Review by Sheri Bicheno for MPM
Rising for Saturday morning and it’s time for some worship.
Worship of the amphibious kind, of course.
Back after their New Blood Stage appearance in 2024, Froglord come to platform the Sophie Lancaster Stage to relay the teachings of the coming of an ancient amphibian, as old as time itself.
Covering the stage in swamp foliage and adorned in green hues, Froglord brought their unique blend of doom, sludge and swampy heaviness.
The tent was already packed, with plenty of frog-themed devotees and inflatable amphibians making it abundantly clear that the word of the Froglord has reached many corners of the land.
And then the riffs arrive with a kick off of newly released Croak.
Beneath the fuzz and crushing weight are grooves that pull you along until you realise you’re completely lost inside them. The atmosphere created was completely immersive, transforming the stage into their own murky little swamp.
Outside, blazing sunshine, yet inside Froglord were summoning something altogether darker.
Vocally, the moniker known as Froglord ranges between doomy gutturals to shake the landscape and cleaner ritualistic chants.
They Came From Saturn is a fan favourite, dragging the audience straight into Froglord’s strange psychedelic universe with huge, fuzzy and heavy as granite riffs wielded by Caudata. There’s a sense of double toned vocals from another dimension that bleed into the sludging bassnotes of Bufo.
Herman brought some old school vibes and displayed just how effective Froglord can morph those old school vibes into modern groove with huge dimension moving bass notes emitting from Bufo can be in a live setting.
The Mystic Toad brought a particularly bluesy groove into the mix, providing some chilled notes before going hard into a doom encapsulated tone with soaring gutturals and gorgeous sludging drum beats from Anura.
Swamp Boogie closed the party with upbeat yet doomy vibes mixed with psychedelic notions and such gorgeous string work with crunching rhythm sections and bluesy solos. With the audience dressed in frog themed attire, the bust of a giant frog making its appearance on stage and the filled Sophie Stage, we all were just consumed.
Ribbit.
Next up on the Sophie Lancaster Stage came one of London’s friends that have been constantly on the up since their Here Comes The Night days.
There’s some bands that sound good on record, and then there are bands whose music seems to take on an entirely different life when you’re standing in front of them with a crowd around you. Imperium were firmly in the latter category and are also totally to boot, some of the nicest blokes you could wish to meet.
“How f*cking loud can you be?” Frontman Ben Porter commanded that atmosphere from the get go as the crowd roared with Imperium’s brand of thrash carrying a huge weight and menace, kicking off with a recently released Exodus Unknown.
James Hawes completely launched the set with the double kicks and groove fuelled beats before Scotty Lomas and Hardip Sagoo rained visceral riffs down on the crowd. Heads were already moving, fists were going up and the atmosphere around the stage quickly changed from anticipation to full-on metal intensity. Ben’s vocals came charging through with speed, gritty power and authority, adding another layer of menace to the aura in front of us. He headbangs across the stage with the crowd following suit.
Reap What You Sow is my favourite track from the new album and I was so glad to see it make an appearance in the set.
Gorgeously heavy melodics and marching, vicious riffs binding with tech fuelled drum beats, the track in its live setting brought another huge surge of energy, with the bassnotes landing heavily. Ben’s vocals once again cutting through with force and urgency, with the power of the guitars beside him making way for a range of both clean and snarling ferocity.
Tread The Serpent tore into life, bleeding riffs into maddening bass notes from Rapha and with a special appearance from Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan of Venom Inc guesting vocals, it was like watching two forces of metal coming together.
Stunning solos and frenzied riffs crafted with some of the most insane drumming adorns this track in its live setting with some beatdown elements….and it has the reaction from the crowd with heads banging harder and a pit forming behind me.
These guys lock together tightly and go completely full throttle to deliver that power thrown into their audience. Keep these guys on your to watch list! They deserved the opportunity to show Bloodstock exactly what they do.
Staying at the Sophie Stage, there are some bands that you watch at a festival and come away thinking, that was good…
Then there are bands who leave you feeling like you’ve just been dragged through a concrete mixer and enjoyed every second of it.
Renowned Deathcore outfit Bound In Fear combine deathcore with notions of slam in places and vocalist Ben Mason wasted absolutely no time unleashing his monstrous vocals, while Steve Hunt and Sam Mitchell locked into the crushing guitar and bass work.
With the outstanding talents of Aaron Wright from Akkadian on the drums, we’re launched into the next half hour of filthy breakdowns, splitting riffs and brutal inputs.
The Hand of Violence came with some stunning melodics, groove notes that got the crowd pitting.
From the very first hit, the space felt enormous — dark, aggressive and relentlessly heavy, with the kind of groove that grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go.
Ben’s vocals were vicious throughout, cutting through the sheer weight of the guitars with an intensity that made the moods feel genuinely threatening.
Steve and Sam delivered the crushing riff work and low-end rumble that give the song its punishing character, while Aaron annihilated the kit to keep the track into submission.
With new album released in March, A Mind Too Sick To Heal, we saw Ben command a split in the crowd for a wall of death before launching into the viciousness of Scum with a heavier, nastier and venomously filled, Stigmata that followed… pure full force into the crowd like a wrecking ball.
One of the best deathcore bands from us here in the UK. Bound In Fear are intensity defined and leave their audience disintegrated.
Saturday afternoon on the S.O.P.H.I.E. Stage belonged to Corby’s finest purveyors of filthy, fuzz-drenched rock ‘n’ roll, Viking Skull.
A set built around huge riffs, dirty grooves, unapologetic rock attitude and the sort of songs that demand to be played loudly and preferably with a beer in hand.
The band may have been away from the festival circuit for a while, but there was absolutely no sense of rustiness. If anything, they know exactly what they wanted to do: plug in, turn everything up, and remind everyone why this particular British rock is alive and well.
Their sound is rooted in classic heavy rock, with a generous helping of Motörhead style grit, enormous fuzz and a swaggering sensibility with Double or Quits encompassing a biker rock edge.With attitude, driving riffs and grooves that get hooked into your skin, this is Viking Skull at their most immediate.
Heads banging, bodies moshing, there’s an old school vibe to these guys that just feels like it’s always been with us.
Skull Heaven has a heaviness to it that brings a hypnotic vibe that has the riffs slow-burning, head-nodding quality whilst Frank Regan isn’t just fronting the band — he’s right in the thick of it, combining vocals and guitar while Dominic Wallace and Aaron Hastings add to that enormous wall of riff heavy sound.
Behind them, Gordon Morison is the engine, giving Viking Skull weight and keeping the songs driving forward without ever losing their groove alongside Larry Connelly providing the low ebbed rumble that ties everything together.
These guys know how to party and taking part in Bloodstock’s 25th birthday, it only makes sense.
Over to the Ronnie James Dio Stage and Scottish metalcore giants Bleed From Within are about to annihilate the stage and had the unenviable task of following an already stacked Saturday and playing before Slaughter To Prevail’s headline set.
Formed in Glasgow in 2005, the band have steadily evolved from their early deathcore material through the groove-heavy aggression of Uprising, Era, Fracture and Shrine, to 2025’s Zenith. And here we are gathered about to get one heck of a catalogue.
With bagpipes opening their space, we’re kicked off with Zenith, there was no easing the audience into this one. The band hit the stage at full force, with Ali Richardson‘s drumming providing the engine room while Goonzi Gowans and Snev Jones locked together into a combination of crushing groove and melodic precision.
Then came Scott Kennedy… a beautifully blended voice of visceral, barking screams and clean, striking tones. A voice that seems to pull the crowd towards him.
Also to mention that with them, they have Hannah Boulton, who provides some absolutely stunning ethereal harmony vocals throughout their set to give their live performance even more depth of unearthly levels.
Commanding a circle pit, dust kicked up thick for The End Of All We Know whilst Sovereign brought another slab of modern metal aggression.
With shoes thrown on stage and carnage below, Scott invokes some crowd interaction with Stand Down as the crowd screams back OUT FOR WAR back to the stage. Pushing the crowd even further, Goonzi’s guitar work provides much cutting edge, while Snev brings both rhythm guitar and clean vocals. Their interplay gives way to Davie Provan’s intricate bass work so they clash together in one absolute tech fulled dream.
A Hope in Hell dragged everyone straight back into the pit. By now, the audience was completely under Scott’s control. Circle pits opened and closed across the crowd, bodies surged forward and the atmosphere became increasingly chaotic.
Then came Violent Nature.
If there is one song from Zenith that demonstrates just how aggressive Bleed From Within can be, this is it. The song begins with a distorted tension before exploding into a barrage of drums, riffs and screams, and live it felt absolutely monstrous. The band’s seventh album was deliberately intended to push their sound into new territory, and Violent Nature is arguably the most killer example of how to take things to the next level.
By the time I Am Damnation was delivered, the place had become a full on assault. The combination of electronics and blasting beats morphing into blistering riffs and tech infused bass into relentless energy.
Bleed From Within delivered a performance that felt like a blend of everything they have spent the last two decades building.
There was fire.
There were pits.
There was a wall of death.
There were Scottish pipers.
There was a kilt.
There were thousands of people screaming the words back at the band.
And above all else, there was the unshaking knowledge that we were watching a band crossing another line in their career.
Stunning.
Staying at the Ronnie James Dio stage, As the Saturday night headliners on the Ronnie James Dio Stage, Slaughter To Prevail headliner status had certainly divided opinion – the moment the lights dropped ready for them to take space, the arena was filled to the brim.
With the stage lit with firey reds and oranges, Slaughter To Prevail came on stage, masked and ready to open up the feral crowd with Bonebreaker.
Marching synths bleeding into the manic riffs and huge beatdown of drums, crafted an immediately brutal atmosphere. The huge stage production, flames and towering visuals and the sheer volume of the crowd pitting already.
Alex Terrible‘s vocals came across with ridiculous force, while the guitars and Evgeny Novikov‘s drumming created a wall of crushing proportions.
Russian Grizzly In America is one of the points where it carries the band’s heaviness but also has huge, memorable hooks with brutal force of double pedals and blast beats.
“It’s our first time headlining a UK metal festival guys.” Alex addresses the crowd.
“It’s such an honour to play Bloodstock, thank you for your hospitality and energy.”
Alex tells the crowd that he’s nervous and is met with a roar in response before launching into Viking. Looking out across the crowd, everyone was moving beneath all the brutality. There is an amount of precision required to make a song like this work live. The guitars lock tightly into the drums, the bass provides that enormous underlying weight and there is Alex that delivers a splintering no mic guttural towards the end that can be heard across the Arena.
Hell brought another dose of sheer aggression before Baba Yaga pushed the crowd into another level altogether.
By this stage, the set had offered a pattern: new material, older material, something huge and recognisable, then another vicious assault.
Koschei was included to Slaughter To Prevail fans… it gave the set another chance to showcase the newer material rather than simply using Grizzly songs as supporting pieces around the band’s biggest hits and was an apt anticipation piece, with it’s climbing hooks and steady paced beats for what everyone knew was coming.
After almost an hour of relentless brutality, the stage briefly shifted its focus towards Evgeny Novikov and his punishment of the drums. Novikov had spent the entire set driving Slaughter To Prevail forward, often at seemingly impossible speeds, but the drum solo allowed the audience to properly appreciate the sticksman behind that wall of sound.
If there was one song in the entire Slaughter To Prevail set that felt inevitable, this was it.
Following the drum solo, there was an unmistakable sense of anticipation across the field. Everyone knew what was coming, and then those opening notes finally hit…
Demolisher is the song that put Slaughter To Prevail firmly on the map for an enormous audience. Released in 2020, it EXPLODED and showcased the collision of technical deathcore, crushing breakdowns and Alex Terrible‘s vocal range.
The guitars from Jack Simmons and Dmitry Mamedov were absolutely punishing, their riffs delivered with the kind of precision required to make those sudden rhythmic changes hit as hard as they do. The bass from Mike Petrov added another layer of weight underneath the guitars, while Evgeny Novikov attacked the drums with the kind of precision and physicality that makes the song feel almost mechanically unstoppable.
Behelit brought the set into its close with a darker, more atmospheric kind of aggression. The guitar work gave the track huge soundscapes, moving between tightly controlled rhythmic passages and heavier sections without losing definition. You could feel the low end of bass as much as hear it, particularly when the song dropped into its heavier sections.
After Jack threw himself into the crowd to crowd surf, pyro hit the rafters and people’s necks were sore, Saturday main stage finished and Bloodstocker’s came away wanting to continue to party…
Photography by Pete Key for MPM
