Once again, Catton Hall played host to this years Mecca for metalheads, the one and only Bloodstock Open Air. Celebrating it’s ten year anniversary, looking back, the festival has introduced some bands to the UK that metalheads probably would never have seen otherwise, and have made the likes of NIGHTWISH, WITHIN TEMPTATION and AMON AMARTH household names in the UK metal culture.

Friday

After impressive performances from SNAKEBITE and BLACK SPIDERS opened up proceedings, the stage was handed over to the self proclaimed ‘new metal leader’. MANOWAR have never been modest, and clearly original guitarist ROSS THE BOSS hasn’t lost any of the same bullish attitude. Set opener ‘Blood of Knives’ was the best of ROSS THE BOSS‘ material, which is (yes you guessed it) in exactly the same vein as MANOWAR. Former MANOWAR drummer Scott Columbus guested on a couple of numbers, while both drummers played together for the climax of ‘Hail and Kill’. This is going to be the closest you will ever get to having MANOWAR play in the UK, so true metalheads of England certainly enjoyed the short but very, very metal set.

Next up were German metal stalwarts RAGE, who played an excellent set. Their old classic ‘Don’t Fear The Winter’ was a surprising exclusion, but still, the set was made up of some great metal tunes. The highlight being the excellent part one of ‘Empty Hollow’. As stated on stage by frontman Pete ‘Peavy’ Wagner, RAGE were the first metal band to play with an orchestra, and although the Bloodstock crowd had to make do with orchestral backing tapes, the song was still thoroughly enjoyable.

Finnish Folk come Battle Metallers ENSIFERUM kept spirits high as they powered through a romping 45 minute set. Bands like ENSIFERUM are great for festivals as they portray a great party atmosphere and get the crowd dancing, and songs like ‘Into Battle’ and ‘Stone Cold Metal’ certainly did that.

After BEHEMOTH‘s eleventh hour withdrawal, British doom metal veterans CATHEDRAL were more than happy to fill the slot. Apparently, frontman Lee Dorrain was asked to do the gig via telephone as he was decorating at home. As reliable as ever, CATHEDRAL delivered a solid set, wrapped up nicely with a pair of metal classics, ‘Ride’ and ‘Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)’.

Norwegian Black Metallers GORGOROTH took to the stage with founding member Infernus back at the helm, and it looked like he was enjoying himself, well as much as a serious black metaller can be. With this being the first time I have seen them with Pest back on vocals, I can say that I definitely think Pest is the better live vocalist and more engrossing frontman than Gaahl ever was, and numbers like ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Revelation of Doom’ were delivered superbly.

Bloodstock’s main stage this year was strangely short of power metal bands, with Finland’s SONATA ARCTICA flying the flag for that particular metal sub-genre. Still, they did themselves proud with a technically proficient performance, of which the highlight was the majestic ‘Full Moon’. Fortunately, the excitable nature of keyboardist Henrik Klingeberg makes up for the often lethargic, laid back approach from frontman Tony Kakko.

The penultimate act on the RJD stage for Friday was a rare UK outing for Swedish experimental metal outfit MESHUGGAH who blew the crowd away with their technicality and expert time changes. The crowd were loving every moment of the set with the likes of ‘Rational Gaze’ and ‘Combustion’ particularly standing out despite the entire set being a real highlight of the weekend. ‘Straws Pulled At Random’ brought their set to a close, a set which flew by and left the crowd definitely wanting more. Let’s just hope it isn’t too long before they’re back in the UK.

Having never been a major fan of OPETH, it was very hard work really to even enjoy their set, as for me, they are too slow, and do drag things on a bit. They aren’t the sort of band designed to headline festivals when everyone’s had a drink and in good spirits. Despite having some appealing moments in their material, they are too few and far between for my liking. However, they have a huge fan base in the UK and for the fans in attendance tonight they really seemed to enjoy every moment they were on stage.

Tracks like ‘Windowpane’ and ‘The Lotus Eater’ were delivered to excellent precision and the audience lapped them up, with probably the only highlight being the tribute to DIO with a brief cover of RAINBOW‘s ‘Catch The Rainbow’ (the 2nd time the song was covered today, after ROSS THE BOSS had also done a brief rendition). Despite the fact I didn’t really enjoy OPETH, it closed a thoroughly great first day with more to look forward to over the next 48 hours.

Saturday

The ball was setting rolling on Saturday morning with a double dose of UK thrash. First we had the pleasure of young guns EVILE who were fantastic, and the sound was absolutely spot on, with the thunderous thrash sounding as in your face as it would in a small club. Songs like ‘We Who Are About To Die’ and ‘Enter The Grave’ sounded sublime and helped get the crowd going given the extremely early afternoon stage slot.

Next, we had the pleasure of slightly older thrashers ONSLAUGHT who also delivered a excellent set with the likes of ‘Killing Peace’ and ‘Seeds of Hate’ particularly standing out from their last album, whilst earlier material like ‘Metal Forces’ and ‘Power From Hell’ sounding as killer as the day they were recorded. The crowd welcomed the announcement that the band were heading off the next day to start recording their new album, and if ‘Killing Peace’ is anything to go by, the new record will definitely be one to look out for in the near future.

After headlining the then smaller Bloodstock Open Air festival in 2006, EDGUY were perhaps a little under whelmed at having a slot so early in the day this time. With tongue firmly in cheek, frontman Tobias Sammet continually called the gig a ‘breakfast’ show. Fortunately though, the band were on form, and EDGUY played a great set, which was one of the highlights of the festival.

When it comes to a groovier style of death metal, none do it better than Florida’s own OBITUARY. Having seen them earlier in the year, I couldn’t wait to see them again, and aside from a small technical hitch where it seemed that John Tardy couldn’t hear himself through the monitors, they delivered a brutal set with the likes of ‘Chopped In Half’ and ‘Slowly We Rot’ standing out from an impressive performance.

Next up, making their long overdue Bloodstock debut were AMORPHIS. With hair long enough to out do Rapunzel, frontman Tommy Joutsen does a brilliant job of the vocals, which ranged from the deepest of grunts, through to tough clean melodies. ‘House of Sleep’ was the outstanding moment of a decent set.

After the hype that I had heard about DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, I was eagerly awaiting his set. Things didn’t get off to the best of starts though when all his equipment had got held up at customs, and they had to borrow all the gear for his set. Also, due to technical problems, they were about ten minutes late too, but despite this Devin kept the crowd upbeat with a bit of crowd interaction which was quite funny.

Finally they sorted out everything and the music started and after the very in your face of opener ‘Addicted!’, which I enjoyed, the rest of the set didn’t really do anything to keep me interested as the progressive nature and experimental shifts bored me a little, and the fact there was a lot of sampling used didn’t really do the trick either. Still, the crowd seemed to appreciate what was on offer so in one way the set was a success.

Managing to squeeze in a trip to the Sophie Lancaster stage where Brummie death metal outfit BENEDICTION were taking to the stage, it was an impressive turnout as the tent was rammed full of fans waiting for them, and they were rightfully treated to a brutal assault as the metal assault ripped through a 40 minute set of superb material with the likes of ‘Burying The Hatchet’, ‘Nothing On The Inside’ and ‘The Dreams You Dread’ impressing.

After pulling out of last year’s Bloodstock, FEAR FACTORY descended on Catton Hall to tear it up with their brand of hyperblasting industrial metal. As co-headliners tonight, they had a decent set length which was constructed of material both old and new. The pulverising ‘Mechanize’ opened the set, shortly followed by classics ‘Shock’ and ‘Edgecrusher’, which were delivered to the technical perfection you have come to expect from the band.

New material like ‘Powershifter’ and ‘Fear Campaign’ sounded excellent live and were well received by the crowd alongside classics such as ‘Linchpin’, ‘Martyr’ and ‘Zero Signal’, before the set was brought to an end by the fantastic ‘Replica’, and with FEAR FACTORY due to return to our shores soon for another tour, it will be anxious waiting for those dates to be announced for many in attendance.

CHILDREN OF BODOM were back at Bloodstock, five years after they headlined the very first open air edition in 2005, and with a couple of albums under their belts since then, and undoubtedly a host of new fans, this was a cracking performance from the technically gifted Finns. In Alexi Laiho, BODOM have one of the best shredders in the business, and he’s also a comical frontman at times, although the usual ‘Janne Fucked Up’ routine is getting a bit old now.

Their set was a bit of a surprise in the fact they hardly played anything from the last two albums favouring to play more off ‘Follow The Reaper’ and ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’ instead, which was perfectly fine with me as I consider those two along with ‘Hatebreeder’ to be their best work. Songs like ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’ and ‘Needled 24/7′ went down an absolute storm with the crowd, whilst it was nice to hear ‘Kissing The Shadows’ get a rare airing.

‘Hate Me!’, which has to be one of the best anthemic tunes BODOM has written rounded off the main set in style before a bit of a mess around with VAN HALEN‘s ‘Jump’ started off the encore. Closing with the duo off ‘Hatebreeder’, ‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’, as well as a blistering rendition of ‘Downfall’, BODOM brought to a close another brilliant day of steaming hot metal.

Sunday

For those early risers (or those who had yet to go to sleep), up and coming thrashers BONDED BY BLOOD, who along with the other early acts of death metallers SUFFOCATION and female fronted thrashers HOLY MOSES got the day off to a great start with their own brands of metal respectively.

Sticking with the female vocals, it was the metal queen DORO who was next up. Playing through classics of her own, as well as her original band WARLOCK, DORO gave an energetic performance which was enough to match the energy levels of her much younger band members. The anthemic ‘All We Are’ closed the set with a fist-pumping climax.

Another favourite festival band graced the main stage next as folk metallers KORPIKLAANI delivered a fun and upbeat set, which the crowd duly danced in whatever form they felt like. Folk Metal has really taken off over the past few years and bands like KORPIKLAANI have become a real hit at festivals both in the UK and Europe, with them drawing a huge crowd for their early afternoon slot.

There was time in between bands on the main stage for a quick trip to the New Blood Stage where the hugely talented thrash act that are MUTANT were pummelling their way through a 30 minute set which probably saw one of the best mosh pits, or should I say blackhole pits that stage had probably seen throughout the weekend, and with tracks like ‘The Rauncher’ and ‘Psychosurgery’, these guys are certainly a band to look out for in the future.

American/Antarctic gore obessed GWAR were next up on the main stage, and with the stage suitably wrapped up in cling film ready for the set to start, GWAR didn’t disappoint. If you have never been to a GWAR show then where the hell have you been?! A GWAR show is something everyone needs to witness before they die as it’s just hilarious. They are basically a ten times more extreme version of LORDI, with costumes and props galore as the likes of Hitler, a cop and the Nazi pope all were ‘massacred’ on stage and shot fake blood and whatever else into the crowd, and you could certainly tell which nutters had been down the front come the end of their set.

GOJIRA started off a triple assault on the RJD stage of death metal, and the French outfit got things off to a great start with their battery on the eardrums. These guys are one of the heaviest and fastest bands out there in the genre and credit to them, they actually can deliver the goods too in the live circuit. Numbers like ‘Flying Whales’ and set closer ‘Vacuity’ showcased their technical abilities and drummer Mario Duplantier has to be one of the best around at the moment.

For Mikael Akerfeldt and Martin Axenrot, it was their second set of the weekend as death metal supergroup BLOODBATH played their first ever UK gig. Having seen multiple BLOODBATH T-shirts throughout the day, it was apparent that everyone pretty much wanted to catch their set, which was one of the highlights of the whole weekend, and with it being recorded too, we can only hope for a DVD release of the show, which included excellent renditions of ‘Ways To The Grave’, ‘Cancer of The Soul’, ‘Like Fire’ and eventual set closer ‘Eaten’.

When you mention the term legends in the death metal genre, you don’t have to look much further than CANNIBAL CORPSE. With only an hour set, it was inevitable some material would be have to be cut from their usual set, and unfortunately the likes of ‘Fucked With A Knife’ and ‘Pit of Zombies’ were some of the few to be omitted. However, the likes of usual set numbers ‘I Cum Blood’ and ‘Make Them Suffer’ went down a treat as the crowd tried to keep pace with Corpsegrinder‘s insanely fast headbanging. Mosh pits galore were on the menu as CANNIBAL brutalised their way through the rest of the set before the usual set closers over the past few years of ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ and ‘Stripped, Raped And Strangled’ brought to a close the death metal course of the day.

To the delight of the crowd, one of the headliners for next years Bloodstock was announced via a trailer to the screen next to stage, and when it was announced that Norwegian Black Metallers IMMORTAL would be making their first return to the UK after nine years, the crowd erupted with delight and horns duly raised to the air.

…and so after three full days, with the toilets smelling the worst, and the festival area looking like a garbage tip – the time had come for Bloodstock 2010 to be signed off, and it was American glam metal legends TWISTED SISTER who were given that job. The band, including frontman Dee Snider, no longer wear the extreme outfits and make-up for which they are associated, but in 2010 that really doesn’t matter. What does matter is the music, and with everyone on a high from three days of metal, the likes of ‘I Wanna Rock’ and ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ went down an absolute storm.

With a brilliant cover of ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’, the band played a great tribute to Ronnie James Dio, after which, the Bloodstock main stage will now always be known. ‘S.M.F.’ finally brought an end to a magnificent set, and TWISTED SISTER had played an absolute blinder to finish off Bloodstock 2010 in style. Here’s to ten more years of Bloodstock!

Rating: 4.9/5.0

Review By Adam Fredericks & James Allman