A New Local Metal Project & Album, Skeyes Of Seven Updates, And More!!

Before we dive into another weekend's concert previews, here's a new news post on this snowy Wednesday, so what's in store for today? Well, we have some assorted notes regarding three local acts' active statuses, lots of recent updates from a prominent hard rock band, and first, here's a surprise new band and album to take note of!

We have a new local metal solo project to add to our links, and they are Abhorrent Forest, the newest endeavour from ex-Despised Eyes/Death Rise guitarist Will Tholberg! Going by the stage name "Old Man Wyrn" or simply "Wyrn" for this project, Abhorrent Forest launched their Facebook page in October, but only commenced with major public postings this month. Musically, Abhorrent Forest are an instrumental black metal act, and in a surprise reveal just on Monday, their debut album "The End of Life" is already on sale via their Bandcamp page! You can download it free there, but it is available for purchase too via Bandcamp's "name your price" model. It's not every day that you see a new black metal album release in this area, let alone one this abrupt, but kudos to Will for putting this out! Without giving too much away, it's a huge departure from his past public band work, and should appeal to fans of underground minimalist black metal.

As this is a brand new album release available for paid sale, "The End of Life" is very possible for a CD review on the SMS this month, so keep that in mind, and you can also stream the whole album below via Old Man Wyrn's new YouTube channel, so check out Abhorrent Forest above & below!



Next up, here's the latest from local hard rock band Skeyes of Seven, who have been busy as of late, so what's new from their camp? First off, the band has finally confirmed the quiet reveal from last fall of a new second guitarist, that being Kyle Sweet, who you may recognize from performing with frontman Cory Murchison during his solo set at March 2014's Medifest fundraiser, and previously with The Sault Ste. Marie Pipe Band. This gives Skeyes of Seven two guitarists for the first time since Alain Fletcher moved to bass in 2014, and Kyle was a good fit in last year's initial cover video with him! The band still has a drummer vacancy though, and be sure to message them above or guitarist Ron Baxter at this link if you're interested in trying out! As for Skeyes of Seven's long-awaited debut EP "Stare at the Sky', we are still awaiting a full paid release, but the whole EP is now online to stream via Skeyes of Seven's YouTube channel, so what should you know?

Confirming a 6 song run-time, "Stare at the Sky" will feature their songs "See The Truth", "Pretend", "Enough", "Fallen Faith", "Cognitive Dissonance", and as embedded below, "Crawling Back Into Reality" (yes, they did delete two of their older studio tracks and re-post them.) No word on if the night sky motif on most videos will be the album cover, or on when that will see it's paid release, but the instrumental "Crawling Back Into Reality" notably differs by having a slideshow of shots from the band's run so far. It includes pictures dating back to their first show, even including ex-members Mike Mannarino & Jonny Amendola in some shots, and closing with outtakes from their introductory video with recent drummer John Mignacca (who drums on the EP.) My biggest problem with this video is that they include never-before-seen clips of Skeyes of Seven jamming and in studio, only to dub them over with the studio track, even ones with Cory visibly singing, despite the song having no vocals.

I wouldn't want the song broken up, but I'm sure fans would want to see these clips on their own, so hopefully they make their way online at some point! Still, it's great to see things finally nearing completion and release for Skeyes of Seven's debut EP, especially given how sporadically they've played live since debuting in 2012, so check out the songs on "Stare At The Sky" above & below, and stay tuned for updates!



Finally, here's some shorter assorted news items from the last while, all via our latest scan of our active band links, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• We have moved local punk supergroup Killer to our inactive band links, as they have not made a public posting of any kind since January 6th of last year. A non-seasonal sister band to Toystock 2015 performers The Rude-Offs, Killer themselves have never played live, despite a strong lineup comprised of Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Stiffler's Mom alumni. For what it's worth, The Rude-Offs dropped out of last year's Toystock, but their lack of activity also coincided with much of Destroilet's year-long stage hiatus, so take those however you want. Hopefully we see Greg, Greig, John, Christian, Adam, and Matt back in some form!
• In a post on his solo project's Facebook page in May of last year, Din frontman Mike Haggith noted that with The Din "making some pretty big waves" in recent months, his next solo album (the "Neighbourhood Watch" re-recording) isn't currently a priority, despite him teasing that album that same February. At least Mike acknowledged why his solo project hasn't been active lately, but hopefully he can complete "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited" at some point, and of course, follow The Din for his high energy current original band work! We'll leave his solo project in our active links until May, unless there's new activity beforehand.
• We have also moved Mourning Wood drummer Glen Thomas' hard rock studio project The Mourning Glory (named before he joined the former) to our inactive band links, as he hasn't posted anything public on that project since his New Year's forecast post on his message board one year ago today. The Mourning Glory had promise, but don't miss Glen and Tony Kajnar in their current active projects The Peace Vibe and Flat Stanley!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: 9 Pounds Of Brownies & Despisedeyes

Before we dive into this weekend's concert previews, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we kick off a new year for our monthly feature series on randomly selected YouTube channels featuring at least 50% of their videos containing a local metal, hard rock, or punk band/concert relevance! This month's installment features two bands once again, as the first channel that we randomly selected only had two distinct types of videos that fit our coverage, so we added a channel with only one video to full it out. With that said, there's some entertaining videos from both sides of the border to check out, so read on below for this month's profiles!

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9 pounds of brownies (http://www.youtube.com/scub115)

Owner: YouTube user Jacob Cross, formerly of the Charlevoix, Michigan-area metal band 9 Pounds of Brownies

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 21st, 2008; Videos posted from May 2009 until May 2010

Channel Summary: Though intended as an official YouTube channel for his inactive Charlevoix band 9 Pounds of Brownies (with four videos of them featured from shows in 2009 & 2010), Jacob's channel largely features videos from the Ace Frehley-headlined concert at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on November 13th, 2009. These include 6 videos from his set, and two from openers 16 Second Stare's set.

Why You Should Watch: Fans of Ace Frehley, Kiss, 16 Second Stare, or this show in general should want to check out Jacob's channel for arguably the largest active source of videos from that concert, and he had a good view of the action! The 9 Pounds of Brownies videos, though not local to the Sault area, do have merit as well for some rising young Northern Michigan musicians, so give them a look as well to see what you think! However, note that Jacob has not visibly updated his channel in over 4 years.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

fox on the run ace frehley @ kewadin 11/13/09: Jacob's six videos from original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's local concert include him playing his original "Outer Space", and covering Kiss' own "Shout It Out Loud" & "Parasite", Hello's "New York Groove", Black Sabbath's "Snowblind" (in two parts, linked here & here), and as embedded below, Sweet's "Fox On The Run", which has a channel-high total of over 1,700 views. These clips suffer from staticy audio in general, and most aren't of the full songs, but Jacob had a nice close view of Ace, and you'll still notice strong performances!



16 second stare fire in the hole @ kewadin 11/13/09: Jacob's other videos from the Ace Frehley concert were of his openers, Florida hard rock quintet 16 Second Stare, who brought an energetic nu-metal sound to the Soo on this November night over 5 years ago! Their filmed videos were of their originals "Eargazm" and (as embedded below) "Fire In The Hole", and while the audio quality is as patchy as on the Ace videos, Jacob got more diverse camera angles that focused more on each member of the band. If you like modern rock and nu-metal, you should find something to like from 16 Second Stare!


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Despisedeyes' Channel (http://www.youtube.com/despisedeyes)

Owner: An original member of defunct Sault Ontario metal band Despised Eyes (identity unclear), though the channel is credited to the band as a whole

Channel Timeline: Launched on November 4th, 2008; Only video uploaded that day

Channel Summary: The only uploaded video on Despised Eyes' channel was the music video for their song "I'm Myself", which is about being yourself no matter what others may think. Featuring jam session footage and action from a road hockey game, it's well edited but suffers from it's converter program being a trial version, as evidenced by the recurring watermark. Despised Eyes were a work in progress that never played live before falling inactive by 2011, and frontman Mathew Vincent's vocals are shaky and unrefined, but this song showed some promise that members Mike Vincent & Adam Brett realized more fully with their successor band Skull After Betrayl. Note however that Despised Eyes have not visibly updated their channel since this video's upload, but you can hear five more audio demos from this time period at their MySpace page.


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! So, what's coming next month in this series? Believe it or not, we'll be looking at two channels again for a third straight month, as the first channel that we randomly selected only has one video total, so we randomly chose one more with only 2 distinct video types to fill it out. With that said, we'll be looking at YouTube user Scott98633225's channel (featuring an audio recording from the mid-1990s local punk band BK), and one of inactive local hardcore punk/classical trio RedD Monkey's channels (featuring most of the songs from their 2 released albums), so look out for all of that on or around February 22nd! That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews either tonight or tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

This Month's SMS Poll, More Ace Frehley Updates, And Woods Of Ypres Tour Info!

Well, it's the 18th of the month once again, so it's time to recap the results of last month's poll, and introduce this month's! As you may remember, last month's poll was "What is your favourite metal concert venue in Sault Ontario?" The results were quite clear, and luckily, there were more votes cast than last time (23)! So here are the results of the poll, and stay tuned after the poll stuff for more updates from the Ace Frehley concert and Woods of Ypres!

Tied for last place were The Bottom's Up Lounge, Madison's Pub, The Outback, The Speakeasy, The Verdi Hall, and "other", none of which received any votes. Most don't surprise me, due mostly to metal inactivity, but I would have assumed The Speakeasy would have gotten at least one vote, they've put on some great concerts in the past year! 5th place went to The Essar Center, which got 13% of the votes. It is nicely set up and has lots of huge concerts (metal or not), but it doesn't have the same appeal that a bar or theater would have for band interaction and more personal stuff. The Oddfellows Hall came in 4th, with 17% of the total. It's got the underground quality to it, and just about anything can happen there in terms of shows, but it's not as nicely set up or as frequent for bookings as some of the top voted venues.

In a tie for second place, with about 22% of the votes each, are The Canadian Nightclub and Coch's Corner, two of the more popular local watering holes, both of which put on some great concerts! I'm honestly surprised The Canadian got the votes it did, as shows aren't as frequent there as at Coch's Corner, and the renovations put a standstill on activity there, but The Canadian is great for shows, I'm happy it got votes too! Coch's Corner, totally agree, I've been a fan of it since my first attended concert there! And in first place, with 26% of the vote, is the The Lock City Grand Theater! Though metal shows there lately haven't been too numerous, The Grand is a beautifully set up venue with alcohol licensing, great sound, and the capacity for some decent name bands! Well deserved #1 choice, here's hoping they'll get to booking more metal real soon!

So there's the results for last month, and now, it's time to discuss this month's poll! And with Three Days Grace returning there next month, as well as some show with some band named Kiss, I figure now is the perfect time to run a poll about The Essar Center, and more specifically, shows that have happened there. Since it's opening in 2006, The Essar Center has played host to numerous major concerts, including four that no doubt qualify as "metal" (and all of which I attended!) So I pose this question to you guys: What was your favourite major metal concert at The Essar Center so far? Here are your choices!

Motley Crue on December 6, 2006: This was actually the very first major concert of any genre at the then-Steelback Center, and what a way to break in concerts at the new arena! I was in attendance, and I had a lot of fun! Motley Crue had a great stage show with pyro, fireworks, video screens, and even strippers dancing in cages (Oh come on, some of you wouldn't mind.) The band sounded as good as they've ever sounded, and the house was full or damn close to it! Would you say the new arena's first show was the best?

Heaven & Hell, Megadeth, and Down on March 20, 2007: It was a glorious spring day when what is essentially the "Mob Rules" lineup of Black Sabbath came to Sault Ontario for one hell of a concert! Ronnie James Dio sounded amazing for a 60-something man, and the rest of the band? Perfection. But that's just my opinion, you may not agree. Thrash legends Megadeth played support, and damn near stole the show themselves! Sludge metal supergroup Down also had a solid opening set, only hampered by Phil Anselmo's voice being shot from a recent illness. Definitely my favourite show there so far, but I ain't voting, you are. What did you guys think?

Three Days Grace, Seether, and Econoline Crush on January 24, 2008: You can debate the "metalness" of Three Days Grace if you choose, but I had fun at this show as well, even if I was a bit lost among a crowd full of teenage girls. Three Days Grace had a very solid set, as did Seether, a band I've only really started listening to since this show! Also gotta love the duets that members of the two bands did together, very nice stuff! Canada's own Econoline Crush opened with their brand of industrial hard rock, which wasn't bad either! I had fun at this show, though it admittedly isn't for everyone. But did you like it?

Jackyl, Slaughter, and The Inner City Surfers on May 24, 2008: This was one hell of a good time, if underattended and overpriced. The $60 tickets scared off a lot of people, but at least we got to move to the floor from the stands because of it! Jackyl were damn entertaining, especially when Jesse James Dupree broke out the chainsaw for "The Lumberjack" and chopped up a stool! Slaughter thoroughly surprised me, they're not just a generic hair metal band, and The Inner City Surfers returned home and played some great punk rock as well! Only some mic issues and a pitifully small crowd affected one of the most fun shows I saw in 2008. What do you think?

So there's your choices, let's see what your favourite show was at The Essar Center so far! The poll's on the left of the page, VOTE TODAY!!! Now, to more news and updates!

Five days after the concert, and things continue to leak in from the Ace Frehley concert at Kewadin Casino! Now, remember when I said that I didn't think there was an opener for Ace's show? How wrong I was, but don't blame me, no local promotion for the concert mentioned an opener. I actually found out about this from YouTube, where user scub115 uploaded 8 video clips from the concert, two of which feature a band called 16 Second Stare. Some added research, and I found out that indeed, 16 Second Stare were Ace Frehley's openers on this tour, but mention of them bypassed local news and radio, and myself too. On my first listen of these guys on MySpace, I'm impressed, hard hitting melodic heavy metal! I wish I would have known about them before now, I feel kinda dumb to miss them! Oh well, I'll show you guys one of scub115's clips of 16 Second Stare from Friday night! Check them out on MySpace too for good quality originals, don't judge your opinion on this video!



And finally for today, it appears as if Woods of Ypres are planning a new tour! According to a new topic on their official forum, Woods frontman David Gold is planning to run the band's first ever American tour in the summer of 2010, as well as returning to some favourite Canadian locations too (Hopefully Sault Ontario is among them!) Gold says that all confirmed dates will appear in that topic, where you can also find info on how to book Woods of Ypres for a concert! Here's hoping they'll be back to this burial ground very soon, Woods of Ypres always impress! And remember to pick up their new album online (with a bonus Necramyth CD) from Century Media Records, or from The End Records for about $15! Well worth the money! My review of it is now just 13 days away!

That is all for today, tomorrow will be a preview post of this weekend's concerts, including two shows each by Tym Morrison and Riot! By Night! And of course, any more news and updates I may have as well will come tomorrow too! Stay tuned for more, thanks everyone!