FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Bloodstock Festival 2018
Bloodstock Festival is once again upon us. That glorious time of year when the fields of Catton Hall fill with the eager and ready, armed to the teeth with beers and the best vibes, clambering for the first chance to mosh to the one of the strongest lines up of the year. As the event looms ever closer, it’s time to take a step back and look at the stand out bands you should be checking out over the weekend!
Thursday
The Thursday always starts with a gentle line up to ease the punters into the stacked weekend that Bloodstock delivers year in, year out, and this year is no different. HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN will be first on to start the assault, their brand of doom influenced post-metal will likely splinter some bones through the sheer girth of the noise. FIRE RED EMPRESS will offer the groovy remedy to your wounds as they follow on before the epic power metal troupe SKILTRON to inject some indisputable fun into Thursday night’s proceedings. BLOODSHOT DAWN have sharpened their assault to knife edge and will carry on the vibe, but rather through folksy sensibilities, it’ll be through rapid riffs and brutal blasts. It’s unlikely anyone will complain about the change of pace, ARKONA will close the night with more folk metal, this time revolving heavily around Russian mythology and Slavic folklore. It’ll be an easy way to enjoy the first night of a truly epic weekend.
Friday
If you aren’t already familiar with FEED THE RHINO by now, then it’s very fair that they will forcibly make you aware when they proceed to tear apart Bloodstock Festival‘s Ronnie James Dio Stage as they open the weekend. The four piece have built a reputation for their live shows that is very well deserved, and their riff led hardcore assault will be the perfect way to kick start the weekend. If it’s a more traditional death metal sound you want, then look no further than the mighty BLOODBATH during their main stage set which will undoubtedly be packed with enough blast beats to peel the skin clean off your face. You’re spoilt for choice with death metal on the Friday, as SODOMISED CADAVER will also be on hand to provide a more technical approach to the classic noise on The Sophie Lancaster Stage, making the Friday afternoon an absolutely flurry of riffs, slams and rapid speed.
If all that aggression is a bit too much, there’s plenty of variety available to ease the abuse. UNDERDARK will be gracing the Hobgoblin New Blood Stage and delving deep into their shoegaze influenced black metal, making for a very welcome change of pace and what could be a spellbinding set of the weekend. Of course if that doesn’t tickle your pickle then there’s always INGESTED to bring things firmly back into the realm of the heavy. Their slamming deathcore will be a monstrous site to behold as they tear not only The Sophie Lancaster Stage, but every lucky soul present, a number of brand new holes.
Doom metallers GODTHYRMM are an amalgamation of acts like MY DYING BRIDE and VALLENFYRE, making their pedigree one that really isn’t to be trifled with. Their debut EP was released earlier this year in April and as such, expect this newly formed behemoth to be coming at The Sophie Lancaster Stage full hammer and tongs! The support of the underground has always been presented at Bloodstock and this year is no different, with TRIVAX representing the underground with gusto and a lot of blackened sensibilities. Channelling their inner BEHEMOTH to frightening effect will result in a dominating display on the Hobgoblin New Blood Stage.
After such a long time away, it’s been a welcome return for BLEED FROM WITHIN after they dropped one of the earliest album of the year contenders in Era. They absolutely dominated the stage at Tech-Fest this year so giving them the time and space they have on Bloodstock‘s second stage this year could be a career defining moment for the Scottish troupe. One of the most anticipated announcements this year was that of thrash punk legends SUICIDAL TENDENCIES coming full force to the Ronnie James Dio Stage this year. Get you bandanna at the ready, and you might want to limber up as well, because this set will be circle pit heaven. Once the dust has settled, and you’ve caught KAMELOT and EMPEROR and somehow found time to grab another beer, JUDAS PRIEST will be closing the night in such glorious fashion we doubt it’ll be easy to forget any time soon. The metal legends released a jaw-dropping record in Firepower that it begs the question as to just what occult magic the band are fiddling with in order to maintain the momentum across their four decade spanning career. This is one you definitely do not want to miss at Bloodstock!
Saturday
The grandiose and epic nature of orchestral metal is perfect for huge stages like the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock Festival. If you dig the string sections but can’t really get into the operatic vocals, SEPTICFLESH may just be for you. Combining the darker end of the classical music spectrum and the blistering edges of melodic death metal, the Greek’s previous two records explore the band’s fringes even further to create some of their finest output. Their borderline bombastic fusions hit Bloodstock Festival‘s main stage on Saturday. If you enjoy thrash metal and happen to own a pair of ears then chances are you bloody loved POWER TRIP‘s stellar sophomore effort Nightmare Logic. If you didn’t catch that album’s hype due to the immense rock you’re dwelling under then you need to be on the Ronnie James Dio Stage nice and early on Saturday. Tracks like Executioner’s Tax (Swing Of The Axe) and Firing Squad are modern classics and proof that you need to catch these young bucks whilst they’re small because the sky is the limit for POWER TRIP.
ORPHANED LAND brings their mesh of metal, folk, middle eastern music, symphonic, and prog to the UK’s home of extreme metal. ORPHANED LAND‘s lyrics of unity and peace are a deviation from the norm of metal but are powerfully delivered by the Israeli quintet over empowering and broadly influenced metal, brilliantly displayed on this year’s Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs. The real treat of the Bloodstock weekend, groove thrash innovators from New Orleans EXHORDER will be gracing the festival on their current string of reunion shows. After their last reunion was cut short by the untimely death of bassist Frankie Sparcello in 2011 many thought that their shows that year would be the band’s last and they would never get to see cuts from cult classics like 1990’s Slaughter In The Vatican and 1992’s The Law.
One of the most unique acts you’ll find on this year’s Bloodstock lineup, lurking in the middle of The Sophie Lancaster Stage, A FOREST OF STARS are a Victorian-themed black metal band who throw in some folk and psychedelic influences for good measure. Whether it be the haunting Lovecraftian spoken word moments or the drop-ins of old-time instrumentals, A FOREST OF STARS does everything to suck you into their dark conceptual world full of the supernatural and occultism. If last year was the year where the British underground belonged to EMPLOYED TO SERVE then in 2018 it has been usurped by CONJURER, with their debut Mire blowing critics and fans out of the water and into the sun. CONJURER now gets to show off their chops to the more extreme metal crowd at Bloodstock and with their blend of black metal, sludge, post-hardcore, stoner, and basically everything else heavy they are sure to deliver tenfold.
If no-nonsense, big riffs n’ big spliffs, ball smacking stoner rock is your thing then look no further than London’s own LIMB. Their latest output, this years Saboteurs Of The Sun, is full of meaty riffs and heavy tunes with the added psychedelics to win you over. LIMB will be laying down the riffage early on the Saturday on The Sophie Lancaster Stage. If you’re after some new blood on Saturday then few can be recommended higher than Yorkshire’s VALAFAR. A band who pump out an exciting brand of melodeath which sounds like AMON AMARTH being fronted by Tomas Lindberg. With an impressive debut EP and a full length coming out later this year this year on TranscendIng Records, it’s an exciting time for these up and comers as this could well be the gig that transforms them from ‘your favourite local band’ to the next band on everyone’s lips.
Fresh off a stellar new record Red Before Black, the death metal godfathers CANNIBAL CORPSE will be smashing faces once again on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at this year’s Bloodstock Festival. With the last three records being stellar efforts, the New York gore masters are witnessing a new peak in their career and all eyes will be upon them as they let classics of the genre like I Cum Blood, Fucked With A Knife, and of course Hammer Smashed Face. Just after GOJIRA‘s triumphant sub-headlining set at Bloodstock two years ago, they released Magma onto the world. The album has since skyrocketed the band into the stratosphere of Grammy nominations and headline slots. The French metallers bring their fusion of eco-conscious prog and face melting groove and death metal to headline their first major UK festival. After all the success of Magma and years of climbing the bill, fans have been dying to see GOJIRA in this position for years so expect to see absolute carnage unfold once their feet hit the glorious Ronnie James Dio Stage as the flying whales are let loose.
Sunday
Opening things up on the final day of Bloodstock are East London outfit MONUMENT, who are set to kick things with their modern take on distinctly traditional heavy metal in the vein of greats like IRON MAIDEN. Led by former WHITE WIZZARD voice Pete Ellis, this five-piece are sure to get heads banging with their array of delightfully old-school twin-guitar leads and wailing falsetto vocals, that old-school heavy metal fans are sure to love. Bringing their massively unique fusion of sugary pop choruses, towering electronics and metalcore riffing back to the fields of Bloodstock for the first time in seven years are Sweden’s AMARANTHE. With a three-pronged vocal attack and tons of genre-bending anthems like Maximize and Drop Dead Cynical to their name, this self-described ‘dance-metal’ sextet are sure to get the party going when they take to the Ronnie James Dio Stage.
If it’s a sheer party atmosphere you’re looking for on your Sunday, then look no further than FOZZY. Fronted by WWE superstar Chris Jericho, alongside STUCK MOJO guitarist Rich Ward, this hard-rock outfit have been going through arguably their most successful period ever over the last year, thanks to the colossal success of 2017’s seventh album Judas. Armed with masses of hulking hard-rock riffs, and with a charismatic frontman quite unlike any other in the business right now, those who catch FOZZY are sure to be left with huge smiles on their faces. As far as potential weekend highlights go, JASTA are a prospect right up there with the best of the best. The eponymous solo venture from HATEBREED mainman Jamey Jasta, this set is apparently set to see the vocalist joined by a variety of special guests including CROWBAR’s Kirk Windstein and more, although much is currently being kept under wraps.
Probably one of the most unexpected names to be appearing across the entire weekend, MR BIG aren’t exactly what a lot of people would think of when they imagine a Bloodstock bill. Vocalist Eric Martin, axeman Paul Gilbert, bassist Billy Sheehan are all greatly regarded as some of the most talented rock musicians around, and now joined by new drummer Matt Starr, are sure to go down a treat in the summer sun. Given that DEVILDRIVER’s most recent album consisted entirely of country songs from the likes of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams III reimagined as groove-metal ragers, it’s probably safe to say that the Californian quintet are firmly at a point in their careers where they can basically do whatever they want. Hits like Clouds Over California and Meet the Wretched are sure to go down an absolute storm with the Bloodstock crowds, and DEVILDRIVER could well find themselves one of the weekend’s biggest hits.
Closing out the Ronnie James Dio Stage on this final day, and returning to the UK for the first time since 2016 are Finnish heavyweights NIGHTWISH. Currently touring their career retrospective compilation album Decades, fans of big dramatic symphonic power metal surely need look no further than Tuomas Holopainen’s juggernaut of a band for a good time. With an enormous canon of hits including the likes of Nemo, Ghost Love Score, Wish I Had An Angel and Amaranth; alongside newer cuts from 2015’s Endless Forms Most Beautiful, this is sure to be the perfect way to cap off a great main stage bill as one of the genre’s absolute biggest bands celebrate their incredible legacy. The word ‘supergroup’ probably gets thrown around a bit too often in metal these days, but that’s about the best possible way of describing LA’s ACT OF DEFIANCE. Now with two albums to their name, including last year’s sophomore release Old Scars, New Wounds, the band are sure to make a massive impact when they hit The Sophie Lancaster Stage. Bringing things firmly more into the doom-metal territory, albeit with a slight twist, PALLBEARER are set to take up the Sunday sub-headlining position over at the second stage. Having released their third full-length album Heartless to wide critical acclaim last year, this eight-legged Arkansas powerhouse are sure to win over even more fans with their progressively-leaning take on the usual doom formula.
As darkness undoubtedly falls upon Bloodstock for the final time this year, what better act could there possibly be to see things off than Swedish black-metallers WATAIN? With their sixth studio album Trident Wolf Eclipse releasing back in January, and with a well-established reputation for blood-soaked and fiery live performances, Erik Danielsson and co. are sure to leave the Bloodstock masses both battered and elated with an undoubtedly earth-shatteringly aggressive black metal to end the weekend, thanks to a set packed with explosive cuts like Nuclear Alchemy.
Bloodstock Open Air is only 16 days away! Be sure to pack all your beer and prepare for a weekend of raging heat, blasting beats and the best time you’ll have all damn year.
Words: Eddie Sims, Jack King, Jack Fermor-Worrell
Bloodstock Festival 2018 takes place on 9th-12th August 2018. For more information on the festival like their official page on Facebook.