THIRTEEN young bands across the country battled for supremacy on finals night of the 5th Nescafe Soundskool college band competition held Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

The 13 groups?four from Metro Manila and the rest representing other regions around the country?went through local eliminations and regional semifinals before reaching the final round.

A week prior to the decisive face-off, each finalist band went to finishing school in Boracay. Workshops with industry professionals and performance makeovers conducted by outstanding Pinoy musicians further polished their budding chops.

When the smoke of pitched competition cleared on Saturday, the band Eevee was declared champion, bringing home the top prize of P250,000 cash plus an exclusive record deal with Sony Music Philippines and P100,000 worth of music equipment for the school it represented.

The five-man group?Enzo Villegas (guitars, vocals), Paolo Segura (lead guitar), Jerick Sy (bassist) and Craig Neniel (drums) from Philippine Women?s College of Davao?kept pace with the choppy funk of mentor band Pedicab.

After cranking some delirious electro music with ?FX? and ?Simulan Mo Na,? Eevee displayed remarkable finesse with power pop with its original composition, ?Gusto Ko Lang ng Girlfriend.? Delivered with a light-hearted wink, the song packed the melodious odyssey of Itchyworms and the wacky lyricism of Parokya ni Edgar in a tight, happy groove.

But Eevee faced strong opposition on its way to the top. Nameless Heroes (Mapua Makati) stunned the Metro Manila semifinals three weeks earlier with a glam-rocking rip on the ageless country weeper, ?Jolene.?

On finals night, the band threw out all pop pretensions to the ground and grappled with a bluesy, grungy monster of an original number titled ?Alaala.? Where mentor band Sandwich took modern rock to the next level, Nameless Heroes retreated to the dark magnificence of ?70s hard rock.

Lazy Suzette (AMA Computer Learning Center, Tacloban) started off searching for the right melodic and rhythmic buttons. The band proved its worth when lead singer Marie Daryl Gariando found her range. She rendered an original pop ballad, ?Sana Ako Na Lang,? like Cooky Chua emulating the grand sweep of Dulce.

Among the mentor bands, Moonstar 88 gave a burnished rock sheen to its usual pop songs. Urbandub seemed ready to take back the huge sound that made it the biggest sensation in recent years, while Sugarfree remained an intriguing anomaly of good music churned by lackluster performers.

This year?s Soundskool had the theme ?Huwag na magtago! Magparamdam ka na!? By all indications, Pinoy rock continues to be a haunting presence to the next generation of college-bred musical talents.