FRANTIC AMBER Wins Sweden's 'Wacken Metal Battle'

Stockholm, Sweden-based metal band FRANTIC AMBER — which features members from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Japan — has won the Swedish Wacken Metal Battle 2012. The event was held on May 10 at Göta Källare in Stockholm. Five bands competed for an opportunity to play at the world's biggest metal festival, Wacken Open Air, in Wacken, Germany in August and FRANTIC AMBER won the Swedish slot. The jury consisted of music industry professionals and was headed by president Ida Evileye (CRUCIFIED BARBARA). They also won a backdrop from the Band Shop.

Commented Ida Evileye: "Extremely convincing, inspiring, energetic and with a awesome matter of course, this band completely ran over us in the jury! I myself have been a bit of a fan since a year back when I heard this band for the first time. Now a year later, I hear a very different band that is very much more tight and persuasive! The winner of this year's Wacken Metal Battle [Sweden] is FRANTIC AMBER."

FRANTIC AMBER will perform on the WET Stage at Wacken Open Air.

The "Metal Battle", which was started in 2004 by the founders of the Wacken Open Air as a contest to support up-and-coming bands from all over the world, is currently in its ninth round, with Nuclear Blast Records and ICS Festival Service GmbH, which organizes Wacken Open Air, joining forces.

What initially started out as a small contest with six German bands and five bands from other countries grew and grew over the years — so much so that there was a total of 29 international bands performing during the festival in 2011 and striving to win the competition after having won the preliminary decisions in their respective countries. In the past, the first prize was a record deal with Wacken Records. For 2012, Nuclear Blast and ICS Festival Service have announced their participation, meaning that the winning band of "Metal Battle" 2012 will be given a record deal with Nuclear Blast — the biggest independent heavy metal label worldwide!

FRANTIC AMBER recently scrapped its previously announced plans to release a second EP and has begun work on a full-length album instead.

FRANTIC AMBER last year recruited a new drummer — and its first male member — Erik Röjås. Erik has been performing with the band since the 2011 edition of the Sweden Rock Festival and accompanied the group on its second tour of Russia in September.

For more information, visit www.franticamber.com.

Photo credit: Rickard Nilsson, RN Bild