Bloodstock Metal Festival is set to be held (fingers still crossed) at Catton Park Derbyshire during the dates of 11 and 15 of August.
Plans are forging ahead with the announcement of lots of bands to make up the smaller stages at the event.
This time we have 12, yes TWELVE bands for the New Blood stage for Thursday. Another 8 (eight) for the small Jägermeister stage also for Thursday, which of course this year is a whole day of music as the opening half-day has been moved to Wednesday making this a 5-day extravaganza!
I will try to give a little info on each band announced but I recommend checking out all the band’s Facebook and Bandcamp pages as well as their Spotify. That way you can decide the ones you really don’t want to miss out on. Here goes…
New Blood Stage:
Thursday Bands (in no particular order):
Halveksia: A doom/gothic rock mixed with melodeath band from Brighton. They formed 2016 but have only recently settled on a lineup with a new singer and they have n EP (Miasma) out now on Infernum Records.
Odysseus: A technical death metal band from Manchester who also go into prog territory. They have a couple of singles out called “Wretched” and “Thy Gathering” which they managed to make socially distanced during lockdown. Their guitarist Kevin Testagrossa is also a producer which must help!
Solcura: A 4 piece alternative rock outfit from Bournemouth. They have 3 singles out so far with an album called “Serotonin” coming soon. Their song “Faceless Nameless” has a touch of the industrial about it too.
Riptide: 3 piece thrash metal band from Huddersfield featuring the guitarist from Evile (who themselves are playing Friday in the Sophie tent). Fast riffs, lots of shredding, they have 3 singles out so far. One track in particular “Inhuman Race” has a little proggy thing going on near the end as well.
Casket Feeder: They are a mix of Swedish death metal and UK hardcore so a mash-up of brutality rage and power. They founded 2016 and again have 2 EPS out and an album called Servants Of Violence coming soon which focuses lyrically on different cults, religious, political and media-based.
Slave Steel: Rooted in both thrash and death metal music this band have been around a while (2008) starting in Rome, but their debut arrived 2015 and they are now London-based. Lyrically they focus on their personal values and general social commentary. Their new single “Dream Of Decadence” is available now.
Chugging riffs
The Best Medicine: Came together 2018 after a drunken conversation at Bloodstock that year. They have a love of chugging riffs (don’t we all), beer (again) and whisky (we have so much in common) and promise that if we party in their “general direction” they will “party right back“. Seems fair. They are groovy hard rock with raspy vocals.
Godeater: A technical death metal band from Glasgow who formed in 2016. Their debut came 3 years later called All Flesh Is Grass and is described (rather accurately having checked it out) as “mind-bending tech death with a head full of mad ideas” which some of their progressive bits certainly are!
Pemphigoid: They call themselves “old-fashioned death metal“. Nothing wrong with that. They take their name from a blistering skin disease and sing about not only that but other diseases, medical procedures and ailments. For fans of artists like Bolt Thrower, Bloodbath and Obituary to name a few.
As The World Dies: Are a progressive death metal outfit from Birmingham that feature members and ex-members of bands such as Memoriam, Ashen Crown and 2 of the aforementioned Pemphigoid! This means of course that 2 guys are doing 2 sets on the same day! Good to keep busy though. Their debut album is coming soon and it will be “melody meets brutality” apparently.
Battle Born: Are a power metal band from mythical lands (well are there any others?) who sing “powerful hymns of war as they forge steel” (lots of forging in this article…). They released their self-titled debut album 2020 so they will be premiering the songs at Bloodstock which is good.
Kurokuma: A psychedelic sludge outfit from Sheffield. They have 3 EPs available and an album on the way. They describe what they do as “a delicate hallucinatory trip through dystopia” which gives an idea to what they sound like. At times trippy and at other points all snarling riffs. A very interesting listen.
Jägermeister Stage
Thursday Bands:
Ghosts Of Men: the first of 2 bands with only 2 members in this list. Described by one reviewer as “imagine Queens Of The Stone Age having only 2 members and they were Morecambe and Wise” indicating that they have plenty of power but also include lots of humour in their work. In fact in the press statement they remarked they thought the invite was to sell burgers or mop up spillages. They have a burger van for sale now it seems! Having already played 120 festivals they should be on fire.
Milliner: Another 2 piece outfit but they are much heavier than the band above here. The outfit from Huddersfield have huge riffs and screamed vocals and have 2 EPs out at the moment with the titles 4416 and 4417. I have no idea why. If anyone does then please leave a message at the comments section!
Axiom: A 3 piece instrumental prog band from Birmingham. 3 bearded guys who mix everything from jazz and funk to math-rock and metal making a fascinating sound. They have an EP available from 2019 called Metathesis that is worth checking out.
Master Charger: Another 3 piece (there are 4 trios on this stage announcement) outfit who mix sludge and doom along with hard rock. This Midlands band have been around for a few years and have 3 albums out, their latest called Origin Of The Lugubrious which came out last year. Expect ballsy, bluesy groove-laden jams on the day.
Trio
Bad Earth: A band that in the last year or so have dropped down from a 4 piece to a trio and apparently got heavier! They claim their influences as Clutch, Motorhead and Baroness amongst others so dirty fuzzy grooves is their game. The band adopted their name due to a sound engineering problem caused by a bad earthed cable. Well that’s one way to find a name for your band!
King Corpse: In the opposite direction from the previous band, this Black Country band recently went from a trio to a four-piece! Featuring stoner riffs but with progressive weirdness mixed in they make a hell of a sound. They have an album out called Sacred Crimson which was reviewed by this very website and you can read the review HERE.
Shackled: 4 local to the festival site lads who mix classic hard rock with old-school metal. They have been around since 2010 but only have the one studio album so far which came out last year called Lost Heroes. At least one track (” Let Me In“) has a Cult vibe about it musically and at times vocally.
Tortured Demon: The youngest 3 piece (and group in general) playing this year (I imagine). This thrashcore outfit have ages of 14, 15 and 17. (Even if they added another member when you put all their ages together I would still be older than the whole band, bloody scary) but write and play well ahead of their years. This Manchester band, who won their own heat in M2TM have out 3 singles, an EP and a brand new album called In Desperation’s Grip. Influenced by amongst others Machine Head, Children Of Bodom and Seputura the future of metal looks bright!
Other Important Information:
Other New Blood band places will be taken by winners at the various heats of Metal 2 The Masses (M2TM) which the heats of will be held the weekends of 3 / 4 and 10 / 11 July all over mainland UK. See the poster for venues/places and dates. If you get the chance CGCM recommends you take it. Always good nights and a chance both to see some local talent and shape the festival in August.
If you need new camping gear or you just don’t want to carry lots of stuff to and from the site then check out Fat Frank’s Camping Store at this LINK.
For those looking for transport check out Big Green Coach HERE who run buses from all over the UK direct to the site.
Bands list
Bands so far also announced include Devin Townsend (Friday headliner) and Judas Priest (Sunday headliner) along with Skindred, The Wildhearts, Cradle Of Filth, Therapy, Napalm Death, Paradise Lost, Bury Tomorrow, Raging Speedhorn, Bleed From Within, Diamond Head, Jinjer, Vio-lence, Saxon, Gloryhammer, Dark Tranquillity, Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons, Evil Scarecrow, Onslaught, Memoriam, Ramage Inc. Green Lung, Conjurer, Orange Goblin, The Night Flight Orchestra, Unleash The Archers, Sylosis, Hacktivist, Winterfylleth, The Crawling, Raised By Owls, Anakim, Colpocleisis, Broken Jaw, Hanowar, Devilfire, Venom Prison, Borstal, Acid Reign, Beholder, Svalbard, Soen, Dog Tired, Bailer, Blasphemer, King Creature, Grey Stag, Ghosts Of Atlantis, Strangle Wire, Frozen In Shadows, Deitus, South Of Salem, Fellowship, This Is Endless, Hybridize, Son Of Boar, Words That Burn, Sorceress Of Sin, Wired, The Injested, Primitai, Black Tongue, Liberty Lies, Pist, Terra IV, Internal Conflict, Thunderous Jones, Ashen Crown, Ward XVI, Luna’s Call, Urne, Forlorn World, Seething Akira, King Witch, Sharks In Your Mouth, Mother Vulture, Famyne, and Party Cannon.
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