Live Review : Battle Beast + Dominum + Majestica @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on October 22nd 2025

Power Metal. Power. Metal. The very words are evocative, bringing to mind heavy rock with soaring vocals, lots of widdly guitar, strong beats and epic lyrics telling tales of derring-do. Power metal may be a sub-genre of your more standard heavy metal but that doesn’t mean it is without its own subgenres. Symphonic metal, folk metal, operatic metal can all be found under the banner of Power Metal and tonight’s headliners take it to another level by introducing both disco metal and, erm, salsa metal. No, really. Intrigued yet? Buckle up dear reader, grab a beverage of choice and sit down while we tell you how it was…… 

We started the night with Swedish symphonic metal from Majestica. Big choruses, a vocal range going from guttural to “only dogs can hear it” and plenty of fretboard wankery guitar give us a great way to warm up. This is a band that has been around for some 25 years, with something of a revolving door of members that has all centred around singer and guitarist Tommy Johannsson, he of the swishy hair and piercing vocal tones. Majestica is his vision, his baby but also his side-project because if his name is familiar that’s not surprising – his musical “day job” was, until last year, being the guitarist in fellow Swedish power metal stalwarts Sabaton. Although Majestica (in their previous incarnation as ReinXeed) pre-dated Tommy’s stint in Sabaton it also ticked over during them.

Since leaving Sabaton in 2024 Tommy has been able to ramp up the Majestica side of things again though, resulting in a new album ‘Power Train” released this year that features heavily in tonight’s set, with two of the six-song set on display. The music is stirring stuff, starting with the title track from the new album and meandering through a plethora of double-kick-drum speed and a lot of air-punching. They are a little cramped on stage space but make up for it with some fireworks and some magnificent twin guitar noodling. They finish with the anthemic ‘Metal United’ and the crowd take up the chorus like they were born to it; it’s immersive, moving and also great fun. Their set was short but sweet, and a great taster for what was to follow. 

We saw Germany’s Dominum last year and were blown away by them so they had some work to do this evening to maintain that momentum. Happily they didn’t falter, the three metal zombies controlled by the tail-coated Dr Dead gave us a set chock-full of power metal, humour and tongue-in-cheek comic book horror themes. Tonight we learned that even if ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ they can certainly dance! Dr Dead cavorts on the stage, very much in the manner of Riff Raff from Rocky Horror. His natty coat flaps in the breeze as he exhorts us to ‘Don’t Get Bitten by the Wrong Ones’ or, in a nod to the seminal rock heroes Motorhead, get ‘Killed By Life’. All the songs are chock-full of woah-oh choruses and moments for the crowd to chant along. Already the cries of “Dom-in-um! Dom-in-um!” rebound from the walls and catch the crowd up in breathless bouncing and stomping along to the music, even though we are only two songs into the set. Big doomy riffs collide with singalong choruses and gallows humour, leading to a performance that is happily horrible, cheerfully creepy.

As a member of the crowd you can’t stand still, you just have to join in. The music and performance is powerful and compelling, making you feel like part of something much bigger. The band also manage to slip a little social commentary in amongst all the blood and gore. ‘We All Taste The Same’ is a subtle reminder that no matter what our sex, race or social status may be we are all the same underneath. Only it’s done in powerchords rather than preachiness. Big black balloons arrive from the depths of hell (OK the photo pit) and fly about the place to give a sense of danger whilst Dr Dead continues to caper like some kind of demented Nosferatu and the metal zombies keep the music pounding throughout. They even chuck in a cover of The Scorpions’ ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ just for shits and giggles, and manage to give it a slightly spooky edge that I can’t imagine their rather more dour countrymen ever imagined. It’s a fabulous show, full of great music and shock-horror theatricals, and I’m left wondering how headliners Battle Beast will be able to follow it. 

I needn’t have worried though. Noorah and her band of merry men bring a spectacular stage and light production to the Ritz, adding all the glamour and sparkle that has been somewhat lacking in the first two bands. The space stage may be more spacious now the headliners are on it, but with so many of them (drums, two guitars, bass and a keytar) and the size of Noorah’s batwings, horns and pointy shoulder accessories it still seems a little crowded. Nobody cares though, and as they launch into ‘Straight To The Heart’ from way back in 2017 we are immediately catapulted into a world of soaring operatic vocals, powerful riffs, and just a touch of disco undertone. Yes, you read that right, disco. Because that is what sets this band apart from the other female-fronted power metal outfits out there, they like to cross their genres and baffle the crowd with just a touch of pop sensibility. Battle Beast stay firmly within the territory of metal, but at the same time they manage to make it just a little more commercial, a little more accessible, a lot more fun.

The new album “Steelbound” has only just been released and bassist Eero proudly tells us that we’re going to be hearing a lot of it tonight. He says it in an apologetic tone, but to be fair the new songs have just as much heart and deliciousness as the earlier tunes and are greeted with an equal amount of appreciation by the eager crowd. One of the new songs ‘Blood of Heroes’ stands out particularly as an epic tale of derring-do, punctuated by a driving beat and some howling twin guitars. It also just happens to have a rather rollicking singalong chorus as well, because why write a song when you can make it an anthem?  

There’s a total change of pace when Noorah nips off for a breather and to straighten her horns and Eero takes over lead vocals on a cover of Elton John’s ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’. The crowd are bewildered, but join in lustily anyway because at least they know most of the words right? This is followed by one of the best na-na-na songs ever, complete with a bit of hey-hey as well. ‘Where Angels Fear To Fly’ returns us to the realms of power metal, and whilst the twin guitars are epic it’s the keyboards that weave the sound together, forming a tapestry with Noorah’s vocals that gets you right in the feels. We have a moment of heavy metal salsa, where despite the weight of batwings and rhinestones on her hips Noorah shows us a masterclass in wiggling, and then we return to the Norse roots as Eero calls out for any local Manchester Vikings who might be lurking in the venue and the band launch into ‘Bastard Son Of Odin’.

We then enter a time machine, because despite all of Battle Beast having been born in the 1980s they have a stab at a bit of 80s hair metal. This goes down well with the by now baying crowd, and a lusty singalong ensues again. The title track of the new album “Steelbound” turns out to be another metal stomper with just a hint of Eurovision about it, and the main set ends with an impressive solo singback from Noorah that leaves the crowd holing in appreciation rather than trying to match her note for note. This morphs into ‘Eden’, another song that romps along furiously but also gets your feet dancing. Of course that’s not the end, and they come back out with more sparkle, more panache and definitely more tassles to give us a two-song encore.  

I honestly thought that Dominum were going to steal the show tonight but Battle Beast gave it their all and reminded us just why they were the headliners. In fact all three bands showcased the variety of music that can exist in harmony within a single genre, and based on tonight’s performances it seems that the future of power metal is in very safe hands.  

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Battle Beast + Dominum + Majestica