Who said Slayer were old school? There seemed to be an Unholy curse on our technology! Our video camera chewed up our tape and our camera packed up halfway through. Hugh Platt still managed to remember some…

With a beard so mighty it increases his hair swing per headbang by at least 40%, Johan Hegg’s Swedes open the Unholy Alliance in raucous style. Amon Amarth’s viking anthems are so heavy, one audience member literally shits himself and is carried out in shame. So begins The Unholy Alliance.

With wave after wave of fuzz riff monoliths – the chest-beating roar of ‘Blood And Thunder’ a real stand out – Mastodon look set to continue their fierce ascendncy when new album Crack The Skye drops next year.

The blinding lights and fancy ramps of Trivium’s stage show do little to hide their workmanlike antics. Matt Heafy’s baiting of the crowd to prove their metal credentials feels more like he’s trying to convince them of his own.

Slayer exceed expectations with their full cut of Reign In Blood, quite probably the greatest metal album of all time. ‘Raining Blood’, still ringing in our ears, rumbled like the soundtrack to the apocalypse.

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Charley Staniforth was at London’s Hammersmith Apollo to take some photos. Her camera may have packed up half way through, but she still managed to a quite fantastic 666 photos. Here are the best.

Unholy Alliance photo gallery