SACRAVIA TAKE THE WIN AT FRESH BLOOD

INSIDE SACRAVIA'S FRESH BLOOD VICTORY AND DEBUT SINGLE SILENCE BINDS

If you were there, you know TOCstock Fresh Blood ’26 delivered exactly what we promised: a packed venue, a stacked lineup, and a generally epic night all round. 

Massive thanks to everyone who came along to Also Known As — especially if you also made a donation to Music Minds Matter. Cheers for getting involved, supporting the bands, and being such a fantastic crowd; you never let us down.

Out of five incredible bands, it was Sacravia who came out on top — beating Our Fate, Maleficus, Nvmeral, and Temple on the night — and taking both the judges’ vote and the crowd vote. Exhibiting exception vocals, tremendous technical ability, and awe-inspiring stage presence, the female-fronted band’s set was a powerhouse performance from start to finish.

To get a flavour of Sacravia’s brand of atmospheric metalcore, stream the debut single Silence Binds now. Released last month, it showcases their signature mix of standout vocals, heavy riffs, lush melodies, and haunting soundscapes.

Sacravia: Rylee Somers, Dylan Bridge, Kimi Powell, Cass Croney | credit Andy Ross

As well as getting to hold aloft the magnificent Fresh Blood trophy — a much-coveted metallic monolith of impressive weight — Sacravia now joins the lineup for this year’s bigger, longer, louder TOCstock on 9 October. Stay tuned for details.

Comprised of 19-year-old music students from Bath Spa University, Sacravia are Cass Croney on guitar, chanteuse Rylee Somers on vocals, Dylan Bridge on bass, and Kimi Powell on drums.

Wanting to know more, and to congratulate them on their victory, we had a lovely long chat with the band about their Fresh Blood experience, what drives their sound, where it all started, and what’s coming next.

For chicken nuggets, concussions, and Donald Trump urinals — read on!

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Hello Sacravia. Welcome to The Winchester. Congratulations on your well-deserved Fresh Blood triumph. To start, for the benefit of anyone who wasn’t at Fresh Blood, please describe Sacravia’s sound.

CASS — Our sound is best described as atmospheric metalcore. We always push to have a lot of layered effects floating around in the background, paired with fast-paced and heavy riffs, big dramatic choruses, and the breakdowns you expect from metalcore.

For us, Rylee’s vocals are the main focus, so the music and atmosphere have to work with what she’s doing, because she doesn’t scream. We’re a non-scream band, bringing pretty atmospherics and also heavy stuff; similar to, like, Spiritbox or Invent Animate. 

Let’s go back to the beginning. Please tell us how you all met. 

CASS — We all met in uni, because we're all on the same commercial music course. We all had to do these ‘Skillshare’ presentations where we each had to perform. I sat in when Rylee went up for her performance, and I remember just being like, damn, she’s a really good singer.

RYLEE — I’m mainly a soul singer. For my performance, I was playing piano and singing Alicia Keys. I mentioned to the class that I was a big fan of metal and I thought it would be a lot of fun to start something metal. Then I heard Cass scream from the back of the room, ‘Speak to me after!’

CASS — Honestly, I had to take my shot, because she had a queue of people forming —  I'm not joking — trying to talk her into joining their band. I had to get her attention. I went up to her and just pitched the idea of starting a metal band. She was open to it. And then, once we kind of established that we wanted to do this, Rylee found Kimi and Dylan.

Please tell us how you found Kimi and Dylan? 

RYLEE — I’d met Dylan on my interview day, but I didn't know he was a metalhead. He was sat there, not really saying much, but he was constantly slapping the bass. I was like, okay, he's a really cool bassist. Like, he's mainly a funk bassist, but I knew he’d be cool in metal. We got talking and he said Mudvayne was an influence. I was like, okay, this could be cool.

CASS — When I saw Dylan play at his Skillshare, I was like, dude, I’ve never seen anyone play the bass like that before. I thought we need him in the band because of his insane amount of skill. His crazy tapping techniques are wild, man. Yeah, definitely a unique talent to have in the band.

RYLEE — And then me and Kimi were speaking outside, and I was like, what are some of your favourite bands? He mentioned Slipknot, and I was like, okay, brilliant. I’d seen him perform and he was great, so I spoke to Cass. I said I think I probably have two people.

Sacravia vocalist Rylee Somers | credit Andy Ross

How did you decide on the name? 

RYLEE — I came up with the name. I wanted something that was kind of pretty and for it to have kind of diva vibes, not something too boyish. We’re a female-fronted band and the name had to fit our vibe. I just thought Sacravia was a cool sort of name. It fits the dark vibe. It sounds intense, but it’s also quite pretty and maybe calming.

What about your distinctive look? Whose idea was that? 

DYLAN — I think it was something we all wanted to do. For us, playing live is what we enjoy. We want to be a bit theatrical and put on a great show. We want to give the audience an experience to bear witness to. And because only me, Kimi, and Cass have got this kind of dark, spooky makeup thing going on, it helps highlight Rylee as well.

CASS — We have established looks now. Mine I've been doing for a couple of years. I’m a big fan of The Crow, so that’s what inspired it. It's got the big mouth and the dark black eyes.

DYLAN — Mine’s inspired by Resident Evil. I've kind of found a design that works for me. I’ve stuck with the little chin square, because that's fun, and I’ve got, like, a little symbol on my forehead. I also black out my neck now. For Fresh Blood I went a bit overboard and had the blacked-out neck, with it dripping down my chest. I’m just having fun with it, you know.

KIMI — I’m still finding mine. I definitely like the blacked-out neck, but I might do, like, cracks coming up my face next time.

Sacravia drummer Kimi Powell | credit Andy Ross

How long does it take to apply the makeup? 

CASS — This time we did a lot more than we usually do. On a good day, I can get mine done in, like, 30 minutes. For this event, we took our time.

KIMI — We got to the venue, set up and sound-checked, and then all three of us went to the bathroom because we need a sink and a mirror for the makeup. We did mine first. I just blacked out my neck this time — no one sees the drummer anyway! — so mine took, like, two minutes. Then these guys were in there for, what, an hour and a half?

CASS — Yeah, we had, like, 40 guys come through in the meantime. It was quite funny; some of them walked in and were like, holy shit!

Please tell us how you came to apply for Fresh Blood. 

CASS — I was the one that found the gig; I saw your advert and got in contact. I saw a lot of posts actually, and it looked really cool. I had a look at the venue as well. It looked sick: open design, really cool decor. There was stuff everywhere that was grabbing our attention. Shout out to the Donald Trump urinal. Just a really cool venue.

Did Fresh Blood meet your expectations?

CASS — It blew our expectations! Like, wow, this was an insane show. When people started coming in — just seeing the amount of people that were coming through the doors — it was like, oh shit, we need to lock in.

The crowd’s energy was incredible. Dude, it was amazing. This was hands down our best show ever.

That’s great to hear. Thank you. You absolutely smashed it. And you didn’t seem nervous. Do you still get nervous?

KIMI — Yeah! As a drummer, if you mess up, you really mess up. Everyone hears it, so I get quite nervous. There's a lot of responsibility behind the kit.

CASS — If Kimi comes out of time, we're all fucked.

DYLAN — Yeah, I still get nervous. I think I’m the least experienced at playing live. That’s one of the cons of coming from a small town in Wales — like, really dinky, just teeny tiny — where nothing goes on.

Sacravia | credit Andy Ross

You all hid your nerves well. Please describe how it felt when it was announced you’d won the night, taking both the crowd vote and the judges' vote.

CASS — I think I speak for all of us when I say we were absolutely ecstatic. Genuinely over the moon and beyond. We had a quick group hug and everyone was jumping around, going crazy. I had my cider in my hand and it just went all over everyone.

RYLEE — It's not as bad as Kimi literally head-butting me when we were hugging. I was fine in the moment, because it was just all adrenaline and I was so happy, but when I got home I ended up having a concussion!

CASS — Getting the trophy was so, so cool. We’re moving into a house together in the summer and that's going to be the centrepiece. I've never won a trophy before. I don't know about you guys, but that was my first time. I'm really, really proud.

KIMI — I've won trophies before for stuff, but I've always had to return them a year later.

Rest assured we will not be asking for the trophy back next year. It’s yours to keep. Were there moments from your set that particularly stand out?

CASS — There was one bit where I played completely the wrong chords on the chorus — but we won't talk about that, and I won't say where it happened. But that's the first show I've played where, when it came to our sad song, people have actually got their phone lights out. That really stood out to me because I feel like it shows that it kind of resonated with them.

And also when Rylee encouraged all the girls to come to the front so they could have a safe environment and a nice time. Because, obviously, we're all about women in metal and pushing the message that girls can do it just as well as guys. That was good. 

Sacravia bassist Dylan Bridge | credit Andy Ross

Yeah, that was a nice touch. Please sum up your Fresh Blood experience in just three words.

CASS — Really fucking cool.

RYLEE — Experience to remember. The crowd was so into it. We’ve done battles of the bands before, but they weren’t really metal crowds and it was all just a bit awkward. It was so nice to be able to perform to a crowd who were completely into what we were doing. It made us get even better on stage; they were feeding us and we were feeding them. It was just brilliant.

DYLAN — That wasn’t three words. I was just going to say — lots of energy.

Pithy. Okay, tell us about your debut single. What’s the story?

RYLEE — Silence Binds is a lot about loneliness and feeling isolated from people. I’ve definitely had those feelings. For me, the best way to work through them is through music. I love writing songs that have deep connections and meanings. Songs in our genre can be really emotive, and we’re trying to send a message that it's okay to show your emotions and how you feel. It’s okay to feel uncomfortable sometimes.

CASS — This was the first song that I actually came up with for Sacravia — the first song we ever wrote together. I wanted to write something epic but atmospheric. I think it ticks off all the requirements for a good metal song: catchy choruses, cool verses, and then big fuck-out breakdowns. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

As the band’s first single, did it come together easily or did you have to wrestle with it?

CASS — It was kind of a speed run on this one. I don't know how. It took me two days to write.

How it usually goes is that I’ll load up my music software and just sit and play around. I’ll play something and, like, wait, that’s kind of cool. Then I just build it from there. That’s how it was with the lead riff you hear over the chorus, which fades in during the intro.

Sacravia guitarist Cass Croney | credit Andy Ross

How does a cool riff turn into a full song?

KIMI — Cass always writes the original ideas. He'll do it all on his software, make a little demo, and then he brings it to a rehearsal. We’ll play it through the speakers, get the gist, and then we just play it over and over. Then me and Dylan will write our parts. Then Rylee gets the recording, goes home with it, and makes some amazing melodies and stuff. That's how we write.

CASS — Like Kimi said, I’ll come up with the base demo, then I’ll go to the guys. Once Dylan and Kimi have done their bits, I send the timestamps to Rylee, showing her what parts of the song are where, and what the structure is. Then she’ll write the vocals, and we’ll meet in the band room and just work on it and flesh it out until it’s a fully finished song.

When and where did you record Silence Binds?

RYLEE — They all came to mine for New Year's, like, with all the girlfriends and everything. I had eight people sleeping in my room! After midnight — so, like, the first few minutes of 2026 — Cass says to me, ‘You realise we've still got to record the vocals for Silence Binds.’

We used an old microphone I found under my bed — an AKG C214 that hadn’t been touched in ages — and we just recorded it. Then we added some harmonies. Then Kimi did all of the MIDI drums on it, perfected them, and made them sound amazing. Dylan recorded all of his bass parts, and that’s how Silence Binds was recorded.

Very efficient. You released it on 10 March: what’s the response been like? 

CASS — Insane! Everyone has loved it. We've actually done a pretty bad job on promotion; we should have been pushing it harder after its release. But even without that, it's already had over 1,000 streams.

I couldn't add it to any editorials or submit it to playlists, because it was our first release and I didn't have access. But, completely organically, it’s done well on its own. It's kind of crazy. We've had so many great responses and positive feedback. Everyone seems eager for us to release more.

Sacravia bassist Dylan Bridge | credit Andy Ross

Let’s mix things up. You’re on death row: what is your last meal? 

RYLEE — I think the only thing I would ask is that Cass doesn't cook it for me. Cass is the worst cook. It's so bad. The only thing Cass eats is oven pizzas and chicken nuggets.

CASS — Not true. I eat pasta and meatballs, sausages, cheese toasties.

DYLAN — I’d say my last meal would be a nice steak, like a tomahawk steak.

RYLEE — I think it would be mac and cheese for me, because it's such a comfort meal and I've had it since I was a kid. I don't know why I love it so much, but it's brilliant.

KIMI — I’d have a Schwartz Bros burger. There's a place called Schwartz Bros down the road from where we live, and that's our favourite place to go. It's banging.

What movie title best describes your life?

DYLAN — The Hangover.

RYLEE — I'd go with Grown Ups, because I'm the mum of this group. They're all like little brothers. I have to put them on leads when we go out in public.

CASS — I’d say The Hunger Games, because I'm, like, always hungry.

You need to eat more chicken nuggets. Is it true that Rylee’s the mum?

KIMI — 100%. It’s me and Rylee taking care of these two.

DYLAN — Oh, shut up, man.

CASS — I’m usually the one that has to drive everyone everywhere.

KIMI — Yeah, Cass is the taxi, I'm the cook, Rylee's the mum, and Dylan plays the bass.

The dream team. If you could be on a bill with any band, past or present, who would it be?

CASS — It has to be Spiritbox.

KIMI — Spiritbox, definitely.

RYLEE — Do you know Monochrome? They're another female-fronted metal band we're actually quite good mates with. We've been in talks with their lead singer, and we'll hopefully get her to feature on one of our tracks at some point, which would be really cool.

TOCstock Fresh Blood '26 winners Sacravia | credit Andy Ross

What’s next for Sacravia?

RYLEE — We’ve got more gigs coming up and we’re getting in the studio next week, which is quite exciting. Lots of people seem to really like Like It Never Was — which we actually played at Fresh Blood — and we want to release it, so that’s going to be the next thing we’re working on.

CASS — Yeah, people seem to really, really like that one. I think Immolation is my favourite, but Like It Never Was is also a banger. We’ve just had a bunch of people message us about some more gigs and other festivals. And we’ve got TOCstock in October, of course.

We cannot wait. You’ve more than earned your spot on the TOCstock lineup. What are your dreams for Sacravia?

CASS — I think we've all kind of agreed that the dream would be just to do this for a living: touring together, playing shows, and just having this as our job. Personally, the enjoyment I get from playing shows is something I don't get from anything else. It’s the only thing I really see myself doing in life. Just to be able to tour with these guys, that’s my goal.

We’d love to play festivals like Download, Warped Tour, and Bloodstock. After seeing how well we were received by the Fresh Blood crowd, Metal 2 The Masses is definitely the next step. I think we’re a bit late for this year, but next year we want to be there to put on a crazy show.

Thanks Sacravia, and congratulations again for conquering Fresh Blood ’26. Worthy winners. You’re part of the TOC family now, and it’s been great getting to know you.

RYLEE — Ahh, thank you so much. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

CASS — Thank you. Fresh Blood was mental. Everyone at the show was genuinely so nice. I can’t wait to get back in there. It was fantastic.

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► Stream Silence Binds by Sacravia on Spotify and elsewhere.