Jack
A two piece grind band from the Netherlands, Jesus Crost (3/5) were something of a wake up call for the groggy audience who rose for their set on the Saturday morning. Despite having an impressive list of past gigs, the Dutch duo seemed slightly reserved taking the stage, but soon overcame their nerves, rinsing out the ears of those present with their Magrudergrind-esque rantings. Definitely a good band, and they certainly performed well, even inspiring a small pit (quite an achievement for 10.30 am) but on such a big stage, and with so few members the performance’s energy was a little bit diluted. If you like the more chaotic side of grind, go and see them, but make sure you do so in a smaller, dingier venue.
When I walked in on Oranssi Pazuzu (2.5/5) they were midway through a rather boring number that was reminiscent of Now, Diabolical-era Satyricon. The first few tracks were in this vein and I wasn’t much taken with them, but as the set went on they they experimented more and more with texture, synths and feedback, weaving a tapestry of sound that was much more sinister (and thus more evocative of the spirit of black metal) than their opening tracks. Despite this improvement though, I wouldn’t personally say they were more than pretty good. Worth a look if you like that sort of thing though.
Ryan
Turning the Warzone into just what it says on the tin, As They Burn (3.5/5) deliver an impassioned performance that gives the audience the kickstart they need to keep pace with the early afternoon festivities. Their singer has a startlingly strong voice that could hold court with thunderstorms and he uses it to whip the crowd into a crazed frenzy. Unfortunately the set begins to sag toward the middle as their metalcore-structured anthems become more predictable than the ending to a soppy rom-com flick.
Despite the comparative weakness of their latest material, Steel Panther (4.5/5) certainly know how to put on a good show. Part musicians, part comedians, their set is full of flawlessly-executed anthems and jokes that make between-song banter just as entertaining as the music itself. Even a malfunctioning guitar can’t ruin the party, but one has to wonder just how much irony there really is to their chauvinistic womanising as several female audience members reluctantly flash the cameras at Michael Starr’s repeated request.
Jack
Old school deathmongers Necros Christos (3/5) were just as crushing as they are on record. In the sweltering confines of the tent, their doom-laden grooves were so heavy it was like they were sucking all the air out of the room. Clad in ornate black and gold robes, the band did a good job of maintaining the air of mysticism they like to cultivate. Set highlight ‘Doom of Kali Ma’ kicked things up a gear, but the band always returned to their molasses-thick, mid-tempo hammering. Necros Christos are a top studio band, and I’m pleased to report a thoroughly good live prospect too.
Ryan
Death Angel (4/5) are a far more serious prospect but they’re still here to party. It’s the 25th anniversary of the release of their debut album The Ultra-Violence and they celebrate by playing it in its entirety, much to the pleasure of an ecstatic crowd. With meandering guitars and lengthy instrumental sections it takes a special band to be able to hold a festival crowd’s attention with this kind of music, but Death Angel manage it with ease.
Jack
Italy’s Ufomammut (5/5) really outdid themselves with an utterly monolithic performance. An aural experience evocative of drowning in a stormy sea, their ponderous aggression gives the listener a sense of their own insignificance. Amongst those waves of feedback and walls of sound, one is a tiny dot, powerless in an uncaring and lethal landscape. Led by rolling toms and soaring squalls of rich feedback, the music rose and ebbed in furious crescendos and beguilingly calm decrescendos. One of the bands of the weekend; flawless.
Rob
Miscalculating how long it’d take me to get parked cost me the pleasure of seeing Sacred Reich deliver what sounded like one of the best sets of the weekend. I could hear them as I walked towards the site, and a fine soundtrack they made indeed – I’ve seen video of their Hellfest performance since, and I’m gutted I missed it. Which meant that the first band I saw on Saturday was Uriah Heep (4/5), of all people. One of those names that you see a lot in vinyl exchanges all over the world, you’d imagine by the sheer volume of second-hand records of theirs out there that nobody actually likes them – the rapturous response they get from the crowd here somewhat belies this thought! Powerful, classy hard rock, and a nice way to ease into another long day.
Ryan
Cancer Bats (3/5) have come a long way since their 2006 debut Birthing the Giant. They’ve built a massive reputation for themselves in the process, one that stands firm on the foundations of their scorching live show, so it’s no surprise to see the tent overflowing with punters. Frontman Liam Cormier bounces back and forth across the stage like some kind of possessed ping-pong ball during the likes of Dead Set On Living’s ‘Road Sick’, whilst Scott Middleton’s metallic riffage sees the quartet hold their own against the heavyweight bands that flank them.
Rob
Still feeling a bit down over missing Sacred Reich, my day improves vastly when Exodus (4.5/5) hit the stage. Seeing Rick Hunolt reunited with the band is great, although it’s due to the absence of Gary Holt (away with Slayer) rather than reuniting the classic ‘H-team’. The thrashers deliver one of their trademark festival sets, whipping up a huge pit straight from the get-go and keeping the energy high throughout with a solid selection of tracks covering their whole career, even finishing up with ‘Strike Of The Beast’!
Jack
Yob (5/5) are the heaviest band in the world, and that is a scientific fact. I really want to give Yob 10/5, because for this performance, that’s what they deserve. Recordings of bands that play this kind of doom, no matter their quality, can never come close to their live performances. Theres something magical about feeling every kick drum hit and powerchord in your chest cavity, about bass tone that bites like razorblades and flows like honey, about the crawling, ponderous violence of the drums that make one feel alive. It’s a tribal, primal feeling. By the time we were being aurally caressed by the exotic intro of ‘Adrift in The Ocean’ the band had the audience in the palm of their hand. Yob themselves seemed mildly bewildered by how well they were received and such humility only added to their appeal.
Rob
It’s no secret that I love Aborted (5/5). Their last album Global Flatline is a strong contender for my top ten of this year, and they usually turn in a great live show. Today is absolutely no different, with the good acoustics of the Altar stage proving the perfect foil for their technical, bass-drop loaded grinding and the assembled faithful go utterly insane – some of the outright strangest dancing of the whole weekend is seen right here, no joke. Julien from French lunatics Benighted reprises his appearance on the album and gets a hero’s welcome, and the only low point for me was them finishing up their otherwise-flawless set without playing ‘Of Scabs And Boils’.
Ryan
With As They Burn and Emmure both playing the tent earlier in the day, it’s safe to say that the Warzone has seen its fair share of breakdowns, but no-one executes them quite as masterfully as Unearth (3.5/5). Opening with a powerful rendition of ‘The Great Dividers’, they announce their arrival like a wrecking ball at a tea party but it’s the songs from latest album, Darkness in the Light such as ‘Watch it Burn’ that leave the greatest impact. Trevor Phipps may not have the best vocal delivery but, with the quality of the songs on offer, that doesn’t seem to matter.
Boasting a song repertoire that seemingly consists solely of anthems, Machine Head (4.5/5) are the ideal booking for an open air festival. Taking the stage to the intro of ‘I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)’ (from their new album, Unto the Locust), theirs is an arrival that incites hysteria. Fan favourite ‘Old’ sounds remarkably primitive, though no less enjoyable than the newer material such as ‘Locust’ and ‘Aesthetics of Hate’ that looms over it. It’s the powerhouse drumming of Dave McClain and the winding guitars that seem to take on a life of their own that make these new compositions so memorable. This isn’t just about playing songs; this is a celebration of music. It’s just a shame that the wind decides to pick it apart.
Unfortunately Darkest Hour’s (4.5/5) set clashes with the end of Machine Head, meaning that they walk on stage to a very sparsely-populated tent. It’s a shame, because anybody not present is missing out on one hell of a performance. They may not have the big budget stage show or the massive rockstar egos, but what they do have is tunes. Heaps of them. For a full hour they tear their way through the likes of ‘No God’, Doomsayer’, ‘The Sadist Nation’ and ‘With a Thousand Words to Say but One’ without showing the slightest sign of slowing down. Even the songs from last year’s The Human Romance which seemed slightly subdued on record sound absolutely feral in a live context. It’s a set so blistering that Elastoplast could have made a fortune if only they’d thought to set up a stall, the fools.
Rob
Whilst Ryan gets his beatdowns and modern metal epics served to him, I set up camp in the big tent for a while. First up are Enslaved (5/5), who are absolutely jaw-dropping tonight. Opening with the glorious pairing of ‘Ethica Odini’ and ‘Raidho’, and sweeping through the likes of ‘Ruun’, ‘Giants’ and their take on ‘Immigrant Song’, this is a masterful, confident show that displays exactly why Enslaved are sitting at the very top of their game.
It’s been a good long time since I last saw Entombed (5/5), and even longer since I’ve witnessed them on this form. Playing as a five-piece again might be what’s made the (same) difference (sorry!) – the Swedes are positively ferocious, with a scathing ‘Stranger Aeons’ kicking off a riotous, celebratory selection of tunes. Horns are thrown all over the place, crowdsurfers are constant, heads are banged nearly all the way off and crowd participation during ‘Wolverine Blues’, ‘Damn Deal Done’ and ‘When In Sodom’ is hilariously loud. It’s a genuinely brilliant feeling, seeing a band as well-loved as this play to such a partisan crowd, and I only hope they can channel even a bit of this easy confidence into their next album.
Jack
The Devil’s Blood (3.5) are one of my favourite doom bands. Female-fronted, occult, and rocky, in the vein of Blood Ceremony, their songwriting chops are second to none, and their three guitar attack provides ample in the way of the mysterious textures and layers they so love to use. Vocalist F The Mouth of Satan commanded the stage, standing arms wide as if midway through the ritual to summon some demon from the stygian pit, her creamy belt note perfect throughout the set. So why haven’t I scored them higher? I thought the set was poorly paced, and I would have liked to hear more material from their newest album The Thousandfold Epicentre, the title track of which was a performance highlight. That aside though, a good effort.
Ryan
Guns ‘n’ Roses (2/5) were presumably booked to help sell tickets because it’s been a while since they last put on a good show. Tonight’s performance doesn’t buck that trend but it’s not Axl’s fault this time; not entirely. The sound quality is so bad that one would be forgiven for thinking the sound engineers are playing a trick on the headliners. Guitars are completely submerged in the mix and the whole thing is so quiet that singing along is inadvisable, lest you drown out the men on the stage. Consequently, classics such as ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ fall flat on their arse whilst, inexplicably, The Axl Rose Show seem to think that everyone wants to hear Chinese Democracy and not the songs that, 20 years ago, changed the world. (Rob: I walked past this utter shower of shit on my eventually-failed journey to try and catch Refused, and genuinely laughed out loud. Utterly woeful, and I think Ryan’s being polite with his rating – Axl even managed to make a bollocks of the lyrics to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, for God’s sake.)
Leave it to Behemoth (5/5) to close the show with style. With a stage aesthetic that mimics the ritualistic and incorporates an inverted cross engulfed in flame, they’ve certainly got the look and, thankfully, the songs to match. Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Promiński’s drumming has never sounded so vital whilst the vocals are simply enormous and have a strong demonic flavour to them, an appropriate touch given the subject matter. Despite operating exclusively in fifth gear, Behemoth make what they do look utterly effortless as ‘Ov Fire and the Void’ and ‘Lucifer’ provoke the crowd to headbang as one. Having returned to the festival circuit following frontman Nergal’s recent triumph over cancer, there’s a strong sense of celebration to proceedings, especially when he turns to the crowd and roars, “It feels good to be alive!” And he’s right; it really does.