With heat one setting the bar for what was a tremendous start to this year’s campaign, all eyes are now fixed on tonight’s five bands. Between The Lines, Creep, Order Sixty Six, Outbreak and zhOra make up tonight’s formidable line-up. So let’s get into it, shall we?
Opening up tonight’s performances is none other than Outbreak who waste no time in firing up the growing crowd with their hybrid mix of metal that draws influence from Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium with peppered moments of present day In Flames, thrown in for good measure.
Coming from Dublin, Outbreak brings plenty of weight to the stage and all five members find their feet by their second track, resulting in a promising set ahead. Vocalist Craig Murphy leads the crusade towards the potential Bloodstock semi-finals, with cohorts Dylan Ward (Lead Guitar) Glenn Donoghue (Drums) Edgar Abram (Bass) and Neil Doyle (Guitar). It’s no easy task to open a show and although Outbreak takes a song or two to get into the zone, the results are worth waiting for.
There is no shortage of blistering riffs, which have the audience drawn in from the get-go and with Murphy’s powerful vocal and stage presence, Outbreak show all the signs of a band that have the capability of reaching greatness very soon. Keep your eyes on these guys as they have something under the hood very much worth watching.
For more information on Outbreak, please click here.
With Fibber Magees now bursting with punters, shouts of ‘Up-Tipp’ can be heard throughout the venue, signalling the anticipated performance from zhOra. After a quick line-check, zhOra’s sonic rumblings fill the already charged atmosphere and simply explode through to another dimension. Featuring Nautilus bassist, Alan Hanlon (his debut performance in zhOra) the four piece waste no time in flexing their muscles, with a cacophony of melodies, riffs and monstrous overtones, however, laced with unpredictable time changes and levels of heaviness that could summon Cthulhu himself. Simply crushing!
For more information on zhOra, please click here.
With things moving swiftly along, tonight’s third offering comes from Galway-based Between The Lines, who take to the stage and fire up the audience with their translation of heavy atmospheric rock. Vocalist, Mac takes centre stage and although he delivers a style that has vague touches of Maynard Keenan and Scott Weiland, his presence seemed somewhat muted tonight.
With a concoction of styles from early Deftones to moments of Monster Magnet, which blend effortlessly together, Between The Lines chug through their set and is lapped up by the now packed venue. The band’s material has an ominous undercurrent, which sits beautifully beneath their stormy dark melodic assault. Check out the captivating Southern Steel track on this link, to get a full flavour of what Between The Lines are capable of.
For more information on Between The Lines, click here.
Technical difficulties in the form of a bass head that is simply refusing to co-operate, delay the running order causing Order Sixty Six to finally get going a good 35 mins later. But when they do, it’s not what we expected at all. Describing themselves as ‘metallic hardcore’ Order Sixty Six (armed with two vocalists) waste no time in churning out a slow-burning slab of punishing metal that is almost like watching a tidal wave come at you in slow motion.
With most of the venue totally expecting a metalcore, screamo sound to explode from the venue’s PA we were instead treated to a dark, pulsing and brutally heavy sonic adventure, that without a doubt, caught the attention of the entire venue. Visibly a young band, Order Sixty-Six are way different to what you’re used to and that’s a good thing in our books. Keep an eye out for these guys as they have all the potential to develop their very own sub-genre.
For more information on Order Sixty Six, please click here.
Finally ending tonight’s Bloodstock hopefuls are Creep, who do everything in their power to tear Fibber Magees a new one. Arguably the most extrovert performance of the evening (thong-wearing bass player anyone). Flying the grunge flag for tonight’s performances, Creep gradually become more and more involved with their performance as they up the ante and break through the front lines, to the back of the venue with their sonic missile riffs and Alice in Chains marinated swagger.
Bassist James Kerney finds himself on the main floor wearing nothing but an elephant thong (yes, you read that correctly) while the rest of his colleagues proceed to do everything they can to sway the audience in their favour for this evening’s performances. A band that seem to have many tricks up their sleeves (and under their pants), so naturally keep an eye on them. For information on Creep, click here.
With all five bands now done and dusted, tonight’s event has a very special performance from Irelands fastest rising metal outfit, Dead Label. Having been confirmed for the Download Festival earlier in the week, the Celbridge three-piece waste no time in raining down a plethora of new tracks such as Deadweight as an opener, Bloodletting, Alone and including the brain-hacking ‘Pure Chaos’ all of which was consumed by the rabid audience who showed their appreciation by pulling off the most violent pit-action of the night.
Circle pits, crowd surfing and stage diving explosions burst from all angles of Fibbers and as Dead Label, hammer out tune after tune, it’s no big secret why they have already been on tour with Gojira, Fear Factory, Machine Head and are now confirmed for the biggest rock/metal festival in the UK. Just see them live and you’ll understand why they are attracting the interest of some very important people indeed.
With a little Black Sabbath thrown in for good measure in the form of N.I.B, Dead Label finish their sonic attack with Void, taken from their critically acclaimed ‘Throne of Bones‘ release last year. 2017 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for Dead Label and with a work ethic such as theirs, twinned with an armoury of material that would literally blow most international touring bands back to their rehearsal studios with their guitars between their legs, it only seems just a matter of time before they self-actualize into one of the finest modern metal bands to emerge from Europe in a long time.
For more on Dead Label, click here.
With a now frazzled Metal 2 The Masses audience, it’s finally time to announce tonight’s winning bands. The results declared the following:
CROWD VOTE – CREEP
JUDGES VOTE – zhOra
Check out the full photo gallery below from Down The Barrel Photography © 2017 below’
Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses Ireland – Heat 3 takes place on Saturday, February 18th in Fibber Magees on Parnell Street, Dublin 1. Taking to the stage will be Horrenda, Jailbirds, Just Me and The Devil, Tension Head and Vendetta Love.
Bloodstock Festival will be taking place between August 10th and 13th. Already announced for 2017 are Friday’s headliners AMON AMARTH, Sunday’s headliners MEGADETH, plus BLIND GUARDIAN, HATEBREED, TESTAMENT, OBITUARY, BRUJERIA, WHITECHAPEL, SKINDRED, POSSESSED, ANNIHILATOR, MUNICIPAL WASTE, HELL and DECAPITATED.
Much more, including our Saturday headliner are still be announced! Stay tuned to BLOODSTOCK’s social media for the latest!
Oran O’Beirne
© OVERDRIVE.IE 2017
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