Annihilator: Bloodstock Open Air 2017

Storyline: Thrash veterans Annihilator grace Saturday’s Ronnie James Dio stage line-up to bridge the two-year gap since 2015’s ‘Suicide Society’ with a set crammed with timeless hits. Frontman Jeff Waters instantly commands with an energetic rendition of ‘King of the Kill’ leading relentlessly into ‘No Way Out’. There’s no room for filler on the Bloodstock stage, although this does appear to limit the draw for a crowd searching for a calmer afternoon before the evening’s hectic festivities – fans would expect a much more diverse set than this especially with fifteen albums under their bullet belts. That said, ’Set the World on Fire’ feels as authoritative as ever in the afternoon sun and ‘W.T.Y.D.’ charges its way toward the sea of banging heads in the arena. Of course as is now traditional for Annihilator, ‘Alison Hell’ introduces herself in the only grim way she knows how, but this set isn’t quite the unforgettable venture into the archives that it should have been.