By Monk
There can be no doubt that few, if any, other festivals are as committed to or invested in the cultivation and development grassroots metal scene quite as heavily as Bloodstock, as evinced by its annual #Metal2TheMasses showcase of the finest rising talent, which this year alone offers the invaluable opportunity for bands from 30 different locations across the Über Kingdom, and beyond, to burst out of their native environments and onto at least one, and hopefully more, bigger stages.
With this year’s competition now more than a third of the way through it’s epic concluding stages, and with many of the finals reporting the “Sold Out” signs on the doors, the first raft of winners have now been given their day splits.
On Friday, we will be able to bear witness to East Anglian aggressors Regicide, offering a blend of thrash/groove metal with hardcore elements, Belfast death/thrash champions Microtonal, modern melo-death crew Atarka, who won the Birmingham round, and explosive Leeds hardcore five-piece Bailed Out.
Saturday will welcome Sheffield metalcore evictors Descendancy and cathartic Northants noiseniks Dead Bait.
The Sunday service will add diverse Scottish top dogs Chekhov’s Gun (whose striking sound is matched by a visceral live show, fronted by a flamboyant Lithuanian ballroom dancer!), Manchester’s prog metal quintet Technologist, doom-inspired Sunk, who came first for the South Coast region, collaborative Cyprus conquerors Joakem, and formidable death metal unifiers KA’APER, who are comprised of both Russian and Ukrainian musicians.
The Metal 2 The Masses finals continue this weekend, with the Norwegian competition coming to its conclusion:
In other Bloodstock news, Californian metalcore monsters Of Mice & Men have been forced to cancel their entire planned run of European summer shows. They will be replaced on Saturday’s Sophie Stage bill by Ohio death dealers Sanguisugabogg.
Over the course of the weekend there also will be a special ‘S.O.P.H.I.E Trail treasure hunt, offering participants the chance of winning weekend tickets to Bloodstock 2027 for just a £2 (minimum) donation to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. There also will be a movie night in the Midgard camp on the Wednesday evening, featuring Devin Townsend’s ‘The Moth’ and one other film to be chosen by an audience vote.
- The 25th anniversary iteration of Bloodstock, headlined by Saxon, Lamb Of God, Slaughter To Prevail and Judas Priest, will take place at Catton Hall, Derbyshire, over the weekend of 6-9 August.