Arriving just in time for the drawing of the lots, Railways is always an interesting place to land up at. You’ll be listening to metal music inside the one section of the venue and walk out to them playing the Backstreet Boys. As the night before, everyone was extra pumped to watch some bands from Pretoria, with intense mosh pits and the bands that just crushed it. So here is what happened with the bands…
Super Mammoth
Super Mammoth came raging in with the intent of waking us up as the first band of the night. High energy with a punk spirit and rawness, there was a lot of passion and emotion in their lyrics and performance. They used the stage to their advantage, with their lead vocalist sprinting back and forth to keep us on our toes. His energy was infectious, and it also helped that he came down into the pit at one point and riled everyone up. Things were taken up a notch, when the band hurled beach balls into the crowd, who happily threw them about. They were also giving it just as good as they got, with intense mosh and circle pits that looked like they could injure someone, and they were just the first band of the night, which almost foreshadowed the insanity to come.
Us Not Them
Also, a very different genre to enter in this competition, Us Not Them still delivered a dynamite performance with their rock/nu metal sound. Having written two new songs for this specific event, they curated their sound so that it would fit the criteria better and it hit just as hard. Their light up masks always give the feel of being at a rave, promoting the image that they are there to party it up. They ended their set with a bang, with a new song titled “Rage” that had full chant-along energy. From their presentation to their sound, they left their own unique mark on the crowd.
Days Without Incident
And just like that, we got our heads turned around by Days Without Incident. A rock band, with a metal feel, they had the whole room rampaging. Moshpits were abundant as people were losing their minds to this band. Like the other two bands, Days Without Incident was very technical, which likely contributed to their scores overall. They were also very high energy, with their bassist showing off in the best way, by getting on the raised stage and rocking it out. Ultimately, they made us headbang throughout their set, with their breakdowns and memorable lyrics, they were definitely a contender for the winner.
MoshMallow
Then MoshMallow came in with their girliepop metal and blew us all away. Having this effortlessly balance between femininity and the male elements of metal, this band has made it clear they are here to support and elevate women. Playing the song from their newly released music video, “Little Rotting Rat,” this and every track captivated us. With an immaculate stage presence that pulled us in from the start, there is a reason why they are one of the top metalcore bands from Pretoria. It was almost serendipitous that they pulled the last slot, because they ended up being the heaviest band of the night in the battle. In the end they won because they had the crowd, the energy and an overall killer performance.
Die Gemeente
As the winner of last year’s Pretoria heat, Die Gemeente took everything to the next level. Their industrial sound is backed by an underlying groove that reverberated through the crowd and echoed back at them with twice the intensity. The audience lost their collective minds, well and fully messing each other up. It felt like they came with one purpose, to keep the partying going, which they well and truly succeeded at.
Winner Announcement
Lana, Organizer and Social Media Manager for Wacken and Emalyth, comes onto the stage once again speaking about how the main purpose of these events isn’t to win, but to support the local metal community through buying drinks, merch and just showing up. She continued, saying that it was a tight call, but then she screamed that it was MoshMallow that won the heat. The band and everyone around them lost their minds in celebration as they claimed the win of the night.
