After a night in a proper bed, we arrived at the festival on Sunday just in time to see Suffocation
finish their set. This was a bit annoying as apparently they were very good, and the whole reason we
were staying off site was so that we didn't get knackered, drunk and miss anything. Ho hum.
Our first band of the day were German thrashers Holy Moses, not a band we had ever come across
before. They have been around since 1981 and are probably best known for the fact that they have a
female vocalist. They played a 40 minute set of straight up thrash that showed them to be technically
very good, and Sabina Classen is certainly a very capable front woman. If you like straight up thrash
this is a band that are definitely worth going to see on tour.
Next on the main stage was the one and only Doro. Many a man of a certain age had a thing for her
back in the mid 80s when she was with Warlock, and I would imagine after seeing her perform here
today there may well have been a rekindling of those feelings for one or two.
It was the Warlock back catalogue that provided the majority of Doro's set today. When the band
opened with Earthshaker Rock it was genuinely like being back in 1986. Doro sounded (and looked) as
goor as ever and was in constant motion, getting the crowd punching the air and headbanging like
lunatics. I Rule The Ruins came next before Running Fron The Devil from her latest album.
There are loads of bands from this era still on the go, but Doro seems to have stayed truest to
her roots, and still has the voice and stage presence to deliver. Warlock's output was called upon
again for Burning The Witches and Metal Racer, before Doro played only the second new track of the
set, Celebrate.
Doro then gave us something special, her unique take on Judas Priest's Breaking the Law before
closing the set with the classic anthem All We Are. In the afternoon sunshine Doro put on a
brilliant show which was definitely up there with anything else we saw all weekend.
After Doro, Finnish folk-metal band Korplikaani provided something completely different. All sorts
of non-metal instruments appeared on stage, including a Violin and an Accordion. Looking round at
the crowd reaction it was clear that some were finding this a little bemusing, but we really enjoyed
what was on offer, especially their set opener Vodka.
We then nipped over to the Unsigned tent to catch one of our highlights from the recent SOS
festival, the impressive Extreme O.D. The sound on this stage wasn't any better today than it had
been on the other two days but the band still showed exactly why they are creating such a stir
in the UK extreme music scene. And we're still not sure how on earth Katie found out she had THAT
voice.
One of the anticipated highlights of the festival were on next, the costumed gore-mongers of
GWAR. The band had an eventful trip to BOA, arriving only shortly before their stage time but still
managed to put on one of the sets of the weekend.
As predicted they sprayed the first 20 rows of the crowd, and the bouncers and photographers in
the pit with all manner of green and red gunge as they took politically incorrect to new heights. I
mean a pope with Swastikas on his robes firing blood all over the crowd. Theres something you don't
see every day.
And you know what, under the costumes and the posturing, GWAR are a surprisingly good heavy metal
band. Check out our video of Let Us Slay for a flavour of what they are like live.
The Sophie tent was our next port of call to see some Norwegian Metal from Purified In Blood, who
had been slightly unfortunate in the scheduling as they were on at the same time as Gojira so
played their hardcore flavoured thrash metal to a fairly spartan crowd.
Next up we headed to the Jager Acoustic truck to catch some of a short set by Fury UK, who were
here promoting their excellent new album. They drew a decent crowd which must have pleased the guys,
especially as frontman Chris Appleton was a little apprehensive before the show. For a band a good
way out of their comfort zone they did very well.
We then trotted back to the unsigned tent (keeps you fit, this festival lark) to catch the headliners
there, Furyon. This was another band who had not been treated kindly by the schedulers, being up against
a rare UK gig by Mikael Akerfeldt's Bloodbath.
There is something a bit special about Furyon, their debut album
Gravitas is an excellent piece of work and tonight they showed just why they are one of the hottest
up and coming talents in the UK rock scene. You can read our in-depth article on their BOA appearance and
see some video footage we shot of their set here
Cannibal Corpse played next on the main stage before veterans Twisted Sister brought the proceedings
to a close in their own inimitable style.
Bloodstock was, in many ways, the best festival of the summer. The line up was of a consistently
high quality, apart from a couple of downpours on the Saturday the weather was kind and unlike
Download and Sonisphere it was possible to get a decent view of the stage without too much of a
struggle. We really enjoyed ourselves there and will certainly be looking to get back next year.
