Review by Sheri Bicheno for MPM
Its the last day of Bloodstock 2026 and already its kicking off to a killer start with the cure for a heavy Saturday night opening with the mystic tones of Alunah.
There was something beautifully appropriate about having Alunah on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock. Sunday lunchtime at a festival can sometimes feel like the point where everyone is running on caffeine, questionable drink antics choices from the night before and whatever sleep they managed to steal – but Alunah had other ideas.
From the moment they hit the stage, that familiar combination of fuzz, groove and doom rolled into the crowd.
Alunah have always had a hypnotic quality to their sound, and live it becomes something you can physically sink into.
Front and centre, Daisy Savage, who has now well and truly made the Alunah vocal position her own, brings a different character to the band’s material, balancing melody with a darker, heavier edge.
A new offering La Pucelle immediately stood out, its huge, deliberate groove giving the crowd something to lock into while Daisy’s vocals floated over the top and the heaviness constantly balanced by those beautiful melodics, giving a haunting edge to the delivery.
On Blacklow Hill brought something dark but jumpy to the mix. It’s heavy, absolutely, but there’s space within that heaviness, and that makes it feel much bigger than just a wall of distortion. With a beautifully executed solo and winding paths of guitars layered into the blend of melodics, this is a head nodding new track that gets movement from the crowd beneath.
Going to last album Violet Hour, if we’re wanting haunting, my favourite from that album comes in the shape of Hunt.
This has always given me edges of eeriness that Type O Negative delivers, meeting Alunah in their own soundscape.
The opening subtle melodics come in and you can almost feel the atmosphere change around you. Matt Noble‘s guitar sounds absolutely huge as we wind into the chorus– thick, fuzzy and dripping with that old-school doom influence, but with enough groove underneath it to stop you standing still.
Dan Burchmore‘s bass is massive throughout this one, sitting underneath Matt’s guitar and giving an extra layer of weight. You can feel the two of them working together rather than the bass simply following the guitar, and it gives the song that proper low ebbed, almost sensual feel in places.
Jake Mason starts really driving it forward.
His drumming gives Hunt movement behind the kit, turning it between layers of vampiric horror to sludging, deep beats. It’s not frantic; it’s controlled and deliberate.
Every hit seems to make the riffs dig a little deeper, and when the whole band locks into that groove, it spreads right across the crowd whilst there’s a rawness to Daisy’s vocals. Working beautiful tones against the sheer heaviness underneath, riding the groove, giving the track this dark quality, ebbing through that seductive quality before letting the heavier moments hit.
Twenty years into their journey, Alunah are still infectious and thriving.
By Sunday afternoon, our legs were starting to buckle, our ears were ringing, the dust was everywhere and there was absolutely no sensible reason we should have had enough energy left to throw ourselves into another pit.
Then Orbit Culture walked onto the Ronnie James Dio Stage.
Within seconds, the crowd came alive again.
That first crushing hit of Death Above Life came through the speakers and the entire atmosphere changed. It wasn’t a gentle Sunday afternoon – it was four Swedes arriving to kick the door in.
The guitars were enormous, the drums were relentless and Niklas Karlsson‘s vocals sounded like they were being ripped straight out of his chest.
Christopher Wallerstedt was absolutely hammering the kit, wielding technical groove beats as Fredrik Lennartsson’s bass was rumbling underneath everything.
Huge, filthy riffs fuelled with tech infused melodics were thrown into the crowd.
Richard Hansson had hold of the striking riffs that rained down onto the crowd whilst Niklas just stood there, guitar in hand, looking completely locked into what he’s doing, and when those vocals come out they sound like they’ve been dragged up from somewhere deep and monstrous.
The Storm hit next and the crowd was already moving – heads going, fists in the air, people shouting the words back. The pits were opening up and the crowd surfers were coming over the barrier in masses whilst North Star of Nija hit in all it’s slab heavy, melodic might with an almost anthemic edge lacing through it.
The Tales of War upped thar bar with brutality. There is something totally oppressive about this song live.
The opening feels like you’re being dragged towards something you already know isn’t going to end well. The guitars have that enormous, grinding weight to them, while Christopher Wallerstedt‘s drums keep everything marching forward with this almost militaristic sense of inevitability.
And then Niklas comes in.
His voice isn’t just heavy — there’s genuine anger in it. You can hear the desperation underneath the aggression, and seeing him deliver it live made the whole thing feel far more personal.
The riff came down and the crowd responded instantly.
A pit opened up in front of us and people were throwing themselves into it with everything they had, shoulders crashing, fists going up, heads snapping forward with every massive guitar hit.
It isn’t just insane brutality either. There are moments where everything feels almost mournful before the heaviness comes crashing back down again. Like a brief glimpse of something human underneath the aggression, and then the next riff hits and you’re right back in it.
Hydra was something almost claustrophobic with how heavy it sounded despite being played on a massive outdoor stage. Those guitars just swallowed everything. And when the band dropped back before crashing into the heavier sections, you could feel the crowd atmosphere.
Orbit Culture always bring their chaos to every performance I’ve seen them deliver.
Over at the Sophie Lancaster Stage, the tent was absolutely rammed, with the crowd stretching deep into the surrounding area – there is always something wonderfully chaotic about seeing Mushroomhead masks scattered throughout the audience when these guys come to play.
Madness about to ensue…
The lights dropped and for a few moments, the entire place erupted into one enormous, completely ridiculous singalong to intro track Spongebob Squarepants.
Then the joke disappeared and Eye to Eye hit.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The three-way vocal attack of Scott “xStrike” Beck, Jackie LaPonza and Steve Rauckhorst sounded enormous, with each vocalist bringing something completely different yet still staying in line with nostalgic tones.
Behind them, Skinny remained the architect of the madness, surrounded by the industrial machinery, percussion and unmistakable Mushroomhead aesthetic. With the water drums being a signature visual for Mushroomhead live sets, they were awesome beneath the darker lighting, creating those flashes of movement and colour bouncing into the air.
Fall in Line, and the crowd completely lost whatever little composure it had left.
Jackie ended up being held on top of the crowd, almost floating above the audience, turning watching these guys up a notch. I remember seeing her swinging from the rafters of the Asylum in Birmingham years back during their set and it empowered a rebellious feel in the crowd. And here it is again but in a much bigger setting.
Our Apologies kept the momentum going before Qwerty landed like a nostalgia bomb.
Mushroomhead may have been around for some time but it was like they were still fresh out of the early 90’s.
Sun Doesn’t Rise saw the crowd go totally feral with twists of nostalgia meeting renewed heaviness.
Scott Beck didn’t just stay safely on the stage either. He launched himself into the crowd, disappearing into a sea of bodies while still delivering a killer performance.
The Heresy brought things down into something darker, with Jackie chiming her dark but beautiful vocals. With a sinister atmosphere at this point, the combination of industrial textures, heavy guitars and layered vocals filled the stage and into the crowd.
And then came 12 Hundred.
The final assault.
By this point the Sophie Lancaster Stage was bouncing, bodies were everywhere and time went quick despite the sheer amount of chaos we’d just witnessed.
Mushroomhead arrived, turned the Sophie Lancaster Stage into absolute carnage, crowd surfed their way through the audience, soaked the place in their trademark visual insanity and disappeared again.
Over to the Ronnie James Dio stage for my final Sunday band, modern metal legends Body Count have been on the wanted list for Bloodstock goers for years. And Bloodstock made it happen for their 25th year around the sun.
The anticipation had been building ever since they were announced as the special guests to Judas Priest, and standing in front of that Ronnie James Dio Stage, watching the crowd steadily swell as the band moved around the stage, there was a feeling that something was about to kick off.
And then Ice-T walked out.
No elaborate nonsense. No pretending this was anything other than what it was.
Body Count were here to cause absolute mayhem.
The lineup itself was a formidable sight. Ice-T front and centre, still possessing presence that somehow manages to be both intimidating and completely laid back; founding guitarist Ernie C beside him, the man responsible for so much of the band’s vicious musical identity, Sean E Sean handling samples and backing vocals, Vincent Price on bass, Will “Ill Will” Dorsey Jr. behind the kit; Juan of the Dead on guitar and Little Ice providing the extra hype.
Body Count’s In The House opened up to a feral pit and bouncing rap sections.
The guitars are built around short, heavily accented riffs rather than complicated sections, with Ernie C and Juan of the Dead creating a wall of rhythm and groove that leaves space for Ice-T’s vocal delivery.
He rides the groove, drops words into the spaces between the guitar hits and then lets the band punch through underneath him.
Will “Ill Will” Dorsey Jr.’s snare hits were intense, while the kick drum followed the guitar rhythm closely enough to make the rhythm feel mechanical — but with aggressive as hell.
Slayer’s Raining Blood leading into Postmortem gave a nod to the right place for Metal credentials.
Ill Will’s drumming was outstanding here – he had to keep that thrash momentum while still giving it Body Count’s groove and it works with more groove sections.
There Goes The Neighborhood saw Ernie C‘s guitar provide the main rhythmic aggression while Juan of the Dead adds more layers, making the riffs sound wider in the tracks live setting.
It’s aaaaall about double impact when both guitars hit those chunky chord changes together, they entwine with eachother to deliver aggression and groove to bounce to.
The bass reinforces the lowest part of those chords, while the drums emphasise the transitions with killer snare and kick accents.
Ice-T then sits almost casually over the top, demolishing the stage.
The Purge was NASTY, live.
The riffing is heavier and more modern sounding, with the guitars sitting lower and the rhythm section giving the song a much more muscular groove.
Ernie C‘s playing here isn’t about speed.
It’s about weight.
The riff is constructed from thick, down picked attacks and tightly controlled pauses. Every time the band cuts the sound off, you can feel the anticipation hit the crowd like a wrecking ball.
No Lives Matter was probably the most significant song of the set emotionally.
It’s built around a deliberately stomping, repetitive groove and that repetition matters because it gives the lyrics room to annihilate.
Ernie C‘s guitar sound was thick and abrasive, while the rhythm section locked into a deliberately heavy pocket.
Looking around me, the crowd starts shouting the words back and the crowd surfers are rife towards the barrier.
Thousands of voices.
One rhythm.
One message.
Whatever your politics, there was something undeniably powerful about hearing that many people responding to a song that is fundamentally about racial division, policing and the idea that human life should not be valued differently because of skin colour.
Psychopath gave a sinister and dark edge with Ice-T coming back on stage with tights over his head to hit home of the message before Drive By hit back with heavy groove notes.
Talk Shit, Got Shot takes us back to 2014 and is a fan favourite – the crowd bouncing, bodies flying everywhere and the punching guitars and beats taking over the mood.
With the crowd shouting the lyrics back to Ice-T and a young fan being brought on stage, this track was a highlight of the last day of Bloodstock.
Cop Killer changed the atmosphere with Ernie C’s guitar sounded filthy.
There was nothing delicate about the riff. It was built around that blunt, repetitive guitar attack, designed for the technical sections combining with III Will’s vicious drumming.
Ice-T ‘s vocal delivery was full of grit. He spat the words out, snarled them, barked them, sometimes letting the mic fall towards the crowd and allowing everyone else to take over, shifting the mood and firing up the pits below.
With the stage going dark and anticipation setting in, the crowd chanting
BODY COUNT
BODY COUNT
BODY COUNT
The lights came back on and any anticipation was soon replaced with old school vibes of low ebbed bassnotes and a spoken piece before landing into the grit of Born Dead.
Almost anthemic in places, a dark brooding mood swallowed the crowd before the melodics took over for the introduction of the final blow of This Is Why We Ride.
Smoothing seamlessly from the melodics into pure brutal force of guitars, the riffs still came down with that enormous Body Count weight, but rather than relying purely on speed or frantic thrash playing, the band leaned into power and repetition.
Ernie C‘s riffing had a visceral attack where every chord struck bone and carried with the drums into a facemelting frenzy.
Ice-T’s vocals cut through and he’d spit out a line and then leave that tiny gap before the band hit again, making the next riff shower feel even bigger.
Body Count came to the Ronnie James Dio stage, they went full throttle and took no prisoners. The crowd got annihilated just before Judas Priest.
Happy 25th Birthday, Bloodstock Festival!
What a party!
With a killer line up announced for 2027 of Mercyful Fate, Electric Callboy, Motionless In White, Acid Bath, Green Lung Children of Bodom, Devildriver and much more – next year is already in the works and shaping up nicely!
Thank you to Bloodstock, Cosa Nostra, my comrades in Metal Planet Music for this opportunity again!
Photography by Pete Key for MPM
