Super Mega Big Review : Bloodstock Festival on August 8th 2026
It seems Saturday is the new day of worship as thousands of people have dragged themselves out of their pit to go and show reverence to the frog. Even before the Bristolian doomsters Froglord wander out (of course bringing forth the toad with them) the tent is full of devotees in full frog costumes and masks. They put on one hell of a show for half ten in the morning and have 2 young ladies in bikinis cavorting on stage in half face masks. Musically they play into the dominion of those that believe that Sabbath were not the first Heavy Metal band and instead were the last great psychedelic act. Froglord are doom shot with great chunks of psychedelia, mind altering and highly entrancing. A fantastic opening salvo. The Ronnie James Dio Stage’s first incumbent of the day is Inhuman Nature. They suffer from the fact that many people have been attracted by the cult of the frog or just fancied a lie-in and their crowd is modest to say the least. However, those that have turned up are determined to enjoy the shouty punk-thrash crossover and a circle pit spontaneously breaks out in the second track. A strident effort.
Stealing their moniker from the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft, Outergods take chunks of death, black and grindcore and combine them all in one molten melting pot. They succeed in putting the E into extreme with a high-octane performance rich with distorted riffs and frantic flagellation. Sam Strachan is an extraordinary frontperson and bounds around the stage with the energy of a toddler high on Haribo. An fantastically virial performance, it is just a shame that the audience hasn’t quite woken up yet. Back on main Imperial Age are, if we are honest, struggling. Having relocated from Russia to Northamptonshire due to having the balls to call out Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine this is meant to be their big moment to cement the presence as a leading force in symphonic metal. Sadly, their equipment continually lets them down with failed mics and malfunctioning cables. They also mistime their set meaning that they are swiftly dispensed with mid-song. We at ROCKFLESH Towers are big fans of this lot and it is sad to see their moment of glory squandered.
Back in the tent Imperium are putting themselves forward as one of the festivals success stories. They won the London ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ back in 2022 and have continued to build a healthy career, meaning that they have had the nod from Simon Hall to come back again to play the Sophie stage. They trade in a heavy but accessible version of thrash with clean and expressive vocals via Zach Jeter. They come from the musicality end of thrash and lean more toward well crafted riffs than furious furiosity. They also manage to pull a bigger crowd that is currently orbiting the main stage. Talking about the main stage it is time for another one of our Vicki’s leftfield choices. She has always been very vocal in wanting to expand our collective pallet with acts that might come from outside our musical sphere of influence. Having been lifted with how well both Flogging Molly and Ferocious Dog went down, she now presents us with the The Scratch. Hailing from Dublin they proport to combine metal with Irish folk and live sound like the Dubliners playing thrash. The sound is really clean and fresh and the folk elements means that their sound has lots of room to breathe. The crowd love it and a large circle pit sparks in jubilation.
Bound In fear are corrosive deathcore from Farnham. They pull a crowd ready to get violent with plenty of 2-stepping and flaying hardcore dancing to be found in the pit. Ben Marson is both an extraordinary vocal talent and a foreboding presence. He controls the crowd magnificently laughing off the few geezer chants that emerge from the throng. His guttural utterances are astonishing and full of indignant rage. A brilliant display of unrepentant hostility. Over on the main stage, one of the most hotly tipped British bands around are also busy making the festival their own. Let’s just say we have already written lots and lots on Rockflesh.com about how exquisite Urne are and we are not planning on getting impartial any time soon. This afternoon they are miraculously tight. Expanded to a four piece the complexity of what they are trying to achieve means that there is nowhere to hide and they musically weave incredibly in and out of each other. Instead of being relegated to purely being a provider of rhythm, Joe’s bass plays as crucial role as the guitar. Ambitious and utterly unstoppable even with issues with the lead mic, the climb to headliner status has begun.
Back on the Sophie stage, it is the resurgent return of Viking skull. This is only their fifth gig since Gav magically got them to reconstitute at the 2023 edition of Damnation Festival and the crowd very much make them believe they have been missed. The reaction is astonishing, from first to last song the assembled hordes sing along like their life depends upon it and throw themselves around with gay abandon. The look of joy and utter surprise in Frank’s eyes is a wonder to behold. Viking Skull sound like Viking Skull. Classic rock and roll filtered through the beauty of Motorhead. The boys are back and still brilliant dishevelled. Over on the main compound, Vended are desperately trying to prove that it isn’t all about nepotism. It is though difficult for them to escape the gravitational pull of the ‘Slipknot: the next generation’ tag, given that a) Corey and Shawn junior are both in the band and b) they sound exactly like early Slipknot. However the huge and distinctly vibrant crowd aren’t worried in the least and given that Bloodstock will never be able to afford the original, there is nothing else to do than lean in and enjoy the Temu version.
Celestial Sanctuary are a modern incarnation of classic death metal. They go full pelt this afternoon, dispensing razor-sharp riffs and bountiful breakdowns. There is plenty of headbanging on the barrier and further back into the crowd. Thomas Corin has become a consummate frontman and interacts with the crowd constantly creating a fanatic bound across the barrier. Talking about audience connection it is noticeable from the start that there is a section of the front area that are at Bloodstock purely to see Northlane. The barrier is awash with devotees that have been staking out their position since the arena opened and are resplendent in tears the moment the band emerge. What Northlane have embraced is the eclectic nature of the modern metal fan. Gone are those bygone days where if you liked metal you didn’t partake in anything else. Spotify and streaming have changed all that and Northlane have bought into that smorgasbord approach by pilfering from all over the shop. Their version of metalcore tangles with everything from Grunge to shoegaze, emo to EDM. It is all piled into great a rich emotive soup of passionate anthems. It is a frantic forty-five minutes with crowd surfers and mosh pits galore and once again proves that whether we old guard like it or not the demographics of this festival have changed and there is a bevy of young people now claiming it as their own.
Having said that, here comes Stampin Ground which allows the old guard to show the Northlane fanbase what was happening back when they were watching Teletubbies and soiling their nappies. The Sophie tent is at capacity and beyond. A number of enforced hiatus’ haven’t blunted any of the band’s power and they exude presence with the band and crowd feeding on each other’s energy. ‘Officer Down’ remains an anthem of epic proportion and the pit that it invokes threatens to swallow the entire tent.
There is more old guard action back on Ronnie James Dio for the resurrection of Nevermore. Originally what Warrel Dane, Jim Sheppard and Jeff Looms did when the wheels came off Sanctuary in the early nineties. They carried on till 2011 until they folded to, ironically, allow Warrel to reunite his original band. His untimely death in 2017 seemed to have put an end to any chance of a Nevermore reincarnation however inexplicably last year the lights spluttered back on and here they are playing their first UK show in sixteen years. The crowd is massive and stretches back as far as the eye can see. Up front is just a sea of Nevermore shirts singing along to every word and in rapture about their return. If we are honest the only two returning members are Jeff Loomis and Van Williams, however new vocal inhabitant Berzan Onen does a fantastic Warrel impression and seems also to have been possessed by his stage persona and charisma. It is a remarkable return from the other side and the rapturous reception proves the organisers right in moving them from the Sophie Tent.
Back in that same tent Death Angel are playing to a squished crowd desperate to catch site of the thrash innovators. Back in the late eighties and early nineties Death Angel made a name for themselves by contorting thrash in different delicious directions. Sadly we don’t get the “ACT III” set that they have touting across the States but to be honest when you have a back catalogue that contains ‘Evil Priest’ and ‘Bored’, who is going to complain. Those pesky Gremlins continue to play merry hell with their equipment and sound issues blight the entire set with the whole PA system cutting out at one time. But after forty years of doing this, they are all consummate professionals and carry on like nothing is wrong.
Any eyebrows that were raised last year when Vicki decided to lock Bleed from Within at the special guest level are completely devalued (and singed) mere moments into their performance. They are extraordinary and operate with great maturity and professionalism. This has been a long, long journey to this level of imperialism and the band are dead set on enjoying their crowning moment. They go for broke by embracing their Scottish heritage with kilts, bagpipes, and marching drums. There is also more fire than a Rammstein show, with seemingly every song accompanied by huge columns of flame. Given that their eventual ascension has happened post pandemic (potentially starting with their awesome appearance at the Download Pilot event) they stick to what they expect the crowd to know and don’t go any further back than “Fracture”. This doesn’t in anyway impede the audience reaction which is at headliner level. This is a success story both for a UK act that has resolutely stuck to their guns despite decades of indifference and also for Bloodstock’s mission to give prestigious berths to British talent. An absolute triumph and there is now a clear path open for them to headline this event.
Sanguisugabogg are not Of Mice and Men and they amuse themselves to no end in telling the crowd this endlessly. Brought in as super subs when the south Californian cult act pulled out, they are as far from smooth commercial metalcore as you are going to get. This is extreme death metal with the extremity proportion in bold capitals. They scream, they cavort and they ignore the need for simultaneous notes to have any connection with each other. Enjoyable in a brutalist manner.
Whilst there were questions marks about Europe in 2009, Ghost in 2017 and Parkway Drive in 2019. Slaughter to Prevail are by far the most controversial headliner the festival have ever entertained. There were questions poised both about Alex Terrible’s previous political allegiances and also whether they were just to god darn simplistic in their musical mannerism to close the Saturday night. Whilst the jury is still out on whether Alex still subscribes to far right ideologies what is in no doubt is how frickin amazing they are live.
They are a hammering blow of epic proportion that shakes the entire field to its core. Brutal, unbelievably heavy and drenched in astonishing stage presence. Alex knows he has a point to prove and an audience to win over. Whilst during the tracks he is a triad of aggressive and agitating energy, during the in-between times he is humble and vulnerable, explaining how much this opportunity means to the band. The staging is also incredible. Fire shoots from every orifice the stage provides, and the large platforms mean the band are visible all the way to the back. The envisaged crowd boycott never happens and initially there are at least as many people here as there were for Lamb Of God. It does thin somewhat towards the end but that is due to many headings back to camp or going off to get a good spot for Leprous, as opposed to any conscious walk out. A triumph that once again shows the power of ultra heavy music.
As said, there is obvious exodus before Slaughter to Prevails final numbers and that is down in part to having a band of Leprous stature as the final band of the night. They are such a unique proposition that the tent is jam full of both seasoned fanatics and also curious non-commitments keen to see what all the fuss is about. They are as ever incredible. This is progressive metal full of flair and ornate beauty. The heaviness exists well below the surface and instead we get luscious waves of sumptuous beauty topped off by Einar Solberg’s exquisite voice. Utterly entrancing and a fitting close to the third day.
Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Leprous + Slaughter To Prevail + Sanguisugabogg + Bleed From Within + Death Angel + Nevermore + Stampin Ground + Northlane + Celestial Sanctuary + Vended + Viking Skull + Urne + Bound In Fear + The Scratch + Imperium + Imperial Age + Outergods + Inhuman Nature + Froglord
I just love Metal. I love it all. The bombastity of symphonic, the brutality of death, the rousing choruses of power, the nihilistic evil of black, the pounding atmospherics of doom, the whirling time changes of prog, the faithful familiarity of trad, the other worldlyness of post, the sheer unrefined power of thrash. I love it all!