It’s been a while since we released a blog post, mainly due to how astronomically busy we have been over the past while, but now that we are approaching the midpoint of the year we would like to take the time to review how the first six months of 2022 have gone and share some of our plans for the next half of the year. Metal 2 The Masses
We began the year off strong with our first gig of the season being in February in Fibber Magee’s, Dublin as we competed in the annual Bloodstock local qualifiers. The competition was fierce but we proudly fought our way through to the semi-finals where we gave it our all but bowed out of the competition as our good friends and Limerick city co-representatives, TOOMS took the judge vote alongside Jet Fuel Chemistry who stole the audience vote.
M2TM was insanely fun and we made a lot of friends during our time in the competition. We would like to thank everyone involved including Overdrive, Cosmopalace and Down The Barrel Photography for all their great work as they very much help us springboard into our current line of success. The All Ireland Metal Project
Towards the end of last year, our own Ocean and Shapes joined forces with Darragh of Horrenda, Ger and Smokey of Purgatorium and Eoghan Clarke of The Tak:Tile Collective to form Gemantria as part of The All Ireland Metal Project – Aiseiri to write and record the song “The Paradoxical Man” in JSR Audio, Belfast. The song made lead single on album 2 of the 3 part album project and was well received. We were delighted to receive the invitation to work alongside O.D. Promotions in the final leg of the project where we performed alongside Words That Burn and Restive Nation in Sin E, Dublin for a charity fundraiser dedicated to Women’s Aid Ireland. It was an honor to be involved in such a project knowing the the funds we helped raise would go towards such a good cause.
The Home Gigs
This year we’ve unfortunately not gotten to perform at half as many Limerick gigs as we have out of the city, however the home town gigs have been some of the most fun. Playing alongside acts such as Point Taken, Steiner, Arjuna’s Eye, TOOMS and Sharktooth x Goblin in Limericks hippest venue, Pharmacia, we confirmed that Limerick has one of the most energetic rock/metal scenes as both nights turned very quickly from local gig to massive musical party.
Rage Metal Nights
We had a blast returning to Dublin once again in May to perform at O.D. Promotions monthly Rage Metal Nights, where we took to the downstairs stage in Fibbers for the first time and played alongside the female fronted, folk/power metal Etherium, the groovalicious, rifftastic, surf rock legends, Ritual Effect and long term favorites of Oceans, the colossal hard rock, heavy metal, guitar solo extravaganza, Element X and were outrageously humbled to see Element X frontman Dave, sport a WOA tshirt during his performance. A great night was had by all.
A Night out in Galway
Last weekend we made our way to the west coast as we debuted in Sally Longs, Galway alongside the mighty groove metal Bloodstock veterans Black Shuck and the hard hitting, hardcore/death metal Psychotic Outsider. We had a fantastic time performing to a great crowd and if you were there you may have seen Ocean and Shapes take to the stage with Black Shuck for an impromptu and somewhat drunken rendition of Iron Maidens “Run To The Hills”. Galway was a lot of fun and we cannot wait to return.
Upcoming EP “The Social Apocalypse”
Finally we would like to share some updates on our upcoming debut studio release. Our EP “The Social Apocalypse” has been completely tracked out in Open Door Studios under the careful and capable guidance of our sound engineer, Joey Mulcahy.
We elected to do something unconventional in our methods of recording by live tracking the entire EP, a means of recording not as commonly practiced any more. We chose this method to try capture the raw energy in similar vein to the legendary 80s thrash metal albums we all grew up on. The 5 track EP has moved into editing stage and we will be sharing updates such as release date, artwork etc… in the coming weeks but till then keep your eyes and ears peeled
The Road Ahead
We have a bunch of things currently in the works, from gig announcements, to EP launch to unveiling our new expanded line of merchandise. We are particularly looking forward to supporting UK Hard Rock/Metal legends FURY, who recently tore it up at Download and quickly became one of our favorite bands, this coming November as we return to Dolans, Limerick working alongside Bad Reputation Ireland.
Aside from that we will be playing our cards close to our chest and posting regular updates as the weeks go on, but rest assured there is ALOT of War Of Attrition news to come. Keep an eye out and a huge thanks to everyone who has worked with us, played alongside us, played our music on the radio and attended our events, it has meant the world to us to finally be out there making a splash in the Irish metal landscape. Please check out all of the links to the bands, photographers and promoters in this blog and go follow them if you haven’t already as they all deserve a huge boost for helping to shape the post pandemic surge in the Irish Metal Scene.
