We’re Judasnail, a Swansea-based four-piece metal band. If you like Machine Head, While She Sleeps, Arch Enemy, and Children of Bodom, then you’re our target audience.
We’ve released two singles at the tail end of last year (available to stream or buy in all the usual places!), headlined a local festival, and been fortunate to have some radio airplay, along with fantastic support from local media.
We’ll been variously described as “heavy bruisers” (in a good way!), “brutal”, and having “groove-driven thrash with razor‑sharp riffs”, so we’ll be bringing all of that, and melody, all wrapped in down-tuned ferocious heaviness. Come and party with us and bang those heads.
2. What made you want to participate in the Metal To The Masses South Wales 2026 campaign? Have you had previous experience? Or is this your first time?
This is our first time as Judasnail, but Matt (vocals/guitar) has played in the Oxford M2TM in 2024 and 2025 with a different band. We wanted to play South Wales’ M2TM as it’s a massive opportunity for visibility and networking to get more gigs, everyone’s really supportive and wants you to do your best, and because it’ll get us in front of an audience that loves metal… the scene here’s alive and kicking and healthier than the detractors would have you believe. Oh, and The Bunkhouse is a lot easier to get to than Oxford!
3. M2TM is all about supporting your local scene. How important is the local scene to you as a band?
We’re right at the start of our journey, but the local scene and support is super-important to us. As well as getting our songs in front of an audience (because that’s where they belong) we’re really looking forward to seeing all the other bands who are competing, and supporting them too. Metal’s all about community and looking out for each other, and we’re honoured to be playing alongside such other incredible original bands.
4. We have a slightly different set up this year with Heats/Quarters/Semis taking place at Bunkhouse/Green Rooms. Have you played the venue before or is this your first time? Are you excited to get on those stages?
Shameless plug, we know, but we’re playing the Bunkhouse in Heat 4 on March 8th along with our friends in White Leather, Hateful Dread, and Virology. We’ve not played there before, but the Bunkhouse is such an amazing grassroots venue and you can just feel the history when you walk in there. You just need to look at some of the other bands that have stopped off there on tour! We can’t wait. It’ll be incredible to stand on that stage and play our stuff for people who really get it.
5. What are your expectations from being a part of M2TM?
For us, it goes back to that previous question – it’s about community. Obviously everyone’s in this to progress, but we’re really looking forward to meeting the other bands, meeting the audience, and making that human connection with like-minded people. Oh, and please feel free to come and talk to us on the night – we love making those connections.
It’s a great networking opportunity as well – if we get to play outside of M2TM with some of the other bands, that’d be awesome as there’s some fantastic talent involved this year, and we’re all in favour of mutually supporting each other.
6. What would getting to our Day Of Wreckoning final and the possibility of playing Bloodstock Festival 2026 mean to you?
It’s huge. Bloodstock is the only real, proper, major metal festival left in the UK now, and to play there would just be incredible. Getting as far as the Day of Wreckoning would be amazing – it would really validate all the work and effort that we’ve put in to get to this point.
7. We encourage all the bands in M2TM to try and check out the other bands, who are you most looking forward to? Who should your fans also try to catch?
We’re absolutely stoked at the other bands we’re playing alongside in our heat, we think we’ll really complement each other and are going to offer a fair amount of stylistic variety on the night… so go check them out!
Again, that’s White Leather, Virology, and Hateful Dread. We’ll be trying to get to as many of the West heats as we can as audience members as well to support everyone else – there’s too many incredible bands over the other three weeks to name-check them all, but this year’s looking awesome.
8. Tell us in five words why people should come and see your band?
