Live Review : Metal 2 The Masses Merseyside Heat 3 @ Zanzibar, Liverpool on May 13th 2022

Metal 2 the masses, Bloodstock’s gift to small dingy venues the length and breadth of this fair isle (and beyond). In many ways, it represents what we at ROCKFLESH towers are all about, celebrating the rich and diverse talent that exists in our vibrant metal underground. This is Liverpool’s heat 3, Deified has cancelled due to illness but it as still pulled an eager crowd, happy to spend their Friday night watching bands and throwing beer at each other (more about that later).

Introduced by Coop of The Spoken Metal Show podcast, Mad Spanner are first out the traps and they are actually a he. The He in question give us a thoroughly metal take on the whole concept of one-man-band. Before hitting the stage he is already sprinting around the venue and doing the oddest set of stretches known to man and woman. It is as if he was preparing for a marathon as opposed to a half hour of metal. Initial signs however aren’t good, he has a few mic problems and then he seems to have sound trouble with his own laptop, as if it is trying to stage an intervention and stop him making a potential fool of himself. 

Eventually the issues are dealt with, and the lad throws himself into one of the most eccentric performances of 2022. He is up there on his tod playing bass with backing tracks made of drums and guitars which makes for the strangest of sound mix. What looked like a disaster waiting to happen, walking on fine line between a comedy set from Bill Bailey and a puerile teenage boy who had outgrown his own bedroom, ends up being one of the most original recital I have seen for a long time.  His skills on his instrument and his natural charisma and confidence wins the crowd over. What could be viewed as a vanity project is actually full of procession technicality and massive dollops of heart. An unconventional but unequivocal success.

Nesh go with the much more run of the mile set of four blokes with instruments. Theirs is an eclectic mix of influences from all over the metal playbook, topped with lashings of prog elements and superb vocals from their singer. They are understated but technically stunning. They very much go for the “let the music do the talking” school of presentation and their only hat tip towards any form of gimmick is a rather funky cover of the Gorillaz’s“Feel Good Inc.” And this was Nesh, did I mention this was Nesh?

Last on are Autopsya, a Portuguese outfit partially embedded in Liverpool. Whereas Nesh were highly polished, finely rehearsed and rather cerebral; this lot come across as scatty and rather chaotic. The crowd by now are merrily pissed and doesn’t really seem to care. In fact, that level of raw anarchism seems to work in Autopsya’s favour. Out in the crowd people are showering their friends with beer and onstage puerilism and general bedlam provides a perfect soundtrack.

Between songs the singer is determined to teach the crowd every choruses so that they can participate during the songs. This leads us to realise that there is a lyrical theme at play here; ‘I know what I want, it’s a beer truck’, ‘Unbeerlievable’, ‘Beer For Life’, you get the picture. Lyrically nothing challenging, no lyrics about existentialism crisis or dungeons and dragons, just songs about a hops-based beverage. Which fits right in with a leathered crowd. They even go as far as bribing the crowd with free Portuguese beer. De-shrivelled and intellectually bankrupt, they still managed to be loads of fun.

And that is the point, Metal 2 The Masses is about picking up the rock and discovering all the life underneath. In the end Nesh got the ticket through to the grand final but to be honest any of them would have provided a wonderful distraction on the new blood stage. And if you get a chance to check any of them out, please do so.