The biggest Bloodstock Open Air festival so far promised to be rather good this year. Just one look at the line-up had me hooked. Thursday seemed a strange day to start a festival but Chris Slade (6/10) with help from Exploder start the festival with several AC/DC tracks. Not the best covers I have heard but a nice way to start proceedings. Sight of Emptiness (6.5) won the Bloodstock competition to appear on the mainstage and impressed the crowd with their Costa Rican thrash. Next up were English metallers Head-On (7.5). The southern grooved riffs and drooling vocals were impressive and proved you don't need to come from the US to carry such a southern influence. Firewind (6.5) provided a short sharp set of european power metal the way only Europeans can. US thrash titans Testament (7.5) ended the first night with an almighty set of chugging gems. The crowd lapped it up and went mental to classics such as 'into the pit'. I would have enjoyed it even more if I had known more songs from them. One of the weekend highlights.

Friday exploded (sorry...) into action when Exploder (8) took control of the morning crowd and produced one hell of a performance. Their sleazy hard rock went down a storm and was so good it was hard not to rush to merchandising stall afterwards (only to find they had no albums for sale..) Voodoo 6 (6.5) struggled to keep up the momentum but were still solid and had enough material to keep the crowd interested. The sound on all stages for most of the weekend was superb despite the bad weather. Unfortunately Scar Symmetry (7) suffered from the odd blip when the vocalists microphone projected absolutely nothing for nearly two songs. When the sound was finally up to scratch Scar Symmetry struggled to regain any power in their performance. Despite that 'The Illusionist' still united the assembled thousands in a sing-along. The Omen (6) on the unsigned band sounded okay but their heavy shouty sound didn't do enough to keep me in the tent. Back on the main stage Wolf (6.5) suffered from the last sound problem of the weekend when the power was cut halfway through the set. I was interested in seeing them and some of the tracks impressed. They managed to keep everyone interested during their enforced break by giving away free beer - always a winner! Memfis (6) sounded okay from a distance but never really packed the punch you expected. Korpiklaani (8) on the other hand blasted Bloodstock to the edges of Derby with their brand of folk metal. Anthems such as 'Lets drink' and the obsurdly catchy 'Beer beer' had the whole of Bloodstock captivated, moshing and singing. Suberb stuff. I had seen Epica (7.5) at the Underworld in London several years before. The singer Simone Simons at the time seemed shy and unsure of what to do on stage. Let's just say there was no signs of the shyness at Bloodstock as she took control of the crowd. Led by growling co-vocalist Mark Jansen Epica stormed through a 45 minute set with Simone turning heads as well as providing a masterclass in female vocals. Next were Seattle miscreants Nevermore (7.5). New tracks such as 'Born' sounded like classics before their time alongside the likes of 'Enemies of reality'. Now you wouldn't usually expect a glam/hard rock band such as King Lizard to play at metal festival but times are changing and Bloodstock is looking to appeal to a wider audience. To put it bluntly if the future is anything like this then we are all in for a treat as King Lizard (8.5) produced a set of such energy, musicianship and ballsy perfection all the worlds problems seemed to be a million miles away. 'Riot' rippled with metallic sleaze not too different from 1991 era Skid Row while 'Rock n roll' was enough to make even the most metal of festival goers shake their hips - Outstanding. Dark Tranquillity (7.5) were already playing on the main stage. A good performance with the excellent 'Lost to apathy' standing out. Headliners Lacuna Coil (8) finished the day of nicely filling a set full of tracks from the last two albums, albeit the stand out track for me was the only pre-comalies song they played, 'Senzafine' followed closely by 'Daylight dancer'. Newer tracks like 'Our truth' and 'Fragile' lent the set a sound not a million miles away from Korn.

Beyond All Reason (7) were tasked with waking the sleepy Bloodstockers at the start of the final day and succeeded. A good start to the day. Rise To Addiction (8) followed and immediately upped the gears. An extremley solid set of heavy, groove orientated metal dragged the crowd closer with mighty fine tracks like 'Cold season' providing the melody. With a singer like Leigh Oates Rise To Addiction will be around for the long haul. Freedom Call (6) benefited from the large crowd now glued to the main stage but produced a solid but rather plain set. Over in the unsigned tent Kent based band Kobrakai (8) delivered a mature sounding set despite them probably being younger than most of the other bands on the same stage. Screamo and clean vocals alongside a metallic guitar sound that wouldn't sound out of place on the main stage showed all but a few of the assembled throng that there was more than just European power metal bands at the festival this weekend. Benediction (7) upped the heaviness factor on the main stage only for Legion of the Damned (8) to crank it up even further. Finntroll (7.5) delivered a solid set of their folky thrash metal but maybe Korpiklaani stole some of their fire the previous day. Dream Evil (8) were made for Bloodstock. The lyrics and riffs may be as cheesy as they come but they are impossible not to like. 'United' started the set as it was to go on and one of the inevitable highlights of the weekend 'Book of heavy metal' once again created a mass singalong. Headrush (7.5) over on the Lava stage were in fine form with a vocalist intent of outdoing Rob Halford and Sebastian Bach at the same time. Their hard rock could easily be transferred to the main stage at a later date. I was a fan of Walkyre fronted Skyclad so was interested in seeing Sabbat (7.5) for the first time. Lightning fast riffage with story-telling like vocals of Walkyre made for an interesting and energetic set. Kings of British thrash indeed. Back in the unsigned tent Axis of Evil (7) were busy scaring the stage as well as anyone willing to listen. Unfortunately I had to leave after two songs in order to see a classic performance from Arch Enemy (9). A perfectly balanced set full of ahem, 'hits' and jaw dropping guitar histrionics from the reunited Amott brothers saw them deliver the finest hour of metal all weekend. 'Ravenous', 'Burning angel', 'Dead eyes see no future', 'We will rise', 'Carry the cross' all crackled with a gigantic sound usually only heard on Andy Sneap recordings... And with ball busting new track 'Blood on your hands' sounding better than anything from the disappointing 'Doomsday Machine' album this was a time you just had to see them. In Flames (8.5) had a lot to live up to but did not shirk the challenge. As with the band before, In Flames mixed the set perfectly with tracks from the last album like 'Take this life', 'Leeches' and the excellent 'Crawl through knives' to previous tracks 'Cloud connected' and 'Pinball map'. An excellent finish to an excellent festival and the best Bloodstock Open Air so far. With the festival getting bigger every year we will hopefully see the quality in bands at least stay the same as nobody let themselves down this year.

Main highlights for me were 'Into the pit' – Testament and whole sets from Exploder, King Lizard, Rise To Addiction, In Flames, Kobrakai and of course Arch Enemy.

See you next year on the 15th-17th August.

Review by Alan

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