Preview: Wacken Metal Battle 2022 @ Brick by Brick (25-26 FEB 2022)February 22, 2022
Music Reviews
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The Wacken Metal Battle USA is part of an international competition where ultimately one independent metal band is selected to play the infamous international Wacken Open Air festival. The mighty Brick by Brick is once again hosting a two-night battle of the bands, with only two of the twelve bands moving on the Finals…!

SDMetal.org‘s very own Brian and Israel will help judge this year. They will be raffling off 5 merch bags to random attendees, including Slogh Feg and Stygian Crown CDs, thanks to Cruz Del Sur Music. So come on out!

Wacken Metal Battle – Round 1 at Brick by Brick 25FEB2022

Kosmic Dragon

Sci-fi inspired power metal from Riverside CA, Kosmic Dragon throws more than a few nods of respect to pompous prog rock of the `70s. Nuances of the video-game’ish tracks from Dragonforce plus some of the more accessible tracks from Ayreon are also notable here. This is clearly a project by and for science fiction nerds – and that’s a good thing. 🙂

The Oathbreakers

The Oathbreakers is band from San Diego that sounds like it draws on a multitude of influences. Multiple tempo and tonal changes from song-to-song (and often within a song, too), offering a very compressed/fuzzy brand of speedy/stoner metal riffs, metalcore’ish vocals, and interesting interludes to nicely mix things up.

Blackcast

From San Diego CA, Blackcast plays a very tight and regimented brand of Killswitch Engage-style metalcore, while also managing to avoid some of the weaker trappings of the genre. The nifty riffs from the lead guitarist meld well with the Drop D rhythm section here.

Son Ov Leviathan

A last minute addition to the bill, Son Ov Leviathan brings its brand of Blackened Death Metal from Temecula CA. The brainchild of CL (vocals, songwriting, and all instruments in the studio), this band has all of the classic Black Metal elements in place: corpse paint, creepy keyboard effects, blastbeats, et al. Fans of late-period Dissection should find this a fun listen.

Gravity Grave

Not a ton of online info on Gravity Grave from “Toxic Valley, CA” – but where they lack in social media branding they make up for where it counts: the music. Their flavor of technical thrash metal mixed with maybe some growls ala Testament’s Chuck Billy on “Low” perhaps(?)…, it all makes for a fun listen.

Tzimani

Frequent guest vendors at the San Diego Swap Meet, Tzimani is an experienced San Diegan band that specializes in a quick and very catchy brand of hard rock/metal that is stylistically not far removed from the NWOBHM end of the spectrum. Very clean and professional sounding metal that is immediately accessible and downright fun.

Wacken Metal Battle – Round 2 at Brick by Brick 26FEB2022

Naranca

A very new Nu-Metal band from San Diego CA, Naranca features a woman on the mic with an impressive range on vocals. The fact they are not shy about tempo and stylistic shifts is a cool touch here. As is de rigueur for this genre, the bottom end is of paramount importance, and it sounds like this band has that covered very well indeed. Bonus: in the past they’ve done some really great covers, too.

DeadRise

Self-described as Hard Rock-Metal, this Southern CA band in reality brings more of a Nu-Metal/Metalcore vibe to the table. The obligatory clean vocals are refreshingly done rather well here, and the band on the whole sounds very tight. If you know the band Cold Snap at all, you have a good idea of what this band brings to the stage. Should prove interesting to see them up on stage.

Mythraeum

Another San Diegan band that has been around for a while, Mythraeum is an U.S. Melodic Black Metal band that brings to the event a very big and very professional Abigor & Watain-inspired experience. The vocals are especially notable here.

California Villain

California Villain is another band that has nearly perfected a very accessible hard rock profile (what used to be referred to as “radio friendly” – back when having your song on the radio mattered lol). Their single “A Little After Midnight” features a shuffling bluesy love song to fast cars and faster Southern California girls that is not one bit removed from where hair metal was at 30-ish years ago (hints of Cinderella?). A bit of an outlier on the bill but one that could prove entertaining.

Manic

Manic is a San Diegan band that has been keeping busy since 2017, this is probably the most straight-ahead thrash metal band on the bill. Comparisons to Megadeth-with-better-vocals are not out of line – and that includes both the quasi-political lyrics and the at-times blistering dual-lead riffs. Looking forward to seeing what these guys can do on stage.

Salacious

Joining the festivities after a long drive down from the Idyllwild / Pine Cove area of California, Salacious is a two-man band that brings a stripped down “not fucking around” Black Metal band sound. These guys bring old school Satyricon-style rawness to the stage.

So there you have it — twelve bands, two nights, and one hell of a fun time. Come out and help support your local scene!