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The first festival of the year kicked off in Pontins holiday camp in Prestatyn North Wales; the sun was shining and there was a good vibe. Upon arrival, roman soldiers greeted people, as was the theme of the weekend. I was wondering how a metal festival would work in a holiday camp, usually full of screaming kids bickering families. Just replace them with a few thousand screaming metal fans, a load of loud bands and enough beer to give Satan himself a hangover and you might start to get the picture...

The first band of the weekend that I saw was IDIOM - it was still early in the day, so they were a good wake up call and exciting indication of what was to come over the rest of the weekend. The crowd responded well to the band, who were lively, bouncing around the stage.

Never Means Maybe are next up, with their brand of fast catchy songs with some chunky riffs thrown in for good measure. They are definitely one band to look out for.

The Treatment bring an old school vibe to proceedings; singer Matt and guitarist Tag bring the showmanship reminiscent of Guns n Roses or Aerosmith. Powerful vocals and classic hard rock vibe bring a welcome change to sound.

Next up is Feed The Rhino: as the name suggests they have a massive heavy sound coupled with pounding rhythmic drums. They attracted a big crowd and they loved it, thanking everyone that turned up and Hammerfest for having them, before vocalist Lee Tobin dived into the crowd. The rest of the band had trouble keeping still as well..!

One of the big names of the weekend, Breed 77, hit the stage to a packed crowd. Having not seen this band in a very long time, I was interested to hear what they sounded like today - very loud is the answer! The Gibraltan metallers have changed their sound over the years - they have got tighter and more relaxed on stage than I remember. Their cover of The Cranberries classic 'Zombie' goes down a storm with people moving all the way to the back of the hall.

Newly signed to Roadrunner Records, Revoker took to the stage in front of a small gathering, not that the band seem to care. Busting out a solid performance with songs like 'The Great Pretender' and 'Thief'. They come across like the demented love child of Metallica with some of Pantera’s D.N.A thrown in for good measure.

Bleed From Within were up next; their sound may not be original but what they do, they do it well. Their sound reminds me of bands like Job For Cowboy etc. with thrashy parts, shouty and jumpy parts, they were all checked off. A small group at the front lapped it up and lost their minds.

Accept attracted a massive turn out. They were thunderously loud! These old hands of metal were having a blast up on stage headlining Friday night. Sounding fresh and very energetic, guitarists Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank share the limelight with vocalist Mark Tornillo. They may not be featured in many magazines very often these days, but they don’t care and as they finish with songs 'Fast As A Shark' and the mighty 'Balls To The Wall', the huge crowd watching certainly don’t care either!

Midnight was approaching, but proceedings were definitely not winding down, so I crossed over to the other stage to catch Headcharger and boy did they want to party! They had a small crowd due to Accept, but put on a show like they were headlining the bigger stage. They had a good sound, particularly vocalist Seb, with his Mike Patton Esq. vocals, backed up by possibly the coolest guitarist on earth. This is party metal!

Even though Accept headlined the main stage, it seemed there was one more band, Ill Niño, coming on stage close to 1 a.m. The Latina Nu-metallers immediately caused a storm: lead singer Cristian Machado asked the crowd to form a circle pit, and they complied. You'd think both band and crowd couldn't tell the time; the energy was pulsing and they even brought out some well known songs early, 'God Save Us' and 'What Comes Around' did not do their set any harm. Cristian Machado’s vocals were rough and raw, but did not hold up when ‘clean singing’; this always has been the case and has not improved over the years.

Onto Saturday now, and the hangovers were blown away by Outgunned. They played the small stage in the holiday camp's own pub, but put on a performance that could've entertained a crowd of thousands. Fast punchy songs were the order of the day with these lot; a good start to the day!

Later on in the day on the same stage was Ten Cent Toy. Bringing rumbling bass lines and breakneck speed drumming, they go down well with the Hammerfet crowd, but it did take the soundman a song or two to realise that the vocals were not coming through the speakers! When they did, everyone was treated to grunts, growls and screams. Like a lot of young bands on the bill you can pick out the Pantera/Slayer/Metallica influences, but with Ten Cent Toy you also get hardcore punk influence, which is not a bad thing when done as well as these guys do.

It was getting late now and with only a few bands left it wa up to Entombed to rally the troops and bring it up a notch, which they did with a sound which pounds and crushes... slow one second, then franticly chaotic the next. This was another band I had not seen in years, but they seem to get angrier with age! They were not the last band of the weekend, but they were doing their best to destroy the place; some songs seemed to blend into one another but the crazy pits I witnessed didn’t care. This is ugly music done beautifully.

Last band I saw of the festival was Satyricon, the Norwegian black metallers. Marching onto the stage, lead singer Satyr clad in black, this set the tone for what was to come. Rolling out songs from their twenty-year career, they have come a long way since I first saw them supporting Pantera. Lead singer Satyr was very witty for the genre he rules in, making a joke about the Welsh and sheep. Some say they have sold out over the years, but when you’re getting an ear full of blast beats and heavy riffs, who cares!

If you want to see a load of up and coming bands mixed with some established ones, get you and a few mates to Prestatyn next year - you will definitely not be disappointed.

Written by James Smith