Bloodstock Metal Festival continues organizing and reorganizing the schedule or line up for the event which they are hopeful to be able to happen in August this year. Due to the ongoing issues with the pandemic Bloodywood from India have had to pull out. The good news is that they are already booked in for 2022 when hopefully the world will be out of this madness. Once again the festival has another new headliner for the second stage for the Friday in place who are from the UK and will delight the regulars at the event. In this announcement, there are 7 new bands, 2 for the main stage both for the Friday and 5 for the second stage (including a fresh headliner) with 3 of them Friday bands and 1 each for Saturday and Sunday.
Let’s start with the new headliner for Friday night on the Sophie Stage (the big tent), UK legends Napalm Death will do the honours finishing the night with their socially aware lyrical content and crushingly brutal music. The pioneers of several sub-genres in the scene have performed a couple of times at the festival with the last of those being back in 2015 so it is pleasing to see them back. Their latest album is called Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism (great title) came out in September 2020 so this is a chance for them to play some of it live for probably the first time. Expect some angry social commentary, crushing riffs and some crazy dancing from lead vocalist Barney!
Heading over to the Dio Stage we have 2 bands for Friday. First up are Venom Prison from Wales featuring Russian-born vocalist Larissa Stupar (ex-Wolf Of Dawn) who formed 2014 and released their first EP Defy The Tyrant the following year. The band have played once before at Bloodstock back in 2017 and since then released another 2 albums so plenty of new material for fans to enjoy. They are described as “extreme metal with social messages” so fit in with the previous band announcement above!
Also Friday Dio we have a new UK hardcore band called Borstal who are proper old-school style punk/hardcore and features Nick Barker (drummer Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir). The band have an EP out called At Her Majesty’s Pleasure (for those unaware that is a term for being locked up in a prison in the UK) which can only be described as seriously angry shit! It is rather tasty!
Heading back to the Sophie stage on the Friday we have King Creature from Cornwall. Described as “melodic heavy metal” but they do at times have elements of grunge, in particular (to my ears) Alice In Chains in some songs due to the vocals. They played back in 2014 on the smallest of stages so this is a great opportunity to shine on a bigger stage to more folks. Their latest album came out last year and is called Set The World On Fire and has some fine grooves going on. No doubt they will be delighted to play the songs live for the first time.
Also, Friday comes Primitai, described best as “melodic power metal” (now with added power and prog elements) who haven’t been at Bloodstock since they did a 1 – 2 back in 2011 and 2012. They stormed the Jägermeister Stage the first time impressing so much they got a straight invite back to play a bigger stage the following year. Since then they have released 4 albums including the brand new one Violence Of The Skies which also has guest appearances from members of both Carcass and Saxon.
Moving to the Saturday from Milton Keynes comes Terra IV who are a bit different from most bands at the festival having strong rap/hip hop and apparently “grime” influences running through their metal veins! Formed by Hacktivist (who are also playing this year) producer and guitarist Timfy James this political outfit (seems to be a nice theme going on here) have a mix of vocal styles and when the singing comes in it is melodic and strong. This is probably the first and perhaps last time this old reviewer has used the word “grime” in a musical sense!
Finally, for Sunday from Leicester come Internal Conflict who are more thrash meets death with a sprinkling of hardcore metal. Their new album (only their second in 6 years) is coming out shortly and deals with subjects such as depression and how we can best cope with difficult times with the message that “it is OK not to be OK” which is an important thing to remember. As they add “we all need help sometimes and also want to help others if we can” which is a positive attitude in these tough times. The album is called A.P.O.R.I.A and comes out July 9.
All this and previously announced and held over bands from 2020 including Devin Townsend (Friday headliner) and Judas Priest (Sunday headliner) along with Dimmu Borgir, Skindred, The Wildhearts, Therapy, Paradise Lost, Bury Tomorrow, Raging Speedhorn, Bleed From Within, Diamond Head, Jinjer, Vio-lence, Saxon, Gloryhammer, Dark Tranquillity, Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons, Memoriam, Ramage Inc. Green Lung, Conjurer, Orange Goblin, The Night Flight Orchestra, Unleash The Archers, Sylosis, Hacktivist, Winterfylleth. , The Crawling, Raised By Owls, Anakim, Acid Reign, Svalbard, Soen, Dog Tired, Bailer, Blasphemer, Black Tongue, Liberty Lies, Pist, Thunderous Jones, Ashen Crown, Luna’s Call, Urne, Forlorn World, Seething Akira, King Witch, Sharks In Your Mouth, Mother Vulture, Famyne, and Party Cannon.
For those wondering how to get there then please check out the link to Big Green Coach who have buses running from all over the UK direct to the door of the festival at Catton Park. The event is due to take place from August 11 to 15!
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