HATEBREED, Black Dogs, Demoraliser @Wolves Slade R0ooms 3/5/13

It is perhaps fitting that we should get to spend tonight in the company of Hatebreed. The awful news about Jeff Hanneman hit everyone who loves metal hard this very morning, and the first couple of times RTM saw Hatebreed were as the opening act for Slayer.

Frontman Jamey Jasta gives a moving account of how those thrash legends, along with Motorhead gave his band a chance when no one else would and leads the crowd in a chant of “Slayer, Slayer” before a cover of “Ghosts Of War” is played in tribute.

Giving young bands a chance is clearly something that stuck with Jasta, as that is exactly what is happening on this jaunt. Humberside’s Demoraliser are up first, and take a lot from the main band’s hardcore-cum-thrash sound. Debut album “A Living Nightmare” is full of promise and closing song “Take Me” has a gargantuan riff to go with it. Worth keeping an eye on.

Perhaps they put something in the water up in Lincolnshire, because the next support, Black Dogs, are from Grimsby too. Like Demoraliser they are promising, but for our money slightly less polished than their predecessors. As you would expect from a band who is yet to release a record,  there is a touch of naivety to their songs, vocalist Gollo, dedicates a track to “anyone who is getting laid after the show” while there is a song called “13 Bastards” and  closing number “Bitterness” is apparently for “anyone who works a 9-5.”  The band are on the rise, though and have bagged themselves a slot at Download, so good luck to them as they grow.

At this point in their careers you know exactly what to expect from Hatebreed. They have toured enough to build a rabid fanbase and to be able to sell 500 capacity venues like this with ease.

No longer just a hardcore band, they are one of the finest thrash bands around when they want to be, and they showcase this side of their sound amply on new record “The Divinity Of Purpose” although even here they find sufficient anger to write a song called “Honour Never Dies” which contains the chorus of “standing for what you believe, means standing alone.”

It isn’t all anger though, as the bands message is one of unity, positivity and brotherhood and there are plenty of cheesy rock antics with the crowd being split up for a good old singalong.

In addition to the newer songs – indeed the gig starts with two tracks from the previous self-titled record including a brilliant “Everyone Bleeds Now” – there is plenty of stuff from their early period, such as “Defeatist,” and if anyone has come up with a better rabble rousing anthem in the last few years we haven’t heard it.

Crowd surfers and circle pits abound as the temperature, almost literally it seems, reaches boiling point before the end. The band are only onstage for 75 minutes bur race through over 20 songs, before “Destroy Everything” ends things in his glorious way.

Modern metal lost one of its most influential figures today, however, as long as bands like Hatebreed are there to carry on the work started by the greats of the 1980s, then thrash metal is in safe hands. This was the best possible way to honour Jeff Hanneman.

Reign in Blood, indeed. 

BLOODSTOCK DAY 2 11/8/12 @Catton Hall

RTM didn’t have any idea what cinematic metal was, but on the grounds that Benediction were on the main stage at the same time, we thought we would go and check out purveyors of the genre, Splintered Soul, in their early slot on the Sophie stage. On doing so we found that the Dartford band were a type of epic power combo, with a female singer and a violinist, but who still managed to be engagingly metal.

Next up were Savage Messiah who we know all about. Frustratingly they are served up the festival’s first poor sound, which rather takes away from what should have been a superb half an hour. Happily things get fixed before “Insurrection Rising” closes things, and you hope their time will come.

Poor sound is not something Londoner’s Dripback need to worry about. Producer Russ Russell is on the sound desk for their set and they get to showcase their peculiarly British brand of groove, death and thrash metal without concern. They are a brutal option, but show much better than they did when supporting Biohazard a few months ago.

Croatia’s Infernal Tenebra are on their first visit to the UK and clearly enjoying themselves, they have songs called “Bloodstained Chaos” and “Art Of Survival” and not the slightest hint of originality, a fact they acknowledge themselves by covering Kreator by the end of proceedings, but they were certainly entertaining.

Which is more than can be said for female fronted Rising Dream. Pretty good on record, they lose momentum when the drummer loses his pedal and never get it back.

Perhaps the least metal band on in the tent today, Brighton hard rock heroes Furyon kick off with “Disappear Again” which is not only the best song they have by miles, but also perhaps the best song of the day so far. The band have plugging their “Gravitas” album for a couple of years so it is relief that they air some new material in their set – and even better when the song, called “Nothing On Me” is a belter.

From here it is back to the main stage to see the reformed Sanctuary’s NWOBHM influenced set. They aren’t bad by any means and new song “The Mirror In Black” is an endearingly retro affair, but it is hard to see what all the fuss is about, and by the time their best known song “Battle Angels” is aired a lot of the buzz has gone.

Perhaps the crowd was instead waiting for Hatebreed to play their only UK show of 2012. If they were no-one was disappointed, as Jamey Jasta’s men delivered on a massive scale. The biggest circle pit of the weekend is soon greeting them “Born To Bleed” and “As Diehard As They Come” are hardcore/thrash masterpieces and it is such a stunning set that it will tough to follow.

Unless, of course, the band following are Testament. Perhaps the fifth of the big four thrash bands, if you will, the Bay Area veterans walk off not only with the honour of being band of the day, but perhaps of the entire weekend. Kicking off with “Rise Up” (one of four tracks they play from stunning new album, “Dark Roots Of The Earth” ) they show their skills in a frankly incredible way. Frontman Chuck Billy, air guitars his mic stand throughout a set that included classics like “Into The Pit,” “Practice What You Preach” as well as newer numbers like “More Than Meets The Eye.” Simply stunning – they made us miss Orange Goblin and we still didn’t care, they were that good.

Tonight, is according to Robb Flynn, the 20^th anniversary of Machine Head’s first gig. To celebrate this fact they are playing their only British date of the year in front of 12,000 of their closest friends. And playing five songs from debut album “Burn My Eyes” in the process. Lets be fair, at this point in their careers MH could do this type of thing standing on their heads, and they would have to mess up massively to make “A Thousand Lies,” “Death Church” and “Halo” sound bad. For RTM’s money, the songs from most recent record “Unto The Locust” don’t match up, but lets not quibble, as always things ended by letting “freedom ring with a shotgun blast,” and it was hard not to enjoy.