houston4044 wrote:Think the problem with Winterfylleth is that they play regularly and will probably take a prominent spot instead of someone fresher.
My biggest problem with the line up is placements really. So many bands appear to have been pushed up for a reason other than budgetary that I can see. I don't like Gloryhammer but I'll find something to do while they're on (sobering up probably
) but can't see what they've done since 2016 to warrant such a jump up the line up. Add the subs, Diamond Head and Bloodywood to that list and it just looks like a money saving exercise. If you put them in a more suited slot then the line up would hold a lot more promise.
tbf Gloryhammer were probably too low down in 2016. In terms of power metal they're one of the bigger draws out there, easily sound out a good sized venue in London before Xmas, and there last album got to no.6 in Germany, plus they'd be very popular with the BOA crowd.
My problem is the SG positions, Skindred played in 3rd place in 2017, Paradise Lost in 3rd in 2016 and Saxon in 3rd in 2014, these bands's profile hasn't risen since then and the festival has got bigger, so pushing them all up to the SG slots clearly smacks of cost saving. Likewise in 2018 when you had Cannibal Corpse and At The Gates in the SG slots when they'd played lower in previous years, and last year when Dimmu were scheduled for the SG slot, despite the fact they're clearly nowhere near big enough to justify that place in the UK anymore.
Also the Sophie headliners seem a lot less high profile than before, ok much as I hate them, Hatebreed are big enough, but the other 3 certainly aren't, if you consider the headliners the Sophie stage had in 17, 18 and 19.
And to be frank, Vio-lence are ridiculously high up the bill too, when you consider there are band with little to no fanbase here who haven't released an album for 27 years.
You can't win. 
