Bloodstock 2023 – Friday. Kicking off the main stage on Friday morning are Hampshire Doom merchants Witchsorrow. These are no new fly-by-nights but have been with us for 18 years or so. A three-piece band, they instil everything that is most sacred in Doom Metal.
Bloodstock – Witchsorrow
Packing out their short 40-minute set with treats a plenty, this was a perfect start to the day for the Metal worshipping faithful, providing a tremendous slab of pure Heavy Metal perfection.
Like many of their compatriots, Witchsorrow are not three-minute popsters but will draw out their songs into longer slabs of deserving heaviness. If you’re going to tell a story, then do it properly.
Hence the set was only five songs long.
Yet despite the limited number of pieces played, it should not take away from the quality of the material or the performance displayed.
It’s never easy being the first band out, and in a morning slot, the bleary-eyed early risers were about to get one helluva wake-up call. With the Intro tape of Maleficus, the instrumental opener from their latest album rolling, they stepped out and blasted Bloodstock awake with Hexenhammer, the title piece from that same album.
Like many Witchsorrow songs, this has a down-and-dirty direct approach. Yet, there are some variations within their delivery and at times, the doom-laden anthems were also broken up with some guitar work from lead singer and guitarist Necroskull that was at times verging on psychedelic with the use of pedals to produce a wider, more encapsulating sound.
Witchsorrow released their last album, Hexenhammer, in 2018, so it has been with us for plenty of time now to become a staple part of the band’s output. From Hexenhammer, The Devil’s Throne followed, providing further slabs of dense, heavy riffery and razor-sharp guitar work.
With Emily Witch pounding out the darkest of dirges on her bass and drummer Willbrahammer driving the darkness before him, they called down a rhythm section of such intense savagery that there were few could doubt that Witchsorrow were intent on ensuring that every campsite at Catton Hall was awake and with doom-laden intent stumbling to the altar of the Ronnie James Dio stage to partake in the worship of our Metal gods.
To The Gallows was a song about killing your worst enemy, and this was met with raucous headbanging, at least for those whose heads could take it (hangovers aside), fist punching in the air and the realisation that the arena was rapidly filling and revelling in the monumental heaviness afflicting them.
Finishing with Demons Of The Mind, the set was rapidly over. For those who were long-time fans of the band then, they received exactly what they wanted and needed. A solid slab of intense Doom Metal, unpretentious, unabashed and completely wonderful.
This was the perfect start to the day and set the faithful up for what was to come next, which was completely the opposite. But that’s another story.
Bloodstock Festival 2023 is held over the weekend of 10-13 August 2023. MetalTalk’s Paul Hutchings and Adrian Stonley report from Catton Park.
All Photography: John Inglis and Paul Hutchings
All MetalTalk Bloodstock Festival 2023 coverage can be found at MetalTalk.net/tag/bloodstock-2023.
Weekend early bird tickets for Bloodstock 2024 will be available to purchase at the box office on-site for £165. This is the cheapest way to buy a 2024 ticket, minus any online booking or admin fees.
Bloodstock 2022 can be relived at MetalTalk.net/tag/bloodstock-2022.
