FESTIVAL REVIEW: Bloodstock Festival 2018 – Saturday

After the amazing set from JUDAS PRIEST the previous night, it’s fair to say the party at this year’s Bloodstock Festival had well and truly started. The excitement for GOJIRA was tangible, and we’ll get to them later, but the Saturday boasted some of the best bands appearing across the weekend, here’s what we saw!

THE BROOD – New Blood Stage 

The first lot of new blood being shed upon the stage today comes from London’s THE BROOD. They have a wide range of heavy influences in their pool from grindcore to brutal death metal and hardcore. Thilbaunt Jombart has an impressive vocal range like that of Ingested whilst Nando Thommessen and Senen Garcia create riffs which sound like the lovechild of grind and SUFFOCATION. They pummel out a very heavy set which is perfect to start the morning with. It’s clear they’re still very green though, there’s not much stage presence there yet and they’re still to find their own identity when it comes to song writing but these are creases ironed out with experience and time. From this performance though it will be very exciting to see THE BROOD further down the line.

Rating: 7/10

Words: Jack King 

NAILED TO OBSCURITY – Ronnie James Dio Stage

Opening up the Ronnie James Dio Stage this time are German melodeath merchants NAILED TO OBSCURITY, whose early morning appearance here actually marks the band’s first ever show in the UK. Not that you’d ever know without them mentioning it, such is the level of intensity on display from the quintet; powering through an earth-shakingly heavy set for the time of morning. Opening strong with the ferocious King Delusion, the five-piece then proceed to tear Bloodstock a new one, with a white-hot set of slamming metal fueled by the throaty roar of vocalist Raimund Ennega. Any semblance of lasting tiredness in the audience barely has time to register before moshing breaks out, and the band leave after four more songs, having more than made their impact.

Rating: 7/10

Words: Jack Fermor-Worrell 

FORGOTTEN REMAINS – Sophie Lancaster Stage

There’s a buzz around FORGOTTEN REMAINS with the Sophie Stage being fairly filled, a lot of people in the know and more people who wanted to find more about the band who’s shirts have been popping up all over the festival. The Chesterfield quintet step up to the stage and unleash very fast thrash influenced blend of death metal which instantly gets the crowd going, vocalist Sam Marshall leading the charge with fierce vocals and an energetic stage presence. There’s an old school feeling to Reece Sanderson and Paul Ryan’s guitar work which is just inciting people to neck beers to the chugging riffs of Flesh Of The Innocent and have a good time. It carries through to the solos of tracks like Shadows which feel catchy and fun due to the classic metal feel they have butainted over with a modern heavy polish. Drummer Tom Warner keeps everyone in the present with his blistering speed and death metal technicality. After this set you can expect to spot even more of their merch around the place.

Rating: 8/10 

Words: Jack King

WEIGHT OF THE TIDE – Sophie Lancaster Stage

Unfortunately WEIGHT OF THE TIDE feel a bit like the awkward kid at the disco on this line up but they’ll be damned if they wear it well. The Reno natives know they’re far from the heaviest band at this festival but are still determined to smash it. Their stoner and classic rock influenced riffs help them get their foot in the door but the out of place and slightly band alt rock vocal melodies stop them getting through. There are cool moments like the twin guitar solos and some great drum work from Jason Thomas, but the fairly subdued choruses and songwriting just create a blockade between them and the audience.

Rating: 5/10

Words: Jack King

POWER TRIP – Ronnie James Dio Stage

The hype surrounding the Texan thrash outfit POWER TRIP is obvious when you stand and take in the gargantuan size of the 11:00 crowd that anxiously waits for the band to step on stage. The moment they do, they kick right into Divine Apprehension and well and truly knock clear any lingering hangovers. The band play with intent to incite as much carnage as they can, with choice cuts like Firing Squad and Crucifixation sending the crowd damn near feral, older tracks like Suffer No Fool drip with swagger and the crowd lap it all up. Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe) gets a massive pop when the immediately noticeable drums kick in and the rather humble request for a wall of death during Manifest Decimation materialises without much more encouragement. If you weren’t a fan before then this is the set that will change your mind, and if not you’re probably adverse to fun or something.

Rating: 9/10

Words: Eddie Sims

NEGATIVE THOUGHT PROCESS – New Blood Stage

Acts like this are what truly make the Hobgoblin New Blood Stage special because you can randomly wonder in and stumble across a brilliant display of powerviolence and grind. NEGATIVE THOUGHT PROCESS feel like a mix of older powerviolence like CHARLES BRONSON mixed with newer grind like HELPLESS and later AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED. Underneath all the chaos and bedlam however is some impeccable musicianship. Kyle Townsend‘s fingers sprawl and explore the frets like a arachnid creature, Danny Page lets fourth disturbing and rage filled screams as he smashes out insanely fast riffs with the eyes of a madman, whilst Tyler Hodges‘ ranged drumming is the tamer knowing when to let the beast loose and when to tighten the chain. The set ends in chaos with the band slowing a riff down until it get go any lower and Townsend is on the floor for exhaustion. Page stares past the crowd also exhausted but thanking them, when someone shouts for an encore he quickly snaps back “We’re a grindcore band! We haven’t got anymore songs!”

Rating: 8/10

Words: Jack King

ORDEN ORGAN – Ronnie James Dio Stage

Having to follow the chaos from POWER TRIP means that ORDEN OGAN unfortunately come across as a tiny bit limp by comparison. Being the day’s only true power metal band on a stage filled by mostly death metal acts means the band’s bombast is probably lost on a touch too many people to quite work on this occasion, but it’s an unfortunate turn of circumstance that ends up hurting them a lot more; a hand injury to singer Seeb Levermann leaves him unable to play guitar, and so bassist Niels Löffler has to cover in his place, leaving the band’s sound lacking somewhat in low end but still just about retaining much of the technicality. A dash of pyro adds some welcome impact to the performance, but there’s plenty enough power in anthems like Come With Me To The Other Side and F.E.V.E.R. to help carry the band to a well-received performance, despite the deck being so stacked against them.

Rating: 6/10

Words: Jack Fermor-Worrell 

CONJURER – Sophie Lancaster Stage

By this point in the year, it’s likely that you’ve heard everyone badger on about how wonderful CONJURER are, lord knows we’ve been going on about them! But if for some reason you’re still unaware, then their performance at this year’s Bloodstock was so utterly triumphant that it’s difficult to comprehend that the band only have an EP and a debut under their belt. CONJURER don’t demand your attention, they take by crushing force, with tracks like Retch and Behold The Swine as their weaponry. Heavy just doesn’t cover how abusively brilliant CONJURER sound and the only downside is how the band arrive, destroy and leave without so much as a hello or a goodbye. The potential this band possess is terrifying, and this was just a mere glimpse at what they’re capable of.

Rating: 9/10

Words: Eddie Sims

SEPTIC FLESH – Ronnie James Dio Stage

Athens symphonic death-metallers SEPTICFLESH are up next, and fare slightly better thanks to a relentlessly crushing tone and vicious performance. Packing more brutal riffs than you can shake a stick at, the Greeks put on a non-stop barrage of a set, guided by the powerful vocal interplay of Spiros Antoniou and Sotiris Vayenas, as they blast through ferocious material from tenth album Codex Omega and more. Their heaviness only matched by the complexity of their accompanying orchestral arrangements, SEPTICFLESH manage to come across as one of the most delightfully evil acts of the entire weekend so far, and it’s simply a joy to behold.

Rating: 7/10

Words: Jack Fermor-Worrell 

VOLA – Sophie Lancaster Stage

One of the lighter offerings over the weekend, Copanhagen’s own VOLA come fully equipped with odd grooves and massive choruses for the slowing afternoon crowd. As the symphonic clatter of SEPTICFLESH bellows in the distance, VOLA guide the audience through choice cuts from their exceptional and incredibly catchy In Mazes record. The band play tight, but there feels to be something missing, a little bit of welly as it were. Asger Mygind’s stage banter, whilst well mannered, feels incredibly awkward and he seems far more comfortable belting his genuinely stellar vocals than he does filling time between songs. Where songs like Stray The Skies sound beefy, the newer offering Smartfriend feels like it misses the mark, not backed up by sufficient bass to really deliver the kick it needs.

Rating: 5/10

Words: Eddie Sims

VENOM INC – Ronnie James Dio Stage

Rating: 8/10

Words: Jack Fermor-Worrell

A FOREST OF STARS – Sophie Lancaster Stage

A touch of the theatrical has always been in the very DNA of Bloodstock and there are very few bands who embody theatricality quite like A FOREST OF STARS do. Rather than adding a bolt of campiness into their music or stage show, the black metal group opt for imposing atmosphere and unique delivery to get their twisted theatrics across to the crowd. All dressed in sharp victorian suits, the bands progress through a perfectly paced set that captivates and holds the crowd’s attention for the whole set, shifting from tooth grinding blast beats to progressive and expanding motifs that build and swell with grace. For any uninitiated walking in, this could well be just another one of those weird bands, but for the curious this is a opening into the booming and dark world of black metal.

Rating: 7/10

Words: Eddie Sims

COMBICHRIST – Ronnie James Dio Stage

As far as sheer spectacle goes, you could probably do a lot worse than COMBICHRIST. The Georgia outfit stand today very much as odd men out on a metal bill, with their distinctly electronic-based aggrotech stylings, but barely seem to care at all, as they turn up and charge straight into pummeling opener No Redemption. Combining punchy metal riffing with lashings of equally punk-spirited electro wizardry, Andy LaPlegua and his band quickly acquaint Bloodstock with their unique brand of madness, thanks to a veritable grab bag of massive anthems like Fuck That Shit, Get Your Body Beat and the supremely danceable Maggots At The Party. Drinks are thrown, instruments are obliterated, and those witnessing the carnage are simply left in awe of the tornado of chaos that’s swept across the Ronnie James Dio Stage by the time things draw to a close.

Rating: 8/10

Words: Jack Fermor-Worrell 

VOYAGER – Sophie Lancaster Stage

VOYAGER come out with buckets of energy to the late afternoon crowd, refusing to let any dreary eyed punter drift away from their progressive metal musings. With absolute earworms in the form of tracks like Hyperventilating the group are quick to try and bring the energy in the tent up, and it’s a shame that ALESTORM steal the majority of their crowd, because they would’ve succeeded in such. VOYAGER don’t need gimmicks as their deep back catalogue boasts a number of catchy, riffy and spacey tunes, but what the band do need is a crowd that seems more excited to see them that the one they had, as watching the band throw so much into the crowd and not have it reciprocated puts a slight dampner on the set. 

Rating: 6/10

Words: Eddie Sims

ALESTORM – Ronnie James Dio Stage

It really speaks to the popularity of ALESTORM within the modern metal sphere that the band basically draw a headliner-sized crowd all of their own, complete with armies of costumed fans and a frankly ridiculous amount of pool inflatables dotted around the front of the stage before a note has even been played. Of course, all that pomp and hype doesn’t really count for much if your music’s not up to scratch, and that’s an issue the band definitely have; churning out a set so by-the-numbers that it seems to drag on for a thousand years, the band simply put too much stock in their reliance on ‘wacky’ comedy bits instead. Frontman Christopher Bowes is of course the instigator of all of this, seemingly more interested in antagonising anyone and everyone over the course of his band’s set; be it calling for “the world’s biggest orgy” during Captain Morgan’s Revenge, or trying to get his captive audience to “finger your ugly girlfriends” during Nancy The Tavern Wench, there’s seemingly no length he won’t to go to try and illicit laughter, but nothing really lands. Throwing out a hefty chunk of most recent album No Grave But The Sea, the band certainly have the crowd on their side during the likes of Mexico and Drink, but there’s no real musical substance on display today after the opening moments, and ALESTORM remain one of modern metal music’s most bafflingly successful acts as a result.

Rating: 3/10

Words: Jack Fermor-Worrell

CANNIBAL CORPSE – Ronnie James Dio Stage

If you had to describe this year’s Bloodstock Festival with just one mental image then let it be this one: A field of metal heads in Hawaiian shirts dancing like Ace Ventura to the live performance of Hammer Smashed Face. Even if you put the antics of the Bloodstock public aside, how can CANNIBAL CORPSE really go wrong here? They have a field full of people bloodthirsty for the genre of which CANNIBAL CORPSE created many of the most recognisable motifs. They let loose a fray of tracks from their back catalogue including Kill Or Become and new tracks from Red Before Black sounding like they haven’t aged a day. Paul Mazurkiewicz still plays at bewildering speeds, the guitars are unrelenting with the riffs that defined the genre and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher still sounds better than vocalists half his age. The few times he speaks his taunting of the crowd and challenges to head banging contests (which he obviously wins) are genuinely hilarious. Giving classics like I Cum Blood and Hammer Smashed to a field of pissed metalheads isn’t like giving a pig muck to lay in, they’re obviously going to be elated!

Rating: 8/10 

Words: Jack King

GOJIRA – Ronnie James Dio Stage

Where do you even begin with GOJIRA? The band have built a career by breaking all the moulds and redefining what heavy music is, as they plough through listeners with a potent mixture of grooving, blasting metal. Combined with the emotional power of their fantastic Magma record and you have a band ready to dominate any stage they play, and dominate is exactly what they do at Bloodstock.

Kicking into Only Pain, the band immediately hit the audience with bassy riffs played with watertight perfection. Love, from the infamous Terra Incognita album comes next, showing the band to be intouch with their audience and also their deep back catalogue. What proceeds is a set so perfectly paced its a wonder that anyone has anytime to breathe. Heaviest Matter Of The Universe is followed by Stranded that is followed by Flying Whales, the band just relentlessly lay out banger after banger after banger. Somehow the group find time to slow the pace down without losing momentum, but in doing so reveal the only disappointing thing about the set being a needless drum solo that could’ve been replaced with any other of their immense tracks.

Bringing things to a close with a brutal Toxic Garbage Island and the more contemplative Gift of Guilt, it leaves the crowd wanting more, and the band answer by forcing an exceptional rendition of Vacuity down everyone’s throats before this triumphant set ends. This is a life affirming performance, anyone who didn’t have the biggest grin on their face throughout GOJIRA‘s set clearly doesn’t understand just how important this set is for heavy music. GOJIRA have upped the game once again and it’s time for everyone else to catch up.

Rating: 9/10

Words: Eddie Sims

ORPHANED LAND – Sophie Lancaster Stage 

ORPHANED LAND have a tough spot tonight following the blinding set by GOJIRA, but if anyone can continue to spellbind this elated audience it’s this Israeli quintet and their sublime Middle Eastern metal. Their percussion and rhythms are infectious, displaying their exceptional craftsmanship and the care that goes into making songs that reflect the peaceful message of the lyrics. ORPHANED LAND aren’t afraid to bare their teeth either, with heavier offerings like We Will Not Resist appearing alongside popular numbers like All Is One. The biggest standout from the set is the sense of unity and togetherness the band promote at every opportunity, bringing the perfect vibe to round off another stellar day of metal.

Rating: 8/10

Words: Jack King

And that rounds off our coverage from day two of Bloodstock Festival! Check out our coverage from Thursday and Friday‘s action and stay posted to Distorted Sound as we bring you our last day of coverage very soon!