So, the second semifinal is now upon us, and I will be damned if I can say this competition has gone quickly, each round has been neither dull nor without talent. There have been fantastic bands throughout each round, and it is unfortunate that we have lost great bands as we have, but this is how it is within a competition. Is tough, and it’s gruelling, but out of all 20 hopeful bands only one can prevail victorious. Two bands have already secured their spot in the grand final and tonight we have two more bands looking to prove their mettle by competing against one another to secure their spot alongside both victors of semi-final one. Gets the opportunity to go up against Stone Soup and Indecorum for a no holds barred match and be crowned winner of Metal 2 The Masses Oxford.
At least this time I remembered to take a photo of the running order so as to not have a similar issue as I had in the first semi-final. So, without further delay first up on stage we had the ever so impressive Shoot to Kill. I have had the absolute pleasure being able to listen to this band every round in this competition so far, and as each round has gone on, they seem to be getting better and better. Their set was utterly flawless from start to finish, and it was good to see that Daniel’s vocals had massively improved after his recent bout of illness. If anything, it felt like they needed to out prove themselves as a band to make up for an unavoidable performance in their quarterfinal. This certainly was not needed due to the sheer talent of this band, and my only fear is that they may not have anything left in the tank should they progress through to the final. Yet again the performance was bang on, including their crowd interaction, and the energy that they brought to the room was magnificent. Despite what happens going further they have certainly made me a fan of them, which has resulted with me following them on Spotify.
Taking to the stage next was Depolarize ready to hit us once more with their metalcore music. They started their set with full might and aggression which continued till the end. Their sound was phenomenal, and it filled the whole room in it’s entirety. There was no escaping what this band was bringing, regardless of where you were positioned within the venue. They played and sang so well with shear grit and determination to make it further in this competition, however from about halfway through their set is where it started to faulter. They hit us with loads of ever so impressive drops within each song, but the drops started coming in thick and fast. It started to wear very quickly with my attention, and I started to struggle to depict if in between each drop was the end oof one song leading directly into the next. I am always one to appreciate a great drop every now and again, especially when bands find that crucial point within a song that makes it so much more powerful, but having three to five drops, or maybe even more as I lost count, really does tend to become a slight bore. Had the drops been more sparce within their set my impression of their performance would have been much greater than it is. Should they progress further all I can do is suggest try not to fill the set with drops, take that out and they would have played a blinder.
Third up we have the return of Hymn to Apollo, due to changes of dates for the semifinals and other commitments, it is unfortunate that Bring to Bear had to withdraw from the competition. So, in their space the next closest crowd vote from the quarterfinal was asked to return. Looking back on this bands past performance it got me wondering what sort of a night we will get this time. Will it be as good as their quarterfinal, or would they revert back to their heat stage? Well, the simple answer to this is neither. They once again have shocked me and exceeded my expectations once again. Somehow, they have managed to muster up yet more energy and power than in their earlier rounds. They are seriously becoming hot contenders now putting their mark down. Why they hand not performed like this in the heat stage I have no idea. But yet again they have managed to show more significant improvement repeatedly. If they manage to succeed through to the final, I cannot imagine on how they would be able to improve. Everything from the guitar and drums, through to the vocals seemed the same but polished up. Just when I thought it would not get any better, and putting myself into a slight bit of euphoria, was an unbelievable deep growl from their female lead singer. For split seconds, partly due to actually having my back to the stage at the wrong time, it literally felt like they had brought Tatiana along from Jinjer. My heart has really gone out to this band after there efforts into improving themselves night after night, and after that performance it totally blows my prediction of the final results.
To close the competition was the much-loved Reveller. Judging by the amount of merch that was being worn by a large majority of people in the venue, it was certainly looking like they were potentially a fan favourite. I don’t know how many of them have been die hard fans from the start or whether they have been recruiting over the last few rounds, but the numbers were slightly impressive. I am not entirely sure how I look in purple but one day you may seem me with a certain band t-shirt on. As expected, their performance was completely on point in regard to their usual standard, however, halfway through their set they seemed to play ever so slightly heavier than usual which completely threw me. Yet again in another semi-final where bands have made slight changes to their set, and made it work perfectly. This band has impressed me from the first moment that I heard them play in the quarterfinal so depending on tonight’s result, I cannot wait to see how they will change things up going through.
So that’s if for the competing bands. They have done everything they can to try to secure one of the last two available spaces left in two weeks’ time. But before all the crowd can make their votes and the judges (which thankfully I was not called upon tonight) have decided who impressed them the most we had the pleasure of one last band on stage. Tonight’s headlining band was none other than The Hope Burden. An extremely local post-metal band from here in Oxford who have been on the scene now for at least seven years now playing gigs and festivals all over Oxfordshire. If post-metal if your kind of genre, then they are definitely worth checking out. Their performance for me seemed very dark and intense throughout with masses of energy in between breaks. I will be certainly looking to hear these guys again if I am in the area when they next perform.
It is results time, and if I were to say that I was not nervous at all then that would be a big old lie. The atmosphere was intense, and I literally had no idea who managed to win both the crowd and the judges over. But the time had come to see who was victorious, and going through on the crowd vote was Reveller. The cheers from the crowd were immense and the band celebrated their win, however there was still one more result to come. Taking the judges vote after what I believe to be quite a discussion was Shoot to Kill. Both worthy victories for both bands but at the same time what I could only imagine as a crushing blow for both Depolarise and Hymn to Apollo. Unfortunately, where there are winners there also has to be the unfortunate ones to not progress any further and it pains me to see bands with good talent end up being knocked out so close to the last hurdle. But with that, both Reveller and Shoot to Kill will now be going head-to-head with Stone Soup and Indecorum to battle just one last time to become the winner of Metal 2 the Masses Oxford. Intrigued
