Like two pals who share similar yet entirely different tastes in music our Wayne and Garth of the festival world, Bloodstock and Download cater to different breeds of Metal fan. For the more mainstream approach look to the hallowed fields of Donington. However for the extreme, precise nature of Bloodstock is comparable to the more well rounded nature of Download. Perhaps not booking the likes of Aerosmith et al, instead Bloodstock is the perfect platform to truly elevate its bands to an untouchable level.
Working in incredible amounts of variation the festival is versatile to say the least. From the likes of Death Metal destruction of Decapitated and Obituary to the coup de grace that was signing Wintersun following their longstanding silence since Time I. Perhaps Wizards and Dragons are more your thing? Fear not Blind Guardian are here to keep you entertained. No? How about Hardcore heavyweights Hatebreed?
Rounded off by the headliners featuring the horn raising Amon Amarth the conspiracy questioning Megadeth and now it has at long last come to light that Ghost will be closing out Saturday’s performances. Growing incredibly rapidly, particularly for having released three albums if you don’t count their most recent Popestar EP, Ghost are the word on everyone’s lips when it comes to Metal.
The Grammy award winning act, steeped in mystery are a perfect mid festival slot to have. Known for their lavish stage performance, coupled with their mystique behind the masks in the band it makes for a perfect air of “je ne sais quoi“. Given this recent revelation that the band will be performing, following their EP perhaps we might be looking to a follow up from 2015’s Meliora, though that’s just my speculation!
Given the band’s position in the current Metal scene it makes perfect sense that Bloodstock would pick these Metal giants to close out Saturday’s proceedings. Poised for absolutely wordwide fame, forgive the pun, the band have a somewhat cult following. The kind that was seen in the hey days of the nineties. Not to mention just imagine athe entirety of Catton Hall singing the lyrics of “He Is” it’ll definitely be a sight to behold!
Going out on a limb with the popularity of the bands, you could argue that Bloodstock has rather a lot to answer for in the help of growing bands in the U.K. For example the absolutely flawless performance delivered by Gojira last year, meant the band more than rightfully earnt their place higher on the bill. Even Amon Amarth, having a 12pm slot on Download’s main stage and it was packed! No doubt sure to be yet another brilliant example of the extreme these bands will be joined with the likes of all sorts of different key players in the sub genre arena.
Among others the festival will be welcoming back our German Thrash lords Kreator, after a long absence from the English shores, Arch Enemy, along with Testament following the release of their Brotherhood Of The Snake album last year. The much lauded Possessed, still to this day contested creators of the original Death Metal sound, the dynamic duo of Black Metal mastery Inquisition, the Mexican banditos in Brujeria and so many more.
Not to mention the plethora of more obscure unsigned bands discoverable over the weekend, the genuinely brilliant March that is available throughout the festival and of course all the beer that you can muster and hopefully some more Kraken run after last year’s success.
All sorts of packages are available from Bloodstock’s own site which you can get at here!
