'Ticket's There' – Irish and International Music Blog

The gloves are off, the bets are down and metal is coming to town. After several months, 10 heats, six second rounds and two semi finals – the battle is entering it’s final stages. Bloodstock M2TM Ireland is going to have a 2014 champion to send forth to the English lands, so they may lay waste to the world’s filth and be crowned legends for life. In short – it’s on!

Tomorrow night at Fibber MaGees, six of Ireland’s best and brightest underground bands will assault spectators, fans, friends and family in their hopes to play the Big B, alongside Megadeth, Down, Emperor and many more. Each of the bands has earned their right to go and now it falls on their followers and stage skills to push them through the final hurdle. We thought it might be fun to have a quick look at the six contenders and in absolutely no way show any bias Tickets There (*Cough PSYKOSIS) might have in the result.

AeSect: AeSect are, without a doubt, one of the best live bands in Ireland at the moment. They (some of them anyway) hail from close by my own homeland – the mighty…..mighty strange Longford and they have entertained me – none of you – many times with their solid, aggressive performances and heavier than sin tunes. You can’t flaw them, you can only love them. If you haven’t heard them you need to click THIS LINK now. Tis Friday after all, what else would you be doing other than learning about sexy sweet ass metal from Longford? (and Wicklow and Dublin).

Alpheidae: These guys, and I hate to say it, but these guys are not my cup of tea. They don’t seem to have anything to do with metal and instead come across like Coldplay meets Evanescence. I blame ten years of terrible pop indie and nu-metal for this latest attempt of the commercial skater world to water my beloved genre down. THEN AGAIN… they have a lot of fans, so I’m obviously in the minority which undermines my own opinion in the greater scheme of things and they’re very, very tight on stage. They’re not amateurs who can’t play – instead they’re extremely well rehearsed and have a lot going on. Time will tell on the staying power of this new form of metal but I’ll bet they gear up a lot more interest than I ever will. Look, I’ve already written more about them that I did AeSect! No doubt – a major contender for the top spot tomorrow.

Dead Label!: Another of the countries hottest bands and possibly one of the most interesting and successful of 2013. Can they repeat it in 2014? Hell yes they can! Anyone who saw their major live return with Gama Bomb a couple of months back couldn’t have been anything less than in awe of their new material. Heavy, crunchy… did I mention heavy? Sounding better than ever – well worth getting in for. Your life can only be poorer for missing them. Check out the video below- another band to get the taste buds going…metal taste buds for metal people (you can drop my Pulitzer in the post).

Killface: Now you’re talking. DUBLIN DEATH METAL at it’s best. Would you believe in all my years running this blog, I’ve only been lucky enough to catch these guys twice and both times they blew the roof of the place (the Pint has of course since reinstalled it’s roof, but mostly uninstalled it’s metal 😦 ). Killface are a cracking band with a lot of energy, good tunes and power to bring to the fold. I unfortunately don’t see them picking up the grand prize – but with Warpath’s success last year – at least we know death metal bands are major contenders for the title. I won’t mind eating my words on this one either way.

Psykosis: Ok, so why bother trying to lie? Pyskosis are Tickets There’s favourite metal band these days. They top an exceptionally long list and just bring it. They bring it so hard it’s difficult to believe they’re still underground. They have an album coming out this summer which makes me so excited I want to wet my pants and call my granny. Psykosis, Psykosis, Psykosis. They’ll play it loud and do us proud and I can guarantee my terrible writing is in no way reflective of how they play. Prove it you yell? well watch the video and check them our for yourselves. Soon you’ll be drowning in a sea of blood….sorry, what was the sea made from again? oh yeah…. BEER!

Theories Divide: A band I’ve heard, but never seen. I can’t speak for their live performances but I can tell their tracks are worth a spin. One of the those bands I’m still waiting to grab …so I’ve haven’t been grabbed yet and it’s no fault of theirs – all me. More listens will bring more love, it puts the lotion on it’s skin or else it gets the hose again.

So, there it is in a nutshell. Basically every band is brilliant and loved. They’re all competing and for the tiny, tiny, tiny price of €5 (€10 after 9pm) you could be there to witness each of on them at the top of their game. Doors open at 7,30 and Fibbers will have some tasty beverages waiting for you of course 🙂 Tickets There would like to wish ALL six bands the best of luck. May the mightiest metal monsters win!.