Bloodstock Open Air returns to Derbyshire with one of the best line-ups in the metal scene – spread across three days in August, it’s a festival that’s run by the fans, for the fans, with elite metal talent everywhere you look. Across multiple stages with a wide variety of treats for fans including medieval armoured knights duelling in painstakingly accurate recreations; it’s more than just a festival, it’s an experience – designed for those who have conquered Download and want to take their metal to the next level.
Friday the 8th’s headliners are veterans Trivium. 10 full albums in the grammy award nominated Florida quartet are a pummelling hardrock outfit with the fact that they’ve reached this far being a feat in itself – a mission statement clad in ironclad guitar fireworks, building on the back of Ascendancy’s classic status – being labelled as one of the 15 greatest metal albums of the century per Metal Hammer. You are witnessing a band create their own mythology in real time on In The Court of the Dragon, Scandinavian stories, Vikings and the tales of Odin, Thor and Ragnarök are all spiralled into a mythic narrative that culminates in an near-eight minute Fall Into Your Hands epic.
Lacuna Coil are a band with roots back to 1994 in Milan. Frontwoman Cristina Scabbia is a force of nature and they’re an imposing, soaring band that knows how to fuse Scabbia and Andrea Ferro’s growls perfectly to something purely unique and visionary. Their album Sleepless Empire is one of the standout metal releases of 2025 – gothic metalcore and heavier on the male end of the vocals early on that really plays to Ferro’s strengths as a singer. It’s a comeback album, a statement piece that follows the tradition of 90s bands reckoning with the transition between the past and the present.
One of the strongest death doom pieces of the last few years was KONVENT’s Puritan Mashochism, a band that follow in the wake of Cult of Luna and others of their ilk. The Danish band are out to make Copenhagen the capital of death doom and based on their record so far you’d be hard pressed to argue otherwise – Rikke Emile List’s guttural screams create a ground-shaking epos that are hard pressed to turn away from. If you thought Puritan Masochism was good, their follow up Call Down the Sun is even better.
I saw Paleface Swiss at Jera on Air earlier this year and they were excellent. To see them again would be a real pleasure. The Swiss deathcore band formed in Zurich have ferocious breakdowns and are real gems at forming pits when they need to; you haven’t really lived until you’ve been beaten to a pulp in a Paleface Swiss pit. Their album Cursed is a banger from this year – aand the heavy parts hit just as hard as you expect them to – their third full length album and a thirty-minute ride that showcases the best of Swiss metal.
Another highlight is Nailbomb, an industrial thrash metal band that have been around since the 90s – an eclectic mix of metal, punk and industrial records and have only played one official live show; at Dynamo Open Air Festival in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. So for Bloodstock to get them back is a coup – reuniting for a special appearance at the festival is sure to appeal for fans of their only studio album, Point Blank. You don’t know when they’re performing again so you don’t want to miss this.
Journey onto the Saturday and your first highlight is Kublai Khan TX. Hailing from well, you guessed it, Texas, they’re a ferocious upholder of hardships and hypnotic metalcore that enable metallic fury and fortify character. Power is spun from pain – a reflection on male responsibility runs through their records – with an airtight consistency that few of their betters struggle to match.
Rapidly emerging in the metal scene are a band called The Five Hundred. Hailing from the industrial heartland of Nottingham their third studio album GHOSTWRITER is where they start to find a new gear; and give us one of the better metal albums of 2025. Djent and prog metal is fused with the brutal intensity of metalcore in a way that enforces their unity and collective strength, crushing riffs and haunting melodies throughout their lyrics that pierce the soul – they more than live up to their reputation as one of the best bands in metal on planet Earth today, as described by Alex Baker – you’d be wrong to miss them.
3 Inches of Blood are power metal on Sunday that kick off the feral, energetic and no-bullshit approach that has made them beloved by fans all over; converting those yet to be with a ferocious comeback last year that has made those really appreciate their return. Deadly Sinners and Destroy the Orcs will always be classics – fans of Judas Preist will be right at home here.
Most will be aware of Gojira when they became the first ever heavy metal band to open the Olympic games, but Gojira’s stage presence remains unrivalled whether they’re in a Parisian cathedral or on the festival circuit. Their set is unmissable – the chance to see Stranded live and shouldn’t be overlooked.
Emperor are one of the most influential bands of black metal and have brought symphonic black metal to the world kicking and screaming. Mayhem may have been the godfathers but the critical awards went to Emperor – spotlighting the anti-Christian sentiment in their music that made them staples of the Norweigan folk scene. Satanic horror can be found influencing the music of Emperor at every turn – recalling bleak Scandinavian winters and a pre Christian folk past of gods and monsters.
Responsible for one of the most acclaimed metal releases in 2024, Heriot are a force to be reckoned with having played at much of the metal festivals in the UK – Download, 2000 Trees and more – they’ve been coming up in the music scene lately and more than establish their growth as a heavy hitter in the making. Devoured by the Mouth of Hell was a masterpiece – and you’d be wrong to ignore them.
The new blood stage gets plenty of acts of rising talent in the metalcore scene. Shrike, a 3 piece metal band from Preston that have adopted the “grim up North” look and made it their own in favour of a uniquely cinematic touch that can be had over their albums. The EMP stage spotlights some of the best new voices in metal – Orme hail from Hertfordshire, described as their slowest power trio, dealing in drone and sludge with enough heaviness to back it up. Bloodstock is great for spotlighting new bands from all over the country – and I’m a big fan of Convocation Upon The Ruins that have established Orne as a band to watch.
Bloodstock is more than just a festival – you’ll get a pink dress-up on the Thursday in solidarity with the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, gaming themes on the Friday and then heroes vs villains on the Saturday. It’s a chance to go all in – with silent discos adding to this and DJ-driven pagan/folk metal sessions throughout Friday nights. Want to see real weapon brawls? Look no further than the Battle Arena – there’s plenty of action and a real showcase of metal history to be had. If you were one of the lucky few to get a ticket to this sold-out festival, you’re in for a treat.
Bloodstock Open Air Festival will take place from August 7-10, 2025.
Learn more about the festival at the official site for the title.
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