Bloodstock Open Air 2024 Announces Final Bands, Activations, and Ticket Giveaway


Bloodstock Open Air 2024 is a month away! Headlined by Architects, Opeth, and Amon Amarth, get tickets and the full festival information at the links below.  Bloodstock will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 8th-11th August 2024.Continue reading


Bloodstock Books Metal 2 Masses Winners Sleep In Motion, Nihilanth, Kraken Waker, Hammer, Black Hole Divers, Hellbearer, Running With Knives, Divided By Design, and Semprah


 

 

There’s just 65 days – or 9 weekends – ‘til your heavy metal brethren thunder their way onto Catton Park’s hallowed turf.  As the days count down, Bloodstock has the next phase of Metal 2 The Masses winners to reveal, as well as a new batch of club nights for June and July, plus news about the gaming arena this year, Vikings, and more!

First up then, the bands… Grabbing a Friday slot on the Hopical Storm New Blood stage are Nottingham alt-rock trio Sleep In Motion, Belfast metallers Nihilanth, Newcastle riff merchants Kraken Waker, and Edinburgh heavyists Hammer

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Bloodstock Announces EMP Stage Line-Up ft. Lost Brethren, Lethal Evil, Crowley, King Kraken, MAB, Flamebearer, Rupcha Farms, Warpstormer, Goblin Smoker, Yersin and More


 

In a new partnership, Bloodstock is excited to announce the line-up for its 2024 EMP Stage (formerly the Jagermeister Stage)!  Friday’s bill will include tech/death squad Lost Brethren, thrash/death trio Lethal Evil, occult rockers Crowley, heavy blues rockers King Kraken, and goth metal outfit Mab. Saturday’s line up features grindcore/hardcore outfit Public Execution, metalcore beasts Parting With Origin, doom-fused heavyists Flamebearer, high octane fusionists Rupcha Farms and alt metal band Lurcher. Coming up on Sunday will be ‘fantasy space metal riff machine’ Warpstormer, celtic punk troupe The Callowgate Murders, fuzz-soaked riffmeisters of the Toad King Goblin Smoker, the 3-man noise machine Yersin and heavy blues rockers Loyds Trip.Continue reading


Bloodstock Announces First Bands For The Hopical Storm New Blood Stage, Metal 2 The Masses Finals Tour Kicks Off


The Metal 2 The Masses tour returns in 2024! Bloodstock’ initiative to give emerging bands a step up and also support grassroots venues, kicks off on 10th May, with 30 regions and 6 countries participating. The fun begins in Belfast and rolls down through Dublin and back to England, Scotland, and Wales, taking in Norway and Poland along the way. The tour wraps up in Coventry on 15th July, with all the regional winners from the finals being revealed in due course. Check out the local events below and get along to your nearest event to support the headliners of tomorrow!Continue reading


FESTIVAL REVIEW: Bloodstock Open Air 2019


Now in its nineteenth year, the annual metal pilgrimage to Bloodstock Open Air at Catton Hall in Derbyshire was joined this year by a very special, but highly unstable, guest.

The weather.

Yes, I know it’s England in August, and we should be more than accustomed to inconsistent weather conditions, but this really was something else. Tents too hot to be inside one moment were waterlogged the next. People soaked to the skin by sudden, torrential downpours were suffering sunburn minutes later. Grass turned to mud, mud became rivers, and the unprecedented winds would go on to cause problems all of their own.Continue reading


FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Bloodstock Open Air 2019


The time is nigh! Bloodstock 2019, the best major independent music festival in the world is here! Ghost Cult’s crack team will be on-site as we have been every year in our existence, bringing you this vital heavy music event and experience! Featuring Sabaton, Parkway Drive and Scorpions, along with Anthrax, Batushka, Children Of Bodom, Code Orange, Cancer Bats, Powerwolf, Soilwork, Cradle Of Filth, Thy Art Is Murder, Tesseract, Metal Church, Soulfly, Death Angel, Dee Snider, Queensryche, Eluveitie, Swallow The Sun, Evil Scarecrow, Ross The Boss, Grand Magus, Krysthla, Rotting Christ, Aborted, Skeletal Remains, All Hail The Yeti, Incite, Hypocrisy, Taake, The Lazys, Xentrix, and many more on the Catton Park stages this August. More bands are still being announced, but see the line-up so far here. Check out our day by day list must-see list below and everything else you need to know! Continue reading


Bloodstock Open Air is in 8 Weeks, Adds More Jager Stage Bands


Bloodstock Open Air, the best independent Metalfest in the world has added two more bands to its 2019 bill. Skypilot, Graves, Beggar, Black Shuck, Foul Body Autopsy, Jailbirds and Womanowar have all been added. More Jager stage bands will be announced next month. BOA also announces more Metal 2 the Masses winners: Grand Elder, Blind Divide, Scars of Remembrance, Elyrean, Fear Bound, Lost in Lavendar Town have all joined the fest. Bloodstock boasts headline bands Sabaton, Parkway Drive and Scorpions, along with Anthrax, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Code Orange, Cancer Bats, Powerwolf, Soilwork, Cradle Of Filth, Thy Art Is Murder, Tesseract, Metal Church, Soulfly, Death Angel, Dee Snider, Queensryche, Eluveitie, Swallow The Sun, Evil Scarecrow, Ross The Boss, Grand Magus, Krysthla, Rotting Christ, Aborted, Skeletal Remains, All Hail The Yeti, Incite, Hypocrisy, Taake, The Lazys, Xentrix, and many more on the Catton Park stages this August. More bands are still being announced, but see the line-up so far here.Continue reading


Bloodstock Announces First Metal 2 The Masses Winners, Day Tickets on Sale This Week


Gojira, photo credit Bloodstock Open Air on Facebook

Blood Stock Open Air will release their day tickets this week. A limited amount of day tickets for 2019’s event go on sale at 9.00am this Thursday 30th May, priced at £65 (+ fees) for adults and £20 (+ fees) for children aged 4-11. Children under 4 go free! Head here to snap them up! You can still also pick up 4-day ‘weekend tickets with camping’, priced £145 (+ fees) and children’s weekend tickets at just £35 (+ fees). VIP tickets are expected to sell out shortly, including limited Podpads, Bellepads and Octopads, plus limited remaining VIP upgrades (for those who’ve already purchased a standard ticket). Camper van plots & Luxpads are already sold out. Links below for more details. BOA also announces the first batch of New Blood winners from their ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ finals, who all bag a slot to perform on the Hobgoblin New Blood stage! The finals are still taking place around the country. Saturday’s New Blood stage bill welcomes Coventry winners Djinova, Glasgow victors Inferiem, and Deformation Of Man, who took top prize in the Sheffield heat. They’ll be joined by Belfast top dogs, Lock Horns. Black Country band Masters Call also win a New Blood slot after impressing the booking team via their CD submission. Sunday brings Dublin champions Aesect, Norwich leaders Bastard, and Take Refuge, having clinched first place in the Milton Keynes final. You’ll also get to see 28 Double, who took Leicester’s gold medal! Continue reading


Bloodstock Open Air 2019 Adds Xentrix, Karybdis, Control The Storm, Helheim and More


Bloodstock Open Air has filled the last few slots for the Ronnie James Dio main stage and Sophie Lancaster stage bands, as the Metal 2 The Masses finals roll through the UK to find the best of the grass roots to flesh out the New Blood stage. The dest also announced a limited number of day tickets for 2019’s event will go on sale at the end of May. Joining the stacked lineip are Xentrix, Karybdis, Control The Storm, Helheim, Guardians of Time, and Odd Crew. Bloodstock already includes headliners Sabaton, Parkway Drive, and Scorpions, with Anthrax, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Code Orange, Powerwolf, Soilwork, Cradle Of Filth, Thy Art Is Murder, Tesseract, Metal Church, Soulfly, Death Angel, Dee Snider, Queensryche, Eluveitie, Swallow The Sun, Evil Scarecrow, Ross The Boss, Grand Magus, Rotting Christ, Aborted, Skeletal Remains, All Hail The Yeti, Incite, Hypocrisy and many more on the Catton Park stages this August. With more bands to come, stay tuned for even more artists to be announced soon! Bloodstock will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 8th-11th August 2019. Get additional information and tickets at the link below.Continue reading


Shrapnel – Raised On Decay


I think it’s fair to say that Britain does not have the greatest depth of pedigree when it comes to Thrash. While there have been a couple of notable exceptions, other than the unassailable Sabbat, Xentrix (one of my favourite bands as a teen) are still, probably, the first name on anyone’s mind when asked to discuss said niche market. Twenty years after Preston’s finest slipped quietly into the ether and, an Evile or Savage Messiah aside, very little has changed in that regards.Continue reading