, and other activities that you'd hope to see at a strawberry farm like this! The performer lineup is oddly not given on social media, but organizers did list it on the Eventbrite page where you can buy your advance tickets. On his personal Facebook page, BookcluB frontman Mikey Hawdon confirmed that they're the 1:00 PM headliners, with the event running until 4:00 PM.

R&B/soul sextet The Hustle Brothers will open at 10:00 AM, reuniting them with Bookclub from last year's Summer Moon Festival. No word on if the bands will be playing outside or in the Wine Barn, but of course, this is an all ages event (and kids are highly encouraged to bring their own teddy bear and a picnic blanket for the occasion). The teddy bear picnic has advance tickets of $10 per person, regardless of age (though infants 2 years old and under will get in free), and you can buy them at this link or presumably in person at Thomson Farms. The door price will rise an unstated amount if you opt not to buy tickets ahead. Very unexpected booking, but it should be fun for all, so visit the Facebook event page for more details! 

Next up, let's stay on a Mikey Hawdon trajectory by looking at the long awaited tenth song in his punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary cover series of Green Day's classic album "Dookie"! Unfortunately, we have just had the longest wait yet between installments of this series, with song #10 only dropping on Wednesday, 36 days after "Sassafras Roots" was posted to the project's YouTube channel. In chronological order, the tenth track on "Dookie" is the album's final released single, "When I Come Around", and here, the guest vocalist is truly from afar, namely Nikola Sarcevic of the Swedish punk rock legends Millencolin. I do like them, so this is neat! Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury returns for his fifth turn in the series (only missing two of the last seven videos), while Goldfinger alum Darren Pfieffer continues his role as the "Dookie" series' only drummer, and he's wearing a hockey jersey again!

The cover is really good, and Nikola's distinct accented voice fits very well on "When I Come Around"! Of note, his scenes were filmed at a snowy cemetery, while Mikey is also seen in scenes paying homage to the original Green Day music video, primarily of him and two young relatives (I assume) walking the aisles of what appears to be Sault College. Everything is professionally shot and recorded, so Green Day fans will be right at home here! It's deep cuts from here on out in this series, with song #11 ("Coming Clean") up next. Based on prior timelines, it should go online between Tuesday and July 18th (the current average would be on June 26th). Check out Mikey & His Uke's new video below!

Let's head south to Michigan for the rest of today's post, starting with the latest from St. Ignace metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown, so what have they been up to in the past month+? In Facebook posts from late April and early May, we saw ex-guitarist Ted Olson in new rehearsal photos, so did he return to the fold? No (the band already said that he left in part because he didn't want to tour anymore), but things are clearly still amicable, as he was jamming with H.L.T.C. to help teach "the new ones" in preparation for the Born Of Osiris show in Pontiac on May 26th. Curiously, the band has only posted once on Facebook since that show despite it being returning guitarist Nathan Switzer's first gig back, so hopefully that's just a sign that they've been busy and not that things went poorly downstate! It's after the fact now (my apologies, even with it being 5 hours away), but they did post a promotional video beforehand to get the final word out!

Drummer Jaxon Massaway filmed this in their tour vehicle while en route to Pontiac on the 24th for their Facebook page, and after initially getting tongue tied, he did plug the show, bands, ticket availability, and more. I do hope that the concert was a success, even with the band being relatively silent on social media in recent weeks, so get more from Heavy Lies The Crown above & below, and hopefully we hear more soon!

We'll close with the latest from local extreme metal solo project X's & Y's' YouTube channel! Just as a refresher, this is the current project from former Life's Eclipse guitarist and Werehold Records owner Jason Mills, who have sporadically posted material over the past couple of years. Two official songs have been posted since we last checked in with X's & Y's in January of last year, including a cover from November of the "Theme Of Solid Snake" from the 1990 video game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which you may recall from modern Metal Gear compilations in the west. Jason is an acknowledged fan of classic computer games (he calls Metal Gear 2 his "favourite video game"), and this is a strong metallized rendition for fans! Embedded below is a brand new song from his long gestating debut X's & Y's album "The Obsidian Dream", entitled "A Flow Of Touch"

Fans of Jason's original material dating back to the Werehold days will take to "A Flow Of Touch", which has some strong djent-laden riffing and some melodic solos to match, along with good production, and it'd be great to see "The Obsidian Dream" get a completed release where Life's Eclipse albums of the past did not! Check out X's & Y's new songs above & below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Rock Show) Plus New Videos!!

Before we begin today's post, just a heads up that former Destroilet singer Mike Hull's obituary was posted on SooToday yesterday. Mike is survived by his parents Warren & Helle, his kids Nickolas & Alyvia, three siblings, his grandmother, his dog Jojo, and numerous extended family members. His funeral service will take place at Northwood Funeral Home & Cremation Centre on Wednesday at 2:00 PM with Reverend Ben Kjiersadam presiding, and interment will follow at Greenwood Cemetery (visitation will be at Northwood on Tuesday from 5:00-8:00 PM). In Mike's name, the Hull family would appreciate donations to the Algoma Pregnancy Centre, St. Vincent Place, or the Teen Challenge Northern Ontario Centre. The obituary strongly indicates that he was becoming more religious in recent years, and does not mention his music career beyond noting that he was one to sing while at work. 

Mike's passing came as a surprise to so many, especially so close to Christmas, so be sure to keep Mike's family (especially his kids) in mind over the holidays, and consider paying your respects at the services at Northwood on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. R.I.P. Mike!

Today's post otherwise looks at some new videos and, leading off, an intriguing LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for New Year's Eve, as Michigan-based classic/hard rock tribute band The Rock Show will end the year at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Sunday, December 31st! This year, Kewadin Casino is experimenting with booking a touring cover band for New Year's Eve at both of their regional branch lounges, with Niagara Falls party rock cover band XPrime playing at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie that same day. An hour south, St. Ignace fans will instead get The Rock Show, whose setlist is decidedly heavier and full of crowd pleasing classic rock and hard rock hits, so if you want to send out 2023 with a bang, that'd be a good option in three weeks! Note that The Rock Show have two guises, the other being as a Journey tribute band, but we are getting the general rock cover set.

Their website's concert calendar confirms this, along with a private booking that they're playing at The Dreammakers Theatre in the Soo on Saturday the 30th, where they will be doing the Journey tribute set. Keep that in mind if you are privy to that private event! Expect a 9:00 PM start time and 21+ age limit in St. Ignace at month's end, and while Northern Pines Lounge shows typically have no cover charge, bring cash just in case given the circumstances. Visit the above links for more details!

We'll stay in St. Ignace next for a long overdue look at the newest music video from local deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown! At least we have some new video of them to look at, given that they were the only group at last month's Lake Superior State University battle of the bands to not have their set publically filmed! The song in question is "Celebrate The Night" from their forthcoming studio album, and the video was posted to their YouTube channel on October 29th. The music video starts with most of the band driving around when they decide to pick up a homeless guy (singer Brandon West), after which they give him some alcohol and he begins hallucinating that he's stumbling into a building, which leads into performance footage of the band outdoors by the waterfront (incidentally, not at night either).  Of note, ex-guitarist Christian Thanasiu is present in the video, both in the vehicle and performing with the band.

I don't believe this signals his return to the group, as comment replies on Facebook shares of the video imply that it was initially filmed last year (he left the band in March). Still good to see Christian T. with H.L.T.C. again, if belatedly! I'll hold comment on the song pending our eventual review of the finished album, but the "officail" (sic) video is well shot, if somewhat ambiguous with the opening scene before the band actually plays the song. Give the video a watch for yourselves below!

Finally for today, let's head north to Sault Ontario for a new preview video for the upcoming Fuller reunion concert at LopLops Lounge on December 28th! Frontman Jamie Vincent uploaded this to the show's Facebook event page on December 1st, and it features 77 seconds of he, Mark, and Nathan playing an instrumental piece that kinda has a drone/noise quality to it. While the camera angle (with only Nathan facing the camera) is worse than the jam video that Mark posted in October, Jamie's new video is in colour and was shot horizontally, so pick your poison. Still a good teaser of the reunion ahead on the 28th, so give it a watch below!

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

LSSU Battle Of The Bands Results, Plus Videos From Two Acts!!

As you may know, Lake Superior State University held a fan-voted battle of the bands at their on-campus Arts Center on Thursday, marking the first battle of the bands in either of the Twin Saults since before the since the NLFB Meltdown battle in Sault Ontario in 2017. Oddly, LSSU didn't announce the results online after the fact, but we now know who won and how the competitors did, so who won this rare Sault Michigan battle? New local punk quartet The Sole Aggressors, who took home the $150 cash prize after winning the fan ballot! Apparently, they won by just three votes over rising young Dafter singer/guitarist Molly Escherich (who won $50), while the third place band was reportedly new local hard rock quartet Double Jack. The fact that these three acts made the podium and the more established Heavy Lies The Crown, Kevin Blakeney, and Tarnished did not may be seen as an upset, but remember that this was fan voted.

I'm writing this before I see videos from Thursday, so the actual performances should not be discredited, but many would see a fan-voted battle of the bands with no judges as being a popularity contest and not a true measure of each act/set. Still, this is the first local battle of the bands of any kind in over six years, so I'm just glad that one was held, and hopefully more (from LSSU or otherwise) are held in the future! Videos have turned up from half of the competitors on Thursday, not including The Sole Aggressors, H.L.T.C., or Kevin (yet?), and while Kevin didn't knowingly lean to heavier music in the past, we will have more from the two un-filmed bands on the site next week, and congratulations to The Sole Aggressors for their big win! A lot of our post-battle knowledge comes from Molly Escherich, who posted about it a good deal on her Facebook page and also uploaded videos from it to her YouTube channel!

Molly was actually the first performer at the Arts Center on Thursday, and her entire 15 minute set was filmed for her channel, where she covered Eddie Rabbitt's "Driving My Life Away", Pop Evil's "100 In A 55", System of a Down's "Aerials", and Slipknot's "Snuff", before playing an original song named "We Are Still Here". I severely doubt that this will be the last time we talk about Molly on here (check back for our next Sault Michigan/battle post), but she has a good voice and guitar abilities, and has a natural audience rapport, and it is very encouraging to see someone of her age covering songs like these in the E.U.P.! Check out her set below!

Finally for this post (there's more coming next week), let's skip ahead to the fourth band to play at LSSU on Thursday, namely local classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished, in their first gig with new bassist Parker Talentino, who reportedly joined the band a month ago. As it turns out, frontman Alex Traynor is Molly's guitar instructor, which is neat to learn! Molly (or a friend/family member) filmed Tarnished covering Local H's "Bound For The Floor", Van Halen's "Eruption" (naturally leading directly into their cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me"), and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which didn't quite take them to their 15 minutes allotted on Thursday, but I can't confirm if the filmer missed a short song before "Bound For The Floor" or not. I also can't confirm why they only played covers, perhaps to ease Parker into live gigs and/or maybe as a play to grab maximum audience attention with familiar songs?

Performance-wise, everyone sounded good, and if this battle had judges, Tarnished would definitely have won brownie points for showmanship and Alex's guitar skill, especially on the "Eruption" solo! Parker seemed to fit in well on bass too, if a little stiff during this mini-set. The Achilles heel with this video was that it was shot vertically, and while that wasn't a problem for Molly, it rendered Alex, Parker, and Josh very tiny in the background, not to mention that Molly's set had zoom and Tarnished's didn't. Still a very strong and heavy performance for classic metal fans, so give Tarnished's battle set a watch for yourselves below!

We'll have more from the battle and Sault Michigan bands in general next week, but that's all for today, and stay tuned for more from Sault Ontario acts next week as well! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Heavy Lies The Crown

Now is the time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, continuing our monthly spotlighting of YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk concerts and/or artists! This month's randomly selected channel is a rare one that is still in active use, and from arguably the most prominent active metal bands in the E.U.P., so here's what you should know on it!

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Heavy Lies The Crown (http://youtube.com/@heavyliesthecrown7705)

Owner: A member of St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quintet Heavy Lies The Crown (either singer Brandon West or guitarist Ted Olson, if not both)

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 16th, 2019; Videos posted from March 2020 onwards

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for Heavy Lies The Crown, it features 31 videos of or featuring the band, though all but 10 are primarily just song uploads, including complete copies of their 2019 EP "Scatter Brain" and their 2021 self-titled album (later renamed "Knucklebutter"), plus songs for their to-be-released album. The proper videos largely include music videos and playthroughs of their studio tracks.

Why You Should Watch: This channel is must-watch for H.LT.C. fans, with loads of studio content in particular to check out, and seeing as this channel and the band are still very active (their newest video is just a month old), look for more there soon, including a music video recently teased on their Facebook page! Be advised that, as of this writing, the band's current lineup only really factors in the three newest videos. Also, the channel has no live concert videos, which have been Facebook exclusive as far as the band's official content goes.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Heavy Lies the Crown - Voices (Official Music Video): By far the most popular video on Heavy Lies The Crown's channel, over 4,600 views have came to date for the music video for their song "Voices", posted in August 2021 in advance of their full length album release that December. Then featuring rhythm guitarist Nathan Switzer, bassist Danny Tucker, and drummer Cale Krist in their lineup, the video features the band performing in a room with rocky walls along with dark red lighting. The visual impact sets the tone well for this song, which was a solidly heavy cut on the album, if not my favourite track therein! Music videos for "Knucklebutter", "Thing 1" (since renamed "A Hell Bound Heart"), and "Every Step Of The Way" have also been uploaded (so far).

Heavy Lies the Crown - Time Diffuser or something else (playthrough): Playthrough videos from Brandon, Ted, Nathan, and Danny have all been posted to the H.L.T.C. channel, but let's feature this more recent example, with Ted playing their song "Time Diffuser" (later adding "Or Something Else" to its extended title) in February of last year. While not as embellished in post-production as other playthroughs on offer, you do switch between three different angles of Ted shredding this original, of course using his headless guitar throughout. Strong showcase of Ted's ample abilities, and click here for his other playthrough video for "Choke"!

Heavy Lies the Crown - Gods Butter: As part of the pre-release hype for their second full-length album and first with their current lineup, Heavy Lies The Crown have uploaded three advance singles to their channel in the past couple of months, including "Cigar With The Devil", "Celebrate The Night", and as featured here, "Gods Butter". Featuring lightning effects over a recent photo of the band (now featuring rhythm guitarist Christian Thanasiu, bassist Christian Cook, and drummer Jaxon Massaway), the song is a promising hint at what's to come for H.L.T.C. in 2023, and more is definitely on the horizon from the new album!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around May 26th for a randomly selected look at Sault Ontario punk bassist/solo artist Brad Example's YouTube channel, while our next monthly feature post will be this month's album review, hitting the site at some point between Friday and Sunday. That's all for today, but look for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Lots Of Recent Updates From Heavy Lies The Crown!!

It's been way too long since we've talked about St. Ignace metalcore quintet Heavy Lies The Crown on the SMS, so let's get caught up on what they've been up to in the past month+ in this single topic post!  On August 20th, the band posted this 30 seconds-long GoPro video on their Facebook page of bassist Christian Bailey playing an apparent new original song, starting off with raw audio before being transposed with the full band. Sounds promisingly heavy while it lasts, and the vantage point is cool! More clips followed that day from what looks suspiciously like a video shoot based on the lighting, including Christian B. talking to a prop skull in this brief video, and this promotional video for their set in Alpena at the French Road Bash the following week, featuring on-camera remarks from guitarist Ted Olson & drummer Jaxson Massaway. Not sure what the background hum is from, but it helped get the word out with good humour!

The band later clarified on August 22nd that, despite the lighting & skull, they apparently weren't making a music video (yet) and that the media from the 20th was just practice, but video of them jamming their song "A Hell Bound Heart" in that space was posted that day in this video, set to the song's studio version. Guitarist Christian Thanasiu (who missed some dates in August due to illness) is not seen on camera, while singer Brandon West is only seen headbanging and not in frame with the rest of the band. Maybe he was manning the camera? Regardless, this is the best quality video footage of the current Heavy Lies The Crown lineup that I've seen yet! A clip from their "Voices" music video was also shared on August 25th with an inspirational quote about being a musician appended to it. Before the Alpena date on the 27th, more band photos were shared, albeit largely blurry & incomplete, though Christian T. was back in them.

They did get a video of Alpena metal band Katharsys Theory at the French Road Bash, but most of their fallout was just thank yous and general comments of the night. Hopefully the concert was a hit across the board! On September 4th, Heavy Lies The Crown got played on Saginaw/Midland FM rock radio station Z93 during their program Michigan Made, which focuses on playing independent Michigan hard rock/metal bands every Sunday night at 8:00 PM. Not local, but always good exposure, and kudos to Z93 for putting a spotlight on rising in-state acts! If you're curious, Z93 (WKQZ 93.3 FM) reaches from around Grayling to Flint on the I-75, and once Rock 105 fades out, it's the next FM mainstream rock station if going south/southeast. Also on September 4th, H.L.T.C. teased new songs named "Red Apple" and "Celebrate The Night", but they weren't sure if the former would outdo other new material of theirs.

Another clip from their "Voices" music video was shared that day, this time with video filters allegedly bringing the video to "PS1 mode", but given the heavy pixellation and grayscale, this reminds me more of Sega CD mode. Following their Alpena date, the band's next gig was further south in the state, opening for Wholeheart & I Decide I at Mulligan's Pub in Grand Rapids on September 17th, with Brandon promoting it and the Michigan metal bands they were opening for in this video from August 25th featuring music video clips of each band. The show reportedly went well, and Jaxson was on drums rather than I Decide I's Barak Haring, who filled in for him in their prior Grand Rapids trip. Photos and videos were posted on Facebook, including this clip of a mouse stowing away on their vehicle as they were driving home, but none of the guys on stage.

H.L.T.C. have teased that they are taking time off following the Grand Rapids show in order to work on new material and music videos, with one song complete and planned for a video that is reportedly their softest song yet. More recently, they announced hiring a new booking agent (contact dedfishproductions@gmail.com for details on how to get them on an upcoming Michigan concert), and the band did note on August 23rd that relatives of Brandon's were doing a haunted house (apparently an annual occurrence) in St. Ignace this month, and teased playing a Halloween party in town there, date unclear. We'll keep you posted if this happens, as H.L.T.C. still haven't played an honest-and-truly public local concert! Embedded below is a new song sampler, with the video partially titled "Something we thought of trying", as set to visuals of the song being played on a vinyl record with post-production effects.

Whether they "thought of trying" this as a full song or releasing material on vinyl isn't 100% clear, but fans are digging the instrumental clip, which has a dream-like but still hard edged sound that will appeal to prog metal fans. As this isn't something Facebook can content match to H.L.T.C.'s own postings of their albums on streaming services, it can be embedded below, so give it a look, and visit the above links for much more on what Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to as of late!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!