Bloodstock Free Stuff Roundup

While shopping in the little market at Bloodstock I picked up a new Sanctorum - Semper Fidelis t-shirt. For some reason this entitled me to a bag of free stuff. Most of it was, of course, tat. There was a Sting & The Police keyring, magazine of some sort, some stickers, some badges and a bunch of CDs.

Some of the CDs I got rid of straight away. A strange Japanese "visual kei" band didn't take my fancy. The CD with a bunch of guys who looked like a cross between Boyzone and the Kwik Fit Fitters didn't inspire me. And the EP containing lyrics primarily about abusing prostitutes just wasn't my bag.

So what was left after the crap-cull?

Iced Earth - The Crucible Of Man

Power metal. Lots and lots of power metal. Not really something I'm a massive fan of, but not bad. It seems to be disk 3 of a 5 disk set, which is odd.

Soul Sanctuary - Afterlife

A bit of alternative metal from down south. I'm always a bit dubious about "alternative" metal. It's a bit nothingy. Anyway, the album opener, Afterlife, is a great death metal track with good, catchy riffs and nice technical bits. So that's a good start. After that it all goes a bit Bullet For My Valentine, with definite overtones of Lostprophets. If they'd stuck the the style of the first track, it would have been awesome. Instead it feels a bit contrived to sound like popular bands, and not particularly well. Should have stuck to the original style.

Xes_1 - InSaneVoice

More "alternative" metal, but this time a little more specifically "alternative industrial", with some electronic twiddly bits and decent riffs. It's all pretty depressing stuff, with titles like "Self-abuser" and "Deep scar". The vocals aren't really my sort of thing; not harsh enough to match the music. But not bad.

I have also acquired free stuff from other sources. Sanguine, who were playing the New Blood stage, were handing out copies of Live, Consume, Drive, their debut EP. It's pretty good. Sounds a bit like Tystnaden with more screaming.

I also managed to source a copy of Shreddertron's EP, Turbo Future Gladiator. Just as good as I remember them from the set on Friday morning. Great stuff.