Not a Dying Breed
So far this weekend, we've seen Gotthard's rather unique revival of stage rock and Panic Cell's straight up in your face metal. As a result, the prescence of Breed77 is a refreshing change from the generic and somewhat mundane start of the Bloodstock Open Air festival.
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Breed77 are rather tough to describe, since their style is one that constantly changes. I had never heard Breed77 until this weekend, and whilst for half the songs I found myself singing along in the choruses, in the other half of the songs they were simply too dynamic and too complex to follow. Normally I would very much celebrate a band not following the tradition of dropping complex songs from the set, but sadly it seemed that Breed77 were alienating the crowd rather than making them curious, and as a result even the front row of the crowd were static.
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Yet it was the less complex songs that ultimately saved the Breed77 set. Songs such as 'Ultima Hora' and 'Final Prayer' were excellently received by anyone who wasn't scared away by the rather unconvincing 'Individuo'. However, it was the excellent 'Rise' that left our ears ringing, Breed77 left their mark inside the heads of thousands of metal fans and potentially the heads of their new fanbase.
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It seems that the sound technician actually wanted the crowd to hear Breed77, as every part of their set was working properly, a feat that only Breed77, Evergrey and Children of Bodom can boast. The sound was crisp and clear, and vocalist Paul Isola's vocals were clear and crisp. The position on the schedule was very good, they filled their forty five minutes on stage very well.
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The band are lacking a little in between song prescence, the chatter was rather inaudible and often made little sense, but that doesn't really matter as this is a metal festival, not a talk show! Ultimately, Breed77 took no prisoners, and whilst the less analytical metal fan may have been lost through some of the less basic songs, Breed77 satiated everyone's need for some diversity very well.
To view all photos taken during this set click here. There are 31 available.