Something that begins as a bit of fun can often turn into something bigger and this is certainly the case for UK death metal act DeathCollector. Getting together in 2021 as a way to pass the time while things got rolling again post-Covid, it didn’t take long for fun cover versions to turn into writing original material, the four-piece independently releasing the excellent Time’s Up EP last year.
Musicians are masochistic creatures. Never truly happy unless their schedules are recklessly overstuffed with writing, studio work, live shows and promotion, guest appearances and side-projects are just two more ways to ensure life outside of music consists of nothing but eating, sleeping, the occasional TV show and visits to the pub.
Now in its nineteenth year, the annual metal pilgrimage to Bloodstock Open Air at Catton Hall in Derbyshire was joined this year by a very special, but highly unstable, guest.
The weather.
Yes, I know it’s England in August, and we should be more than accustomed to inconsistent weather conditions, but this really was something else. Tents too hot to be inside one moment were waterlogged the next. People soaked to the skin by sudden, torrential downpours were suffering sunburn minutes later. Grass turned to mud, mud became rivers, and the unprecedented winds would go on to cause problems all of their own. Continue reading