Festival: Bloodstock Open Air 

Artists: Enforcer, Powerwolf, Sonata Arctica, Collapse, Sworn To Oath, Gorgoroth, Leaves Eyes, Evile, Onslaught, Edguy, Obituary, Modecal, Regardless Of Me, Benediction, Fear Factory, Bonded By Blood, Old Corpse Road, Suffocation, Holy Moses, Doro, Gwar, Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse.  

Dates: 13th, 14th & 15th August 2010   

Being a Bloodstock virgin, I wasn’t sure what to expect of this weekend.  I had heard lots of good things about previous years and I certainly was not disappointed, in fact, bring on Bloodstock 2011!! Although the weather wasn’t the best, it certainly did not dampen the atmosphere and I enjoyed wearing my wellies!! 

Friday 13th

We arrived just to see the last few songs from Gorgoroths set.  With Pest back on vocals and Frank Watkins (ex-obituary) on stage, they played to a full capacity crowd and did not disappoint.  Sworn to Oath played an acoustic set on the Jagermeister truck.  Sounded good to me, a bit bluesy with great vocals.  Collapse on the Sophie stage and played well, however they did a rather poor version of Judas Priests ‘Hammer and Anvil’, never mess with the classics.  

Sonata Arctica lightened up the mood on the main stage and played a good set through a few showers of rain!!.  Enforcer played the Sophie stage and blew it away.  A little bit rough around the edges, however they have a great feel about them and gave a great show.  Powerwolf also played the Sophie stage and were impressive.  This was their first live venture in the UK and I would think they will be back.  

Saturday 14th

Leaves Eyes were our first outing for Saturday.  I was really looking forward to seeing them, but sadly I was disappointed.  On vinyl, they sound orchestral, majestic and grand.  However, this does not translate to stage.  Perhaps they may sound better indoors.  Evile got a rapturous welcome and played a blinder.  It was lashing rain during their set, but I didn’t see one person run for shelter (hardcore fans!!).  They played a great set and introduced their new bass player.  They also gave a touching speech about life being too short, no truer word has been said!! 

Onslaught took to the stage next, and my, are they a polished and professional crew.  The have a great sound, great stage presence and blew the place away.  It was my first time seeing them live, but it definitely won’t be my last.  Thrash rules!!!  Edguy have always been my guilty pleasure and I was delighted to get an opportunity to see them in the flesh.  What a feel good buzz the left Bloodstock with.  They were just great.  And as a bonus, they had Markus GroBkopf from Helloween playing bass.  How cool is that!!  They flung out hits such as Lavatory Machine, Superhero’s and King of fools. 

Obituary took possession of the stage and didn’t let go until they had squeezed ever last mosh out of the audience. I will never tire of Slowly We Rot and Chopped in Half.  I had the pleasure of meeting them afterwards and what nice people they are.  MordecaI are a solid sounding rock band who put in a high class performance performance.  They have a great sound that is complemented by strong vocals from lead singer Dan Hicks. Regardless of Me reminded me a bit of Lacuna Coil, and low and behold, they are from Milan!!  Unfortunately for them, there was a very small turnout for their gig on the Sophie stage, which was a great shame, because they played great.  They have great energy and lovely vocals from their lead singer Pamela with gruffer vocals from Emiliano Sicilia. 

We were all set for Benediction, however my bubble was burst as the Sophie tent was so full we couldn’t get in!!  Sorry lads!! Fear Factory seems to be having a second wind these days, particularly since the release of Mechanize earlier this year.  Their Fear Campaign has taking the world by storm and Bloodstock was not different.  Their mix of death, speed and thrash metal ticks all the boxes for most metalers.  They were engaging and brutally good and covered a lot of old ground as well as some new material.   

Sunday 15^th

Bonded by Blood are young bay area inspired thrashers.  They are still very young, but they played a blinder of a set (even if it was only 10.30am).  Old Corpse Road.  Well it was very early in the morning to be listening to Black Metal, but this band is very impressive. I like the eerie sound they have.  Keep going lads, you are on the right road!!!  Suffocation what can I say the legends!!  They absolutely pummeled their way through their set. They were easily one of the best bands of the weekend.  

Korpiklaani are a great live folk power metal band (who aren’t cheesey!!) who really know how to get the crowd going.  Having seen them before at Graspop 09, it was no surprise to see how good these guys are live.  Holy Moses are probably one of the first female fronted thrash bands and having not seen them before I was not sure what to expect, but they did not disappoint.  They looked great and really enjoyed themselves on stage. Sabina really gave it socks. 

Next up the mighty Doro. I got a chance to see her not so long ago in Dublin when she supported Saxon, so I knew this was going to be good!!  Doro has got a great band around who compliment her on stage.  Great set list with the classics like Burning the Witches, All We Are and her unique version of Breaking the Law.  She also did a cool duo with Sabina from Holy Moses of Celebrate.  Don’t miss the opportunity to see Doro live as she truly is a legend.  I really didn’t think GWAR would actually play this year, after canceling Bloodstock 09 and Hellfest 10, but they did.  

What a mad bunch of bastards!!  I don’t own anything by GWAR but they put on a fantastic stage show loads of fake blood and green stuff spurting into the crowd (from the Pope and Adolf Hitler!!), they are a bit hard to classify but the crowd went mad for them.  They were another highlight of the weekend for me and have won me over as a fan.  Bloodbath are a strange combination of members from Katationa and Opeth.  For their first time playing live in the UK, they certainly lived up to their cult status.  They drew a huge crowd and certainly they did not disappoint.  Cannibal Corpse are one of the old school more successful death metal bands.  They take no prisoners and were ready willing and able for carnage at bloodstock. They churned out a number of golden oldies such as Hammer Smashed Face and the crowd responded with quite a large mosh pit.  

Review by: Janice Brady

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