Power Metal, that most maligned and ridiculed of Metal many sub-genres. Tonight, is a heavyweight tussle between two of its premiere league exponents. In the red corner,  Helloween who conceived the whole bloody genre back in the eighties and in the blue corner, HammerFall who have kept the flame burning (and held the hammer aloft) since the mid-nineties. If you like your metal bloated, bombastic and free of irony then this is a marriage made in Valhalla, if not I would bugger off and watch the football.

When this package tour hits the continent, it will reside in the splendour of spacious sports arenas and enormodomes, so tonight’s show in the confined quarters of the 2,600 capacity Academy acts as lowkey opener to allow both bands to ease themselves back onto the saddle after over 27 months off the road. However, if this is meant to be a stripped back and toned-down affair, then HammerFall certainly didn’t get the memo. They have filled every inch of the Academy’s modest stage with oversized glowing props and hit the boards with the demeanour of a headline act. They proceed to take 52 years of heavy metal and distil it into a high octane seventy-five-minute performance. Every trait and cliché is present and correct and it is a gloriously pompous spectacle.

This is pure escapism. Hammer shaped guitars, hammer fixated lyrics and more and call and response than a children’s birthday party. It revels in its own absurdity and that is the joy of the whole thing. HammerFall don’t want to change the world, but they want to ensure that it is entertained. No matter how ludicrous you feel the whole set up is, you cannot help but enjoy yourself. The enthusiasm and exuberance of five middle aged swedes on stage is infectious and within minutes even the most poe-faced non-believer is swinging their arms to beat, reciting the words to ‘Any Mean Necessary’.

You don’t do this for nearly four decades and not have the songs. HammerFall have a sack-full of fist pumping, chorus drenched anthems and they bring them all to the yard. Joacim Cans seems genuinely taken aback that there are so many people seeing the band for the first time, but their track are constructed in such a manner that even the most resolute HammerFall virgin can be word perfect in minutes. There are wooahhhs, there are soaring refrains and there are hey, hey, heys all over the blinking shop. It’s a vibrant riot of accessible lyrics and gives the evening a wonderful feeling of communal togetherness. It proves yet again that when it comes to shared musical endeavours, we don’t want clever and we don’t want contrived, we just want something we can collectively bellow along to.

HammerFall are immaculately choreographed and faultlessly rehearsed. The show is a flurry of set pieces, but there is enough humanity on show for it not to feel like they are on autopilot. It is obvious that they are loving being back on stage. They bound across it, and up and down the various levels, like hyperactive puppies let outside for the first time. As stated, it is obvious that they view this as at least a co-headline tour, if not themselves as a the main attraction. Accordingly, whether we want it or not, we get an encore. Closer ‘Hearts on Fire’ is pure schmaltzy cheese and is all the better for it. Sumptuously extravagant and beholden of a chorus that Lloyd Webber would be proud of. it provides a fittingly sentimental ending to a wonderfully overstated hour and fifteen minutes of unashamedly flamboyant heavy metal. The gauntlet (and hammer) are well and truly thrown down, follow that Helloween.

Helloween retaliate by going completely the other way. Their staging is stripped down and minimal (mostly because their pumpkin shaped drum riser won’t fit on to the academy miniscule stage). Tonight, is not about staging, it is all about the gleeful interaction of the expanded seven-person line up. From start to finish they are utterly magnificent, a festival headlining performance crowbarred into the room where I sat my finals. It is a captivating performance that understands the need for spectacle, but also realises that you can derive that from the personalities within the band.

The interaction between the three vocalists (Kai Hanson, Michael Kiske and Andi Deris) is a joy to behold. They represent three very distinct periods of the band’s evolution, but their differing approaches blend together beautifully. Michael and Andi’s voices particularly well resonate with each other. The former’s soaring vocals pyrotechnics brilliantly off-setting the latter’s more gravely delivery. Rather than feel muddled, the addition of Michael and Kai to the current Helloween set up have given the band much more depth and breadth. The stage doesn’t feel overcrowded and no one musician is fighting for dominance or attention. It just feels right and I can’t imagine them now as a five piece.

The setlist is a precision engineered to give everyone what they want. It is beautifully balanced, so no era of the band’s rich history is ignored or overlooked. We have the crowd pleasers of the ‘Future World’, ‘Dr. Stein’ and ‘Eagle Fly Free’ for those old enough to recall their show stealing appearance at Donington in 1988. But there are also enough deep cuts from the pre and post Kiske days to keep diehard fans happy. We also get new stuff from the pumpkins united line up’s first post reunion release.’Skyfall’, ‘Mass Pollution’ and the joyous ‘Best Time’ all impress in their ability to hold their own against the more established tracks. Purposely designed to accommodate the expanded setup, they allow each member enough room to exhibit their particular skills without ever stifling the others. 

The chemistry between the seven of them shines through and makes the whole endeavour such an enjoyable experience. What could have been a cold heartless cash in, instead feels like a joyful escapade. The smiles and passionate embraces are not stage managed, there is genuine affection and respect on show here and as an audience member you can not help being drawn in by the fact everyone just seems to be having so much fun. It may at times feel like an unruly school reunion, but that does not stop them taking the musicianship seriously. The sound is crystal clear, and it becomes abundantly clear why Helloween headline festivals in every other territory but this bloody country. They are consummate entertainers, and this is Heavy Metal at its most vibrant, wide-screen and enigmatic.

The Academy is packed to the rafters with pumpkin aficionados from across the North and beyond (there is a notable number of Irish accents to be found peppered around the venue). Reference is made to this being the first time they have played in Manchester since 1988 and you get the feeling the band are genuinely humbled by the reaction that they get in a country where their usual touring itinerary is a singular smash and grab in London. Loving a band that no one else seems arsed about is a wonderfully unifying experience and the gigantean ‘Keeper of the Seven Keys’ is an emotional roller-coaster as we swap lyrics with those stood around us, safe in the knowledge that finally we are in the presence of someone else that understands.

‘I Want Out’ provides a frenzied and frantic final encore. We are now well beyond curfew, but the band don’t care. Andi and Michael playfully divide the audience between them and compete to see whose side can make the most noise. Given that the latter once disowned the band and this whole musical form, it is heart-warming and life-affirming to see Michael Kiske so happy and content in his ascension back into the band. You get the feeling they could have gone on into the wee hours mischievously bantering with each other, but good things need to end and with hammy but heartfelt bows the show finally shudders to a halt. Auspicious, outstanding, and just a bit magical. The return of Helloween is nothing short of a triumph and if anyone from Download is reading, that’s the 2023 headliner right there.