Review by Sheri Bicheno for MPM – First 3 Bands
Thursday
Another fantastic line up gracing Bloodstock Festival for 2025 and another year entering Catton Hall with some 20,000 metal lovers, brings back that familiar feeling of being at home surrounded by friends and new memories awaiting.
Sun blazing for most of the day, we also had a downpour for an hour or so later in the afternoon which made for great chill time in camp before the kick off to the weekend.
And as fate would have it, the sun started blazing again right before heading over to the Arena for the first band of Bloodstock!
Though the fairground and bumper cars had been swapped for more seating and a Gaming Arena, this was definitely an improvement in many ways so that there’s still always something to do and the already busy grounds felt like more options to be seated outside of the newly implemented no chair zone or browse the alternative markets and food vendors about.
Along with the Ronnie James Dio Stage being dormant but adorned in Ozzy Osbourne images, Bloodstock honoured our recently departed Prince of Darkness with a memorial wall next to the stage which allowed Bloodstock goers to leave their messages of love and goodbyes.
Opening the gates to Bloodstock, Hertfordshire’s rising Deathcore outfit Dead Flesh unlocked the carnage for the weekend and set the bar astronomically.
The Sophie Stage filled to the brim and a massive cheer rose from the crowd as the guys came out grinning ear to ear.
Launching into a crushing tirade of bludgeoning riffs and groove infused drums, Bloodstock is kicked off with a facemelting start.
Frontman Rich Stevenson ranges his vocals from barking screams to ground trembling roars which infuses manic moods amongst the intensity that’s delivered right on the outset.
Sick is a pummeling tonne of heavy grooves whilst Swallowing Nails, one of my favourites from these guys, is an inferno of stunning melodics merging with Nelly’s face splitting blast beats and breakdowns that pull you into depths of darkness.
This one gives layers upon layers of different dark tones with some of the tightest fretwork and chonkiest basslines going.
Conjuring a circle pit and the odd beach ball floating amongst the packed crowd, everyone is going nuts to this track in its live setting. Crowd surfers make their way to the barriers – absolute carnage.
Track Dead Flesh had the crowd chanting the name back to the stage whilst new track D.N.R makes its killer appearance with elements of deathgrind and faster tempos lacing through the neckbreaking speeds of the track. Some serious impact hits the crowd as bodies after bodies fly in the pits and Rich makes his way to the barriers to get involved in the carnage.
Dead Flesh well and truly conjured the energy worthy of kicking off Bloodstock. What a way to start!!
FourWayKill were up next and making their return from 20 years ago opening main stage at Bloodstock, are packed full of old school groove metal and thrashy elements.
The fans are loving this comeback, and Chris Neighbour just tears through the set as if they never left. They give a shout-out to their old bandmates, and then they launch into their classic song 24 Hours to Die. It’s a killer return that provides groove infused beats sandwiched between speed bullet riffs and headbanging classic metal sections.
Tapping The Vein brought chaos amongst the crowd with tight guitar sections and intense snarling vocals over filthy reverb tones.
They totally rip through their set, leaving no room to chill apart from a subtle melodic break that shows how the band’s songwriting has major dynamics.
A mega return to Bloodstock.
With fans scattered about today sporting the hats, you know Belgian stoner rock outfit Gnome were going to make a dent in todays offerings.
I’m quite new to Gnome but I love an energetic fusion with stoner/sludge and doom styles.
With a sea of red pointed hats gathered, I stood and soaked up the ambience these guys offer.
Old Soul started with a massive energetic vibe of entwined guitar sections smashing off chugging sections and bouncing off the high end cymbal work.
With an upbeat edge of progressive sounds blending from sludgy riffs into airy melodics, this totally sucked me in and lifted me right into the ether.
Duke of Disgrace kicked off old school rock vibes amongst vibrating bassnotes with grungey but hookey vocals whilst Rotten Tongue got the seriously doomy vibes in the guitars flowing amongst the swirling frequency of guttural vocals that tear through your core and made the floor tremble.
With inputs of progressive guitar sections amongst groovy bassnotes and soaring tempos, the vibe is contagious and full of different tones to sink your teeth into.
With Wenceslas offering a groove dripped headbanger and the fun and ambient instrumental Kraken Wanker from 2022 album King, there was a killer selection of tracks Gnome bestowed into the crowd.
My first experience of Gnome live and I am definitely a new fan!!
Friday is gonna be a full on day so off to the V.I.P/Press Area i went to go have a chug on Mango cider and check out the set by Robbed Zombie – a packed out tent of people vibing to their favourite nostalgics of industrial meets nu metal.
Photography by Pete Key for MPM
Review by Gary Spiller for MPM – Last 2 Bands
With both the Saturday and Sunday of this year’s Bloodstock completely sold-out the UK’s premier heavy metal festival is edging ever closer to absolute dominance in the humblest of my opinions. On several occasions I found myself, along with several good friends, rationalising that the heavy metal compass is steadily shifting south-westwards from Donington Circuit to Catton Park. It’s the same county, just 15 miles as our feathered distance measuring friend flies, but the signs are there.
First up, on Bloodstock’s opening day it’s readily apparent that it’s busy, really busy in fact. The Sophie Lancaster tent is, from the gates opening, packed throughout. Even the sudden, and rather unexpected, downpour just prior to admitting the baying hordes has failed entirely in dampening spirits. S’Tan, beloved festival mascot, sits grandly in his new perch above the arena’s main entrance and Bloodstock reverently pays tribute to The Prince of Darkness with photos displayed on the screen either side of the Ronnie James Dio stage.
It’s now well over twenty years since Bloodstock began in the surroundings of Derby’s Assembly Rooms and what a tale of success this festival has been! 2025 is the 20th anniversary of Bloodstock venturing into the great outdoors with Sebastian Bach and Children of Bodom headlining the two days. Now a fully fledged four days the first day is a traditionally relaxed affair with a varied quintet of outfits on the day’s single stage. Noting the crowds that spill out of the shadowy environs within the Sophie Lancaster tent the natural line of conjecture, running the risk of controversially breaking with tradition, is how much longer can the main stage be eschewed for these purposes?
Outside the tent dusk descends as we approach the hour of nine. Mercifully, the pre-festival rain has been shepherded off and has been replaced by much less inclement elements. Inside, the anticipation rises with an expectant buzz of a packed-out crowd to follow in the footsteps of the opening trio. The herbal haze left over from the fans of previous stage incumbents drifts out of the tent and across the Derbyshire countryside; seems a good few riparian ‘reefers’ have been partaken this evening already.
Mighty dragons unfurl and flex their leathery wings, the furnaces within are fully stoked. Legions of the gathered claw ready themselves, a heathen fire burns fiercely. A call to arms has been issued and it’s the six imperious components of multi-national power metallers All For Metal who heed the rousing. Formed in 2022 when the dual forces of vocalists Tim “Tetzel” Schmidt (Asenblut) and Antonio Calanna (DeVicious) amalgamated in united love of all things metalliferous. Afterall it’s “all for metal!”
With symphonic metallic overtures aplenty that firmly embrace the entwining vocals of Schmidt and Calanna ‘All For Metal’ delivers a rousing call of yore. With a hugely contagious Scandic vibrancy the SL Tent is swiftly under the spellbinding despatch punching the air in unison. With bombastic legend this is not only the band’s signature track but also the spirit of the Bloodstock kin; “Our kingdom’s rising, our kingdom won’t fall.”
The stirring battle call of ‘Welcome’ – in a set dominated by choice cuts from debut lp ‘Legends’ – is the first of four visits to last year’s ‘Gods of Metal (Year of the Dragon) release. The epic Nordic fury goes down as well as a hearty guzzle from a flagon of ale. Whilst it’s serious business this is a band who can max things out with a sense of humour. Think of Hammerfall and Gloryhammer alloyed with the ilk of Alestorm and Nanowar of Steel and you’ll swiftly get an accurate picture.
The super-muscular despatch of ‘Fury of the Gods’ receives another raucous reception. The guttural Thor-like vocals of Schmidt combining deliciously with the agility of Calanna’s Hermes-esque output. Inflatables, including a giant club and several swords, bob about above the crowd as the triumphant metal of ‘Raise Your Hammer’ keeps the party going. Six-stringer Jasmin Pabst, one half of a particularly fiery guitar twinship, whittles a conflagrant solo from her fret; it’s full Thor(ce).
No warrior metal show would be complete without a mention of the fabled halls of the slain that are presided over by Odin. Thus, it passes with Schmidt raises a mighty hammer to herald the majestic Viking romp of ‘Born in Valhalla’; the all-conquering eagle soars as Ursula Zanichelli, the other half of the axe duo, gets in on the act with a solo. The bare-chested Schmidt, who looks like he’s been chiselled from the Alps themselves, requests – nay commands – a time-honoured split in the crowd. “It’s all for metal and metal for all”, naturally spirited the entire tent is onside.
We’re taken upon an odyssey to the loftiness of ‘Mountain of Power’ via the foretelling of the spoken interlude of ‘Prophecy of Hope’. Born a ruler, harder than steel, the seventh son whose father is the same is brought to life via ‘Mountain of Power’ cast from Brokrr’s forge. It’s a towering outpost created of seismically uplifting dynamics. Pabst and Zanichelli face off during the thundering glory of ‘When Monsters Roar’ after the two vocalists fist-bump ‘tween tracks with Schmidt roaring “Hell fucking yeah!”
With a backdrop of nightfall, to a longship beat, ‘Hear The Drum’ is untethered, striking fear into the heart of the stricken foe with its anthemic drive. Aptly dedicated to Ozzy ‘Legends Never Die’ – “May you rule in heaven!” adds Schmidt – commences in gentle realms with echoes of the Prince of Darkness flitting about. The masked bass marauder Florian Toma’s solo captivates with a segment of ‘Iron Man’ very well received.
Capturing the likes of Warkings and Týr the hi-energy ‘Gods of Metal’ – title track of last year’s sophomore album – offers a collective prayer replete with Accept-styled choreography. The ascendant beauty of ‘Year of the Dragon’ creates a voluminous war cry afore the conflagrant finale of ‘Goddess of War’. A stampeding outing that surely appeases Athena and Freya as the burning embers from the battlefields fly. All For Metal have, without doubt in my mind, conquered all before them with tsunamic wave after wave of catchy power metal. A standout and the festival has barely begun.
If there’s been a conscious attempt to throw in as large as a divergence in styles as humanly possible then complete and utter kudos to whomever is responsible for the booking and scheduling of Me and That Man. Better known for his day job as frontman of Polish extreme metallers, and Bloodstock favourites, Behemoth this is the crepuscular side project of Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski; a 21st century Lost Boys sort of thing.
The festival’s guide describes this outfit as “a dark folk, country, and Gothic blues project.” That’s all I require, in an instant I’m intrigued without question. It’s a curiosity that pays dividends many times over in the course of the next occultic hour or so. It’s so many things all bundled together with a shadowy enwrapping that’s bound in a nocturnal pact inked in Satan’s lifeforce at the metaphorical crossroads. There are more shades of black herein than in the stuntship of fictional band Disaster Area.
The band quickly steps on stage to a Spaghetti western intro. With a Tarantino-esque detonation a Dodge Viper V8 roars with the nightmarish Titty Twister bar fading in the rear-view mirror. With a darkened country and western stomp, we’re invited to ‘Run With The Devil’. From the opening number of the first of two volumes of ‘New Man, New Songs, Same Shit’ were thrust into a quartet from 2017’s debut ‘Songs of Love and Death’.
Granular and arenaceous whilst being, conversely obsidian in nature the mournful tone of ‘My Church Is Black’ hollers from the ethereal underworld. On distant rails the lonesome midnight freight’s whistle wails. A compelling surreal hypnosis the feeling we’ve embarked upon a cathartic cleansing and examination of the deepest crevices of the soul is inescapable. Nergal welcomes the mysterious ‘Preacherman’ to the stage for the rasping ‘Nightride’; bluesy but not blues as you might think as the claws and teeth sink into your flesh.
Coming at the tail-end of a swathe of European festival dates this is a rare UK appearance, the band’s first since a slot at Ramblin’ Man 2018. Even though they’re somewhere between Switzerland and Belgium these road-warriors show no fatigue and roll into the riff from the crypt entrancing of ‘On The Road’ seamlessly. From the tomb to the haunting desert highway ‘Get Outta This Place’ follows. A curious blend reminiscent of Aerosmith’s ‘Hangman Jury’ and the gospel blues of ‘John the Revelator’ the Sophie tent is swiftly under the cogent incantation.
The bluesy Cimmerian folk of ‘Surrender’ is surely the devil’s bidding; an outpouring of the spirt as, outside a waxing gibbous moon nears fullness. The Bloodstock congregation is in raptures by the time the anarchic ‘Burning Churches’ answers the question of what would a Johnny Cash fronted Ghoultown sound like? With a Molotov cocktail and a can of gasoline this is stirring matter with inverted crucifixes and stakes at the ready.
With a rockabilly surge ‘Under The Spell’ ensures gothic hues radiate across the lands, its mid-track blues-swagger hits the spot with ultra-precision. The tubthumping ‘Got Your Tongue’ has the temerity to tickle Beelzebub under the chin with an impish impunity. The shadowy environs scream of Cohen and Cave, this is a bonfide swerve ball that has handsomely paid off; I’m not the only soul addicted for sure.
The gritty bluesy rock of ‘A Song Without Name’ demonises ahead of ‘Silver Halide Echoes’ in which the delicious tones from Nergal’s Gretsch are of particular note. Imagine goth overlords Sisters of Mercy in a country metal environ you’re on your way to the promised lands. A rascally rocking cover of Roky Erickson’s ‘White Faces’ serves homage to one of rock’s “outsider geniuses”.
With houses of the holy afire in the conflagrant fury of ‘Losing My Blues’ there’s a feral vibrancy that see’s the Devil’s herd stampeding the bleeding skies. Fittingly the track segues into ‘Paranoid’ as Bloodstock goes ape. The saluting cry at track end, from Nergal, of “Ozzy!” will live long. Nergal and co. could have finished reciting the telephone directory and that would have been just fine but there’s a triplet of atramentous glory to behold.
If The Mission had gotten trapped in Death Valley, then the cyclone kiss delivery of ‘Coming Home’ is surely the resultant output. With touches of Volbeat ‘Love & Death’ applies black makeup in broad daubs whilst the set-closing supernatural swagger of ‘Blues & Cocaine’ sees not just the set, but Bloodstock’s opening day ends on the highest of highs. The Devil’s herd is chased into the wee hours as the Catton Park horde refuses to sleep.
Photography by Kelly Spiller for MPM
