Bloodstock Festival : M2TM Wolverhampton - The Bands : Heat 4
Every year Bloodstock Festival runs the "Metal 2 The Masses" competition with regional heats up and down the country. Ultimately the winner of each competition gets to play on the hallowed grounds of Catton Hall, lining up at the festival alongside the likes of Judas Priest, Behemoth and Devin Townsend.
This year we are taking a deep dive into the Wolverhampton competition, being held at K.K.'s Steel Mill, a venue run by Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing!
With Heat 4 kicking off this Thursday, lets get to know the four bands competing for a place in the regional semi finals!
Higher State
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We're based in the midlands with members ranging from Telford all the way to Birmingham, been a solid band for a good few months with Brandon being our most recent member being with us as little as 2 months but absolutely killing it on the mic.
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
Our music is hard hitting and heavy. Focusing around a crossover between Extreme Death Metal and characteristics from other genres with major influences from bands like Whitechapel, Oceano, Thy Art is Murder, Aborted, with other influences from 90’s classic death metal with modern mixes from Death core and Slam to really give the music a strong mix of styles but ultimately falling into its own.
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
We all would love to win and see how far we can get; we believe M2TM will be a fun experience and a strong foot to show us off to the scene for the first time and display our fresh sound and our take on the UK metal scene.
What should we look out for in your live show?
This will be our first live show with the new line up you should look out for the extremely amped up energy, fast progression and powerful energy in our tracks and on stage aiming to do our best to put on a strong performance with some heavy hard-hitting tracks.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
Our aim is to do our best to not blur into the same sound as a lot of metal bands, stand out as impactful and interesting and put on a strong performance using our strong structure and tone to really punch sound into people's faces.
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
Recall The Remains and Blood Church are 2 very strong and interesting bands we know personally, they are all great guys who know how to write heavy music and put on a good performance so were sure they will progress far and if we are to win could potentially be on the same rounds as us .
Fractura
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We started almost a year ago, but this lineup has been going for less than 3 months.
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
Punk Rock, Early 80s Thrash, Grunge, Hardcore. Bands like Alice In Chains, Hatebreed, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against The Machine...
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
Give ourselves a push to kick off as a band and try our best to win.
What should we look out for in your live show?
Intense energetic riffs, political messages and a lot of hair.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
Multicultural band, crowd participation and a tall bassist!
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
No idea...
In Fury
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We’re based in the Black Country, mainly Dudley, but practise in Birmingham for convenience. Our first show was March 2018 so that's what we’ve always considered to be the bands “official" birthday, but the core of the group has been together much longer. Stacey and Dan were in a band together prior to In Fury, and Stacey and Karl had been friends for some time before that. Rich was the first bassist that we auditioned but we knew immediately that he was a perfect fit musically and personality wise. Unfortunately it took us two years to find a committed drummer before we could begin gigging, but the added bonus with Nick is that he brings the average age of the band down quite substantially!
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
As a group our influences cover the whole genre, with maybe the exception of black metal. We think of ourselves as just a Metal band but if we’re being a little more specific I guess you’d call us Metalcore. Bands like Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive and Lamb of God are obvious influences, with Madball and Hatebreed adding to the hardcore elements. A bit of thrash rears its head in places and we’re working on including more guitar harmonies so there’s definitely a Swedish melodeath influence there too. We try and give each song its own personality so they stand out from each other whilst still sounding cohesive. A friend of the band pointed out that some of the more melodic guitar parts were reminiscent of Paradise Lost, who are a favourite of Rich and Karl, so I guess everyone hears something different.
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
Between all the members of the band we’ve been regulars at Bloodstock since 2013 so it would be an amazing experience to play at the festival. KK’s Steelmill is our favourite venue to gig at, so even just reaching the final and performing on the main stage would be fantastic. Mostly we’re hoping to build our audience and make new friends, we’re releasing an EP in April so we’re trying to get our music heard by as many people as possible.
What should we look out for in your live show?
Audience participation is a big thing for us, sometimes crowds can be a little detached from a band if they’re not familiar with them so we strive to involve everyone and make the show a shared experience. Occasionally Stacey will go for a walk through the audience during a song and quite literally get in people faces, so stand at the back at your own risk! We’ll be debuting brand new music too, so we’re hoping that goes down well.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
I think the fact we have a female vocalist but we’re not a symphonic or gothic metal band is unusual in the local scene. A couple of times we’ve had other bands say “I wasn’t expecting that” after hearing Stacey sing during sound check which is always amusing. We’re not afraid of being melodic either, our songs are heavy but we want people to remember them after our set is over.
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
There’s loads of great bands representing the Black Country so we’re not counting anyone out! We’re anticipating big things from Blood Church as they got through to the final round last year. We played a show with Recall The Remains a couple of years ago and we loved the energy they had on stage so they’re one to keep an eye on too. Mainly we just want to wish the best of luck to everyone in the competition and look forward to watching or hopefully being in the band that gets the opportunity to play at Bloodstock 2020!
Water Into Water
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We’re Birmingham-based, as our rehearsal space is in Hockley; we’ve been together as a trio (bass // drums // guitar) since March 2019, with electric piano coming on board in October. I’ve written this music over the last 3//4 years, so it’s humbling to finally hear it played live.
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
Our music combines the intensity of metal with progressive song structures, jazz harmony and fierce improvisation. By learning the tunes together by ear, in the practice space, we’ve shaped a sound that is both powerful and elastic.
As far as influences are concerned, artists such as Meshuggah, TOOL, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Starebaby and Animals as Leaders are all in there, as are jazz colossi Miles Davis, Tigran Hamasyan, Tyshawn Sorey, Jim Black… The list goes on!
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
Absolutely no expectations from us. We’ll play our hearts out, and hopefully do the music justice!
What should we look out for in your live show?
Expect the unexpected! Powerful riffs, lots of groove, dynamic interplay between the four of us… An intense show, no doubt.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
What’s nice about how the scene has evolved over the last decade, is that heavy progressive instrumental music has become so popular; we’re combining those elements with improvisation, something I would love to see more of amongst our peers
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
Healthy competition is great, but picking out a rival doesn’t sit right, we’re all equal contenders as far as I’m concerned.
