Panic Cell

Panic Cell’s brand of “biker metal” kicks off the festival, and sounds as tired and clichéd as it always does. The sound mix isn’t bad at all (for the first band on the bill) but that doesn’t detract from the fact the music itself is as bland as anything – comprising generic “chug chug” riffing and typical “hell yeah!” vocals. While it may be the perfect soundtrack to playing pool in some seedy strip joint, I’m bewildered as to how this band gets constant attention on the back of such a generic formula. I’ve never seen the appeal of this band and quite frankly am never likely to. Rock-pub in Folkestone? Yes. BOA? No – sorry. [5]

Gotthard

Resembling something like a cross between Europe and Aerosmith, GOTTHARD are not really my cup of tea but are fun regardless. Their brand of power-come-dad rock is cheerful and enthusiastic, even if some of the crowd are not. Not exactly earth shattering but not nearly as bad as other people have made out. [6.5]

Breed77

A rather odd choice for BOA, Breed77 perform well enough, but their brand of angsty latino nu-metal - much along the lines of a slightly less tawdry “Il Nino” – doesn’t really seem to sit comfortably with the rest of the bands playing over the BOA weekend, or indeed the crowd in attendance. It’s not long before one bongo solo blends into the next, and while the band certainly has plenty of energy, there is little to hold my interest after the first few songs pass by. There are crowds that would lap this up – but they aren’t here. I was half hoping to enjoy these more than I did – as I have been known to listen to a bit of Soulfly from time to time. Shame. [6]

Mostly Autumn

MOSTLY AUTUMN actually make a refreshing change – bringing a heady blend of folk and prog-rock to the festival. Not really metal as such, but sounding more like Pink Floyd meets Jethro Tull with a bit more distortion and a female vocalist. The songs are tightly played & interesting, despite being almost wrecked by hideous sound desk problems (every time the band attempt to go near a flute we are treated to hideous amounts of deafening feedback). While the male vocalist of the band sounds as flat as a pancake, their lead singer Heather Findlay has an incredible set of lungs, and belts out the choruses with ease. Things start to get a bit samey towards the end of their set, but there are definitely some tunes that I will seek out at a later date. [7]

Sebastian Bach

The ex-SKID ROW front man headlines the Friday night of BOA with a mix of his own material and classics such as “Youth Gone Wild” (during which Bach is joined onstage by Alexi Laiho of CHILDREN OF BODOM). While the crowd seems to be up for a party (in particular the nutty Swedish guys with their pink hats) this can’t stop me noticing that Bach sings out of tune like a strangled cat – shrieking to the point where he sometimes sounds closer to Dani Filth than the front man of an 80’s hair metal band. Poor sound again mars the mix, and the experience is perhaps far less enjoyable than it should have been, and not quite the finale for the Friday night I was hoping for. Still, our group’s drunken rendition of Alice Cooper’s “Poison” on the Metal Karaoke later that evening more than made up for things! [6]

Four Way Kill

Jesus H. Christ. British Meathead metal. Just no. [3]

Humanity

Unfortunately I was unable to catch Humanity’s set.

Masterplan

MASTERPLAN inject a much-needed dose of fun into the rather damp Saturday afternoon. The band plays a very generic brand of Power Metal, but they certainly play it well. They easily get the crowd going, and show that they are professionals at what they do (the lead singer even bears a passing resemblance to Meatloaf – but no relation I’m sure). It’s not long before the flags are flying and people’s hands are in the air. I can’t really remember anything they played – and probably won’t bother searching any out – but I know it was all relatively good fun at the time [6.5]

Evergrey

The first “YES!” moment of the festival comes courtesy of EVERGREY. The band, clad in black from head to toe, bound on stage and thunder straight into the first number like a Prog-Metal freight train – hair spiralling like windmills and drums thundering in the afternoon air – and that is pretty much how it stays for the entirety of their hour-long set. Why this Swedish group don’t get more exposure in the UK I’ll never know – but it was great to see them once again. Tom is superb as a front man, and communicates with the crowd throughout – getting hands clapping and fists in the air (in between bollocking the obviously less than adequate soundman). They play many of their favourites from the “Recreation Day” and “Inner Circle” albums, and time just flies by. When a band has this much energy, it can’t fail to rub off. It also helps they have an excellent and diverse catalogue of songs to back them up! Bring on a headlining UK show pretty please. [8.5]

Edguy

There’s no denying at least EDGUY have the balls to parody themselves – there’s no missing them onstage with their Hawaiian shirts, and jokes about being Gay, or being similar to the Darkness, or both. And there is no doubting that they are total professional showmen – indeed their set has the crowd at their most lively, creating an electric atmosphere for such a grey and wet day. It’s a shame then that their music doesn’t stand out quite so much. It seems fun at first, but that typical generic Power Metal style soon drags me down again – meaning everything starts to blend after a few tracks, until every song sounds exactly the same as the last. I start the set with a cheesy grin and end it looking at my watch wondering what time to have my next beer. [6]

Paradise Lost

Nick Holmes of PARADISE LOST may be a bit of a miserable sod at times, but he’s also a bloody funny one – and often misunderstood by the denim waistcoat brigade often associated with Bloodstock. PL get the worst deal with regards to the terrible sound desk problems – meaning that whenever Nick goes to sing anything with any power, the microphone merely turns itself off. After a few songs the chants from the crowd can be clearly heard – “The Soundman’s A C**t!”. Nick’s reply? “Absolutely. For a minute there I thought you were slagging us off”. A little later he tells us “Don’t worry, the vocals will be out on CD in about 12 months time”. This is obviously a problem that can’t be rectified so the band just get on with it – and everyone enjoys themselves despite the crowd having to sing most of the vocals. Technical Problems aside the band put on a great performance, and the songs from the new album, whilst a little bland on CD, are given extra oomph in the live setting. The band also play many of the classics – As I Die, Hallowed Land, Erased etc, before finishing of with sing along favourite “Just Say Words” (and if the crowd didn’t sing along, there wouldn’t be any words, so to speak) I for one enjoyed their set immensely and look forward to seeing them play again – vocals added, deadpan humour intact. [8]

Children of Bodom

Obviously having heard the dreadful PA throughout the festival, BODOM decide at the last minute to ditch the arena PA and use only their own amps and soundman. It certainly makes things a whole lot cleaner sound wise, but unfortunately their system is nowhere near powerful enough – and even right up front, some parts of the sound are FAR too quiet – god only knows what it sounded like right at the back. That aside, the band is full of energy and look like they are having a ball – and that’s half the battle. The set however is a little tired, starting off with “Sixpounder” and ending with “Downfall” – with only the addition of sub-standard B-Side “Knuckleduster” being any sort of variety. It really is time they started to revise their set lists – the performance at last years Bloodstock Indoor was incredible, and while we heard almost the same here tonight - for some reason it was far less exciting. Despite a large part of the crowd turning into total arseholes (where did they all come from!) for the festival BODOM finale, I still managed to enjoy the music and overall the festival was a great first run – may it grow and grow! [7]

To see our Official Photos of the BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR Festival please visit our full Photography section HERE.

Overall Score:   7 /10