The third and final day of Bloodstock see’s our festival come to its untimely end. Before that however once again we were treated to an eclectic, raucous and truly brutal live shows from some of the best bands in the business!
[date]9th August 2015[/date]
[venue]Bloodstock[/venue]
[city]Catton Hall[/city]
[support_bands]Agalloch, Wolf, Orange Goblin, Pro-Pain, Alunah,Ol Drake, Sepultura, Ensiferum, Destrage, Cannibal Corpse, Black Label Society, Rob Zombie and Godflesh[/support_bands]
After yet another party filled night of decadence and debauchery, the Bloodstock goers reappear for this their final day of the festival. Contrary to the roaring start that we saw with Savage Messiah the day previous, instead today we are greeted by Agalloch. The originally sparse crowd has slowly but surely increased in size before the arrival of these Black Metal come Post Rock players. Arriving on stage the band are modestly dressed with nout a corpse paint in sight. Beginning with “The Astral Dialogue” from their latest album The Serpent And The Sphere the band are absolutely perfect to induce a frosty dream like stasis upon today’s crowd and rather than rattle the audiences cages merely soothes them slowly into the mid day culminating with “Into The Painted Grey” the band leave enough room to breathe.
Wolf on the other hand are very much back into the old school mindset of aiming to try and wake any festival goer. Though it has to be said that stark contrast between the slow aural web that was weaved by Agalloch and our Swedish Metal masters makes for an interesting and varied listen. With various tracks kicking off sparks of energy as the band perform its yet another testament to just how eclectic the line of this year’s Bloodstock truly is. Performing half of the track “Venom” in the audience the bass player Tornado is bouncing with energy. Finishing up with a cutting “Spin On” the band have definitely woken those who perhaps might have been day dreaming after Agalloch.
Ashamed to say, prior to this absolutely brilliant performance, I had not really given Orange Goblin the time of day. Simply just because I never got round to giving the band a listen and within a minute of the band being on stage I realised that I had been so tragically wrong. With the band erupting into “Scorpionica” the gauntlet was well and truly thrown down for the day. Having never heard the music previous the riffs on “Cities Of Frost” and “Saruman’s Wish” were absolutely inescapably catchy. Seeing every single Metal head all banging their heads to the same beat was a heart warming sight. Judging from the cheery disposition of Orange Goblin and resident giant Ben Ward the band were having the time of their lives.
Whilst the gods of stoner rock might have just rocked the foundations of the main stage, the tree folk of Alunah were just beginning their own take on the genre on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. Having released their latest album Awaken The Forest the band performed various different cuts from the album along with the more classic material, each receiving just as uproarious approval than the last. With front woman, Soph Day having an enormous personality to match that of the crushing riffs bestowed upon the unsuspecting Bloodstock crowd today. An excellent foreshadowing of things to come from the band, particularly with their tour later this year.
Celebrating their thirty years as a band Sepultura undeniably know how to treat a crowd. Whatever your stand point on who is what and what was when. With a varying set list spanning throughout much of the band’s lauded back catalogue we were treated to renditions of “Inner Self” a beastly “Arise” coupled with the deadly assualt of “Refuse/Resist” but nothing quite like the grand finale. Certainly winning crowd surfing amount of the day (for now…) the band performed an absolutely devastating “Roots Bloody Roots”, complete with lead singer Derrick Green smashing away on his own drums for that classic Sepultura sound. As I mentioned before, whatever you stand point is on the name, this band have absolutely annihilated Bloodstock.
It would seem that it was indeed a Clash of the Titans, being on the bill exactly the same time simply on different stages we headed over to the Sophie Lancaster Stage for an exclusive festival appearance from non other than Ol Drake himself. Prior to this the guitarist performed at a local venue in Huddersfield as a warm up. Aided by his not so disguised green men playing rake’s the guitarist took us through some fantastic material from his debut album. A highlight being “Spaceship Janitor” which was played to pitch perfect sound slowing things down slightly for a calmer “Emperor” the man showcased that either fast paced rippers or slower ballads are just as intriguing. Sadly there wasn’t as much of a crowd that was indeed warranted for the guitarist due to the fact that the man was on at the same time as the legends Sepultura.
After the tribal beats from Sepultura the main stage was awaiting an appearance from the Folk Metal legends that are Ensiferum. Having released their album One Man Army earlier this year the band kick things off with a double header of “Axe of Judgement” and “Heathen Horde” it’s clear to see why there have been so many people turn up for the band. As good as the newer material might be it is no match however for the classic’s like “From Afar” or “Ahti” that get an absolutely raucous reception. One thing I didn’t really understand the need for however was for final track “Two Of Spades” the band had two scantily clad women out throwing balls, for me personally it didn’t exactly tie in very well with Ensiferum and their ethos. Nevertheless despite the sound going completely dead temporarily the band played a great show.
One of the most common sights among Bloodstock this weekend had to be the amount of gross looking Cannibal Corpse t-shirts sported by an innumerable amount of fans. When the time comes and the Death Metal gods arrive the band waste no time in getting straight to the point opening with Torture favourite “Scourge Of Iron” the band get the crowd headbanging followed immediately by “Demented Aggression”, though it’s when the classics like “Stripped, Raped, Strangled” are unleashed that the crowd welcome the quintet with bloodsoaked open arms. Aiming to try and introduce new track “Kill Or Become” a slightly irritated Corpsegrinder just states “fuck it, let’s go” and the band promptly returning to total sonic destruction once again. It’s a known fact among metal head’s that George “Corpseginder”s neck is a thing of legend, introducing the delightful “I Cum Blood” the man states “I want you to try and keep up with me on this next song...”, speaking of his abnormal headbanging ability. “You will fail.”
And with that we welcome the absolute frenzy which see’s security rack up a whopping four hundred and fifty five crowd surfers adding in “I WIN!” the tongue in cheek humour is brilliant. Until classic “Hammer Smashed Face” and of course “Devoured By Vermin“. You might know exactly what you’ll be in for at a Cannibal Corpse show but the band have been one of the most consistent in Metal and today is just another day at the blood spattered office. Crushing.
Though admittedly for Italian up starts Destrage it would seem that this is some what of a problem. With the relatively sparse crowd there to see the band, the five piece perform fantastically despite that the tent might not be as full as perhaps it could be. For those who did decide to miss out on the macabre Metal of Cannibal Corpse are treat for the ears indeed.
As the sun begins its final descent over Catton Park tonight, we can all hear the sound of those inescapable pinch harmonics, heralding the arrival of one man only Zakk Wylde. Black Label Society are the final day’s main support and what an event they make out of it. Kicking things off from Sonic Brew we hear the band move into “The Beginning…At Last” with many a guitar solo flying by the man greets the crowd with classic pentatonic scales all over. Surprisingly not performing much other material from Mafia, we do get “Suicide Messiah” which insights some serious head bangining. Whilst the beers are being knocked back the guitarist performs yet another one of his classic guitar solo’s, which I must say as technically proficient as the man is, can be slightly boring. Nevertheless the finisher of “Concrete Jungle” and “Stillborn” pack a serious punch and leave our revellers realing before the arrival of the king of all things horror.
The coveted head line spot for the final section of this year’s Bloodstock goes to the king of horror himself. With various different cult classic Horror films under his belt, Rob Zombie is one of the world’s greatest entertainers. Though tonight the performance doesn’t contain some of the more outragous accoutrements for those who have seen the man perform before hand. Classic tracks like “Living Dead Girl” go down a storm, not to mention a cover of the James Brown classic “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine)” which is inspired to say the least, particularly in its ghoulish trimmings. With the arrival of a drum solo mid way through the set, the pace is somewhat dampened yet it’s brought right back up with “More Human Than Human”, later on yet another cover emerges of the Ramones classic “Blitzkrieg Bop” before a ferocious “Thunderkiss ’65“. Finishing things off with the inaugural “Dragula” the entire field are hanging on every word from Rob Zombie. Though the man might allude to effect of hiding behind smoke and mirrors of costume and a stage at it’s core Rob Zombie is simply a fantastic performer. On record many songs sound slightly stale yet in a live setting, they are absolutely brilliant.
The final act to be playing Catton Hall until another year rolls by is Godflesh. A complete contrast from the lavish performance put together by Rob Zombie, the simple and effective delivery from the band ensure that for those who are still watching the festival’s last band that they stay enraptured in something that is simple yet sweet.
Which in closing the festival is a brilliant example of the fantastic mix that Bloodstock employs. Running a festival with an exciting line up, interesting merch stalls to check out on your down time and some impeccably organised living conditions Bloodstock excelled. With this year being The Metalist’s first experience of the festival, you can definitely bet that we will we be coming back and from the looks of it a lot more happy metallers will be too.
