BLOODSTOCK are very excited to announce GHOST as their Saturday night headliner!
This will be GHOST’s first ‘ritual’ at BLOODSTOCK and watching their amazing stage show after dark is sure to be quite the religious experience! Check out a taster of what might be in store via this clip from Hellfest 2016 – https://youtu.be/JNCbvDIOeT4
A Nameless Ghoul informs us “We are absolutely chuffed to finally be playing at the classic BLOODSTOCK. Over the years we have heard so many great things about it and now, to be able to headline one of the nights, is a great honour and we are very much looking forward to it. Thank you all and see you there!"
GHOST, who are hot off the back of their Popestar UK tour, channel the early sounds of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate, as well as elements of prog and late '60s psych rock, so couldn’t be more at home on Catton Park’s hallowed turf. Papa and the Ghouls current album, ‘Meliora’ spawned the Grammy Award-winning track, ‘Cirice’, the video for which has clocked up almost 16 million views on YouTube – https://youtu.be/-0Ao4t_fe0I. ‘Meliora’ was followed in September 2016 by their critically lauded ‘Popestar’ EP, featuring the hugely sticky ‘Square Hammer’ – https://youtu.be/VqoyKzgkqR4. We can’t wait to welcome them to Catton Park in August!
Already announced for 2017 are Friday’s headliners AMON AMARTH, Sunday’s headliners MEGADETH, plus ARCH ENEMY, KREATOR, BLIND GUARDIAN, HATEBREED, TESTAMENT, OBITUARY, KING 810, BRUJERIA, WHITECHAPEL, SKINDRED, POSSESSED, ANNIHILATOR, MUNICIPAL WASTE, HELL, DECAPITATED, SOILWORK, CHELSEA GRIN, MACABRE, INQUISITION, KING PARROT, SCARAB, WINTERSUN, ONI, DENDERA, KROH, ABHORRENT DECIMATION, COURTESANS, WRETCHED SOUL, BOSSK, and WINTERFYLLETH. Many more are still be announced! Stay tuned to BLOODSTOCK’s social media at https://www.facebook.com/bloodstock and https://twitter.com/bloodstockfest for the latest!
Download Festival, the world’s premier rock event has announced another plethora of bands, from legends and new talent alike, including Devin Townsend Project, Suicide Silence, Code Orange and many more. Download Festival takes place on 9 – 11 June 2017 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire.
New to 2017, The Avalanche Stage shines a spotlight on everyone from the biggest global acts, to the latest breaking bands. Headlined by the previously announced Sleeping With Sirens, Simple Plan and The Dillinger Escape Plan, the Avalanche Stage will be hosted by new music champions, Kerrang’s Fresh Blood.
Alex Baker, presenter of Fresh Blood on Kerrang! Radio said: “Right now, there is an undeniable, electric excitement about new music in the air and as soon as we saw the new Avalanche Stage we just had to be involved. It was clear from the get go that one of The Avalanche Stage’s aims was to ensure that there was a dedicated space for these new bands within the festival. Download has always been amazing at supporting new talent and I’ve always admired them for that – so it was a no brainer to get as involved as much as humanely possible!”
Metal behemoth, Devin Townsend Project will be making their welcomed return to Download Festival, featuring living legend and ex Strapping Young Lad frontman, Devin Townsend.
On playing the festival, Devin said: "Download! Amidst a crazy year, we have been invited to play at one of my favourite festivals in the world. The band is rocking better than ever, and we are fired up to have some fun with you guys. We look forward to blowing the roof off the place. See you there!"
The hottest name in hardcore, Code Orange are torchbearers for their genre and will excite festival goers with a crushing set. Twenty years on from the release of ground-breaking album Roots, Max & Iggor Cavalera reunite to perform the seminal record in its entirety to the Download crowd.
Having influenced heavy music with their rapid twin vocal and tech metal, groove masters SikTh will bring the Main Stage mosh pit to life. Deathcore stalwarts Suicide Silence are back with tracks from their eponymous fifth album and are set to deliver an incomparably powerful live set atDonington this summer. Joining them are unmissable supergroup elite, Krokodil who are set to impress with their immensely forceful metal, and UK stoner rock legends, Orange Goblin with their heavy hammer, steel toed riffs and fistfuls of attitude.
Renowned for his wild live shows and fiercely loyal fan base, Ohio rapper Machine Gun Kelly has received waves of critical and commercial success with sophomore album General Admission, which he’ll be bringing in abundance to Download this June. Aussie rock heroes Sick Puppies will serve up their tooth rattling rock and hard hitting hooks that will send the Download crowd wild. Led by the incredible Johnny Hawkins, San Antonio rockers Nothing More have cemented themselves in the top echelons of modern rock and will be bringing their ferocious live performance to Donington.
Having previously supported Iron Maiden, metalcore outfit The Raven Age stride between melody and brute force, and will be returning to Download for another epic performance. They’ll be joined by tour de force of energy, Yonaka, and country rock n’ rollers Blackwater Conspiracy.
The dark and volatile Perturbator completes the trio of Dogtooth Stage headliners alongside the previously announced Exodus and Wednesday 13. Prepare to be lost in his technoir, dark synthwave as he closes the Dogtooth Stage for 2017. Dublin’s grunge pop rockers OTHERKIN will riff their way through infectious songs with a raucous energy, whilst London five piece, Drones will be out to deliver a barrage of hardcore punk for the Download Festival audience.
Having supported the likes of rock legends Black Stone Cherry and Halestorm, The Fallen State will bring soulful vocals and unapologetic rock to Donington. Expect a distinctive mix of pop, punk and new wave from London/LA duo Love Zombies, chaotic and energetic indie punk from Blackwaters, gritty modern blues fuelled rock from Bristol natives Tax The Heat and soulful rock n’ roll from Nashville’s Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown.
Download Festival is the home of rock music and takes place on the sacred grounds of Donington Park, which have been associated with rock since the eighties. The festival attracts rock icons to its Main Stage, plus some of the best and hottest new acts in the world. AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot, Linkin Park and many more have all headlined its Main Stage.
Download Festival, the undisputed champion of rock and metal, has today announced the grand return of WWE NXT LIVE! to the hallowed grounds of Donington Park. Music fans will once again be electrified with incredible displays of skill and athleticism, as the hugest names in Sports Entertainment deliver the complete WWE NXT experience alongside the world’s biggest rock stars, on June 9 -11. Tickets are available now from downloadfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Alongside headliners System Of A Down, Biffy Clyroand Aerosmith, fans can catch NXT Superstars *Bobby Roode, Aleister Black, Tye Dillinger, Kassius Ohno, Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain, Nikki Cross and many more as they bring the hard-hitting, innovative and action packed brand of NXT to the purpose built, full scale ring in the main festival arena.
Last year saw NXT make a huge impact with Download fans, delivering a weekend of action to capacity crowds with shocking debuts, high flying manoeuvres and surprising returns from the biggest names in sports entertainment. It also provided one of the most touching moments in Download history when Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative and WWE icon Triple H was awarded the Metal Hammer ‘Spirit Of Lemmy’ award on the main stage, in honour of his relationship with the late legendary Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and to acknowledge the affinity between the rock and wrestling worlds.
Download Festival Promoter, Dave Bradley said: “Having WWE NXT at Download is like seeing what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object – you just know sparks are gonna fly! Wrestling and rock music go hand in hand and if last year is anything to go by, this exclusive festival experience is only going to be bigger & better for round two! This is not to be missed.”
Current NXT Champion Bobby Roode, who made headlines with his NXT debut at last year’s Download Festival said: “Download was my very first show in NXT. The combination of NXT Superstars and massive musical acts, entertaining tens of thousands of passionate fans makes Download a unique experience.
Returning to Download as NXT Champion will make this an extra special moment for me as a performer. WWE has been synonymous with rock culture for decades and has a long history of engaging with the rock community, previously collaborating with the likes of; Motorhead, Killswitch Engage, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Living Colour, Rob Zombie, POD and many more huge bands.
Download Festival is the home of rock music and takes place on the sacred grounds of Donington Park, which have been associated with rock since the eighties. The festival attracts icons of rock and metal to its main stage, plus some of the best and hottest new acts in the world. AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot, Linkin Park and many more have all headlined its main stage.
BLOODSTOCK is powering ahead with even more bookings for 2017! We’ve four more to get you excited for August’s best metal weekender…
German thrash legends KREATOR shred their way on to BLOODSTOCK’s main stage this Summer in Saturday’s special guest spot! Vocalist/guitarist Mille Petrozza declares, “We are happy to finally return to BLOODSTOCK! KREATOR will give you the full treatment this time. WE SHALL KILL.” The band released their fourteenth studio album, ‘Gods of Violence’ in January via Nuclear Blast. Check out the video for the title track at: https://youtu.be/xeUBJ2Ha-FM and get up to speed on all things KREATOR over at: https://www.facebook.com/KreatorOfficial/.
Flint firebrands KING 810 land a Ronnie James Dio main stage slot on Saturday in a UK festival exclusive, so will be your only chance to catch the band on these shores this summer! Their genre-busting album, ‘La Petite Mort (Or A Conversation With God)’ was hugely lauded upon release last year, with leading US outlet, Metal Injection pronouncing it “2016’s best example of what an album should be”. Check out their visceral video for ‘Alpha & Omega’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLmQDr7GGw. This happened in Flint this week… https://youtu.be/QsmoWV_HQII.
Black metal marauders INQUISITION will headline the Sophie Lancaster stage on Friday. The duo of Dagon and Incubus released their seventh album, ‘Bloodshed Across The Empyrean Altar Beyond The Celestial Zenith’ via Season Of Mist last August. Listen to ‘Wings Of Anu’ from that disc at https://youtu.be/UGdbsGFrvbY and prepare for a ferocious finish to Friday night.
Lastly, KING PARROT fly in from their Aussie homeland for a Sophie stage slot. The self-dubbed “grindin’, thrashin’, punk wrecking machine” are on the road in support of their Phil Anselmo-produced disc, ‘Dead Set’. Lend your ears at https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album/dead-set, or watch their 2012 video for ‘Shit On The Liver’ at https://youtu.be/cinvIr-O1k8 – it was a finalist in the Australian Music Video Awards and has racked up nearly half a million YouTube views! Learn more Parrot at www.facebook.com/kingparrotband/.
By way of a late Valentines Day gift, BLOODSTOCK is thrilled to announce 3 more bands for 2017’s event!
ARCH ENEMY will be joining us as Sunday’s special guests. Get a taste of their Swedish melodeath with the live video for ‘War Eternal’, shot at Wacken 2016 and check out what’s in store this August – https://youtu.be/p5etfIwlRbg. The band, now fronted by Alissa White-Gluz, are set to release a new live DVD/Blu-Ray of their full Wacken set titled ‘As The Stages Burn!’ on 31st March via Century Media. ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott tells us "We're very much looking forward to being a part of this year's edition of BLOODSTOCK, which actually takes place very close to where my father was born. We'll be bringing our 'pure fucking metal' attack home… Hail to England!" Stay clued up on all things ARCH ENEMY at www.facebook.com/archenemyofficial/.
Salt Lake City deathcore mob CHELSEA GRIN also land an early main stage slot on Friday. The band released their fourth studio album, ‘Self Inflicted’ via new label home Rise Records last summer and unveiled a video for ‘Broken Bonds’ – https://youtu.be/awa50gXnOdw. Frontman Alex Koehler tells us “We are looking forward to heading back overseas this summer to be part of Bloodstock 2017. When we were offered the show and we saw the lineup we were extremely excited. We’ve seen tons of videos from BLOODSTOCK in the past and cannot wait to be there.” Get all the latest on CHELSEA GRIN over at www.facebook.com/ChelseaGrinMetal.
Lastly, prog metallers ONI join the ranks on the Sophie stage on Saturday. Signed to Metal Blade, these Canadians recently unveiled a creepy video for ‘The Only Cure’ from debut album ‘Ironshore’, featuring guest vocals from Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. Check it out at: https://youtu.be/ERFBmOtElKU. Frontman Jake Oni says “In the past year, we’ve had the pleasure of playing the UK a few times, but being a part Bloodstock 2017 is a huge honour. We are not only excited to show this festival what we’ve got, but also to see some of the masters that are playing!!! You don't want to miss this!” ONIwarm up for their BLOODSTOCK debut by traversing Europe next month with Children of Bodom.
As 2017 settles in, four more brutal bands are locked in for August’s best metal weekender; BLOODSTOCK!
Swedish metal marauders, SOILWORK are confirmed for a main stage slot at Catton Park.
Frontman Björn ‘Speed’ Strid tells us "We are really thrilled to return to UK soil after a killer mini-tour with Arch Enemy last year. That ended with one of the most spectacular and sweatiest shows to date at The Underworld in London. BLOODSTOCK is always a riot and we cannot wait to hit the stage this summer. Bring it England!!!" Check out their ‘Death In General’ video, taken from 2015’s ‘The Ride Majestic’ album here – https://youtu.be/kme-sxY2pAQ.
‘Murder metal’ outfit, MACABRE are set for a headline slot on the Sophie Lancaster stage. The Chicago-based band blend elements of true crime, math rock, punk, thrash, folk melodies, death metal, jazz fusion, black metal and more. Guitarist/vocalist, Corporate Death tells us “We haven’t been back to the UK in several years but BLOODSTOCK is exactly where MACABRE should play if you know our music.” Don’t miss this rare opportunity to catch this unique band on UK shores!
Metallic Finns WINTERSUN are also lined up to headline the Sophie Lancaster stage. The band are hard at work on new album, ‘The Forest Seasons’ which is set for release this Summer via Nuclear Blast. The band tell us “It’ll be great to come back to the atmospheric BLOODSTOCK. We had a blast in 2011, but this year is extra special since we’re going to play new music for you guys! See ya in August!" In the meantime, remind yourself of their epic sound with a clip of ‘Time’, taken from 2012’s ‘Time I’ album – https://youtu.be/alo7A0NLmxU.
Keen to include bands from less obvious parts of the world too, BLOODSTOCK is delighted to welcome back Egyptian death metallers, SCARAB, to the Sophie stage. Warm up your neck with the title track for current album, ‘Serpents Of The Nile’ – https://youtu.be/uI6k2oAiGYM, and follow all their latest news at www.facebook.com/Scarabegypt. The band are currently recording their new album, ‘Martyrs Of The Storm’ so expect some new material at Catton Park this August!
BLOODSTOCK is excited to kick off the New Year by announcing MEGADETH as their Sunday night headliner!
MEGADETH’s mainman, Dave Mustaine tells us “We kick off 2017 by announcing we'll be headlining Sunday night at Bloodstock, one of my favourite, purely metal, British festivals! Megadeth had a blast last time and I can't wait to bring the Dystopia World Tour to Bloodstock this Summer. See ya at Catton Park in August!"
MEGADETH were recently nominated for a Grammy in the ‘Best Metal Performance’ category for the title track of their current critically acclaimed ‘Dystopia’ album. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK95lWHl7js and grab a copy of ‘Dystopia’ here
Also available now is the very popular ticket deposit scheme! The payment plan helps ease the ‘big lump’ shock of paying for your standard weekend ticket by breaking it up into five smaller, more manageable sums. You can sign up in the ticket store at any time from now until 28th Feb, with an initial payment of £34.80 payable on sign-up. Thereafter, four additional instalments of £27.80 will debit your bank account on 1st April, May, June and July respectively. Get full details over at http://bloodstock.seetickets.com/content/ticket-options.
If you have Scuzz TV, check out GOJIRA's incredible full set from BLOODSTOCK 2016 which is being broadcast regularly on the channel! Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/yLZT5Ao7o8M. The show will be repeated on the channel all through January.
Already announced for 2017 are Friday’s headliners AMON AMARTH, plus BLIND GUARDIAN, HATEBREED, TESTAMENT, OBITUARY, BRUJERIA, WHITECHAPEL, SKINDRED, POSSESSED, ANNIHILATOR, MUNICIPAL WASTE, HELL and DECAPITATED. Many more are still to come! Stay tuned to BLOODSTOCK’s social media for the latest!
BLOODSTOCK is thrilled to announce a bumper batch of Ronnie James Dio main stage bands for 2017, including their Friday night headliner!
Prepare your drinking horns!! Swedish overlords, AMON AMARTH will be sailing their Viking longboat on to the Catton Park shore as Friday night’s headline band! Chief berzerker Johan Hegg declares, "What's up UK! On August 11th 2017, we are invading BLOODSTOCK! It's going to be a fucking awesome party, with immense bloodshed and you better be there!" Get ready for battle and raise your horns with us via their latest video at https://youtu.be/Ndu33Uv7Aco.
Landing the special guest slot on Friday are power metal kingpins, BLIND GUARDIAN. Their set will be a UK exclusive for 2017. BLOODSTOCK prides itself on being by the fans, for the fans, and are pleased to welcome one of the fans most requested acts to the lineup. If you’re not familiar, you’ve three decades of music to investigate, but why not start with the more recent ‘Twlight Of The Gods’, at: https://youtu.be/Ep1B_aIFPDE.
Bay Area thrash beasts, TESTAMENT are set for a Friday slot. With their crushing brand new album, ‘Brotherhood Of The Snake’, released just a week ago by Nuclear Blast, check out the awesome video for new song ‘The Pale King’ at https://youtu.be/wkHT86Ei7DY.
Hardcore kings, HATEBREED make a welcome return to Catton Park on Saturday. Check out their video for ‘Looking Down The Barrel of Today’ from current album, ‘The Concrete Confessional’ here. Expect firebrand frontman, Jamey Jasta to play ringmaster to some epic circle pit activity, so get your pit skills honed in preparation!
Also landing a spot on the Ronnie James Dio main stage over the weekend are Tennessee deathcore beasts, WHITECHAPEL, seminal death metallers, POSSESSED and flying the flag for English heavy metal, BLOODSTOCK favourites, HELL.
It’s that special last month before Autumn sets in, the high summer sun shines down on the most inappropriately weather-attired crowd of the entire year, yes, It’s Bloodstock Open Air. I will never stop being equally amused and proud that the metal community rocks black tshirts, heavy denim, sticky leather and a mass of metalware regardless of temperature, or indeed comfort.
Though this year’s Bloodstock line-up has been the topic of much forum debate and there are some rather under-represented groups (female musicians on the main stage anyone?) this year, you can’t deny there is first-class metal on offer this weekend. Friday sees a beautiful site-wide crab-athon (Crabulon) with Evil Scarecrow, and Corrosion of Conformity tear up the Ronnie James Dio stage with their gritty bluesy metal, to a decent crowd having overcome some mishaps on the route here. “In case you guys don’t know, we lost our guitars in fucking Paris… we’re kind of winging it” the guys let us know, before a calling Donald Trump a dickhead and dedicating the beautifully relevant ‘Vote With A Bullet’ to him.
Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage, the comedically named Foetal Juice hailing from Manchester, sound pretty much exactly as you’d expect – extreme but a little bit silly. Everyone in the tent seems to love them though, which is pretty good going for group of mates who started this for fun.
Heading over to the Kraken Rum garden for a spot of black ice-cream (good work guys, you know this is exactly the crowd to appreciate a gothic dessert) we take the opportunity to check out the merch stall and pop into Lemmy’s Bar to raise a glass (well, plastic cup) to the man, the legend. Back on the Sophie stage XII Boar are absolutely killing it, yelling out “You’re here! You’ve made it to the party” to us latecomers joining them mid-set. It’s a bit of a shame about the noise-pollution next door, the music on the fairground rides is offensively loud and unnecessary. No-one needs to hear Sweet Child O’Mine more than once in half an hour.
Home grown heroes Venom are a massive Friday highlight with their thrashy, wild child behaviour and obvious love of what they do. Calling out “It’s great to see the fucking UK legions” to a roaring crowd, it’s nice to see a proper homecoming. Demon-faced Behemoth are kind of a BOA staple now right? The band are over from Poland, presumably to promote Satanism and murder… *snigger* and for a band who’ve done every trick in the goth manual to seem dark and gloomy, they look like they’re having a pretty amazing time.
Last up is the final ever (yes really, EVER) UK Twisted Sister show on their ‘Forty & Fuck It’ tour, and it’s an absolute blinder. Playing 15 minutes over the curfew, with every single hit you wanted to hear, and a gigantic crowd singing alongside them – Twisted Sister go out with a bang. Like the music or not, you can’t deny they’ve got amazing showmanship and the ability to engage with a crowd on a funny and personal level. They will be hugely missed.
Saturday sees the likes of The Raven Age, off the back of their supporting role in Iron Maiden’s Book of Souls world tour, carving out a name for themselves on the Sophie stage, and Rotting Christ have the main stage under a veil of darkness with their unique melodic metal and some synchronized headbanging. Fear Factory pull in a huge crowd and those 90’s sounds are just so nostalgic it makes us want to buy some of those huge jeans again, you know the kind with safety pins all up the seam and one of those giant ball-chains attached to your wallet.
Grabbing some grub is much more difficult than we had anticipated, this festival has come a long way on the food front since it’s early days of scary burger vs. scary hotdog options. We opt for a Bi-ella (It’s not sexual, it’s just both kinds of paella – meat and veggie. Actually I take it back, that is pretty sexual.) and chilli-inna-bun, which is much less Dibbler than it sounds. Both were awesome and actually worthy of high price tag we’ve come to expect from UK festivals.
Paradise Lost playing in the late evening sun is an absolute treat, but the stunningly beautiful guitars ring out across a sleepy crowd, there are a lot more people sitting down in a post-dinner sun-drenched haze. Only the astoundingly tall Kraken diver is dancing around like a lunatic, presumably taking an in-suit bath in his own sweat.
Over on the Sophie stage One Machine are throwing down hard, their sound is interesting and fresh and there’s a pretty decent crowd in there enjoying it. In the Hobgoblin New Blood tent, Warwickshire band The Face of Ruin have In Flames vibes and we are loving their rowdy set. Let’s hope they return to BOA soon… next year even… on a bigger stage…
On the main stage it’s time for the truly incredible Gojira, and judging by the sheer size of the crowd that has turned out to see them, they could just have well bumped Mastodon from tonight’s top spot. There’s something so strangely hypnotic about Gojira, it’s hard to put your finger on it, but as the sun sets on day two of BOA it’s clear they’re one of the true highlights of the festival already, and ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ is the anthem. Shouting out “Are you having a great day at the festival? Are you drinking enough beer? Are you happy?” It’s kind of adorable that they care about our festival welfare, and everyone is more than appreciative of the brand new tracks from Magma.
In comparison it’s hard to watch Mastodon’s entrance onto the main stage, with dodgy sound and a do-the-job attitude, the magic dwindles a little. Sure, they’re musically strong but there’s less of the awe and more of the ought about them. However, as the night pulls on Mastodon appear to get comfortable and the last half an hour is considerably, thankfully better.
As the hungover masses drag their butts outta bed (well, sleeping bag) for one last day of metal mayhem, the Sunday lineup sees the likes of Satyricon, complete with forked mic stand and altogether too much white face powder – makeover the main stage with their black metal in the rather overcast afternoon. It’s sort of appropriate. On the Sophie stage, Derange deserve a bigger crowd than they’ve got – I mean, no their sound is nothing exactly new, but they execute well and vocalist Cat Pereira is commanding centre stage.
Outside after a bloody (literally, one guy had his head cut open) battle reenactment, it’s time for the final challenges of the Bloodstock’s Strongest Man competition, and get this… the trophy is Thor’s Hammer! Amazing. After a lot of grunting, sweating and swearing, a little crowd participation and some free tshirts being thrown about, a champion is crowned. It’s been a brilliant little event, hope to see it back bigger for next year.
On the main stage there’s a kicking of heels as we wait patiently for Dragonforce to appear. Technical difficulties are blamed and it’s a blistering, albeit short show from the power-metal heroes. Despite the crowd chanting ‘Herman Lee’ rather than Dragonforce before they came on, it really doesn’t seem to have phased the rest of the band, and frontman Marc Hudson yells “We are Dragonforce from London England, and it’s nice to fucking play at home for once”. ‘Cry Thunder’ and ‘Through The Fire And Flames’ have the entire crowd wailing along as crowd surfers flail overhead, which is pretty great considering that’s all we got. Five songs seems hardly enough.
Symphony X are somewhat underwhelming but New Blood’s Valous, immediately followed by amusingly named Footprints in the Custard – are anything but. Both bands are energetic and enthusiastic, an atmosphere that spills over into their rowdy crowds who are loving it.
As the many… many Judges circle the site telling you not to take photos of them, or pretending to terminate delinquents, they can only herald one band. Anthrax hit the stage with all the raw power you’d expect from a band twenty years their junior, they just make it look easy. ‘Antisocial‘ has the entire arena thrashing, and as they close out with ‘Indians’ shouting “This is the war dance, bang your fucking heads! Everyone move ok?” it’s unsurprising to see the BOA crowd comply, hard.
Following up with another of the ‘Big Four’ thrash metal bands, Slayer are here to re-conquer Bloodstock and with a stage top to bottom bathed in real actual fire (how they sustained playing in that direct heat, I have no idea) it’s almost as if they’ve come out to prove they’re children of the underworld. Last time Slayer topped the BOA bill was just after the death of Jeff Hanneman, three years later we see a fresher, stronger Slayer with a giant Hanneman tribute flag, and something to prove. With the massive and iconic riffs of ‘South of Heaven’ and ‘Raining Blood’ reverberating around Catton Park, it’s hard to imagine a better way to close Bloodstock 2016. Here’s to 2016, and wondering what the next lineup will bring…
A packed arena tentatively awaits the dropping of the giant white screen across the front of the BOA stage, as we prepare to close out Bloodstock Open Air 2016 with one of the biggest metal bands of all time, the almighty Slayer.
As the curtain drops the thrash legends throw down hard, opening with titular track of their most recent album ‘Repentless’ amidst a stage almost sagging with the weight of the insane pyrotechnics they’ve rigged. Flanked by two humongous inverted crosses made from amps, which are actually there to shoot massive bursts of flame out onto the stage, it’s frankly amazing that drummer Paul Bostaph still has eyebrows.
When the flame cannons aren’t firing the back of the stage is alight with flame runners behind the band and the backdrop depicting an artistically creepy Christ image is reminder that Slayer one hundred percent do not give a fuck about offending anyone. Hell, the multiple law suits brought against the band have merely become a woven part of their society-defying history, so it’s pretty much par for course.
Kerry King, wielding his fork-headed axe and a belt of swinging chains shreds through the likes of ‘Disciple’, ‘When The Stillness Comes’ and ‘Mandatory Suicide’. Yelling out “You guys having fun today? Another year at this bloodfest!” it’s clear the guys are enjoying this one, and the thousands of windmilling heads in the crowd seem to agree.
King calls out “Thank you very much for coming today, cause we’re all here to have some fucking fun right?” before introducing ‘Die By The Sword’ with a quick quip on recent terror events around the world “The words are kinda fitting with all this crazy shit going on. I believe in karma, what comes around, goes around”. This is a band with such presence and power, you could bottle and sell it. As the Christ curtain drops to reveal the band’s famous eagle logo, an almighty roar goes up in the crowd before the band smash through ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ and they joke “You guys are here because you love music right? So we’re gonna do a love song…” for ‘Dead Skin Mask’.
After a short cut of the lights, Slayer pull out the big guns for the encore. ‘South of Heaven’ has one of the most memorable refrains of all time but it’s ‘Raining Blood’ that gets every single one of our little black hearts beating, and you just don’t know whiplash unless you’ve headbanged to Slayer.
A final banner drop shows a giant Heineken style logo with the words ‘Hanneman, still reigning’ to commemorate Slayer’s late founding member and guitarist, Jeff Hanneman who passed away in 2013. Going out with enough pyro to feel the warmth from the sound desk Slayer hit hard with ‘Angel of Death’ and it’s all over too soon. There is often much dispute over which bands could or should headline Bloodstock and to some extent it all comes down to preference, but Slayer are and have always been one of those bands you just can’t argue with. Tonight, they proved once again why they are metal royalty.
