​WACKEN METAL BATTLE CANADA is proud to announce the line up for this year’s national final on June 11th in Toronto, ON at The Opera House for ‘One Band To Rule Them All’ and play at Wacken Open Air 2016 in Wacken, Germany, which holds an attendance of over 80,000 metalheads from around the world. After battle rounds across the country during the months of January to May, the following bands listed below will be judged by a panel of industry professionals (to be announced at a later date) during their performance plus will be joined by special guest headliners and 2013 WMBC champions Crimson Shadows.
​
“The National Final is upon us once again. In the name of Canadian metal, and in honour of all who have participated and supported the 2016 Metal Battle, we’re very proud to present some of Canada’s finest metal acts. Let us rally together and give the winning band a proper send off to Germany.” comments WMBC organizer JJ Tartaglia.

​The national final winner will also be given a drummer prize pack from Los Cabos Drumsticks that includes 12 pairs of sticks of their choosing, a stick bag, a practice pad, and other Los Cabos Drumsticks swag plus automatic eligibility for endorsement (full details here). This year’s runner up will receive a prize from our media partner PureGrainAudio.com, which will be giving a promotional package (valued at approximately $3k) that includes a video interview shot and edited by PureGrainAudio, a featured contest of the band’s choosing (giveaway of signed merch, music, etc.), a free song download article that’s featured at the very top of PureGrainAudio’s Audio section for at least 1 week, a photo shoot with the band (either a live show shoot or band pics.) and one month free web banner advertisement on the site. (Full details here)

Journalist: Kirsti Heitz 
Photographer: Navneet Johal

@ Hard Luck Bar
​April 16, 2016

​(C)2016 www.metalmasterkingdom.com All rights reserved. Photos: Navneet Johal

​With a casual air, Hamiltonites Profaner took the stage next with easy smiles and a “good-times” attitude. Synchronized headbanging and guitar/bass movements immediately won be over as Profaner brew up some thrashy tunes with enough melodic arrangements to keep things interesting. Groovy beats and clean vocals added by guitarist Jason Crook were the perfect top off to their tunes. Vocalists Anthony delivered a superb performance as he screamed his way through the tunes and got the crowd riled up so their front-line of faithful headbangers didn’t miss a beat. Profaner kept their set interesting and fans laughing as they interjected their tunes with synchronized dance moves or pushed the crowd to make a perfectly square mosh pit, because why the hell not? Profaner ended their set with a ballad intro that quickly turned into a thrash/melodic tune with the audience waving lighters and each member of Profaner performing a superb solo.

​Now that the Wacken Metal Battle competitors have performed, they get a chance to kick back and witness a special treat as Final Trigger performed right before the announcement of tonight’s winner. A new wave of audience members walked through the doors as Final Trigger fans crowded the stage in order to get a good spot for throwing down. These Torontonians classify themselves as “skrap metal” which is hard to explain unless you give them a listen. From hip-hop themes mixed with the heavy goodness of metal and a Juggalo vibe, their tunes have a nu-metal vibe that is amped up. DJ Metal D acted as a hype man when he wasn’t spinning and vocalist/guitaris Jroc had pit monsters wrapped around his fingers as he stirred them into a frenzy. Beat masters JJ and Faz interjected their fast and heavy rhythms with groovy arrangements as Final Trigger performed with the solid experience of a seasoned band.

​With some serious makeup and a dramatic setting, Astaroth took the stage next bringing with them a large fanbase who were ready to stir the pit up. With skin painted red, leather trench coat, black hair slicked back and firey red eyes, vocalist Astaroth (locally known as Sam) took the center stage with growling vocals and a dramatic yet animated presence. Though I do love me some extreme FX makeup, I wish that the theme that vocalist Sam chose would have been spread equally amongst the rest of the band who were dressed in little to no makeup. Astaroth played a high energy set with interspaced melancholic moments were vocalist Sam opted for not quite pitch perfect clean vocals accompanied by some slick blast beats by the stoic Emile.  
​

​Last but not least we had Wind Cries Mary from London take the stage to wrap up the competitors portion of the night. Assuming that the crowd’s energy level was on an almighty high after Profaner, Wind Cries Mary tried to squeeze the same size pit from the Hard Luck Club but it took at least half their set for fans to finally react and get into their tunes. Being true to their genre, Wind Cries Mary threw down in a classic metalcore fashion with plenty of breakdowns and melodic riffs. Vocalist Keiryn didn’t seem fazed by the initially lack of response but as more fans started to be drawn into the tunes, Keiryn knew how to stir the pot and egg fans on into a frenzy.

​

Quebec Final Round 
@ Piranha Bar
​May 7, 2016

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

​Judges
Rob The Witch - Necronomicon
Glen Robinson - Producer
Luc Laine - CFLX 95.5 FM - Alert Metallique
Jesse Gainer - Bucketlist Music Reviews
Alain Labonte - Québec-Métal

Crimson Shadows win the Canadian national title and move onto Wacken Open Air international band battles where the win as well 
​(C) 2013 www.metalmasterkingdom.com
​Photos: Navneet Johal 
​

Event Link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1526172981010202/

Wacken Metal Battle Canada

Vancouver Final Round
@ Red Room Ultrabar
​May 1, 2016