There is a wonderful sweet spot about the Saturday morning of a festival. You have been there enough time to bed in and become familiar with the surroundings, but it is all yet to become a slog. Also, there is the delicious realization that you still have two days to go. Ambrius have the honour of kicking off proceedings on the Sophie stage and prove to be an interesting and enticing mix of power and progressive metals.
Read MoreWe wake up early and make our way onsite as Johann joins us to take photos of the weekend and film my interviews. Everyone we meet seems fresh and eager to attack the day, hungry for more excellent tech-metal. For our Dark Overord there’s no easing in here, as once he’s grabbed his photo pit pass he’s thrust into the fray to cover Greylotus. The fun daytime TV show intro shows how cheeky these guys are, but belies how heavy and serious their music is.
Read MoreAnd so onto the extra day, essentially a heavy metal take on the leap year. Thursday is a full additional twenty four hours of metal on all stages bar the main one. The lack of big big draws means that the day is one of exploration as we are given the opportunity to try and test many of the exceptional home grown talent that haunt small venues across the breadth of the country. Sophie Lancaster tent opener Mother Vulture turn out not to be Mother Vulture at all and instead much fancied West Midlander’s Fury (though not the Chris and Luke Appleton fronted Fury UK).
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