With that is Sunday, the weekend has flown past and we are in the final furlong. But what fantastic final furlong it is. Apathy UK are anything but apathetic. They are incredibly young, vigilantly angry and astonishingly well versed in their instruments. They boil with righteous indignity, and they prove to be highly competent in screaming at the injustices of this world.
Read MoreWith Thursday's freak rainstorm now just a distant memory, Saturday dawns with more blue skies and sunny patches. It also brings us some rather tasty metalcore/prog crossover in the shape of Leeds’ very own Ireosis. The vocals regularly switch from barked to melodic wails, and the guitarist does really interesting things with his instrument, contorting out angular riffs and then following them with deep, intricate passages. There are so many ideas at play, especially for 10.30 in the morning.
Read MoreThis weekend is blessed by the Norse gods of weather and crowd size. Because of the sold-out nature of the event, no bands play to poor attendance. Ofnus kick off in the Sophie Lancaster at the very un-rock and roll time of 10.30 and attract an impressively vocal bunch of inquisitive souls. They trade in atmospheric black metal, and there it is all very cinematic and anthemic.
Read MoreThe unprecedented and extraordinary early sell-out left Bloodstock 2025 with a rather interesting quandary. How does it accommodate thousands of new punters whilst simultaneously preserving the unique communal feel that has been its backbone for the last two decades? In the main the festival manages to pull it off. There are some hiccups: chairgate rumbles on and queuing to get in and out of the arena seemed habitual, but despite all that Bloodstock ’25 remains quintessentially the Bloodstock we know and love. Just with a lot more people.
Read MoreAnd we reach numero uno. Our final must-watch. This one is special. This one is different. This one is personal. For the first time ever we have got real skin in the game. Yes, we have had bands that ROCKFLESH have championed play Bloodstock before, but this is the first time we have had a band we are intrinsically connected with play the festival and we cannot contain our excitement.
Read MoreNo matter what else it clashes with, you have to be in the main field for Orange Goblin. Not because they are a mainstay of British metal, not because they remain one of the finest and most authentic live acts out there and not because they are genuinely nice people. You need to be here because this is it.
Read MoreI am going to get personal here. It was on these very fields of Bloodstock that I first discovered and heard Gojira. It was back in 2010 and my second visit to Catton Hall. Sunday was awash with riches, including the gruesome delights of GWAR and the death metal supergroup that is Bloodbath. I was devouring it all and becoming one with the metal.
Read MoreBloodstock have rather pulled off a coup by crowning their majestic 2025 line-up with arguably the two most interesting bands in modern metal. We will pontificate about Gojira in due course, but for now let us lyrically gesticulate on the wonder that is Mastodon.
Read MoreFrayle are low-key and haunting. They produce metal that is doused with fragile vulnerability and ethereal refrains. They prove that you don’t need to be heavy to have weight and mass. There is a minimal maudlin nature to their sound.
Read MoreKataklysm are death metal’s forgotten pioneers. Whilst they are not spoken about the same level of awe as death metal's founding fathers, there are still an incredibly influential outfit. They have been doing what they do since 1991 and any band that gets technical and intricate with death metal owes them a debt of gratitude.
Read MoreThe only disappointment about this year’s Bloodstock offering in a veritable sea of goodness, is the lack of any real discernible power metal. All for Metal aside, the trad trappings of these long-standing Canadians are as good as we are going to get.
Read MoreSo “that man” is none other than Behemoth’s enigmatic leader Nergal. This is his Nick Cave obsessed side project that keeps him busy when he is not singing odes to old nick and annoying the hell out of the Polish state church. This is country and blues via the fevered imagination of a metal icon.
Read MoreItaly has never been a particular hotbed when it comes to A-list metal bands. However, Lacuna Coil is the exception to the rule. For 31 years, they have produced startlingly evocative gothic metal. Full of pathos and emotionally entrancing content, this is metal of an ethereal and cerebral nature.
Read MoreWhilst it may seem to many that Kublai Khan TX have appeared from nowhere, their overnight success story has actually been rather a slow burner. Last year's breakthrough record “Exhibition of Prowess” is album number five in their discography, and they have spent 16 years diligently learning their craft and painstakingly crawling up bills.
Read MoreBloodstock have been exceedingly good at reading the room and discerning who the in-names are when it comes to metal. Warbringer have been steadily building a rather impressive following over the last few years and it feels inevitable that they would finally end up at the hallowed ground of Catton Hall.
Read MoreMachine “fuckin” head. The real frikin deal. A reliable constant that reminds us the metal is a rallying cry for the indisposed and unfranchised. Machine Head are the people’s champion. They are so entwined with modern metal that you can align the genre’s development over the last three decades with the evolution of Robb Flynn’s crew.
Read MoreTrivia fans, Ghosts of Atlantis played their first ever gig here at Bloodstock in 2021. They were promoted from the New Blood stage to Sophie Lancaster stage because of Covid casualties and they won an awful lot of friends with their anthemic Death Metal that is rich in melody and storytelling.
Read MoreThe death of Trevor Stnard was an utter tragedy. He was one of modern metal’s most erudite and colourful frontmen. There was no front or act here, what you got is what you saw, Trevor was a larger than life but also genuinely grounded. He didn’t pretend to be anything else, and he lived to be on stage. This is The Black Dahlia Murder second trip to this country since they returned to the fray with Brian Eschbach on vocals and Ron Knight back in their ranks.
Read MoreBloodstock promotes from within. It looks after its own, and it believes that it has a central role to play in invigorating the scene that it relies upon. Famyne are band that has grown with Bloodstock. They appeared in the new Blood stage in 2016 as winners of the legendary Metal to Masses competition. They returned on the Sophie Lancaster in 2021 as part of the elongated post-covid offer and now they have made it onto the main stage.
Read MoreDo you want to know the true reason as to why the tickets for this year's Bloodstock have flown out like hot cakes laced with LSD? Most will reason it is the unholy trinity of Trivium, Machine Head, and Gojira, but here at ROCKFLESH Towers we have another theory. You see we think it is the undercard that has caught the public’s imagination and most importantly the inclusion of Paleface Swiss and Kublai Khan. Metal is changing, contorting and evolving. These are its new champions.
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