Bloodstock Open Air Festival // Metal 2 The Masses // Semi Final III // Northern Ireland
This is it, kids, the last chance saloon for four of Northern Ireland’s thirstiest bands to make their mark on this year’s competition and steal the final two slots left for next month’s finale.
Time flies when you’re sniffling glue out of a bag, so I hear but I’ve been far too busy hanging out with all the cool kids at M2TM for what feels like a lifetime but it’s been a mere 4 months getting into this stage and it’ll all be wrapped up for “Norn Iron” by month 5 of the metalhead calendar! #NornIronEffeciency
Tonight we have four quality bands, two bad ass rockers, one thrash machine and one of the more original/controversial bands in the competition New Mud, this is going to be an interesting night for sure. Shizzle is gonna get real pretty fast let me tell ya .. bring it on!
Tonight, ForeignWolf are opening up proceedings, these cats are one of Northern Ireland’s finest all-out rockers, a band immensely talented, solid and consistent, they always deliver live! Tonight is no exception as they lay waste to the compact and bijou Voodoo stage. Their opening sonic barrage peels the skin off all the faces in the front row and beyond, and from that, they go after everyone in the room with a relentless collection of melodic bangers that get the pulses racing and set up the Heat for an almighty finish. These guys do have a killer collection of tracks to showcase their diversity and songwriting, a great start to the night and a high bar set.
New Mud, what a blast! The fusion of their EDM/Dark Synthwave and the thrashing guitars is a glorious sound in the room, the crowd look engrossed as the trio decimate the sound system with that thick treacle-like sound. As if in a sea of gas, I saw them drowning, or maybe a bit of dry ice and dodgy lighting? I remember their debut in the competition, and it was a quandary catching them for the first time, do I like it, do I love it, is this gonna hurt? Should I tell my mammy? Too many questions and so little time, a 30-minute set, and it’s all over, and you’re left feeling dirty and ashamed, and that’s just for digging their music! Aww sweet baby Jesus, you died so we could all have Easter eggs and now I’m an EDM fan! One of the more diverse and polarising bands of the night, how will the Voodoo faithful take to New Mud a second time round?
What’s next!!!?
Divides Unfold! Yay 🙌 so these crazy kids have been walking the walk and talking the talk for a good few years now, I distinctly remember I had less grey hairs when I first came across them since then they have been a staple of the local rock and metal scene laying down a savage backing track that screams for a larger more appreciative audience. They are a tour de force live, always smiling like the cats who got the cream, loving every second on stage whilst delivering a killer soundtrack every time. Their stage presence alone can quite often seperate them from so many bands you’ll see in the competition, they’re just up there living their best lives every second of every set and it shows, it’s contagious, the people in the room get it, appreciate it and give it back tenfold, by the end of the 1st song the room is rammed once again as the smokers and revellers pour back in from outside to see what’s going down. A powerhouse set reminds everyone of Divides Unfold’s quality across a collection of songs; they have a more consistent sound than Foreignwolf in the sense that the songs tend to rotate around Mark’s vocal style, so therefore the melodies and key will complement Mark’s range, so you get a more fluid sound that comes across as more cohesive than some bands, but for Foreignwolf’s approach to songwriting is pure passion. It follows the band’s thirst for songs that deliver regardless of what rabbithole they may go down sonically, they always make it work. Both are seriously rocking bands and played a blinder this evening.
Last but not least we have the young lads of Mircotonal, I was trying to place them from the earlier heat, my old man brain sometimes loses bands like change down the back of a sofa, but when I see them again I am brought right back and thats the case again when these lads get stuck into their thrashy goodness. One thing for sure is they have brought their army of fans along as they descend on the stage like a horde of homeless drunks who have heard there’s an orgy in the back onf a mini-van round behind Castlecourt! Like a scene from The Walking Dead, Voodoo is once again transported into a complete rager as Microtonal puts down a blistering set and their dedicated fans go on the rampage for what could be the last time in M2TM for 2025!
As I set off into the sunset, I honestly could not call that. I know what floated my boat, and there were a lot of positives about all four bands, very different styles, all well-executed, but how will the voting go? As it turns out, a surprising result! As James said, Congratulations to Microtonal and Divides Unfold on qualifying from last night’s 3rd Metal 2 the Masses NI semi-final. The Grand final line-up is now complete, and I’ll be posting details on that shortly. Friday 9th May for that one, Voodoo Belfast
Wow, it’s pretty much all done and dusted for another year, what a ride.
The final will be killer, the craic will be 90 as always, so be there, or be square.
Full details to follow courtesy of The Distortion Project.
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