Not even two years old the Waterloo/Kitchener/Cambridge/Guelph based band has thrown in the towel. The news was announced to their adoring fans the night of June 24th on both their Facebook and Myspace pages. The biggest question being directed at the band is “what happened?”

After playing their first show in October 2008 and being signed by Underground Operations not even a year later, the band seemed to have everything going for them. Sponsorships, album releases with chart topping results, Canadian tours with larger bands, not to mention their own headlining tours, and an ever expanding and loyal fan base were just a few things Kingdoms had on their side; all of which are almost unheard of for a band just under 2 years old. So, seriously, what happened?

The note that was put up on both of the band’s fan pages states:

To make a long complicated story very short, we’ve unfortunately grown apart and some of us have decided to head in different directions.

Although this is very brief and does not go into a lot of detail, it sounds as if things were just not clicking within the band as a whole. The idea of forcing something that just was not there is something the band has come to a conclusion with, and therefore, decided to not go on and fake it. This was not handled well by their devoted fans, with a lot of “WTF”s and confessions of tears being shed are all over their fan pages.

Kingdoms has stated that, for now, their final show will be at this year’s SCENE Festival in St.Catharines, Ontario. There are hopes of a final hometown farewell show, but as of right now SCENE is your best bet to see these guys give it their all one last time. They play the Jagermeister Barracuda Outdoor stage at 6:35 and tickets for the entire festival can be bought at the doors. If you have never been to SCENE Fest before, now is a good time.

To leave this article and situation on a good note, do not despair too much fans alike. There have been rumours of a new band forming from the ashes of a couple bands in the Ontario scene, so keep your eyes and ears open to news of this in the near future. In the meantime, continue to support the Ontario music scene and continue to go to shows.

To read Kingdom’s announcement note click HERE.

To find out more information and to buy tickets for SCENE Fest click HERE.

… Onto likely one of the saddest days in Hamilton’s music history; SRTL plays their last hometown show to yet another sold out crowd. If you were lucky enough to see the show the night before, then imagine that but ten times as crazy. They were joined once again by friends Kingdoms. The Oxford Street Montage opened, and coincidentally enough, it was their last show also. What a night to remember.

RIP SRTL

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Date: February 28/10

This was a night of pre-mourning, lunacy, and happiness. This was SRTL’s first last night playing their hometown at The Casbah, and they weren’t about to let their fans down. SRTL showed their sold out hometown crowd that even though they were almost done as a band they still give it their all. Spiderman suits, endless stage dives, and holes in the ceiling this night was one to remember. SRTL were joined by good friends Kingdoms and The Oxford Street Montage.

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Straight Reads the Line played a series of shows with friends Kingdoms to mark their breakup as a band. The last two shows were sold out at The Casbah in their hometown of Hamilton.

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The lead singer of Kingdoms, Hutton, felt the Kitchener/Waterloo area had lost touch with it’s music roots concerning smaller, less expensive and more intimate shows. Therefore a bar’s basement, with a capacity for 80 people, was booked for a Kingdoms’ Christmas Show. Kingdoms’ shared the stage with good friends Lifestory:Monologue, Baptized in Blood and Counterparts.

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My third show at the MOD Club this week… wow!

Anyways, here is Protest the Hero’s SOLD OUT Toronto stop on their headlining Canadian Tour with special guests Kingdoms, Assassinate the Following and Abandon all Ships.

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Local band Kingdoms (Underground Operations) opened the show with tight, heavy, melodic music, showing it up for Canada, being the only Canadian band on the show. Even though most people in the building weren’t even aware Kingdoms were playing the show, I can guarantee they were not disappointed in the performance and passion displayed by this up and coming band.

Up next was Architects, a band that I personally was very interested in seeing because I’ve heard lots of good thing about them, but never have had the opportunity to check them out live.  I was very impressed by the performance this British progressive metal band. In my opinion, the recordings they have do not do them justice. If you really want to experience Architects, you have to see them live. They will be playing on October 12th again in Toronto, with August Burns Red and The Acacia Strain.

Now for the band most of the crowd came out to see, Bring Me The Horizon. As I said earlier, for some reason BMTH have cast a spell upon teenage girls. When Vocalist Oliver Sykes first stepped on the stage, an almost “Jonas Brothers” reaction was given from the crowd. As for the music, BMTH played an okay set. I must say, there current CD “Suicide Season” is not as appealing to me as there 20o6 debut, “Count Your Blessings”, which made it disappointing when only one song off Count Your Blessings was played. One Flaw I really found in Bring Me The Horizons live music was that it was very sloppy. At Times it would be very hard to tell one song from another, or hear which guitar riffs were played. While I wasn’t very impressed by them, there very loyal fans backed them 100% and made it very obvious they enjoyed the performance.

The next and final band that played can be defined in two simple but very very important words, stage precense. On top of playing their songs bang on, Buffalo Southern Hardcore band Every Time I Die had some of the best stage presence I have ever seen. With Bassist Josh Newton wearing a full one piece skeleton suit, and guitarist Andy Williams having very interesting handle bars, you know this band knows how to put on a show. The most impressive thing I saw this show was ETID guitarist Jordan Buckley, front flip from on the stage into the crowd with out ever stopping playing his guitar. All in all the show was ended on a very positive note with a very talented band.

To see photos from this show go to: http://www.damagedpress.com/featured/2009/10/photos-every-time-i-die-bring-me-the-horizon-architects-kingdoms/

]]> http://www.damagedpress.com/reviews/bandreviews/2009/10/epitaphzune-tour-every-time-i-die-bring-me-the-horizon-architects-kingdoms/feed/ 1 http://www.damagedpress.com/featured/2009/10/photos-every-time-i-die-bring-me-the-horizon-architects-kingdoms/ http://www.damagedpress.com/featured/2009/10/photos-every-time-i-die-bring-me-the-horizon-architects-kingdoms/#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:37:32 +0000 Josh Mahoney http://www.damagedpress.com/?p=388 Lineup: Every Time I Die, Bring me the Horizon, Architects & Kingdoms
Venue: Kool Haus
Promoter: Live Nation
Equipment: Nikon D300, 50mm 1.8 prime

As much as I was sad that Oh Sleeper was apparently not playing this show anymore, it’s always good to see Kingdoms. Totally loved this show, high energy for all the bands!

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1. Split the Sky
2. The Biltmore Hotel
3. Pyramids
4. Catharsis
5. Telegraphic Static
6. Atlantis
7. La Sarena

Kingdoms have finally made their way into stores, with their new album Daughters of Atlas which can be found at HMV for only 9.99!

This picture was taken this morning by the bands vocalist, Hutton Wierzbicki

This album is 27 minutes and 55 seconds of melodies, harmonies, singing, screaming and just plain old pure musicality. First of all, if you haven`t heard of these guys, that is probably because they have only been around for about a year now. They recently just signed to Underground Operations (Protest the Hero, Lights, These Silhouettes)

The artwork on the album is incredible, designed by Sons of Nero who also have done designs for bands such as Dead and Divine, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Every Time I Die, Misery Signals and more. The CD case is one of the carboard ones, with the plastic disc holder on the inside (when you pick up a copy.. yes pick it up) you will understand what I mean. On the left are the lyrics, which are by no means simple. Huttons complex and witty way with words are stuck in your head for hours after hearing them. My two favourite songs are Pyramids and La Sarena.

Adressing the actual songs themselves;
Split the sky is a totally new recording, and at this point has up until the CD release only been heard on 88.3 Anger Management (check them out on stickam thursdays 10-12 http://stickam.com/883angermanagement). The Biltmore Hotel can also be heard on their myspace. The other 5 songs however  (Pyramids, Catharsis, Telegraphic Static, Atlantis, La Serena) are also available on their first EP (Atlantis) available for free download online . My guess is they most likely have taken it down by now!

Their sound? Its hard to explain, all I can really say is that it is good. They remind me of a slightly more melodic misery signals, with vocals that are less low screams, and more pitching and singing involved.

This album is definately something worth putting on your iPod, and being some of the top played songs in your iTunes. Head over to myspace, add these dudes, and check out their tour dates to see when they are hitting up a town near you!

http://www.myspace.com/kingdoms

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