The Anvil, Bournemouth
Decarrta/Toledo Steel/In The Hills/Terrahorn
The Metal 2 the Masses Final was held at The Anvil this year returning to again being hosted by Bear, after two years of being put on at The Sound Circus. Four bands had made their way through the heats and semi-finals to get to this point and win a coveted place at Bloodstock Open Air Festival.
First band on were Decarrta. They produced a really tight set, molten Metal poured out of the stacks drenching the assembled with fiery riffs. They had a great interaction with the crowd, the singer spend most of the set off the stage and in the audience. Song “Paranoia” being the set highlight for me.
No prizes for guessing who Toledo Steel’s main influence is …MAIDEN. Galloping drums and bass, duel guitar solos and high pitched wailing were dished out with abandon. Power Metal played with gusto and balls. In other circumstances they would rule but after Decarrta’s set they seem somewhat lacking.
It’s no secret In The Hills make most bands pale into insignificance when up against them live. I’ve seen them give Prong, Black Tusk and Red Fang a run for their money and absolutely blow Bam Margera off the stage. They have the home advantage on the other bands and it seems that most of Bournemouth’s Metal fraternity was there to see them. They delivered – and how! The temperature in the Anvil was reaching hellish proportions and they provided the soundtrack. With psychedelic film clips on the Anvil TV’s as the backdrop and soundbites from classic 70’s movies intro-ing some of the songs, they proceeded to lay waste to the venue with their heavy downturned sludge metal. Awesome stuff!
Terrahorn have the honour of closing the show but they have their work cut out trying to trump ITH. They give it their best shot unleashing blistering trash metal on the assembled. Full on wailing guitars fight for position with screaming vocals and they valiantly produce an extremely kiss-ass set.
Simon Hall, the Bloodstock main man and lead singer of Beholder, announced the winner of the raffle that was running throughout the event (Dave, 2 tickets to BOA and a bag of band T-shirts) then announced the M2M Finals winner…In The Hills. Good luck at Bloodstock guys, drink plenty of Cider and show Derbyshire how we do it in Dorset!
In The Hills
Links
https://www.facebook.com/toledosteelband/
https://www.facebook.com/inthehillsuk/
Words, Pics and video: Dan O’Gara
