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A surprising number of Bloodstock-ers were up early on a Sunday, i.e. before lunch, and shook off their hangovers in glorious sunshine to the sound of Canada's Kobra & The Lotus. They are influenced by classic British metal and blonde-maned vocalist Kobra has a powerful set of lungs on her. Maybe she was having an off-day but her range seemed a bit limited and her use of wobbly vibrato did not compensate. After a couple of songs it became irritating. (NH)

Meanwhile another female-fronted band were well and truly rocking the New Blood tent. From Ruin, winners of the Dorset leg of Bloodstock's battle of the bands contest Metal 2 The Masses, had already impressed on the Jagermeister acoustic stage on Saturday. This was a proper loud show and they were excellent. Mixing traditional metal with elements of thrash, the guys on the instruments make a great sound.

Bloodstock 2012: Saturday

Words by Nicholas Holmes, Gary Lukes and Antony Roberts

Benediction walk on stage (or should that be hobble - Dave Hunt had a broken foot) to greet us for what they described as "a Death Metal breakfast".  Well "please sir can I have some more?", because if breakfast was like the set Benediction treated us to then I'd be jumping out of bed every morning.

BLOODSTOCK DAY ONE - FRIDAY

Our Friday commences with Swedish heavy metal Vikings GRAND MAGUS, kicking into “Kingslayer” beneath the rare combination of a Swedish flag and the sweltering sun. There‘s something familiar and reassuringly kick-arse about the music. “Hammer of the North“ turns into the world’s biggest pub sing-along, while “Like the Oar Strikes the Water” could be Judas Priest on a longboat. As an impressively hairy JB swings 

BOA 2012 has come and gone.  The weekend flew by and so much fun was had, so many friends new and old were met, so many pints were drunk, and so many voices were lost singing along to a line up straight from the pits of hell.  Between shooting and covering other gigs this week, and fulltime jobs in the daytime we've gathered our thoughts from this year's spectacular festival.  Gary Lukes kicks off proceedings with the bands we got to see following our late arrival on the Thursday, with the rest of the weekend to follow shortly.