Fusing heavy rock and metal with female vocals which border on the ethereal, Keighley outfit Exoterik seem to have a bright future ahead of them.

The band, who formed four years ago although the current line-up has been around for half of that, are currently gearing up to play one of Britain's top festivals for the second year running.

The group were chosen to open the Rocksound Stage last year, sharing the limelight with the likes of Therapy? and Breed 77, but have been moved up the bill for this year's event.

Understandably, guitarist Tom Fay is thrilled at the prospect of performing in front of thousands of people yet again.

He says: "Performing at last year's festival gave us a bigger fan base down south.

"Last year we were looking to gain some bigger stage festival experience so we had a look at what we considered to be the top five festivals in the country and rang them up to see if we could play.

"Guilfest ended up inviting us to play last year and so we asked if we could do it again this year.

"It's quite exciting as well really, because this year we have a much better slot, so we will be much higher up the bill.

"It really is a good way of getting more well known down south really - we have had a lot of people e-mailing us saying they saw us there last year and are coming down again this year."

It is not just in Britain however where Exoterik have been making waves.

Their brand of heavy-rock with lashings of melody, provided by the fantastic vocals of Anneka Latta has attracted attention in the generally more metal-friendly provinces of Europe.

The group, completed by Dave Parry on bass and Steve Riley on drums, have already recorded in Finland, although will be going into the studio again in September to record their first full album.

Tom says: "I think across in Europe the rock and metal scene generally has much more precedent than over here.

"In Britain the music is really good but it seems more attainable abroad, but then again in places like Finland, Denmark and Italy they still look to the UK as the standard for rock music."

With Anneka's vocal style, comparisons have been drawn to US rockers Evanescence - a comparison Tom acknowledges.

He says: "A lot of people say there is an Evanescence influence because we have a female singer but the music differs.

"We wanted to have a female singer to take the edge off the heavy background."

Although Tom believes the heavy metal scene in West Yorkshire is very much alive and kicking he doesn't fear the competition.

He is well aware the band seem to have a very rosy future.

"Everything's going well - the future's definitely looking good.