Review By Phil
Because, as well as the 20,000 metalheads who had descended on the hallowed grounds for 2025’s Bloodstock Festival there was a phenomenal number of wasps intent on joining in (or trying to ruin, depending on your perspective) the camp hi-jinks.
The resulting arm-flailing and leg-kicking from spheksophobic (it’s a thing!) campers would have graced any hardcore pit.
There was another, more significant, buzz around site though. This year’s iteration of the festival that celebrates all things heavy metal had a colossal headliner line up of Trivium, Machine Head and Gojira which had led to the ‘Sold Out’ signs going up early for Saturday and Sunday tickets.
This year’s festival felt especially poignant, coming so soon after the loss of a metal legend. Ozzy Osbourne’s spirit was everywhere – through band tributes, fans in Ozzy t-shirts, a commemorative wall and a steady stream of Sabbath tunes echoing across the arena and campsites. It was a constant reminder of what we’d lost, and a celebration of what we were lucky to have had.
So, on to the music.
Friday
Flotsam and Jetsam, the American thrash veterans, arrived in typical no-nonsense style to whip up the early afternoon crowd. Understated in terms of appearance and production, the band let the music speak for itself with a good mix of old and new in the brief slot available to them. For old thrashers like me, this was a well-worn studded leather jacket of a set; comfortable, a bit grimy and quintessentially metal.
Next on mainstage was Paleface Swiss, making their UK festival debut. As the band launched into the opening track ‘Hatred’, the crowd erupted into the liveliest circle pit of the early festival. Frontman Marc Zelli threw himself around the stage, demanding a match of energy from the crowd and getting it. The set, dominated by tracks from 2025’s album ‘Cursed’ was a masterclass in brutal deathcore. It won’t be long before the Swiss face-melters are deservedly much higher up the billing.
A growing Dio stage crowd gathered to watch the stalwart Orange Goblin’s final UK festival appearance. This was far from a sombre farewell, though. The quartet chose banger after banger from their 30-year catalogue and delivered them with their trademark balls-out brand of rock and roll. The band played the set with huge smiles, and when vocalist Ben Ward declared Bloodstock to be the most fitting way to end their festival career it was easy to believe he meant it.
Lacuna Coil are another band who have been around the scene for a few decades but are showing no signs of hanging up the microphone and instruments at this stage. The interplay between the soaring vocals of Cristina Scabbia and the guttural Andrea Ferro is glorious and allows the band to treat the crowd to songs that are equally heavy and melodic. Lacuna Coil are built for the big stage, setting off streamers that covered the sky (and stage rig and speakers!) in the colours of the Italian flag, firing merch into the crowd during “I Wish You Were Dead” and getting the Catton Hall masses bouncing with ease.
Trivium closed the main stage with one of the most electrifying finales in Bloodstock history. The set felt like a ‘Matt Heafy and Friends’ showcase, with surprise appearances from Sleep Token’s enigmatic III, Emperor’s Ihsahn, and Malevolence shredder Josh Baines. The highlight came with a stunning tribute to Ozzy, as Saturday night headliner Robb Flynn of Machine Head joined Trivium on stage for a blistering rendition of ‘Symptom of the Universe’.
Fresh off their Ascendancy tour, the band delivered a set still rich with tracks from their debut album but clearly relished the opportunity to delve into their wider back catalogue for this performance. They also showcased the live debut of ‘Bury Me with My Screams’ – a fierce new track which demonstrates that Trivium are here to stay.
The set had the usual pyro, inflatables and streamers you would expect of a headliner but it was the music and energetic delivery of it that was without doubt the star of Friday night.
Saturday
It was with hangover and recovery beer that I made my way into the arena at around midday in time for the extremely entertaining Warbringer on main stage. When a band’s soundcheck is better than some bands’ actual set, you know you’re in for a good time.
Lead singer John Kevill announced that the band were “here to crush”, and crush they did with a solid eight song set that generated so much dust from the pits it may have created a flight hazard.
High quality thrash metal, and a perfect start to my Saturday.
Heriot were next up. I can never quite believe that the diminutive Debbie Gough can muster such impressive guttural vocals but she smashes it again here. Delving largely into their 2024 album ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’, this was 45 minutes of crushingly heavy metalcore from the UK four piece.
Conversely, Creeper were on my ‘don’t-want-to-see’ list. From the little I had seen and heard, I assumed we were dealing with some Twilight-themed goth band for troubled teens. But, my aging legs had found a table close to the bar and in view of the main stage, so I braced myself for the worst.
What transpired was one of the performances of the weekend. Behind the vampire lore and corpse-paint lies a band destined to play their anthemic hits to full stadiums.
Are they 80s glam rock? Gothic Rock? Pop punk?
No idea, but they’ve gained at least one new fan from that theatrical performance, and I suspect a good few more.
Next on the main stage was a real change of pace. Kublai Khan TX, foreshadowing Sunday’s weather, decided to melt faces with a relentless barrage of riffs and breakdowns. Ferocious opener ‘Supreme Ruler’ paved the way for what was to be one of the heaviest performances of the weekend. The original plan was to watch the wonderful Phoenix Lake, but I couldn’t drag myself away from this Texas guitar massacre.
It’s hard to believe that Fear Factory’s ‘Demanufacture’ album is 30 years old this year, but then again I occasionally think I’m still young enough for mosh pits so what do I know? To celebrate the anniversary, the Bloodstock crowd were treated to a playthrough of the full album.
The opening double-bass drum assault of ‘Demanufacture’ sets the scene for this pulsating set, with drummer Peter Webber showing quicker feet than peak Lionel Messi and laying into the skins like they had spilled his pint.
Milo Silvestro does a great job of capturing the essence of the departed Burton C Bell on vocals, with him, Webber, and Dino Cazares delivering a sound that seems to come at you straight out of the Terminator franchise – heavy and relentless.
For me the set suffers from the same problem that the album did on its release; it was front-loaded with monster tunes and almost lost its way in the second half. Similarly, the energy seemed to seep away a little from the crowd as the set progressed towards its end – until the ever-popular Linchpin whipped up the dust again to close the set.
Machine Head was the band I was most looking forward to seeing. With an incredible back catalogue stretching back more than 30 years, I was confident they could reach the bar that Trivium had set so high the previous evening.
From Flynn’s opening bellow “Hear Me Now!” as opening track ‘Imperium’ hit its straps, it was clear the Californian four-piece were going to deliver. The band took us on a journey through the highlights of their back catalogue, with no particular album or era being favoured.
Heavy hitters ‘Ten Ton Hammer’, ‘CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE’ and ‘Now We Die’ set the pace for the rest of the gig until Flynn slowed things down with a touching tribute to his late UK Press Officer Michelle Kerr. Michelle’s influence and spirit is woven into the Bloodstock fabric and she appropriately received a fantastic response from the crowd, joining in with Flynn as he sang ‘Darkness Within’ to the heavens.
It speaks volumes that Machine Head could deliver such a killer headline set, while leaving live staples ‘Old’ and ‘Aesthetics of Hate’ on the sidelines. The energy was off the charts throughout, with the set even breaking the festival record for the number of crowd surfers.
Finishing with ‘Davidian’ and ‘Halo’, tracks from their best two albums for me, was the perfect way to wrap up. The massive Dio Stage crowd left drained, buzzing, and totally satisfied.
Sunday
Today’s opener for me was Pennsylvanian metallers August Burns Red. The excitement grew in the crowd as System of a Down’s ‘Chop Suey’ blasted from the speakers, before the band took the stage mid-song and finished the tune in their own inimitable style. It was a powerful opener.
The rest of the set built on this, with solid tracks and tight delivery, and the rapport between band and audience was excellent.
Although I missed the latter part of the set to make the short trip to the Sophie Lancaster tent it was a strong, if not spectacular, opening to my final day in the arena.
Dogma might seem a gimmick – sexy corpse-painted Nuns – but they commit so fully and deliver such a strong set of hard rock bangers, that you can’t help but buy into it.
There is more than a little KISS influence to the theatre, in particular bassist Nixe who, when striding round the stage with her maniacal grin, is very much a female version of Gene Simmons – with extra Demon.
But musically, the girls deliver. Each song, lyrically and performatively dripping with sex, is received rapturously by the crowd, many of which wore the same garb and facepaint as their heroes.
So transfixing was the set, by the time I made it back to the Main Stage, Feuerschwanz were already a couple of songs into their UK debut appearance.
The German Viking metallers had clearly wasted no time in winning over the crowd, with the whole field bouncing as I took my place amongst them.
How to describe what followed?
If you like your power metal with a party Viking twist, with scarf dancers, violins, bagpipes, cover versions of the ‘Numa Numa’ song and ‘Gangnam Style’, and an appearance from Jesus dual-wielding hammers, you’ll like this. And judging by the crowd, plenty of Bloodstockers did!
The Sunday sun was relentless, so I took a bit of a gap between bands to try to get some shelter. As a result, the next band I caught was Mastodon.
From speaking with people around the site, it was obvious that Mastodon were the set that many people were most looking forward to. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. For some inexplicable reason, I have never got on with their music but maybe something would click at Bloodstock.
Technically, the band were close to perfect. Nick Johnston’s riffage was punishing, the dual vocals from Dailor and Sanders were hard to fault and the setlist was effectively a ‘Best Of’ set.
All the makings of a monster performance then, but again it just didn’t engage me.
I’m sorry Mastodon, but it’s not you, it’s me.
I had similar misgivings about Sunday headliners Gojira, a band that have just never grabbed me.
There had been a lot of festival talk about the size of the production that Gojira had brought to Bloodstock – supposedly the biggest the festival had ever seen.
Seconds into opener ‘Only Pain’ and it was evident, as flames and fireworks shot high into the Derbyshire sky.
What followed was nothing short of phenomenal.
The band delivered a barrage of unrelenting proggy brilliance. Drummer Mario Duplantier drove the pace with machine gun tempo, while brother Joe’s vocals elevated the tracks way beyond the versions captured on their albums.
Highlights were a crushing version of ‘Flying Whales’, the operatic ‘Mea Culpa’ and closing track ‘The Gift of Guilt’, but every song in the 15-strong playlist is worthy of its place in this epic set.
As the sky again lit up with pyrotechnics that would have Rammstein looking on appreciatively, Gojira make their exit. You could see it on their faces – Gojira hadn’t just headlined Bloodstock. They had owned it.
So, with my body feeling every single one of its 50 years, my bank balance obliterated from overpriced food and drink, but with a smile bigger than one of Machine Head’s riffs, I made my way back to camp.
This year’s Bloodstock Festival was faultless; giant bands delivering giant performances, newer bands to the scene blazing their own trail to the top and people discovering favourite new bands.
Maybe just one area to improve on – can we maybe get W.A.S.P. to show up next year, instead of wasps?
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