Two weeks ago, four bands in the semi finals of Bristol’s Metal 2 the Masses became six as Kikamora and Embodiment made it through their heat into the next round. I had a chat with both qualifiers recently to find out a bit more about them…
Kikamora
For people hearing about Kikamora for the first time, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
We are a 5/6 piece hard rock/metal band from Bristol trying to create something a bit different from anything that is currently on the scene. We have all been in bands together somewhere along the line and decided in April 2015 that it was time to make things serious.
This is your first time playing Metal 2 the Masses – what made you decide to apply this year?
To be honest, we applied because we thought it would be fun and a good exercise to play the competition. We are really a live band so we just love playing whenever we can.
How do you feel your set on Thursday night went? Following on from this, how does it feel to make the Semi Finals?
We are really happy with the result and extremely impressed with the other bands, especially Idle Sky – there is some serious talent in the South West. A lot of our fans showed up to support us and we tried to give them the best show we could on the night. Extremely happy to make the semis and hopefully we can smash them and make the finals!
You have a saxophonist – that’s a pretty cool addition to a hard rock band! How did that come about?
It really just comes from trying to create a sound that is different and really grabs people’s attention. We started jamming with Frankie in 2015 when we were writing for our In the Henhouse EP and we were so happy with the result on our song ‘Half Rats’ that it went from there. We are currently writing more material for what will become our album so it’s very cool trying out new sounds.
Which three bands do you feel have influenced your sound most?
Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Guns N’ Roses – we have a lot of different influences throughout the band but I’m sure these are three we would all agree on.
Where can we find out more about Kikamora?
If you have not heard us, come see a live show. That is where the magic happens, haha! Apart from that, you can find a couple of official videos on Youtube and some live videos too. We are in the process of building our own website which will be up and running soon!
Finally, what would it mean to play Bloodstock?
It would truly be an honour to play Bloodstock! We would love nothing more than going out there and ripping through our set for everyone!
Embodiment
For people hearing about Embodiment for the first time, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
We’re a metal band from the Bath/Bristol area, formed in 2013 and whilst there’s been a few member shuffles over time but we’ve had a solid line-up for a while now. We released our debut album just over two years ago and we’re currently powering through writing the follow up album. As for our sound, we’ve been described as a tech metal band but we try not to just put one tag on it. We love a lot of music on the heavy end of the spectrum like Fleshgod Apocalypse and Decapitated, but the truth is we all love a bit of melody, prog and groove, something I think is reflected in our output. We don’t follow any trends or sounds, we just play what makes us smile when we’re writing music in the practice room.
This is your third M2TM appearance after playing in both 2014 and 2015 – what made you decide to come back?
Something we really enjoyed about the whole thing was getting to meet other bands and people involved in the local scene. We’ve ended up connecting with bands and promoters through M2TM that we’ve then go on to play gigs together, it promotes a real sense of community which is great to see. Having everyone together in one place to celebrate the local talent where everyone is giving it their all really makes for a fun night.
How do you feel your set on Thursday night went? Following on from this, how does it feel to make the Semi Finals?
The set went great! The crowd was super responsive and enthusiastic, the energy levels felt off the chart once we were into it properly. It’s great to play to a packed out room on a Thursday night and have everyone pumped up. We had stiff competition and I think everyone was a little nervous, but once we were up there and saw people banging their heads and cheering everything clicked into place. There was lots of hugging, which is obviously super metal!
It’s been an extremely close competition so far – do you think this speaks volumes about how good the Bristol metal scene is right now?
Definitely, I’ve been down to all the heats so far and the bands have been fantastic. There’s so much diversity and talent in the competition, local bands playing interesting music with all sorts of sounds from prog rock to black metal, and I think having everyone together to showcase some of the best of what Bristol has to offer helps give all these bands a platform and work together to create a healthy scene.
Which three bands do you feel have influenced your sound most?
Wow. That is way too hard, we all love such a wide variety of bands! It’d be easier to tell you three things that have influenced the Embodiment ‘sound’. Technical death metal (The Faceless, Decapitated), mid 2000s metal (Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage) and a good dose of old school cheesy metal cliches (Slayer, Megadeth)!
Where can we find out more about Embodiment?
We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Our self-titled album is free to download from bandcamp (www.bandcamp.com/embodimentofficial) and is also available on Spotify. For Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/embodimentofficial, @Embodimentband for Twitter and @Embodimentofficial for Instagram.
Finally, what would it mean to play Bloodstock?
It’d mean the world to us, Bloodstock has a reputation as one of the best festivals in the world and rightly so, I’ve been every year since 2011 and Bloodstock has an atmosphere and community like no other. Last year I saw Cambion open up on the Main Stage and to see a band that we’ve shared a stage with tear it up was incredible. To be able to get on the bill and play alongside some of some of our biggest influences would be the ultimate festival.
Gallery below take by Becky O’Grady
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