LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Viscera), A New Local Band, And Two New EP Releases!!

Tonight's SMS post is 100% focused around Sault Michigan, specifically two small-lineup metal bands with new EP releases, one brand new to our coverage and prominent in our latest LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you should know on this windy Wednesday night!

We have a new local metal band to add to our links, and they are a hardcore punk/metal duo named Viscera! Presumably getting the name from human internal organs and not the late wrestler, Viscera's lineup consists of former Small Town Society guitarist "Blind" Bob Quinn (credited as "Bobert Quinn") alongside drummer Mitchell Leon, with Bob on lead vocals. The idea of a minimalist two man metal band will appeal to a lot of Blood Shed Productions-tested Sault Ontarians, so Canadian readers may not wanna bypass them on that basis! While I only just learned about this band in the past week, they have been active since at least last fall, and they released their debut EP on major streaming services on October 30th! Entitled "From Feast To Famine", you can check it out for yourselves on Spotify and Apple Music (as helpfully linked via Distrokid) as well as on YouTube Music and Bandcamp.

The EP is on sale in mp3 format on iTunes for $4.95 and on Bandcamp for $9, so if you really want to support Viscera, buy and download everything! Five songs are included on "From Feast To Famine", with track #1 ("Disassociate") being released prior as an advance single. I'll hold comment on the EP itself pending our eventual review (in release order, it's now scheduled for June), but a jam session video is circulating on personal Facebook pages, albeit uploaded sideways. Viscera have a promisingly intense and sludge-inflected sound that gives the E.U.P. something rawer and heavier than you tend to see nowadays, especially an original band playing such music, so hopefully we hear lots more from them in 2026! If you want to see Bob & Mitchell live, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as they are headlining a St. Patrick's Day weekend concert at Three One Three On Ashmun on Saturday, March 14th!

Two bands will open for Viscera's local debut set next month, one being a touring group, namely veteran Marquette doom/stoner metal duo PonyWorm, who I have never heard of as a live act this far east. They've been a reliable presence in the western U.P. since at least 2012, and as it turns out, Viscera's proper live concert debut was in Marquette last month with PonyWorm opening (here's the poster). Now E.U.P. fans can see what the fuss is about! Fresh off of their unadvertised Savoy gig on February 7th, local punk/metal band About:Blank are slated to open at the former Back Door next month, and while I don't know if their guitarist/bassist vacancy will be filled in time, Parker & Kade may want to hold off for now to keep the two-man-bands theme going! Music aside, the poster promises "trippy visuals", so keep that in mind if you're coming out. This has the hallmarks of a Serious Business-promoted concert but I don't immediately know if it's their doing.

This presumably 21+ concert goes down on Saturday the 14th at 7:00 PM, and admission will be $10 in advance or $15 at the door. I don't know if there will be a public location or online link for advance tickets, but contact Bob, Mitchell, Parker, and/or Kade to inquire within. Here's hoping this show is a smash hit for all involved, and Viscera sure got off to a fast local start, so see above for more on them, the EP, and this concert, and here's "Dissociate"!

Finally, we'll stay in the realm of Sault Michigan metal acts with studio material. Do you remember when local metal solo project X's & Y's announced plans to release an EP named "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars" last week? Well, it did come out on CD on February 13th as planned, and if you want a copy, contact project leader Jason Mills via the band's Facebook page! Given that it's a shorter EP, discs only cost $3 apiece, though with Crooked Music closed, I don't know if he has plans to have CDs on sale at a retail storefront elsewhere. When we last left off with the Life's Eclipse successors last month, Jason had posted both versions of the title track on their Bandcamp page, but at press time, the other two songs ("Hands Of Cydonia" and "Crater") were not streamable there. However, if you want to hear the songs without buying the EP, the whole thing is on X's & Y's' YouTube channel!

On the release date, Jason posted the EP as one batch video, and while I'll hold comment on the final product pending our review of "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars" (Viscera's EP bumped it to September), definitely give everything a listen above and below to hear what X's & Y's have been cooking up in recent months! Where else will you hear a metal band using a tremoloa?

That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Quite Frankly Concert Preview, Night Ranger Videos, And New Studio Recordings!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Friday night, and along with finishing this weekend's hard rock concert previews, we have an upcoming EP release, a new studio track from a rising local metal band, and videos from a big local concert from last fall, so let's get things rolling!

We'll start by wrapping up this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, as reunited local classic/hard rock cover band Quite Frankly will debut at The Water Tower Pub TOMORROW NIGHT! One day removed from TONIGHT's Dodge This show at the same venue,  this will be their first show since rocking Beck's Bar in November and just their second public gig since their relaunch last summer.  It's worth noting that the Beck's gig last month actually featured new lead vocalist Linsaey L.W., not the departed Haley Alopaeus, so I apologize for the erroneous credit when we covered their Beck's video (embedded below) on here. Video quality on that assemblage of clips really varied, and the band didn't formally announce that Linsaey came on board until after that show had came and went, for what it's worth. Hopefully show #2 for the new Quite Frankly goes well tomorrow night, and that there's a solid turnout for their first gig of the new year!

As usual for The Water Tower Pub, tomorrow's show is an 8:00 PM affair with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. If you haven't seen the revived Quite Frankly yet, get ready for a crowd-pleasing array of hard and classic rock covers tomorrow! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here they are at Beck's last fall!

Next up, let's head across to Sault Michigan for some recent updates, starting with local metal solo project X's & Y's, who are releasing a new EP/single next month! It and its title track are named "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars", and it sees project leader Jason Mills dipping into doom metal, drone, and horror territory on its four tracks. You can hear the title track in versions with and without vocals on their Bandcamp page, and while this is technically their first song with lead vocals, they did use spoken word on 2024's "The Obsidian Dream". Along with that song's two variants, tracks named "Hands Of Cydonia" and "Crater" will be included on the final product, which will presumably make its way to streaming services along with CD copies on its scheduled release date of February 13th. Jason even uses a tremoloa (a vintage zither used in part to replicate the Hawaiian steel guitar) here!

No word on what CD copies will cost, especially as this is a shorter EP, but X's & Y's first two albums cost $10 USD. Alas, our backlog of new album releases to review is massive, so I can't promise a review of "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars" until August, but it's great to see a new EP soon to be on sale, especially from a talented Yooper project like X's & Y's! Stay tuned for more from them when it rolls in! 

Also today, here's some newly discovered videos from the Night Ranger concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the local Kewadin Casino in October! These were filmed by attendee Nick Cepecawer in the first uploads on his YouTube channel, though he also filmed at Foreigner's show in Sault Ontario the following month. We didn't cover the Foreigner show here because I wouldn't say they're a "hard rock" band, but he got solid videos from that night! Nick did not film openers Nelson in November, but he did get eight videos of the headlining San Francisco hair metal quintet, including videos of Night Ranger playing "Sentimental Street", "Goodbye" in two chunks (here & here), part of "When You Close Your Eyes", the drum solo (that the whole band takes part in... literally!), "Sister Christian", and as embedded below, "(You Can Still) Rock In America" (which he accidentally uploaded twice).

While more distant from the stage than we tend to see for Kewadin concert videos of this stature, Nick was relatively central and used his zoom where needed, and the audio generally holds up! His videos help accentuate more how Night Ranger spreads the wealth for members taking lead vocal turns, and the drum solo is a fun diversion while it lasts! If you're a loyal Hair Scare listener, you'll enjoy these videos above and below!

We'll close today with a studio original recording from online page-less Sault Ontario metal band With Gunfire! Along with the previously-covered live videos on drummer Jonas Gasperas' new YouTube channel, the former Sault Side Squad are the stars of this upload, which lets us hear their song "M.F.C." (short for "Motherfucking Consequence") in clear studio quality, complete with gunshot sound effects added in post. It's amazing that this beat anything from Spencer's other band The BAG's upcoming album "Succubus" out! I don't know if this is a sign that With Gunfire are working on a proper album or not (I had seen a personal Facebook posting implying that it was recorded for a compilation of some kind), but the song has promise and takes from a lot of metal subgenres, including chugging groove metal riffs and diverse vocal styles, including gruff straight-forward singing and some harsh growling.

The guitar solo is quite good too! I don't know if Lamb Of God were an influence on the songwriting, but the pacing of some of the verses is reminiscent of "Redneck", especially if you speed the track up in the settings. It will be interesting to see what With Gunfire have cooked up with 2026 in full swing, so give "M.F.C." a listen below! 

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

X's & Y's - "Ruination Coactive" Album Review!!

It's now time for our 192nd monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene and second in an (at least) seven month run of new album reviews, and this month, we're heading to Sault Michigan for a look at local progressive metal solo project X's & Y's' sophomore album "Ruination Coactive"! Or, "Яuiᴎдтюᴎ Koдcтive" if you want to go by the faux-Cyrillic text on the cover artwork. Released on Friday, June 13th through AFR Records and project leader Jason Mills' own inactive label Werehold Records (identically to last fall's debut album "The Obsidian Dream"), this concept album features Jason on all credited instruments, with no advertised guest musicians this time, at least not via social media. Production information wasn't given there either. "Ruination Coactive" is now available to be streamed on Bandcamp, YouTube Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify, which all also now host "The Obsidian Dream". CD copies are on sale for $10 by contacting Jason directly on X's & Y's' Facebook page or via BigCartel.

If you want to buy "Ruination Coactive" on mp3 format, it will run you $3 on Bandcamp and $7.92 on iTunes, so consider actually buying it to support Jason's work! Song names below are linked to their Bandcamp copies. With eight songs running for about 40 minutes, let's lead off this review!

X's & Y's took a turn into concept album territory here by basing all eight songs on the levels of the classic Nintendo Entertainment System video game Contra (long-time followers of Jason's Werehold Records output will recall his occasional references to NES games in song and project names). No, the songs on offer do not directly sample or cover the Contra soundtrack. Inspired by the famous opening jungle level, track #1 here is "Arrival", which opens with alarms, gunfire, and commotion befitting of the events at the start of the run n' gun game. A solid progressive metal instrumental, it has a catchy bass line to it and a strong groove with some effective time signatures, and you can definitely picture Marines shooting down enemies with spreader guns here! Nothing groundbreaking but it sets the tone well!

Next up is "Through The Lens", inspired by the first 3D-ish perspective base level with the electric beams. Intensity is ratcheted up here with Jason's distinct guitar tone, some very rapid-fire percussion, and more strong bass work that again takes the lead instrumentally at points. The percussion can sound a tad artificial at points, and the midpoint of the song kinda meanders a bit, but it changes things up well as it goes along, and it hits where it counts! Third on the album is "Speak Of Fire", inspired by the third waterfall level (the title likely refers to that stage's boss, who can spit fireballs). A bit of a spacier vibe from the guitar work here, this track has more brutal riffs and pacing to go around, but you can tell a little too obviously when a song breaks to allow Jason to change the style of playing. I know that this is Contra-themed, but the spacier effects don't really add to the metal for me, but ignoring that, it's a strong number!

Contra's second 3D "base" level and its final boss are the inspiration for track #4, "The Gemini Machine" (though the album was released on June 13th). The progginess of this song gives it an extra edge from Jason's technical playing, including more of a melodic near-solo near the midway point, but compared to earlier tracks on the album, this does feel ever so slightly more synthetic and processed. Certainly not a bad song though, and the brutal ending sequence sure helps! Fifth on the album is "Psychic Flux", based on the snowfield level, and it has a more deliberate, darker ambiance early before getting into more Contra-esque territory befitting a game with so much gunfire. The break with just percussion sounded really drowned out, and the electronic beeping & abrupt ending are what they are, but the pounding guitar work and changes of style are well handled!

Song #6 is the shortest one here (at just 4:03), and it is "Heat", based on the energy zone level, which had lots of fire to avoid. An ominous techno opening melody runs for 68 seconds before any proper metal instrumentation kicks in, This song definitely has its moments, but it is a more deliberate and less crushing song compared to what came before, and plays more off of drawn out guitar performances than what X's & Y's are best known for. Fans of darker and more ominous material will find more here, but it's alright for what it is! The hangar level of Contra inspired the penultimate song, "Gateway Terminus", which feels the most like a video game theme so far if just in the melodies played. Still a heavy song, and it has more going for it in that regard than "Heat", so fans of Jason's will like the technicality on display. The song fades out to its ending way too slowly though, doing so gradually for the last 50 seconds!

"Ruination Coactive" ends with the somewhat clunkily named "X's & Y's - The Heart, and What It Wants", which is obviously based on Contra's final level in the alien lair, whose final boss' heart was the main target. By far the longest song here, this 8+ minute epic begins with a soft guitar intro and ominous background noise for the first two minutes, before the metal truly kicks into gear. I like how some of the riffing here is made to sound like shots being taken in the boss battle (intentional or otherwise). With how much Jason changes the structure of the song as it goes, this never feels overlong (maybe he could have shortened the first quarter), and it suitably feels like the epic closer that you want here! So, what are my final thoughts on X's & Y's' second album? If you like progressive instrumental metal, you'll find a lot to like here, but the album isn't as diverse for styles as "The Obsidian Dream".

Of course, remember that this also based on a side-scrolling run n' gun video game, so there isn't an intricate lore here. Jason's multi-instrumental talents remain clear as day, with his distinct tone, strong riffing and bass work, and good ear for progressive structures combining well, and you do get the sense that these songs could work as an alternate Contra soundtrack if you wanted to turn your TV's volume down! "Arrival", "Psychic Flux", and "The Heart, and What It Wants" are probably my favourite tracks here, but nothing on here is bad. Some songs had too drawn out or abrupt endings, I wasn't as sold on the electronic additions on some tracks (NES inspiration acknowledged), and again, their debut album has a wider breadth of influences. Still, X's & Y's are up to their old tricks in a good way, and I hope to hear more from them soon, but give "Ruination Coactive" a buy or listen above!

I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! Next month on the SMS, we're looking at the other new heavier-leaning local album release from June 13th, that being Mike Haggith's new solo album "Frequent Flier",  so watch for that in July, and for a new news post next! Thanks everyone!

Details On Three Brand New Local Album Releases!!

Remember when we had a two years-long backlog for new album reviews from 2022-2024? Well, another one is loading up for mid-late 2025, as no less than three SMS amenable albums from local musicians were just released in the span of three days! Here's what you should know on all three for this stacked Sunday morning post!

In what may be a surprise announcement for many, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith released his 53rd studio album to his Bandcamp page on Friday, but there's a story here! In mid-2023, you may recall Mike launching his own e-mail subscriber program, where members called "Frequent Fliers" get a weekly e-mail featuring essays from Mike about his music, personal life, and day job as a commercial pilot, along with membership perks for album discounts and deals, plus a "secret album". Starting in June 2024 (I was in on this right away), "Frequent Fliers" got a letter a week in their subscriber e-mails for a password to unlock songs for the album, named "Frequent Flier". Based on my e-mail content, I knew precisely what was going on and what the album would have in it, but as it was a subscriber bonus, I didn't actively cover the "secret" album here... but what would happen when I had all nine songs?

Answer: Mike would unveil it to the public the following week, but "Frequent Flier" isn't as openly accessible as his other recent albums. The album is only available to buy in full at once on Bandcamp, and only three songs ("Brand New Day", "You Are The Sun", and "Home") are available to listen to for free there. It is not on other major streaming services, so if you want to hear the other six songs without being on the Frequent Flier program, you will either have to buy it on mp3 format there for $10, or buy physical copies on CD or vinyl for $20.40 or $51.90 at his new ElasticStage store for his MorningStar Records catalog (no more Kunaki). Otherwise, you can get everything for free...gradually, over the next year, by signing up for the program! If you like Mike's solo music already, you'll enjoy his essays and personal thoughts about life, music, and flying airplanes there, and the longer you're a Frequent Flier, the better deals you'll get for his online store.

A e-mail fan club exclusive album is very new territory for the SMS, but Mike has the dedication and fan connections to make it happen long term, and the proof is this album, as it did legitimately take a year for each song's password to arrive in my inbox letter by letter! If you don't want to wait, you can pay to hear the full album right away, but fans should sign up for all you get, and who knows, we could get a second "secret album" down the road! Buy "Frequent Flier" or join the program above, and check out the lyric video for "Brand New Day" below, courtesy of Mike's YouTube channel!

Next up, Friday the 13th proved to be a good day for local album releases, as Sault Michigan metal solo project X's & Y's put out their sophomore album "Ruination Coactive" as promised that day as well! The follow-up to last fall's "Obsidian Dream" can now be heard for free on Bandcamp, YouTube Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify, representing a wider initial launch than their debut had, if not technically available "everywhere". If you want to actually buy Jason Mills' new album (released through AFR Records once again), it costs $3 on Bandcamp, $7.92 on iTunes, and $10 on CD. With Crooked Music now closed, contact Jason/X's & Y's directly if you want to buy physical copies, as I don't know if any brick-and-mortar stores in the E.U.P. would be carrying them. "Ruination Coactive" is a concept album themed around the classic Nintendo Entertainment System game Contra, with the songs inspired by each of the game's levels.

It's great to see Jason acting so fast to get his second proper paid album out (especially after the Werehold-era false starts), and given the Contra ties, there should be more interest from you metalheads who also love classic gaming! Along with another pre-release visualizer video for "The Gemini Machine" from the new album, X's & Y's proper YouTube channel has a full album upload in a single video, so check it out for yourselves below!

Finally, here's another new album release, as Sault Ontario folk punk solo project Agnosticism released their own new EP today! Project leader Mikhal Muto announced the album, named "Atticcore Fornication", via their Instagram page on Thursday (remember, this is Agnosticism's only social media account), where Mikhal said this would be their "last release for quite some time while I focus on other writing projects." Hails fans' ears may perk up at that statement, but Mikhal always has multiple irons in the fire! "Atticcore Fornication" is Agnosticism's fifth album & fourth EP on major streaming services, and first since last year's "A Letter Of Resignation", though Mikhal said that half of the songs are 2-3 years old now and he doesn't necessarily agree with their lyrics now, but wanted to finally get that material released. The EP does feature guest vocals from Kayden Simon on "Nightmares".

Kayden's unknown to me, but he played guest bass with Mikhal at an upstairs show at The Distraction in May of last year. You can now stream "Atticcore Fornication" for yourselves on YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and yes, even on Boomplay. If you want to actually buy the mp3 copies, the six-song EP is on iTunes for $5.94. Fans of acoustic/folk punk and emo will definitely be curious to hear Agnosticism's new material, and check out the EP's first song ("Sea Of Discontent") below!

With all of that said, what is the short term album review schedule for the SMS? I had pencilled in X's & Y's for this month already, so that's not changing, but Mike Haggith will now be slotted in for next month. I had already scheduled the new Realignment Project album "The Frustration Sessions" for August, so as to not review the same band twice in six months, so that would put Agnosticism in for September, and would shove our planned review of Spades GT's "United" (releasing next month) to October. Hey, our schedule is pretty well set in stone now, which is good! That's all for today's stacked all-new album release post, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone! 

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Ethereal Tomb & Go Skateboarding Day), Plus New Sault Michigan Videos!!

Here's another news post to check out before another weekend concert preview cycle begins, and it includes new videos from the E.U.P. and two interesting LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for Sault Ontario fans, so here's what you should know on this Wednesday night!

The tenth annual local celebration of Go Skateboarding Day goes down on Saturday, June 21st at Queen Elizabeth Park outside of the John Rhodes Center, and for a ninth straight installment, there will be live bands! In a big change from past years, the advertised promoter this year is local punk/metal guitarist Mikhal Muto, with Dustin Jones/Tidal Records nowhere to be found on the Facebook event page. No public word as to why Dustin isn't visibly involved with this year's local Go Skate Day, but Mikhal has loads of promotional experience to keep the free and all-ages skateboarding action going! Like in past years, there will be contests, prizes, and snacks from sponsors and supporters. Local crossover thrash quartet Hails will play Go Skate Day for a third straight year on the 21st, joining The Cover-Up as the only bands to play this event three times, though all members but Carmen also played there in 2022 with different bands.

Two bands new to Go Skate Day will hit the stage atop the big ramp on the 21st, namely death/thrash metal trio Pillory in a rare outdoor concert from them, as well as newer local space rock duo The Spaceship Opening (featuring ex-Redundant bassist Andrew MacDonald), who still don't have a known online page. As well, Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson will bring his turntable mixes back to Go Skate Day for the first time since 2016, so don't miss his skilled tunes as well! This is a FREE & ALL AGES event, skaters do not need to register to take part in that way, and things run from 1:00-5:00 PM. Weather permitting, this should be a fun time, so visit the above links for more details!

Next up, Ha!ls have one more show announcement to take note of, this time indoors at Soo Blaster on Wednesday, July 16th, where they will open for a touring trifecta of metal bands! Making their local debuts on this night are Barrie/Toronto doom metal band Ethereal Tomb, Brampton hardcore quartet Mile End, and Chilliwack, B.C. hardcore punk quintet Smuther, which presents an interesting style contrast with all three bands having distinct sounds that may not gel with all listeners, though Ethereal Tomb & Mile End do play together often. Stoner and screamo fans will find a lot to like here, let alone with Hails' locally tested fury as they continue the lead-up to the Ripcordz show late next month! Another Mikhal Muto-promoted concert, this is all ages as usual for Soo Blaster, with doors opening at 6:30 PM and an admission fee of $15 at the door or via online tickets to be revealed. Visit the Facebook event page for more on this intriguing concert!

The second half of today's post takes us to Sault Michigan, starting with lots of new videos of local hard rock quartet The Nameless at The Merchants Bar on Saturday night! These were first uploaded to new drummer Jamie Costner's personal Facebook page on Sunday, with the band sharing them publically a couple of hours later. The five videos are all included in a batch post, though lengths are inconsistent. Therein, you will see The Nameless covering Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black" (the only one of the five shot vertically), The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California" and "By The Way", Nena's "99 Red Balloons" (perhaps the Goldfinger version?), and Wolfmother's "Joker & The Thief". "By The Way" is embedded below as it is the longest of the five videos, and notably, frontman Joshua LaCoursiere just sang on the Chili Peppers covers without playing guitar, which is true to the Peppers' lineup.

It's good to see some new videos of The Nameless in concert (they had only uploaded two of their own to Facebook prior to these), and they have a good handle on all five songs on offer here, with the Chili Peppers covers having an extra aggression to them that adds to both songs! Jamie slots in well behind the drumkit, and Mike has some solid guitar work in particular here, so don't miss these new Nameless clips at The Merch above and below!

Finally, here's an advance single from local metal solo project X's & Y's' upcoming sophomore album "Ruination Coactive"! Uploaded to their YouTube channel yesterday, this video is for the album's opening track "Arrival", with the song set to spacey yet cubist visualizer effects. I won't comment on the song yet, as I plan on reviewing "Ruination Coactive" on the SMS this month, assuming it is released as planned on June 13th, but check out X's & Y's newest song for yourselves below!

That's all for now, but another busy round of weekend concert previews begins next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), New Album Updates, And More!!

For this final post of the month, we have updates on upcoming albums featuring local metal talent, but first, here's LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for he months ahead!

Local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will make his way to the newly opened Beck's Bar at least thrice in mid-2025, with Sunday matinees booked for May 11th, July 20th, and August 31st! His show there on the 11th will be his first gig at the former Vibe Lounge in about fourteen years, back when his band Caveman Morrison were in full force, so this has been a long time coming even if it's now solo! Beck's live music schedule is slated to feature live bands on Saturday nights with matinee performers on Saturdays and Sundays, both at the slightly unique start time of 3:00 PM, but all three of Tym's dates here are Sunday affairs, with the August 31st show falling on the Labour Day long weekend. Hopefully Tym gets a strong reception at this new-ish Goulais Avenue venue in two weeks and beyond! All three dates are 19+ affairs with no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, here's some news on two new/upcoming local metal albums, starting with a brand new release, as local industrial metal act The Realignment Project released their new EP "The Frustration Sessions" on Monday! According to their Facebook page, it is "now available everywhere", and by "everywhere", they mean Bandcamp once again, as well as YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and even the Taiwanese streaming service KKBox, all of which now host T.R.P.'s debut EP "Afterthought" as well. "The Frustration Sessions" can be bought in mp3 format on Bandcamp on a "name your price" model, and on iTunes for $5.94, so consider buying it to support Matt's work! As well, the first song "Rocketship" got a lyric video for the project's official YouTube channel, as four songs from "Afterthought" also got at the time. Matt had also teased a lyric video for "Static" in this Facebook "Reel", but it has yet to be made public.

Given the close timeframe since The Realignment Project released "Afterthought" in January, a review of "The Frustration Sessions" isn't imminent. I reviewed their debut in February, so with the buffer period of six months that I enforce to space out reviews of the same act to avoid showing a bias, I currently have this new EP slotted in for a review in August. That said, fans of industrial rock and Matt's old band Riverin will definitely want to check out "The Frustration Sessions" at the above links, and give the "Rocketship" lyric video a watch below!

Also, here's the latest from Sault Michigan metal solo project X's & Y's, who have confirmed that their second studio album "Ruination Coactive" will be released to major streaming services and in limited CD copies on Friday, June 13th! The track listing reveal from last month may have hinted towards this release timeframe, as one song is named "The Gemini Machine". Technically, the album's name is "Яuiᴎдтюᴎ Koдcтive" given the faux Cyrillic, but spell that at your own peril. To go along with the impending album release, X's & Y's have launched a BigCartel page to sell extant CD copies of their debut album "The Obsidian Dream", stickers of both albums' cover artwork, and even "Ruination Coactive" keychains. Keep all this in mind to support X's & Y's and original E.U.P. metal! Yes, the URL references Werehold Records, project leader Jason Mills' old indie label that he used as an imprint for "The Obsidian Dream" (hint for future plans?)

We'll know more on "Ruination Coactive" in about a month & a half, and a formal album review should be in order for the SMS this summer, but here's a new teaser video from X's & Y's' Facebook page on April 2nd featuring Jason "dubbing some stuff (that he) wasn’t happy with the first million times". The 23 seconds-long clip has him riffing on a guitar, albeit not hooked up to an amplifier, so it sounds like tinny acoustic strumming. No point commenting on it yet, but it's an effective teaser at the studio metal material ahead, so give it a watch for yourselves below!

Finally, here's the latest from Sault Ontario crossover thrash quartet Hails, who are on a new CD release of their own! While its official public on-sale date is June 7th, the cross-Canada compilation album "Punk Canada Vol. 4" (featuring covers of domestic Canadian punk bands) is available early from Ha!ls members for $20, and it features them covering Toronto punk legends The Almighty Trigger Happy's song "Meathook". As best as I can gather, this cover isn't available yet for streaming, but if you want to hear it, former Saultite Ash Richtig's Windsor band Avoid The Comment Section, and more right away, give Hails a shout! In terms of an embeddable video to send things out with, guitarist Carmen Muto is the focus of this new video from Ha!ls' Facebook page of him playing some sweeps on his guitar for 14 seconds. Why this horizontal landscape video was uploaded in pillarboxed vertical dimensions, I don't know, but Carmen shows his skills nicely here!

Hails will play their first show of 2025 on May 8th (one week from tomorrow!) when they open for The Dayglo Abortions at Soo Blaster, so stay tuned for our preview of that and much more from Ha!ls as this year rolls along! Give the new "Sweepman" video a watch below (and Brent, I'm sorry!)

That's all for now, but weekend concert previews are on the way next! Thanks everyone!

Updates On New & Upcoming Local Albums, Plus Two Concert Cancellations!

Before we dive into this post, I wanted to note two concert cancellations/postponements, one that we missed on here and one that is still ahead. First, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations cancelled their Friday nighter at Reggie's Place last week due to that night's ice storm, as per drummer Tony Santoro on their Facebook group at 10:55 PM on Friday, when the show would have been in progress. I hadn't heard of other bands on Friday that called off that night's show, though Generations were back as scheduled on Saturday night. Seeing as the announcement came that late, I obviously couldn't mention it in a post prior, but apologies anyway, and hopefully things went well for Generations at Reggie's on Saturday! The other postponement is actually for this Saturday's planned Dressed To Kiss concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre.

The news broke on Rock 101's Concert Track segments on air, and promoters Miles Management confirmed in this Facebook comment reply that it will now take place on Saturday, August 9th, pushing the D.T.K. show back exactly 19 weeks. Miles Management cited "unforeseen circumstances" for the rescheduling (source here), and while an updated ticket link from the S.C.T.C. is not out yet, tickets bought for this Saturday will still be honoured. Disappointing for fans of Kiss that this talented tribute band had to delay their local debut, but hopefully the summer season date will work out!

Today's post otherwise looks are information on an upcoming album, and leading off, here's some details in a regular post on reunited local midwest emo/psych rock trio Fuller's new studio album "II"! I touched on everything in our review yesterday, but I try to actually mention unspoken details from prior news posts in a new news post too, in case readers don't check the album review first. "Fuller II" is available to buy on Bandcamp for $7 or on iTunes for $9.99, and you can stream it on Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and the Africa-geared Boomplay (at press time, there are no physical pressings of the album, though bassist Mark Rand had floated the idea in the pre-release promotion). "II" was released through the Advance Records imprint, and with one exception, is almost entirely made up of songs from the band's late-era run in the mid-2000s.

The album closer "Six" is a re-recording of the untitled sixth song from their 2002 EP (which had no song titles at all), and retains songwriting credits for ex-members James Kersley and Dan Fagan. Mid-2000s drummer Nathan Sauve is similarly credited as a co-writer on everything else. The songs on offer are presented in the exact order that they were played at Fuller's reunion concert at LopLops Lounge in December 2023, with the exception that their covers of American Football and Moneen songs that night were replaced by two short filler tracks named "A" and "B", one being an acoustic ballad and the other being a dark instrumental. Emo isn't my first love in terms of rock genres, but "II" is a solid album that fully realizes the Mark/Nathan era of Fuller, so definitely buy or stream it at the above links, and hopefully a proper release party happens when Mark is back home next! Here's the opener "Batteries From Old Flashlights" from YouTube!

We'll close by heading over to Sault Michigan, where local metal solo project X's & Y's announced on March 14th that they are releasing their second studio album later this year! To be entitled "Ruination Coactive", project leader Jason Mills revealed on their Facebook page that he "nearly finished both albums at the same time, but (he) needed to focus on one", that being last fall's debut album "The Obsidian Dream". Jason noted that he wrote the new album immediately after the previous during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, and he plans to release "Ruination Coactive" on streaming services and on CD once again. The cover artwork (reminiscent of old Konami games for the NES) was also shared, as was the eight song track listing. Is the fourth track "The Gemini Machine" a hint towards a late May-early June release, and/or a reference to this being album #2? We'll keep you posted!

No public word yet on how these songs will compare to what Jason put out last fall, but "The Obsidian Dream" had a bunch of guest performers, was recorded at Scholomance Studios in Brimley, and was entirely instrumental. We'll be six months past X's & Y's' album review last fall this month, so a review of "Ruination Coactive" will hit the SMS very shortly after it is released, so stay tuned for more from X's & Y's in the near future, and look for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Metal Band & New Videos From Both Sides Of The Border!!

Let's clear out some more of our news backlog on this Wednesday night, and today's video-heavy post will go some ways towards that on both sides of the border! Just to clarify given national news, we're not going to stop covering Sault Michigan/the E.U.P. due to tariffs/a trade war. None of that is the fault of local musicians, and I want the Twin Saults to have stronger connections, not weaker ones. Now, here's what you should know!

We have a new local death metal/grindcore project to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely Three Grind Mice! Obviously a play on the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice", this is a new project from prolific local indie label Blood Shed Productions, one of their few brand new acts post-pandemic. I'm unsure if the band literally has three members or if it's a solo project, and while performer credits aren't given on their social media accounts, Blood Shed head Tyler Gibson (best known from Crucify The Whore and Rotopsy) has been sharing their content online, and he has multi-instrumental talent. The project is represented on social media by photos and brief animations of plush mice playing instruments, and so far, none of their music samples have vocals. Will the "mice" sing in death growls, and would they do the pitch-shifted chipmunk thing? An untitled & 92 seconds-long instrumental can be heard on their Bandcamp page.

That recording includes a brief cover of Gut's "Gia Paloma" plus an original song in progress, but embedded below is a drum sample clip from their new YouTube channel featuring one of the "mice" drumming on camera, and the emphasis suggests that they do have live drumming rather than programmed percussion (the video description credits the drummer as "Johnny Town-Mouse", a'la the Beatrix Potter character). It's too soon to accurately gauge 3GM, but there's promise there for fans of grindcore music! Vocals will definitely play a role into perception, let alone how far they take the mice conceit, but check them out for yourselves below!

Next up, the second advance single from reunited local emo band Fuller's upcoming sophomore album "II" was posted onto their YouTube channel on Friday! This time, the chosen song is "Kerosene", which they revealed on their Facebook page was "one of the last songs (that) we wrote as a band". For context, they disbanded originally in 2005, and by then, the band noted that "we were getting away from the midwestern emo stuff, and leaning more into post-hardcore and psych-rock". I'll hold comment on the song for now pending our eventual review of the album upon its release in "early 2025", but if the description piques your interest (or you loved/miss Fuller), check out "Kerosene" below, and look for the album soon!

Let's head south to Sault Michigan to wrap up this post, and we'll start with local hard rock cover quartet Dirty Musky, who rocked The Islander Bar in Hessel for the Les Cheneaux Islands Snowsfest's pub crawl on February 7th, and drummer Jamie Costner shared five videos from said gig to her personal Facebook page two days later, with the band subsequently sharing them on their own Facebook page. The videos (uploaded in a batch post and not individually) include Dirty Musky covering Tool's "Sober", A Perfect Circle's "Judith", guitarist Fran Blackwood playing a guitar solo, and Breaking Benjamin's "So Cold", which was filmed in two partial chunks (the longer first part is below, the second is linked here). All are short and vertical clips, but the band sounds good tackling some songs that you don't hear often in the E.U.P.. and Dave's voice holds up well for the most part, so give these videos a watch above & below, and look for more from them soon!

Finally for today, here's a new song from local metal solo project X's & Y's' YouTube channel! Entitled "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars", this 7+ minute original track was actually uploaded twice on Valentine's Day, both in a version with vocals and a version without! The one with vocals (their first such song) is embedded below, but click here to check out the instrumental copy. This is a full-on doom metal song that drone-inclined fans are going to take to, and while it's not lyrically verbose, Jason gets the point across with processed and well layered aggressive vocals. It may take adjusting the video's speed to really make things out, but it's an impressive diversion, if an acquired taste, so check out X's & Y's' new song below!

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

An All-Sault Michigan Video Showcase!!

Today's post takes us to Sault Michigan for a bunch of new videos from four local hard rock/metal bands, and we'll actually start with ones that I can't embed on the SMS! On the last weekend of September, local hard rock/classic metal band Tarnished rocked The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino for their first of two consecutive weekends there, and on Friday, September 27th, they were filmed for videos shared to their Facebook page! These were filmed by attendee Audrey Marshall, a regular at Sault Ontario concerts on the weekend cover circuit who does travel to Sault Michigan to see concerts there on occasion. As her videos were posted in the band's comment thread from September 24th, I can't embed or directly link them on external websites like this, but she posted three videos thusly. The clips feature Alex, Josh, and guest rhythm section Chris Leask & Ron Suchey covering Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger", The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane", and AC/DC's "T.N.T.".

Notably, Alex is on guitar on all three songs, which may not seem odd, but he didn't play guitar at all during their last gig as of this writing (their second place run at the LSSU battle of the bands last month), so keep that in mind. Only the Survivor cover exceeds a minute in length, but the videos are well shot with good audio quality, and fans of Tarnished's old school covers will take to the clips, so check them out on Tarnished's Facebook page linked above, and kudos to Audrey for crossing the border to see bands across! I'd love to see more fans do that!

Next up, here's a rarity: a public video of local hard rock quintet The Nameless in concert! Filmed at their Halloween concert at Bird's Eye Outfitters on October 26th but only uploaded to their Facebook page on Tuesday, the video sees the guys covering The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", which is an interesting choice for a five-piece band given that the original song only had two musicians. Filmed with a stationary camera, the video quality is fuzzy, but the song is well handled for a band of this size, and it is good to see some members dressed for the occasion! Backing vocalist Anna Lawless is there, she's just obscured for most of the runtime. I'd have centered and zoomed the video a bit, but it's a good look at a band that doesn't have many videos to share publically, and with unique visuals at the outdoor store to boot, so check out The Nameless' new video below!

Keeping with the seasonal vibes, local hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun were filmed covering Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" (ironically) at Huck's Pub & Grill in Rudyard on October 26th for that venue's Halloween party! This was filmed by Small Town Society frontwoman Holly Sibbald and shared from her personal Facebook page to the band's Facebook page. The band did partially dress up for the occasion, with Skip and Jody going as Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde for the night, which is awesome to see! Not a bad rendition with a solid turnout, so give Unfortunate Sun's new video a watch below!

Finally, let's leave the concert stage for a brief teaser video from local progressive metal solo project X's & Y's' Facebook page last month! This completely slipped me by when covering their debut CD "The Obsidian Dream" on here, but on October 6th, this video was uploaded featuring what appears to be a snippet of a music video for their song "A Flow Of Touch", which features project leader Jason Mills tapping the guitar in the forest while dressed in outdoorsy attire. Is it wrong to be reminded of Escanaba In Da Moonlight here? The full video has yet to be uploaded that I have seen, but what we see sounds good in the 22 seconds of video featured, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more from X's & Y's!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

X's & Y's - "The Obsidian Dream" CD Review!!

It's now time for our 184th monthly CD review on The Sault Metal Scene, but with another change of plans. Due to the comic book tied into Sykotyk Rampage's new album still not arriving, I'm bumping that one more month, so today, we're looking at Sault Michigan metal solo project X's & Y's' debut album "The Obsidian Dream"! Officially released on October 11th through the AFR Records imprint (also credited to the former Werehold Records on physical copies), X's & Y's is the current original metal project from former Life's Eclipse frontman and Swampghas guitarist (among other projects) Jason Mills, finally fulfilling long-held plans to release a paid physical CD. "The Obsidian Dream" has been in the works since at least 2019 at Scholomance Studios in Brimley, and features Jason on all instruments aside from guest appearances on two songs. Jason produced this album alongside local alt-rock musician, ex-Plastic frontman, and Crooked Music owner Zac Crook.

Mastering was done in Lansing by Mitchell "Mitch Michelle" Wells, who previously performed with Jason in the short lived project Shatterhand, and guests on "Houses" on an unexpected instrument. X's & Y's album is on sale on CD through Jason (contact him at this link) for $10 USD, and while it was carried at Crooked Music, the store is liquidating in advance of its closure later this week, so I wouldn't count on copies still being there. Digitally, the album can be streamed for free on YouTube Music, Amazon Music,  and a handful of smaller streaming services, though not Spotify or Apple Music that I have found. With eight tracks running for about 41 minutes, let's begin this month's CD review!

"The Obsidian Dream" ominously leads off with "Just Above Under", whose droning intro and sudden spoken word interjection leads into a pounding industrial metal number with the distinctive guitar tone that Werehold loyalists will recall from their heyday! Jason delivers some nice melodic guitar passages in between the riffs, but I will admit that some of the backing sound effects and samples really feel out of place, especially what sounds like clanging pipes in the first half. Effectively brutal instrumental if you can get past the noises in the background! Next up is "A Flow Of Touch", which is a faster but more straightforward number accentuated by a somewhat trippier intro and more rapid drum beats, and crucially, much less in the way of background samples. Jason also lets loose with a more of a technical and complex solo, which is definitely welcomed! Solid track that is an improvement in terms of what I like out of metal, so we're moving up already!

Third on the CD is "Ursa Minor", which is more of a deliberately paced song that really shows off the bass more than anything else. For me, I prefer songs to be faster and heavier than this, let alone fuller, as the guitar really isn't prominent in this at all, but as a showcase of what Jason can do on the low end, it definitely succeeds! It's rare where local bands put bass on this high of a technical pedestal, and short of slapping it, he did as much as you could ask for! I would like to hear some guitar in the background, as it's kind of an empty song beyond the bass playing, but a definite curio for fans! The first half of the album is met with "Solid Glass", which is the only song on offer to run for under 4 minutes. Guitar is definitely back on this song, which is the most djenty (is that a word?) song yet, so progressive metal fans will want to sit up and take notice!

Still harbouring the distinctly tuned guitar sound of earlier tracks, the guitar playing alone makes this song recommendable, and while there are better showcases on the disc for proper guitar solos, I definitely appreciate Jason's technical skill set on this song, and the percussion is well timed throughout! Fifth on the album is "The Starving Rust", which opens up a very eerie and spacey intro before the metal is unleashed, and while bass is again a lead instrument like on "Ursa Minor",the song is fuller and feels more like a realized final product. The drawn out ending is way too reserved and spare for my liking, but until then, it's a solidly brutal track that bass fans won't want to miss! Sixth is "Houses", which features the aforementioned Mitch Michelle on mellotron (basically a keyboard using magnetic tape to play sampled notes). You can hear Mitch's involvement throughout this song, with the mellotron being used to create a very folk/bardcore sound.

Progressive rock fans will be very familiar with the mellotron, and with Jason largely backing Mitch up here, this definitely feels the most different of the songs on offer, but certainly not in a bad way. A casual listen that almost feels like a boat ride through the countryside (if a nighttime one in the medieval era), metal-or-bust fans may want to steer clear, but "Houses" is an intricate and well composed prog rock piece, and good on Mitch to get involved in this way! The penultimate (and last guest-less) song is "Oculus", and this is a full return to guitar and bass-laden metal, which is definitely welcomed! Not sure that the springy backing sound effects in the breakdown are necessary, but we get some good guitar work and more prominent bass action, and it comes together well, so this is a strong return to X's & Y's usual form! The album closes with its longest song, the almost 9 minutes-long "Never Left", which has lots of guests.

Described as "a song for Jeremy" in the liner notes, the Jeremy in question is Illinois-based guitarist Jeremy Belter, who is joined here by former Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson, Florida-based musician Thaddeus Mitchell, and French metal guitarist Dorian Pied. The amount of guests shows in how the guitar parts are layered and implemented, with the longer length letting everyone show their stuff, but if I didn't know going in that there were four guests, I may not have assumed that there was anything radically different beyond just being more technical. The spoken word samples late are well utilized though, and the guitar skill levels are clear as day! As things change a fair amount, it never gets boring across its long run-time, but I'm not sure if the ending rough guitar outro (which sounds like a jam room demo) adds to it or not. A fittingly grand closure to the album in any event, and hopefully a harbinger of more big things from Jason musically!

So, what are my final thoughts on X's & Y's' debut album? I'm just glad to see Jason finally get an album out after all these years, but even beyond that, this is a very good instrumental metal album that fans of progressive and technical metal will take to! His guitar and bass skills were on full display here, and his bass-led songs will be a particular revelation to fans who are so inclined! Myself, I liked the fuller, more aggressive and speedy songs, but nothing on here is bad, and if you're a fan of Sault Ontario's Convergence, you'll find a lot to like here, and even "Houses" worked for me for how unique and fitting it was at setting its mood! I didn't find that all of the background sound effects and samples worked very well, I did find that "Ursa Minor" could be quite empty, and I would be curious to hear vocals on some tracks, as Jason wasn't averse to having vocalists involved in his old Werehold Records bands in the 2000s and 2010s.

It's great to see new extreme metal of any kind coming out of the E.U.P. in the 2020s, and while just a solo project, hopefully this is the start of more big things to come from Jason, be it with further X's & Y's material or something else! If you like instrumental prog metal, do check them out and buy/stream "The Obsidian Dream" for yourself above! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and I'm hopeful that I'll get the comic book for Sykotyk Rampage's "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck" so that I can finally give it a proper review next month, so stay tuned in any event for that and more news & notes as well! Thanks everyone!