Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses London Final 2010
Shrapnel / Feral / Orakai / Kopperhed / Serillian / Aghast / Here Lies Affliction
The Gaff, London
Bloodstock’s Metal 2 The Masses is an unsigned band competition at venues up and down the country which provides the winners of each regional final not only with a slot on the Bloodstock Open Air Unsigned stage, but also a chance to get selected to play Wacken and a potential CD release by Spinefarm Records.
Tonight was the London final with eight bands lined up to fight it out for two available slots at BOA, with one of those two crowned overall London winner putting them in with a shot at the Wacken and Spinefarm prizes.
However, it wasn’t the best of starts to our evening.Having checked the venue website a week ago I had noted an 8pm start time, however this must have been brought forward as on arriving at The Gaff, Serillian were half way into their set and we discovered we’d already missed Here Lies Affliction and Agahst.Actually we’d have also missed the opening band had they not beeen caught in traffic and missed their slot.
Apart from being impressed by the size of the crowd packing out The Gaff, Serillian very quickly caught our attention.With sweet twin guitar work and lengthy songs the immediate reference point was recent Iron Maiden, though a few thrashier riffs were thrown into the equation.Frontman Scotty K was like a caged animal on the small crowded stage, darting between guitars to lean out from whatever space he could find and encourage the crowd.Whilst both guitarists impressed it was particularly the lead work of Tim Frost that had necks craning.Give Me War, which Scotty K amusing explained was about “…well about nine minutes actually” closed a strong showing from the Norfolk band, laying down the gauntlet for those to follow.
Kopperhed had certainly brought the most fans this evening, who were chanting the bands name as Serillian were still unloading the stage.That crowd began to move as the simplistic rhythmic riffing of Kopperhed commenced.Coal Chamber or Roots-era Sepultura sprung to mind as the bands frontman directed his friends down the front to jump on command.Whilst Kopperhed pulled off this style of (nu)metal impressively, I had reservations as to whether they would fit in at Bloodstock and certainly most of the fans leaping around didn’t fit the image of your traditional attendee and you wondered how many would actually make the journey should their friends win.Wrapping the set up with the aid of two flaming canisters, Kopperhed were impressive, but I felt more suited to somewhere like Download than Bloodstock.
Similarly next band Orakai felt like a square peg aiming for the round hole of Bloodstock.In fact their brand of metal seemed even less suited than Kopperhed.The band’s diminutive frontwoman had a holler that bellied her size but the jarring music had a “scene” feeling that didn’t make too many friends and after the rabid response to Kopperhed fell a bit flat.
There appeared to be a crossover of Feral & Kopperhed fans and in fact Kopperhed’s singer could be seen down the front enjoying his fellow Londoners.The band inspired the first mosh of the evening with their straight ahead brand of metal.Mid period Metallica seemed a strong influence and in fact the band’s frontman Martin McCusker seemed to mimic Hetfield’s mannerism’s right down to his eyebrows!This was a solid set but one which didn’t feel to have that extra spark.
Final band of the night, Shrapnel from Norwich certainly did have that spark.We were transported back to the late 80s as the young thrashers ploughed through their short set with reckless abandon.Getting a break is often about timing and on this performance it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Shrapnel at the same level as Evile right now had they emerged at the same time.Of course there’s a flood of young thrash bands right now, but the thing that jumped out about Shrapnel was not only their playing prowess but also the quality of the songs.By the time the set came to a close they were easily my choice as band of the evening.
Bloodstock’s Simon Hall took to the stage to announce his decisions and it was much deserved that Shrapnel took top honours tonight.Also winning a slot at BOA 2010 was one of the band’s we’d missed Aghast.Congratulations to both.
Simon then announced that he had been so impressed with two further acts that he would be seeking to secure further spots at the festival.As this was currently out of his hands he wisely decided not to get any of the band’s hopes up by naming them, but from my point of view I would sincerely hope Serillian are one of the two under consideration.
LINKS:
http://www.bloodstock.uk.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thegaffclub
http://www.monstaents.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thrashshrapnel
http://www.myspace.com/musicferal
http://www.myspace.com/orakai
http://www.myspace.com/thekopperhed
http://www.myspace.com/serillian
http://www.myspace.com/aghastuk
http://www.myspace.com/hereliesaffliction
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