Last week I was fortunate enough to catch the final round of the local Wacken Metal Battle. Four bands, all winners from previous rounds, were slotted to play and earn a spot into the Alberta finals in Calgary on Friday, May 23rd. The winner of that round will then go on to play against bands from Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal for a coveted spot at Wacken Open Air in Germany.
The bands playing in Edmonton included Death Toll Rising and Eye of Horus, two of my favourite local acts. Death Toll Rising has been delivering solid thrashy death metal for over ten years. Eye of Horus boasts some of the most energetic, consistently solid live shows I've witnessed. Both bands played excellent sets, and both moved on to the Alberta finals.
One of the audience members recorded the entire Wacken Metal Battle and uploaded the videos to Youtube. While filmed from one of the rear areas of the venue, the sound quality is actually quite decent and makes the videos worth checking out if you're interested in either of these bands (or the others that played the same evening).
Death Toll Rising's opener, 'Demon Rot':
Demon Rot
Eye of Horus' closing song (and new single), 'Blood Ritual':
Blood Ritual
If you would like to check out more of the recordings of the Wacken Metal Battle, the rest of the videos can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh-5yUuuDTAu4yNkb4M4ts6VCwe74xJw2
For more on either of these bands:
Death Toll Rising:
https://www.facebook.com/DeathTollRising
Eye of Horus:
https://www.facebook.com/EyeofHorusOfficial
