Metal 2 The Masses Manchester Semi-Final 2 11.05.2025 Rebellion, Manchester

Metal 2 The Masses Manchester semi-final 2. The penultimate show in this year’s initiative. It feels like only a few moments ago since the frosty January winter had it’s firm grip on the land and we had almost 40 competition bands ready to begin their campaign to be crowned regional champions. With 2 bands already in the final, 4 more would compete to join them. Only 1 crowd vote and 1 judges vote would be available however, and 2 would be sent home. Rebellion was baked once again in unusually hot sun as the venue was packing out nicely in time for the first grand-final hopeful of the evening.

Pew Pew Laser Force (PPLF)

Newcomers to the competition, the band had burst through their heat and quarter final! It was easy to see why too. The graveyard opening slot tested vocalist Ryan’s ability to engage and fire up the crowd. He’s a seasoned frontman in these parts and within seconds the pits had opened up! Despite the crowd being a little cold and not quite being able to maintain the energy throughout the whole set, this was still a promising start and provided enough food for thought for our judges. Their industrial blend of metalcore and ferocious breakdowns, whilst impressive in parts, seemed to lack any real structural or compositional complexity and felt almost too repetitive at times, which may well have been their Achilles heel in this show tonight.

Technologist

Manchester’s progressive death metallers had been in this position twice before as defeated semi-finalists and certainly did not want to make it a third! They had secured the crowd vote in a fierce quarter-final final and seeing an army of Technologist t-shirts in the crowd surely was a good omen for the band. Not resting on their laurels, though, they conducted business as they always do by providing a potent concoction of melody, technical precision, and straight-up ferocity. It seemed to be a slow burner as far as crowd engagement was concerned, but once the pits opened, that momentum would not slow down. Those not wanting to join in were at the sides, headbanging away. It would be hard to imagine a final without Technologist.

Covert

Another newcomer to this competition and perhaps exceeding expectations to reach this stage, tonight presented perhaps the biggest show in the young band’s history. Would the occasion get to them? With the confident stage presence on display, it didn’t seem so! However, it felt like there was a lack of genuine crowd engagement in the early stages, as compared to their previous performances. The image on the projector behind the band was failing. The crowd started to wake up, though, and we saw some of the pit boys emerge as well as some feral two-stepping and fists flying! Vocalist Harvey didn’t seem satisfied, though, and abandoned the stage to join the action himself! This seemed to only make the crowd even more feral, and may well have been the difference between them going home empty-handed and getting to the grand final.

Silence Reigns

“MOVE!!!”

About as simple an instruction as it gets from Louis, the band’s co-vocalist. Though this felt more like an order from an army general as it prompted an immediate resurrection of the circle pit. The band are clearly popular in these parts as we could see multiple Silence Reigns t-shirts. They were going to need every bit of crowd support given the ridiculous level of talent that had been before them. A level of talent that sadly couldn’t be matched by Silence Reigns tonight. Despite offering a solid blend of melodic metalcore and thrash, the level of precision and accuracy just felt off when compared to the other bands. A brave and respectable effort but perhaps not enough to get them to the final.

Wailing Banshee

With the votes now casted and some very anxious waiting, it was time for a headline treat in the form of Wailing Banshee. Stepping in as late headliners, they would offer a much more aesthetic and palette-cleansing style of classic heavy metal. No breakdowns or guttural screams. No, good old-fashioned riff-heavy ballads and soaring vocal performances from Dani Bentham. Never the band to start a mosh pit, we still saw some headbanging and other marks of appreciation for their solid show tonight. After all, there was a lot to appreciate.

 

The Verdict

Judges: Covert

Crowd: Technologist

A fair result. Technologist reaching the final was academic whereas it was toss-up between Covert and PPLF. PPLF may feel hard done by. Surely we’ll see them again next year.

 

Note: Photo credits to Rich Price Photography who allowed them to be used for this review