FESTIVAL REVIEW: Bloodstock Open Air 2022 Part 2 - Ghost Cult MagazineGhost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Lamb of God performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

SATURDAY

Considering most people are already feeling like overcooked baked potatoes wrapped in tin foil, the fact that today is meant to be the hottest day of the festival really isn’t the best news. Still, that certainly doesn’t deter a healthy crowd from shaking off the hangovers and getting on with the business at hand, Baest and Lost Society both grabbing the main stage by the scruff of the neck while Sister Shotgun and Mastiff do the same on the Sophie stage.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 12 Aug 2022, Crowd Shots from Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Lost Society performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, performing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Pupil Slicer performing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

One particularly annoying clash early on means I have to leave the incredible Pupil Slicer midway through their show. A fantastic live act, it genuinely pains me to depart as they completely level the place but something a little different is waiting on the main stage. Dressed like they’re about to begin a line dancing tribute to Kenny Rogers, SpiritWorld confuse as many as they please, sounding like Slayer, Mastodon and Integrity started a fight to decide who gets to wear the best cowboy hat.

Lorna Shore might not have been a universally welcomed choice of act for Bloodstock but it’s easy to see why the US act are seemingly being fast-tracked to bigger things. A combination of deathcore, metalcore and black metal, frontman Will Ramos displays a wide range of vocal styles, roaring and mouth-farting one moment, screaming like Dani Filth being violated by a rampant badger the next. Drawing easily the biggest and most energetic crowd of the day, they blast through the likes of ‘To the Hellfire’, ‘Of the Abyss’, ‘Sun//Eater’ and ‘Into The Earth’ to nothing less than a rapturous response.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Lorna Shore performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Cyhra performing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 12 Aug 2022, Crowd Shots from Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Jinjer performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Featuring former In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad, Cyhra help bring down the temperature a little, replacing crowd surfing mayhem and circle pits with something a little more refined. After a delay of two years, Jinjer finally make it to Bloodstock’s hallowed grounds and make the most of their time. An emotional Tatiana Shmailyuk thanks for crowd for their support of Ukraine as the band treat the yellow and blue t-shirt wearing crowd and flag wavers to songs like ‘Teacher, Teacher!’, ‘Home Back’, ‘Perennial’ and ‘Pisces’. Swiss act Samael play to a small but energetic crowd, closing the show with classic ‘Baphomet’s Throne’ while UK metalcore mob Bury Tomorrow create mayhem in the pit during their early evening spot on the main stage.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Samael performing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Bury Tomorrow performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

New Blood Stage – Saturday

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Portrayal of Ruinn performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Winners of the incredibly tough Manchester M2TM’s Portrayal of Ruinn, managed to generate a huge vibe long before they’d took the stage. With huge shouts for the band starting almost the second the previous band had finished, and continuing throughout the set up. They didn’t disappoint, with a commanding performance of melodic deathcore, they had absolutely rammed New Blood tent eating out of the palm of their hands. Ballroom Mosh pits, walls of death, and a huge party atmosphere, this was a highly charismatic performance. Judging by the number of T-shirts on display they are definitely one to look out for.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Cast in Tephra performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Newcastle Winners Cast in Tephra, continued the explosive energy of the New Blood stage following Portrayal of Ruinn with a pummelling set, monster riffs once again lapped up by an enthusiastic crowd.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Steel Mage performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Sheffield’s Steel Mage provided another high quality set of thrash mixed with Melodic Hardcore, not hampered by vocalist Joshua Watson being constarined to a drum stool propping up an apparently broken leg.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Warlock AD performing on the Jagermeister Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

It was difficult to get near the Jagermeister stage for Warlock AD’s set. Symphonic Power Metal resplendent with fancy dress providing just the right amount of silliness in the oppressive heat to keep the party going. A very enjoyable set indeed.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Novacrow performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Liverpool’s Novacrow were an absolute revelation when they took to the stage, having seen them carrying inflatable dinosaurs around all weekend, I was curious to what they’d be like. What a great set of alt-metal/Heavy Rock, with bags of groove. One of the standout performances of the weekend in all honesty, which is saying something. Incredible.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Recall the Remains performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Telford’s Recall The Remains stepped in last minute to replace Headpress on the New Blood stage and it has to be said siezed the last minute opportunity with both hands. A brilliant set a whirlwind of both energy and dreadlocks, even my camera was having trouble keeping up with frontman Jacob.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Imperium performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

London’s Imperium had another huge crowd on the New Blood stage, they absolutely blew everyone away. A powerful Groove laden Thrash set, they had so much presence on stage.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 12 Aug 2022, Crowd Shots from Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, DImmu Borgir performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Norwegian black metallers Dimmu Borgir haven’t enjoyed the best of luck at Bloodstock over the years but thankfully it’s only good old fashioned timekeeping which delays them this time, the band arriving on stage a little later than scheduled. Boasting one of the best sounds of the festival, the band piledrive into a set featuring ‘Dimmu Borgir’, ‘Gateways’, ‘Puritania’, ‘Vredesbyrd’ and ‘The Insight and the Catharsis’, climaxing with the double header of ‘Progenies of the Great Apocalypse’ and a showstopping ‘Mourning Palace’. While daylight robs many black metal acts of their malevolence and mystique, Dimmu Borgir never seem to suffer.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, Ferocious Dog performing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

With around an hour to kill before the main act, many people head over to the Sophie stage to jig the time away with Nottinghamshire’s Ferocious Dog, leaving the tent with big grins and even more worn out than before. Like it or not, Mercyful Fate are legends. You might think frontman King Diamond‘s voice sounds like nails being scraped down a blackboard but the band’s influence is undeniable. So while some people retire with earplugs to a safe distance, the vast majority of the crowd stick around to witness something special. With only Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann remaining from the original line-up, it might not be classic Fate but the songs still stand up today. Especially when acts like Ghost are known to occasionally dip into the MF riff pot. You simply can’t argue with songs like ‘A Corpse Without a Soul’, ‘Evil’, ‘Curse of the Pharaohs’, ‘Come to the Sabbath’ and ‘Black Funeral’, although trying to attempt King’s patented falsetto might not be advisable. ‘Gypsy’ might be a surprising omission but nine minute newie ‘The Jackal of Salzburg’ is a worthy replacement, despite still being in a relatively unfinished state.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

As the high pitched screams and invisible oranges disappear into the night, a new sound appears from the direction of the Jagermeister Stage as the comedy punk stylings of The Kunts (aka Kunt and the Gang, and now possibly even Kuntford and Sons) draw drunken party-goers together for a collective late night sing-along. Not ones for subtlety or restraint, the band belt out classics like ‘Jesus Died From a Stranglewank’, ‘Wanking Over A Pornographic Polaroid Of An Ex-Girlfriend Who Died’, ‘Jimmy Savile and the Sexy Kids’ and of course the Boris Johnson trilogy and ‘Prince Andrew is a Sweaty Nonce’. A perfect way to end a particularly sweaty day.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 13 Aug 2022, The Kunts performing on the Jagermeister Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

SUNDAY

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Vended performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Butcher Babies performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Skarlett Riot performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

As a tribute to the recently deceased mother of Sophie, Sylvia Lancaster, thousands of people head to the arena this morning in shocking pink shirts, dresses, hats, skirts and anything else to make the place look even more colourful and garishly flamboyant than usual. However, anyone without access to the Bloodstock app heading down early to watch Vended is in for a shock. Due to Life of Agony pulling out at the last minute, Griffin Taylor‘s band and LA act Butcher Babies have been pushed further up the bill meaning Skarlett Riot find themselves promoted from the Sophie tent to playing on the illustrious main stage, a bump they grab with both hands. As do BB and the sons of Slipknot, both bands keeping the constantly moving crowd on the brink of exhaustion.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Vio-Lence performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Having never actually played on UK shores before, the anticipation among old school thrash fans is at fever pitch for Bay Area bruisers Vio-Lence. Delivering one of the standout sets of the weekend, the band rampage through old standards like ‘Eternal Nightmare’, ‘Serial Killer’, ‘Calling in the Coroner’, ‘Officer Nice’, ‘Kill on Command’ ‘Phobophobia’ and ‘World in a World’, even throwing in newie ‘Upon Their Cross’ to show they still have a few tricks up their sleeve. There’s been some confusion as to whether guitarist Phil Demmel will even be playing today as he’s also performing with a slightly more high profile band later this evening. But play he does, to the relief and delight of many.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Venom Inc. performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Although having to go by a slightly altered name these days, Venom Inc. are the real deal. As good as their former frontman’s own incarnation of the band might be, Tony ‘Demolition Man’ Dolan and Jeff ‘Mantas’ Dunn (joined today by none other than drum legend Nicholas Barker) are a far more formidable outfit. That said, with so many long years of experience behind them, Dolan and Dunn still manage to turn a triumphant festival appearance into a pub gig. Tripping over cables and banging into amps, broken strings and a mic stand which ends up more gaffer tape than microphone, Venom Inc. accidentally transport us back to the chaotic immaturity of the band’s early years and everyone fucking loves it. Any mistake or technical issue is completely ignored in favour of just having a good time and nobody leaves with anything less than massive grins and sore necks.

New Blood Stage – Sunday

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Drip Fed Empire performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Drip Fed Empire were fantastic, a lovely mix of electronica and metal they provided something different on the traditionally metalcore heavy New Blood Stage and I have to say I loved it. Definitely a much needed uplift on what had been a fairly relentless weekend in the incessant heat.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Karma’s Puppet performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Macclesfield’s Karma’s Puppet put on a fantastic set, which once again sent the circle pitters going absolutely wild, which by day 4 of the festival in such incredible heat is not to be taken for granted.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Sulvain performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

Leicester winners Sulvain took to the stage took to the stage largely dressed in pink in honour of Sylvia Lancaster. A grungy take on NOLA grunge they played a wonderful set which took me back to the 90’s. Loved the set and will definitely have to catch again soon.

***

Cattle Decapitation do exactly what Cattle Decapitation do best, the dust rising high into sky as yet another circle pit careers out of control. Dark Funeral know their assignment but their brand of black and white corpse-painted EVIL is rendered somewhat impotent by the bright sunny skies. They certainly play as hard as ever, blasting away for all their worth, but it’s a near impossible task when people in the crowd are eating ice cream and wearing pink Britney Spears t-shirts. Austrian black metallers Belphegor fare better in the Sophie tent later but much of the crowd are already making their way over to see main support, Killing Joke. An influence on more bands than even they would like to admit, so many scenes would all look quite different without KJ’s input, and older songs like ‘The Wait’, ‘Wardance’, ‘Bloodsport’ and ‘We Have Joy’ remind people why Jaz Coleman and co. remain as relevant as ever.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Lamb of God performing on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

The last time Lamb of God from “Richmond Fucking Virginia” headlined Bloodstock, the weather was decidedly worse and resulted in a delay when the barriers became unsafe due to mud. No chance of that happening here as the band (Vio-Lence’s Phil Demmel stepping in for Willie Adler) absolutely decimate Catton Park in ninety frenzied minutes. From ‘Memento Mori’ and ‘Walk With Me in Hell’ to ‘Now You’ve Got Something to Die For’, ‘Contractor’, ‘Hourglass’, ‘Vigil’ and ‘Laid to Rest’ among many others, the band bring the place to a state of virtual collapse with the climactic ‘Redneck’. Meanwhile, across in the Sophie tent one last time, air stewardesses, wigs and a conga line signal the end of the weekend’s live music as The Night Flight Orchestra bow out with infectious numbers like ‘Divinyls’, ‘Gemini’, ‘Satellite’ and a total party atmosphere.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Night Flight Orchestra performing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

It’s been a tough test for the organisers this year. Whereas excessive wind and deluges of rain are usually the cause of most meteorological challenges at Bloodstock, this time it was actually the sun. Water points were made available throughout the arena and campsites but the sheer and unexpected size of some of the queues soon left many festival goers requiring more. Military style cargo netting was draped over tables inside the arena in an effort to create some relief, and the medical and security staff did a fantastic job, some even checking on the welfare of every camp. Compostable toilets were a welcome addition this year too, much cleaner than the normal portaloos and with none of that familiar festival pungency.

Catton Park, United kingdom, 14 Aug 2022, Karma’s Puppet performing on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival Credit: Rich Price/Ghost Cult Magazine

So, aside from the high price of food, patchy or non-existent WiFi and a few irritating clashes, Bloodstock 2022 was yet another resounding success. And with a number of band announcements having already been made, it’s time to set your alarm clocks for August 2023 and do it all over again.

But maybe not at Gas Mark 10 next time though, okay?

Read Part 1 here:

FESTIVAL REVIEW: Bloodstock Open Air 2022 Part 1

WORDS BY GARY ALCOCK AND RICH PRICE

PHOTOS BY RICH PRICE