A metric ton of great death metal bands have been added to the lineup for Bloodstock Open Air 2017, taking place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 10th-13th August 2017. Obituary, Decapitated and Brujeria are all now slated to play and early bird tickets are already selling fast.Continue reading
I was thirteen years old, staying up late and listening to The Friday Rock Show on an old transistor radio the first time I heard Saxon. My parents were sleeping in the next room, so clearly not wanting to be disturbed by my latest, and somewhat “interesting” choice in music (a school friend had only introduced me to Metal a few weeks before) had told me to “keep it down”. A lot. So, with the volume knob set infuriatingly low, I did my best to listen to Tommy Vance (RIP) introducing the band’s latest single, ‘Do It All For You’, and was completely blown away by their singer. By god, she sounded fantastic!
Wait, what?
Yes, thanks to the combination of a lack of volume and a tinny 3” mono speaker, I was convinced Saxon were fronted by a girl. It came as quite a shock a few weeks later, while flicking through the pages of a popular, then bi-weekly music magazine, to discover their singer was actually a big northern bloke called Biff Byford. Okay, his hair was ridiculously bouncy and he wore skintight spandex leggings, but he was most definitely NOT a lady.
In more recent years, the hair may have become a little less fluffy and the waistlines might be a little larger, but the band have never strayed (too) far from their original path. After the rather lightweight Destiny (EMI) in 1988, the band released a sequence of enjoyable, if somewhat unspectacular albums, but 2004’s Lionheart (SPV) appeared to give them a new lease of life. Every release since then has maintained the same high standard and that trend continues with latest offering, Battering Ram (UDR).
Kicking things off in emphatic style, the bruising title track is quickly followed by ‘The Devil’s Footprint’, a song based on a story from 1855 where a number of townships believed cloven hoof prints found in the snow one morning belonged to the devil. After briefly tricking me into thinking my computer had developed a stutter, the stop-start riff of ‘Queen of Hearts’ quickly transforms into one of the album’s finest moments, and while ‘Destroyer’ may not be the most original of titles, it’s certainly appropriate as Biff attempts to demolish his vocal cords at the song’s climax.
By this point, I’m starting to wonder if Battering Ram contains any bad tracks at all. ‘Hard and Fast’ and ‘Eye of the Storm’ answer my question with a resounding no, but things do drop off a little with ‘Stand Your Ground’, which for all its speed and neat little middle section, doesn’t really go anywhere. ‘Top Of the World’ immediately steadies the (barely) wobbling ship anyway, and is followed by the almost Sabbath-esque crawl of ‘To The End’. David Bower of Derbyshire NWOBHMers Hell lends his considerable voice talents to six minute ‘The Kingdom of the Cross’, a darkly atmospheric song about the First World War, while “bonus track” ‘Three Sheets to the Wind’ rounds things off a little strangely. A throwaway drinking song which sounds a little out of place coming after such a brooding, melancholic masterpiece.
With producer Andy Sneap at the helm, the album sounds fantastic. The guitars are razor sharp, the drums are big, the bass is clear, and Biff’s vocals ring out as powerfully as they have ever done.
Now, if only they’d go back to doing videos featuring desert roads and big American trucks…
8.0/10
GARY ALCOCK
I’m still undecided as to whether Brian Ross‘s piercing scream which opens Atom By Atom (Listenable) is a surprising thing or not. On one hand, Satan were part of the now legendary NWOBHM scene and screaming vocals were sort of their thing. On the other hand, you have to remember this is a band who started life way back in 1979, so including lengthy hiatuses for transformations into other bands (Pariah, Blind Fury), and key members departing to form entirely new acts (Skyclad), they’ve been doing this for well over 35 years. They’re clearly no spring chickens any more (sorry, chaps), so the fact that this, their fourth full length release, begins with such a pointed statement of intent is not only refreshing but also, happily just a sign of things to come.
The speedy, yet surgically precise riffs come thick and fast as the album gallops along like a thoroughbred racehorse, the twin guitars of Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsey locked in an endless, but perfectly timed, competition to get across the finishing line first. Even mid-paced songs like ‘Bound in Enmity’, ‘Ahriman’ and ‘Fallen Saviour’ appear to get frustrated by their own lack of athleticism and have to kick themselves into shape just to keep up.
It’s not all about lightning fast speed though. There are slow-burning riffs, riffs which twist and creep out of your speakers like long legged spiders, and riffs which sound like a knife-wielding maniac gave Ozzy Osbourne‘s ‘I Don’t Know’ an adrenaline shot and chased it down an alleyway. Yeah, okay. Speed is definitely a key element here. However, for all of its near relentlessness, the album never once feels cluttered or rushed. There’s always room to breathe, and even enough time for a choral section and brief spoken word passage.
When some previously defunct bands decide it’s time to try and grab a second bite of the cherry, there’s a tendency to come back with just a name and, if we’re lucky, two or three original members. A year or two down the line and the old problems which caused the band to split in the first place rear their ugly heads and everything begins to fall apart again. Thankfully, however, and much like fellow NWOBHMers Hell, Satan are not only more confident than ever but also still pushing themselves in what really should be their comfortable slippers and gardening years.
When Ross shouts “Ten Thousand Hiroshimas, it’s the end for you and me!” on album closer and mini-epic ‘The Fall of Persephone’ you can picture the scene with crystal clarity.
And it’s a scene set perfectly for Satan.
8.5/10
GARY ALCOCK
In the second part of our two part series of features with the indomitable Alan Averill, aka AA Nemtheanga of Irish extreme metallers Primordial, he discusses with Ghost Cult the veteran band’s eighth album, Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade), and its powerful messages; the band’s legendary anger and intolerance of their homeland’s modern culture in his always thoughtful, forthright and occasionally provocative manner.
There seems to be less of a Celtic or Black feel to the new album, compared to songs like ‘Bloodied and Unbowed’ from the last outing. I asked Alan if this was an organic evolution or something the band was striving for?
“I really have a problem with the word ‘Celtic’ or ‘Folk’, but I know you mean the Irish traditional music thing which underpins some of the rhythms and notations in our sound. Nothing is planned though: whatever comes, comes. Take ‘Ghosts of the Charnel House’: the riffs are like Black Sabbath! It’s odd for Primordial, but we’re not one of these bands that’s going to go through an electronic phase or a goth phase, or get a female vocalist and do a folk album, or make an orchestral reinterpretation of our songs. The album’s a continuation of our path, in that sense.
“We’re our own biggest critics too so if it gets by us, then people who like the band, they kind of trust us to be bullshit detectors – which is something that we, and Irish people in general, are pretty good at! It’s a trait of coming from a sort of dark, rainy, gritty, grey, urban landscape. It also stops us taking liberties with each other. Primordial aren’t rock stars, we’re not difficult to deal with. We still get into fistfights with each other for fuck’s sake and we’re 40 years old! But sometimes that’s a better way to solve a problem than to bitch about each other, then have divided camps and end up having to throw someone out.”
You’ve been quite scathing in your views of modern Irish culture in the past. Primordial curated the recent Redemption Festival in Ireland, with some exciting names on the bill, not least The Ruins of Beverast. How well was it received? Have things improved at all?
“A little. Redemption was good. The proviso is that bands have to be our friends to make the bill: we have to either respect them or like them. Without the foreign fans travelling over for that weekend, we’d have possibly been looking at about 60 percent of people showing. But the weekend after Redemption, Dublin hosted Saxon and Hell, then we’ve got Sabbath and Behemoth…people haven’t got plenty of money.
“Things have changed for us in Ireland and we have to acknowledge that. But we’re still not particularly well-known and I would always look on myself as being at odds with the Irish mainstream musical culture. We’re not looking for acceptance, but Ireland is very ‘anti-rock’ despite breeding Rory Gallacher, Lizzy and all that kind of stuff. Popular music culture – and by that I mean the sense of ‘dumbing-down’ everything – has reached some sort of ultimate victory in Irish society, which is deeply unfortunate and something we stand against, but what can you do?”
It’s been a busy eighteen months or so for Alan and for Simon (O’Laoghaire, Primordial and Dread Sovereign drummer). 2014 saw new albums from those two bands, and 2013 saw the emergence of Alan’s trad metal project Twilight of the Gods. I asked Alan where middle-aged guys get such energy from?!
“From my own point of view, I’ve always kept myself fit: I’ve always played sports, I’m always running… I’ve always done things like this which means I can play harder in other aspects. Maybe it’s also because I don’t have kids, family, a mortgage, other such responsibilities the other guys have which obviously wear you out. I’m quite intense and always feel I have to have a challenge or a major obstacle to overcome. The Twilight of the Gods album was a challenge of my willpower: with Dread Sovereign, I told the guys ‘we make an album and within fifteen months we’ll be on tour’. That’s exactly what we did. That’s my way of doing things I guess: don’t fuck about!”
Primordial are bringing their famed live performances back to the UK and Europe from the end of January. What can fans expect when they take …Greater Men… to the streets?
“Well we’ve recently played six or seven songs in Dublin, so we’ve more or less played the whole album live. I think our future will see these ‘blitzkrieg’ weekends, two or three shows with proper support acts, and people will undoubtedly have to travel to see us: the chances of seeing us on a Tuesday night again, in front of 80-90 people in a small town, are pretty unlikely. What with our age and the economics, it’s just not feasible anymore. But we’re playing Glasgow, London and Manchester, and we just added Portrait to the London show which is killer. With the performance, we’re going to try and add a few different things, but it’ll still be Primordial.”
Amen to that. It’s a nice line on which to finish, Nemtheanga in high demand and already having overshot our allotted time. This interview was conducted some time before the recent horrors in Paris, which I don’t doubt Alan would have had a view on and which bear out his comments on the evils of our time. It is a harsh world we live in, and long may Primordial highlight and protest against its folly and iniquities with such stirring, emotive yet violent music.
Words by PAUL QUINN
They say that you can’t keep a good man down. In the case of German Heavy Metal outfit Accept, that should probably read “you can’t keep good men down”, as their latest record, the considerably more metal than you, Blind Rage (Nuclear Blast) ably proves.
Accept seem to have been going since Henry VIII was a toddler but these last few years have seen this teutonic power unit find themselves in what can only be described as something of a purple patch. The return of Mark Turnillo on lead vocals has doubtless helped because over the last couple of years, and on this latest record, Accept have rarely sounded as fresh, vibrant or exciting. Well, not since they invited us to place our balls to the proverbial wall, anyway.
Blind Rage is completely and utterly heavy metal. It is, in many ways, hugely traditional and charmingly so. The addition of Andy Sneap on some of the production duties might encourage you to think that they had gone all modern. Don’t believe a word of it. As he did with the spectacular revival of NWOBHM stalwarts Hell, Sneap’s work here is to give a sheen and a modern gloss to a song structure that is immediate, familiar and inviting.
Take the opening track ‘Stampede’, which arrives completely cocksure, carefree and ready to box your ears. Likewise, the gnarly title track which does that twin guitar part thing so beloved of metal bands and wherein our favourite Germanic cousins suggest that they are the last flag bearers for this thing called heavy metal. There are even lyric checks to “Sabbaths, black” “denim and leather” and “purple hazes” so you know exactly which side this team are backing. It is both fist pumping and grin inducing. As this is Accept, there are riffs and solos aplenty and you really cannot go far wrong with the surprisingly catchy ‘Bloodbath Mastermind’ nor the infectious ‘The Ashes’.
Given that this is unreconstructed heavy metal, you don’t get any breakdowns, rap middle-eights or anything approaching a complex time signature. These absences are, of course, entirely in the record’s favour as it is packed, sardine-like, with heavy tune after heavy tune. It is defiant, melodious and full of the lyrical flourishes that heavy metal fans know and love- falls of empires, battles for freedom and being hell bent on destruction.
Blind Rage is an enjoyable romp of an album. It won’t be winning any awards but it’s more than just a “will this do?” contractual sojourn. It might not boil the heavy metal ocean, but it probably deserves to at least turn on the kettle. Ausgezeichnet, as they might say in Germany.
7.5/10
MAT DAVIES
By the fans, for the fans: Four days, four stages and nothing but unadulterated great times on the horizon. This is what one of the most anticipated metal festivals of the globe is all about, and it intends to deliver with full force. Day one has finally arrived, and as fans congregate at the gates, the sun promises a weekend unmarred by rain. As the barriers open, the ninth edition of Bloodstock Open Air kicks off on the Sophie Lancaster Stage.
Before it turns into a late-night party tent, this indoor stage welcomes bands such as Motherload, Bull Riff Stampede, Oaf and Ravenage. This is a great warm-up, a taste of what is to come. Bloodstock Open Air, affectionately called BOA, once again offers a list of to-die-for shows, live events that will feed the insatiable hunger of the metal community. The organisation is spot on: campsites are well positioned close to the main gate, creating a strong, celebratory sense of community—plus, you could get from your tent to the main stage in under ten minutes!
For those eager to upgrade, BOA’s Serpent’s Lair VIP package offer a wider camping ground and access to a restricted area with food stalls and bars. Here fans can have a break from the metal marathon and enjoy a huge selection of traditional stouts and ales, including Black Sabbath, Dizzy Blond and Stairway to Heaven, just to mention a few. Bands drift in and out of the nearby media area, chatting and drinking with fans between interviews; all part of the experience. With this year’s colossal sequence of headliners, King Diamond, Lamb Of God, and Slayer, BOA 2013 is unquestionably destined to be remembered. And not just on the musical front; for the third year running, Teenage Cancer Trust will be the official charity partner at this weekend’s ultimate metal festival.
Friday:
Day two kicks off the festival proper, and starts with yet more promising weather, as well as Nottingham-based Earthtone 9, and the blasting power of all American thrashers Death Angel. While Earthtone 9 gradually warms up the crowd, Death Angel take it two steps further with their blasting adrenaline. As their seventh album The Dream Calls For Blood will be released soon, it’s clear that Death Angel are once again back on the festival circuits in good damn shape.
Right after Ex Deo, BOA gets its first black metal hit with Swedish Dark Funeral, who deliver one of the best performances of the day thanks to eerie renditions of ‘Stigmata’ and ‘My Funeral’. By now the crowd is ready to welcome the Greek metal institution better known as Firewind. Guitarist Gus G. and the army are led by the band’s new singer, Kelly “Sundown” Carpenter, who came on board following Apostolos “Apollo” Papathanasio’s departure.
Back to the Sophie Lancaster stage, Skiltron hailing all the way from Argentina, are introducing the UK to their distinctive brand of folk metal; as they come on stage playing pipes and rocking kilts, the pride of the many Scots who are gathered today is fired up.
Municipal Waste are next on the Main Stage and it all turns, as indeed it must, into total crossover thrash mayhem. Meanwhile on the New Blood Stage, Second Rate Angels catch the attention of a fairly large crowd. Voivod, the Canadians from Quebec, deliver a stunning performance to say the least, wielding their well renowned and captivating dynamics; exceptional vocals from Denis “Snake” Bélanger, and guitarist Dan Mongrain’s flaring riffs set the crowd ablaze. Their set is the perfect prelude to Accept, the über thrashers.
Swedish Scar Symmetry do an alright job headlining the Sophie Lancaster Stage with their highly rated blend of melodic prog. However, it wasn’t quite intense enough to get the audience ready for the final chapter of the first day: King Diamond.
He’s achieved legendary status and more, and he is finally back in the UK. A headline slot is more than fitting; however, the show seems to lack some of the expected grandeur and theatrical thrill at first, despite splashes of wild lights and the eerie fences that divide the man from his audience. Still, thanks to King’s disturbingly high pitched vocals, stunning renditions of “At The Graves” and Merciful Fate’s “Come To The Sabbath” are delivered, making the final performance of the day one to certainly talk about for days to come.
Saturday:
As the festival atmosphere takes hold, fans are hungry for more. However, Stormbringer’s lukewarm attempt to wake up the early-risers is quickly surpassed by British Beholder and Canadian Three Inches Of Blood. 2013 marks the 10th anniversary of Three Inches Of Blood’s first ever performance in the UK and frontman Cam Pipes brings out the pride and glory, delivering “Forest King” and a cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” with his contagious fervour.
Hell stage a state of the art show; the main stage transforms into their traditionally creepy theatre, adorned with a pulpit and flaming gargoyles. Frontman David Bower does an excellent job, throwing tracks such as ‘The Oppressors’ and ‘Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us’ out with his customarily precision, made only grander by the fireworks.
Unfathomable Ruination fiercely precede Sworn Amongst on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. The latter are definitely a band to follow, in no small part due to their forthcoming follow-up to 2010’s Severance.
Gethika are today’s big surprise on the New Blood Stage, but back on the main stage, Canadian Kataklysm deliver their unique northern hyperblast at its best, in part thanks to drummer Max Duhamel’s heavier-than-hell blast-beats. Together with the French fury of Gojira, Kataklysm are among the best acts today. Gojira, as we all know, are always able to conquer their audience. As Joe Duplantier apologises for missing pieces of equipment (which few people even noticed or cared about!), their set evolves into all of its delightful fullness.
With Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe leaping on stage as special guest for a breath-taking rendition of ‘Back Bone’, their set becomes today’s highlight. Seeing the two frontmen celebrating their long-time friendship with a hug is both emotional and mind-blowing.
The adrenaline-charged Swedish powerhouse Sabaton are today’s sensation, drawing a huge crowd. On a strict no-swearing diet, frontman Joakim Brodén knows how to get the audience on-side: he throws cans of lager to them for every accidental swear word. For a family-friendly show, he “accidentally“ swears a hell of a lot.
Avantasia are the German heavy/power metal supergroup project created by the ever charismatic Tobias Sammet, and they have the honour of opening for the most awaited headliners. Drugged by Avantasia’s melodic force and high pitched tunes, the crowd is now high on pure festival spirit. Right before the all-American Lamb Of God, the announcement that the mighty—and only recently reunited—Norwegian black metallers Emperor will headline BOA 2014 (as their sole UK live appearance) is like petrol on a fire; the crowd explodes with joy.
Lamb Of God are today’s well deserved headliners: the anticipation for their set is killing the ravenous audience, who are eager to welcome the squad from Virginia once again. Randy Blythe stomps on stage, charged up like a lion, ready to burst into ‘Desolation’. However, it’s ‘Ghost Walking’, from Lamb Of God’s latest masterpiece, Resolution, that makes the set truly take off. It engulfs the crowd with pure metal bliss, thanks to Mark Morton’s spine chilling solo.
“We had to cut our last tour short because of some legal problems we had,” says Blythe, referring of course to the tragedy which hit headlines last year after a concert in the Czech Republic. Blythe pays tribute to Daniel Nosek, the 19-year-old killed at a Lamb Of God concert following an on-stage scuffle with Blythe in June 2012; “a fan like me and you,” as Blythe says. The crowd responds with massive cheers, and begin pitting; they nearly break the stage barriers, nearly stopping the show twice. It is like an unstoppable turbine. It’s clear that Lamb Of God nailed it again, culminating with ‘Black Label’. It’s great to have them back!
Sunday:
Day three has sadly arrived too soon, and it starts with the kicking rampage of Irish thrashers Gama Bomb, who wake up the audience in no time. Perhaps their set is lacking a certain element of rawness, but there is no denying they can get a crowd moving, and they set the speed just right.
On the Sophie Lancaster Stage, Lifer and States Of Panic set the spirit for the day just as high. US deathcore force Whitechapel are clearly well-positioned amongst the most wanted of the whole festival as they take over the main stage. Frontman Phil Bozeman is the emblem of the caffeine-nicotine fix fuelling the festival. Tracks like ‘I, Dementia’ and ‘This Is Exile’ are delivered massively loud; Whitechapel kick so hard that it becomes impossible to resist both headbanging and moshing.
The temperature rises, perfect timing for Sacred Mother Tongue to step in, followed by Finnish icons Amorphis and their captivating melodic tunes. With their new album Circle in the air, they positioned themselves as one of the best acts of the whole festival. Their forthcoming UK tour is definitely not to be missed, as many are left wanting for more.
From the desolation of Finnish landscapes to the scorching California sun, faster and louder than hell thrashers Exodus are simply fantastic. It’s remarkable how throughout three decades they haven’t lost one single unit of speed and strength; tonight’s performance becomes the living proof. Coming down from the thrash shores of the Bay Area to the nu-metal coastline of Santa Barbara, it’s time for the Devildriver fury. They deliver an impressive set thanks to frontman Dez Fafara’s unquenchable fire.
Back to the Sophie Lancaster Stage, and Austrian supreme blackened death metallers Belphegor are simply amazing. Their set becomes a unique experience thanks to frontman Helmuth Lehner’s proud stage presence, which is both intimidating and intriguing. Lights are eerily dim and intense, matching their profound hymns.
More state of the art thrash is delivered by Anthrax. By the time they re-vamp ACDC’s ‘TNT’ and bring their unforgettable hit ‘Mad House’, the moshpit becomes as close to a warzone as it can possibly be.
With mighty Slayer headlining the last day, there is not a better way to close the festival. Guitarist and legend Jeff Hanneman (replaced by touring member Gary Holt), who tragically passed away last May, is greatly missed, but his spirit is, and will always be, present. Tonight is the proof: classics such as ‘Angel Of Death’ and ‘Death Skin Mask’ are flared with both the customary Slayer precision and their commitment to always satiate their loyal fans.
American deathsters Dying Fetus have the honour of closing the curtains on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. As Slayer detonate a blasting rendition of ‘South Of Heaven’, Dying Fetus’s drummer Trey Williams attracts fans to the other side of the arena with his killer blast-beats. John Gallagher’s growling in ‘From Womb To Waste’ and ‘Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog’ remind the crowd how great this band still is. Dying Fetus win over both long-time and new fans. With Slayer and Dying Fetus waving goodnight, BOA 2013 comes to an end.
With mixed feelings of exhilaration and sadness, the crowd slowly dismantles. Some go back to their camp-sites. while others stop to get one last thrill on the bumper cars, or a couple of pints from the bar. The announcement of Emperor’s grand return has fans already making plans, as it should be. In little under a year, Bloodstock will be back, fans in tow, ready to recapture the greatness of 2013, and surpass it. Bring it on!
Bloodstock Open Air
August 8-12 2013
Catton Hall, Walton-upon-Trent, Derbyshire (UK)
Words: Marcus J. West
Photos: Fabiola Santini
Photo Editing: Blueberryheaven
