A band defiant in their quest to the top of the metal scene, This Place Hell have their sights on big things. The Dublin five piece successfully nabbed the top prize at this years Metal 2 the Masses competition, out-performing a number of superb bands. This was not their first run at the competition, playing every year since 2015 - but this was the lads’ year to earn the slot at Bloodstock. “We spoke with Simon (Metal 2 the Masses) after the show and he told us how we were always great, but this year we were more cohesive and just fit. We put on a show.”

Notorious for intense live performances, This Place Hell have conjured a reputation for putting on a show and igniting uproarious audiences into a frenzy. Word of this seemed to have travelled as far as Russia, which TPH toured last summer. “As far as we’re concerned no one knew us there - how would they? After our soundcheck in the first city, two of the lads returned from having a smoke and told us there was a queue out the door. That night as soon as we started, they were ready. We played nine shows in Russia, and every night they were ready to go.”

Our irish crowds pale slightly in comparison, with the rebel county taking the crown as Ireland’s most carnivorous bunch. Scully spoke with a spark of excitability when describing the Cork scene: “Cork feels like there’s more of a sense of family with everyone. In Fred’s where we usually play, it becomes this energy of not giving a fuck, with people throwing themselves around - it’s amazing!”

Lacking venues that support bands playing metal and the heavier genres of music is a problem in Dublin, with venues seemly giving preference to cover acts over original bands. “It really is frivolous. You had Gypsy rose which is gone, you have On the Rox as well but a lot of people are just not bothered getting on the luas heaven forbid, and Voodoo (Lounge) is for bigger gigs.” Contrary to this, one establishment that has opened its’ gates to metal acts is Knockanstockan, with TPH invited to play this July. “Yeah it’s great, there’s so many unsigned Irish acts playing one festival, it’s such a great support for Irish music. You don’t ever see that. You don’t ever see people putting the hand out to help bands like that, it’s deadly. We were delighted.”

The band undertook their own musical evolution in 2017, having previously performed and recorded material under The Devil Wants Her Swagger Back. Disagreements in creative direction led the lads to enlist the services of vocalist Stephen Cannon after an impressive try-out performing Slipknot’s (sic). The band name itself also being a point of frustration - “It fit what we wanted to do originally with the old singer, but we just ended up keeping that name through convenience. We had to change, as our sound had changed after having Regan added to the band. So now we feel this is who are are, and we have sort of found ourselves.”

The lads would re-emerge as This Place Hell, armed with new additional guitarist Damien Regan who has brought a new dimension to their sound and sparked newfound creativity. “The first thing we did to announce Regan was in the band was release a new song and video - End Game. We literally got together, wrote that song, recorded it, and released it. It was that simple.”

Keeping the up momentum, the lads went into the studio in March 2018 to record new material with Justin Hill of Sikth fame producing. “I loved it. It was the best recording process i’ve had. He pushed each and every one of us to get the best out of us. He focuses on what we were really good at and made us realise what we’re best at. Everything besides that he’s just good craic.” Recording three songs with Hill for an early July release, Scully described the songs as being their heaviest yet, while also experimenting with new melodies. “The first song is definitely the most ‘all out’ of the three that we’ve done. It just kicks off straight away with a big dirty stomp, something that just grabs your head and makes it head bang.”

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Knockanstockan, Aggressive Festival in the Czech Republic and the noteworthy Bloodstock festival in their diaries for the rest of 2018, This Place Hell are certainly gaining momentum. Sharing a bill with the likes of Judas Priest, Devildriver and Gojira may seem like an unachievable task in the eyes of many up and coming metal acts, and TPH have done it. “I still feel like it hasn’t really set in that we are playing Bloodstock yet.” Confident the crowd will be theirs, once there’s a crowd, the lads are thinking of guerilla tactics to corral people to their tent. “We’re just racking our brains trying to think of a way to get people to the tent first because once we have them in the tent - I know we can hold their attention and get them moving. It’s just getting them in that tent when we’re on, that’s going to be the tricky part. We we’re talking about getting johnnies with our stage, time, and just handing them out to people!”

After their EP release later in the year, This Place Hell will tour Ireland and the UK extensively with sights to record their first album in 2019. “The thing that’s always said is you have your whole life to write your first album, which is really important because it’s the real first impression. We really want to focus on a cohesive piece of work that we’re going to be really proud of.”

In passing comment that TPH mirror the intense aggression seen in bands such as Pantera and Slipknot, the untimely death of Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul is brought up. “We couldn’t believe it, we we’re on our way up to Belfast to play a gig that day when we heard it and just played Pantera the whole way up.” A big Great Southern Trendkill fan, Scully spoke passionately about the message of said album, and This Place Hell’s affinity with Pantera’s big heavy grooves. “Great Southern Trendkill is one of my favourite albums of all time because it is exactly what it says. It was the total antithesis of everything that was going on. You can do all the fast stuff and shred all you want but give me something that moves me, give me something that pushes and shoves me.”

Big things to come.