While many British festivals have been disrupted by dire weather conditions, Bloodstock basks in something approaching blistering sunshine for the entire weekend this year. As a result, the metal faithful are perhaps in a more accommodating mood for the event’s most controversial trio of headliners to date.
Alternative polymath Rob Zombie closes the weekend with an indecent amount of pyro and other visual tricks, but it is pop-metal behemoths Within Temptation who look best-suited to topping the bill.
The Dutch chart-conquerors bring elegance, slick flair and incisive melodies in abundance, and share a stage with hostile death-metallers Cannibal Corpse and veteran grind gods Napalm Death, which is testament to the wide range of music now classed as metal. Despite some disruptive technical hitches, vocalist Sharon den Adel remains pitch-perfect and irresistibly sweet throughout. She also has an extraordinary collection of hats.
Friday’s headliners Trivium really shouldn’t have anything to prove to the Bloodstock crowd, having long since shrugged off their vague affiliation with the culturally bankrupt metalcore scene, but their bombastic 90 minutes in the spotlight still feel like a rite of passage. It’s one they pass with flying colours, not least due to some unashamedly epic new material and frontman Matt Heafy’s obvious determination to earn respect from the cynics. They close with classic anthem Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr and even some of Bloodstock’s scowling purists go berserk in response.
Also seeking triumph here for the first time were two Indonesian bands, Burgerkill and Jasad. Both drew huge crowds and made a south-east Asian invasion seem like a real possibility in the near future. Burgerkill looked particularly ecstatic to hear their band’s name being loudly chanted on foreign soil.
Elsewhere, the scene’s strength in depth is more than apparent. From vicious newbies Forgotten Remains and Chaos Trigger and progressive explorers Opeth, Ihsahn and Enslaved through to unapologetic party-starters Korpiklaani and Trepalium, Bloodstock is a hot, sweaty, booze-drenched and remorselessly cheerful celebration of heavy music in most of its bewildering and vibrant forms. By the end, even the ubiquitous goth contingent were sunkissed and smiling.
