We're just about one month away from one of the best independent festivals the UK has to offer, and it's celebrating its silver anniversary to boot; Bloodstock will be back at Catton Park in Derbyshire with its 25th edition across the 6th to 9th of August and is set to be its biggest and best yet.
To help with the celebrations, the festival's second stage, the S.O.P.H.I.E. LANCASTER Stage, gets a big upgrade, the tent increasing in size and with added screens, but the big switch-up is that the RONNIE JAMES DIO Main Stage will be opening up for live music a whole day earlier than normal, meaning that we will get an extra headline act for the weekend.
Here's a rundown of all of the days and all of the stages and who we are most excited to see.
RONNIE JAMES DIO STAGE
Thursday 6th August:
They were featured on the very first Bloodstock lineup and get the honour of being the first-ever Thursday night main stage headliner; in their 40th year of making music and as pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), SAXON cannot be missed on the opening night.
"Dino-metal" for the whole family: we can see the main stage being packed out for the very first band of the entire weekend, HEAVYSAURUS. Four dinosaurs and a dragon, these dino-powered bands are proving to be the gateway for many mini-moshers to enter into the world of heavy music.
Friday 7th August:
Having previously headlined back in 2022, Richmond, Virginia's very own purveyors of New Wave American Heavy Metal, LAMB OF GOD, are sure to bring a set jam-packed full of certified bangers. (I've never been involved in a circle pit bigger than the one during "Redneck" in 2022).
What do you get when you mix a bit of QUEEN, KING GIZZARD, JUDAS PRIEST, and a sprinkling of BLACK SABBATH, give it a shot of adrenaline, and bundle it into 6 lads from Australia...you get... All hail BATTLE SNAKE! Expect extravagant stage costumes, fantasy and sci-fi themes, and a mixture of hard and progressive rock that pays homage to classic heavy metal. What better way to start the day on Friday?
Saturday 8th August:
Saturday night headliners are the sometimes controversial but always on top of their game, SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL, who will be bringing a shot of deathcore to the Saturday night lineup. Based on recent form, full-blown brutality can be expected. Check out what we thought when we caught them on their Grizzly Winter Tour earlier this year:
Initially, and very unfairly, thought of as a nepotism band, VENDED have more than proved both their worth and their mettle since they burst onto the scene in 2018. Having last played on the Ronnie James Dio stage back in 2022, we're excited to catch the energy and chaos of a Vended set and to see how the five-piece from Des Moines have upped their game since then.
Playing just before Vended are London-based three-piece URNE. Those who are in the know know that an Urne set is an all-encompassing assault of sludge-laden, progressive, atmospheric metal. Since the release of their album, Setting Fire To The Sky, earlier this year, we cannot wait to see what they do on the main stage.
Sunday 9th August:
Having last graced the Ronnie James Dio Stage in 2021, Black Country boys and living legends JUDAS PRIEST once again have the honour of closing the entire festival. Nothing more needs to be said; if you are not there in front of the main stage for this set, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself.
There have been calls for years for the festival organisers to book LA legends BODY COUNT. Fronted by Ice-T and co-founded by guitarist and childhood friend Ernie C. Body Count melds street-level storytelling with old-school metal. You'll find them as a sub-headliner on the main stage on Sunday evening.
New York City's very own "Rat Queen" will, alongside CASTLE RAT, be bringing their Medieval Fantasy Doom Metal to Catton Park. Each of their performances is packed full of lore, stuffed with swords and sorcery, battle babes, and beasts. Since the release of their second album, The Bestiary, last year, we cannot wait to see the story unfold further on the main stage.
S.O.P.H.I.E. (LANCASTER) STAGE
Bloodstock's second stage is named in honour of Sophie Lancaster, a young woman who, at just 20 years old, was murdered for the simple fact of being different. In August 2007 Sophie and her boyfriend were attacked in a park in Lancashire by a gang of five boys. Sophie's mother later set up the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, a charity that "promotes tolerance and acceptance for others — however different we are — and champions alternative people in our community." I would like to encourage all reading this article to please take a couple of extra minutes and check out the work that the Sophie Lancaster Foundation does: https://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/
Thursday 6th August:
Returning for a second year in a row is a band that we are extremely excited to see perform. The Black Country four-piece and previous winners of the Birmingham Metal 2 The Masses 2025, MANTIS DEFEATS JAGUAR who will be opening up the second stage on Thursday with their energetic blend of funk, hip-hop, and metal.
Friday 7th August:
Horror-punk awaits for the second stage headline slot as MURDER DOLLS alumni WEDNESDAY13 brings Friday night to a close. Check out our review last time we saw the Duke of Spook in action:
Saturday 8th August:
Previously featuring on the New Blood Stage at the 2024 edition as winners of the Bristol Metal 2 The Masses, FROGLORD will be bringing their brand of "Amphibious Swamp Doom" to the tent. These guys are not just all riffs, though; they recently released Lower & Slower, a compilation of even doomier versions of some of their tracks, but all for a good cause, raising money for the WWT Wetland Conservation.
Sunday 9th August:
The masked metal machine that is MUSHROOMHEAD will be in the Sophie tent on Sunday afternoon for a set that we are convinced will be one of the highlights of the weekend. Check out what our very own Ian Storck thought of them when he caught them on tour in Milwaukee last year:
NEW BLOOD STAGE
One of the standouts of Bloodstock Festival, and what truly sets it apart from almost all other mainstream festivals, is that they are committed to championing the next wave of our scene, spotlighting unsigned homegrown talent in such a way that they have an entire stage dedicated to these acts, The New Blood Stage.
Every year they run a series of 'battle of the 'band'-style events across the length and breadth of the UK (and into Europe) called Metal 2 The Masses (M2TM). With each regional event showcasing the best unsigned talent from that area's local metal scene, each ultimate regional winner books themselves a spot to play on the New Blood Stage alongside some other unsigned or under-the-radar bands hand-picked by the festival organisers.
Not only that, the festival actively gives them as much press coverage and exposure as they possibly can, with many of these "New Blood" bands returning in subsequent years on the festival's other stages.
Here are our top "New Blood" picks for each day.
Friday 7th August:
MEET YOUR MAKER, a Midlands-based nu-metalcore act whom we are promised will bring an energetic and interactive live performance. The name of the band should give away their beliefs, but alongside the heavy breakdowns they also bring a message of positive mental health; each of the band members has lost someone in the past to suicide, so their gigs become somewhat of a sounding board and open discussion on mental health. They even have relevant material from the NHS available at their merch stand and have partnered up with Heart Support, the mental health charity created by AUGUST BURNS RED frontman JAKE LUHRS.
Saturday 8th August:
Hailing from Guernsey and winners of the Channel Islands edition of M2TM, APOTHIS are a metalcore band that promise to channel crushing riffs, punishing breakdowns, and uncompromising live energy.
Sunday 9th August:
Now I have to give a shoutout here to the local lads from my neck of the woods (it also helps that they are an incredible act too), deserving winners of the Cheltenham edition of M2TM; CHUG are a powerhouse duo who are dedicated to the pursuit of metal groove. I can guarantee that you will not have heard a louder wall of sound coming out of just two blokes. The energy will be high, the riffs will be fierce, the mosh pits inclusive, the groove...absolutely on point; expect to be metaphorically slapped in the face by a bit of the 'Old Razzle Dazzle.' I WILL be seeing you all at the New Blood Stage on Sunday for what is guaranteed to be a highlight set of the weekend.
EMP Stage
A quickfire of hot takes for the festival's smallest stage.
Friday 7th August:
VANITAS, symphonic progressive metal from Birmingham.
Saturday 8th August:
TROLL MOTHER, a power sludge duo from the south coast, bringing D&D storytelling with erratic energy.
Sunday 9th August:
WREX, a Brighton-based electro-charged alternative rock duo, collides punk, nu-metal, pop, and trance.
As it's their 25th anniversary, the organisers have put on a bumper edition of the Bloodstock festival this year. Not just an unrivalled line-up, but also an expanded programme of music alongside all the other things we've come to expect from the festival (Rock-Fit Workout Classes, the RAM Gallery, the Battle Arena, the boys from RAISED BY OWL'S hosting 'Pillow Fight Club,' the Hellbent Hoedown [heavy metal meets line dancing], eating challenges hosted by Spud Man and OllieEats, the always popular Signing Tent, and the legendary Bin Jousting, to name just a few). I for one cannot wait, but with now only 1 month to go, I think I can just about hold on.
