We here at Musipedia Of Metal have been covering Bloodstock Festival for around 15 years now (probably with one or two gaps) and as we’re also one of the sponsors of M2TM South Wales it seems apt that we’ll be covering the 25th Anniversary of Bloodstock Festival once again from Catton Hall.
So we thought we’d map out a few things you may want to check out when you’re on site as this year has one of the most eclectic line ups for a long while including some metal legends (and original headliners from when it first started), some modern metal heaviness and a few high profile returns and of course glut of bands making their debut at the festival.
Four days, across four stages, let’s get to it then!
Thursday
Usually Thursday is party day the Sophie Lancaster stage opens for around five bands to get the festivities up and running, however as this year is special the Ronnie James Dio stage will also be open and will welcome The Mighty Saxon as headliners of Thursday night, as the headliners of the inaugural Bloodstock (when it was still indoors), expect the Wheels Of Steel to be in full motion for the first day of metal.
Before that though Evil Scarecrow will be once again getting an entire field of people to make perfect robot squares and scuttle as they return with their unique brand of horror adjacent silliness, expect a workout and plenty of laughs.
Over on the Sophie stage there’s some excellent music to be involved in, opened by former Birmingham M2TM winners Mantis Defeats Jaguar, the Black Country collective will make sure to get the crowd going early with their crossover/hip-hop/metal hybrid.
While from their it’s pure rock n roll from Black Spiders who will bring the spirit of Lemmy (and accusations against Kiss) to the Sophie for the rockers in the audience preparing for Saxon.
If of course you want something different to the RJD headliner, the Thursday Sophie is headlined by the tech death devastation of Crytopsy making for a brutal end to the first day of the mammoth Bloodstock.
Friday
On Friday it’s the first ‘full day’ and the RJD stage will be taken to the motorbike cyber fantasy of Battlesnake who’ll roar on to the mainstage with some mad as hell stage outfits and fist full of speed/power/trad/something metal
From there it’s something with a bit more legacy behind it as Life Of Agony will be bringing the grunge/alt rock to the RJD, prefect for all the 90’s babys to throw themselves about to.
Speaking of throwing yourself about, expect nothing but constant pits and stage dives when NYHC legends Biohazard and crossover nutters Municipal Waste hit the RJD with plenty of razor sharp riffs and chugging grooves, our advice is avoid the dudes in the camo but get down the front and get involved.
Carrying on with the thrash assault will be Brazil’s most famous metal band Sepultura who will be saying goodbye to the UK stages at Bloodstock, so you will want to be part of their final assault as they will be showing exactly why they will be missed by metal fans around the world.
Then it’s time for the main event as Richmond, Virginia’s heaviest sons Lamb Of God again take the headline spot at Bloodstock, with ten studio albums and countless shows under their belts, it’s fair to say they’ve got enough bangers to get all of Bloodstock going wild.
With the indomitable Randy Blythe as the ringleader, get ready to Walk With Them In Hell all the way through Catton Hall’s hallowed ground.
That’s just the mainstage though as over on The Sophie Stage there’s absolutely loads to get your heads banging, with the noise coming early from the Countess Bathory inspired Blood Countess who will bring the tremolos and blast beats early.
Gurt however are more Transylvanian Chunder as their party sludge, will insist that you have an adult beverage in hand as they will pour crushing heaviness on you, any hangovers you have will be destroyed by Hammer as the Scottish extreme metal crew show no mercy no matter how bleary eyes you are, this is the start of your headache.
In our opinion there’s no better way to shake off extremely heavy metal than with a good old shout along to songs about trebuchets. Happily this is pretty much what Sellsword do and the Saxon (the people not the band) metal crew return to Bloodstock armed with hymns from their upcoming thirds album as well as their sword waiving classics.
The Sophie Stage closes on Friday with Shining, the Norwegian one, not the Swedish one, which you know immediately when you approach the tent and hear those saxophones. There’s is a weird and wonderful world as Jørgen Munkeby’s creative vision will draw you in with impressive experimental metal.
Elsewhere on the New Blood Stage get over for some prog/alt rock from Temples On Mars and thrashing from Bristol M2TM winners MartyrsSaint while over on the EMP stage you need to catch Vanitas, it’s prog/power/death categorised by powerful vocals and technical accumen.
Saturday
Whew Saturday offers perhaps the least for us a collective howerer, there one band we will NOT be missing no matter what.
So the RJD stage offers slimmer pickings but an opening slot from Inhuman Nature will do just fine to get the blood pumping after two days of “excitement”.
Crossover thrash that will bring the pits early as the epic heaviness will increase for the mighty Urne, who are steadily climbing up the Bloodstock bill on the back of their incredible second album, it’ll be progressive and dynamic so you won’t want to miss these future headliners.
Speaking of headliners Vended have a lot of familial headliner pedigree behind them but they are very much their own band, although with their outright intensity they do have a lot in common with the 36 limbed extreme machine from Iowa so let’s hope you’ll be Surfacing for this group of talented youngsters.
Then for us what is the main event on the RJD stage as it’s the return of Nevermore for their first UK show since the untimely death of the much missed Warrell Dane. Jeff Loomis was wasted in Arch Enemy let’s not beat around the bush, he was just too good to play melodeath.
Thankfully he felt the same and along with longtime drummer Van Williams has reactivated the American prog metal masters. With a new bassist and co- guitarist it’s vocalist Berzan Önen who has stolen the headlines with his uncanny similarity to Dane.
There will be tears, none morseo than from a certain Mr Hall as Nevermore will be majestic.
On the Sophie Stage its more riffs as those amphibian doomers Froglord take to the BOA stage once again, with low end fuzz and swamp dwelling riffs to get a heavy start to the tent
The pace will pick up considerably though from there with the crushing blackened death metal of the cinematic Outergods followed by the modern thrash aggression of Imperium which brings us neatly into thrash veterans Death Angel another long time visitor of BOA and another band who will get the pits moving.
If this trio are the pace then the headliner are the heart, the incredible live show that is Leprous pulls into the Sophie for soemthing a bit different to the breakdown driven main bands on the RJD stage, wrapped in brilliant visuals, melodic and anthemic songs and Einar Solberg’s crystalline vocals, this will be much needed emotional catharsis after a heavy as hell day.
Over to the other stages and you CANNOT miss for the New Blood Stage are M2TM South Wales winners INSCAPE who will storm the stage with their electronic driven modern metal sound, clashing and contrasting but delivered with intensity, they wowed everyone this year so get down early if the likes of Don Broco and Enter Shikari are your thing.
Continuing the Welsh theme on the EMP stage make sure to catch up with stoner doom trio Goat Major who’ll be slinging riffs all the way from Wild West Wales, then Caerphilly rockers Cancel The Transmission will be getting you bouncing in between the mainstage acts, while the always incredible Dosed will be injecting some hardcore into your veins right in time for that Bleed From Within/Slaughter To Prevail closing duo.
Sunday
Breathless, tired, hungover, it’s into the last day and there’s some serious treats for you here, again starting with the RJD mainstage and fantasy metal crew Castle Rat, a band who have been on a huge upward trajectory will be kicking off Sunday with some sword waiving battle metal.
From there it’s time for some nu metal originators now as the much lauded return of Kittie hits the Bloodstock stage, since reforming in 2024 and releasing their first new music in 13 years Morgan Lander and co look to fill the RJD stage with massive grooves.
Speaking of grooves, Orbit Culture, and their Swedish mechanised metal will be looking to steamroll you with riffs straight from the Gothenburg scene and beyond, perfect soundtrack of anyone who still has the energy to pit.
As the day progresses things get a bit more old school with thrashers Testament, ready to see you go Over The Wall as they roll into Bloodstock with over 40 years of thrashing behind them expect wall to wall thrash classics.
Body Count, will be turning BOA into warzone with their aggressive, politically charged, crossover metal. One of the first bands to meld metal and rap, you can expect confrontational classics like There Goes The Neighborhood, Cop Killer and maybe even their cover of Comfortably Numb.
To close out the Ronnie James Dio stage on the last day of the UKs premier metal festival, you need something a bit special and Bloodstock deliver with the Metal Gods themselves Judas Priest.
Packing 50 years of British Steel into two hours means that you may not get every single brilliant track you want but we can guarantee you, their set will feature some of the best heavy metal anthems ever and also some deep cuts from their huge back catalogue.
A celebration of heavy metal music to close out the weekend.
However there still loads going on the other stages to as the with New Blood Stage hosting some crossover violence from Bristol ragers Overpower.
The Sophie Lancaster stage plays host to some massive doom riffs courtesy of Acid Throne and Alunah, fuzz and distortion are the order of the day here getting your morning/early afternoon tinnitus juuuust right after three days of heavy music.
Trivax then increase the stakes with blistering exile black metal, this Iranian, by way of the UK band combine black metal assault with themes of Middle Eastern heritage and a continuing fight against the oppression of the Iranian state. It will be brutal and uncompromising.
Speaking of brutal masked madness from Mushroomhead as the revamped line up, now featuring three vocalists, will be spitting venom from their latest record Call Of The Devil along with some other prim cuts of industrial/alt metal from their chart topping career.
Going down the weirder path Noisepicker take to the Sophie Stage with some D.I.Y doom blues punk, Harry Armstrong (ex-Orange Goblin) and Kieran Murphy have been delivering the experimental sound of Noisepicker since just before Lockdown and from there it’s only gotten weirder. Get down to get your noise picked.
Back to a band who are a bit more conventional but always deliver, as Welsh alternative rockers Dream State will make sure to display just why there deserve such a high billing on the Sophie Stage, headliners in their own right, this will be a set field with modern anthems.
Closing out the Sophie Stage will be the apocalyptic race that is Carpenter Brut. Thumping satanic synthwave with the best visuals you’ll get all weekend, Brut is part of the new wave of metal where the riffs and attitude of our denim and leather tribe combine with the processed beats and wonos of electronic dance music.
If you’ve still got the energy, then be sure to throw some illicit shapes as the French producer/alchemist welcomed you to his Leather Temple.
A full four days of this music we love so much, if you don’t like our suggestions then that’s fine seek out the bands that appeal to you, read through the bios on the Bloodstock page, use this week to do some pre-listening, but most of all enjoy the best celebration of heavy metal in the country!
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Do I like metalcore? I’ve always struggled a bit with this question. That’s a terrible way to start a review of any variety, but it’s a question I’ve kept coming back to since discovering Tyraels Ascension, a metalcore group from the United States, and their sophomore full-length, Grave Seeker. Metalcore has so much energy to it, all mixed up with frustration, anger, sadness, joy—on paper, very much my cup of tea. So every once in a while, I’m happy to sit down, grab whatever -core the cool kids are talking about these days, and see what happens. Grave Seeker has all of the above qualities and more, so what happens when we put it all together?
