 Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com Up next were hometown favourites Astaroth Incarnate. By this time, the amount of people in the venue doubled as a huge crowd of their dedicated followers gathered at the front to witness their performance. It was my third time seeing the band. They were the most theatrical band of the night with frontman Sam Astaroth being the center of the attention with his sinister Darth Maul style makeup and red and black leather outfit. The first time I saw the band in the 2016 battle, the energy was there, but one of the criticisms I had about their performance at that time, was the inconsistency in the lead guitar performance. The execution of notes was a little sloppy, but they managed to fix that and their performance was a lot more solid and tighter during the two times I saw them in this year's battle. Great job, dudes! Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com The fourth and final competitors were hometown favourites Centuries Of Decay, and for me personally, my favourite band of the night, with all respect to the other bands. For anyone that has seen my previous reviews of their performances, you already know that they always manage to impress. Their set was the same as last time, so there wasn't anything different added. Like last time, they saved their 13-minute epic song for last. They were well rehearsed and the musicianship was top notch, and that's one of the key elements that always attracts me to a band when seeing them play live, no matter whether it's my first time or hundredth time seeing them live. The energy is secondary for me, but you don't want them standing their stoically, so energy is an element just as important due to the fact that it generates excitement for everyone in the band and the crowd. While there was headbanging and the energy certainly was exuding on stage during their set, Centuries Of Decay seemed more focused on the musicianship, and that's excellent. Some bands can learn from Centuries Of Decay. Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com | Written by Alex Stojanovic Photographed by Navneet Johal (C)2018 All rights reserved www.metalmasterkingdom.com @ Hard Luck Bar Toronto, ON Canada March 24, 2018 Battling bands: Wind Cries Mary (London) Astaroth Incarnate (Toronto) Lutharö *(Hamilton) Centuries of Decay *(Toronto) with Old James (Guest Headliner) Guest judges: Daniel DeKay (Banger) Dean Arnold (Vital Remains Official) Mishelle Pack (Sony/ATV Music Publishing) Max Morin (Bucketlist Music Reviews) Wacken Metal Battle Canada 2018 continues as the qualifying rounds are now over, and we are now into the semi-final rounds. The Southern Ontario finals took places on Saturday, March 24th at the Hard Luck Bar where the four bands chosen in the qualifying rounds competed for the chance to move on to the eastern Canada finals taking place in May in Montreal. A large crowd of devoted headbangers packed the Hard Luck to witness the battle and cheer the bands on. It's been a long two years since I was last at the Hard Luck, and from what I've noticed, it seems that the venue made upgrades to their P.A. system with better speakers, which made the performances that much better. I've always been a fan of great sound. Wind Cries Mary from London were faced with the difficult task of opening up the night. When I first saw them during round 2 of this year's battle, they brought an abundance of energy to the stage, both in terms of their stage presence and their music, and nothing changed for their performance at the Ontario finals. There was a big empty space at the front of the stage in the crowd, and frontman Keiryn Jacobs seemed a little annoyed by it at the start. It's always a weird thing to see when a frontman asks a crowd to move and there's no response, but they did manage to get a couple of their followers to come to the front and headbang to their songs. Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com Up next were Hamilton metallers Lutharo. I found their sound a little interesting. While the music was pretty straightforward metal with twin guitar harmonies and aggressive riffs and grooves, I found the mixture of the aggressive screams and powerful Bruce Dickinson-esque melodic vocals and high notes from frontwoman Krista Shipperbottom quite interesting. Playing drums with them was Cory Hofing from Crimson Shadows, which was a pretty cool thing to see. One thing I noticed was that bassist Rusian Lypovsky ended up snapping a string on his bass, but he made the best of it with the strings he had left. Their tight performance and great musicianship really made them stand out. Each member also displayed great stage presence, and this all proved why they were more than worthy contenders of advancing to the Eastern finals. Photo: Navneet Johal (C)2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com Closing off the night were guest headliners Old James, a Toronto power trio whose sound is in the vein of 70s classic rock, bringing a different element after four awesome metal acts. Being that they were guest headliners, their set was longer than the competitors, clocking in at around 45 minutes. One of the standout moments of their set was that they treated us to a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Cold Sweat". One of my criticisms about their set however, was that frontman and bassist Brian Stephenson liked to joke about dicks a lot. Sorry Brian, but jokes like that get old real fast. It's okay and funny once, but multiple times will get the crickets chirping. I'm just being honest like I always am, but I mean that in the nicest possible way. Aside from this flaw, their musicianship and energy was exceptional. Brian and his brother, drummer and backing vocalist Chris Stephenson, sounded really great together when they would harmonize on vocals. The other cool thing about their set was that they announced that guitarist Andy Thompson recently got married, so congratulations to Andy and his new wife for tying the knot. As we arrived at the end of the night, it was time to select the two bands that would play at the eastern Canada finals. The two bands chosen were Centuries Of Decay and Lutharo. Congratulations to the two bands! Good luck and have fun in Montreal in May! |
| WIND CRIES MARY Keiryn Jacobs - Vocals Malcolm Lamont - Guitars Michael Arounlasy - Guitars Randy Mead - Bass Devin Nickles - Drums Label: Unsigned Website: www.windcriesmary.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/Windcriesmary |
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| CENTURIES OF DECAY * Devin Doucette - Lead vocals & guitars Rob McAllister - Guitars & vocals Derrick Doucette - Drums Matt Hems - Bass Label: Unsigned Website: www.centuriesofdecay.com www.facebook.com/CenturiesOfDecay | OLD JAMES (GUEST HEADLINER) Brian Stephenson - Lead vocals & bass Andy Thompson - Guitars Chris Stephenson - Drums &backing vocals Label: Unsigned Website: www.oldjames.ca www.facebook.com/OldJamesband |  |
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