Bloodstock Festival
Bloodstock Open Air Festival – Catton Hall – 12, 13, 14 & 15 August
Words by Hannah Moulton and Dave Sherwood / Photo’s by Daniel Gray
Thursday
2010 sees the wettest Bloodstock to date! On arriving at Catton Hall you could have mistaken it for a quagmire in the height of monsoon, but the rain cannot stop the masses descending on the Bloodstock Festival in its 10th Anniversary year. Those lucky enough to get their tents up in time were treated to stand-up comedy and pole-dancing in the Sophie Lancaster Tent; the latter being a worthy reward for most men after putting up a tent in high winds and torrential rain.
Considering you had to wade through a river of mud to get into the tent, it was a worthwhile effort with Hospital of Death and Desecration as the musical entertainment for the evening. Thrash and Death metal respectively, both played up to the drunken muddy masses and had many inducing premature bangovers before 9pm!
Friday
Being the first band of the day and the first to play on the Ronnie James Dio main stage, you would think Bloodstock Festival would want Snakebite’s performance to be memorable. Instead, thanks to possibly the worst display of sound engineering in history, all people will take away is the lesson of the importance of industrial ear plugs at festivals. However, looking beyond the sound issues, Snakebite are actually an engaging live band; front man Jason Smith does incredibly well to get anything out of the handful of people who have managed to drag themselves out at an unholy hour by festival standards amidst the gushing downpour. He gets a good laugh at the expense of the over-active smoke machine flooding the stage and manages to stir up a worthy circle pit of diehard fans. Cameo from Beholder’s Simon Hall during neck-wrecker ’60 Units’ is also a crowd pleaser. I imagine in a smaller in doors environment Snakebite would be a pretty good night out.
Meanwhile, those protecting their recently straightened hair from the rain have the pleasure of watching the opening band on the New Blood stage, Under Blackened Skies (ironic much?). Presenting an aggressive melodeth approach in the vein of At the Gates, a sprinkle of early Dimmu Borgir shines through to add a glimpse of individuality to their mediocre sound.
Black Spiders seem to be everywhere these days, playing pretty much everything they can get on. Sadly for them, Bloodstock Festival are still suffering with sound issues and manage to destroy what would normally be incredibly catchy good old-fashioned Rock and Roll. Regardless, these sound issues weren’t going to stop them. Black Spiders showed their professionalism and delivered a tight stage performance and a diverse song choice; from the southern rock inspired ‘St. Peter’ to Kerrang-worthy ‘Stay Down’. A little out of place on this festival bill, Black Spiders more than earn their place.
Ross The Boss sets the level for best performance of the weekend as he explodes onto stage, whipping the masses of Manowar fans into an utter frenzy. With a set compiled of half solo tracks and half Manowar tracks, it’s obvious what this man is known for. ‘Hail to England’ and ‘Fighting the World’ receive one hell of a sing-along, as the UK masses lap up what will probably be their only Manowar fix in years. Ross The Boss pays a touching tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio with ‘Catch The Rainbow’ and makes the perfect ending to his set with the fist-pumping ‘Hail and Kill’.
German oldies Rage metalize the fields of Derby. They plummet into their latest album opener, ‘The Edge of Darkness’. Never quite making it to the same level of notability as fellow 80’s competitors Helloween and Running Wild, frontman Peavy Wagner clearly hasn’t lost his dedication and compassion after 19 albums and 6 EP’s of moderate underground success. Favouring material from their newest release ‘Strings to a Web’ over more classic tracks leaves some of their fans feeling a little down-hearted. However, with such a short set given to a band with such a mind-whopping back catalogue, it is inevitable that they will not be able to please everyone.
Ensiferum shun the nay-sayers with 45 minutes of pure brilliance. The folk inspired sounds of their intro ‘By The Dividing Stream’ has the crowd eager for opening track ‘From Afar’ which instantaneously has the crowd surging as the pit opens up. The band seems to feed off this energy with every second. Guitarist and vocalist Petri Lindroos stands majestically before his audience whilst Bassist Sami Hinkka tears around his stage barking Enska lyrics much akin to Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris. Ensiferum cover new material and old classics, blending them to sound like one super album. This is one performance the rain cannot dampen and by far one of the best of the weekend as the band close with the roar of favourites ‘One More Magic Potion’ and ‘Iron’.
With Behemoth vocalist Adam ‘Nergal’ Daski being hospitalised, it meant their appearance at Bloodstock was unfortunately cancelled. Willingly taking their place at such short notice were legendary doomsters, Cathedral. Bemused by the ‘blast lovers’, playing through such classics as ‘Utopian Blaster’, ‘Corpsecycle’ and ‘Hopkins (Witchfinder General)’ certainly get the necks of everyone else thumping. Performing a thousand times better than their appearance only a few weeks prior at London’s High Voltage festival, Cathedral prove that an official spot at next years Bloodstock is essential.
Back over at the New Blood tent, newly formed thrashers Shrapnel prepare to hit the stage. Besides being one of several winners of Bloodstock’s ‘Metal 2 the Masses’ competition, the uplifting press of Norwich’s finest headbangers has been absolutely phenomenal. An attitude-based stage presence blares through the tent as solid shredding causes the beginning of the odd pit or two. With the release of an EP that does them no justice as to how they play live, Shrapnel will grow into becoming the UK’s biggest moshkinstein to date. Watch out!
Looking a little bit ridiculous on a Friday afternoon is Norwegian corpse gods, Gorgoroth. With the replacements of King Ov Hell and the irreplaceable Ghaal, this new line up of Satan’s spawn is embarrassing to be a fan of to say the least. As an act once far superior above any other in their field, Gorgoroth may well be falling to a rapid death – a real shame to admit.
Sonata Arctica seem to be suffering from poor song choice this weekend. Making a cracking start to their set with ‘Flag in the Ground’ and ‘FullMoon’ the rest of their set seemed to sink into a sleepy stupor in which a good part of the audience dwindled in different directions due to boredom. What is most frustrating as a Sonata Arctica fan, is that this band are incredibly skilled and tight in a live situation and this can most certainly be said of their Bloodstock performance. Tony Kakko’s voice is enchanting atop the symphonic beauty courtesy of keys player Henrik Klingenberg all driven by guitarist Elias Viljanen‘s dynamic axe-wielding. However sandwiching older tracks such as ‘8th Commandment’ and ‘Don’t Say a Word’ around weaker new album tracks ‘Juliet’ and ‘The Dead Skin’ just gave critics of the band an excuse to escape to the bar.
Walking over to the Sophie Lancaster stage, an array of high pitched yelps and guitar squeals flavour the air with a taste of good old fashioned metal. Relatively new maestros Steelwing put in their all to impress the pumped crowd and the feedback is positive. Promoting their new album ‘Lord of the Wasteland’, such tracks as ‘The Illusion’ and ‘Headhunter’ emphasise their love for the mighty Priest and Saxon. Steelwing won’t be going away anytime soon – that’s guaranteed.
As most people hang about in the tent for the mighty Enforcer, it’s time to be taken back 25 years as the NWOBHM lovers take to the stage. Never failing to impress, the Swedish 5-piece thunderously play through the classics from ‘Into the Night’ and the newly released ‘Diamonds’. A fun-filled presence beams onto an energetic crowd as they sing along to the notable ‘Midnight Vice’ and ‘On the Loose’. Despite an impressively filled tent, those unknowing of the band begin to leave because of the sheer volume overload. A few deaf but happy people will have surely come away from their set. Long live heavy metal!
Meshuggah demonstrate their proficient musical abilities with a selection of their newer material. Not being a fan of this brand of experimental death metal, I went in sceptical. However, as much as their vocals can prove irritating after a mere 5 seconds, you can’t get passed the fact this band has possibly some of the most technical musicians of the festival. The crowd seem to enjoy the niche technicalities on display; closers ‘Sane’ and ‘Straws Pulled At Random’ stir up an almost constant circle pit. Meshuggah certainly have the crowd warmed-up and ready for Opeth.
A luminous sky covers the grounds of Catton Hall as the headliners of the night: Opeth, take to the Ronnie James Dio stage. With some totally against the whole prog metal thing, the Swedish 5-piece put on a brilliant show this evening ranging from their melodic flows of ‘Windowpane’ to the aggressive tranquillity of ‘The Grand Conjuration’. A couple of surprises were sprung upon us tonight, including ‘Still Life’s’ epic track ‘The Moor’ making an appearance. Making a tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio, frontman Mikael Akerfeldt states Dio is one of the reasons why he sings today. A beautiful cover of Rainbow’s ‘Catch The Rainbow’ follows before a Dio chant begins. Opeth end the night with ‘Demon of the Fall’. Usually a bore by halfway through their set, they really went for it tonight, becoming a brilliant way to end the first night to Britain’s best festival.
Saturday
Once again it’s amazing anyone is out of bed at this time to see Andromeda, but low and behold two songs in and the arena is packed out. Perhaps guitarist Johan Reinholdz’s skilled musicianship lured them to the stage, who knows, but they’re here en mass. Perhaps not the liveliest performance of the weekend, most certainly not the liveliest audience of the weekend, however Andromeda are a band you watch and appreciate at this time of the morning. With such a short time slot, the band make sure they waste no time showcasing their abilities with perfect all rounder progressive tracks such as ‘The Words Unspoken’, ‘Inner Circle’ and ‘Periscope’. Andromeda are the hidden gem in the world of Prog Metal.
Leaves’ Eyes inject a little femininity into the morning with their Viking themed female-fronted metal. They’re not the best FFM band out on the market, but they certainly earn their stripes in the sub-genre. Vocalist Liv Kristine’s voice is enchanting and is best showcased in slower moments, particularly during set closer ‘Froya’s Theme’, which also showcases Alexander Krull’s (of Atrocity fame) male growl vocals more; something which the band would benefit to showcase more. As for ticking the FFM quota for the weekend, Bloodstock just about get away with it. One would imagine the masses will want something a little more substantial next year.
“I got wet over Evile” is quite possibly the funniest overheard quote of the festival so far. As the rain chucks it down, an astonishing number of people make it over to see the new masters of thrash in action. Always giving a light-hearted and fun performance, frontman Matt Drake rhetorically asks the crowd “Do you care about getting wet? No because you are metuhlz”, before plummeting into ‘We Who Are About to Die’. Playing an unsurprisingly energetic set, their downside is with the unsuitably slow ‘Metamorphosis’ which (despite being a cracker of a song) should definitely be left for their headline shows – not a short festival slot. Finishing with ‘Enter the Grave’, Evile certainly set a high standard for other bands to compete with.
From newbies to oldies, UK thrash pioneers Onslaught prepare for brutality as they kick into ‘Killing Peace’. Mosh pits turn into mud pits and a frenzied attack of guitar insanity is definitely the perfect hangover cure. With a fuller sound than Evile, ‘Let There Be Death’ and ‘Metal Forces’ come across as fierce as they do on LP. Despite minor out of time segments, Nige Rockett and crew certainly haven’t lost their touch, having taken their reformed sound back into the studio to record their new album. Ending with the legendary ‘Power from Hell’, Onslaught prove that the early (punk) end of thrash will always remain untouchable.
Edguy are another tight live band this weekend falling into the poor song choice trap. Vocalist Tobias Sammet demonstrates the perfect sound every power metal vocalist aspires to have; he has such an iconic voice. However Edguy seem to be in a transitional period in which they have moved from power metal to hard rock. Regardless of their change in direction they seem to be a crowd pleaser. Tobi works his audience like the rock stars of old and has them mirroring his every move. Older tracks ‘Lavatory Love Machine’, self professed Europe rip-off ‘Vain Glory Opera’ and ‘King Of Fools’ go down a treat, along with the popular single ‘Superheroes’. Despite a 10 minute slow start to the set it’s a big enough performance to calm Mother Nature and is the perfect afternoons entertainment for a typical Bloodstock crowd.
It’s time to get br00tal as Obituary chug into the instrumental ‘Redneck Stomp’. Steaming onto the stage during the awesome ‘On the Floor’, frontman John Tardy suffers from microphone problems. With a replacement quickly at his arrival, an inevitably little peed off singer faces his back to the crowd as he leads the band straight into ‘List of Dead’. Playing a variety of songs from their back catalogue, Obituary have certainly picked an appropriate festival set. However, an unfortunate lack of enthusiasm from the musicians and crowd makes the atmosphere somewhat bleak. Even though their last song ‘Slowly We Rot’ sounds as epic as ever, Obituary will always remain at the top of the leader board in intimate venues.
Once again on the sound front, Bloodstock doesn’t do Amorphis justice. Despite a muddy mix on the EQ spectrum, Amorphis put on a spectacular show. Opening with the melodic beauty ‘Silver Bride’ the band demonstrate their tight live performance skills and front man Tomi Joutsen shows off his powerful and controlled clean vocals through to his intense growls. ‘The Smoke’ is a particular highlight of the set along with ‘My Kantele’ you can see how many Folk Metal bands might have been inspired by them. Touring such a strong new album, with such a tight performance will certainly snow ball fans for Amorphis and what better place to start than Bloodstock Festival.
Devin Townsend holds the title for biggest attendance of the weekend by a long shot. This man should be given his own genre. His vocal range from ear piercing screams to haunting clean, almost operatic voice is captivating. He plays largely on his concept album ‘Ziltoid the Omniscient’, whilst still covering tracks from his back catalogue all the while cracking jokes and generally leaving the audience in amazement. We’re all left looking to the person next to us and asking them, “Did I really just hear that?” This man is not only a lyrical and song writing genius but also an accomplished guitarist and overall awe-inspiring musician, bringing epic to a new level in his music. His showmanship is also in a league of its own. ‘Deadhead’ and ‘Kingdom’ showcase Devin’s immense compositional abilities whilst the closing track ‘Life’ expresses his lighter side. Devin Townsend is a lesson in breaking boundaries of genre without going outside of the bounds of music as a whole and I’d recommend everyone in this universe to see him at least once in their life.
As all the death heads move to the Sophie Lancaster stage, bowel-wrenching insaniacs Benediction spread their vermin to the masses. Fearlessly overlooking the bloodthirsty fans, the Brummy lads knock out a tremendous set with comical banter from from Anaal Nathrakh vocalist, Dave Hunt. As usual, Benediction never fail to please and are sure to be terrorizing your neighbourhood very soon.
Children of Bodom wipe the floor with everyone this weekend when it comes to song choice. Representing most of their back catalogue in a little over an hour, Children of Bodom give the fans what they want with popular song choices such as ‘Needled 24/7’, ‘Every Time I Die’, ‘Sixpounder’, ‘Blooddrunk’, ‘Hate Me!’, ‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’ and ‘Downfall’. As well as this, they litter their set with exciting wild cards not heard by many CoB fans like ‘Kissing The Shadows’ in which front man Alexi Laiho demonstrates his unique guitar prowess by covering his vocal line as well as playing the intricate lead melodies. This band are about work and play as they play their encores which include a fun cover of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ and encourage the masses in front of them to mock keys player Janne Wirman when he ‘messes up’. It’s all part of the show but it gets a laugh and that’s all that matters!
Sunday
Opening the mainstage with their first UK festival appearance are LA radicals, Bonded By Blood. As the crowd picks up during their set, creating a hefty mosh pit at 10.30am can by no means be an easy thing to achieve. Playing a balanced set of material from their debut and newly released second album, flamboyant lead guitarist Juan Juarez flies over the fret board as his solos melt faces. With some not knowing the band, such notables as ‘Immortal Life’ and ‘Feed the Beast’ will have gained them much popularity here today.
There is nothing better than a bit of Suffocation to kick-start your day. As the band take to the stage, mad front man Frank Mullen exclaims “This one’s about killing because that’s what I like to do” before thundering into the powerful ‘Thrones of Blood’. One thing that separates Suffocation from any other death metal band is their genuine stage presence and outgoing personality and that is what has won some of the unknowing fans over this morning. More fearsome live than on CD by far.
From madman to madwoman, Sabina Classen and Holy Moses are back in the UK for their only festival appearance but unfortunately it does not turn out as successfully as planned. As half of the crowd leave after Suffocation, the German old skoolers are performing in front of a select few thrashers only – which is a true shame. Performing such classics as ‘Life’s Destoyer’, ‘SSP (Secret Service Project)’ and ‘End of Time’ gets the crowd rocking otherwise the atmosphere is bland, as German Sabrina is lost for English words.
Doro seems to be the perfect matinee entertainment. She’s old school, but that’s what we’ve come to love about her. The only let down to the set is her cover of ‘Breaking the Law’ which as an avid Judas Priest fan, was just cringe-worthy and much akin to your mother performing karaoke at the local pub. Apart from that Doro is to be respected for her achievement as a woman in a man’s world and boy does she hit that mark. Her set is full of fist-pumpers. Opening and closing with her best tracks ‘Earthshaker Rock’ and ‘All We Are’ everything in between is exactly what you’d expect to hear at a classic rock club but it goes down well with the masses.
It seems bizarre seeing Korpiklaani at 2pm, especially for a band whose back catalogue is comprised of drinking songs. Opening with ‘Vodka’, the crowd are in the mood and instantaneously pint after pint is thrust toward the sky. The band are quick to launch into a flurry of “classic” Korpi tracks to please the die-hard fans, then continue with a variety of newer tracks. After all this is a festival and given the quick success of this band, they know how to showcase themselves in this environment. They end their booze driven frenzy with ‘Happy Little Boozer’ and ‘Beer Beer’. The perfect start to a heavy day of drinking for all Bloodstockers!
The New Blood stage has now been re-named the ‘Laserdrome’ stage for the next 30 minutes. Obliterating the near full tent with their quirky guitar insanity, Mutant certainly achieve a bigger crowd reaction than Holy Moses. Watching Mutant grow as a band, their set at Bloodstock has certainly paid off as the crowd sings along to such notables as ‘Turbo Hyper Ultra Mega Power’ and ‘Psycho Surgery’. As frontman Tom Luchenstein requests “I don’t want a circle pit, I want a black hole pit”, dust and sweat smothers the lungs of everyone else as the tent goes insane. Record an album already!
GWAR’s reputation preceded themselves with this particular reviewer. Without knowing a single song, I was already aware to stand at least 15 rows back for fear of being bled on. (OR WORSE!)
Their sound is nothing we haven’t already heard before at our local thrash haunt, however where they rise above all else is in their comedy element and ability to make even the most world-wise blush. For most of their set, most of us didn’t have the slightest idea what exactly we were watching, yet we were entertained. From a Police monster being violated and hung like a spit roast from a sword, to a giant-devil-monster-thing being dismembered and bleeding all over the audience, to the bands front monster spraying the contents of his giant phallus across the front row, I was right there, unable to look away.
This is not so much about the music, but you must see it to believe it.
Gojira seem to be popular with the younger audience this weekend. Their sound is hard and heavy yet incredibly skilled and technical. What they lack in stage presence, they more than make up for in their musical ability and though not this particular reviewer’s taste, one can accept they do what they do the best in their field. ‘The Heaviest Matter of the Universe’ and ‘Vacuity’ pound through your chest like a jack hammer and have the pit kicking up dust, this is wreck-your-neck music at its finest.
After a brilliant set on Friday night, Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt is back onstage fronting his death metal supergroup, Bloodbath. Due to this being their first ever UK appearance, their performance is being filmed – and just as well as the surrounding area of the main stage is absolutely jam packed. Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend so far, Akerfeldt’s light-hearted humour is still there between songs and makes the enjoyment of seeing these Swedes twice as special. With material unbeknown to a rather large portion of the audience, demand for Bloodbath back in the UK is surely on the agenda.
Over at the Sophie Lancaster stage, kvlt doom 3-piece Witchsorrow are on. With Security looking unsure of their appeal, the audience’s reaction is by far the opposite. Despite few people watching to begin with, the tent begins to fill up halfway through their set. Despite a couple of minor technical difficulties, intricate bass licks and Witchfinder General/Black Sabbath riffery in ‘Gomorrah’ distracts the crowd from their onstage problems. Awesome band if epic doom is your cup of tea.
Death metal masters Cannibal Corpse casually stroll onto the stage before heading into the relatively new ‘Scalding Hail’. Immediately forming hell pits and waves of hair whipping, others seem uninterested in the mighty Yankie band – too late in the day perhaps? Nahhh! Either way, George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher is a naturally-gifted frontman, roaring over the technicality and sheer mind fuckery of the mastermind, Alex Webster. Ending with the inevitable ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ and ‘Stripped, Raped and Strangled’, Cannibal Corpse will always remain a legendary band on record and onstage.
In a class of their own this weekendTwisted Sister blow their audience away with lovable classics ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ and ‘I Wanna Rock’, in which they demonstrate the ultimate power of audience participation. Every single band member has a purpose in this show; they all bounce off each other, feeding from the adoring cheers and screams coming from the abyss before them. Touchingly they play a closing tribute to the dearly departed Ronnie James Dio by covering Rainbow’s ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’ then closing with crowd favourite ‘S.M.F’.
Twisted Sister are old-school through and through and symbolise an era of music and performance you just don’t see in modern music. Front man Dee Snider works his audience like a comic on his first night out. It’s incredible to see a band 38 years on and still giving the fans 200%. Those who weren’t even born when these iconic songs were envisioned are treated to a night revisiting the hay day of rock and roll; young and old, Bloodstock love it.
August 27th, 2010
Great review but Juan isnt the lead guitarist in BBBlood its Alex
August 27th, 2010
excellent review and pretty much on a par with the views we came away with…