| Our second day at
Bloodstock begins with an early morning set from
symphonic-metallers Leaves’
Eyes. Although we only caught part of their set, we were
impressed at the quality of the music and of course, the stage
presence of front woman Liv Kristine.
There’s no denying her vocal
talent (she can hit the operatic high-notes with seemingly no
effort) and the competency of the band around her but had the
set gone on for more than the half-hour we catch today, I have
to admit that I would’ve begun to lose interest just a
little.
The band are decent enough but
the songs are very similar to one another and it’s unfortunate
that in recent years, good bands like Leaves’ Eyes have
suffered somewhat from an over-saturation of bands within this
genre to the point where they may not stand out as much as they
possibly should. |
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| Setlist:
1. Njord, 2. My Destiny, 3. Emerald Isle, 4. Take the Devil
in me, 5. Froya’s Theme |
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Next up, representing
my homeland of West Yorkshire (!) are fast-rising thrashers Evile.
After first catching the band four years ago at this very
festival in the beer tent it’s great to see how far they’ve
come. Like true
northerners, the boys from Huddersfield remain undeterred by the
continuing downpour and proceed to play a short but compact set
of old-school thrash a la 2010, including old favourites such as
‘Thrasher’ and ‘Enter the Grave’ as well as a rare
airing of ‘Metamorphosis’ from last year’s excellent Infected
Nations record which doesn’t entirely go off without a
hitch but does make nice a change.
It’s no secret that the band
have had to suffer through adversity this year after the passing
of original bassist Mike Alexander but they’ve found a more
than |
| competent
replacement in Joel Graham and frontman Matt Drake reminds us
that Mike lived life to the full and enjoyed himself and
encourages us all to do the same with the truest words spoken
all weekend: “Things in your life that are rubbish – get
fucking rid of them because it’s not worth it. You’ve only
got one life so enjoy it”. Well said, dude.
Setlist:
1. Infected Nation, 2. We who are about to Die, 3. Thrasher,
4. Metamorphosis, 5. Enter the Grave |
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Continuing the British
thrash assault on the main stage are veterans Onslaught.
Without a doubt the best British thrash band to emerge
during the genre’s glory days in the ‘80’s, the band
nevertheless failed in comparison to their American counterparts
to gain the international recognition they so deserved. While
that may not be about to change any time soon, the recent thrash
revival has at least opened Onslaught up to a wider audience and
there’s a large crowd to greet them like homecoming heroes as
they take the stage.
Their 8-song set is evenly culled
from three of their four albums and although that of course
means some great songs get aired, it’s confusing and somewhat
disappointing that my favourite Onslaught album In
Search of Sanity isn’t represented at all today. |
| The band
open with the cracking title track of their recent comeback
album Killing Peace and
then proceed to revisit the ‘80’s with great songs like
‘Let There Be Death’ and the big call-to-arms ‘Metal
Forces’. ‘Planting Seeds of Hate’ has maybe the best hook
of all the Onslaught songs and the band finish with the classic
‘Power from Hell’. The band seem to won over many new fans
this afternoon and they leave the stage much like they entered
it – to rapturous applause.
Setlist:
1. Killing Peace, 2. Let there be Death, 3. Destroyer of
Worlds, 4. Metal Forces, 5. Fight with the Beast, 6. Planting
Seeds of Hate, 7. Burn, 8. Power from Hell. |
The rain has finally stopped and after
taking some time to dry off, we head back into the main arena to catch
what we understand is a rare UK performance from Amorphis.
Although I’d heard the name, I knew very little about this band
before watching them today but I was suitably impressed. After
researching their history and listening to some of their earlier stuff,
it would appear that Amorphis used to be a death metal band but have
evolved into a mash of styles including progressive and folk metal
inspired by traditional Finnish poetry and this is the band that stands
on stage today. Gone is the death metal of their early years and in its
place is a chilled out, melodic-metal set perfect for what is now a
sunny afternoon. Those in the crowd who have obviously waited eagerly
for this long overdue performance from the Finns are not disappointed
either and every song is met with one gigantic cheer after another as UK
fans finally get to witness the band outside of the nation’s capital.
It’s always nice to discover a new band that you like at a festival
and Amorphis are without doubt this weekend’s pleasant surprise –
definitely a band more people in the UK should look into.
Setlist:
1. Silver Bride, 2. Sky is Mine, 3. The Castaway, 4. Against Widows,
5. From the Heaven of my Heart, 6. The Smoke, 7. House of Sleep, 8.
Black Winter Day, 9. My Kantele
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Sound problems plague
his set before it’s even begun and unfortunately he has to cut
a song or two due to the late start but if anyone can turn a
tragedy into a triumph then it’s most certainly Devin
Townsend. Knowing that many in the crowd are eagerly waiting
his arrival like the second coming of Christ, rather than keep
an already tense audience waiting and risk pushing them over the
edge, Devin decides to come on stage to calm the mood by talking
to everyone, cracking a few jokes and generally being his
entertaining self (even if after deciding to part with his hair
he looks like some sort of deranged Hare Krishna).
Townsend once admitted to
suffering from stage fright although you wouldn’t know it
right now – if he wasn’t a musician then he could easily be
a stand-up comedian such is his comfortableness in front of the
mic.
Once the set gets started, it’s
all about the music though and as someone isn’t fond of the
heaviness of Strapping Young Lad (Townsend’s main band) I was
pleasantly surprised at how different his own material is. This
stuff is much easier on the ears and gets the crowd swaying
along in unison and generally having a great time. Maybe at
Hellfest I wasn’t paying enough attention and I came away from
that performance feeling a little underwhelmed but this
afternoon I got into it and found the experience to be totally
different. |
| What
started off as a potential catastrophe has turned into a moment
of glory for Devin and his devoted legion of fans that have
turned out to see him today.
Setlist:
1. Addicted, 2. Supercrush, 3. Kingdom, 4. OM, 5. Deadhead,
6. Truth, 7. By your Command, 8. Life |
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| Although I had only
seen the full Fear
Factory set a mere two months ago at Hellfest, I decided to
watch them again anyway, albeit from the bar a lot further back
and it was still pretty enjoyable.
For many young fans here, Fear
Factory are a nostalgia trip back to their ‘90’s youth and
as strong as the new material is, it’s always going to be the
older songs that garner the biggest reactions. Classics like ‘Edgecrusher’,
‘Linchpin’, ‘Demanufacture’ and ‘Self-Bias Resistor’
are met with deafening approval from the crowd and prove that
anyone who thought Fear Factory were a controversial choice for
Bloodstock were dead wrong and are stuck in the past and are too
obsessed with what the festival used to be about rather than the
positive and forward direction it is currently moving in (note
to the internet whingers – power-metal and only booking bands
from mainland Europe will only get you so far!). |
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| Although
the band look slightly different in that the rhythm section is
now made up of ex-SYL pair Byron Stroud and Gene Hoglan, this
has actually breathed new life into Fear Factory, as well as the
welcome reunion of Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares. It’s clear
that many people are happy to see Dino back where he belongs and
even a jovial “you fat bastard” chant cannot hide the
crowd’s appreciation for the big man. Despite it being the
primary reason for many people watching them tonight, Fear
Factory are far from a nostalgia band and songs like
‘Mechanize’ and ‘Powershifter’ stand up with the
classics very well and prove that there’s life in the old dogs
yet before ‘Replica’ sends us back down memory lane and a
clearly rejuvenated band leave the stage but not before
announcing that they will be back in December for their own
headline tour!
Setlist:
1. Mechanize, 2. Shock, 3. Edgecrusher, 4. Smasher/Devourer,
5. Acres of Skin, 6. Digimortal, 7. Powershifter, 8. Fear
Campaign, 9. Martyr, 10. Demanufacture, 11. Self-Bias Resistor,
12. Zero Signal, 13. H-K (Hunter Killer), 14. Replica |
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Rounding off a day of
top-notch metal are Finns Children of Bodom. A long-time favourite of Bloodstock, the band got
their big break in the UK when they headlined the indoor
festival in 2004 and then came back to close the very first
Bloodstock Open Air in 2005.
Thankfully, they play to a much
larger crowd tonight than they did five years ago and although
with a band this good there’s always going to be songs you’d
wished they’d played (no ‘Bodom After Midnight’ or ‘Are
you Dead Yet?’), they pretty much rip through a greatest-hits
set starting with the excellent ‘Follow the Reaper’ quickly
followed by the band’s homage to their loyal fanbase ‘Hate
Crew Deathroll’ with the anthemic line “we are the hate
crew, and we ain’t taking no shit!’ screamed back at
frontman Alexi Laiho twice as loud by the Bodom faithful down
the front. Alexi takes every opportunity to show off his guitar
skills – the man can shred, he can finger-tap and he can solo
like Yngwie Malmsteen on speed – but in truth, the whole band
play their arses off tonight. |
| Although
new album Blooddrunk may
not have been as well received by the hardcore fans as previous
records (acknowledged perhaps by the decision to completely omit
the album from the set save the title track) there’s no
doubting that the song ‘Blooddrunk’ has a monster of a riff
and a chorus perfect for a festival. The band return for the
encore in a suitably jovial mood and tease us with snippets of
hair-metal classics ‘Jump’ by Van Halen and ‘Runaway’ by
Bon Jovi before levelling the crowd with the heavy one-two punch
of ‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’ and ‘Downfall’ – a
great way to end the evening.
Setlist: 1. Follow the Reaper, 2. Hate Crew Deathroll, 3. Needled
24/7, 4. Everytime I Die, 5. Living Dead Beat, 6. Sixpounder, 7.
Blooddrunk, 8. In your Face, 9. Angels Don’t Kill, 10. Kissing
the Shadows, 11. Hate Me! Encore:
12. Silent Night, Bodom Night, 13. Downfall Review
by: Adam Grindrod |
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