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TORONTO SEMI-FINAL ROUND 2 WINNER

4/25/2016

Toronto Semi Final Round
@ The Rivoli
April 22, 2016
(winner will move on to National Final in Toronto on June 11 @ Opera House)

PYTHON (Toronto Winner)
Signs Of Chaos (Ottawa Winner)
Pyramid Theorem (Toronto Winner) - winner
Odium (Toronto Winner)

Judges:
Danko Jones - Danko Jones
Shawn Davidson - Wacken Open Air anthem composer
Vic Branco - Iguana Studios
John Belrose - Maple Metal Records

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Toronto Round 5 - Metal Master Kingdom show review

4/21/2016

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Well, we've reached the end of the qualifying rounds of the Toronto edition for Wacken Metal Battle Canada 2016 and they ended with a bang at the Rivoli on April Fool's Day as a crowd of rowdy metalheads packed the Rivoli to see who will be the last band announced to join the other Ontario winners in the semi-finals in a couple of weeks. Having the difficult task of opening the night was Toronto metalcore outfit Strike The Storm, and they received a fairly warm reception. Musically, they were great to listen to, and their tunes were really energetic and great for headbanging. The band didn't bring anything as far as uniqueness, but they gave the night a great start with great energy and great tunes.

Up next was Out Of The Ruins. This was my second time seeing them after seeing them open for Act Of Defiance at the Mod Club back in November. I mentioned back then that I wasn't too impressed with their performance, but this time around, they put on a much better performance and had better sound. There was energy exploding all over the stage with each member bringing their own energy. Frontwoman Lisa Sinner and bassist Grigor Avanesov paced across the stage continuously as Lisa delivered some pretty powerful metalcore screams and Grigor whipped his dreads with fury as he attacked the bass. Guitarists Nicolas Fernandino and Steve Haines stomped the stage furiously and gave some chunky riffs and drummer Ange Ruin gave the drums an absolute pounding. Great show guys!

Phear closed out the night with a round of impressive classic heavy metal. The riffs were easy to pound your fist and bang your head to. Everything about their set was top notch, but what I was really impressed by was Patrick Mulock's amazing vocal range. He sounded like a mix of King Diamond and Bruce Dickinson with some Rob Halford thrown in. His high notes sounded a lot like King Diamond. The same can be said about the music as well. It was very King Diamond-esque. Even cooler was that Patrick wore a glove with four laser pointers latched on to it,, and his leather studded boots looked just so cool. Seeing Patrick, along with Tyson Emanuel, Graham Stirrett and Chris Boshis groove along to the pounding riffs made the music that much more exciting. When it comes to sound, Phear had the best sound of the night. From the riffs, to the bass, drums and vocals, everything sounded perfect.

Journalist: Alex Stojanovic
Photographer: Navneet Johal

@ The Rivoli
April 1, 2016

STRIKE THE STORM

Riley Bell - Lead vocals
Evan Webster - Lead guitars & backing vocals
Mike Whitwell - Guitars
Mike Welanc - Bass
Robert Davidson - Drums

ASTAROTH *

Sam Astaroth - Vocals
Pablo Sagastume -Lead guitars
Emile Giordan -Rhythm guitars
Sergio Moyano - Bass
Martin Libedinsky - Drums

OUT OF THE RUINS

Lisa Sinner - Vocals
Ange Ruin - Drums
Grigor Avanesov - Bass
Steve Haines - Guitars
Nicolas Fernandino - Guitars

CENTURIES OF DECAY

Devin Doucette -
Lead vocals & guitars
Rob McAllister -
Guitars & vocals
Derrick Doucette - Drums
Anthony Zhura - Bass

PHEAR

Patrick Mulock - Vocals
Chris Lewis - Drums
Tyson Emanuel - Guitars
Graham Stirrett - Guitars
Chris Boshis - Bass

* winner

Astaroth took the stage next with a huge crowd of their devoted and rowdy followers gathering up at the front of the stage to show their support. Sam Astaroth took the stage with a menacing make-up design on his face, looking like King Diamond meets Darth Maul meets Dani Filth, and a long leather coat, giving him a real villainous look. The only part that made his outfit look a tad awkward was his red tie. It just looked a bit out of place. They gave great energetic tunes and they may have had the rowdiest crowd of the night with constant moshing, headbanging, some crowd-surfing and people chanting "Astaroth" constantly in between songs, but I noticed that the leads executed by guitarists Pablo Sagastume and Emile Giordan were off with the drums. Their songs were pretty lengthy, so they ended up only playing 3 songs, but they filled the entire 25 minutes they had.

Up next was Centuries Of Decay, who gave us some atmospheric death metal. Devin Doucette and Rob McAllister shared guitar and vocal duties. Devin sang lead and handled a chunk of the brutal vocals but they gave a few great harmonized melodic vocals. Their last song had an additive time signature, which is something that really catches my attention as a musician. It was also a bit of a celebratory occassion for the band as they announced that the day before the show, bassist Anthony Zhura became a dad for the first time. He told me afterwards that it was a girl, so we out a huge congratulations to Anthony! He also had the best sounding bass of the night.

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TORONTO ROUND 4 - Metal Master Kingdom show review

4/18/2016

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https://www.facebook.com/events/1774098729476343/

We're nearing the end of the qualifying rounds of the Toronto edition for the 2016 Wacken Metal Battle Canada as we're already into round 4. A group of devoted metalheads packed the tiny Bovine on a cold Friday night to witness 5 bands competing for the great opportunity to represent Canada in Germany this August at Wacken Open Air. Kicking off the night was Cellphone. Despite having a pretty unusual name for a metal band, their music was very solid, which to me sounded like punk tinged thrash and groove metal. Vocalist and bassist Miami Mike is quite an exceptional bassist as he pulled some crazy bass licks and J. Leon delivered some great grooving riffs.

Now it was time for Earth's Yellow Sun, who are the first band in Wacken Metal Battle Canada history to have saxophones. With a guitarist, drummer, bassist, keyboardist and three saxophonists, they squeezed everything and everybody on the tiny Bovine stage and gave a performance that wowed everyone in the crowd. They played their entire EP in one continuous performance without stopping. The only speeches from the band came before and after the performance. Their music was progressive metal, and it also had a bit of a jazz flavour because of the saxophones and keyboards, and with the performance being one continuous whole, it also had an avant-garde feel. From the majestic melodies of the saxophones and keys to the funky bass licks, grooving riffs and smooth drumming, our ears loved every minute of their set. Earth's Yellow Sun is a band you just have to check out. They received a tremendous applause at the end. It's always very refreshing to see something different.

Closing off the night was Dawn Vally. I had the chance to see these guys at the Wacken Metal Battle two years ago and it was great to see them again. The best way to describe their set is complete chaos as Jeff the bassist and Onionz the guitarist banged the hell out of their guitars and they, along with vocalist Sycrote stomped the stage with a ton of ferocity. Onionz put a crazy amount of energy into his guitar shredding that his high E-string ended up snapping, leaving him with only six strings, as he was playing a seven-string guitar. However, the band experienced some technical issues on stage as Onionz's guitar kept cutting out, leaving him playing without any sound coming from his amp a few times. Aside from the technical issues, Dawn Vally gave the most energetic performance of the night.

Journalist: Alex Stojanovic
Photographer: Navneet Johal

CELLPHONE

Miami Mike - Vocals & bass
Richie Fingers - Keyboards
J. Leon - Guitars
CJ Morgan - Drums

DOOR TO DOOR HUMAN GORE *

Wally Warwick - Vocals
Nick Grosvenor - Drums
Alec McRae - Guitars
Martin Pickell - Guitars
Mike Taylor - Bass

EARTH'S YELLOW SUN

Josh Hanff - Guitars
Gio Campanelli - Keys & Synths
Duncan Stan - Bass
Julien Bigras - Drums
Murray Heaton - Alto Saxophone
Brian Dhari - Tenor Saxophone
Savic Panylyk - Tenor/Baritone Saxophone

BLASTOMYCOSIS

Mike Bain - Vocals
Tristan Biggar - Guitars
Colin Attlesey - Guitars
Dave Black - Drums
Peter Weinrauch - Bass

DAWN VALLY

Sycrote - Vocals
Jeff - Bass
Joe Nail - Drums
Onionz - Guitars

All WMBC updates here.

The energy level went way up as Brantford boys Door To Door Human Gore took the stage all guns blazing next. Guitarists Alec McRae and Martin Pickell delivered some chunky brutal riffs with their seven-string guitars and Wally Warwick growled his guts out with awesome gutterals. He even admitted to being out of breath before the last song. With their furious headbanging and tight musicianship, they put on an excellent performance and really got the crowd into their set.

Blastomycosis took the stage next raising the energy once again with straightforward death metal. You can tell that Blastomycosis is a band all about fun from their pretty crazy song titles and lyrical concepts. The best description for the band would be death metal with comedic lyrics and song titles. They also played the most amount of songs, which was about 7 or 8, but they played the entire 25 minutes they were given without going over, plus all their songs were pretty short so it worked out really well. Great performance and the crowd was definitely into it.

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PRAIRIE FINAL WINNER

4/18/2016

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Prairie Final round
@ Distortion
April 16, 2016

Finalist - Calgary - SENTIENT
Finalist - Edmonton - Tales of the Tomb - final winner
Finalist - Saskatchewan - Scythra
Finalist - Manitoba - Cell

(winner will move on to National Final in Toronto on June 11 @ Opera House)

Judges:
Kevin Woron - Megawatt Mayhem - CJSW 90.9 FM
Sacha Laskow - Perfect Fifth - Audio Architects
Chad Persley - Art Director/Business Development Executive at Absolute Underground TV/ Magazine
Cameron Dalgetty - Metal Nation Radio
Tyson Boyd - Director, Partner, Talent Buyer at ConcertWorks
Drew Copland - Death Toll Rising

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/159916031057594/

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MONTREAL ROUND 5 WINNER

4/18/2016

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Montreal round 5
@ Piranha Bar
April 16, 2016

SKELERIS
DISTORIAM
SACRIFICED ALLIANCE
VANTABLACK WARSHIP - winner

Judges:
Simon McKay - The Agonist
Andrew Wieler - CJLO - 1690AM
Jason Greenberg - Bucketlist Music Reviews
Alain Labonte - Québec-Métal

Event Link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/465233043687038/

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TORONTO SEMI FINAL ROUND 1 winner

4/17/2016

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PROFANER'S Bandcamp link.
Like PROFANER'S Facebook page.

Toronto Semi Final Round 1
@ Hard Luck Bar
April 16, 2016

Door To Door Human Gore (Official) (Toronto Winner)
AstarothOfficial (Toronto Winner)
Profaner (Hamilton Winner) *
Wind Cries Mary (London Winner)

*PROFANER win the 1st semi final round and move onto the finals in Toronto on June 11, 2016.

Guest judges:
Andy Hawke (Cadence Music)
Richard Fernandes (New Damage Records / Bedlam Music Management)
Craig Rose (ROSE management)
Drew Masters (M.E.A.T )
Dean Arnold (Vital Remains / Primalfrost)

Event link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1713390422207967/

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OTTAWA ROUND WINNER

4/15/2016

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Ottawa round winner
@ House of Targ
April 9, 2016

Ominous Eclipse
Scarecrowz fanpage
Signs of Chaos - Winner
A Scar For The Wicked
Chariots of the Gods

Judges:
Nick Guerin - Dungeon Works Productions
Chris Bubinas - Exclaim!
Alain Labonte - Québec-Métal
Matty Grant - Metal Nation Radio

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MONTREAL ROUND 4 WINNER

4/14/2016

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Montreal round 4
@ Piranha Bar
April 8, 2016

EVERTRAPPED - winner
REQUIOMEND
STARLIGHT RITUAL
SMIRKING REVENGE

Judges:
Jason Greenberg - Bucketlist Music Reviews
Alain Labonte - Québec-Métal
Andrew Wieler - CJLO - 1690AM
Simon - McKay - The Agonist

Event Link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1683767418548839/

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Calgary Round 3 - Metal Master Kingdom battle photos

4/13/2016

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Photography: Maggie Bolcsfoldy

Calgary Round 3
@ Distortion
February 26, 2016

Concrete Funeral
Hrom*
Naraka
Nuclear Oath

*winner announcement here

Judges:

Kevin Woron from Megawatt Mayhem on CJSW 90.9 FM
Joshua 'JP' Wood from Megawatt Mayhem on CJSW 90.9FM and Managing Editor/Writer at Metal-Rules.com
Sacha Laskow, Audio Architect at Perfect Fifth - Audio Architects
Chad Persley, Art Director/Business Development Executive at Absolute Underground TV/ Magazine

Concrete Funeral

Devin Schum - Guitars / Vocals
Paul Mercer - Bass Guitar
Chris Bertrand - Drums
Jesse Lindbeck - Lead Guitar

Naraka

Vanan Kesavan - Vocals and Guitars
Chandler Weinkauf - Guitars
Merv Zee - Bass
Drayden Perner-Mathews - Drums

Hrom

Jan Loncik
Matt Ries
Alex Langill
Shawn Vincent
Chad Vallier

Nuclear Oath

Drums - Brandon Sauer
Guitar - Zack Brandham
Guitar - Nick Litowsky
Vocals - Pete Mercer
Bass - Nathanael Bohnet

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Calgary Round 1 - Metal Master Kingdom battle photos

4/12/2016

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Photographer: Maggie Bolcsfoldy

Calgary Round 1
@ Distortion
January 20, 2016

Awaken The Abstract
From The Wolves
SENTIENT*
Skymir

*winner announcement here

Judges:

Kevin Woron from Megawatt Mayhem on CJSW 90.9FM.
Joshua 'JP' Wood from Megawatt Mayhem on CJSW 90.9FM and Managing Editor/Writer at Metal-Rules.com.
Sacha Laskow, Audio Architect at Perfect Fifth - Audio Architects.
Chad Persley, Art Director/Business Development Executive at Absolute Underground.

Awaken The Abstract

Greg Mix - Vocals
Levi McConnell - Guitar
Tremor Martin - Guitar
Greg Smith - Drums
Jack Sutherland - Bass

SENTIENT

RANJIT - Bass/Vocals
EDMUND - Guitar/Vocals
SCOTT - Drummms

From The Wolves

Shane - Vocals
John - Lead guitar
Kevin - Rhythm guitar
David - Bass
Layne - Drums

Skymir

Brenden Hull - Vocals
Colin Ryley - Guitars/Vocals
Jesse Lafeber - Bass
Marlee Lolth - Keyboard
Connor Erhart - Percussion

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WACKEN METAL BATTLE CANADA 2019 / 2018 / 2016

TORONTO SEMI-FINAL ROUND 2 WINNER

Toronto Round 5 - Metal Master Kingdom show review

TORONTO ROUND 4 - Metal Master Kingdom show review

PRAIRIE FINAL WINNER

MONTREAL ROUND 5 WINNER

TORONTO SEMI FINAL ROUND 1 winner

OTTAWA ROUND WINNER

MONTREAL ROUND 4 WINNER

Calgary Round 3 - Metal Master Kingdom battle photos

Calgary Round 1 - Metal Master Kingdom battle photos

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