BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2010

DATE:

VENUE:

Friday 13th August - Sunday 15th August 2010

Catton Hall in Derbyshire, UK

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

CHILDREN OF BODOM; FEAR FACTORY; DEVIN TOWNSEND; AMORPHIS; OBITUARY; EDGUY; ONSLAUGHT; LEAVES' EYES; ANDROMEDA

OPETH; MESHUGGAH; POWERWOLF; SONATA ARCTICA; GORGOROTH; CATHEDRAL; ENSIFERUM; RAGE; ROSS THE BOSS; BLACK SPIDERS

Reviews by Elena Francis & Mark Holmes; Photography by Mark Holmes

SUNDAY

TWISTED SISTER; CANNIBAL CORPSE; BLOODBATH; GWAR; KORPIKLAANI; DORO; HOLY MOSES; SUFFOCATION; BONDED BY BLOOD

Reviews by Elena Francis & Mark Holmes; Photography by Mark Holmes

AMORPHIS

The crowd for Amorphis feels like it could be larger (Edguy secured more punters), particularly considering this Bloodstock show is only their second UK appearance, and opening with the shimmering ‘Silver Bride’ is not effective as it should be thanks to the poor sound that perforates the performance. ‘Sky is Mine’ and ‘From the Heaven of My Heart’ along with the opener represent the Finn’s latest album ‘Skyforger’ and ‘House of Sleep’ is a strong compliment to this album, while the rest of the set grips to Amorphis’ earlier material rather than later. The total absence of anything from ‘Silent Waters’ feels shocking and daring but, being at a metal festival, perhaps Amorphis felt they needed to play their metal songs as opposed to the melodic rock they are more accustomed to producing in recent years. The newer songs are strained in melodic melancholy, atmospheric and hazy with sorrow. The earlier material, such as ‘Black Winter Day’ and ‘Against Windows’, is melodic death/doom metal accompanied with a cold keyboard sound, typical of melodic Finnish metal. Frontman Tomi Jousten puts all his heart into his performance, providing growls and clean vocals equally applaudibly when he is not flailing his thick long dreadlocks around like a cat o nine tails, demanding all eyes remain on him throughout. The set ends with the beautiful classic ‘My Kantele’ and, while there is nothing wrong with Amorphis’ set, the problem lies with what was absent; they are better suited to intimate, indoor venues. The sun relentlessly firing down on them did not help so much. (EF)

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SATURDAY 14th AUGUST - PART 2

DEVIN TOWNSEND

As the sun makes one of a few appearances on this second day of the festival, up next is Devin Townsend. With the largest crowd of the weekend thus far gathered at the main stage, it seems many Bloodstock attendees were eagerly anticipating the mighty DT and his band. I'd heard earlier in the day that they'd unfortunately become detached from the majority of their gear en route to the UK after performing at Czech Republic's Brutal Assault festival the previous day, and Townsend had been manically roaming the backstage area to borrow gear from other musicians. As highly respected as Townsend is within the scene and with half of Strapping Young Lad also on the lineup today as members of Fear Factory (who are subsequent on the bill) I doubt this proved to be much of a problem. Perhaps more unfortunate are the technical difficulties that Townsend has prior to his performance as he's still running around the stage fifteen minutes into his scheduled set time attempting to rectify the problems. However, the man is as charismatic and unpretentious as ever, and transforms these problems into part of the show by spending those fifteen minutes entertaining the crowd with a barrage of witty banter whereby we're treated to "an interpretive dance"; semi-nudity; commentary such as "I had a cheap suit that I bought; it cost me forty freakin' Canadian dollars and I ended up in my grubs...what will the women think, indeed?!"; and the widest array of humorous facial expressions known to musician and man. He even humbly states at one point - "You look thoroughly unimpressed...oh, but you will be", even though his comedy routine (for want of a better phrase, that's what it is) engenders laughter, cheers and applause at each twist and turn. This all culminates with his announcement - "Oh, by the way, this is the intro where we walk out triumphantly like everything's okay...let me do that" as he walks off stage, then back on again with the rest of his band, and they start their set good and proper with 'Addicted!', title track from last year's release under 'The Devin Townsend Project' moniker, as Bloodstock's audience transforms into a sea of hands with a concomitant eruption of cheers. And we're off! 'Supercrush!' swiftly follows with Townsend performing Anneke Van Giersbergen's vocals over the verse, pitch perfect, reminding me of what a talented, wide-ranging singer the man is. Over the first verse of said song, the audience wave their arms in the air from side to side en masse when prompted to do so to which Townsend states - "Oh, that's so gay!". And this is characteristic of a Devin Townsend show where the seriousness of his innovatory music is offset against a light-hearted, jovial performance. Self-indulgent the man is not, despite what some have claimed his compositional output to be. The 'Addicted' songs serve as efficacious openers with their anthemic essence. Actually, the album in its entirety would be befitting of the festival stage, although Townsend manages to draw from an array of his releases, despite having to cut his sixty minute set by quarter of an hour. Also delivered this afternoon are 'Accelerated Evolution' number 'Deadhead'; 'Kingdom' from 'Physicist'; 'Truth' from 'Infinity' and one of that album's 'lost' tracks, 'Om'; 'Life' from 'Ocean Machine: Biomech'; and 'Ziltoid' gem 'By Your Command'. It would have been a set made perfect by the inclusion of tunes such as 'Earth Day', 'Deep Peace' 'Depth Charge' and 'Bad Devil'...in fact, anything Townsend decided to play, although one can only wonder retrospectively what songs were cut. That said, we'd not have had the unique experience of being entertained by his opening antics. Fucking awesome on every level. Performance of the festival. (MH)

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FEAR FACTORY

Originally due to play Bloodstock in 2009 before being forced to cancel after to a dispute erupted with certain ex-members over the band name, Fear Factory finally make it onto the main stage at Catton Hall as co-headliners with Children of Bodom. And the rejuvenated Californian industrial deathsters have returned this year, entirely back on form, with 'Mechanize', arguably their best work since seminal release 'Demanufacture', creating as much buzz within the scene as they have done so at various other points during their career. Legendary drummer Gene Hoglan is first to appear as intro music plays, standing proud behind his drumkit as fans cheer loudly, shortly followed by bassist Byron Stroud, then founding members Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares. Opening with the new album's title track before airings of 'Shock' and 'Edgecrusher' from 'Obsolete', they have a crushingly heavy sound through the PA as pits burst into action in the middle of an enthusiastic crowd. However, as precise and tight as Fear Factory are, I can't help but feel a little detached from their performance as they give the impression of a 'metal by numbers' performance, both methodical and lacking fervour. Perhaps it all feels a little flat after the awesomeness that was Devin Townsend, and the sparser crowd they manage to attract compared to DT would seem like there's a large amount of festival attendees who experience the same sentiment. Still, it's pleasing to hear the likes of 'Linchpin', 'Fear Campaign', 'Demanufacture' and 'Zero Signal' performed live, as clinical as they are, but I guess clinical precision is part of Fear Factory's modus operandi. A solid, tight performance, albeit distinctly lacking any real grit or metal passion. (MH)

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CHILDREN OF BODOM

Sharing the headlining title, Children of Bodom were the last band to go on stage. Once a unique power metal act, highly inspired by a variety of subjects from classical music to horror films, Bodom’s musicianship was enviable. But as time passed and frontman Alexi ‘Wildchild’ ‘Laiho was elevated into metal celebrity status, the Finns’ efforts trailed to the point where they were blatantly ‘phoning it in’ by the time metalcore influenced disappointment ‘Are You Dead Yet?’ came out. This conformity was then used as a tool to market the band to the Kerrang! Squadron while many metalheads fled the sinking ship. Since then, they have released the abortion entitled ‘Blooddrunk’ and their live shows have become increasingly sloppy but increasingly filled with the word ‘fuck’ and all its variations. Tonight was a little different. After an intro tape filled spouting the word ‘fuck’ until it was burned into the brains of everyone present, ‘Follow the Reaper’ was unexpectedly scythed out for the crowd. The setlist, overall, was fairly impressive with just one lowlight off ‘Blooddrunk’ (the directionless title track) and two new-crowd pleasing songs from ‘Are You Dead Yet?’ – ‘Living Dead Beat’ and ‘In Your Face’. Ultra aggressive venomous tracks including ‘Sixpounder’, ‘Hate Me!’ and ‘Hatecrew Deathroll’ are matched with the melancholy of ‘Every Time I Die’, ‘Kissing the Shadows’ and ‘Angels Don’t Kill’, decently summing up the extreme power metallers’ careers. Despite the surprisingly good setlist, the performance is not up to par with the standards most guitar virtuosos uphold and the show is like any other Bodom show, complete with cringe-worthy “Janne fucked up!” moment. Of course, Laiho takes the opportunity to say ‘fuck’ as if he is being paid for each time he utters the profanity, each time summoning a face-palm moment and doing little to dissipate the stereotypes that metalheads are wannabe tough guy vagrants. The encore provides a moment of entertainment as the band mess around and play the introduction to Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ and Bon Jovi’s ‘Runaway’(no doubt unrecognisable among the new generation of Bodom fans) before ‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’ and closer ‘Downfall’ respectively. A surprisingly strong setlist but a typically sloppy performance to end the penultimate day of the festival. (EF)

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