The Exploited from Scotland provided a surprising, but much appreciated change in tempo and style in the overall metal line-up, with their streetwise hardcore punk.

It was also evident in the crowd size that this was something quite out of the ordinary here at Metalcamp, as the crowd had shrunk considerably since Epica, who were on before them, but then again, the fans who had shown up to support The Exploited made sure, the grounds looked filled even if they weren’t with their wild moshing and thrashing about all over the place.
The band was lively as well, although not quite as lively as I had anticipated; best on the scene was definitely singer Walter ‘Wattie’ Buchan, who was stirring up the dust from the stage floor with his frantic walking from side to side and large arm-movements, with which he was firing up the audience, as if it was needed.
Bassist Irish Bob was also pleasantly active; he was both visibly happy to be here, and playing it cool at the same time, as he rocked the stage. He even had the overabundance of energy to play along as someone in the audience threw an inflatable beer-holder up on the stage.

The Exploited sadly ran into a small technical problem a bit into the show, as Wattie’s microphone malfunctioned, and Bob and guitarist Matt McGuire had to sing the rest of the song through their backing mic’s, which of course were turned down low, so we couldn’t really hear anything. Luckily, Wattie had a new mic and was ready for more action already in the next song, and there were no further mishaps for the rest of the show.

I quite enjoyed The Exploited’s show, mostly because they provided such change of pace from the rest of the bands, but also because they were simply brimming with enthusiasm over playing here, or so it would seem. It could have been a bit more untamed though, keeping it in line with their otherwise punky attitude.