Metal To The Masses South Wales 2019 Heat 5 Preview

Bloodstock Metal to The Masses – South Wales Heat 5

After a three-week break, we are back at Fuel on 29th March for Heat 5. Five bands battling it out this week so let’s start with Eulogy and I asked them to provide us with a potted history of the band

Eulogy

"Eulogy are a melodic/ classic rock three piece from Cardiff, UK formed in 2013. We play original melodic rock music with a dark, lyrical twist. We completed our three track EP December 2017 called Back To Life which contains two rock tracks and one acoustic track which emphasises the various influences and musical variations within the band. The EP was recorded at Coda Recordings which is owned and run by Neil Garland (Kooga, Hand Of Dimes) and supported by Nev Mcdonald (Kooga, Skin and Hand of Dimes). "

Their wealth of experience has helped produce and develop the three tracks which are now available through our website or CD Baby as well as to stream on Spotify. "We have now had over 140,000 plays on Spotify and Reverbnation. We have also played several gigs across South Wales including reaching the final at a battle of the bands competition at a local music venue in 2018. Our new single You’ll Die Alone is due to be released on 28th February 2019 along with a list of gigs across South Wales.” Anyone that has the double duo of Neil Garland and Nev McDonald is alright with me so I’m looking forward to these guys.

Introduce us to the current line-up: “Neil Thomas – Main vocals and bass guitar, Darran Goodwin – Drums and Backing vocals and Mike Williams – Guitar and backing vocals”.

How would you describe the band’s sound? “Melodic hard rock.” And who are the main influences for the band? “We are a melting pot of influences as each member brings their own ingredients. Mike enjoys listening to Alter Bridge, Mastodon, Clutch, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Neil loves Queensrÿche, Metallica, Scandinavian melodic rock. Darran loves Kiss and Motley Crüe.” Plenty of good stuff included in these influences.

Lemmy once said “if we moved in next door your grass would die”. If you moved in next door, what would happen to my lawn? “It would turn into white snake root.”

What prompted you to apply for the M2TM competition? “We wanted to promote welsh rock and have a night out in Cardiff. And play with some other cracking Welsh bands currently on the scene.” And what can we expect from you at Fuel? “The same as always good honest hard rock music, no gimmicks no bullshit, just good songs ...fucking have it!!!”

There is a strong line-up this year and the competition will be fierce. It’s great to have a healthy Welsh Metal scene. Playing this event always seems to raise the game. Tell us a few highlights for the band since you started. “We have currently been streamed +140K on Spotify and played a variety of gigs across the UK. The next single released on 28th February will hopefully take our online status to another level.”

Have you been to Bloodstock before? If so, tell us some of your experiences; why is it such a great festival? “Yes...last year’s event was fucking awesome...loved Democratus set who we played in the same heat as us last year in Fuel M2TM. Great mixture of genres ... love it.”

And finally, tell us something unusual about each band member that you feel needs to be shared with the rest of the metal community. “Mike Locks his studio so when he comes home pissed up, he can’t get hold of his guitars and wake up the street. Neil can’t stop fiddling with any knobs or buttons he can find on his bass or PA system. Keep him away from the mixing desks please. Oh, and more reverb on vocals please. Darran enjoys wanking in any new hotels he visits. typical drummer...”

Well, you can’t say you haven’t been warned. Keep your knobs in your pockets and Darran out of hotels. Thanks to Eulogy for their time and do check them out on Spotify – good stuff.

Levitas

Next up is the post-black metal despair of Levitas and bassist Liam Wolf gives us the main information about the band’s background. “Levitas was formed in Swansea in 2013 by Helen and Rhys, following an open mic night that descended into Darkthrone covers and fucking about with reverb pedals. After about a year working on early material, Rhys moved to Cardiff and Helen to Bristol, which is when Liam joined as bassist. We got to know Sam when we toured with Agrona in July 2017. When we parted ways with our then-drummer, Sam offered to fill in for a few gigs we had booked, and he’s been with us since!”

Introduce us to the current line-up: “Liam Wolf- Bass/vox/samples, Rhys Williams- guitar/vox, Helen Kinsella- Guitar and Sam Heffernan – Drums”

How would you describe the band’s sound? “It’s a fusion of atmospheric, post black metal with a ton of progressive elements. We enjoy drowning the listener in spaced-out reverb, but there’s plenty of brutality there too.” Having seen these guys a few times I think that’s as good a description as you could have.

Who are the main influences for the band? “The list is vast, and it varies between all of us, so we’ll give you a brief list: Red Sparrowes, Isis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Dying Fetus, Amenra, Wolves In The Throne Room, Agalloch, Akercocke, Rwake, Swans.”

Lemmy once said “if we moved in next door your grass would die”. If you moved in next door, what would happen to my lawn? “It would overgrow as nature reclaims all. And our cats would shit on it.”

What prompted you to apply for the M2TM competition? “We wanted to bring our style of atmospheric black metal to a wider audience, but we also just wanted the experience. Competition helps drive development and thought this was a good opportunity refine our live performance to be the best it can be.” 

Another solid answer and one that captures the whole essence of the event. This is about experience, networking, wider exposure and of course, one band will get that fantastic opportunity. It’s not about contracts or money and if you think that then this is the wrong place for you!

What can we expect from Levitas at Fuel? “Atmosphere, and lots of it. Don't expect much conversation on stage as it would only end badly. For those who have seen us before, there might be a couple of new elements too.”

There is a strong line-up this year and the competition will be fierce. It’s great to have a healthy Welsh Metal scene. Playing this event always seems to raise the game. Tell us a few highlights for the band since you started. “Supporting A Forest Of Stars was great for us as it put us in with bands more akin to ourselves, and with our sound that can be a rare thing. Touring with Agrona in 2017 was also brilliant as we got to bring our music to new places and meet a lot of cool people. Most recently we performed at one of Atmosfest's shows in Nottingham, which went well and resulted in us being booked for this year's edition of the fest, so we have plenty more to look forward to.”

Have you been to Bloodstock before? If so, tell us some of your experiences; why is it such a great festival? “Some of us have. Always a great time regardless of line up. The festival is home to so many different genres of metal and it's always a good place to discover new bands, meet new people, and just feel part of the metal family. Rhys went in 2010 but all he remembers is Meshuggah and a friend trying to get the frontman of Fear Factory to sign his sandwich.” I can just imagine Burton C Bell’s face. At least it wasn’t Dino. He’d have just eaten it.

And finally, tell us something unusual about each band member that you feel needs to be shared with the rest of the metal community. “Sam likes to collect toys from his childhood. Rhys failed his PhD in computer science but uses his skills to make weird inventions and instruments. Helen enjoys listening to DSBM whilst knitting clothes for her cat. Liam likes ducks.” And who doesn’t to be fair. Many thanks to Levitas for their answers. Plenty to look forward to in their set.

Ablated

Despite my money on not receiving a response, at the 11th hour Greg Fleming from Ablated came up trumps and here is the info you need (or maybe don’t need) on the bludgeoning death metal outfit.

Asked for a potted history of the band, Greg provides the detail. “After a number of line-up changes Ablated finally became complete in December 2016. Formed by Glenn Thomas, former Guitarist of Desecration and Mark Jenkins, taking up the role of bass player. Mike Johnson was recruited to occupy the drum stool whilst at the studio where his previous band Thorun rehearsed. Although Thorun’s style focused on D#doom Mike's background was thrash based, however he was quick to adapt his playing to suit Ablated's old school style of brutal and heavy death metal.  The vocal mantle was filled by Greg Fleming, spotted fronting his band Cryptophile when they were a support band for Malevolent Creation at a local show.  Although he was not approached at the show he was tracked down and offered the position of fronting Ablated. He immediately agreed and writing for the debut album began in earnest. At this point it was decided that a second guitarist would be added. After a half an hour phone call to long-time friend of Glenn's Stuart Woodland - former Guitarist of Necrocest, the line-up was complete."

“The current line-up is Greg-Vocals, Glenn-Guitar, Woody-Guitar, Mark-Bass. Mike-Drums.” I think we know from the opening paragraph about the band’s sound and Greg confirms “Relentless old school death metal.” Unsurprisingly the band’s main influences included “Suffocation, early Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Obituary and so on.”

We move onto the lawn question. “What would happen to lawn if we moved in next door. We’d dig it up looking for corpses to fuck.” Okay, one of the more extreme answers but it’d save on the mowing. Moving swiftly on, what what prompted the band to apply for M2TM? “Our guitarist Woody spurred us on.”

As if you didn’t know by now, it’s clear what we are going to get at Fuel. “Death metal savagery and a blistering live assault.” As for personal highlights of band, “the band is still in its infancy, so every show is a highlight.”

Has the band been to Bloodstock before? Greg confirms “I have been several times, thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially the bin jousting.” And finally, with some trepidation, what about something unusual about each band member? “Greg - Hates Dogs. Glenn - can make an entire room puke in just a few seconds. Woody-is a cunt. Mark - Speaks several languages; all variations of hilltop or Blaenavon tongue. Also has a micropenis. Mike is English” So there you have it. It’ll be brutal, it’ll be intense.

Cadacus

Next up we have the heavy metal sound of Swansea’s Cadacus. Rhythm guitarist Ceri Noble gives us the lowdown on the band who have not long released their debut album. Let’s start with some background. Give us a potted history of the band. “Joe and Luke met in late 2012 in their first year at Swansea University and became friends through a mutual love of Iron Maiden. They both decided to form a band together and began to form their own material. Gradually they recruited other members: Tom in 2013, first drummer Ghazi in 2014 and guitarist Ceri in 2015. Since then we have gigged extensively around the Swansea. We released our debut EP The Invasion in 2016. More gigging then followed and subsequently we began work on our full-length album Virtual Salvation which was then released in late 2018. We have recently welcomed the newest member, Charlie, as our new drummer after Ghazi’s sad departure from the band earlier this year.”

The current line-up is “Luke Roberts – Lead Guitar, Joe Heaton – Bass, Ceri Noble – Rhythm Guitar, Charlie Barraclough – Drums and Tom Gapper – Singer.”

How would you describe the band’s sound? “We would describe our sound as “traditional metal” but with perhaps with a slightly more aggressive edge than that of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest etc. We also have prog like tendencies much to some of our members’ dismay.” Nothing wrong with a bit of prog – providing it isn’t Genesis of course!

So, having given us the sound, who are the main influences for the band? “Iron Maiden have certainly set the foundations in this band, but we have also taken inspiration from bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, Dream Theatre and Megadeth.”

Lemmy once said “if we moved in next door your grass would die”. If you moved in next door, what would happen to my lawn? “Umm… probably not very much, generally speaking I would say we’re quite civilized and would make excellent neighbours. I think your lawn is safe.” That might be a preferred option to those nasty Ablated chaps! Unless you are seriously into necrophilia. Each to his own as they say.

So, what prompted Cadacus to apply for the M2TM competition? “We played last year, and it was one of the best gigs we’ve played. M2TM always pulls a good crowd which makes for a great atmosphere. Fuel is always a great venue to play and we have been able to play there a few times now. We also like seeing other bands from the area competing who we have met playing the South Wales circuit. Also, Bloodstock… duh.” Well, quite!

What can we expect from you at Fuel? “We’ve got a set full of short, punchy, high energy songs lined up for Fuel, so we’re expecting a great crowd reaction. You can also expect a sweaty Welshman shredding guitar as well as the first gig with our newest member Charlie, who before joining us, hadn’t played metal before, and he has brought such a varied and dynamic style of drumming, so we’re excited to see that is action.”

There is a strong line-up this year and the competition will be fierce. It’s great to have a healthy Welsh Metal scene. Playing this event always seems to raise the game. Tell us a few highlights for the band since you started. “After releasing our album at the end of 2018, we played our album release gig in Creature Sound in Swansea in the company of M2TM 2018 winners Democratus which made for a great night. Did also help that it was our guitarist Luke’s birthday, so many beverages did follow.” Sounds like quite a night. “Finally completing our album which did take nearly two gruelling years to complete and we thank our wonderful producer Tobi Gough for his time, patience and many car repairs throughout this time. Before finally graduating we did manage to wangle a set at Swansea University’s Summer Ball and we can proudly say that we were the first metal band to ever play this event (and probably the last).” Now that is true commitment to the cause. Good work!

Have you been to Bloodstock before? If so, tell us some of your experiences; why is it such a great festival? “Our bassist Joe (and almighty leader – or so he thinks) has been to Bloodstock on numerous occasions by now. The atmosphere at Bloodstock is always excellent as there always seems to be a sense of community amongst metal fans and you can make friends with just about anyone. The festival is brilliant at offering a wide range of bands playing the event spanning from the metal leviathans such as Judas Priest, Slayer and Trivium to fresh, new, up and coming talent such as the bands who play M2TM, which is a brilliant opportunity to get your name recognised.”

And finally, tell us something unusual about each band member that you feel needs to be shared with the rest of the metal community. “Luke’s job involves cutting rodents up and harvesting their organs, which to be fair sounds pretty metal, but we promise that it is for the furtherance of medical research. He also enjoys exposing himself to large crowds of people when celebrating a Welsh rugby victory. Joe hired a guitarist for the band for his own personal gain as he then subsequently started going out with her – you sly dog. Tom is currently engaged to Cicely from Tennessee. As she is currently out of the country, he now tends to sing with a southern drawl because he misses her. Ceri has played two sets with Cadacus with a broken leg after breaking it last November and is the band’s resident Uber – and is a girl. As the newest member of the band we’re not too sure as to Charlie’s quirks but I’m sure he has his secrets.” Well, whatever is lurking in Charlie’s cupboard, it’s surely only a matter of time before the rest of the band find it. Our thanks to Ceri and Cadacus for being great sports.

Friday also has Infernal Diadem playing their own brand of thrash and you can find out more about them by searching for their Facebook page. We wish all the bands playing on Friday the best of luck and look forward to another intense and entertaining evening. See you there!!