Dead Flesh
A great many things can be said for the many bands to headlined Bloodstock over the years. One of the true unsung heroes of a lineup is the first ones to step foot on stage that weekend. This year the honour fell to Hertfordshire’s Dead Flesh, who kick things off with a bang on the opening track ‘Sick’. Vocalist Rich is all smiles despite the brutal style he peforms in, and can’t help but gush about the size of the opportunity, noting it is “fucking sick, but we already played that one”, before starting into ‘Bodies Upon Bodies’ and ‘Swallowing Nails’ from last years Dehumanise EP, almost playing the record front to back in this set. Also on deck is March’s single ‘D.N.R’, which is a powerhouse of a showing for bassist Adam McGuiness as well as drummer Nelly’s machine-like work on the kit. This Thursday’s band had arguably one of the best receptions for a non-headlining band since the days of Tortured Demon and that set in 2023. The common ground between the two is the fact that both bands have made their way between each stage on their way up the bill with passion, For Dead Flesh that happens to be guitarist Chris Everett sneering beneath a mop of hair, before cracking a grin, while Mike Wicks on guitar rocking some of the smiliest two stepping known to deathcore. With material like the yet-to-be-released ‘Chewing Glass’ in their back pocket, The Ronnie James Dio stage surely beckons. As they play themselves out with the self-titled ‘Dead Flesh’, crowd surfers are flying, Rich has found himself down at the barrier screaming into the faces of the Sophie Crowd, and the mass of Bloodstockers stretching out of the tent is shouting those two words back to the band.
Photos courtesy of Nic Howells Photo:
All For Metal
German-Italian Metal Gods All For Metal take to the stage. You can’t deny that their powerful sound is going to be a brilliant first-day opener for the festival. Their set starts with the self-titled track “All For Metal” and showcases the pure talents of vocalist Tetzel and Antonion. All For Metal set is just fun and beautiful, put together with the roaring crowd. Slipping onto their set “Year Of The Dragon” taken from their latest album is a true testament to how incredible a band this is. The bands’ Heavy Metal twist with Norse Mythology. It’s the little details of All For Metal set you notice from Tetzel being able to lift his fellow band members with one arm, to their bassist Loki’s style mask. All For Metal heated up this opening evening!
Me & That Man
It feels weird to be discussing Nergal on Bloodstock soil, sans Behemoth. That said, the huge reaction to Me And That Man’s announcement last year meant this was never not going to have the attention of all within earshot. In terms of UK shows during their tenure, that statistic is still somewhat in its infancy, but it doesn’t stop the Sophie Lancaster tent from being packed. This is a lot more subdued than your usual Thursday headline fare, but certainly has its pomp, and a pit at the insistence of Mr Darski. For the longest time, it seemed like the group’s freshman effort, Songs of Love and Death, was unassailable from being the most prominent part of Me And That Man shows. That belief is briefly dispelled with the band instead quickly arriving at ‘Run with the Devil’ to a very enthusiastic response, before then ironically playing 4 songs straight from the 2017 album. There’s a looseness here you’ll never see at a Behemoth gig, or any other Sophie band for the weekend, for that matter.
The camaraderie between those on stage is at times closer to a jam session than a headline, but when ‘Surrender’ and ‘Under The Spell’ kick in, you can feel the mood in the room open like the intro to a western thriller. The intensity of these two tracks, and the accompanying ‘Burning Churches’ , feels like the moment in an old cowboy flick where the screen expands from letterbox to full screen. Personal favourites of the evening had to have been the shadowy rock of ‘Got Your Tongue’ when played back to back with the Randy Blythe-less ‘Silver Halide Echoes’, which feels oddly apt considering Lamb of God were announced for next year, not 24 hours later. The home stretch of the set is a who’s who of MATM’s best, starting with a Roky Erickson original ‘White Faces’, before a final yo-yo through their catalogue. Starting with New Man, New Songs, Same Shit. Vol 2’s ‘Losing My Blues’ before covering Black Sabbath classic ‘Paranoid’, to put their spin on honouring Ozzy Osbourne, which truly was the tone for the weekend. They go through Vol.1‘s ‘Coming Home’ and then their final offering from the first album, the iconic ‘Love and Death’. The final memory for all in attendance seems to hit the nail on the head, with the band closing things with stalwart track ‘Blues and Cocaine’ from the latest album to send the crowd home happy. There was some debate in the original iteration of the project as to if Nergal was “Me” or “That Man” given the huge name value John Porter also brought at the inception. Such debate has been dispelled now, as Nergal is “Me” and THE man.