Bloodstock 2018 – Band Feature/Interview: Oracle

This year’s Bloodstock Festival is shaping up to be one of the best ever with a line-up that spans all genres of rock and metal. If you haven’t picked up your tickets yet, what are you waiting for!? Check out our five reasons why you should go there.

Oracle are a five piece groove metal band that hail from Belfast, Northern Ireland and won this year’s Belfast edition of the Metal 2 The Masses competition. They play high energy, groove laden metal which is oozing with riffs, harsh vocals and filthy rhythms.

Oracle formed in March 2015, and released their debut single ‘Take My Blood in August of the same year. Taking the response from this positively, Oracle went under a vicious writing period to develop their sound and tone their stage craft.

Bouncing back from their writing break, Oracle released their new single ‘Burn The Nameless’ which tackles hierarchy and false media coverage, on the 3rd of March 2017. They then followed that up on the 6th of February 2018 with their debut music video for ‘No God Waits For You’.

Their highly anticipated first EP ‘Tales of Pythia’ was released earlier this year. Five tracks that touch on topics which are political, mythological, spiritual and occultic, whilst also dealing with issues that are relevant to their personal lives.

“Tales of Pythia is based on the idea that we all live in a prophetic time where a lot of people remain in a state of blissful ignorance, and are too busy occupied with materialistic and secondary distractions to care.”

You can read our review of Tales of Pythia here. Find out more about Oracle by going to their Facebook Page and following them on Twitter. Pick up their music over on Bandcamp, Spotify and check out their videos over on YouTube.

Interview

1. Congratulations on your victory in the Belfast Metal to the Masses. How are you feeling about getting to Bloodstock and up on to that famous New Blood Stage?

We are all buzzing! It’s an absolutely massive opportunity for us to start to take things to the next level. The nerves are shot too obviously, but mostly we are excited to go over, hopefully win over new fans and make the most of the opportunities given to us.

2. How did you find the whole Metal to the Masses experience? You had some pretty tough competition.

This year we entered with the intention of doing everything that we could to win it. That came with a lot of stress as well as highs and lows, it was a constant mental battle of are we doing enough, how much more can we push this sort of thing! Having said that it’s one of the best experiences out there for up and coming bands, it’s free exposure to larger crowds and more importantly fans of other bands within your community that might not necessarily come to see you.

We had some serious competition this year, I honestly would not have liked to have been the person picking on the night because every band was amazing! The bands in the Belfast metal scene are getting better and better, and it’s a great motivator for everyone to keep pushing themselves to keep up.

3. Do you plan to stay at Bloodstock for the whole weekend? If so, what band’s are you hoping to catch while you are there?

Yeah we will be there the whole weekend! For us we can’t wait to see Gojira, Devildriver, Cannibal Corpse, At The Gates, Alien Weaponry, Dead Label, Sinocence and This Place Hell. We are also really looking forward to seeing some of the other bands on the New Blood Stage.

4. Have you been to Bloodstock before as punters?

Jake and Rhys have both been before, for the rest of us we are losing our bloodstockginity this year!

5. For anyone who doesn’t know you, what can we expect from Oracle at a live performance? Why should they come and check you out?

Our live performances are what we live and breathe for. We bring energy and passion and will suck you in with the atmosphere that we create. We just love sharing what we do with a live audience, and maybe get some heads banging whilst we are at.

6. Tales of Pythia came out in March and we are big fans of it. It seems to have really gone down well within the metal community. How has it been for you? Are you happy with how it has been received?

Thanks for that! It’s definitely well down well, it was a release that we wanted to have out sooner but a few things slowed us down. We love writing songs that are personal to us but from a mythological perspective, that’s what “Tales of Pythia” is all about. The reception has been really good but now we are looking forward to getting new music out.

[amazon_link asins=’B07BD5PZWY,B07BD4K2KF,B07BD44848,B07BD52FGY’ template=’UseThisOne’ store=’g0e5b-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’3133ab52-8f9c-11e8-886d-63ac0a32c883′]

7. So what comes next for Oracle in late 2018/early 2019? Any plans for new music or tours coming up?

We actually have a new single coming out this Thursday (26/07/2018) called “Serpentine” it’s a song about the current political climate and the mental prison that it can create. We will have more new music out before the end of the year and are planning to release our debut album next year. In terms of tours we have quite a few gigs lined up but can’t talk about a few of them just yet!

You can read our review of the new single, Serpentine here.