Not content with fouling the airwaves with out-dated, soporific power metal and making bizarre claims such as that "there are too many bands", Gothenburg based throwbacks HammerFall have successfully managed to get on the wrong side of pint-sized shredder and Exodus mastermind Gary Holt.

When asked by the Quietus at last weekend's Bloodstock festival how he felt Exodus' performance had gone Holt replied simply: "Fuck HammerFall, they can go suck a dick – they cost us, like, three songs! They can suck my balls!

"We had huge problems because HammerFall's sound man rearranged the entire input list – and you just don't do that at festivals.

"I've nothing against them musically; I think they're a great band musically, but you're at a festival, you're not headlining you're actually playing under us – do your job right! They fucking made it difficult for everybody."

Seeing through the red mist Holt also shed some light on what may have been his major motivation for agreeing to fill in for Slayer's Jeff Hanneman during their ‘Big 4' Sonisphere shows – the opportunity to reconnect with Metallica guitarist and Exodus co-founder, Kirk Hammett.

"It was all about reconnecting with Kirk" Said Holt. "He was my best friend when we were in the band together, and being able to spend time with him again and talk about the old days, that's what it was all about. It wasn't about playing with all the other bands; it was about reconnecting with a very good old friend. It was really, really nice."

Before shooting off to presumably place a bounty on the head of HammerFall's sound man, Holt also confirmed that Exodus would be returning to the studio in the new year to begin work on the follow up to last year's outstanding Exhibit B: The Human Condition.