It’s that time of year again, when in the run-up to Bloodstock we endeavour to interview every band gracing the SOPHIE, New Blood and Jägermeister stages from 8th – 11th August 2019. This means you’ve got a chance to read up on all your favourite bands set to play over the weekend and decide which new ones you’ll want to check out.
As ever, we’re predicting some horrible clashes because, true to form, there are some great bands across all three stages so you should start planning who you want to see.
Our thanks to all the bands / artists for taking the time out to answer our questions!
Anakim – New Blood Stage, Friday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
The band was started in Weymouth but we’re from all over now: London, Cardiff, Weymouth and the depths of Hampshire somewhere. We like to think of ourselves as an international death metal conglomerate.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Anakim was started in 2011 but we’ve had a few line-up changes. This current line-up has been in place since June 2018 when Matt ed and will hopefully be the final iteration of the band…barring ODs and plane crashes. Joe and Ewan have been playing together since about 2005 in various other projects, Carl ed in 2013 and Ant in 2016.
Where does the name of the band come from?
It’s the name for an ancient race of cosmic titans that bestowed sentience upon humanity. The name comes from an ancient Jewish myth, although we have expanded upon the mythos, with elements of interdimensional travel and abstract concepts relating to form and chaos interpreted through human perception.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We’re progressive death metal – there are technical elements with loads of interesting and off beat time signatures. We are unique as although we shred and blast there is a lot of melody without sacrificing heaviness and brutality. So often you get a melodic death metal band that waters down the death metal. Also, the technical prowess displayed is second to none, but that doesn’t mean that the entire songs are arpeggio after arpeggio, we blend extreme death metal with lots of groove, with experimental progressive tech death metal, but most importantly we are in no way djent!
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Each member of the band has played in other successful bands for over a decade and Anakim benefits from all of this combined experience. The songs are hectic as fuck but tighter than a drum. Live you can expect to experience face-melting shredtacular, riff based cranial destruction, thunderous meta beats performed by a drummer imbued with the equine ferocity and stamina of a powerful stallion. Bass lines that tear your perception of reality loose from the foundations of your soul with bowel loosening guttural roars, spine-splitting acerbic screams and windmilling that resembles a blood spattered turbine engine.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
We’ve all partied at Bloodstock before – some of us for over the last 10 years! It’s a great festival there’s nothing like it for the adrenaline in the pit and the partying in the campsite. It is nonstop metal mayhem and we fucking love it!
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
Bournemouth.
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Ecstatically elated, jubilantly justified, bewilderingly blown away and amusingly aroused.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
It will be a fast paced bruising, death metal groove fest with lashings technical prowess throughout…plus as special treat some new material form out forthcoming album, The Elysian Void.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
Taake, Aborted, KK Downing (Ross the Boss), HelHeim, Rotting Christ, Evil Scarecrow, Dimmu Borgir & Scorpions.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re currently 90% through recording our new album The Elysian Void. Everything is nearly recorded, and we have mixing and mastering ready to go. It is an interesting evolution from our first album Monuments to Departed Worlds with more of a black metal influence in some aspects and covering a much wider variety of progressive tech death.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
One of my favourite things to do which I first started over 10 years ago is to get a good circle pit circle pit going and then when everyone’s got to full momentum (basically jogging in a circle) I like to change direction and remind them that they’re there to pit!
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
We mostly stay pretty compes mentis before a show, maybe a beer or 2, maximum 3. After our set we will drink everything – sometimes all mixed up in a bucket and then funnelled into one person! We are there to play some fucking kick-ass metal and put on a show first and foremost, although our vocalist never kicks a bottle of whisky on the stage out of bed!
Anakim: facebook | youtube | bandcamp
