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Primal Fear - Seven Seals

German 5 piece Primal Fear offer us another helping quality full ahead,straight up power metal with their latest work - Seven Seals. The influence of Judas Priest is obvious from the off, perhaps a little too obvious at times, but nonetheless this is forgivable. The opening track 'Demons and Angels' sets a strong precedent for the rest of the album.... (read more)

Festival Review - Bloodstock Open Air 2008

As with each passing year we were once again confronted with the biggest Bloodstock Open Air festival so far.

The lucky campers who chose to spend the opening Thursday evening at the Lava stage were treated to CONQUEST OF STEEL (7.5/10).

Bradfords trad metal heroes got the festival off to a perfect start in front of a packed tent. MARSHALL LAW (7.5) were

equally impressive.

Friday saw SAINT DEAMON (7.5) start the festival proper on the main stage at the ungodly hour of 10.45am. Their progtastic

approach was a nice way to ease everyone into the long day ahead. At times they sounded like Queensryche which is no bad

thing! The Skuzz stage was kicked off by goth band DEADFILMSTAR (6.5). They had need not worried that they wouldn't fit in as

their set was warmly received by a crowd still feeling their way into the day. Back on the main stage EVILE (8) delivered a

well rounded set. 'Enter the grave' and 'thrasher' sped things up while 'bathe in blood' let the big and thick riffs fly!

Having been listening to new wave of British heavy metal veterens PRAYING MANTIS (6) the day before the festival I was looking

forward to their set. They had recently reformed but the set lacked any real energy and passed a lot of the crowd by. TYR (6)

came and went before OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE (6) on the Skuzz stage attacked their set with a pleasent vigour. Bands like

AKERCOCKE (6.5) can sometimes find it hard to make an impression on the main stage of festivals, with their extremeties

blasting off in all directions but never really hitting the targets. Fortunately Akercockes blackend riffs and deathly growls

hit their targets, slaying plenty of the crowd in the process. German thrash metallers DESTRUCTION (8) brought their heavy as

hell thrash to the masses and won them over with an excellent bone crushing set. This could have left PRIMAL FEAR (7.5)

struggling but with metal anthems like 'metal is forever' they were never going to fall flat. Also, their glorius set at their

last Bloodstock Indoor appearance is still a happy memory. The Lava stage was opened up by industrial mainstays PRO-JECT (7.5)

while SOULFLY (7.5) were fking sh*^ up on the main stage. The new tracks sound thrashier and heavier than ever.

'Refuse/resist' was an obvious highlight but with The Cavalera Conspiracy and Sepultura also playing this and other Sepultura

songs how long can people stay interested in this almost circus like crossover of bands? I've never been a fan of power metal

legends HELLOWEEN (7.5) but they delivered an obvious set of anthems which kept the Bloodstock masses foaming at the mouth.

Back on the Lava stage it was something of a turning point for stoner metal noisemakers THE INBREDS (8). With drummer Rob

Gamblin and long serving guitarist Paul Relf about to leave the band it could have turned into a wake rather than a set.

Instead The Inbreds played a perfectly balanced set with tracks such as 'Mutiny on my mind' from their debut album alongside

newer more metal driven tracks. It was a mature performance which showed how far they have come since their crusty 'Helter

Skelter' demo shat itself out of the fledgling Bexleyheath scene in 2003. With only one band to go on the first day it was

time to go back to the main stage for headliners OPETH (8). With people falling over themselves to praise everything Opeth do

it is hard to fault them, even when they deliver a less than enthusiastic set like today. But when each track is taken

individually they still come into a league of their own. 'Wreath', 'Heir Apparent' and 'The Drapery Falls' brought the first

day to a close in style.

Saturday morning began with death metallers DENOUNCE (8) blowing the Scuzz stage to shreds. They may have got to Bloodstock by

winning Kents 'Battle for Bloodstock', but it was their three performances in the same areas Darbex competition which really

proved it would have been a travesty for them not to play this festival. Over on the main stage both CLOUDSCAPE (6.5) and

ELUVEITIE (6.5) set things up for SWALLOW THE SUN (7.5) to deliver a stylish set of My Dying Bride-esque songs. While the main

stage was being hit with these doom-laden tunes the Scuzz stage was witnessing the excellent BLOOD ISLAND RAIDERS (8) and their

brand of dirty rock and metal. An epic set from MOONSORROW (7) followed on the main stage before grindcore legends NAPALM

DEATH (7) woke everyone in Derby. SOILWORK (7.5) suffered slightly from the sound and the wind and vocalist Bjorn Strid

sometimes struggled to hit the melodic notes but this didn't stop 'Nerve' from being one of the highlights of the weekend.

Special guests THE BERZERKER (6.5) blasted their way through a set of industrial death metal on the Scuzz stage before ICED

EARTH (7) took over the main stage. I had only seen these American power metallers once before supporting Heaven and Hell,

where they performed an excellent set with Ripper Owens on vocals. This time though, with originally vocalist Matt Barlow back

in the fold alongside band leader Jon Schaffer they never hit those lofty heights. It was left to headliners DIMMU BORGIR

(8.5) to produce one of the best sets of the weeked. Latest album 'In Sorte Diaboli' has brought the black metallers to more

people than ever before and songs like 'the serpentine offering' and 'the sacrilegious scorn' are perfect headlining fodder.

Sunday saw Gravesend metallers Cursed As Angels (7.5) kick off activities on the Scuzz stage with possibly their best

performance in over a year. Frontman Omen Jinxs awesome vocal display drove the band to the next level and had heads banging

in the process. The main stage was opened up by some sleazy hard rock in the form of HEAVENS BASEMENT (8). Starting life as

Hurricane Party and then Roadstar, Heavens Basement are still a heavy rock beast but maybe this is their best identity yet?

They were quickly followed by London metallers CROWNING GLORY (7.5). On paper these guys were perfect for Bloodstock. Priest

style vocals - tick. Metal as hell songs - tick. Make crowds punch the air at every gig - tick. Thirty minutes of pure

professionally delivered traditional metal. Nobody was complaining! DE PROFUNDIS meanwhile were playing a fine set of

progressive black metal on the Scuzz stage. ALESTORM (7) on the main stage could have been this years Turisas or Korpiklaani.

In recent years these bands have had the Bloodstock crowd eating from their hands and even producing the biggest dancing

session in the process. Alestorms pirate anthems didn't quite match up. GRAND MAGUS (8.5) on the other hand keep things

simple but deliver the goods with a superb set of doom-come-trad metal nuggets. I had planned to give MOB RULES (8) a miss but

the sheer excellence of their progressive metal dragged me back to the main stage. KATAKLYSM (6) seemed a little one

dimensional in comparison while TED MAUL (6) on the Scuzz stage sped things up even more! Some people wondered how AS I LAY

DYING (7) would be received on the main stage but their metalcore filled set didn't go down too badly. Back on the Scuzz stage

SILENT DESCENT (8) carried on their impressive year. Tracks like 'anagram' from the brilliant 'Duplicity' album sounded big

and it has to be said that the wall of death near the end of the set was mighterly impressive. On the main stage thrash

veterens OVERKILL (7) were okay but it was AT THE GATES (8) who stoll the show and the days honours. As one of the original

melodic death metal bands alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity in the 1990s, At The Gates helped give the world what is

described these days as melodic death metal as well being a major influence on countless other metal and metalcore bands.

Tracks like 'suicide nation' and 'blinded by fear' sounded like the stone cold classics that they are. The crowd lapped up

every minute of what seemed to be a headlining set, especially as they ended up playing longer than the offical headliners.

Caught a few songs from the melodic sounds of LIQUID SKY (6.5) on the Lava stage before ending the festival at the main stage

with headliners NIGHTWISH (7.5). The band are faultless but new singer Anette Olzon (as at the London Astoria earlier in the

year) does better on some tracks than others. While songs from last years 'Dark Passion Play' album such as the epic 'the poet

and the pendulum' and 'bye bye beautiful' are sang well, she struggles on the more operatic tracks like 'the siren' and

'wishmaster' for obvious reasons. Despite this Marco Hietalas vocals are excellent as always while Tuomas Holopainens

keyboards wrap themselves around every part of the set which was cut short by thirty minutes. It was a good end to the

festival but could have been better.

Main highlights of the weekend for me were excellent sets from Evile, Destruction, Dimmu Borgir, Grand Magus, Denounce, The

Inbreds and Blood Island Raiders and 'nerve' from Soilwork and 'the poet and the pendulum' from Nightwish.

See you next year?