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Bloodstock Open-Air 2011 - August 12th-14th - Walton-upon-Trent (GB), Catton Hall -
Friday 12th August
The first day when the bands kicked off, and it was an all-round good day. The weather was fine - not too cold, not too hot - and there were few problems on the stages. The bands performed in top form, and it was thoroughly enjoyable.
Opening their midday set with Evil Star, Wolf got off to a great start. They then played The Bite and Skull Crusher, both played with accuracy and precision. Full Moon Possession, Voodoo and K121 Kursk were the next three songs on the Wolf setlist, before they finished their fantastic set with Hail Caesar. Although Wolf came across as somewhat whiny at times (when the technical side of things did not always go to plan), but overall they were a good, relatively-early-festival band, and they were well-received by the crowd present. (SM)
Doubtless most people would not consider one o'clock in the afternoon a good time for thrash metal, but Forbidden's Bloodstock set could easily prove them wrong. The first song of their show was March Into The Fire, and the obvious fans in the audience made it clear that the band had started off well. Step By Step, Forsaken At The Gates, Omega Wave, Twisted Into Form and Through Eyes Of Glass made up the body of the set, with Chalice Of Blood being the icing on the cake. For one of the earlier bands on the main stage, Forbidden made their time on stage worthwhile, and it was a show full of energy and life that was definitely worth seeing. (SM)
Playing on the Sophie Lancaster stage where the sound was not exactly as good as it could have been, Cerebral Bore's set was inconsistent - in the sense that it started off quite poorly, but by the end it was truly fantastic. Simone Pluijmer's vocals were brilliant, and the audience gave obvious shouts of approval. There were incredibly boisterous and violent mosh pits which took up a considerable portion of the audience area. On the whole, it is safe to say that Cerebral Bore are perhaps one of the best brutal death metal bands out there at the moment. (SM)
Starting with a gloomy Procreation Of The Wicked that seemed to gather in quite a crowd, Triptykon's set lacked the moody, night-time atmosphere that suits them so well. Goetia was the next song on the list, and they played it well enough. Afterwards, in the slight rain, they played Circle Of The Tyrants, before finishing with The Prolonging, starting and finishing just as they had the previous week at the Wacken Open Air in Germany. Overall, one could hardly complain about the set: it was well played and the band knew what they were doing, and the exuberant audience probably did a good job at making the band feel welcome. (SM)
Italian heavy metal band Arthemis graced Bloodstock for the second time this year and what a triumphant return it was! They set the Sophie Lancaster tent ablaze with riff-laden metal and frenetic lead guitar work. Fabio D proved himself a more than capable frontman who captured the audience and didn't let them go until the very last note had died. A forthcoming UK tour with Freedom Call means that Arthemis may soon be at a venue near you. You'd be a fool to miss out! (MT)
I'd been looking forward to seeing Byfrost since I reviewed the band's new album earlier this year. I didn't know what to expect from a Byfrost live show and I must admit, I was a little disappointed. The performance seemed rather lacklustre with the band seemingly uninterested. The sound in the Sophie Lancaster stage wasn't the best, truth be told, and Byfrost's performance was not bad by any means, just not memorable in any way. (MT)
Kreator's Bloodstock show was hardly their best, but, as usual, it was delightful in comparison to the majority of performances that most thrash metal bands could even dream of delivering. Inaugurating with Hordes Of Chaos, and then somewhat blasting their way through Warcurse, Endless Pain, Pleasure To Kill, Destroy What Destroys You and Voices Of The Dead, the stage show was excellent, and the sound on the Ronnie James Dio stage was perhaps the best that it had been all day. The audience lapped up Enemy Of God, Phobia, Reconquering The Throne, Violent Revolution and Betrayer before the band ended their allotment on stage with a brutal rendition of Flag Of Hate and Tormentor. This was maybe one of the best bands all day, and it felt as though they certainly deserved more than an hour slot. (SM)
Without question, this show was certainly cosmic. Launching with By Your Command, Devin Townsend and his band sent the audience on an unholy journey of both abhorrence and admiration. Supercrush! was performed to a fascinating standard, and even by Kingdom, Devin Townsend was still as wacky and wild as he was during the first song. Stand was the next song on the list, followed by Juular and Truth. One could not possibly describe a performance of Devin Townsend to a heathen who has never seen him live, for his mind-bending and mind-blowing show truly has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately, Devin Townsend Project had a slight clash with Lawnmower Deth (this was hardly to be the last inconvenient clash at the festival) - the set went far past 'Truth', but that song shall be as far as this review goes... (SM)
As blasphemous as it may seem to fans of Devin Townsend, leaving early for Lawnmower Deth was just...so worth it. With Sumo himself making a special guest appearance on stage for Sumo Rabbit & His Inescapable Trap Of Doom, the band reminding the audience why the Sophie Lancaster stage had been renamed that and Satan's Trampoline being accompanied by a man in an orange floral dress and bullet belt wearing a Satan mask actually jumping up and down on a trampoline, how could anybody complain about this show? The whole band were friendly and funny, and apart from a slight blunder on drums, the music was performed wonderfully, and the band truly deserved the surprisingly large and welcoming audience that they received. After all these years of their thrash antics, Lawnmower Deth have still got it. (SM)
Saturday 13th August
The Ronnie James Dio stage had prepared a feast of black, heavy, folk, prog, epic, death and symphonic metal for the lucky Bloodstock goers today, and what a feast of impeccable standards it was! Again, there were some technical difficulties, but nothing that the overall excellence of the day could not overshadow.
The first band of the day on the Ronnie James Dio stage, Skeletonwitch got people headbanging and moshing before noon, which is an achievement to be proud of, quite frankly. They opened the day with Upon Wings Of Black, and already it was obvious that this was going to be a good show. For the entirety of their performance, Skeletonwitch were absolutely marvellous, and their audience interaction was commendable, engaging the more tired people out there and being generally amicable and pleasant. Their final song was a sensational display of Within My Blood, before Chance Garnette closed their set with his immortal words of, "Drink beer, smoke weed and eat pussy." (SM)
The band suffered from some technical difficulties to start off with, although Grave Digger put on a mighty and unforgettable performance. Their first song was the amazing Paid In Blood, and from there on in things only got better. The Dark Of The Sun was played well, but it was Hammer Of The Scots and Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching) that threw the crowdsurfers to the front. By Ballad Of The Hangman, things had lightened up slightly, but then the band played a conglomeration of songs including Twilight Of The Gods that sent the crowd wild again, and following that up with Excalibur did little to help matters. Grave Digger ended their set with Heavy Metal Breakdown, and it was a shame to see it come to an end. Chris Boltendahl's vocals were awe-inspiring, Axel Ritt proved to be a fantastic guitarist and the entire band were amusing - for insane Germans acting like Scotsmen, Grave Digger are a pretty good band to see live. (SM)
Wings Of Darkness commenced Tarot's 40 minutes of mayhem, and it was obvious from the first song that they were going to do a talented production. Ashes To The Stars and Crows Fly Black were played extremely well, and between songs, with Marco and Tommi occasionally throwing some smut out there. Tarot's cover of Blue Öyster Cult's Veteran Of The Psychic Wars was also awesome, and when Tarot got to Pyre Of Gods, they naturally had to make some anti-Christian comment, and it got perhaps a slightly stronger cheer than the smut. Hell Knows and Spell Of Iron came after that, and then the band concluded their show with a good performance of Traitor. (SM)
Opening with Solsagan from their last album, Nifelvind, Finntroll were off to a fantastic start. The sound was great and the audience were better. Slaget Vid Blodsälv and Rivfader were the next two songs, going back to the beginning of the band's career, and after that they played Nedgång and Nattfödd. They blew the audience away with a stunning performance of Vätteanda, and then the crowdsurfers went wild as they played possibly their most famous, and probably the fans' favorite, song, Trollhammaren. However, they still had some time left, so they took the opportunity to play Under Bergets Rot/Kummitus and Mot Skuggornas Värld/Samiricon, ahead of wrapping up their set with what could well have been one of their best ever performances of Jaktens Tid. Since Finntroll last played in the UK, they certainly improved, and this proved to be a superb show overall, and the crowd certainly gave their approval. (SM)
The Barren Lands was to be the start of this spectacular. Ihsahn continued his set with A Grave Inversed and then Unhealer, interacting little, if at all, with the audience between songs. Just when it seemed as though things could get no better, the musicians played the superb Called By The Fire and hard-hitting Misanthrope. The entire show just improved from beginning to end, and there was no better way to end than with Frozen Lakes On Mars. Ihsahn seemed a rather introverted man, and he spent most of his time focusing on his music. Some artists have to cover up their mediocre music or poor sound with friendliness and liveliness, but Ihsahn never had to do this for one second. (SM)
As harsh as it may sound, Wintersun were vastly overrated. They opened with Beyond The Dark Sun, which was played adequately. Battle Against Time and Sleeping Stars were slightly better, and the crowd seemed to be having a gargantuan time in any case. The setlist was a good part of Wintersun's set, with the following songs being Winter Madness and The Way Of The Fire. The final song was Starchild, which certainly got a good reception, yet for how much applause and cheer that their set received, it just felt as though Wintersun did not even attempt to perform their best. (SM)
With a hauntingly beautiful Sitra Ahra, the metal opera was underway. Hellequin, Nifelheim and The Perennial Sophia were all absolutely stunning, and it became obvious that this was going to be a show of Therion's more recent works. Clavicula Nox', Call Of Dagon, Typhon, Ljusalfheim and To Mega Therion continued Therion's symphonic masterpieces, Thomas Vikström, Snowy Shaw, Lori Lewis and Linnéa Vikström providing a quartet of vocals that were absolutely out of this world. To top it all off, they concluded their tale with the brilliant opening piece from the Vovin album, The Rise Of Sodom And Gomorrah. (SM)
This was Rhapsody Of Fire's first ever, and perhaps last ever, UK performance, so the band certainly had a lot of standards to live up to. Soon, Christopher Lee's voice could be heard in the background, and when the band appeared on stage and began to play Triumph Or Agony, with an almighty cheer from the crowd, any high expectations that first time live witnesses of Rhapsody had were instantly met without question. Fabio Lione's powerful voice bellowing the lyrics of Holy Thunderforce echoed throughout the festival grounds, and Village Of Dwarves took the band down a slightly different path. The amazing guitar mastery of Luca Turilli seemed to really shine through with On The Way To Ainor, and the crowd showed off their own musical 'talent' (if it could be called that) as they sang along to Dawn Of Victory. A short Italian lesson was next with a beautiful act of Lamento Eroico, which was followed by more recorded narration by Sir Christopher Lee for Unholy Warcry. After an all-round wonderful show so far, it was time to ride, die and sacrifice with an unforgettable execution of The March Of The Swordmaster. Rhapsody would not stop there however - oh no: such a breathtaking performance deserved nothing less than an encore. The unmistakable sounds of Liber Scriptus, Liber Proferetur could be quietly heard in the background, as it was time for Reign Of Terror. It was only natural for Rhapsody to finish with a classic, famous song of theirs, and they chose, probably wisely judging by the reaction of the audience, Emerald Sword. What an excellent, magnificent, superb performance! Rhapsody fans had been waiting well over a decade, almost fifteen years, for this performance. Was it worth the wait? Definitely. Rhapsody Of Fire, the true Steelgods of the Bloodstock Open Air. (SM)
To understand the fermenting anxiety in the minds of British Immortal fans, it is important to remember that it had been just under a mere ten years since Immortal had last played in the UK. Always bear this in mind - it just might help you to understand the mentality of the audience. As a ghastly fog shrouded the stage and moon in mystery, the grim sound of All Shall Fall leaped out and clawed off the faces of those present. Immortal had many treats lined up for their fans this evening, including the sequential song, Sons Of Northern Darkness. Sticking with the theme of darkness which the band love so much, they played The Rise Of Darkness, followed by Damned In Black and The Call Of The Wintermoon. They played with absolute prowess, and the sound was outstanding. Solarfall was the next song, and after that In My Kingdom Cold. Something that Immortal definitely proved during this show was that, surprisingly, they actually have a sense of humour. Yes, really - believe it! Amongst the hilarity and interaction, the band pumped out Tyrants, One By One and Blashyrkh, remaining kvlt at all times (note: there is nothing more kvlt than crab walking). No Immortal show would be complete without Grim And Frostbitten Kingdoms, but they were hardly about to stop after that. Withstand The Fall Of Time was the final Immortal song...for a while. After some technical difficulties they had with so-called Apollyon's bass, the band were still up for an encore, as were the audience. Immortal survived showers of firework pyrotechnics to play Beyond The North Waves and The Sun No Longer Rises to the ravenous crowd that was amassed in front of the stage. 'Mindblowing' could never do Immortal's performance justice. This show was 'mindfrostbiting'. (SM)
Sunday 14th August
The final day of the festival had quite a few good acts lined up, from the internationally famous to relatively new bands. The weather had become a bit more chilly, and there was even a little bit of rain. The people were more tired than they had been all weekend, but that was no excuse to stop rocking out.
A fairly new band hailing from Manchester, Wolfcrusher played on the New Blood Stage. This talented bunch of musicians were surprisingly impressive - at times it was dizzying trying to watch the guitarists' playing! Overall, they played incredibly well and much better than expected. The audience started off rather small, but by the end of the show, a sizeable number of people had amounted. Singer Gary Harkin was all over the stage, full of energy and his vocals were clear and controlled. The bass seemed rather quiet, which was a shame considering bassist Chris Mitchell-Taylor seemed to be putting an awful lot of effort in. (SM)
A lot of black metal bands just seem to churn out monotonous riffs and lack any sort of presence or skill on stage, but not 1349. They opened with a song from their first album, Riders Of The Apocalypse, and it sounded quite good despite some slight sound problems. Next they played I Am Abomination and it was excellent. Chasing Dragons was quite sublime, and they performed an impressive rendition of Serpentine Sibilence. When I Was Flesh was not the best song so far, but they made up for it with Sculptor Of Flesh. The final song was Atomic Chapel, and it was a nice end to quite a short set that left its mark. Olav 'Ravn' Bergene's microphone did temporarily cut off at some point, and despite the silly (yet admittedly typical) black metal get-ups, the band made good use of the main stage. 1349 put on a memorable show, and it was just a shame that they did not have a bigger audience. (SM)
This was interesting - the review shall explain why... Primordial started their set with No Grave Deep Enough, and it sounded absolutely brilliant. Every member of the band was wonderful, and the audience were enthusiastic enough. However, after they had finished their first song, disaster struck...Alan Averill lost his voice. You read that correctly, and, according to his words, it was the first time that it had ever happened. To tell the truth, it was cringe-worthy and embarrassing, but it was also quite beautiful: the band carried on regardless, and occasionally Alan would attempt to sing again. They played As Rome Burns, Bloodied Yet Unbowed and Empire Falls as instrumental pieces, and the members of the audience who knew the lyrics sang in Alan's place. By their final song, The Coffin Ships, Alan gave one last try, and for the end of the song, it really did look as though he was giving his all, which really did just make this particular Primordial show uniquely heavenly. (SM)
The band opened their set with Strong-Arm which came across as an intense wall of sound. Unchallenged Hate, Continuing War On Stupidity and Next On The List were to follow, and Barney interacted quite respectably with the audience between songs - oh, and his pink and flowery towel was simply delightful! Napalm Death continued to break eardrums with When All Is Said And Done, Lucid Fairytale, Social Sterility, Diktat and Lowlife. The show went on, On The Brink Of Extinction, Scum, Life?, Control and M.A.D. being the next lot of songs. The sound was still awful by the time the band reached You Suffer, Nazi Punks Fuck Off and Suffer The Children, but Napalm Death put a bit more energy into their final song, Instinct Of Survival. As a whole, the show was pretty average and the sound was far from fantastic, but the raw on-stage energy on Napalm Death made them worth seeing, as usual. (SM)
Let the hammer fall, as they say: the...metaphorical...hammer of music...that HammerFall always wield, that is. Yes, let's go with that. Having first played Bloodstock in 2005, HammerFall seemed to be a welcome band. As soon as they opened with Patient Zero, they were fantastic. Their setlist comprised of a fantastic and popular collection of songs with the band playing through Any Means Necessary and B.Y.H. with an astounding reaction from the audience. Blood Bound, Last Man Standing and HammerFall kept the audience going strong, the band sociable, the music surprising. They got the audience banging their heads with Bang Your Head and some more modern HammerFall in the form of One More Time proved to be popular. The spectacular Hearts On Fire was performed to the highest standards, and HammerFall topped off an absolutely magnificent show with none other than Let The Hammer Fall itself. (SM)
For a band that has been going since the 80s, Exodus showed no signs of being bored or uninterested in what they were doing. Beginning with The Ballad Of Leonard And Charles from their latest album, they were immediately off to a good start. They then went on to the next song of the album, Beyond The Pale, and the audience were insane throughout. A Lesson In Violence took the crowd back an album, and the whole band were doing a grand job of keeping up the attitude. Blacklist was a frightening spectacle to behold, and getting to watch Exodus play Bonded By Blood live - their first song from their first album - was an honour. The Toxic Waltz was Exodus' final song, and there could have been no better way to end such a memorable display. (SM)
A quick dash to the Sophie Lancaster stage for Power Quest followed the end of Exodus' set! With the storming Blood Alliance album currently endearing Power Quest to melodic metal fans across the globe it was time for them to unleash it live on the Bloodstock crowd. The set was marred somewhat by the always atrocious Sophie stage sound but that could not detract from the fantastic performance that Steve Williams' mob put in. Most of the set was made up of songs from the latest album, including the opener Battle Stations and Steve Williams introduced some songs with some well thought out speeches, including an attack on the pathetic legions of rioters that had rocked several major cities in the UK mere days before. The large crowd cheered this before the band launched into Better Days. The highlight of the set was, of course, Blood Alliance itself. An awesome display from the London quintet, from which I am sure they have garnered many more fans. (MT)
It is safe to say that Morbid Angel certainly received a lot of criticism for Illud Divinum Insanus (the title of the album itself being dreadfully translated Latin), but this particular show was really quite satisfactory. They started with one of their earlier songs, Immortal Rites, yet the crowd seemed unimpressed. Fall From Grace, Rapture and Maze Of Torment did little to pick up the atmosphere, and Existo Vulgoré, Nevermore and I Am Morbid were hardly well-received, although the crowd were slightly less objectionable than one might expect. Angel Of Disease really was played considerably well, as were Chapel Of Ghouls and Where The Slime Live. God Of Emptiness was perhaps borderline beautiful, and Morbid Angel probably did their best to close with World Of Shit. For a band that had fluctuated in acceptance and popularity recently, Morbid Angel still put a lot of effort into their show and clearly tried their best to enjoy it, regardless of whether or not the festival-goers did the same. (SM)
This band has an exorbitant fanbase, and, with it, high standards to live up to, but this performance was lacking in so many areas. Iron Fist was Motörhead's initiation which set the mood for the majority of the show. Stay Clean, Get Back In Line, Metropolis, Over The Topand One Night Stand were boring and verbose, and Lemmy's talk seemed (and probably was) to be constructed of set phrases and unenthusiastic jabber. Rock Out was subpar, as were The Thousand Names Of God, I Know How To Die, The Chase Is Better Than The Catch and In The Name Of Tragedy, the latter of which was graced by a respectable drum solo from Mikkey Dee, improving things somewhat. Just 'Cos You Got The Power made a change for the better, and Going To Brazil and Killed By Death were perhaps two of the better songs of the night. It was obvious that Motörhead would not do a show without playing Ace Of Spades, which they naturally reserved for their encore, although it sounded painstakingly awful. Although they supplied some entertainment such as a fire show, Motörhead's performance was, quite frankly, unfit to be a headline act, with many of the bands at the festival having performed to a much better standard, even bands with considerably less fans. Motörhead may not have been the best way to end things, but their shoddy performance could never overshadow the absolutely stunning performances delivered by so many bands at this festival, and on the whole this was a truly unforgettable weekend. (SM)
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