By Oli Gonzalez.
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Let’s face it. The month of February has seen some crazy tour packages come through the city of Manchester. Headline sets from the likes of Sylosis, Lorna Shore, Crowbar, Stygian Bough, and Kataklysm (amongst many others) ensured all ends of the metal spectrum were catered for. Even on this night, the queue for Airbourne could be seen snaking around Manchester Academy prior to doors for their headline show. As such, you could say this overwhelming choice had left many bodies aching, schedules stretched, and bank accounts depleted, resulting in an overall turnout lower than you’d expect for Heaven Shall Burn’s headline set tonight at Academy 2.
The German melodic death metallers laid waste to nearby Victoria Warehouse 3 years prior on their last visit to the city, and were riding the momentum of 2025’s release “Heimat”. With the added star power of metal royalty The Black Dahlia Murder, and exciting new blood Frozen Soul in support, this made this lower turnout feel even more puzzling. Though we’ve all been to those hot sweaty crowded gigs which make you question your life choices, so a more relaxed, less hectic show on a Wednesday night didn’t actually seem so bad. Especially with the dreaded return to work in the morning lingering. With the room still filling slowly with a steady stream of fans, with some clutching newly acquired items from the merch stand and many more with liquid refreshment in hand, it was time for the music to begin…
The lights went down. No fancy gimmicks, just the band calmly walking on stage ready to assume battle positions. As soon as Frozen Soul had played their first notes, the towering gargantuan figure of vocalist Chad Green stood stall and demanded a circle pit! Give people a chance to finish their drinks first! Still, he was insistent and persistent in his demands. This could be a long night and uncomfortable if nobody complied. Though 1 became 2, 2 became 3, 3 became 5, and before we knew it, more and more bodies were throwing themselves around the pit! It spoke to an audience connection to the music stronger than one would have initially predicted. Music characterised by a slower more marauding flavour of death metal, with fierce and sharp grooves as punishing as they were neck snapping. Though they were more than capable of raising the intensity and quickening the pace in sharp unpredictable bursts. Which only served to incite more chaos in the freshly opened pits.
With 3 drum kits on stage, including the one being used by drummer Matt and those from the other bands, Frozen Soul members had very little space to maneuver and through no fault of their own were static for the majority of the show. To paraphrase Chief Brody from Jaws, we’re gonna need a bigger stage. No doubt the band will be playing on bigger stages with more prominent slots in the future if they continue to perform like this!
Arriving on stage like a brick crashing through a window, The Black Dahlia Murder had no intention of easing us in gently! They dropped the hammer immediately and laid down their signature brand of blistering melodic death metal! The pit needed no invitation to come back into service either. This would continue throughout the night, though the introduction of ‘Nightbringers’ represented the most lethal injection of vitality and the peak of their set!
An impressive high energy set one could say. Though let’s address the elephant in the room. Vocalist Brian isn’t Trevor Strnad (Rest in power, sir). He put down his guitar and stepped up to stand behind the mic when his band needed him the most! For this, he should be commended. Though those huge shoes he has to fill are perhaps too big. At times, he lacked the necessary power to match the ferocious output from the rest of the band, and was simply drowned out at times. This made the band feel like a shadow of the one many would have first discovered, at a time when Trevor walked the earth. Though classic songs like ‘What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse’ and ‘Everything Went Black’ provided a welcome surge of nostalgia for the band that were arguably the bigger draw of the night.
The lights went down for the third and final time, Heaven Shall Burn took to the stage. The room felt less populated now, and the energy more muted. Though classic songs like ‘Voice Of The Voiceless’ and ‘Endzeit’ added a sense of urgency and dynamism into the set, with many joining in on the infectious choruses which would have resulted in some sore throats the next morning! Those not singing along were too busy throwing down in the pit, and eventually we saw our first crowd surfers of the night making the security staff spring into life and earn their pay cheques. Though this couldn’t prevent the slow stream of attendees deciding that their night was over and leaving before the end of the set.
Now, as far as frontmen go, I once held Marcus Bischoff in high esteem. Some of his actions tonight though have resulted in a severe downgrade in this. For instance, spitting water on your fans in the front row. Why?!
This doesn’t make you seem like a 'badass'. It makes you seem like you have little respect for those who have spent their hard earned money to be there, and a middle finger to their investment. This wasn’t a single occurrence either. Also, delegating the majority of the crowd interaction to other members makes you seem less commanding and also disinterested in your fans. The fact that the room was emptying throughout their set spoke volumes about their disinterest in the set so maybe the feeling was mutual. With maybe 20% of the room full for the band’s final song, this hardly paints a picture of a highly successful return to the city either. So, for aspiring performers out there, find a better role model.
Not to sound ungrateful but this certainly wasn’t the greatest night in the history of Manchester’s esteemed metal scene. Though discovering Frozen Soul was a welcome highlight and an exciting insight into the future of the genre. In all honesty, they outshined the other two acts at times and showed us how it should be done. They deserved more than a paltry 30 minute set, which surely could have been granted with an earlier start time (19:55 seemed too unusually late). One now has to question the star power of Heaven Shall Burn now, and whether it really was the abundance of local shows available that resulted in this lower turn out tonight, their status and ability to draw are now both threatened.
For more information on the bands on tonights line up, click the links below:
Frozen Soul
Photography by Laura Jane Photography on behalf of Get Heavy UK. Images are not to be redistributed, reproduced, or used elsewhere without prior permission.
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