Bloodstock 2013

Have been back from Bloodstock for a couple of days; it feels nice that I feel clean and slept in my own bed but I am feeling the festival withdrawal symptoms.

There have been some fantastic bands this year that have drawn huge crowds all weekend. The headliners King Diamond, Lamb Of God and Slayer were the perfect choice for headliners as they reunite metal fans from all over and brings them together. They may not have been my cup of tea but the atmosphere, the music and the togetherness they brought makes up for it.

The band I enjoyed the most was Avantasia; this supergroup have been going for a good fourteen years and this is their first visit to the UK. Their fusion of power metal and rock opera is phenomenal, Tobias Sammet's passion for this initial side project that took a life of it's own is very clear in his stage charismatic stage presence as he thanked his UK audience for having him perform at Bloodstock in the homeland. I was very happy when they performed the song Farewell as the audience sang along and swayed. All I can say about their performance is that if they ever come back to the UK, I highly recommend going to watch their spectacular performance.

The lovely weather we had all weekend for England made the festival experience so much more enjoyable. So it was a brilliant experience watching bands like Amorphis, Sabaton and Gojira in the gorgeous sunshine.

Two new bands I would watch out for are Mia Klose and Awake By Design; I happen to catch them on the Jagermiester stage.



What was brilliant about this year was that if you fancied a little break from the bands and didn't want to go back to your tent; there was men dressed in knight's armour having historical battle tournaments. It was something different and it drew huge crowds; the way the ran at each other and really went for it. It was quite a spectacle to watch; like a live action film, my boyfriend preferred it to XBox.....now that was something.

So I had a fantastic weekend and would love to go again next year.

Sabaton - Coat Of Arms

With the influence of some wonderful people I had met at a Southampton Pub called The Firehouse last night I thought I would review a Sabaton album; basically I was only familiar with a few of their songs before but after listening to this album I shall be listening to a lot more of them. The opening track Coat Of Arms sounded something you would hear in an epic battle scene in a fantasy film such as Lord Of The Rings. Most of the tracks sounded a little bit like that, mixing orchestral music with guitars is just pure genius. My favourite song on the album is Uprising; I love the rhythm and how the lyrics fit with it, once I found out what the song was about I was somewhat shocked and touched.

Stand Out Tracks:  Upsrising, Coat of Arms and Aces in Exile

Sabaton

This post is all about Swedish power metal heads Sabaton, I found the name of this band from the Poets of the Fall forum and thought about giving them a listen since I love Scandinavian power metal. The first few bars of the song Masters of The World sounded exactly like a classic Manowar hit from the 80s and it had me hooked, the lead vocalist sounds exactly like Mr Lordi. I loved that. This music also had a Final Fanstasy vibe behind it, I like those kind of bands where you can just imagine in your head what could be going on and imagine some sort of story line. I need this kind of influence for my Writing Fiction workshop, I am to come up with a story for a short film. Sabaton may be a great influence :)

Download : Master of The World, Ghost Division and Purple Heart