Next up were Brazilian three-piece death metal combo KRISIUN. These guys have to be one of the tightest death metal bands out there. Their stripped down, unpretentious death metal is surgical in its precision and devastating in its brutality, the highlight of their set had to be ‘Bloodcraft’ taken from their AssassiNation album, with a blastbeat barrage that sounded like somebody firing an M60 machine gun. Drummer Max Kolesne executed some killer blasts and double bass work and was definitely the standout of the gig. If you want direct, brutal death metal with a decidedly old school flavour then I strongly recommend KRISIUN especially if you have a neighbour you want to piss off.

Next up were Egyptian-themed death metallers from South Carolina (that hotbed of Egyptian culture…) NILE opening with the intro ‘Kafir’. As soon as ‘Sacrifice unto Sebek’ kicked in it was obvious even to the uninitiated that NILE are a very different proposition to KRISIUN. Clearly influenced by the interest in Egyptology of behemoth-like guitarist Karl Sanders, Their music with all its pomp and sometimes slightly disjointed Egyptian themes is the antithesis of KRISIUN. NILE then blasted through ‘Execration Text’, ‘Serpent Headed Mask’, ‘Ithyphallic’ and then the hilariously titled ‘Papyrus… (Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor against Attacks from He who is in the Water)’ executing them with very professionally and convincingly but I felt they lacked the vital ferocity and brutality of the main support band, this is most likely due to the material itself as it is by it nature more complicated and drawn out than KRISIUN.

Karl Sanders did seem to still possess a genuine enthusiasm for the music as was evident in his constant grinning (which got a bit disturbing after a while…), fair play to him though his guitar leads and sweeps underlined the quality of the song writing and subtlety of the arrangements. Unfortunately they did have some bad luck at this point. During the rendition of ‘Dagon’ the PA tripped out and killed the song dead. Credit to the band in that they didn’t throw a fit and continued with ‘Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld’ from the new opus Those Whom the Gods Detest but yet again the PA threw a wobbler – at this point NILE really were limping home, after ‘Sarcophagus and Lashed to the Slave Stick’ the audience had their calls for ‘Cast Down the Heretic’ fulfilled, but again the PA gods did not smile upon them, they managed to squeeze off a killing rendition of ‘Black Seeds of Vengeance’ with members of the support acts providing backing vocals.

Overall it was a killing night of quality death metal with KRISIUN standing out the most convincing. NILE frankly got a raw deal with the sound system screw ups but even so I felt that even without the PA dying they would have struggled to top the raw brutality of the Brazilian crew, in my opinon it was a slightly strange pairing. Nevertheless you can’t take it away from Sanders’ merry men; they do produce world class death metal and the night should not have ended in the relative anticlimax that it did.

Rating:

Photography by Alex Shaw(For Photo’s Click Here)

The ‘Leather Boyz…’ album is probably the best example of clichéd hair metal. The songs follow a simple, yet effective formula of catchy choruses, and party lyrics, all with a pungent whiff of cheese. Although it could never be described as a masterpiece, those into the hair metal genre rate the album very highly. The likes of ’48 Hours’ and ‘Only The Young’ were lapped up by the crowd, with plenty of headbanging and no shortage of fists in the air.

Classic members Steve ‘Sex’ Summers (vocals) and Kristy ‘Krash’ Majors (guitar) were joined tonight by Criss 6 (bass) and Troy Patrick Farrell (guitar). Summer’s voice is very similar to that of Vince Neil, but live, he’s a better performer, and a great frontman, as he even managed to drum up at least some noise from the small crowd. Kristy Majors played the guitar more than capably, and Troy Patrick Farrell was particularly strong on the drums. However, the bass sound was terrible all night. A really low rumble on the bass was present throughout, with frequent distortion also noticeable. It was amazing and certainly disappointing that this wasn’t sorted out during the set.

The poor sound did little to dampen spirits, and one spirit in particular was flowing as Summers offered the front row a swig of his neat vodka. The brilliant, party-tastic ‘Saturday Night’ was thoroughly enjoyable, as was the ‘arms in the air’, sing-a-long ballad ‘I Wanna Be With You’. The hour long set was finally wrapped up with a cover of KISS’ ‘Let Me Go, Rock’n'Roll’, aptly leading into the awesome anthem ‘Rock and Roll (Is Gonna Set The Night on Fire)’. The band didn’t return for an encore, but with the whole ‘Leather Boyz…’ opus played, that was probably enough as anyone would have wanted. PRETTY BOY FLOYD are a good live band, and would go down a storm at a festival. However, pulling in crowds like tonight’s, I worry that they probably won’t be able to afford to play too many more UK headline shows like this one, and that’s a damn shame.

Setlist: Leather Boyz with Electric Toyz / The Last Kiss / Rock and Roll Outlaws / Only The Young / Your Mama Won’t Know / Wild Angels / Saturday Night / Toast Of The Town / Junkie Girl / 48 Hours / I Wanna Be With You / Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ roll / Rock and Roll (Is Gonna Set The Night on Fire)

Review by James Allman

The sleaze’n'roll four piece have some good songs, and are certainly an enjoyable live band who are full of energy, and boast no shortage of talent. Frontman AJ doesn’t have the most memorable of voices, but his no frills style fits the raw edge of the band’s music rather well. Songs like ‘Come Over’ and ‘Rock’n'Roll Overload’ went down a storm, both being as good as anything you’ll hear from the current crop of up and coming UK rock bands. With a style that could appeal to a range of rockers, NEW GENERATION SUPERSTARS could well be set for a bright future – just as long as they can ride out the tough times. Let’s hope they do!

San Fransisco glam metal heros VAIN rarely venture to European shores these days, so it was a great pleasure to get the chance to see them. The 1989 album ‘No Respect’ is very close to perfect, and certainly one of the very best in the glam rock / hair metal genre. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the 75 minute set was made up of songs from that album, and with all bar one of the original lineup intact, VAIN played a storming show.

In an unforgiving music business, VAIN never managed to capitalise on the quality of the ‘No Respect’ album, and through various strokes of bad luck and bad management, they have unfortunately faded into hair metal obscurity. Still, a decent 100 strong crowd will have really enjoyed the intimacy of tonight’s show, as did frontman Davy Vain. Although strangely bare footed, the brilliant singer pranced all over the stage as he belted out note perfect renditions of ’1,000 Degrees’ and ‘No Respect’.

Although big anthems like ‘Beat The Bullet’ and ‘Who’s Watching You’ were obvious highlights, album tracks like ‘Icy’ and ‘Smoke and Shadows’ were also thoroughly enjoyable. The infectiously catchy ‘Love Drug’ was the best of the three songs that weren’t from ‘No Respect’.

Overall, tonight’s gig was a great night out, with both of the main acts putting on memorable performances. Although dubbed a farewell tour, I for one will be keeping my fingers cross that VAIN keep on going. They’re too good a band not to!

NEW GENERATION SUPERSTARS Setlist: I Won’t Stop / Nothin’ To Lose / Own Sweet Hell / Way Back Home / Bleed / Addictive / Dopefriend / Come Over / Save Me / Do It ‘Cause I Can / Beat ‘Em Down / Rock ‘n’ Roll Overload

Photography by Alexander Shaw(Click Here)

After missing the first support completely DEVIANT UK where up next. Having seen them a few times now they seem to grow on you, the music stands up on its self but live with Jay Smith bounding round making the Robin’s stage look a bit small and Mark Bartholomew on drums pounding out industrial beat with a punk arrogance, they are in their element. DEVIANT UK produce a professional finish to their live performance which is no doubt due to a relentless tour schedule.

This is the first time I’ve encountered INFORMATIK which is in itself unsurprising as they hail from California, you can’t help but feel for bands that travel half way round the world to play to 100 people. Rant over! First off I had no idea what to expect of the dark future-pop, it sounded to me like a collaboration between Trent Reznor and Nick Holmes. As expected they played a few tracks from their latest album Arena, with ‘Come Together’ off the aforementioned album being one of the strongest songs in the set. Then back to more familiar territory with ‘Saints and Sinners’ that got the crowd moving again. Hearing old and new songs back to back you get the feel of a real divergence in their music, making them an exciting band to listen to.

If the crowd was a bit subdued for INFORMATIK, as soon as front man Mark Hockings stepped onstage the Robin came alive. From the opening song ‘If We Stay Here’, the opening track of their new album A Perfect Solution, Mark shows his credential’s as a captivating performer drawing the crowd into the performance. The third song ‘Leaves You Nothing’ with its unashamedly self-indulgent sing along chorus is held together by powerful lyrics sung with tangible emotion in Mark’s vocals something that is and always will be the reason seeing a band perform live will never lose its appeal.

MESH have created a sound that is instantly recognisable through-out their songs but at the same time doesn’t make them feel too generic. Even with a long set there’s not really any weak songs to pad it out. For myself it’s their slower songs that make them stand out as a band, ‘Can you Mend Hearts’ and ‘It Scares Me’ are a master class in emotive song writing which are lapped up by the audience.

Ending the set on ‘Everything I made’ but with the cries for an encore before they had left the stage, they were soon back determined to end on a high note. The last song ‘Friends like These’ got the dance floor moving one more time, while photos of the crowd taken earlier in the night scrolled on the monitors on either side of the stage, thankfully I missed that dubious honour!

Ratings:

Review and Photos by Alex Shaw(Photos Click Here)

With no support act, it seemed like an age before W.A.S.P. took to the stage, but the forthcoming show was well worth the wait. Blackie Lawless and his troops were on fine form tonight and of the several W.A.S.P. shows I’ve been lucky enough to see, this was the best. Why? Well first of all, W.A.S.P. played a decent length set spanning 90 minutes in all. Also, the set contained a great mix of songs from W.A.S.P.’s history, with hardly a classic missing (apart from ‘Animal’ of course which is now strangely discarded by Lawless).

The band were in fine shape, and Blackie in particular sounded as good as he has in a long time, as he reveled playing in front of a full house. The backdrop for the evening was projected videos of the original promo videos for the songs, played simultaneously with the live song that was being performed. Opening with the high tempo ‘On Your Knees’, the band were quickly into their stride, and they didn’t look back.

New album ‘Babylon’ is an enjoyable feast of W.A.S.P., and choice cuts ‘Babylon’s Burning’ and ‘Crazy’ sounded as good as any other song in the set. Other modern day W.A.S.P. songs like ‘Heaven’s Hung in Black’ and ‘Take Me Up’ were also lapped up by the Dudley crowd. Predictably though, the old faithfuls like ‘L.O.V.E. Machine’, ‘Wild Child’ and ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’ got the biggest cheers of the night.

Closing the set with the party anthem ‘Blind in Texas’, W.A.S.P. took a bow, and left the stage to a wall of applause. It’s great to see W.A.S.P. back and firing on all cylinders again. You never know, one day, we might even see that exploding cod piece again! We can only hope.

W.A.S.P. Setlist: On Your Knees / The Real Me / L.O.V.E. Machine / Crazy / Babylon’s Burning / Wild Child / Hellion / I Don’t Need No Doctor / Scream Until U Like It / Arena of Pleasure / Chainsaw Charlie / The Idol / Take Me Up / I Wanna Be Somebody / Heaven’s Hung in Black / Blind in Texas

Review by James Allman

We arrived half way through the MAN RAZE set, which featured Phil Colleen from DEF LEPPARD and Paul Cook formerly of the SEX PISTOLS. The music is extremely well played and professionally executed, but to my ears is rather uninspired hard rock. Yes it hits all the right buttons, the songs are well crafted but seems a bit passionless and staid.

So onto the main act of the night, at this point the anticipation in the crowd is very high and it is clear that the band definitely has a friendly audience. The stage is shrouded with a curtain emblazed with Alice’s face and the title of the tour ‘Theatre of Death’, this is torn down and they open with ‘School’s Out’, an obvious opener and the band most of whom are quite young do initially come across as anonymous session musicians, Alice of course is the seasoned entertainer and plays to the crowd as you would expect him to. They blasted their way through ‘I’m 18′ (I guess he has been 18 for many years then!), ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ and ‘Poison’ all of which were slickly executed if somewhat different from their album versions, in particular ‘Poison’. I felt the set kicked up a gear when ‘Dirty Diamonds’ was played, at this point the backing band seemed to have settled and are genuinely enjoying the performance. ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ follows along with ‘Killer’ and three excellent renditions of ‘I Love the Dead’, ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’ and ‘Got You under My Wheels’, the latter being particularly spot on.

Of course no review of Alice Cooper can ignore the stage show of which never seems to change – fake blood, guillotines, nubile ladies in nurse’s uniforms, and Alice in a rather “fetching” spider costume. To me this is the problem in a way, Alice Cooper is an anachronism, and it’s no longer in anyway shocking or challenging and comes across a bit fey and quaint. Sure its good fun and I suppose that’s all you can expect but I did find at times the stage show got in the way of the music. Overall however I did find the show pretty enjoyable and to be honest that came as quite a surprise. In my opinon they still should have played ‘Freedom’ though.

Rating: 3.5/5

Photography by Alex Shaw(Alice Cooper Photos)

BEHOLDER can be caught live at the following shows, starting tonight in Derby, and will be announcing a full UK Tour for 2010 very soon.

26th November – The Old Bell Hotel – Derby
3rd December – Hard Rock Hell Festival – Prestatyn, Wales
4th December – TC’s – Birmingham
6th December – Redeemer – Leicester
19th December – The Queens Hall – Nuneaton
20th December – The Horseshoe – Wellingborough

Shows will have copies of the album available and the new range of BEHOLDER Merchandise, which again will look lovely under the Christmas Tree.

On the back of a very strong performance at Bloodstock Open Air this year, it was nice to see they reworked the set for this upcoming tour, as so many bands just leave it the same, and even the new album has been out for over a year now, this is the first headline UK tour they have done in promotion of the new album, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the new material get the majority of the set.

Opening up with ‘Twilight of The Thunder God’, followed closely by ‘Tattered Banners And Bloody Flags’, these were two of the tracks on show from the latest album. Other tracks on show from the new album were ‘Varyags of Miklagaard’, ‘Guardians of Asgaard’, and ‘Live For The Kill’ (complete with APOCALYPTICA backing tracks).

There were also a couple of surprise inclusions in the form of ‘Hermod’s Ride To Hel’ and an awesome rendition of ‘Where Silent Gods Stand Guard’, which were both well received by the crowd tonight who were lapping up every second of this rather intimate show, and needed no persuasion from Johan Hegg to mosh and headbang whenever necessary. It would have been nice to hear some more old school material than the few songs we got, but that didn’t detract from what was an thoroughly excellent and energetic performance.

Other crowd favourites made up the set tonight with the likes of ‘Death In Fire’ and ‘Asator’ went down an absolute storm while everybody was singing the chorus to ‘Runes To My Memory’. A special dedication to the untimely passing of Mike Alexander was made for an apt song in the form of ‘Fate of Norns’. With the closing of the main set with the usual ‘Victorious March’, the encore followed with two songs which AMON AMARTH have become known for, ‘Cry of The Blackbirds’, and the usual closing song of ‘Pursuit of Vikings’ with all of the crowd pumping their fists in the air.

This closed another outstanding performance from the Vikings, and everytime I have seen them, they have performed at these extremely high levels, and for the past couple of years, they have been getting the recognition they deserve in the UK as they do in Europe. Lets pray to Odin that it isn’t too long before they are marching back again to our venues taking us to metal heaven in Valhalla.

AMON AMARTH Setlist: Twilight of The Thunder God / Tattered Banners And Bloody Flags / Valkyries Ride / Asator / Varyags of Miklagaard / Hermod’s Ride To Hel (Loke’s Treachary Part 1) / Guardians of Asgaard / Where Silent Gods Stand Guard / Live For The Kill / Fate of Norns / Death in Fire / Runes To My Memory / Victorious March / Cry of The Blackbirds / Pursuit of Vikings

Photography By Alexander Shaw (Photo gallery)

Ronan burst onto stage to ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ and sets a frantic pace which a small minority of the crowd with enough space to dance tried to match. The whole set seemed to feed off itself and by mid set the first beat of ‘Chrome’ it couldn’t really get any better.

If the tempo was slowed by ‘Great Divide’ then it hit the proverbial brick wall that is ‘Illusion’ with its slow beat and syth-piano accompaniment, Ronan’s voice takes on a completely different aspect, such a contrast to the rest of the set, live this song hypnotises the audience.

In between songs Ronan kept up the witty banter with the crowd, every now and then burst into Darah o’Briain style gags, the finest when he stop the set and with the help of the rest of the band managed to create a Christmas tree out of the drum kit using glow sticks thrown from the crowd!

The set closed with the powerful beat driven ‘Nemesis’, but with more than a few crowd pleasers still to be played, after some thunderous applause, VNV NATION were back on stage, and off again and back on with three separate encores! Not that anyone seemed to mind the chance to make as much noise as possible in between.

As the set was coming to an end ‘Joy’ got everyone dancing one last time. Then when it seemed the set was never going to end, with a little irony for good measure ‘Perpetual’ brought the night to a close.

Rating:

Review and Photography and Alexander Shaw

(VNV Nation photos)

Opening proceedings on the Friday were BLITZKRIEG (2.8/5.0) in a last minute change in the stage schedule which saw the NWOBHM veterans switched with energetic Northern Irish rockers MILLION DOLLAR RELOAD (3.2/5.0). Next up were Finns INSOMNIUM (3.4/5.0) whose brand of melodic death metal got the crowd going nicely for the rest of the day.

Probably the hardest band to pronounce over the weekend were to grace the stage next, German metallers DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER (3.5/5.0), whilst thrashers MUNICIPAL WASTE (3.8/5.0) really stepped up the pace, with them attempting to pull off a world record attempt for most crowd surfers (I even noticed someone on an inflatable lilo) during a song. Needless to say, the Bloodstock crowd duly obliged and according to frontman Tony Foresta, they got the record. You’ll have to check the book this Christmas!

Anyways, after all that hectic pace, it was time to slow things down slightly with one of the most requested bands the fans have asked for over the years, of course we are talking about KATATONIA (4.2/5.0) and they delivered a excellent set despite only having a 45 minutes with the likes of ‘Evidence’ and ‘Ghost of The Sun’ going down extremely well.

Playing their first show on UK soil for 20 years and one of the major highlights of the festival, thrash legends SODOM (4.8/5.0) took to the stage for what was an awesome set, even though it was only 45 minutes, and the crowd thoroughly lapped every second of it up, with the pit going insane for the majority of the songs. Kicking off the set with ‘Napalm In The Morning’ , things just got better and better with the likes of ‘City of God’ and ‘Agent Orange’ causing a massive outbreak of headbanging, whilst ‘Blasphemer’ was tributed to the band’s late drummer, Witchhunter. Closing with ‘Remember The Fallen’ lets all hope its not another 20 years before SODOM are back on UK soil.

Managing to squeeze a trip to the Unsigned Stage between acts on the main stage to catch a glimpse of THE GREEN RIVER PROJECT (3.5/5.0) who seemed to go down very well with the people in attendance, and not before long it was time to head back to the Main Stage. What can you say about SAXON (4.6/5.0) that hasn’t already been said?! These guys don’t half put on a show and know how to get the crowd going. Playing a few from latest album ‘Into The Labyrinth’, in the form of opener ‘Battalions of Steel’, ‘Demon Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Live To Rock’, along with what was essentially a best of the rest set, which included the likes of ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’, ‘Denim and Leather’, ‘And The Bands Played On’ and of course the ever present ‘Princess of The Night’. Their hour set was over all too soon, and when you consider what songs they had left out, they could have easily filled another hour and be worthy headliners. Still, they left the crowd wanting more, and the majority will probably be going to a show or two on their tour in November when SAXON are back in town with film stars ANVIL.

Tonight was to be an extremely busy night for two people in particular, Michael Amott and Daniel Erlandsson as they took to the stage for the 1st of their 2 sets tonight with the ever impressive ARCH ENEMY (4.4/5.0). Back after their successful performance 2 years ago at BOA 2007, but this time as a co-headliner, they played a blistering 75 minute set full of anthemic tracks since the ‘Wages of Sin’ album, with the likes of ‘Ravenous’ and ‘Dead Eyes See No Future’ going down an absolute storm, whilst crowd pleasers like ‘We Will Rise’, ‘My Apocalypse’ and ‘Nemesis’ were delivered with sheer precision and relentless brutality, whilst a few from the latest album ‘Rise of The Tyrants’ being thrown in for good measure, with the standout tracks being ‘Revolution Begins’ and ‘I Will Live Again’.

Rounding off Friday’s entertainment on the Main Stage were death metallers CARCASS (4.2/5.0) whose recent reformation last year saw them play for the first time on UK soil in 14 years at the Damnation Festival. Delivering a 75 minute set of their best stuff, with which the majority came from what is regarded as the band’s best album, ‘Heartwork’, they opened with ‘Corporal Jigsore Quandary’, and despite a few sound problems at times, they soldiered on and ended the day on a high. With a video slideshow of gory and disturbing images you would probably only expect from CARCASS going on behind them on the backdrop, this was not a gig for the faint hearted.

Original drummer Ken Owen made an appearance for a drum solo, which is a nice touch from the band, seen as he cannot do a full set anymore due to ill health. Obvious highlights of the set included the likes of ‘Buried Dreams’ and ‘No Love Lost’, whilst ‘Incarnated Solvent Abuse’ and ‘Reek of Putrefaction’ were amongst other standout tracks.

Starting Saturday off rather early were Bolton based rockers UNCLE ROTTER (3.6/5.0), who lets face it, are a bit of fun and a good live band to put on at a festival. They got the crowd going nicely with them joining in for ‘Fit Goth Chicks’. The other early acts included BATTLELORE (2.1/5.0) whose folk metal style songs are nowhere near as strong as fellow country mates TURISAS, whilst Swedish metal purists WOLF (3.9/5.0) picked things back up again to the crowds delight, and the energy continued with THE HAUNTED (3.8/5.0) who seems to be everyone’s new favourite band and are coming from the realms of the underground metal scene to the forefront gaining more and more attention, and delivering a decent 40 minute set you can understand why.

Swedish death metallers ENTOMBED (3.6/5.0) kept things flowing along nicely mid afternoon, and will be definitely worth another look on their upcoming UK tour supporting fellow country mates AMON AMARTH. CANDLEMASS (4.5/5.0) then thoroughly entertained the main stage attendees with their brand of doom metal, whilst on the Unsigned Stage, one of the UK’s best and young upcoming metal bands, SANCTORUM (4.4/5.0) were also kicking ass. With already two quality albums behind them, these guys delivered a tight set which comprised fully of tracks from latest opus ‘Ashes of Redemption’ with the standout track of the set being the awesome ‘Take It All’. If you get the chance to see these guys, do it. You won’t be disappointed.

Progressive black metallers ENSLAVED (3.7/5.0) kept things ticking over on the main stage before it was time for some good old thrash. German legends KREATOR (4.8/5.0) delivered a truly killer set which saw the biggest mosh pit of the weekend. They packed their short set with a best of the best opening with the title track from their latest album ‘Hordes of Chaos’, followed by a superb rendition of ‘Phobia’ which had shouting the word out when required. I’ve never seen such a frontman with such passion that gets the crowd going like Mille Petrozza and he had no problems doing so during their set. The pit went wild during the likes of ‘Pleasure To Kill’ and ‘Extreme Aggression’, before the usual closing duo of ‘Flag of Hate’ and ‘Tormentor’ came upon us bringing a close on a superb performance. When it comes to sheer intensity, brutality and ability to destroy an arena, there are none better than KREATOR.

Quite why APOCALYPTICA (2.2/5.0) were above KREATOR on the billing is quite bemusing to me as for me, their fad of cover songs and cello metal style has worn off. Sure, it was new and different when they first broke onto the scene, but even then I got bored very quickly after 20 minutes or so. The set was mainly filled by covers rather than their original material and while sections of the crowd may have been lapping it up and singing along to the classic METALLICA covers like ‘Wherever I May Roam’, ‘One’, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ and ‘Enter Sandman’, they need to be more engaging and they need something new and fresh about them, perhaps a regular vocalist might help, but for me this really was a tedious performance.

Thank god it was one of the most anticipated bands of the weekend on next to bring things back on track. German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN (4.9/5.0) appeared on stage to the familiar intro of ‘War of Wrath’ before kicking into a 75 minute set filled with classics from their back catalogue and the crowd singing along at every moment possible to the likes of ‘Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)’ and ‘Valhalla’. They delivered a truly wonderful and crowd pleasing set with as much as they could possibly squeeze into the time allotted, with a number of tracks like SAXON yesterday left out which could have easily filled another hour or so.

‘Fly’ was the only track on show from latest album ‘A Twist In The Myth’, whilst a new song written for the computer game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel was on show in the form of the aptly titled ‘Sacred’. Other set highlights including spellbinding renditions of ‘Another Holy War’, ‘Nightfall’, ‘Welcome To Dying’ and ‘Imaginations From The Other Side’. All too soon the closing tracks of ‘The Bard’s Song (In The Forest)’ and as usual ending on ‘Mirror Mirror’ left the crowd chanting their name and wanting more, which unfortunately did not come, but lets hope its not too long before we see these guys back in the UK with a new album.

CRADLE OF FILTH (3.5/5.0) are one of those bands some people love to hate because of their well known arrogance and controversy that seems to follow them wherever they go. No matter what you may think though, these guys don’t half put on a show, with Dani Filth’s banter at times being rather amusing. Opening with ‘Shat Out of Hell’, it was soon apparent that if you weren’t directly in front of the speakers, you would barely be able to hear Dani’s vocals let alone the music as well. ‘Gilded Cunt’ followed as did a couple for the old school fans in appearance tonight in the form of ‘Dusk And Her Embrace’ and ‘The Principle of Evil made Flesh’, whilst the new album ‘Godspeed on The Devil’s Thunder’ got a run out with the likes of the opening track along with ‘The 13th Caesar’ and ‘Honey And Sulphur’, both of which are superb tracks.

Unfortunately the mood dampened during ‘Under Huntress Moon’ as a few select idiots decided to spoil the party for everyone by throwing more damaging items (up until then it had been harmless empty bottles and cups) at the band, which is uncalled for even if you don’t like them, which resulted in guitarist Paul Allender getting hit in the spine with a cricket ball sized gobstopper, thus resulting in him requiring medical attention and not been able to perform the rest of the set which meant CRADLE ended their set after they finished the song. Quite why these people decided to stick around if they didn’t like a band is beyond me, if you don’t like them, there was plenty of other things to do. This ended the day which had been superb up until then in a bad way, and for anyone whose first time this was seeing CRADLE would have been extremely disappointed by the untimely ending of their set.

Arriving nice and early for some Hair of the Dog in the metal format, BEHOLDER (4.5/5.0) delivered an awesome 30 minute set with the likes of ‘Born Into Pain’ and ‘Never Take Us Down’ going down extremely well with the rather large crowd they had drawn to see them. SABATON (4.1/5.0), who are always a good festival band, delivered a very good set and they’ll be welcomed back to the UK with open arms when they return for a massive tour with DRAGONFORCE later in the year. Meanwhile rockers GIRLSCHOOL (3.1/5.0) and pagan black metal outfit EQUILIBRIUM (3.9/5.0) provided some mid afternoon entertainment, before the doom metal of ANATHEMA (4.2/5.0) provided one of the highlights of the day with an unexpected cover of IRON MAIDEN‘s ‘Phantom of The Opera’ (mainly due to the fact that according to the band, they managed to draft one of only three drummers who could play the song in the UK, with Nick Barker filling in on drums for John Douglas) closed their set much to the crowds delight.

TURISAS (4.2/5.0) are one of the most popular bands in the UK let alone the rest of Europe, so getting them on the bill was an extremely good move by the organisers. Following their 2006 performance at the festival, they noted the fact that in a few short years, the festival has grown rapidly. This was an all out performance full of banter, drinking and singing despite the fact that they only managed to play 6 songs in their 45 minute set, the crowd didn’t care one iota as TURISAS rattled off the likes of ‘Holmgard And Beyond’, ‘One More’ and ‘Rasputin’ before closing their main set with ‘Battle Metal’, before returning where one, lucky or unlucky person whichever way you look at it got their hands on the drummers boots. Closing with an interesting choice of ‘Miklagard Overture’, this closed an excellent performance from the crowd pleasing Finns.

Portuguese black gothic metallers MOONSPELL (3.9/5.0) had the unenviable task of following TURISAS and whilst they don’t have the energy of the aforementioned band, they certainly have something else to them that engrosses you and pulls you in deeper and deeper enticed by the almost spiritualistic aura of their music which is interlaced with crunching and dark riffs, with ‘Vampiria’, ‘Alma Mater’ and ‘Full Moon Madness’ being classic examples as well as the standout tracks of their set.

AMON AMARTH (4.6/5.0) has become very popular on these shores in the last few years, which is extremely deserved for producing quality album after quality album. It was no surprise really that with only an hour set the material was rather focused with the majority coming from the last two albums. Opening with the title track from latest album ‘Twilight of The Thunder God’, followed swiftly by ‘Free Will Sacrifice’, the massive crowd began headbanging and fists pumping in the air or whatever came naturally to everyone, these Vikings were intent on taking you to Valhalla and back!

With only a couple of older tracks in the set for the older fans of the band in the form of ‘Victorious March’ and eventual set closer ‘Death In Fire’, it didn’t deter them from enjoying themselves and the new material like ‘Varyags of Miklagaard’ and ‘Live For The Kill’ (complete with backing tracks where APOCALYPTICA perform the cello section in the song) went down an absolute storm, whilst the rallying cries of songs like ‘Asator’ and ‘Cry of The Blackbirds’ show why AMON AMARTH are deservedly where they are, and you can bet that there will be a few sold out shows on their upcoming UK tour in October.

SATYRICON (4.3/5.0) have over the last couple of albums modernised their sound from their traditional black metal roots to a more commercialised yet still dark, atmospheric and heavier form of the genre. Frontman Satyr certainly knows how to use the stage as he patrolled it from side to side stopping at times to engage the crowd and his deep growling vocals were ever impressive through the likes of ‘Commando’ and ‘A New Enemy’, whilst Frost delivered a pummeling display on drums.

Other tracks like ‘The Wolfpack’ and ‘Now, Diabolical’ show how much class SATYRICON have got been able to deliver such quality with near enough perfection, while the anthemic style of ‘Black Crow On A Tombstone’ had the crowd duly obliging to sing along with them, whilst one of the best black metal songs ever written inevitably got a showing. We are of course talking about the sublime ‘Mother North’. While other highlights included ‘K.I.N.G.’ and ‘Den Siste’, anybody wondering why SATYRICON were so high on the bill were shown throughout their hour set why they belonged there.

From one extreme to the other as you couldn’t get a more different, but equally great band to close the festival with. EUROPE (4.7/5.0) caused a few heads to turn when their name was first mentioned with them playing Bloodstock, causing many to believe, myself included, it was an April Fools Joke by the organisers. When this appeared not to be the case, we all soon discovered that EUROPE are not a one trick pony, far from it, they actually have some really good, heavy, and catchy tracks in their back catalogue. Opening with the latest single and title track from upcoming album ‘Last Look At Eden’ got the party well and truly started and for the entire 90 minute set, the band and crowd were having an awesome time.

The set regulars were all here in force including ‘Seven Door Hotel’ and ‘Rock the Night’, with the band leaving out the likes of pop hits ‘Cherokee’ and ‘Carrie’ in a deliberate attempt to deliver a heavier set, customised for the Bloodstock audience. As inevitable as a sunset at dusk, the set ended with the obligatory, and lets face it, fucking fantastic, ‘The Final Countdown’. This was the song that everyone was waiting for. The keyboards kicked in and as the familiar sound of da da da da da dadadada and so on, the crowd lapped it up and with the added feature of a conga line going through the crowd where the pits had been for the majority of the weekend, the crowd didn’t want the party to stop.

This brought a close to what was a wonderfully organised and quality lineup from the Bloodstock organisers once again, and surely next years will be even better and bigger.

Festival Rating: 4.9/5.0

Best Bands: SODOM / SAXON / KREATOR / BLIND GUARDIAN / AMON AMARTH