Live Review: Thrashchester - Rebellion, Manchester
15th November 2025
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Rich Price Photography
The day had arrived, one year after announcing headline act Lawnmower Deth, the annual 0161 Manchester Underground Metal Community gathering at Rebellion was now upon us, and with thirteen acts in one day, it promised to be a headbanging success.
Having already announced that next year was going to be over two days, this metal pilgrimage offers a chance for bands from all four corners of the country to come together and play to a fervent crowd of metalheads at one of Manchester’s finest venues. It’s always a bit nerve wracking being the opener, but Bloodsaw did another sterling job, as they bring their youthful exuberance to the proceedings.
They deliver the first of many “How are we Manchester?” shouts across the day, but rip through their energetic set, with songs “Bow Down”, “Midnight Warrior” and “Face Down”. This is the third time I’ve seen them, and they are getting better each time, we even get a new untitled song, which sees a bit of development in their composition, with a slower more melodic build up, that turns into a sort of ballad. They spend the rest of the day in the pit, stage diving and having fun, after getting the festival off to a cracking start.
Next up were Leader, another new one for me, like many were at the festival, and with a harsher vocal style, they keep the energy high with some great riffs and tempos. They have some fast and heavy songs, “The Grind” and “Hanging on by a Thread” that allows for some fret tapping on the solos, encouraging a few participants to get a circle pit going. After “Circle of Defeat” they finish with the singer dedicating a new song called “Clever” to his sister who had recently passed away, an emotional moment for him.
Crucible were next to take to the stage and are aggressive from the start, visibly excited to be playing their first gig in Manchester. The 5-string bass sound is huge and dominates most of the songs in a very pleasing way. The singer than strapped on his guitar, and added more depth to the music, with several tempo switches and pleasing solos. Drums were strong and powerful, and they deliver a set that people enjoyed.
Bringing some crossover thrash to the day were Exaust, a very full-on group, with hi-tops and bullet belts at the ready. They have some mighty riffs and an extremely energetic frontman in Dewi, and they lived up to my expectations as one of he bands to watch in my preview. The Welsh quintet has some fast songs, like “Open Wound” and “B.T.C. (Curb Stomp) that sees the pit get faster, as the frontman jumps in, whilst the fret tapping and solos get wilder on “No Longer Human” and “Toxic War” to ensure the mayhem levels were kept high.
“We are Crusaders and we play thrash metal” and they play it rather well too!! They have much more of a traditional metal sound, and I particularly enjoyed the sight of seeing two white flying V’s on the stage creating a bit of a racket. They speed up on their new single, “The End and The Death” which signals their first stage diver and follow this up with storming versions of “V” and “Terminate”. There’s a bit of Billy Milano in the vocal style, or that might just be me, but end with more craziness as they perform “Doomslayer”, heralding more crowd surfers.
Hailing from Lincolnshire, Morti Viventi add some maturity to the roster and dive straight into “The Day the Dead Returned” which has a slight doom edge, being more controlled before unleashing a great solo. “Do you want something really fast?” gets a huge cheer from the crowd, as they plough into “Whorehouse of the Undead”. They play a new song, ironically called “The Day After” which gets faster and heavier encouraging the pit to get more involved. “It’s just not fast enough” comes from the stage as they end with the wonderfully titled “Hell on Earth” which is cracker of a song.
There’s a more progressive sound from Scottish band Catalysis as we get some songs from their latest release, including “The Prime Meridian” and “The Only Way Out is Through”. They have a mix of groove and metalcore, with some chuggy riffs and freakishly fast solos during “Gone” and then we get a nice rant about billionaires, CEO’s and flagshaggers which gets huge cheers as they kick into the excellent “False Gods”. The crowd are asked to “indulge them with some dancing” as they end with “Before the Fall” as the singer joins the pit to sing the finale.
Another band I’d seen in Manchester before were Struck A Nerve and again they didn’t disappoint as singer Aarran Tucker welcomes us “to a bloodbath”. There’s a fast and furious opening with “Nocturnal Terror” and “Inside the Torture Fortress” with the riff hitting hard alongside combative solos. The crowd are invited to “tear this place up” as they play some songs of their upcoming album, “Moon Sniper” and “Last Eyes” which sees the guy in the gas mask perform his now infamous barrel roll stage dive, much to the amusement of the band. The crowd are going mental, and the band respond by going faster and heavier as they end with the trio of “Struck A Nerve”, a cover of Slayer’s “World Painted Blood” and “Parade of Violence”.
My fellow Welsh brethren from Helldown are up next and get straight down to action with “Beneath The Veil”. They have a good rhythm that flows throughout their no-frills metal set. There’s the raging “March of the Damned” followed by “Eyes of Gold” and the crowd are really getting into their energetic songs. With two songs left, they flood the stage with red lights at the start of “Bloodlines” and with a huge vocal roar, they complete the set with further great riffs and solos on “War is All”.
With the announcement that Belfast’s Acid Age were sadly unable to cross the fierce Irish Sea, my thoughts immediately turned to an earlier finish than the advertised 11.45pm, age is a bad thing, and my feet were aching, ha ha, but alas this didn’t happen. Liverpool’s Devils Henchmen experienced a few technical issues at the start, but these are another band who get better each time I see them. They usher the crowd forward and start off at a blistering pace, and during “Bite Back” we see what the beautiful metal community is all about as a circle pit commences led by a chap in a wheelchair, as everyone around protect him at all costs.
“Crossfire” and “Think Like You” sees the storming riffs signal mayhem levels in the pit and then we get the debut of the fast and big sounding new song “Killing Fields”. They get faster on “World Fictions” as the solid solos become more intense and follow this up with their latest single “Urban Death” released about a month ago. The madness is continued as they finish with the brilliant “Grimace” to wrap up another strong set.
Having witnessed Devastator for the first time the week before at Damnation Festival, I was excited about seeing them again in a much smaller venue. With the scythe being waved around the heads of the first few rows by Thomas Collings, they waste no time getting down with their blackened thrash metal. The magnificent “Black Witchery” sees the pit go batshit and the first crowd surfer emerge as the big bass sound rings round the room. “Liar in Wait” has that monstrous Motorhead feel to it, with dual vocals and an evil guitar sound.
“We are Devastator, and this is our last show of the year. We played that small independent festival down the road last week, but this was booked beforehand, so there was no way were not playing here” which is greeted by loud cheers. They treat us to “Spiritual Warfare” and a few songs they haven’t played in a while, “Send Them to Hell” and “Death Slut” which encourages the crowd to go more nuts than before.
They perform a cover of Sodom’s “Blasphemer” which is brutally and brilliantly delivered, incorporating a few words of Onslaught’s mighty “Power From Hell” before going back to their first ever demo to play “Death Forever”. The electrifying set ends with the monstrous sound of “Baptised in Blasphemy” as the craziness continues. “We have time for one more apparently” as they rip into Motorhead’s “Iron Fist” to signal the end of their time.
And then at the unearthly hour of nearly 11pm, the old timers of British metal, Lawnmower Deth enter the stage. Having first witnessed them as young pups back in 1990, I still get immense joy from watching them as you know it’s going be an enjoyable experience. Opening with “Into the Pit” they don’t mess about, well not yet at least, but Sumo Rabbit sees the silliness start and the smiles are broad on everyone’s faces.
“We aren’t used to playing to people under 30, this is what geriatric rock looks like” Pete quips, as “Weeble’s Wobble”, “Botheration” and the classic “Betty Ford’s Clinic” get ripped through at rapid pace. “This is a song about cleaning products, as we are at that age where we take responsibility for things, this is Swarfega”. For us oldies in the crowd hearing the mix of old and new songs is thoroughly enjoyable, and they continue with “Spook Perv Happenings in the Snooker Hall”, “Jaggered Wedge”, a song about quantum physics, (who knew) “I Don’t Want To” then the excellent “Rad Dude”.
They still bring that party vide and take the piss out of each other on stage, as Chris reminds Pete that it was in fact “two years” since they last played Manchester, before the crowd get their arms waving side to side for “Sheep Dip” and the mental “Maim Mower Maim”. Next, Pete tells us why he loves Manchester so much, due to the “bullies who put up union jacks on the M60, and you people put up pride flags next to them, but I love Manchester people even more because then, next to them they put up flags saying I shag flags, and that’s why I love this city.” And follows this with a song about Phil Schofield!!! Brilliant.
“Bastard Squad” and the epic “Watch out Grandma” sees the crowd do some proper dancing, “none of this windmill crap, bit of dad dancing please” asks Pete before he announces to the under 30’s that “we are finally onto sheet 2 of the set list”. They get an old bastard and a young un up on stage for an eating contest during “Egg Sandwich” which the old bastard wins, of course, then “Buddy Holly” and “F.A.T.” get the customary treatment.
One of my favourite songs makes an appearance, “Did You Spill my Pint?” which proceeds the crowd getting their snails in the air for “Raise Your Snails”. With the end in sight, Pete mentions that they don’t do encores as “we play, we love you, we fuck off” and thanks the organisers, the crew, the bar staff, in fact everyone, even those who have missed their trains home to stay and watch them. “Got the Clap” and “Satan’s Trampoline” lead us towards to finale, a song about shopping at Aldi, “Power Baggin’” which wraps up a monstrous day of metal mayhem.
Photo credits: Rich Price Photography
