BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL
VENUE CATTON PARK, DERBYSHIRE DATE 10-12/08/2018
Over the past 17 years, Catton Park’s Bloodstock Festival has evolved from a one-day indoor event to a multi-stage, three-day extravaganza by appealing to a niche group of extreme metalheads. However, the festival’s 2018 instalment does more than its fair share of catering to those with a more avant-garde taste, happily providing a cavalcade of prog metal heavy-hitters over the weekend.
First up are South Africans Deity’s Muse, who open Bloodstock’s Sophie Lancaster stage by mixing straightforward, grooving rock’n’roll with undeniable technical prowess. Despite a minuscule turnout, the power trio make for an engaging early morning warm-up thanks to the catchy expertise of anthems like I’m The Observer.
With Gojira set to headline the Dio stage, the second day is Bloodstock’s apex from a prog perspective. Danes VOLA shine bright during their Sophie Lancaster slot, uniting the cleanliness of Leprous with the guttural riffing of Meshuggah. The harmonic beauty of songs from debut album Inmazes is perfectly recreated live, spelling out a bright future for the quintet as they prepare for record number two.
Voyager possess a similarly melodic methodology, but arguably soar to greater heights thanks to the visible chemistry of the battle-hardened band members and the time-tested strength of underground hits such as Hyperventilating.
For tech-death titans Gojira, tonight is make or break, so the Frenchmen proceed to perform as if their lives depend on it. The sheer power of moshpit-starting scorchers like Backbone is complemented by the beauty of the LED backdrop, which displays the stunning artwork of the group’s Duplantier brothers.
Orphaned Land close the Sophie
Lancaster stage immediately after, providing 80 minutes of eclectic Israeli folk metal that enchants and fascinates just as much as it pummels and destroys.
Nightwish are the very final act of what has been an impeccable weekend, delivering a finale packed with classically inclined orchestral metal. Frontwoman Floor Jansen is impossibly perfect at what she does, hitting every note effortlessly in a display of unyielding enthusiasm. All the same, the icons still struggle against the competition of their fellow headliners, with their harmonic stylings unable to match the sheer intensity of Gojira, nor the party-hard mastery of Friday’s heavy metal headliners Judas Priest.
“NIGHTWISH FRONTWOMAN FLOOR JANSEN IS IMPOSSIBLY PERFECT AT WHAT SHE DOES, HITTING EVERY NOTE EFFORTLESSLY IN A DISPLAY OF UNYIELDING ENTHUSIASM.”