Local band ‘Artifact’ based in Wagga Wagga have progressed onto the grand final of the Wacken Metal Battle.

The competition sees metal bands from all over Australia and New Zealand compete to win a once in a lifetime chance of performing at the largest Metal Festival in the world, Wacken Open Air.

Among the band members is Narrandera’s own Nathan French (26) who is the bands Bassist.

“I don’t know when exactly it happened but my brother showed me metal from a young age and I never looked back,” French said.

“I got to know vocalist Michael through a friend throughout 2021 and when a spot opened up to join the band I couldn’t pass it up.

“I’ve always loved playing music, since joining the band I’ve developed skills and learnt a lot about song writing from other band members.”

The Band have cycled through many members in order to find the right fit and finally cemented themselves in 2021 with vocalists Michael Veneris (24) and Rebecca Horseman (31), guitarist Hayden Rapley (20) and drummer Harvey Saxton (25) as well as Nathan.

The competition consisted of seven heats held around Australia between four chosen bands and the winner of each heat progresses to the final in Sydney on the 21st of May.

Artifact competed in the Melbourne heat alongside Deadweight 80, Lill Chii and Rawtism.

Vocalist and one of the bands founders Michael Veneris said the members were surprised when their names were called as the winners.

“We were absolutely shocked, the bands that played on that night especially Deadweight80 were incredibly tight and put on an amazing performance” Veneris said.

“I can’t speak for everyone but I’m feeling pretty good about it, regardless of if we end up making it to Germany it’s an amazing opportunity to play a show in Sydney with a bunch of great bands.

“It’s on most of our bucket lists to even attend a Wacken let alone play at it. It’s something that at our current level is just something we can’t comprehend”.

The Wacken Open Air Festival will happen in August over four days with huge names in Metal in the line up.

Artifact will be working hard towards the final as well as planning new music to be released soon and are excited to share their growth and music with the world.

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 20 April 2023.