Bloodstock Festival 2018: 10 Things We Learnt
4. Alien Weaponry Are The Future
It was one of the most unexpected sights of the entire four-day festival: the Sophie Lancaster tent filling to the absolute brim with people dying to see three teenagers play onstage. Even those that knew how fantastic Alien Weaponry are well in advance were left stunned as the trio’s set started to the sound of tribal Polynesian chants being played over the speakers and being met with a manic roar of excitement.
What followed did not disappoint at all: thirty minutes of undiluted heaviness that fused thrash, groove metal and nu metal into one exhilarating and cultured bubble. Monstrous singles like “Holding My Breath” and “Kai Tangata” both reared their heads extremely early and commenced tent-wide bouts of gnarly moshing.
Lyrically and conceptually, Alien Weaponry could be one of the most fascinating metal bands today, as they use the Māori language to tell tales of the culture’s storied past and communicate messages against persecution, prejudice and cultural segregation. So to see so many metalheads joyously lap up what this young band had to offer was truly heart-warming, not to mention very pleasantly surprising.
If you aren’t fully on the Alien Weaponry hype train yet, it seems like now would be a great time to dive in!