BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL 2012 Friday Review Music Reviews by Rob W - August 13, 2012August 18, 20120 Bloodstock 2012 boasted an almost unanimously championed line-up this year and one that will be very hard to top in the future. There was no filler in sight and certainly something for every metal fan to get their teeth into. Miraculously, the sun also managed to shine for much of the weekend, something that has rarely happened throughout our wonderful festival season this year! Kicking off proceedings on the Ronnie James Dio stage this year were MALEFICE. One of the more controversial selections of the weekend for some and the band themselves admit onstage that it was a daunting show for them to play. In the end Malefice need not have worried and the forum whingers were proved well and truly wrong as the band rip through a groove-heavy set. They pulled in a decent sized crowd for an early 11 o’clock show and most down the front bounced along and fist pumped their way through the whole set. Malefice slot in ‘Sickened’ towards the end of the set, a fitting tribute to Sophie Lancaster who also has a stage named after her at Bloodstock. A cracking start to the weekend. Next up on the Main Stage were power metal Bloodstock veterans FREEDOM CALL. If ever there was a ‘typical’ Bloodstock band then these Germans are certainly a good representation, and the crowd lap up the melodic power metal like they’ve been starved of it since last years festival. Vocalist Chris Bay is entertaining as ever as his stumbling English has the crowd laughing on several occasions in between ripping through their fist-pumping, sometimes cheesy party metal. The band make sure you know their name by including the words Freedom Call in just about every song but ‘Warriors of Light’ goes down the best in a fun and uplifting set. The return of GRAND MAGUS to Bloodstock was long overdue, it’s been 4 years since they last rocked the festival but it nearly didn’t happen, as they only arrived on site twenty minutes before the show (check out our interview with JB here). With only forty minutes to play with they managed to cram in plenty of their classic tracks alongside a couple of new cuts from latest album ‘The Hunt’. Opening with the mighty ‘Kingslayer’ might seem like a winning strategy but the crowd took a little while to warm up. It was in fact brand new song ‘Valhalla Rising’ that signalled more enthusiasm from the ever growing audience. From there the Grand Magus performance grew from strength to strength and by the time ‘Hammer of the North’ closed the set, the band were on fire. The band depart the stage with the cheeky jibe “see you in four years”, lets hope it’s sooner! ICED EARTH are a band you will rarely see twice with the same line-up. This Bloodstock show marked the start of the bands European run and was new vocalist Stu Block’s first show out of the USA. Of course Iced Earth also have ex-Fury UK bass man Luke Appleton in their ranks too, so it was interesting to see how they played. Stu Block displayed a few nerves as he accidentally launched the microphone across the stage mid-song and some of his crowd interaction needs some work, but he seems to fit in well and he has a good old scream on him. The band canter through an hour long set fitting in plenty of classics alongside newer tracks such a ‘V’. While the metal world continually speculates about an original line-up reunion, it’s easy to forget just how good the Derrick Green fronted version of SEPULTURA is. The band are as powerful as ever and Green can easily do old tracks like ‘Chaos AD’ more than justice. Tim Ripper Owens joins the band on stage briefly and the set closes with a massive sounding ‘Roots Bloody Roots’. It’s not long before Owens is back onstage though, this time as part of the DIO DISCIPLES. This tribute to the great singer covers all corners of Ronnie James Dio’s career from Black Sabbath tracks, through Rainbow classics such as ‘Long Live Rock n Roll’ and plenty of his solo stuff is in there too. The legendary ‘Holy Diver’ and ‘Stand up and Shout’ are a couple of standout picks from the set, but ‘Neon Knights’ steals the show as Owens and Toby Jepson have a vocal dual over the timeless Sabbath riff. The rest of the main stage action for the day was very heavy on the Black Metal. First up was Swedish outfit WATAIN to play a rare festival show. The band certainly look the part, drenched in blood, corpse paint and who knows what else. The stage is set up with headline proportions of props too, from burning pitchforks and crosses to a spectacular firework finale. It is clear that Watain are here to make an impact and live up to the hype they have created around themselves over the last few years. The band certainly are exciting, but take away all the drama and they may just fall short on actual musical output. The set seems to drag on towards the end. This may not be completely their fault as rumours that Behemoth were late seemed to be confirmed as Watain continued for much longer than billed. Either way, they were entertaining but perhaps not quite worth all the hype. Watain’s short comings were only magnified when BEHEMOTH hit the stage and didn’t mess about in displaying just how a Black Metal show should go down. Their black/death metal mix delighted the more extreme metal tendencies of the Bloodstock crowd like no other band on Friday. Front man Nergal beams that “it feels good to be alive” which is understandable after his recent health issues, but don’t go thinking he’s found God just yet, as the band stampede through ‘Christians…to the lions’. Behemoth match Watain in the imagery department with burning inverted crosses and a stage presence that doesn’t need any dressing up. The set explodes to an end in a storm of black glitter, and Behemoth leave the stage having reminded everyone just why they were booked as headliners. Words and Pics by Rob W