Bloodstock Festival 2018: 10 Things We Learnt
8. Extreme Russian Folk Metal Is Really, Really Good
Thursday was Bloodstock’s warm-up day. With only the Sophie Lancaster Stage open and five bands performing on it, it was a gentle tickle in preparation for the three days of booze and brutality that lay on the horizon. Headlining that day, all the way from Moscow, were Arkona: underground metallic mavens whose bread and butter lay in fusing extreme aural destruction with the ominous weight of archaic Russian folk music.
Despite the earlier death metal upstarts Bloodshot Dawn being the highlight of the day up to that point, the five-piece quickly dominated their predecessors through pure atmosphere and commitment to their craft.
It was an extremely no-nonsense display: Arkona arrive under the mysterious shroud of darkness, destroy all in sight with their eclectic mania and then leave. Frontwoman Maria Arkhipova flails energetically in her eye-catching, tattered coat while exotic instruments like the khomus, sopilka and the Galician gaita all make their presence known in eclectic yet always exciting ways.
By going balls to the wall with utter conviction in their Pagan folk metal stylings, Arkona are the first real show-stealer of an amazing weekend, and prove themselves as more than worthy of your time.