LET the battle begin.After four weeks of voting, the finalists of the LoveMusic24.co.uk Battle of the Bands contest can today be named as This Boy Wonders, Playing With Fire, Fagan, Echoes Fall and This Sudden Injury.

Elliot Furniss

LET the battle begin.

After four weeks of voting, the finalists of the LoveMusic24.co.uk Battle of the Bands contest can today be named as This Boy Wonders, Playing With Fire, Fagan, Echoes Fall and This Sudden Injury.

Hundreds of people either voted online or by text for their favourites who uploaded their songs on to the lovemusic24 website.

The five acts, all from Suffolk and Essex, will now go head to head in the final on November 14 at the Circle Lounge of the Ipswich Regent theatre.

A panel of judges will pick a winner, who will receive a weekend of recording at Punch Studios, free membership for a year at Punch Academy and album artwork by Outsauce.

They will also get to support hotly-tipped indie rockers Prego when they play in Ipswich on the night of the final.

Stuart Bridges, 23, from Felixstowe, is the bassist for heavy metal group Echoes Fall. He said: “I'm really chuffed. It's going to be a great opportunity just to show ourselves off because we want to bring ourselves into the public eye and show people that metal still exists.”

Folk/indie rockers This Boy Wonders are based in Boxford and rehearse at the White Hart in the village, where singer and guitarist Chris Athorne is also the bar manager.

Chris, 24, said: “It's absolutely fantastic news - it's really put a smile on my face. We had no idea we'd get through - it's been a bit of a blur. We were really behind and I'm surprised we got there.”

Four 16-year-old St Albans School pupils - Alex Bloomfield, Joseph Ashby, Paul Buckley and Francis Pitcher -make up Playing With Fire.

Alex, who plays the drums for the soft metal group, said: “Being at school we are lucky we know a lot of people who can get a lot of votes for us. It's a great opportunity.”

Fagan are one of the more established acts on the line-up, even supporting indie band The Holloways at Essex University this weekend, but 21-year-old singer/guitarist Liam Fitzgerald said they would be preparing something special for the final.

He said: “We haven't really played in Ipswich before. We've got quite a lot of our own songs and have been together for about two years now and are just starting to get a bit of recognition.”

The final band on the bill are This Sudden Injury, a five-piece pop-punk act from Ipswich, only formed a few months ago.

Drummer Peter Callaghan said: “I'm delighted. It will be good for us because we are so new. We were asking people to vote and they didn't know who we were - to get in the last five is just amazing.”

Click here to buy tickets for the Battle of the Bands grand final