Super Mega Big Review : Bloodstock Festival on August 9th 2025

With 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. The majority of them land and an interested gathering nod along upfront.

On main stage the much-fancied Cage Fight have assembled an incredibly impressive throng of people. Every must-watch list for this year's festival seems to include this punchy outfit within its ranks. They come out swinging with a relentless cacophony of short, sharp circular riffs courtesy of James Monteith. Over the last few years they have evolved far beyond being what James does when he's not in Tesseract or arranging interviews for us at ROCKFLESH. They now feel like a fully formed entity that just so happens to have a guitarist who looks remarkably like the one in Tesseract. The sporting of matching T-shirts gives off a vibe of professionalism and synchronicity, and underlies the tightness that now is within the band. The music is brutal and unrepentant, but there is a beauty in its corrosive coarseness. Angry and antagonistic, it is an astounding start to the day.

Back on Sophie Vnder a Crvmbling Moon are rolling out really rather interesting post-black metal. Simultaneously heavy and ethereally atmospheric, they manage to create an icy and haunting ambience in the rapidly increasing temperatures.

Back on main, The Spirit are also playing with the constraints and constructs of black metal. Hailing from Germany they produce a version of Black Metal that feels clean and pristine as opposed to dirty and depraved. It is full of gorgeous hooks and resonating melodic refrains. There is enough malevolent threat to ensure that it still lives within the black metal fraternity, but in the main, this is intrinsically and highly professionally created music that feels crisp and extremely produced.

It seems to be “doing different things with black metal corner” as Ba’al back on Sophie are also playing with metal's most nihilistically nasty genre. They have added a huge lot of "post” variants to the party meaning that we getting gnarly knotted sections followed by luscious introspective passages and an ever-fluctuating level of velocity. It is really well done and you feel like you're falling down an eternal well of churning introspection.

Back on the main stage, we get our first super-crowd of the day as most of the festivalgoers make it out of their pits to see the warhorse that is Warbringer. They are apologetic in their adherence to metal’s old ways. There are swords, oaths and tales of valour and the vanquished. It is heart-warmingly old school, recalling a time when all Heavy metal storytelling had to come from the big book of Dragon slaying. Musically, they are unrepentantly thrash metal. Fast, furious and foregoing any level of subtlety. But it is fabulously entertaining in its rampant faux aggression.

When interviewed Bloodstock uber Booker Vicki, she spoke about circuit breakers. Bands that take the crowd out of their comfort zones and deliver something different to continual blast beats and petrified screams. Pengshui are one of those acts. Dance metal typically refers to a heavy metal style with a few electronic elements added for effect. This is different, Pengshui are firmly a dance act, just doing it with enough heaviness and aggressive attitude to appeal to the metal masses. The closest ally I can find is the Prodigy who they commemorate by not just covering but completely rewiring ‘Omen’. A brave booking choice that the lands inordinately well.

It doesn't start well for Heriot; there are technical glitches all over the shop and they struggle to get any form of momentum as the guitars regularly disappear from view. All of this is a real shame as Heriot are probably the most exciting young band we currently have here in the UK. Debbie Gough and her compatriots understand the importance of this show and they manage to pull at the very least a modicum of respect from the jaws of defeat. The beauty of what Heriot are doing is that it works on so many different layers. There is a heavy and seemingly impenetrable crust; but underneath it was real fragility and beauty. This highly emotive and self-aware music that isn't afraid to show its vulnerability. Yes, it's a difficult 40 minutes for them, but that doesn't stop them from illustrating why they are so revered.

Back at Sophie, metal's new guard continues its relentless assault upon Bloodstock. Waterlines come from a stable of bands looking to rehabilitate metalcore. Its sometimes cartoon façade is removed and instead we get an incredibly volatile and politically aware sound that is not afraid to assimilate all that it hears is around it. Unlike Pengshui, Waterlines are firmly metal and they come across as secure enough in themselves to liberally pick from a thousand potential influences that fly around them. Metal has survived for nearly 60 years by being a cuckoo music, assuming all other forms around it. Waterlines continue that tradition and do it darn well.

When Creeper was booked there were indeed eyebrows raised. The gothabilly champions may well be blackbelts in world-building but not even their fiercest defender is going to argue that they are metal. But as they wander out into the mid-afternoon sun (not the most vampire-friendly slot) the turnout and the response is simply astonishing. It is obvious that a good chunk of the creeper cult has purchased day tickets and parked themselves upfront, but the ecstatic reception doesn't stop there and stretches back all the way to the food vendor's. We are entering Creeper phase 3.5. They are taking the subterranean delights of “Sanguivore” and running with it by going even further into vampire mythology with the forthcoming sequel. It is all leather jackets and fake blood and the Bloodstock faithful absolutely love it. Creeper provide a frankly astonishing performance, set piece after set piece. Their music is built for big stages like this and the spine-tingling singalongs on ‘Down Below’ and ‘Cry to Heaven’ show that those headline berths they so obviously desire may not be that far away after all.

Phoenix Lake were given the prestigious opportunity of opening the Sophie stage back in 2023. A Plethora of impressive support slots means they have been able to rise up the ranking. It is highly melodic metalcore that owes a debt to bands like Within Temptation and Hailstorm, but Lana Phillis has enough of her own identity to ensure that they make their own mark. Where they do sadly suffer is that they are going toe to toe with another of this weekend's top drawers. 

Kublai Khan have taken the stomp of New York hardcore and made it their own. They are brash, boastful and full of bravado. There is no self-deprecation at play here. They know how good their stuff is, and Matt Honeycutt spends the set ensuring that everybody within earshot is very aware of it. It's heavy and unrelenting, but is not exactly brutal; instead, as with all hardcore, there is a melodic element that makes it all rather intoxicating. They absolutely own the slot and manage to create a wall of death that stretches all the way back to the mixing desk. Bloodstock undeniably eats out of their hand and nothing illustrates hardcore’s acceptance into our world than watching black metal guy nod along to the unrelenting chaos.

Neonfly play slick and highly melodic heavy rock. It’s all big choruses and soaring guitars. It comes across a little safe after the life changing bombasity of Kublai Khan but the devotees upfront lustfully singing along show that there still very much is a market for this stuff.

If we are honest Fear Factory is now essentially Dino and hired hands. Relatively long-term member Tony Campos isn’t even around for this run, though he does join them to do backing vocals on ‘Linchpin’, as this is one of the few stopovers where the itineraries of Static X and Fear Factory intertwine. When you've got something as extraordinary and era-defining as “Demanufacture” it doesn't really matter who is actually up there on stage, as this is more about the songs than the people performing them. Every track is a belter and for those of us who were there at the time, every track is a time capsule of memories and reminiscence. For an hour, we bath in the chrome nostalgia of an album that, in retrospect, massively and irreparably changed metal. Unbelievably good.

As they play, Undeath broadcast behind them scenes from a very old school game of Doom. It is fitting because Undeath play a very old school version of Death Metal. It is stark, shrill and full of malevolent intent. They have learnt that the best death metal leaves space for the music to breathe, and whilst it is unrepentant and unstoppable in its velocity, there is still plenty of space at play.

Back on main Al Jourgensen has decided the best headwear for this weather is a big, all-encompassing furry hat. It is debatable how relevant Ministry now are in 2025, but they draw a highly curious and rather engaged crowd. The biggest reactions are of course, when they roll out ‘N.W.O’, ‘Just One Fix’ and ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod’, but there is enough undefinable chaos happening on stage to keep the masses entertained. The only question is how much is being produced live and how much on tape?

Breed 77 have always had a real symbiotic relationship with their fan base. Back in the day, they dominated Kerrang fan-based polls and they built a reputation based on public adoration as opposed to media hype. Whilst they are indeed Bloodstock veterans, this is their first appearance since their return from hiatus in 2021. The tent is rammed and love pours out from each of the corners that it doesn't have. They seem genuinely moved by the waves of adulation that crash down upon them. They were an oddity in the early noughties and they remain distinctly out of step with everything else going on around them. But that is their beauty. The use of flamenco influences gives their sound a unique energy and passionate rawness. They may now be way into their third decade as a band, but they still sound fresh and invigorating. A triumphant return from all of metal's most underrated underdogs.

If the night before had been about Trivium claiming their position as a bonafide member of the metal elite, then tonight is about Machine Head reaching out for the same pinnacle. Due to Reece Scruggs enforced absence, Waclaw Kieltyka (Vogg to you and me) is back in the band, and there is something about having such a virtuoso and accomplished guitarist alongside him that pushes our Robb to reach the best of his abilities. Tonight Machine Head are simply extraordinary. They take a different track to Trivium and don't rely on any special guests or stunt covers. Instead, they fall-back on what they do best, which is full-throttle, highly emotive heavy metal. They charge around their back catalogue with relish, rehabilitating material from the overlooked “Unto the Locust” and “Bloodstone & Diamonds” but also providing enough “old” material you keep the die-hards happy.

Robb is in fine fettle. He conducts a massive sing-along during the anchor track of ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ and he chucks out beers to his new buddy Banana Man. The most poignant and vulnerable moment is when he deviates from the show to pay tribute to their former publicist, Michelle Kerr. You can hear the tangible trembles in his voice as he bigs up her reputation as a badass woman and eulogises about the role she played in making Machine Head the powerhouse that it is today. Many have rued the opportunity to count the band out, but they have become one of the most dependable and incendiary live acts out there. Tonight, they are majestic and imperialistic in the ease which they headline the festival. They know exactly which buttons to press and a hundred minutes flies by in an instant.

‘Bulldozer’ is savage and untamed, but it is with the nailed-on ending salvo of ‘Davidian’ and ‘Halo’ that the whole thing reaches fever pitch. Each track comes from a very different and distinct part of Machine Head's timeline and they sound diversly different. But they have become quintessential parts of the heavy metal lexicon. It is that ability to regroup and rejuvenate that has made Machine Head so exciting. ‘Halo’ is the DNA of metal concentrated into an astonishing nine minutes. Circle pits erupt as far as the eye can see and it becomes a bounding experience as we scream the lyrics as one. Metal is about belonging. It is about the creation of an alternative doctrine that runs parallel to the mundane mainstream world. Tonight, Machine Head prove themselves to be the rulers of that netherworld. They are the glue that brings us all together, and they are astonishing in that role.

Talking about rehabilitation Static-X seem to have shifted from ridiculed ridiculousness to a point where everybody exiting Machine Head wants to get into the tent. The decision to put them on Sophie may well be being rethought as a crowd at least fifty deep protrudes from the tent. What they bring is the party. Static-X were always about the daftness and the remaining members absolutely lean into the absurdity of the whole thing. This self-proclaimed disco metal and what becomes clear is that is done with a massive dollop of self-aware irony. There are floating aliens, monsters and more neon than you can shake a stick at. What it all boils done to is fun. They are venerating and remembering the larger-than-life caricature that was Wayne Static by leaning into and embracing the bizarre. It just fizzles with wanton excitement, and whilst Static-X may not feature in any greatest bands of all-time list they perfectly manage to encapsulate the wonderful anarchic splendour of our music. Daft, digital and off the wall they provide the perfect way to send off the evening.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!