When I first started attending Bloodstock Open Air in the late noughties, its USP re headliners was to give us continental big hitters that, in any other circumstance would not command a large stage in this cottage. So we had Children of Bodom, Immortal, Behemoth (who were still a relatively small concern in those days) and Emperor bewitch us with headliner extravagances when their pulling power on raiiny Tuesday in Stoke was no more than 500 people.
Read MoreThe normal trajectory for a folk metal band is to start with metal and then drift towards folk. Korpiklanni turned that on its head. In the late 90s, they were a Sami folk music collective playing the guttural sounds of the indigenous Finnish people.
Read MoreComedy metal has become a complex and multi-versed beast. There is the Python-esque absurdity of Evil Scarecrow, There is the Benny Hill revivalist movement that is Steel Panther (“look tits he he he he) and there is the children's birthday party in hell vibe of Party Cannon. Raised by owls are not taking the piss, they are far more astute than that.
Read MoreNow Celtic punk mainstays, Flogging Molly may well seem a little bit of a left of centre choice. But that's before you realise that lead vocalist and founder Dave King used to ply his trade in Fastway, what Fast Eddie did next after Lemmy kicked him out of Motorhead.
Read MoreThere are those who say the number 13 is unlucky, well it ain't here as it's giving you the eventual appearance of the much touted Clutch. They have sat at the top of the Bloodstock wish list for over a decade. It might have taken a while to get them onto the site but believe me it will be worth it.
Read MoreThere is death metal, there is technical ornate death metal and then there is Septicflesh. I talk a lot about stripped-down minimalistic death metal and the joy that is hurtling noise with all the trappings removed. Well Septicflesh are the complete opposite of that.
Read MoreWhen their special guest slot was announced at last year's festival, having Malevolence in such a prestigious position felt like an enormous gamble. 12 months on, it makes complete sense. There is so much traction about them at the present moment, that it now feels inevitable that they will be the first extreme metal band to break out of the underground and into arenas since Slipknot.
Read MoreI love Wolf because they are European metal incarnate. They have been doing this for coming up to 30 years and they have never compromised and never changed. Fads have come and fads have gone but Wolf’s commitment to pure heavy metal has never changed.
Read MoreSoen make beautiful music. They have moved far beyond their position as a super group and have carved themselves a place as sumptuous purveyors of intricate and heart-wrenching progressive metal. They make music that talks to the soul. It is full of pathos and wrought emotions.
Read MoreThe evolution and ascension of Whitechapel has been simply astonishing. 2016’s “Mark of the Blade” gave us an inclining that there was more to them then just guttural unrefined deathcore, but it was 2019’s deeply personal “The Valley” that saw them really transcend.
Read MoreThere is something quintessentially classy about a three-piece. Everything is stripped back. There is no room for excess, instead you get pure unadulterated and unrefined beauty. There is no room to hide so what happens is that musical brilliance is able to rise to the top.
Read MoreThere is a wonderful eccentricity to British metal and Green Lung revels in that. They recount us to a simpler time when nonconformity was about embrace the countryside around us. This is rural, spiritual metal that retreats back to the myths and tales that are at the heart of this emerald isle.
Read MoreRADAR Festival is almost upon us for 2024, and if you haven’t already got a ticket then now is the time to grab one! The festival not only covers progressive/technical metal and rock, but also pushes those boundaries and often breaks them with genre-spanning and unexpected acts that positively challenge the way we look at music and performance.
Read MoreThere is not a band that encapsulates dogged determination more than Sylosis. For 24 years they have slogged their guts out. They have had more miraculous comebacks than Novak Djokovic and have changed direction more times than a formula one driver.
Read MoreThese Greek mainstays (The Tolis brothers have been up to this for 36 years) trade in a really interesting version of black metal. It's not progressive in the fact that they don't pepper it with large sections of melodic noodling, however it does massively deviate from black metal's usual under-produced minimalistic corrosive self.
Read MoreI was going to leave this lot till right to the end but I'm so excited about this rare appearance in the UK that I am guilty of premature ejaculation and I have gone very early with my sumptuous ode to their majestic wonder. Eternal Champion are the greatest band you have never heard of.
Read MoreYou cannot underestimate the impact that Deicide had when they first arrived on the scene in the late 80s. They were nasty, repugnant and offensive in a way that other fledgling death metal acts can only dream of. They have one objective to piss off as many people and ideologies as possible.
Read MoreHere at ROCKFLESH towers we've been in a bit of a tizz about Tailgunner for a good while. They seem to have done the impossible and unified our distinctly arbitrary writers. Whether it be our glam loving maidens, our NWOBHM sages who remember it first time around, our death metal deviants or are holier than thou hard-core kids, every single person who puts words together for a publication has a massive crush on Tailgunner.
Read MoreWhen is a black metal band not a black metal band. The answer is when they are Enslaved. Whilst they may cling to their old Nick bothering and corpse paint adorned roots, the simple fact is Enslaved stop being a black metal band along while ago.
Read MoreBy the time Sunday rolls around at this year's Bloodstock we all need a bit of glamour poured back into our lives. We will have had more heavily inked young men scream at us about the inadequacies of life than you can shake a stick at.
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