WACKEN METAL BATTLE CANADA announce VESPERIA 2015 National Final Champion

One band rules them all! Wacken Metal Battle Canada is proud to announce VESPERIA as this year’s 2015 winner.

The band was crowned champion after performing alongside MEDEVIL (Vancouver), BLEED (Edmonton), ENDLESS CHAOS (Winnipeg), MIDNIGHT MALICE (Toronto), NORDHEIM (Quebec City) who represented the top six metal talents out of 120 competing bands from ten participating cities across Canada.

“We are very proud to present Vesperia’s brand of epic melodic metal to the mighty Wacken festival. This makes it two wins for front man Morgan Rider who played bass for Crimson Shadows during their 2013 win and has been a very active player in the Canadian metal scene for many years. It’s great to see him succeed and carry the torch with Vesperia.” comments WMBC organizer JJ Tartaglia.

VESPERIA will now move on to perform at the 11th international Wacken Metal Battle (participating countries can be found here) at the world’s largest metal festival Wacken Open Air (July 30-Aug 1) in Wacken, Germany, which has attendance of over 80,000 people.

The final took place on June 6th at Opera House in Toronto, ON and was judged by Annihilator’s Jeff Waters and Mike Harshaw, Noel Peters (Inertia Entertainment), Lindsay Schoolcraft (Cradle of Filth), Tim Henderson (BraveWords) and David Bottrill (Producer, Mixer).

About the finalists:

ENDLESS CHAOS

Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Members: Jorden Gerbrandt – Vocals, Mike Menza – Rhythm/ Lead Guitar, Mike Toews – Lead/ Rhythm Guitar, Jeff Humarang – Bass, James Burton – Drums

Genre: Blackened Thrash and Death Metal

Bio: Abrasive, energetic and chaotic, Winnipeg, Manitoba?s death/thrash five-piece Endless Chaos is on a mission to get metal fans feeding off its energy and to bring chaos into their world.

After sharing the stage with Skeletonwitch, 3 Inches of Blood, Wretched, Aborted and Kataklysm, the band?s direction was clear and Endless Chaos set out to carefully craft its debut EP, ?Rejected Atrocity?.

Inspired by one of the finest horror movies of all time, Re-Animator, ?Rejected Atrocity? will ?give you the best taste of what?s to come of Endless Chaos,? says vocalist Jordan Dorge. ?When we were writing these songs, we really took in everything we love about death, thrash and black metal and incorporated it into Endless Chaos.?

All there?s left to do now is bring forth the endless chaos.

MEDEVIL

Hometown: Chilliwack, BC

Members: Liam Collingwood – Vocals, Gary Cordsen – Guitar, Brett Gibbs – Guitar, Eric Wesa – Bass, Ross Collingwood – Drums

Genre: Heavy Metal

Bio: New to the world of metal, though not afraid to show what they?re made of, Medevil came buzzing through into the heavy scene. With a combination of 80?s thrash and diverse progressive sections, they have already proven a lot of their capabilities to their growing fanbase.

The band, born in 2014 by Liam (vocals), Eric (bass) and Ross (drums), was formed to help prove to the world that heavy metal is still going strong even in this modern day. After two years of writing and polishing their sound, as well as the inclusion of two powerhouse guitar players Gary and Brett, they finally began to prove what they?re made of to the live audiences throughout Abbotsford and Vancouver. The response: a roaring crowd.

When Ross joined the band he brought in a unique flavor of drumming, influenced by both System of a Down and Foo Fighters. With this, and Liam?s own Metal Church-esque style of writing, they created the perfect combination of powerful-fast riffs.

Though they love playing in Vancouver and Abbotsford, Medevil have their minds set on the horizon. To enjoy the energy of playing live and treating the world to their original and unique brand of metal is what they are built to do. They continue to work hard and pursue their ambitious dream.

MIDNIGHT MALICE

Hometown: Toronto, ON

Members: Caleb Beal – Guitar, Vocals, Hunter Raymond – Drums, Tom Gervais – Bass

Genre: Heavy Metal

Bio: MIDNIGHT MALICE are a Heavy Metal band from Toronto. Heavy in the vain of WASP/JUDAS PRIEST/MOTORHEAD. MIDNIGHT MALICE’s debut CD the PROVING GROUNDS was released JAN 24th 2014.

BL?ED

Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta

Members: Rob – Vocals, Ron – Guitar, Mike – Bass, Chuck – Drums

Genre: Heavy Metal / Thrash Metal

Bio: Pulverizing thrash/death metal that hits you like a bloody knife to the face! BL?ED is a horror themed theatrical metal band from Edmonton. With a ferocious heavy sound and a stage show to coincide with the music, BL?ED is sure to entertain the crowd.

NORDHEIM

Hometown: L?vis, Qu?bec

Members: Warraxe – Vocals and Rythm Guitars, Fred – Lead Guitars BenFok – Bass and Back Vocals, Loup – Keyboard, Lucas – Drum

Genre: Folk Metal

Bio: Everything started on a particularly not very eventful night back in 2006. Warraxe and Benfok started to create what would eventually be known as “Far Away”. After the first draft of a song that seems to kick some ass, the 2 men decided it was time to push the project further so they started their quest to find other musicians to complete the band. That quest was long and hard because these musicians not only needed to be serious and talented, they also needed to be compatible with the inferior brains of Warraxe and Benfok. Freydrick was the first one to join the troops….armed with his blonde beard” Then came the protector of thy unholy keyboard, Dark Dreamer, whose evil was just so… evil. Other musicians joined the band as well but due to conflicting schedule, they went on some other path. The horde was almost complete. Warraxe chose the path of the guitar player/singer and his brother-in-law chose the keyboard but a drummer was still missing.

Then from the frozen guts of Hiverna, a troll named Bardunor rose and joined the horde. Unfortunately this troll had to go back to his cave but his quest with the braves folks from Nordheim is not completed… some beer barrels still needs to be drank….but that’s another tale. Then a very old friend came out of the shadows and claimed: ” I can play drums…I can play fuc**ng fast!”. So Phil Poul joined and replace Bardunnor. He contributed to the demo and to the first album ” Lost In The North”. Some years passed but in 2011, Phil Poul departed from the band, opening the door for a Red Bearded Viking, the seducing Lucas Biron (K?lter) who joined the barbarian brotherhood. They then loaded the longship and started the quest for their next barrel of potion called “Refill”. Soon after the release of the second album, Thom, the brother-in-law of Warraxe had to leave in order to fight the stone cold armies of the east. But during the summer of 2014, they heard a far away howl…followed by some notes from a piano…

These notes came from a young wolf called the Loup-Gab of America. Since then, the band is complete. Nordheim is ready to sail through many perilous travels aboard their troll longship!

VESPERIA

Hometown: Toronto

Members: Morgan Rider – Vocals, Bass, Casey Elliott – Guitar, Frankie Caracci – Guitar, Dylan Gowan – Drums

Genre: Canadian Epic Melodic Metal!

Bio: The cloudy beginnings of VESPERIA lay etched in the gorged bodies of former musical projects among the now 4 piece band. Twisting, writhing and forcing their aural onslaught upon metal audiences across the globe have sincerely ensured the band?s continuity through all the harsh and arduous battles modern metal bands are sure to encounter in their tenures.

Originally formed in 2005 by lead vocalist/ bassist Morgan Rider as a black metal band, the sound, direction and theme of the music naturally evolved into the style of fierce and heroic metal the band is now known for. Shortly after releasing their long overdue brand melodic metal 2011 full-length ?Voyage from Vinland?, VESPERIA redefined their purpose and direction once and finally with their 2012 demo ?The Swordsman? and 2013 full-length ?An Olden Tale?, drawing the ears and attention of metal fans around the world and demonstrating their true mastery of their craft.

With the most fierce music written to date and a bounty of opportunity awaiting, VESPERIA hungrily eye 2015 as the year they will make their mark upon the Earth.

About:

Wacken Metal Battle Canada is part of an international competition where band’s from across the country in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City will battle each other for one to be selected and join over 30 other countries for an international battle of the bands at the world’s largest outdoor metal festival Wacken Open Air, which has been taking place in Wacken , Germany for the last 25 years. Toronto’s Crimson Shadows (2013 winners – video at Wacken):

and Montreal’s Mutank (2014 winners – video at Wacken):

have had that honour playing in front of thousands. This year’s festival will be taking place from July 30th to August 1st.

How it works:

Each city will hold their qualifying rounds plus city finals from the months of January to May 2015 selecting the top band to move forward to the national finals in Toronto, ON in June (date to be determined) with one being selected to perform at the 26th edition of Wacken Open Air taking place from July 30th to August 1st. All bands will be judged during battle rounds by respected local music industry.

The finalists will be selected as follows.

1 finalist from BC (Vancouver & Victoria will face off)

1 finalist from Alberta (Calgary & Edmonton will face off)

2 finalists from Ontario (Toronto vs. Ottawa will face off)

1 finalist from Quebec (Montreal & Quebec City will face off)

1 finalist from Saskatoon or Winnipeg (Saskatoon and Winnipeg will face off)

Rules: http://metalbattle.ca/rules.html

Wacken Metal Battle Canada Promo Video: