-local band, ‘et tu Brutus’, earns ‘honourable’ third spot

“MY ears felt the sting of the battle until recovery 48 hours later and my mind is still on this historic event staged in Guyana,” long time rock musician, Jude Mendonca, expressed following the successful hosting of the prestigious Wacken Metal Battle Caribbean (WMBC).

A drummer of local rock bands ‘Pearls To Swine’ and ‘Burning Bush’ back in the 90s, Jude is still very much an avid lover and supporter of the local rock scene.

He was high in praise for the just concluded event at the The Black Magenta – Georgetown Club produced by his nephew Gavin Mendonca and fellow rock musician, Gavin Singh.

The WMBC is part of a larger, global battle of the bands (The Wacken Metal Battle), which is hosted annually as one of the main attractions of the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany.
Here, bands from around the world get to represent their country on the “grandest stage for heavy metal in the world,” according to Mendonca.

The winner of the event this year was ‘Left-Ovr’ from Puerto Rico. The band will head to Germany this August to compete and represent the entire Caribbean rock scene at the festival.

“So much more was had than simply a battle and placements of the respective participating acts at this event. There had to be a winner but there were no losers as all of these folks from the respective bands made new acquaintances, friends and fans from within our local fraternity which has blossomed in the last five years as a result of the proactivity of a chosen and dedicated few,” Jude shared.

According to him, ‘et tu Brutus’ earned an “honourable spot of third place… finishing in front of a young and hungry extreme metal quartet, Ravech from Suriname in fourth place and the seemingly ageless and hard rocking quartet, Down the Line from Guadeloupe in fifth place.”

All of the contenders or bands longed for the grand opportunity to venture to Germany and play on one of the stages amongst heavy metal’s elite of independent acts that won their respective battles and to enjoy some of the finest majors, including Iron Maiden headlining the huge bill of bands in August.

“Et tu Brutus was deserving of such for not only their perseverance and having been life-long fans of heavy metal, but for delivering an awesome performance; being warmly received in that of which was of a collective of many years of indulgence and construction.”

Jude further shared that Mindscape Laboratory was the “most technical, progressive and intensely superb in nature” that caused them to earn second place.

“Many congratulations to the big-guys in Left-Ovr from Puerto Rico. They do have a unique and appealing formula…All in all – the Wacken Metal Battle Caribbean 2023 was a huge success and definitely made a huge impact on the entire Caribbean Rock Scene,” Jude told Buzz.

Being passionate about this multi-plex genre of music and being a subscriber for 38 years and counting, Jude has especially enjoyed making life-long friends and meeting some of the “coolest, like-minded folks on this planet.”

He and the promoters are grateful to everyone who contributed to this memorable experience, especially Justin and Mia and all of the sponsors.

“Hats off to the respective organisers…and the Director of the Wacken Metal Battle Caribbean, Jerry Orie, from Suriname. A hi-five to the sound engineers and stage crew revolving amongst those from both Guyana: Devon Roberts and Ray, and Trinidad: Alan C. Tiah. A shout-out to the respective individuals (including Lee Fung-A-Fat) who performed the tasks of loud on-stage introductions.

“A thumbs-up to the judges which included Sievan Siewsarran and Jignesh Khatri (vocalist and bassist of the inaugural battle winners, LYNCHPiN from Trinidad) who had to make…an impartial decision on the victor of five great acts, four of which came as visitors to the shores of Guyana for the first time, all delivering a killer 20-minute set [comprising] four original songs of interaction and they were most entertaining,” he said.