My third trip to Manchester in five days is not something I usually do these days, primarily because driving to Manchester is generally a nightmare. However this trip on a Tuesday evening was less fraught as I arrived early to the venue to see some fans doing a meet and greet with Battle Beast in the student union foyer. Arriving early meant I could relax somewhat before heading into the venue. Now, I don’t know why but recently when I have attended the Manchester Academy venues they seem to have the first band starting about ten minutes after the doors have opened, which seems insane considering tonight’s show was virtually sold out meaning that the openers play to fewer people than they should do. I even spoke to Brymir’s vocalist later on in the evening when I went for one of their shirts and he said it had happened at previous shows too which I do find baffling, though I understand that the University might not want hundreds of people milling about in the foyer, especially if Academy 3 and Club Academy are in operation as well.

Brymir were the openers as you’ve probably guessed and if I am really honest this Finnish band was the biggest draw for me as I had not seen them before and know their stuff through album reviewing and back catalogue listening. The band was formed in 2006 after doing metal covers but quickly gained a reputation as something quite special in the melodic death metal genre when they started composing their own material, well special to me anyway.

Touring in support of their latest monumental opus ‘Voices In The Sky’ an intro piece started under green light as the band strolled on stage and immediately got the crowd clapping before bursting in with the title track of said monumental opus. The sound was excellent as was the lighting and whilst not as many lights as the headliners clearly they were afforded tons of variation instead of one or two monochromatic colours support bands usually get.

Considering the lack of room on stage the band choreographed themselves effortlessly as the energy was stratospheric from the off, but what set this band apart from the other two acts were the soaring clean vocals done by all members bar the drummer. The results were grandiose on the opener as the crowd were probably surprised at how brutal Brymir were as they followed the opener with ‘Ride On, Spirit!’ There was some chat about the band being from Finland as some backing track was heard that lead into the songs tuneful blasting assault.

I felt like the band was intensifying their show with each song, becoming that bit faster, that bit more powerful as ‘Starportal’ rocketed into life. The band looked to be having an absolutely brilliant time as they engaged with all those down the front and clearly were garnering new fans with each song. Vocalist Viktor was a funny guy too, wise cracking between songs and seemingly endless wind ups of his band mates as he said so far we’ve talked about death and portals and now we want to talk about fish as he produced a stuffed fish toy and flung it into the crowd. I think the crowd were a bit caught out by this but they soon started bouncing it around from one person until Viktor asked for it back, which they did.

‘Herald Of Aegir’ had a very cool acoustic opening and even though it was backing track it set the scene for the ultra-brutal tempo of the song that followed. ‘Fly With Me’ and ‘Wings Of Fire’ were next and concluded their show with yet more bombast and to a degree symphonic fury as the three way clean vocal was astonishingly affective wherever they materialised. My first Brymir show was bloody marvellous and I am sure their inaugural show in Manchester will be remembered by the band.

Austria’s Serenity are one of those bands I’ve dipped my toe into over the years but never really clicked with and it isn’t because I’ve not tried. However I gave them a chance to change my mind as the room darkened and the band were greeted with a huge roar as clearly a lot of people were here for this band as well Battle Beast. They aired a choir backing track with pink spotlights as it felt very church like in approach before the band kicked off with ‘The Fall Of Man’.

I must admit I found the singers lead vocal tone a little strange which isn’t to say he couldn’t sing because he definitely could and with considerable forte. The chorus on the opener was very effective as I watched people singing away to it, but Serenity didn’t have the stage presence of Brymir and were pretty static for much of their performance, except for wandering from one side of the stage to the other.

‘ Ritter, Tod Und Teufel (Knightfall)’ followed after a brief chat saying the band is glad to be back in Manchester as the last time they played was 2011 we were told, though I had seen the band at the Czech Metal Fest in 2015. Georg Neuhauser was a definite focus for the fans as he decided to venture into the photo pit area (photographers were still in there too) and get up close and personal with the front row.

Some people love this sort of antic, personally I don’t as I want to watch the band on stage, but the crowd liked it of course. Serenity had an equally decent light show as ‘Souls And Sins’ came next and was much slower, virtually ballad like to my ears.

Musically and proficiency wise the band were exceptional but I felt the songs lacked impact despite the crowd being completely immersed in their set as I stuck out another tune called ‘Set The World On Fire’ as some clapping was encouraged followed by a request for people to jump, some did, a lot didn’t as I decided to head downstairs to get a Brymir tour shirt where I had my chat with Viktor that I mentioned earlier in my review.

By the time Battle Beast were due to come on the venue was pretty much packed though at least you could stand in some comfort. Interestingly I saw Battle Beast for the first time in 2015, like Serenity, but also saw them at the Czech Metal Fest in 2015 too. This was my seventh time watching Battle Beast as I have seen them go from a fairly unknown band to become a global force in modern heavy metal and power metal fronted by the inimitable Noora who was astounding tonight.

The intro started five minutes before they were due to come on stage and set the audience clapping in unison. As the band started to appear the cheers erupted but the cheer for Noora was colossal signalling the start of their set with ‘Circus Of Doom’. Noora was suitably attired in her amazing outfit complete with horned headwear which was intensely striking as you’d expect. The other guys were in their usual t-shirts etc and whilst Noora is always a focus the rest of the band had plenty of interaction with the crowd too, which I’ll mention later. The instant recognition of the opener was plainly evident and since the band’s last album was released two years ago the audience had had plenty of time to learn the lyrics, which they most certainly had.

‘Straight To The Heart’ was next, and is a favourite of mine as the spiralling chorus was superbly delivered replete with the keyboard saturation the band has become noted for. Another favourite was ‘Familiar Hell’ prior to which Noora asked how we are all doing and thank you for coming out. She also mentioned that the last time they played Manchester was downstairs (Club Academy) but our family is growing so we’re here this time, or words to that effect. As the pulse beat started upward white sparklers shot from the stage into the rafters as noticeably two of the guitarists were headbanging like Judas Priest back in the 80s.

‘Armageddon’ came next and whilst a lot of Battle Beast songs have a similarity to them in terms of speed and general arrangements there’s no denying the unerring fervent energy the band has as the audience continued to sing their hearts out. ‘Place That We Call Home’ continued the set as we were told that playing here is always a highlight of the tour and that one guy is missing due to him being at home with a new born baby but I didn’t catch the name of his stand-in. This break gave Noora some time to catch her breath before they launched into the song that linked in with ‘No More Hollywood Endings’ that had some backing atmospherics initially before the sparklers shot up again. The song was slower and seemed to mark a change in proceedings, even though ‘Eye Of The Storm’ was an out and out barnstormer. Now I say marked a change because at this point in the show everything seemed to turn theatrical which felt like they were creating a sonic circus/big top experience.

However the band said they were mellowing things as Noora left the stage again and the band played an Elton John cover called ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’ which I thought was baffling and seemed to dissolve the momentum they had created, though several hundred audience members were singing it, or pretending to. Noora returned for ‘Where Angels Fear To Fly’ as by now I felt the band was not going to play any early material, and indeed they didn’t which was disappointing and whilst bands can’t play everything, Battle Beast have only six albums out and I felt one track at least from each album could have been represented without affecting the set. Still, the crowd seemed oblivious as set favourite ‘Bastard Son Of Odin’ was aired, though before it started some part of the crowd was chanting “battle, battle, battle fucking beast’ which amused the band no end. They also told us these were last shows on the ‘Circus Of Doom’ tour, because when they get home they’re going in the studio… to record some Oasis covers they joked. That got a laugh from the crowd, and boos, clearly not Oasis fans in attendance tonight. ‘Bastard..’ was excellent, the keyboard opening led into the pulse beat that got everyone energised.

I do like bands that engage with the crowd (from the stage) and Battle Beast do it extremely well, but at times it did come across as trying hard for trying hard’s sake as some percussive gadget arrived on stage called the disco invader, which I had no idea what they were trying to prove but crowd laughed and a period of about eight to ten minutes was spent messing about including delivering the riff to Priest’s ‘You’ve Got Another Coming (I think the band has played Kiss’ ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ at one previous show on the tour).

There was some beer chugging from bottles, ravenously encouraged by the crowd chanting chug all the while Noora was off stage until the very end before starting ‘Russian Roulette’ as my shooter said to me this is just disco music, which it is to a degree, the upbeat nature of Battle Beast is patently obvious and fans like the feel good factor they give us. The impetus was retained on ‘Wings Of Light’ and ‘Eden’ which the crowd were encouraged to sing along to, which they did of course before the stage darkened and the band left the stage.

‘The Imperial March’ started up after a very short time as some soloing was heard along with one of the guys pouring beer down the throat of another band member. All this lead into ‘Master Of Illusion’ as Noora belted out the lyrics seemingly refreshed after a short break. As their set was coming to close they played ‘King For A Day’ which I heard from a distance as by now transport issues, and especially driving back from Manchester meant heading off though I know the band finished their set with ‘Beyond The Burning Skies’. I am pretty certain that newbies who had not seen Battle Beast before thought this show was stellar from start to finish and no Battle Beast show is poor but I did think some older material deserved to be played too. Be that as it may, I headed off knowing I will probably see the band again on their next tour whenever that takes place.

REVIEW: MARTIN HARRIS

PHOTOS: ANDY POUNTNEY (@shot_in_the_dark_photography2)