New Artist: Laid Wasted

"LAID WASTED have just made up the word fruitation so remember that bitches."  Sean Walsh, Laid Wasted

I had the pleasure of catching the Southampton based Death/Thrash Metal piece LAID WASTED at Southampton Annihilation Festival. This band however are different to previous Death Metal bands I have seen before; particularly frontman Sean Walsh's theatrically comical stage presence.

"People describe it as bats**** crazy but yeah you've got to get up there and do something otherwise people aren't going to want to watch you." Sean explains. "You might as put a cardboard cutout on stage if you aren't going to do anything."

They have mainly played around Southampton, Winchester and the Hampshire area but they are going to try and travel to more places. "We've got a gig lined up in Hastings at the end of the month." Guitarist Joe Long clarifies "Hopefully there'll be a string of dates in August where we will be playing in London."

To match Sean's crazy stage presence there are some crazy songs to match; including his Batman song that went down very well at the festival. "I thought it would be ideal to write about this particular Batman tale where he ends up going into the Asylum himself so it's mixture of Batman and Joker stuff." Sean tells me.

There is the news of a potential brand new album in the near future as bassist Sam explains, using a new word"We'll be busy writing over the next few months so the prospects are there; we just need it to come to fruitation so let's hope so." As Sean says in the first quote, Laid Wasted are taking credit; it was a pleasure to speak to the boys and hopefully I'll catch them again soon.

Find Laid Wasted on Facebook

Live Review: Southampton Annihilation Festival @ The Firehouse, Southampton 26.04.2014

Words by Charlotte Whittingham  Photos by Tomasz Wrobel

Bands and metal heads from all corners of southern England united as one in order to show their undying support and love for metal. This fateful occasion took place at Southampton Annihilation Festival accommodated by Southampton Solent University’s rock and metal society M.A.R.S and their favourite hotspot The Firehouse.

As I arrived at The Firehouse after just managing to get out of lunchtime traffic, Brighton Extreme Metallers WYRDFORGE had just started their set. Influenced by metal legends such as NAPALM DEATH and REPULSION, they showed a lot of energy when performing songs about manga related subjects such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Metroid. The Brighton metal heads had The Firehouse under their thumb; this was demonstrated through the crowd’s head banging and moshing for the first band. WYRDFORGE were a worthy choice to instigate the day of metal.

Next to conquer the stage were Southampton based Thrash/Death Metal five piece LAID WASTED. Their set got off to quite an obscure start where aggressive Death Metal will be played for it then to stop quite abruptly to interject spoken words that didn’t necessarily have any relevance to the song. This provided a comical side to the band’s personality, particularly when one of their main influences is every metal head’s favourite fictional Metal band DETHKLOK. This was reinforced by frontman Sean Walsh’s natural showmanship when growling those Death Metal notes; I would compare it to watching a Death Metal version of either Freddie Mercury or The Joker from Batman. I also heard him being compared to favourite know it all Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory”. The passion and energy was clearly visible and infectious as the crowd were certainly taken by their stage presence. Sean’s Batman song allowed Southampton one last mosh before concluding their set.

Hailing from Eastbourne, Black Metal four piece VEHEMENT were next to show Southampton what they were made of. The first thing I noticed was that their shadowy stage presence gave you chills from the word go; this presence reminded me of Black Metal legends DIMMU BORGIR. VEHEMENT offered up absolutely everything that you could ever expect from a Black Metal show on a silver platter; theatrical stage presence, aggressive up-tempo music, sombre guitar riffs and solos whilst keeping a dark atmosphere.  Their set certainly had Southampton metal heads in the palm of their hands and I do very much hope they come to Southampton again soon.

Now there are not a lot of Folk Metal bands in the UK but it was fantastic to see one taking part in this festival. Home-grown from Weymouth, GYMIR did exceedingly well to fill the shoes of the only Folk Metal band to take part. As they swept onto the stage dressed in their kilts and leather waistcoats with the folklore décor in tow GYMIR’s stage presence had the audience captivated from start to finish. The sweeping melodies on the synthesisers and the harsh vocals are two of the key things you’d expect from Folk Metal. Considering they had a bass player absent they did remarkably well to carry on like true warriors.

With a band name like SPAWNED FROM HATE and the first song on their set list “Filth” it doesn’t really take a genius to figure out kind of metal this band showcase. I personally didn’t get along with the pig squealing vocals within their music, which eventually meant I went upstairs to the ‘chill out’ bar. In terms of their set the crowd did seem interested and for fans of that kind of brutal metal I do think it was a spectacle.

Local Thrash Metal three-piece DESOLATOR had The Firehouse at their command from start to finish. Even with a little crowd they were the first band cause chaos via mosh pits and stage dives. Their melodic choruses’ and their aggressive music reminded me very much of EVILE. For me personally their songs sounded similar, which is what you expect from a Thrash Metal band but the fact they had a more than engaged and eager group of metal heads going crazy showed that they would be walking away with new fans. I could hear spoken words about the band within the crowd such as “I like DESOLATOR”.

For Thrash Metallers OVERTHROW it was the last time bassist Ted Bridges was playing with them, he certainly got a farewell metal style as this performance will be one he’ll be proud of before embarking on a new adventure. They got the whole of The Firehouse pumping with their melodic riffs and slick guitar solos, did I mention they even got people at the bar singing along and raising their rock horns? Definitely a last show that Ted can be proud of.

The last band I managed to catch before I had to dash off due to other commitments was the almighty upcoming Technical Doom Metal band HOLE IN THE SKY. I had the pleasure of catching them at Brighton’s Falmerfest last month and was very taken with their performance despite not being a huge fan of Doom Metal. Their set could have everything you expect from a metal show; moshpits, stage diving, crowdsurfing and of course headbanging. Frontman Monty McDoom is certainly becoming a favourite vocalist of mine and I think in the south of England; his deep growls, his charismatic stage presence and not to mention his iconic dreadlocks, that will make AMORPHIS frontman Tomi Jousten bow before him, will certainly open doors for HOLE IN THE SKY. Keep an eye out for him and drummer Sam Chase in solo project JEREMY LAWLER’S WINTER’S EDGE.

My only regret was missing the last few acts due to other commitments but I can hand on my heart honestly say that I certainly enjoyed this amazing day of local metal! My advice would be keep supporting it and keep it alive!

Find Wyrdforge here
Find Laid Wasted here
Find Vehement here
Find Gymir here
Find Spawned From Hate here
Find Desolator here
Find Overthrow here
Find Hole In The Sky here

BLOODSTOCK’S METAL TO THE MASSES – BOURNEMOUTH HEAT 1

METAPRISM, KAHTET AND TERROR DRONE

THE ANVIL, BOURNEMOUTH 04/04/2014

Words by Charlotte Whittingham

It most certainly wasn’t a silent night at The Anvil as the first heat of Bloodstock’s Metal To The Masses competition conquered Bournemouth. Since I am heading to Bloodstock again this year I wanted to see for myself which new bands would be likely to be playing the festival.

Bloodstock’s Metal To The Masses competition takes place all over the UK in order to find the newest sounds in metal to play on the New Blood Stage for Britain’s Best Independent metal festival Bloodstock. It’s an amazing opportunity for metal bands since it provides the chance to be on the same bill with some of metal's giants such as this year's headliners Megadeth, Down and Emperor. Also many venues and promoters in the UK and overseas support this scheme.

The band that kicked off this night of metal was Gosport Thrash/Speed metallers Terror Drone. I must admit when I first heard their sound I was quite sceptical as I felt the 80s metal style screams didn't really fit with their music. As I went downstairs to watch their set however the sound started to grow on me; their sound reminded me of Dragonforce and they definitely had a great relationship with the crowd. Overall a good live set.

Progressive metal heads Kahtet were up next. I am not usually very keen on this kind of metal but I was very impressed with the Salisbury based band. Their music provided an almost chilled out vibe to the evening so I can imagine their music settling well with the Bloodstock crowd. They are definitely a talented bunch of musicians, especially drummer Ben Coley whose arms seemed to have a mind of their own when beating those drums. A brilliant set from Kahet overall.

Last to the stage were Bournemouth/Poole six piece metal band Metaprism. Since releasing their EP last year they have become well established with their local metal community and I had been meaning to catch their live show for quite some time so Friday night provided the ideal opportunity. From the word go Metaprism owned the room. Jut Tabor’s harsh growls/clean vocals and Theresa Smith’s beautiful singing harmonised perfectly throughout each and every song.  From the brutal mosh pits to the fantastic riffs and solos provided by guitarists Ollie Roberts and Jimmy Alford Metaprism’s set had everything you could want at a metal show. The audience’s enthusiasm for the band was further demonstrated when they demanded Metaprism perform one more song before marking the end of the successful set.

A great night and equally brilliant sets from each of the bands, at this moment I am unsure who will win this heat but all will be revealed soon.

Find Metaprism on Facebook

Find Kahet on Facebook

Find Terror Drone on Facebook

New Video: Nervosa - Death

Brazillian thrash metallers Nervosa release their brand new video in the lead up to the release of their new album Victim Of Yourself.

This is my first time hearing the band and I really liked the song. I am slowly getting more into thrash metal and understanding it a lot more than I did say a year ago. Here's a taste of Nervosa!

Find Nervosa on Facebook

Something Left Unsaid

This post is dedicated to a thrash metal band that hailed from the land of California, I found this band's page mentioned on a friend's Facebook so I thought I'd check them out and I'm glad I did. Their guitar riffs sound very much like Bullet For My Valentine, that with growly vocals is a great mix in this thrash metal potion. When I listen to this music, I am reminded of a gig with brutal mosh pit and a lots of sweaty rockers going absoulutely bonkers; not your average girl's idea of heaven but for me that is.

For fans of Bullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage and Avenged Sevenfold


Hover around for the link below:

http://www.myspace.com/somethingleftunsaid