Rate the bands

[thespis_mellie]

I would be interested in your source of information ?

Timing can never be too perfect & 1/10th second is a relatively long time; even old amps were designed to cope with full power demands within microseconds.

Are you seriously telling me that Within Temptation are too much for the Bloodstock PA to cope with ? It didn't strike me as that powerful at the point of failure & it never happened otherwise all weekend as far as I know ?

Onstage, they mentioned that the same thing had happened the week before. I did the backstage tour on the Sunday (yay RockSoc ) and my friend asked about what had happened. It was something to do with their own sound equipment and that particular point in the track hitting a limiter; their levels were not quite set up right so it cut everything out as a safety thing? (I don't know how live sound stuff works.)

She wasn't miming. As for them being super in-sync, they are likely all playing to a click track, with all the samples, etc.

[Bearstock]

Thursday

Reign Of Fury 7 - Decent performance overall but I was a bit disappointed, just felt a little flat. Solid enough start to the festival though.

Desecration 7.5 - Ramped it up a notch and seemed to give it their all. Only discovered them leading up to Bloodstock so definitely wanna get properly into them.

Arnocorps 7 - Ridiculous isn't the word but stupid fun all the same.

Friday

Nuclear Assault 8 - Where I felt Reign Of Fury seemingly lacked some energy, it was confirmed by Nuclear Assault whom I thought were great. A great way to start the day.

Armored Saint 8.5 - Only two of us knew them going in but all 9 of us left well impressed. John Bush was on top form and I thought the little kid was a cool touch.

Re-Animator 8 - Heavy, fast and aggressive. My day was shaping up very nicely.

Ne Obliviscaris 8.5 - Opted for seeing them over Enslaved and made sure I got a decent spot in the tent for them which meant missing Countless Skies also. Thankfully it was a great decision. Managed to transmit their studio sound to a live setting very well and I was really really impressed.

The Mighty Wraith 8 - My find of the festival! Arranged to meet a mate who'd seen Enslaved at the Jager tent so sat outside it. Really liked what I was hearing so ventured in. Absolutely loved it and it turns out he'd virtually done the exact same as me. 2 new converts.

Overkill 9 - My personal favourite band of the weekend. Hadn't seen them before and probably the band I was most looking forward to seeing going into the festival. They certainly lived up to the hope and then some. Brilliant.

Sabaton 9.5 - Always great fun but strong with the actual performance too. An entertaining stage show as well. Ghost Division is a great song to open with and they were arguably the best band of the weekend along with Rob Zombie.

Trivium 6 - So curiosity loomed. Questionable headliners and given what had gone before they really had to pull it out of the bag. Would they shit or get off the pot? Well.... they might as well have fucked off. Just bland, vocals seemed a bit weak and particularly following Overkill and Sabaton it was all just a bit embarrasing really. Gave up halfway through their set and went to get a cider (Bee Sting was back on, YAY!)

Delain 8 - After the dullness of Trivium we decided to give Delain a go. Surprisingly great stuff. Much heavier than on their records and they seemed to be on a mission which is how a band high up the bill should perform. Thoroughly impressed.

Saturday

Annihilated 8 - In a similar vein to Nuclear Assault, a great way to kick start my day into gear. Fast and furious, just how I like it.

Korpiklaani 7.5 - A bit disappointing really. I know people seem to love them and have heard many raving about them live so maybe my expectations were too high? Either way they were decent enough and Vodka was really enjoyable live but I wasn't overly impressed.

Napalm Death 8.5 - Never been a big fan but I figured they're one of those bands you really should see at least once. Storming performance. Still not my particular cup of tea but an enjoyable set.

Death (To All) 8.5 - Perhaps my second most "keen to see" band after Overkill and sure enough they were great. Always gonna be missing a few songs for their timeslot but finishing on an excellent rendition of Crystal Mountain was a no brainer.

Opeth 6 - Skeptical on whether to bother given my feelings on their most recent albums. Every right to be too as it turns out. Just really dull and disappointing.

Sunday

Orange Goblin 8 - Finally venturing to the arena later than planned meant Orange Goblin were the first band of the day for me. Keeping up the weekend run of a blinding set to wake me up and kick off the day in style. You know what you're gonna get with them live, luckily that is usually a great heavy performance.

Sepultura 7.5 - Better than anticipated and Refuse/Resist and Roots were cool to see live (and remember them)

Ensiferum 9 - Properly got into these earlier this year having mainly gone to their gig for the support bands but ended up blown away by their performance. Pleased to see they were great again at Bloodstock. The wifes highlight of the festival. Both absolutely love Two Of Spades so it was a great closer for us. Shame they had no t shirts on the merchandise stall though

Lawnmower Deth 8 - What a brilliantly fun band they are live. Batshit crazy, enjoyable nonsense that's actually pretty fucking good. Loved it!

Rob Zombie 10 - Sure there wasn't a full "phenomenal stage show" seemingly but I thought he delivered a great headlining performance keeping the crowd involved and everyone around us seemed to be enjoying it as well. A few track omissions such as Never Gonna Stop was a shame though. Dragula is such a good song too.

Ozzbourne Again 7 - Capping off the weekends music with some good booze and the likes of Bark At The Moon, War Pigs etc live just made tremendous sense. They were a pretty good tribute band to be fair. Quite enjoyable if nothing too special.

[Deadite91]

Thursday

Desecration - 3, Unfortunately I had a thumping headache for this so they just annoyed me, shame because I've wanted to see them for ages.


Friday

Trivium - 6, fun nostalgia trip during their older songs.


Overkill - 7
Belphegor - 8
Nuclear Assult - 6, Decent start to the morning .
Foul Body Autopsy - 1, I'm a big fan of this style of music, but he was terrible.

Saturday

Opeth - 7, I only heard of Opeth through Bloodbath. Haven't heard alot prior so I went along with an open mind, very good.
Death - 10, Well...It's Death. I don't know who they had on vocals but he was pretty spot on, sounded very close to Chuck.
Napalm Death - 8
1349 - 9, If only it had been freezing cold for this, boiling heat isn't something you'd expect from black metal.
Savage Messiah - 7, Very Impressed.
Fleshgod Apocolypse - 5, The low rating is only due to them being 20 mins late and wandering off for 5 minutes after the first song, completely killed my buzz. Once they got going they were fantastic.

Sunday

Rob Zombie - 8
Black Label Society - 1, SO FUCKING BORING! After that, I never want to hear another guitar solo for the rest of my life
Cannibal Corpse - 9
Pro-Pain - 3
Saille - 7

[Aerosol_Kid]

All these bands I either saw in full or at least 80% of the show, and my scores are always going to appear low as I need to reserve 9/10 for the absolute dogs bollocks of a show:

Thursday:

Reign of Fury - Sorry, boring really - 5

Metaprism - Not for me at all - 3

Desecration - Really enjoyed them, again, and can't wait for their show at the Star and Garter in October - 8

Arnocorps - Terrible sound on the vocals, so pretty much ruined the whole selling point - 4

Friday:

Mortishead - meh - 4.5

Nuclear Assault - Fantastic really - 8

OAF - watched them for the banter as the music's crap, but great banter - 6.5

Re-Animator - See Reign of Fury only worse - 4

Enslaved - Enjoyed 'em - 7

Overkill - I loves me thrash - 8

Sabaton - Really shouldn't like them but they seem to be my guilty pleasure, (only live mind you), great show - 7.5

Saturday:

Amethyst - yeah, okay - good start to the day - 6

Savage Messiah - Bit boring to be fair, but okay - 6.5

Anihilated - First time seeing them, great show and energy - 7.5

1349 - why did I think the sound was shit for these and yet other people on here thought they were great - 'I am abomination' is supposed to be a wall of noise and all could hear was a whimper - really like the band but for sound alone low score - 5

Jasad - good solid death metal and they seemed chuffed there were a few of us to see them - 7

Napalm Death - 7.5

Dark Angel - waited a while to see them and didn't disappoint - 7.5

Death DTA - it's Death - 8.5/9

Opeth - really liked them, one of the ones that didn't find it boring, quite the opposite - 7.5

Hanowar - (okay saw about 50% only) - but what I saw I liked. If Bloodstock can't get Manowar shove these on the main stage early and save a few quid - 7

Sunday:

Agalloch - weren't on my list of 'to watch' but I was about and saw 'em, glad I did - 7.5

Wolf - I don't get them, at all, really boring - 4.5

Orange Goblin - weird, I liked them - 7

Killer Hurts - Saw them a while ago in the New Blood stage, shame they've not progressed more than they have because they're good - 7.5

Sepultura - nothing spectacular, but solid stuff - 7

Cannibal Corpse - 7

Trepalium - 7

Onslaught - started well and dragged a bit, probably more to do with me being knackered on my feet - 7

[Virtue]

Heres my rundown:

Thursday:
Reign of Fury - 9 - Always a good mix of thrash and power, and I caught a T-shirt too!
RedRum - 8 - Great Pirate metal (we need more of it), and a hilarious cover of Taking the Hobbits to Isengard lol
Arnocorps - 1 - One of the worst mixed bands of the weekend, couldnt make out the vocals as everything was drenched in reverb.

Friday:
Nuclear Assault - 9 - First time seeing these thrash legends, didnt disappoint!
Armoured Saint - 7 - Good if unmemorable set.
Overkill - 10 - Absolutely amazing act! So glad to have finally seen them!
IAMI - 7 - Caught the first half before Sabaton, they where ok, kinda Dragonforce but slower though.
Sabaton - 10 - Probably up there with the best performance of the festival! Loved the IKEA jokes and interaction with the crowd.
Trivium - 5 - Only came for "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr". Loses points for not knowing Dio was in Black Sabbath.

Saturday
Savage Messiah - 9 - Great band that I need to check out more of.
Korpiklaani - 5 - Was totally hyped up but extremely disappointed with the song choices. We all wanted drinking songs!
Batallion - 9 - Caught the first half before Dark Angel, crystal clear sound and old-skool thrash madness.
Dark Angel - 8 - Great to finally see them but the sound was a mess, everything was turned up far too loud and the guitars muddy.
Death - 5 - Meh, got bored, sorry!
Opeth - 10 - Another absolutely stellar performance, always look forward to these guys.
Jettblack - 6 - Middle of the road hard rock.
Fleshgod Apocalypse - 3 - was the bass drum the main instrument? I couldnt make anything else out.

Sunday
Hell's Gazelle's - 9 - This is how to do hard rock, take note Jettblack!
Wolf - 9 - Knocked it out of the park! Love these guys!
Orange Goblin - 9 - I think a dose of the old sweet leaf mightve had something to do with the score....
Spirytus - 10 - Caught the last 15 minutes of it, its like.....every nu metal band in one! (and thats a good thing), best crowd in the new blood tent for sure.
Old Rake - 7 - Very good and funny with the guys playing rakes but he kinda dismissed his backing band playing behind the curtains a bit...
Sepultura - 8 - Caught the last few songs, great renditions of the old classics.
Ensiferum - 7 - Not bad but why the dancing girls?
I fell asleep in my tent for Lawnmower Deth, gutted
BLS - 7 - OK I guess accept I couldnt make out his singing and the chest thumping was just retarded.
Onslaught - 9 - Caught the first half, wish I stayed.
Rob Zombie - 5 - Utterly disappointed! He has a huge back catalogue of his own and White Zombie material yet he decided to fuck around playing covers and guitar solos, seriously Rob, you where way better a few years back!

Overall - 8 - Weak headliners this year but more than made up for it with plenty of thrash metal, I really hope Venom headline next year!

[Deadite91]

Fleshgod Apocalypse - 3 - was the bass drum the main instrument? I couldnt make anything else out.

Yes, it is! Each member has their instrument hooked up to bass drum triggers off stage, so every time they hit a string/piano key, the trigger goes off

[Bio-Zombi]

Thurs-Reign of Fury-6 (Not as good as the last time I saw them.

Fri-Nuclear Assault-8
Re-Animator-7
Enslaved-7
Ihsahn-5
Overkill-9

Sat-Savage Messiah-8
Anihilated-8
1349-7
Korpiklaani-3
Napalm Death-7
Dark Angel-10
Death DTA-9
Fleshgod-4

Sun-Wolf-5
Killer Hurts-9
Pro Pain-6
Animator-9
Sepultura-8
Ensiferum-6
Lawnmower Deth-9
Onslaught-8

[KevBowerHell]

Please allow me to explain (and hopefully enlighten) folks on the WT 'miming' issue and sudden abandonment of one of their songs at the same place, 4 times running. I wasn't at BOA btw - Hell were playing out in Finland the same weekend, but I read all this with interest and knew exactly what the 'stoppage' problem was straightaway

The go-to live stage system for many bands these days is a computer programme called Ableton Live. It's usually run from a laptop sidestage. We use it ourselves - specifically for running our studio-created orchestral/choral intros and digital samples of thunderstorms, horses, explosions and similar noises, which Ableton fires in at various points throughout the set. It's a programme which plays back digital audio files (usually 16 or 24-bit .wmv's) and simultaneously sends out a clicktrack to the musicians' in-ear monitors so they can play in time to the tempo set up on the programme. The main outputs of the computer are sent via an interface to the front-of-house console and incorporated into the outfront stereo mix by the sound engineer. So that's what it is and how it works.

We also use something called a DMX bolt-on to our own Ableton system, and it's this add-on package which fires our propane gas system, fires our pyros, and does various other things on our lighting rig, with split-second timing, and bang on cue every time.

I can't (and neither would I) pass any comment on how any specific band uses or abuses this system, but suffice to say that we use it very sparingly, and specifically for throwing in noises, effects and other bits which require the addition of a digital sample at some point throughout the proceedings. We also use it as a stagecraft tool - having all the lights go up from jet-blackness, pyro going off and big chords smashing in without any apparent '1-2-3-4' count-in from the drummer is powerful and effective. That scenario is only possible because we can hear a clicked count-in through our in-ears which the audience can't. Other bands/artists, however (and I'm talking principally about mainstream pop here) rely VERY heavily on Ableton for what's essentially faked performance. Our own FOH engineer recently toured with a well-known pop act whose entire vocals and much of the musical backing were lip-synched, with the mics only unmuted between songs so the 'artists' could talk to the audience. In the metal arena, however, standards of musicianship are invariably killer, eliminating the need for such blatant fakery, and I doubt that musicians of WT's massive calibre have any need to rely on anything remotely approaching this.

But - like any other piece of technology, it f**s up every now and again. For festival shows, many bands (ourselves included) rely heavily on rented equipment which is specced in advance on the technical rider. But no matter how specific you are, you never really know what you're gonna get ....... and in the case of the WT 4-times stoppage, it's 99.999% likely that Ableton hadn't been set up properly, maybe because the system was rented and its defaults were the wrong ones, or maybe because something was just missed by a tech in the heat of battle during setup/changeover. When you import audio files into Ableton, for example, you have to specify where they run from - either from an external hard drive, or from the laptop's internal RAM. You also have to specify the size of the 'sample file buffer' from a dropdown menu - that's a bit like saying how big you want your car's petrol tank to be. Once again, most bands will just show up at a festival and plug their hard drive into the system, but the symptoms of a stoppage at the same song point are a classic indication of the system either trying to run multiple large files via laptop RAM, or that the buffer setting's too low. At a certain sample or file-heavy point (the same one) - the laptop simply runs out of RAM or exceeds the preset buffer limit ........ and the programme crashes. It's very, very likely (almost certain IMHO) that's this is what's happened to WT, bless 'em

This isn't in any way a criticism of WT or their crew btw, but sh*t happens, especially in the context of high-pressure, limited-time changeovers at festivals. Sorry for the tech geekery, but I hope this helps. As a fellow pro musician, I'd hate to think of any band being accused of fakery simply through suffering a technical failure.

Best wishes Kev

[Jim]

Hi Kev,

Does the Albeton samples simply plug into an FX return, or is there (can there) be a more complex routing (automations for effects, volume, even sound patch switching)? I ask because it just seems odd that something like a halted sample/click track playback would halt the entire output from the main line array.

(I know you said you weren't there, but that's exactly what happened as a spectator - just as that bar of the song started the house lights went up, the main FOH mix silenced yet the band kept going, as if their in ear monitors continued to play).

[KevBowerHell]

Hi Kev,

Does the Albeton samples simply plug into an FX return, or is there (can there) be a more complex routing (automations for effects, volume, even sound patch switching)? I ask because it just seems odd that something like a halted sample/click track playback would halt the entire output from the main line array.

(I know you said you weren't there, but that's exactly what happened as a spectator - just as that bar of the song started the house lights went up, the main FOH mix silenced yet the band kept going, as if their in ear monitors continued to play).

Hi Jim - the simplest Ableton setup involves it running through an audio interface (something like a Presonus 22VSL) and it's the interface's stereo output which is normally sent to two channels on FOH - so yes, the FOH engineer can add in whatever EQ or other tweaks he needs. Any automations are normally written into the Ableton programme iteself to avoid the FOH guy having to do an octopus impression. With more complex setups and more complex interfaces, Ableton can send literally dozens of separate feeds to FOH if this is what the band/FOH engineer requires.

I didn't realise the whole PA had gone off at the same time, every time. This sounds exactly like a power outage on a generator's circuitbreaker. But as I already explained - if WT were using Ableton to run all the lighting and other systems as well (which is quite normal these days) - it sounds like at this point in the song, a shedload of stuff was all being sent from Ableton to the lighting rig and other onstage systems - which were then for a splitsecond asking the genny to instantly deliver more current than it was capable of. Bang - circuitbreaker trips. It's certainly happened to us - so who knows?

[SamB14]

Spent most time in the VIP bar but here's my ratings..

Friday
Overkill 1/10 - Are this band serious? The singer was hilarious to watch -vocals sounded comically bad too

Sabaton 9/10 Wow - only got into them properly a few weeks before so was really looking forward to it and they delivered!

Delain 7/10 - Really nice set , nothing outstanding but good melodic tunes.

Saturday

Opeth 5/10 I know they are really good musicians but the music just bores me

Within Temptation 8.5/10 Was a bit worried as to how they would go down but down the front everyone seemed to be enjoying it. Was a great performance, if they had played more from the Silent Force it would of been nice but oh well.

Sunday

Triaxis 5/10 Had heard good things about them but they just sounded like a generic heavy metal band with nothing special to offer

Sepultra 3/10 Bands like this just sound like a wall of noise with no real distinction in the songs

Ensifirum 7/10 - Quite enjoyed them, some nice folky melodies, enjoyable stuff. Not sure about the dancing girls though!

Rob Zombie 7/10 Not really a fan but the set was enjoyable, decent stageshow.

[Hypo199]

Hi Kev,

Does the Albeton samples simply plug into an FX return, or is there (can there) be a more complex routing (automations for effects, volume, even sound patch switching)? I ask because it just seems odd that something like a halted sample/click track playback would halt the entire output from the main line array.

(I know you said you weren't there, but that's exactly what happened as a spectator - just as that bar of the song started the house lights went up, the main FOH mix silenced yet the band kept going, as if their in ear monitors continued to play).

Hi Jim - the simplest Ableton setup involves it running through an audio interface (something like a Presonus 22VSL) and it's the interface's stereo output which is normally sent to two channels on FOH - so yes, the FOH engineer can add in whatever EQ or other tweaks he needs. Any automations are normally written into the Ableton programme iteself to avoid the FOH guy having to do an octopus impression. With more complex setups and more complex interfaces, Ableton can send literally dozens of separate feeds to FOH if this is what the band/FOH engineer requires.

I didn't realise the whole PA had gone off at the same time, every time. This sounds exactly like a power outage on a generator's circuitbreaker. But as I already explained - if WT were using Ableton to run all the lighting and other systems as well (which is quite normal these days) - it sounds like at this point in the song, a shedload of stuff was all being sent from Ableton to the lighting rig and other onstage systems - which were then for a splitsecond asking the genny to instantly deliver more current than it was capable of. Bang - circuitbreaker trips. It's certainly happened to us - so who knows?

Hi Kev, this sounds like the most plausible explanation given my understanding of WT's onstage rig from talking to their sound engineer in the past. I know they have the click track, videos, backing tracks, additional vocals, etc, all synched together in a combined system but, given it was a festival it's possible their lighting / pyro was handled manually as no two festival rigs are the same and, in my mind, there seems little point in programming everything in for a one-off. AFAIK they had all their own gear at Bloodstock as they were a headliner, they tend to use hired kit when they're lower down the bill and travelling greater distance between shows. For example they played in Spain on Thurs (own kit), Portugal Friday (hired kit), Bloodstock Sat (own kit) and Canada on Sunday (hired kit).

TBH I'm not a fan of their over reliance on backing stuff either but having seen them a couple of times when their 'magic box of tricks' has died, they do sound a hell of a lot better when they play 'raw'.

[Ferrers1471]

Sabaton: 9/10. These guys play superbly and yet don't seem to take themselves too seriously on stage. That's always been an attractive combination for me and even though they possibly pushed the on stage banter a bit, they were as awesome as ever live. Trivium had a hard act to follow. I was persuaded to stick around to 'give them a try' . I left after the first two tracks- opinion unchanged.

Delain: 8/10. A great Friday headliner. Thoroughly enjoyed their set.

Within Temptation: 8/10. The sound issues have already been dealt with on another thread but even without that, signing this outfit was always going to upset some of the Bloodstock 'purists'. All that aside, they were an outstanding end to Saturday in the RJD stage. Also, a reminder that metal is a broad church. It's Bloodstocks realisation of this that makes it such a great festival.

[Aerosol_Kid]

Spent most time in the VIP bar but here's my ratings..
Friday
Overkill 1/10 - Are this band serious? The singer was hilarious to watch -vocals sounded comically bad too

You should have stayed in the bar....

[mathewxentrix88]

Spent most time in the VIP bar but here's my ratings..

Friday
Overkill 1/10 - Are this band serious? The singer was hilarious to watch -vocals sounded comically bad too

Sabaton 9/10 Wow - only got into them properly a few weeks before so was really looking forward to it and they delivered!

Delain 7/10 - Really nice set , nothing outstanding but good melodic tunes.

Saturday

Opeth 5/10 I know they are really good musicians but the music just bores me

Within Temptation 8.5/10 Was a bit worried as to how they would go down but down the front everyone seemed to be enjoying it. Was a great performance, if they had played more from the Silent Force it would of been nice but oh well.

Sunday

Triaxis 5/10 Had heard good things about them but they just sounded like a generic heavy metal band with nothing special to offer

Sepultra 3/10 Bands like this just sound like a wall of noise with no real distinction in the songs

Ensifirum 7/10 - Quite enjoyed them, some nice folky melodies, enjoyable stuff. Not sure about the dancing girls though!

Rob Zombie 7/10 Not really a fan but the set was enjoyable, decent stageshow.

Fucking hell-you obviously weren't there for the bands and definitely know jack-shit about metal so why bother even commenting.
When a thread is titled "Rate The Ales"-come back then.