HEAVY Metal Olympics? That’s the unofficial title of a Battle of the Bands competition running in Germany this week. Founded in 1990, the Wacken Open Air festival has grown to become one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in the world, and the competition, which began on Wednesday and finishes today, will see acts from 27 countries compete for a gold metal – sorry, medal – ie a recording contract with mammoth metal label Nuclear Blast. The “Metal Battle” has been a feature of the festival since 2004. Ireland is represented this year by Dublin band Warpath, who beat off competition from 24 other Irish metal bands to win a slot. The band, whose brand of metal is a hybrid of death and hardcore, travelled to the town of Wacken to compete in their heat on Wednesday night. The winner is due to be announced today.

It’s an honour to be representing Ireland at something so big,” said frontman Darren Keogh. “For the type of music we play, this is the biggest stage in the world and we really want to make the most of the opportunity.”