Brighton's only open-air metal festival went ahead with a diminished lineup and arguably lower profile headliners second time around.

Still, sunny weather and some fine performances somehow helped to retain the overall quality second time around.

Priding itself on its showcasing of newer heavy acts, Breakout once again hosted some impressive smaller acts early on.

Locals By Definition offered the unlikely spectacle of a wonderful sludge-metal cover of rapper Roots Manuva's Witness, while Adam Carroll, the Irish frontman of hardcore rockers Zoax, enlivened a sleepy afternoon crowd with entertainingly silly festival antics.

The down-tuned 'doomcore' of Black Tongue was triumphantly intense, the singer's drunken tumble from a speeding tour bus earlier this year apparently a distant memory.

Two acts returning from last year's event, the brilliantly technical death metal of Martyr Defiled and infectious dance/rap crossover of The Qemists, stole the show once again, particularly preceding the bland We Are The Ocean, whose "Del Amitri of metal" tag proved correct.

Progressive metallers, the recently reformed Sikth, provided a memorable climax (if we forget the generic pop-rock of actual headliners Deaf Havana, which we should), juxtaposing complex rhythms with the necessary lowest common denominator grooves needed to get the crowd buzzing beautifully.

Three stars