From rising metal powerhouses Green Lung to Brit hardcore upstarts Grove Street and doom trap trailblazer Mimi Barks, there’s far more to Bloodstock than just massive headliners Opeth, Architects and Amon Amarth. Here are our picks from the undercard to get you fired up for one of the heaviest weekends of the year…
Praise the metal gods, Bloodstock 2024 is upon us! As a celebration of beer, battle jackets and bin jousting, the annual metal weekender at Catton Hall is already unmatched. And of course there are a shedload of big bands. We’ve been begging for years that Opeth growl again, and the Swedish giants’ fan-picked Friday headline set should be a throat-ripping warm-up for massively anticipated fourteenth album The Last Will And Testament. Brighton boys Architects will step up for a landmark performance on Saturday, cementing themselves as one of the heaviest hitters in British metalcore. Then festival favourites Amon Amarth will get the row-pit rocking on Sunday. And that’s not even mentioning the headbanging likes of Clutch, Carcass and Hatebreed.
More and more, however, BOA is a proving ground for some of the most exciting young and underground acts in all of alternative. There was a time when the thumping doom trap beats of Mimi Barks or the French experimentalism of Igorrr would’ve felt out of place amongst the traditionalist denim and leather, but now they’re welcomed with raised horns and open arms, adding fresh colour and texture to a jam-packed four days. So here are our picks for 10 of the hottest sets to look out for in between getting literally and figuratively smashed. We’ll see you down the front...
Burner only played their first-ever festival slot at last month’s 2000trees, but the London lads already have the aura of one of the most exciting acts from the UK underground. Their excoriating blend of death, black metal and hardcore will go down an absolute storm at Bloodstock, obviously, with songs like Pillar Of Shame and Prometheus Reborn custom-tooled to pummel punters into the dirt. It’ll be fascinating to see how they up their game on the Sophie stage amidst a line-up absolutely stacked with the heaviest of the heavy, but with their unstoppable fire continuing to rage, there’s a real chance they could steal the show.
Double, double, toil and trouble! Much like Burner, Cauldron are another red-hot UK prospect with roots in the grit and grind of hardcore, but grand plans of making their mark in the more gleefully OTT world of heavy metal. Not to be confused with the Canadian outfit of the same name (far more conventionally ‘Bloodstock’ fare), the Birmingham wrecking crew are young masters of raw-nerve emotion and nightmarish atmospherics, with livewire vocalist Frazer Cassling a focal point it’s impossible to tear yourself away from. Songs like Lonely Useless Orbit and Standing In Awe Of A Monument from last year’s debut LP Suicide In The City are thrilling on record, but they’re downright ferocious in the live arena.
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women? No! Absolutely balls-to-the-wall epic heavy metal! Over the last decade, Chicago barbarians Eternal Champion have become one of the most bombastic exponents of just that style. Named after a reincarnating hero caught in the cosmic struggle between law and chaos from the fantasy universe of Anglo-American author Michael Moorcock, you can probably guess the sort of blood and thunder pulsing through songs like I Am The Hammer and Ravening Iron even if you’ve never heard a note: exactly the sort of of awesomely sweeping, horns aloft borderline-cheesiness upon which Bloodstock was built. Expect bare chests, chainmail cowls and the sonic equivalent of a swords-and-sorcery B-movie. Lovely.
Green Lung fucking rule. The London doomsters were already one of the best bands in British metal: a gang of lifers possessing the knowledge, respect and imagination to make classic sounds feel invigoratingly up-to-date. With last year’s third album This Heathen Land, though, they stunningly stepped up, delivering a handful of instant-classic tracks to seal their place at the forefront of the genre. They’ve just announced their biggest-ever headline shows at Manchester’s O2 Ritz and London’s O2 Forum, but in front of a crowd of thousands, Friday’s main stage bow at Bloodstock will confirm there are even bigger things to come.
Last time we took a stroll down Grove Street – at their wonderfully chaotic 2000trees showcase – punters were chucking beers over each other and rafting around the tent in an inflatable dinghy. Can Bloodstock get sillier than that? We’d bet a leather cowboy hat on it. Purveyors of loose-limbed chaos, without the boneheaded machismo that ruins so much of their brand of crossover-tinged hardcore, the Southampton collective never fail to deliver crunchily good vibes. And with a setlist loaded with bangers like Hunting Season and The Path To Righteousness, they’ll wring the last energy reserves out of Bloodstock on Sunday afternoon.
A tornado of unhinged devilry, Hellripper’s blackened thrash unfurls with a taste of black magic and almost elemental power. The really awesome thing about the great Scots, though is how much fun they have while communing with the man downstairs. Drawing heavily on influences like Venom and Darkthrone, bangers like The Nuckelavee and Goat Vomit Nightmare deliver outstanding silliness at speed, without ever descending into farce. There’s be no better way to get the party started on Thursday night.
Fancy a blend of black metal, baroque and breakcore? Well, you’re in luck this weekend as French experimentalist Gautier Serre brings his brilliant, bonkers project Igorrr to Bloodstock. And for a late-night Sophie stage headline, no less! With the focus primarily on the classical and electronic elements of his sound – extremist touches used sparingly for more bracing effect – songs like Camel Dancefloor, Tout petit moineau and Vegetable Soup are literally unlike anything else on offer at Catton Hall. Or anywhere, probably. It’s a set destined to confound as many listeners as it thrills, but there’s no chance of boredom.
Okay, Saturday’s Main Stage subheadliners Malevolence aren’t exactly in danger of being overlooked, but it’s worth emphasising how significant that massive set could be. Talked about, for years, as champions of truly heavy British music, skull-rattling third album Malicious Intent gave them the boost needed to punch up to the next level. Having already headlined the Sophie stage in 2022, this feels like a deserved celebration of how far they’ve come and a peek at how far they might be able to go. It should be proof, too, that as much as they’ve got one foot in the world of hardcore, the sludgy heft of hits like Still Waters Run Deep and On Broken Glass can absolutely mix it with the heaviest bands out there. Get in the pit!
Mimi Barks is on an absolute tear right now. With wildly anticipated debut LP THIS IS DOOM TRAP scheduled for September 26, we’ve had a drip-feed of fresh music – FSU, BANSHEE, HOUSE FULL OF FAKES – bringing that titular genre further and further into focus, and Mimi has stressed that this year is break or bust as she makes some of the boldest artistic moves of her career. Anyone who’s paid attention to the Berlin-born trailblazer’s story so far will know that should herald something truly special. Of course, there’s not much traditionally ‘metal’ in Mimi’s material, but the dread-filled atmosphere will get under the skin of even the most denim-clad traditionalists, and her unapologetic outsider attitude couldn’t be better-suited to BOA’s Sophie Lancaster tent.
There are many shades in unpeople’s unpredictable spectrum. Formed from the remnants of criminally underrated Brit-rockers Press To MECO, the fast-rising London collective are sweet enough to play the indie-centric Kendal Calling and deliver a crowd-pleasingly melodic set at 2000trees. They’re odd enough to show up at Radar, too. But some of their earliest high-profile shows were opening for the uber-heavyweight Conjurer at the (Kerrang! curated) Music Venue Trust’s United By Music tour last September. And they’ve already opened for Metallica in Vienna earlier this year. Bloodstock should be the sternest test of their metal credentials yet, but already with an arsenal of mind-bending, neck-wrecking, hair-raising bangers like overthinking, moon baboon and smother in the bag, they’ll surely smash it. Expect to be thrilled.
Bloodstock takes place at Catton Park in Derbyshire from August 8 – 11. Get your tickets now.
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