PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Friday night’s Metal 2 The Masses Ireland heat was always going to be the curveball in this year’s showcase. It was a real mixed bag of genres that came together in Fibber Magees and what followed was an interesting selection of performances.
The Dark Lanes opened the evening. Kevin’s enthusiasm for the moment cost them a cable disconnection incident that resulted in a minor momentum kill but they laughed it off and kept soldiering on. This band played hard and it was clear that they enjoy being together on stage as they fed off and encouraged each other at every riff, bass line and drum fill. Lace Weeper whose hard rock stylings were lapped up by the crowd followed. At times, both bassist Os and vocalist Seb were throwing more shapes than a toddler with a box of lego bricks. Seb’s powerhouse voice more than backs up his onstage manoeuvres and coupled with Matt’s riffing make Lace Weeper one to watch in 2015. Read the PlanetMosh review of their soon to be released debut album here.
Raum Kingdom‘s sludge driven power doffed the inspirational hat to Neurosis, Tool and Deftones. Frontman Dave Lee has a bellowing voice with more guttural rumblings than the New York sewers. On stage they got lost in their doom-laden mesmeric melodies which did not detract from their hold on the crowd. M2TM Ireland has once again given me a new band to savour. Minus Ten Thousand Hours brought the anarchy, initially dressed in Jason Voorhees masks for the day that was in it. Their genre mashing style was pretty damn special to observe and they are a band with potential to wreck bigger stages… literally.
Meath four piece Alabaster, were the penultimate band of the evening. A very unassuming group of young guys, they proceeded to aurally tear the living shit out of the venue. Riffs galore coupled with heavy vocals from singer Conor (whose head looked as if it was about to pop at least 2 veins during the last song) all served to level the punters at heat 3. Closing the evening, instrumental six piece Megacone were a revelation. Describing what Megacone play is extremely difficult. It’s technical, frenetic, mesmerizing and kooky. They made a lot of references to aliens and any sneers from distant quarters of the crowd were quickly stifled as the audience was taken on an excellent musical journey that was almost scientific. If these guys make it to Bloodstock in 2015, the New Blood Stage is going to see music.. but not as we know it.
On the night, the crowd vote went to Lace Weeper and the judges’ vote went to Megacone. Friday was another fantastic shitstorm of a show and I for one, cannot wait until Heat 4.
In the following days since this show Corr Mhóna and Alabaster were announced for the Wild Card Final.
PlanetMosh had a quick word with Lace Weeper and Megacone in the aftermath. Here’s what they had to say.
Lace Weeper -Matt Hayward
For people hearing about Lace Weeper for the first time. Tell us about yourselves?
We set out to do something unique with this band, and honing down that niche has been difficult but we’ve settled into a sound that we feel is fresh and authentic. Lyrically, speaking for myself, George Carlin and Bill Hicks were huge influences, and although they’re comedians, changing the medium doesn’t change the message. We wanted to say something important, and I hope it shines through in our work. Melodically, the other guys in the band are like no one I’ve ever played with before. Os, as a bass player, uses a lot of distortions and effects to fill in for lack of another guitarist and when he’s locked in with Kevin, the two of them make one hell of a rhythm section. Sebastian’s voice can speak for itself. Even though I play with the guy, he’s one of the best rock vocalists going.
This is your first time playing Metal 2 The Masses. How was your initial experience of the first step on the road to Bloodstock?
The show was great. It was very humbling to see so many people come and check us out. We’re very grateful to everybody for their support.
Lace Weeper won the crowd vote at Heat Three, guaranteeing a Semi Final place. How did it feel getting to the next stage and what can we expect in the Semi from you?
We’re very happy that we got through. Last week, our friends in Black Svan got in and we’re happy for that. At the semi-finals, we’ll be pulling out more songs from the album and giving it everything we’ve got. Putting those tracks into a live setting is a whole other monster, and we hope we’re living up to the standard we set on the record.
Megacone – Podge Murray
For people hearing about Megacone for the first time. Tell us about yourselves?
We’re an instrumental band so I guess you have to have a listen to a few tracks to get an idea of what the music is like. Because the music is instrumental, it is very susceptible to change all the time, which is something we really like about it because your not stuck into one style or genre/subgenre of music! And when its like this, songs tend to evolve over time when the guitar parts arent there to accompany a vocalist, the melodies have to be interesting to make people want to hear more! So we’re always messing about with different ideas!
This is your first time playing Metal 2 The Masses. How was your initial experience of the first step on the road to Bloodstock?
Yeah this was the first time we’ve competed in this competition and it was fuckin absolutely class craic! We played in fibbers a good few times and Jean-Claude is a bit of a genius, so we always enjoy getting a chance to have him do sound for us! The sound was unreal, the crowd were unreal! Was a pleasure to play on a line-up with such talent aswell! Hopefully the other heats will be the same. Looking forward to it!
Megacone won the judges’ vote at Heat Three, guaranteeing a Semi Final place. How did it feel getting to the next stage and what can we expect in the Semi from you?
Over the moon we got the judges vote! Means to world to all of us that we get to go in there again and belt out a hape of tunes. I guess you can expect more of the same again in the semi-finals! We are going to lash out a new batch of tunes and hope that everyone listening enjoys themselves! Its going to be unreal banter altogether. Can’t fuckin wait!
Heat 4 of Metal 2 the Masses Ireland takes place on Saturday February 28th. Follow this link for details
https://www.facebook.com/events/1552795088271367/?fref=ts
Full photo gallery supplied by Down The Barrel Photography for Metal 2 The Masses Ireland and alternate review from the show is available at Overdrive
