BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2008
CATTON HALL, DERBY - SAT 16 AUG - PAGE TWO
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Evil Scarecrow who were, today, waking us up in an ungodly way. I have caught this lot a couple of times over the past few years and while they have always been good fun there was an alarm-bell ringing in my head, thinking these guys aren’t quite up to scratch and that frankly, there are better bands playing the unsigned tent. Well, from the minute they hit the stage and crunch out the familiar ‘Fear of the Helldogs’ they have me eating my words (and they didn’t taste nice!). There’s a melodic black metal feel to the music that gives off the impression that these could be the long lost children of tonight’s headliners Dimmu Borgir, and they mix in a huge dollop of slapstick humour that the crowd seem to lap up like (hell)dogs! This quintet command the big stage surprisingly well, suppressing all the apprehensions I had about this young outfit looking swamped out by the surrounding space. In their tattered scarecrow rags, they manage to work up one of the funniest mosh-pits of the weekend to “Robototron”, although none of the automated movers in the crowd could have a patch on the Carlsberg Robot! Despite my usual hangover, I walked away from their set with an amused grin. (LH)
Once the wax had been blasted out of my ears, Cloudscape were up and ready to soften the air with their blend of progressive metal. I last saw this lot at Prog Power 2007 (RIP) and today they prove to be ever the dependable band as they blaze out a power-laden array of mighty riffs and hard and heavy drumming, setting the solid tone for which to build upon with iridescent synths and uplifting vocal melodies that are delivered with a real wallop. There are more frills in some of the fret work than there are on the guitarists’ shirt sleeves, as they melodiously scurry about in the mix on tracks like ‘Darkest Legacy’ which we’re all informed is taken from their forthcoming album. The songs don’t so much sweep you in, as they do sweep you away to a cloud entrenched zenith, which is enjoyable enough to listen to albeit with minimal hook to really sink into my memory. (LH)
Probably due to the band name, I thought Rise To Remain might have had an In Flames sort of infatuation as I went to check them out. The singer was wearing a no doubt freshly purchased Sabbat shirt and the group looked young. I was disappointed as they started playing a stale and standard by numbers form of trendcore, one that we have all heard countless times before. Digging around now I see that they are an unsigned band, so what the hell where they doing on the main stage now and not opening the day on it you may well ask? A bit of further digging results in the fact that the band include the son of one Bruce Dickinson in their ranks! I have to admit this is a pretty disgusting situation especially due to the fact that I could name several signed bands who had been considered and were turned down for Bloodstock for this generic bunch. Getting back to my notes and what I wrote at the time of watching and before I discovered this fact, I mentioned that the group’s youth did contribute to an enthusiastic on stage display, albeit one to a completely indifferent audience. I also found the high yapping vocals, low attempted growls and clean melodic croons employed pretty much leaving me absolutely hating this brand of what I can only describe as Myspace metal. Toward the end they had a mini circle pit tearing around like they were in a playpen. Perhaps this time next year Lauren Harris can have a headlining slot? (PW)
Lovers of true doom would have been in delight (instead of gloom!) after hearing the next band Witchsorrow. Having obtained a copy of their tape demo a few months back this was going to be good. Immediately ‘The Trial of Elizabeth Clarke’ plays out to a booming guitar sound, bloody hell, when the bass starts up, the ribcage gets a pounding. Doom doesn’t need to be flamboyant or ultra fashionable, the music speaks for itself. Punishing slow melodies and killer classic metal riffs lay waste to all. Even when the guitar amp died, a little banter ensured, then back to the doom. Playing a cover of a Mayhem song at doom speed does sound much more powerful. Damn this was a classic gig and a rare live outing for this three-piece. (PM)
Empyreal Destroyer are a good band in my eyes, having bought all of their releases to date I was eager to catch them live. Unfortunately, they came across as a bit of a mess, especially the guitar sound. It was disappointing to see a good band suffering even though their live show was of good quality. Their overall bludgeoning sound is a far cry from the previous doom band on this stage, ripping solos and excellent arrangements do make up however for the poor sound quality which was not the bands doing. (PM)
Three-piece bands are quite rare, however, Mantra from York duly make up for it in power. After a shaky start, everyone is warmed up and ‘Judas’ gives a simple but effective powerhouse of ‘BLS’ inspired classic riff driven heavy metal with massive vocal hooks and groove. These guys & gal have come a long way since I saw them last year with ‘Irony of Christ’ in London, they are much tighter and give an improved professional display. ‘Blackened Cross’ lays waste to the fret board and thundering bass lines ensure that everyone is taking note. The drummer obviously has strong feet to be playing barefoot! In summary, another memorable solid live gig for me at BOA which has proven to show better talent on the unsigned stage than some bands on the main stage this weekend! (PM)
After giving my ears a rest during Rise To Remain, opting instead to laze about on a comfy spot of grass, I returned only to find myself taken on a chimerical flight across the small pond to Ireland (via Switzerland) as Eluveitie paint the Bloodstock stage a verdant shade of emerald green with their lively set. Traditional Celtic euphonies are ingrained deep in the mix as they batter out a full throttled assault of melodeath riffage, kicking up into a frolicsome jaunt. After watching them trip over each other whilst crammed onto the relatively tiny Leeds Rios stage at Toplessmanf…er, sorry, Paganfest, it is something of a treat to see them unleash their full potential. With eight of them on stage there is never a dull moment, with something constantly there to keep the eyes (and ears) entertained.
Whilst I must confess that their album doesn’t overly thrill me, I can’t help but to be drawn in by their live performance. The ladies of Eluveitie engage in a merry old Irish jig that is nothing short of entrancing to watch. With a duplex array of flutes scurrying and interchanging with one another, as well as a hurdy-gurdy (which seriously can’t be as easy to play as it’s made to look here!) and a headbanging violinist, it really boggles the mind as to how this sprightly lot manage to stay so tight while many bands half their size make such a dishevelled racket! With only a small catalogue of material to draw from, they plough through the canorously uplifting ‘Inis Mona’, the ferocious ‘Of Fire And Wisdom’ before facetiously kicking into ‘Your Gaulish War’ with a shout of “Are you ready for some battle?” which only a non-native English speaker can get away with so lightly. With Moonsorrow yet to come, the staff will surely have a job clearing up the ‘Bloodstained Ground’ after this one! (LH)
After the jolly jig of Eluveitie it was time to put a downer on proceedings. Swallow The Sun were the perfect choice to do so although I found their inclusion slightly surprising as the atmospheric doom and gloom of say Katatonia or even Anathema may have been more at home with the audience here. Not that I was complaining as the group impressed me last year at With Full Force and have got a cracking new EP just about to come out. Perversely, the sun was at this point doing its best to come out as the group strode on to Julee Cruse’s Twin Peaks ‘Falling’ as an intro. Were songs like ‘Don’t Fall Asleep’ a plea to the audience from these dour Finns? Perhaps not, as rich in harmony and lush in melody the textured numbers had people swaying in the breeze on the whole rather than floored on the ground unable to move. As for new song ‘Plague Of Butterflies,’ being 30 minutes long we were never going to get the whole of it (actually a lot of groups had the task of compacting some epic numbers this weekend). Luckily on disc they had the foresight to divide this stunning track into three sections making it possible for playing live. I would like to hear the whole song sometime but was not complaining when they found time for final number ‘Swallow’ with its guitar raptures billowing out through the dry ice toward a sky with clouds resembling a giant bruise. The sun had well and truly been snuffed out here. (PW)
“We are Blood Island Raiders, and we play proper heavy metal!” So spoke the vocalist for the heavily supported London quartet, and true to his word, it was played, but with many added layers. Leaning more towards the doom/stoner side of metal, with riffs from the Tony Iommi school of rock, tracks including ‘Blade of Vengeance’, and ‘Rust’ a track about dead bodies, were delivered with a consummate skill by the band that had brought with them a large and enthusiastic following to the Scuzz tent. Even new track ‘This Iron Furnace’, with its thundering steamroller of a riff had heads banging and hair flying. Their all too short 6 song set was finished with ‘I am the King’, a chugging number that was delivered in a timeless hard rock style that could have come from any decade from the late 60’s to now. The confidence and skill that shone through in a mid afternoon slot in a tent will have me hunting them out live again. (SB).
The afternoon saw me making an unexpected visit to the Lava Tent, which during the day was host to the guitar hero competition to catch stalwarts of the burgeoning Essex metal scene, 9 Days Down. Having been scheduled to open the Scuzz stage at 10am, this they duly did. Sadly, the arena didn’t open until 10.30! Fortunately an extra slot was opened for the band, who carried on enthusiastically, despite the rescheduling and less then perfect setting. Musically the band owed a lot to the likes of Stuck Mojo, laying down an infectious groovy beat with the vocalist cutting between growled and clean vocals, joined on the stamping choruses by one of the guitarists for a decent harmony. With little more then 30 minutes on stage the band managed to encompass groove metal, thrash riffs, meandering prog rock guitar solos, and the cookie monster vocals so prevalent in younger metal bands, all the time managing to tie the diverse styles together without sounding forced which is no mean feat. (SB).
One of the highlights of Prog-Power UK 2007 for me, despite their short set, was Communic, and so I was rather looking forward to seeing them today. While “Waves…” was one of my top albums of 2006, I have not yet gotten around to hearing the “Payments of Existence” which was released just last month. Seeing them play ‘Waves of Visual Decay’ was the climax of their set, with Oddleif’s rich and pensive voice gushing through the warm yet crushing arrangement of melody that flows effusively yet generates enough power to send sparks flying across the stage. The trio unleash a volley of untested tracks upon the crowd including ‘Payment Of Existence’ and Raven’s Cry’ from the new album, and as much as I find them enjoyable, I can’t help but crave more of their earlier material. Communic are very much a band with a sound that grows on you, and I’m not sure that live is the place to do it. (LH)
Clearly all the hype surrounding Keltic Jihad has paid off if the amassed group of watchers is much to go on. While their recordings left no lasting impression on me I decided to give them another chance to see if they fare any better in the live arena. As they assume their positions on the stage I could easily be lulled into believing the hype; they definitely look the part, and while the vocalist is sure to set a few pulses racing, the minute she opens her mouth I’m left cold. Her off-key shouting would perhaps be more apt at a football match, and her fleeting soprano attempt sounds entirely out of place. To look on the positive side of the coin for one moment, the musicians appear competent enough, i.e. they can keep it together and play their instruments, although the slapdash structures, lacklustre melodies and pedestrian riffs do little to spark my interest. While I made every effort to get into their music, on this occasion I left the Scuzz tent disappointed. (LH)
The battle raged on as Moonsorrow took to the stage, which was one of the moments I had been most anticipating this weekend. Having totally blown me away at Paganfest, I can honestly state that as much as I enjoy their music on record, it doesn’t even come close to the experience of their live performance. From the moment they strike out the opening bars of ‘Tulimyrsky’ they have me utterly mesmerised, both by their hypnotic stage presence and their beguiling melodies that shroud my senses in a way that so few bands actually manage to do. The epic crashing sounds of ‘Unohduksen Lapsi’ fill the entire venue with it’s majestic presence, as the melancholic air drifts fervently through, colliding head on with the icy blackness that tumultuously elevates the tune to searing heights, as the canorous vocals scythe through the ferocious blood-soaked soundscapes, while the abrasive war cries of Henri Sorvali fill the arena with such a feeling of despair.
The gloomy alignment of their sound doesn’t prevent a riotous atmosphere from arising, as I am left dodging the do-si-do-ing metalheads who literally come flying at me (although I’m sure such “caught in the act” snaps could work a treat as blackmail!) How one bloke manages to sleep through all the mayhem is one of Bloodstock’s great mysteries; perhaps Moonsorrow can cause some folk to drift into a soporific state…or maybe he just had too much to drink!
The Paganic tribe violently stomp about the stage, asserting their ground yet in such a natural and un-choreographed way as some bands in the category have a tendency to do. Mitja Harvilahti doesn’t so much play his guitar as he does attack the thing, like it were his greatest mortal enemy he were beating to a bloody pulp. They round off their set exactly as they started it, with the songs sandwiched between the beginning and end sequences to the title track from their E.P. ‘Tulimyrsky’, bringing to a close what was quite possibly the highlight of the weekend, for this writer at least. Stunning! (LH)
Where’s the bass? Damn, this can’t be right, front right of stage in front of the mighty Shane Embury and the bass is almost non-existent, I have to move around the arena to get a better sound. Napalm Death lay waste to most bands live, and I was particularly looking forward to seeing them having missed them every time they have played in the last 10 years! I know, it’s silly! Anyway…’Infiltrator’ kicks things off, Barney careers about the stage like a mad man, but has the time to introduce the band to the festival before the cracking tune ‘Suffer the Children’ is played. ‘It's A! M.A.N.S. World’, ‘Scum’ & ‘Life’ are all back catalogue classics which are more than welcomed. ‘Napalm Death’ live are very special and this was no different apart from intermittent bass PA problems. Barney proclaims...”say it loud, say it proud”…’Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ and the closer ‘Siege of Power’ brings things to a blistering end. I have to say it would have been more intense in a small club, but this was enough for me for today, a perfect grind assault (PM).
Before today I’d not seen Soilwork live, and had been warned that sometimes their onstage performance didn’t always match the albums. However, despite heavy rain, the band treated the soggy but bouncing crowd to one of the most energetic sets of the weekend. Even though it was only 7pm, the overcast skies meant that the light show was extremely effective, and the band seemed genuinely happy to be there, vocalist Bjorn Strid thanking the crowd for staying there, saying in the same conditions Swedish audiences had gone home. This energy was communicated to the crowd, with two parallel pits opening up, one circling, and one moshing, before merging together into the first ever heavy metal conga chain I’d seen! Nobody was more manic on that stage than bassist Ola Fink, a man who looked scarily like a happy Dan Lilker, and ran and kicked his way around the stage as if it was his own personal mosh pit.
Music wise the band packed their set with crowd pleasing chant along numbers like ‘Bastard Chain’ and ‘Stabbing the Drama’, each having the crowd singing itself hoarse whilst Strid conducted. Even new single ‘Exile’ was massively well received, having the audience bouncing as one. The brief hiatus of the technical problem failed to put a dent in the high energy and humour of the performance, Bjorn Strid keeping the crowd on his side with a well timed Rick Astley joke, and renaming ‘Pittsburgh Syndrome’ the ‘Bloodstock Syndrome’ in honour of the crowd, before finishing with a brutally delivered ‘Nerve.’ Having done a 19 date summer festival tour, Soilwork knew how to work a crowd, and delivered a masterful set. (SB)
It was time for me to get a sound battering over at the Scuzz stage and I certainly got one from the last two bands of the evening there. Firstly we had RSJ from Yorkshire who I had caught before actually supporting The Berzerker so it was almost a case of history repeating itself. ‘Degrees Of Separation’ saw the band being one that was difficult to pigeonhole although extreme technical grind point things in the right direction. Maybe it was teatime as the tent could have done with some more bodies in it for this but those that were here threw themselves admirably about to this course eviscerating tumult. Vocalist Dan Cook tried to get people to follow the example of a massive tattooed skinhead commanding the pit before the group laid down a hefty beatdown. It was not all about the brutality though as graceful and elegant guitar passages spiralled off into the stratosphere and had me spazzing out as they unravelled on the complex ‘Dystonia’. They even offered their album for free at the end of the set to any takers, how nice.
Now unsigned, we had The Berzerker as special guests, headliners or whatever you wanted to term them this evening. One thing was evident both the tent and indeed the photo pit was rammed and the stage manager told us taking photos that we had one song and had to get out. As the set-list had 17 songs and the band were on for 30 minutes that was going to be no easy task. As the ‘Bezerkerlocalypse’ swung into action it was evident that this was going to be one of those inhumanly fast sets that this band are accustomed to. I literally fell out and watched from the side of the stage head spinning, watching new drummer Todd batter the shit out of his kit. Luke growled and rasped his way through the numbers, which to be honest came so quickly that they were hard to take in. As bodies piled over the top to the likes of ‘Disregard’ it was a case of getting back into the audience and digging in. Unfortunately after new number ‘Deception’ I realised that due to a slight overrun I was going to have to cut this set short and leg it to shoot Iced Earth. (PW)
This is it, the moment my whole weekend has been waiting for Iced Earth with Matt Barlow on vocals. ‘Burning Times’ has never sounded so good and the more recent track ‘Declaration Day’ sung with much more emotion than the original version. The band themselves are heads down playing the tunes for all they are worth. The light show is also something special. ‘Violate’ plays and the crowd are now up for task and are right behind the band. How again these guys were not headliners is criminal, but you cannot have everything. A sneak rendition of ‘Iron Maiden’s - The Trooper’ gets the crowd going but it then flows into their own killer track ‘Pure Evil’. This is so tight and you really have to admire the talent of the whole band. Wailing guitar solos from Troy Steele and the precise staccato rhythm of Jon Schaffer makes for great entertainment. ’10,000 Strong’ are we…maybe so, this was meant to be the capacity of the festival this year so it may be right. ‘My Own Saviour’ ends the set and brings you close to full emotional breakdown; the power is amazing; in fact one of my female friends at the festival came back from the front rubbing her eyes. ‘Iced Earth’ are back with a terrific new album and more power and emotion than ever before, a classic show. (PM)
If there’s one complaint I feel I need to make heard it’s the poor advertisement of the bands in the Lava tent. The Scuzz competition winners appearing on the different nights in the Lava tent weren’t announced until a good share of the festival attendees, myself included, were already settled in their tents. Luckily a text message on the Thursday alerted me to the news that Welsh thrashers Warpath had won the contest and would be making an appearance on the Saturday night. Unfortunately the virtually non-existent promotion coupled with a battle against the mighty Iced Earth who were concurrently performing on the main stage meant they were destined tonight to suffer from sparseness of crowd, but for a few eager neck-wreckers obviously keen on keeping their vertebrae from seizing up in the gap between Destruction and Overkill. And those who did make the effort are treated to a solid half hour of heads down, no-bullshit thrash metal the way it should be; no frills, no gimmicks, just an endless stock of riffs and solos pummelled out behind a mass of swirling hair as they crush out with the likes of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ and ‘Spitting Blood’, while we finally start to see older tracks such as ‘Infernal’ reach their potential. Yes, it verges on the generic. Alright, we’ve heard it all before and okay, Evile have kind of beaten them to it. Warpath embrace the essence of old school thrash and they ain’t letting go. (LH)
Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had not seen Dimmu Borgir for quite some time as I had missed their last London show that I enjoyed them so much tonight. Still at first it was like going into a war zone and we were told to put earplugs in and not stand forward of a certain point in the photo pit or we were going to get a free sun tan courtesy of the pyrotechnics. It was a shame that the one song we had to shoot was a favourite ‘Spellbound’ as I was too busy to appreciate it at the time. That five minutes pretty much did leave me with shellshock, the pyro explosions were pant splattering loud make no mistake. The group immediately commanded the stage. Shagrath strode around like an alien overlord, looking unnatural in his garish get up, Galder was the bald loon, sticking tongue out like a jester and Silenoz was having difficulty keeping his beard as the pyros flew out sparks like a giant Catherine wheel in his face. Over on the other side of the stage I caught ICS Vortex contorting himself bass on knee as the spotlights illuminated him in stark profile, before literally fleeing for my life.
Back in the crowd with a much needed drink I was finally able to appreciate just how spot on and grandiose the sound was. It sparkled to the austere death-march of ‘The Sepentine Offering’ and as the intro rolled into the drumming flurries the night sky blazed again under the flash of the pyrotechnics. When the clean vocals from Vortex finally struck it was pretty much like being given the cherry on top of the sumptuous iced cake and sounded absolutely fantastic.
At times we were spun round on an intergalactic haunted merry go round at others cast down into the fiery pits of hell. This was way different in the sound department from when I first caught a terribly sounding Dimmu Borgir at Dynamo Open Air in 1998. Black Metal was never meant to sound this sharp and precise, mind you many would look upon calling the group thus in this day and age akin to blasphemy. Shagrath would disagree and proclaimed the group as being true Norwegian practitioners of the craft at every opportunity.
Brandishing instruments like gladiatorial weapons and cast in pastel lights this was fantastical to watch. At times dry ice swept out and we peered in as the group loomed, summoned by Mustis graveyard keyboard cavalcade on ‘A Succubus In Rapture’. The highlight for me was the encore pairing of old and new and two favourites ‘Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse’ and ‘Mourning Palace’. The one complaint here is that they did not play the fully allotted 90 minutes; apart from that Dimmu Borgir were for me without doubt the surprise performance of the festival. (PW).
Reviewing team - Spencer Bullen, Martin Harris, Dave Heward, Luci Herbert, Paul Maddison and Pete Woods
BLOODSTOCK REVIEW PAGE 1 - FRI
BLOODSTOCK REVIEW PAGE 3 - SUN
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - THURSDAY
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - FRIDAY (MAIN STAGE)
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - FRIDAY (SCUZZ & LAVA STAGES)
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - SATURDAY (MAIN STAGE)
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - SATURDAY (SCUZZ & LAVA STAGES)
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - SUNDAY (MAIN STAGE)
BLOODSTOCK PHOTOS - SUNDAY (SCUZZ & LAVA STAGES)
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