Bloodstock Festival Day 3 (w/ Megadeth, Arch Enemy, Skindred) @ Catton Hall (Derbyshire, UK) on August 13, 2017 [Photos & Show Review]

So to the final day of Bloodstock 2017 which saw the return of Megadave and his Megadeth metal brothers.

First up though were Manchester punks Broken Teeth whose Slayer-inspired chaos incited the first circle pit of the day complete with sword-brandishing punter. The relentless start to the day continued with Venom Prison who left jaws on the floor as they battered through a brutal set which, quite frankly, shook the grounds of Catton Hall to the core.

One of our few ventures over to the Sophie Lancaster Stage saw The Courtesans living up to their growing reputation with their impressive grunge inspired sounds. Back over on the main stage, Mexican bandits Brujeria made a rare appearance in the UK.

There is so much metal in the front row as Possessed take to the stage and deliver a suitably Bloodstock style set. Long-hair, studded wristbands and plenty of old school metal.

You know what you’re going to get when Florida sludge merchants Obituary hit the stage and the swamp monsters didn’t disappoint with a solid, brutal, filthy set culled from their classic back catalogue.

Now they may not have been your typical Bloodstock band but Skindred were fucking fantasic. Owning the stage, frontman Benji had the crowd eating out of his hand from the minute the band hit the stage right through to them signing off with “Warning” to the sight of 12,000 punters doing the now infamous “Newport Helicopter”.

Arch Enemy hit the stage for the final date of their War Eternal world tour and ahead of the imminent release of their long-awaited new album. What can you say really? A phenomenal set filled with the likes of “The World Is Yours”, “War Eternal” and “My Apocolypse”, the next couple of years are going to see Arch Enemy become one of the biggest metal bands on the planet.

So it was left to Megadeth to end the day and the weekend and they did so in a fashion typical of the metal legends. A polished performance which saw the band cruise through a set mixed with classics and newer material was certainly some way to sign off the weekend but, if we’re being honest, the day really belonged to the Swedish metal heavyweights Arch Enemy.

And so, that was it. Only three days earlier we’d been lining up to watch openers Forever Still and now, with Nightwish and Gojira confirmed as two of the three headliners for 2018, all that is left for us to say is see you in 2018.