There is a lot of talk this weekend about community. About the unique community that Damnation and the associated “Two promoters'” podcast have created, and about how that community spreads between fans and artists. From meeting Keith from Deadguy in the pit to seeing James Scarlett propping up the bar, nodding along, it is clear that everyone is here because they love this music.
Read MoreSo what have we learned at Damnation 2025? Well! For one, people do like a good sit-down. During the four months leading up to the festival, its forum has been full of requests for more seating opportunities. Organiser Gav, being the omnipresent granter of dreams, made that possible by putting a whole swathe of chairs in at the front right of the main stage and at the back of the smallest auditorium. From the moment doors opened on Saturday
Read MoreYes, you read that right. Due to missing a year during Covid, 2025 sees Rockwich celebrating its 10th birthday in style. Year on year this humble little gathering has expanded, outgrowing several previous venues and selling out pretty much every year. To mark this auspicious occasion the previously indoor-only event has managed to secure the use of a marquee just outside the main doors of the club that it calls home.
Read MoreSunday morning also starts with Jack's Jam, with Jack J Hutchinson inviting festival-goers and the odd musician (Hi again Matt from Ransom!) onto his little stage. This time there’s a definite slant towards the music of Ozzy Osbourne, and a rollicking good time is had by all again. This is helped along by the fact that the festival management were obviously taking feedback on board and although the bar in the barn remained resolutely shut due to licencing restrictions, the bar by the main stage was very much open for business. Niggle put to bed in under 24 hours, kudos Firevolt!
Read MoreSaturday starts with Jack J Hutchinson in the barn having a bit of a jam session. He’s not on the proper stage so it’s semi-acoustic and although he starts with his own band doing his usual bluesy stuff he soon gets people up from the crowd to strut through some well-known covers. Names have been picked beforehand and there’s a couple of ringers (looking at you Matt from Ransom!) and it turned out to be a happy, hum-along session.
Read MoreFriday starts with negotiating the token system for the bars – essentially they come in a couple of colours and you buy a handful from the helpful staff and then proffer them hopefully when ordering a drink! It doesn’t take long to get the hang of it though, so attention turns to opening band Rare Breed.
Read MoreIn these days of smaller, independent festivals going to the wall due to lack of interest and advance sales, it’s heartening to meet Firevolt and see how well they are doing.
Since its inception in 2022 it has grown like a virus, attracting bands and punters alike and building itself a solid reputation year-on-year. As the date clashes with that bastion of All Things Metal that is Bloodstock, 2025 is the first year that Rockflesh have been able to attend and what we found was truly delightful.
Read MoreThe unprecedented and extraordinary early sell-out left Bloodstock 2025 with a rather interesting quandary. How does it accommodate thousands of new punters whilst simultaneously preserving the unique communal feel that has been its backbone for the last two decades? In the main the festival manages to pull it off. There are some hiccups: chairgate rumbles on and queuing to get in and out of the arena seemed habitual, but despite all that Bloodstock ’25 remains quintessentially the Bloodstock we know and love. Just with a lot more people.
Read MoreAnd we reach numero uno. Our final must-watch. This one is special. This one is different. This one is personal. For the first time ever we have got real skin in the game. Yes, we have had bands that ROCKFLESH have championed play Bloodstock before, but this is the first time we have had a band we are intrinsically connected with play the festival and we cannot contain our excitement.
Read MoreNo matter what else it clashes with, you have to be in the main field for Orange Goblin. Not because they are a mainstay of British metal, not because they remain one of the finest and most authentic live acts out there and not because they are genuinely nice people. You need to be here because this is it.
Read MoreI am going to get personal here. It was on these very fields of Bloodstock that I first discovered and heard Gojira. It was back in 2010 and my second visit to Catton Hall. Sunday was awash with riches, including the gruesome delights of GWAR and the death metal supergroup that is Bloodbath. I was devouring it all and becoming one with the metal.
Read MoreBloodstock have rather pulled off a coup by crowning their majestic 2025 line-up with arguably the two most interesting bands in modern metal. We will pontificate about Gojira in due course, but for now let us lyrically gesticulate on the wonder that is Mastodon.
Read MoreFrayle are low-key and haunting. They produce metal that is doused with fragile vulnerability and ethereal refrains. They prove that you don’t need to be heavy to have weight and mass. There is a minimal maudlin nature to their sound.
Read MoreKataklysm are death metal’s forgotten pioneers. Whilst they are not spoken about the same level of awe as death metal's founding fathers, there are still an incredibly influential outfit. They have been doing what they do since 1991 and any band that gets technical and intricate with death metal owes them a debt of gratitude.
Read MoreThe only disappointment about this year’s Bloodstock offering in a veritable sea of goodness, is the lack of any real discernible power metal. All for Metal aside, the trad trappings of these long-standing Canadians are as good as we are going to get.
Read MoreSo “that man” is none other than Behemoth’s enigmatic leader Nergal. This is his Nick Cave obsessed side project that keeps him busy when he is not singing odes to old nick and annoying the hell out of the Polish state church. This is country and blues via the fevered imagination of a metal icon.
Read MoreWhilst it may seem to many that Kublai Khan TX have appeared from nowhere, their overnight success story has actually been rather a slow burner. Last year's breakthrough record “Exhibition of Prowess” is album number five in their discography, and they have spent 16 years diligently learning their craft and painstakingly crawling up bills.
Read MoreBloodstock have been exceedingly good at reading the room and discerning who the in-names are when it comes to metal. Warbringer have been steadily building a rather impressive following over the last few years and it feels inevitable that they would finally end up at the hallowed ground of Catton Hall.
Read MoreMachine “fuckin” head. The real frikin deal. A reliable constant that reminds us the metal is a rallying cry for the indisposed and unfranchised. Machine Head are the people’s champion. They are so entwined with modern metal that you can align the genre’s development over the last three decades with the evolution of Robb Flynn’s crew.
Read MoreTrivia fans, Ghosts of Atlantis played their first ever gig here at Bloodstock in 2021. They were promoted from the New Blood stage to Sophie Lancaster stage because of Covid casualties and they won an awful lot of friends with their anthemic Death Metal that is rich in melody and storytelling.
Read More
