Bloodstock 2023: The Review

Friday rolls around with even more sun, albeit nothing like the 2022 heatwave but close enough. It’s 10:30am and there’s already a death metal band roaring on the Sophie stage. Bloodyard tear through their half hour set with the fury of a young Cannibal Corpse. Donna Hurd’s grisly vocals pair great with the crunchy guitar of Nick Adamson while drummer Matty Lee pounds his kit like it owes him money.

As the morning goes, the sun keeps being a nuisance, and not even the New Blood tent can solve that issue. Mainly because trying to get into the tent to see the London based five-piece Lokust is more difficult than solving a rubix cube with soap. The tent is packed out and the band lay waste to the stage with their groove/death metal mixture. Alex Da Costa’s vocals, while a tad quiet, are demonic. The guitars of Jeremy Pringshelm & Alexy Khoury rip through the speakers and the band show why they were put on this stage. Staying in the New Blood tent, Torchbearer have taken the stage as the winners of the South Wales M2TM own the stage for the next 30 minutes. Like them or not they put on a show as much as they can. Whether Ollie Gould is on the stage or on the barrier in some poor punter’s face, they are the band you needed to catch this weekend.

Fit For An Autopsy are one of deathcore’s hottest commodities. With the release of Oh What The Future Holds the band have exploded, and the main stage spot they have is well deserved. Powering through newer songs like ‘‘A Higher Level Of Hate’’ & older cuts like “Absolute Hope Absolute Hell” Fit For An Autopsy rain their fiery deathcore unto the already blazing heat of Bloodstock. Gaerea on the Sophie stage bring their black metal tidings to Bloodstock to a thunderously packed tent. As the intro music plays, the band members appear then blast into ”Mantle” from newest record Mirage, and from that point on the masked Portuguese black metal maestros have everyone by the throat and not releasing until the final note is played.

In Flames haven’t done a UK festival for 16 years. and to merely call this a comeback is an understatement. As they blast through ”The Great Deceiver”, you can tell the band are happy to be here. During ”Where The Dead Ships Dwell”, vocalist Anders Friden even gets a pirate themed trumpet blower from the audience up on stage for the next song. Having more fun than the band said trumpet player gets on the risers, greets each band member then scurries off before Anders fires the poor fellow. From the newer material to the older throwbacks of ”Clayman” the band pump out arguably one of the best shows of their UK festival career.

Killswitch Engage are Friday night’s headliner. It’s a special occasion because not only is it their first time at the festival, it’s also their first UK festival headline slot so you know they’re going to bring out the big guns. As the stage goes dark you hear the guitar intro to ”My Curse” as bassist and founding member Mike D’Antoni walks out to a thunderous roar as guitarists Joel Stroetzel & Adam Dutkiewitz are followed by drummer Justin Foley. As vocalist Jesse Leach emerges pyro goes off to open the set. From this point on the band has the crowd in their clutches. They pull out material from all of their albums. Are you a fan of ”Alive & Breathing”? ”My Last Serenade”. ”Atonement”? ”The Signal Fire”? A fan of the Howard era? Then sit back and watch the hits come. During songs Leach comments ‘I’ve never worked with pyro like this before so I’m a bit nervous’ while Adam D then states ‘We’re going to play as many songs with the word fire that we have tonight!’

It’s a headline show 10+ years in the making. And the moments they all converged on that stage to the last note of ending song Holy Diver to commemorate their spot on the Ronnie James Die stage, the band are on the verge of tears as the Bloodstock crowd sings louder than Leach at parts. Leach himself has never sounded better and this show has certainly opened the doors for another headline return.

Photo Credit:

Steve Dempsey

Saturday is kicked off on the main stage by London based metal trio Urne. Releasing their second album ”A Feast On Sorrow” the day prior they’ve got some new material they’re eager to debut today. They open with ”Serpent & Spirit” before playing the lead single for the new album ”Becoming the Ocean”. Vocalist Joe Nally states how the new album was recorded in Gojira frontman, Joe Duplantier’s New York based recording studio before a brief rendition of ”The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe” is played before ”The Burden”. Despite the occasional 13 minute song, the set feels quite short and the band are having the time of their lives as guitarist Angus Neyra shreds through his riffs and drummer James Cook hits his kit with passion. There’s no doubt they’ll be higher on the bill on their next Bloodstock appearance. After a twenty-minute turn around, Royal Republic take the stage. One of rock’s best kept secrets, their appearance at Bloodstock is unusual, especially being sandwiched between two of Britain’s best up and coming bands. But the Swedish four-piece plough through newer and older material as frontman Adam Grahn jokes with the crowd. Their nine-song set goes in a flash opening with ”Fireman & Dancer” and finishing with the anthemic ”Baby”, chucking in a cover of Metallica’s ”Battery” for good measure.

Heading to the Sophie stage will find you knee deep amid Casket Feeder. The UK hardcore/death metal five-piece’s last show at the hallowed grounds was on the New Blood stage. Two years on they’re moving up the ranks, and it’s not hard to see why. Their blend of hardcore & death metal works perfectly with the thumping riffs of Aaron McKenzie & Connor Cazalet-Smith combined with Matt Downes gurgling growls. Their stage presence isn’t huge, but they’re happy to be here, as in between songs they gaze into the crowd with big smiles, as when you also look around, the tent is packed out to the edges. After a hard job to get out of the tent, the main stage beckons as Abbath take the stage;  opening with ”To War!” the band are firing on all cylinders. Guitarist Raud whizzes around the fretboard as his strings emit an evil buzz while Abbath’s vocals resemble that of a Nazgûl as he wails through his solo material and covers of Immortal & I. Though their material might seem serious, Abbath himself is striking his usual poses and cracking jokes with the crowd between songs.

As the day grows longer and the sun sets, the Saturday night headliners Meshuggah take the stage. It’s been just around a year since the band last stepped foot on British soil, and as the stage goes dark, an atmospheric introduction all band members stand front and centre for ”Broken Cog”. The band barely move other than to swap instruments, which might put some off but they dazzle with both their technicality and light show. Impressively, drummer Tomas Haake doesn’t open his eyes while drumming, no mean feat given the absurd chops the man regularly displays behind the kit. Newer songs like ”The Abysmal Eye” do stand toe-to-toe with older material like ”Future Breed Machine”, but as the set goes on, songs can start to blend The band themselves are on point and are as tight as can be, but there’s a few things off. Not playing ”Bleed” is completely understandable, as Haake has stated he hates playing the song himself, but the fact that there’s no atmosphere from the band is off putting and drags the set down. But as the set closes the band have proved that they could still headline other festivals, if they at least put some movement in.

Photo Credit:

Katja Ogrin

The final day Sunday comes around fast and with some spotty rain showers All Hail The Yeti put on a blinder of a performance. If you’re expecting some plain metalcore based on the name, you’re in for a treat. Vocalist Connor Garritty growls and yells ‘Motherfuckers’ at the crowd as often as he can. The L.A four-piece rip through newer material like it’s paper proving that the band should be higher on the bill next time around. In contrast, the progressive metalcore outfit Cobra The Impaler takes their place to ravage the Sophie stage. With drummer Dirk Verbeuren of Megadeth being the percussive powerhouse and Tace DC of Aborted the star power is plenty to get you interested, but the music is the icing on top. As they plough through songs from debut album ”Colossal Gods” you’ll be lucky to leave the tent alive.

Waiting around in the mix of the heat and rain only for the rain to dissipate by the time Sepultura takes the helm of the main stage makes Derrick Green smile like a proud father as he looks out into the sea of people. ”Refuse/Resist”, ”Arise”, ”Territory”, ”Ratamahatta”; they bring out the hits and deep cuts from their first to most recent album. Ending the set on ”Roots Bloody Roots” as the crowd screams in unison while Green and the band jump around the stage like they’re still in their twenties is heart-warming.

As the sun sets and the temperature refuses to budge, it’s time for the main event. The reason that the Sunday is sold out of day tickets? Megadeth are here. After a small spoken word introduction video ”Hanger 18” hits as the band rush the stage. As soon as they appear the band have the crowd by the neck. Classics like ”Sweating Bullets”, ”The Mechanix” & ”Holy Wars” are a must have in the set, but hardly any songs from their newer album, ‘’The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’’ are on show. One song to be in fact, ”We’ll Be Back” does stand against the earlier outputs, but more would have been a welcomed addition. Whole the band are technically on point in their respective instruments and have the energy to match, vocalist Dave Mustaine has an oddly low mix on his microphone. You can still hear him, but it’s quiet. While he does have some trouble being heard and hitting some of the higher pitches the crowd take the reins for said parts and are louder than the band at points.

”A Tout La Monde”, ”Tornado Of Souls” & ”Symphony Of Destruction” are headbangers and face-melters in the first degree and provide singalongs from the crowd. And while Mustaine takes a moment to mourn the loss of a blow-up unicorn from the crowd ‘I’m sorry you spent the whole afternoon blowing that thing up, and that you probably enjoyed it’, James LoMenzo takes to the stage with the furious bass riff of ”Peace Sells” before the show wraps up with ”Holy Wars”. A few nit-picky things here and there, mostly the issues with the microphone mix being quiet but the entire set is a reminder why Megadeth are where they’re at. The songs speak for themselves, and Mustaine & co are savage in their own rights.