After a slight delay, here's this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, as we again look at the current release whereabouts of announced upcoming albums from local metal, hard rock, and punk acts! Just to clarify a few things first, while The Reeves and Riverside Stasis have signalled ongoing recording sessions on social media, neither has 100% unequivocally confirmed in their own posts that the end goal is an album, CD, or EP as of this writing. As for local progressive metal band Convergence, I removed them due to the release of their "Gemini" EP last month, but more teased original songs could follow on future releases. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out, including one new addition!
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Bone Yard 225's debut album
Rumoured Songs: "F.A.F.O.", "Gypsy Spell", "Fuck!", "Welcome To The ShitShow", "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (Mike Posner cover)
Background: After months of teasers, local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard 225
began releasing their own songs on major streaming services in July
2024, fifteen years after the pre-225 band debuted as a
country cover quartet. Their first three singles (all recorded at their
home studio) were posted online by January 2025, though it took until last May for the band to confirm on their Facebook page
that they were indeed working on a proper album. As of August 11th, it was reportedly "album tracking time", while this video
from three days later shows bandmates Alex D'Ettore & Warren
Reville recording backing vocals for their cover of Mike Posner's
"I Took A Pill In Ibiza". That will be one of "a couple of covers" for
the album, as confirmed by frontman Greg Simpson during recent concerts.
"Fuck!" was renamed "The F Word" on streaming services in December, but
it's not clear if the less explicit name will stick on the album. The
band was still "in the studio finishing shit" as of December 4th, source here, and a new single "Welcome To The ShitShow" was released on streaming services in August.
Current Release Status: In that Facebook post from May 2025, your local 225 said that "the album is coming along nicely", but announced release timeframes of "by the end of 2025" and "early 2026" have came and went. While singer/drummer Greg Simpson did release an EP with his old band Stiffler's Mom, it's hard to compare the release methods and schedule given that "The Demo" came out in 2004. It is neat to see that Greg, Alex, and Warren are going all in on a studio album, and stay tuned for updates!
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Chase James Wigmore - The Chaotic Rite
Rumoured Songs: "The Cities Alive & It's Angry"
Background: Ever
the prolific artist & songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal
musician Chase Wigmore has been working on an extensive rock opera for years (once claimed to be a 33 part work),
originally named
"A Story
About A Kid Named Todd". Worked on in between his other unrelated solo
albums, released for sale or otherwise, Chase posted a lengthy
elaboration of the rock opera in 2022, now titled "The Chaotic
Rite", outlining its concept, recording plans, and long-term release
timeline. Clips of songs have surfaced on his Facebook page,
as have full songs not explicitly tied to the album, as well as the final artwork. In more recent promotion, Chase has
hinted that "The Chaotic Rite" might be his final solo album as part of aims to focus on his personal life more
than his prolific original material.
Regardless, the final product has been pared down to 25-30 minutes.
Current Release Status:
Chase elaborated on Facebook in mid-2024 that the album was 95% done
earlier that year when the files "got trapped on my desktop's hard
drive", and he had been unable to procure a backup of the material or
recover the files as of that post. In any event, three of the full songs
uploaded to Facebook in 2023 were clarified as not being
planned for "The Chaotic Rite", but they could surface on a separate EP.
Fingers crossed that Chase is able to save this album and put it out
when able, especially given the years that he's put into the making of
it!
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Eden Plague's third album (and first under that name)
Background: Local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters had teased plans to record a "final album" on their Facebook page
in July 2024, during the band's long slowdown in activity dating back
to late 2017 (which included the unceremonious release of their second
album "The Dead Testament" during the pandemic), but they surprised many
by relaunching under the new name Eden Plague in May of this year. Nik,
Mitch, Justin, and Johnny immediately signalled that they were working
on new original music, debuting at least two songs during their mid-2026
concerts. They were recording two singles in studio in July (with Nik
seen tracking vocals at Mission Control Studios in a Facebook "Story"),
and the guys are currently on break from the stage, as they're "shifting
all gears to our debut LP" (as Eden Plague). The band allegedly "discreetly revealed" the album name on social media earlier this year, with a free copy of the album promised to whoever figures it out first.
Current Release Status: The band has vaguely given a "sometime in 2027" timeframe for the release ON fACEBOOK, but things sound early for the final product, as as of September 3rd, five songs were still in demo stages. The former Bear Hunters are no strangers to album recording sessions, and with no pandemic and band activity uncertainty clouding things in 2026, here's hoping that this gets a deservingly widescale release when things are done!
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Fort Creek's debut album
Rumoured Songs: "One For The Road", "Sweet Rosie"
Background: Local
southern/hard rock band Fort Creek have sporadically teased plans to
record an EP since February 2020, but they wouldn't release any samples
until almost two years later when they shared (now-deleted) clips of
their original song "Hammer Down" on their Facebook page.
The guys would play it regularly at concerts from 2022-2023, with
studio sessions taking place in early-mid 2023 as well. After the
departure of bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer
Anthony Fabiano in the fall of 2023, Fort
Creek opted
to start the album over, and
have been working on new material and rebuilding their studio over the
past three years. Their first single
(the acoustic "One For The Road")
was posted online in January 2025, with the band confirming plans to now
record a 10 song album at then-drummer Phil Greco's own Jettison Studios prior to returning to live
concerts. Their new single "Sweet Rosie" was released to major streaming services last month, which featured the studio debut of drummer Sam DeDominicis. New bassist Arthur Lacasse appears in the music video, but Liam Seymour played bass on a session basis.
Current Release Status: Prior release timelines for their debut EP reflected their early 2020s lineup's material, and Justin, Shane, Bill, and crew have largely kept things somewhat close to the vest prior to putting out "One For The Road". There are a lot of unknowns, especially given the 6+ years of production time and their decision to basically start over in 2023, and that this is a band that was primarily known for their work on the weekend cover circuit before their rhythm section left. It will be interesting to see how things develop, so stay tuned for updates!
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Mike McCleary's new album
Rumoured Songs: "Carousel"
Background: Background: A
talented studio hard rock musician who has released multiple solo
albums in the past (albeit almost entirely delisted from streaming
services as his musical approach and personal life changed), Mike announced plans to record an instrumental album in 2023, but
after a year+ public hiatus, he opted to shelve that unfinished album in
2025 in favour of a new album with vocals. He signed with Swedish indie
label Rexius Records,
with plans to put out an 8 song album covering "a variety of topics"
and featuring "some fun, catchy, and energetic rock music for everyone
to enjoy". A teaser video from the sessions was posted onto his Facebook page
on December 6th, and the
planned first single ("Carousel") was released online in June.
Current Release Status: Your guess is as good as mine, but as this is is a one-man project likely aimed at streaming services, this album could pop up at any time, and may be close given that an advance single is was unveiled this summer. The Rexius Records connection is a variable, but Mike is a strong musician with morals and a lot to say about himself, and hopefully this album comes out successfully in the near future!
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The Realignment Project's second full length album
Rumoured Songs: Unknown
Background: The current industrial metal solo project from Dirty Virgin/Riverin alum Matt Hicks, The Realignment Project are known for their quick recording schedule, with four EPs and a full length album being released since the beginning of last year alone. In April, Matt confirmed on the project's Facebook page that he had already begun work on their second full length album, days removed from the release of their full length debut "Long Cold Winter". By June, it had developed "some nice bones", and it was 75% complete as of August 19th. Among other teasers for recording sessions and songwriting, Matt was tracking vocals on September 14th (and even tracking demos for the third full length album last month), before entering post-production for album #2 late last month. Sessions were complete as of yesterday for the album, which will be released through the British indie label East London Recordings once again.
Current Release Status: Matt is no stranger to releasing Realignment Project albums with very little turnaround, and while things obviously take longer for full length albums, this could show up at any point on streaming services. Note that "Long Cold Winter" was released two months after the reveal that sessions had ended, so could that point to December for this album? Stay tuned in any event, and we'll have more on The Realignment Project from recent months in an upcoming post!
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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! As usual in this series, albums with updates have their title in italics. This series will return on or around November 2nd, while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profile this weekend. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!
