Bloodstock
Open Air Festival 2007 - Words Chris Davison, Photos by Strawb
It wasn't a particularly auspicious start to the three day metal
bonanza, to be honest. To begin with, Strawbs trusty people carrier
betrayed us by trying to commit automotive suicide en route rather
than subject itself to the onslaught of metal while parked in a
field, which meant that I had to catch a lift thirty miles in the
wrong direction to fetch my vehicle and wedge the three others in my
not-so-trusty Nissan Primera estate. That doesn't sound like a
particularly bad thing I know, but when I was the smallest in the
vehicle at 6'3'' and 17 stone, you may have an understanding of just
how much strain my beleaguered family runabout was placed under. We
also neglected to buy some essentials on our shopping trip (we spent
a lot of cash on booze, but between the four of us, we didn't buy
anything non-alcoholic and our food for the three days consisted of
tinned tuna, crisps and one lonely packet of custard cream
biscuits).
Still, slightly later than we had bargained for we pitched the tents
and wandered into the arena. It was all a far cry since the last
Bloodstock I went to (the inaugural one, for the record), and the
first open air festival I had been to in about eight years. I won't
bore anyone with the details, but suffice it to say that some things
about festivals will never change; expensive beer and food, and shit
(literally) toilet arrangements. Kiuas
were the first band that we caught on the first day, and their brand
of power metal, which initially seemed to be fairly muscular, soon
proved to be samey and more than a little tiresome.
Head On were an impressive
prospect, coming across as a head on collision between vintage Down
and the brutality of a more up-tempo Crowbar, this band of young
Brits really took the crowd by storm. More necks were snapped than
during the entire French revolution, and as a whole the massed
bodies swayed to their beat. Firewind
were, I'm afraid instantly forgettable, their sound being swept away
by the wind, with only the faintest glimpses of guitar wankery being
audible above the elements. |
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| First day headliners
Testament had a lot to live up
to; almost their original line up, (yes, including Skolnick and his
extremely suspect bob), and with thrash in the ascendancy once
again, there was a palpable expectancy that they would show the
skills of the original thrash generation to a new audience. Alas, I
was left a little cold. I know that Testament have a number of
classic tracks, but for whatever reason they just didn't come across
that well in the cold night air. Firstly, the lighting and dry ice
combined to make it almost impossible to discern individuals through
the gloom, and when you could it was only in silhouette form. Their
more classic material seemed to be played without much passion, and
only the more modern material (that is if material released in 1999
can truly be known as “modern”) such as the barnstorming “DNR” made
any great impression. My thirst for quality thrash thus denied, I
wandered across to the beer tent, where covers band
Beholder were playing. Mowing
their way through a number of thrash standards with aplomb, I was
impressed, although slightly bewildered that they hadn't written any
of their own songs. Still, a good band to end the night with. |
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| Second day, with full on hangovers and bangovers competing to see
which could destroy my head or neck first, I watched
Exploder. Their brand of
“whooooah whooooah” mainstream rock baiting bollocks is insufferable
on record, yet in this live environment it made perfect sense. While
I was more than prepared to detest their lead singer, he managed the
crowd impeccably like a true showman. It was slightly odd to see
Mick Kenny belting out rocky tunes on the guitar, but the overall
effect was likeable enough, if not truly special.
Voodoo Six lasted one number
before I wandered off to the noodle stall, which was rather apt as
their rather insipid brand of classic rock noodled away behind me. |
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Scar Symmetry were a competent,
if uninspired melodic death metal band with a singer that needs to,
you know, stop trying to sing – as when he did it made me physically
cringe away. Wolf did their
Judas Priest thing despite technical difficulties, and again, I
wasn't fully able to see what all the hype has been about from the
strength of their performance on the day.
Epica were quite an enjoyable watch mind you; notice I
say “watch” rather then “listen”. Their music was quite engaging,
but not sufficiently different to their peers such as Nightwish and
Within Temptation. I'm sure that the female-fronted band aficionados
will be quick to point out their differences, but for me all that
operatic warbling leaves me very much cold. That being said, Simone
made me feel quite warm, and their stage craft was impeccable. |
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Champions of the day were most definitely
Korpiklaani, who took their unique brand of Finnish
folk-metal to an unsuspecting crowd and folked them over, good and
proper. While other, more well known Finnish bands might throw an
accordion or two into the mix, I would say that on this strength the
forest clan are the pick of the punch. Their all too brief set, with
fantastic drinking standards “Happy Little Boozer” and “Beer Beer”
made Tankard seem sober. Ever seen a couple of thousand metal fans
trying to compose their own impromptu morris dance ? I have, and it
was awesome. Alas, after that, Century Media fodder like
Dark Tranquillity and
Lacuna Coil lost out in the
decision stakes to sitting by the tents and drinking ourselves into
oblivion. At one point, Nevermore,
drifting across the campsite almost convinced me to make a foray
back into the arena, but the allure of shit cheap warm beer made me
stay by the camp. That and the fact that some twat had broken into
my car, but luckily (and maybe a testament to how shit my belongings
are), they had left everything in situ. Thanks for nothing, shit
bag, whoever you may be.
Third day, and with a hangover of biblical proportions, it was up to
Benediction to start the day
off. I had always written Benny Dixon off as a decidedly second rate
death metal outifit, but under the stewardship of Dave “Cunt” Hunt (aka
VITRIOL, - Anaal Nathrakh, Mistress et.al.), they seemed a most
deadly proposition, and most definitely the heaviest act to appear.
A truly pulverising performance, they pummelled the crowd into
absolute submission. Including me. |
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| . Legion
Of The Damned were absolutely blistering with their
death/thrash assault, while Rise to
Addiction were a nice change of pace and tone, with their
traditional metal meets alternative vibe. While only the catchy
“Cold Season” really stuck out, this is a band that showed a great
deal of promise. While the rain pissed it down relentlessly,
Finntroll played a so-so set,
while I was really looking forward to seeing them. |
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elements combined with my miserable demeanour, or whether it was
really just the case that they weren't trying hard to impress
remains a question of some debate. Sabbat
were utterly excellent, and it's always a great pleasure to see the
warhorse himself (or should that be pit-pony?) Martin Walkyier
producing vicious, intelligent heavy metal in the best of British
traditions. The only nagging problem is of course that they won't be
producing any new music, which given their tightness and obvious
pleasure in playing together seems a great shame. Revelation of the
festival though, goes to Arch Enemy.
Their brand of musically adept, traditionally inspired metal comes
across brilliantly through the damp night air, and with a reunited
Amott brothers assault, Gossow really comes into her own as rabble
rouser and raconteur. Her position as front for the band makes
perfect sense tonight; gone are the doubts about her voice as she
belts out stone cold classic after stone classic.
In Flames enter limply after such an electrifying
appearance, and a mere two songs in, I decide I've had enough. |
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