As Download leans further and further into stadium rock, having booked the likes of Fall Out Boy and Green Day in recent years, Bloodstock is becoming the UK’s go-to festival for true heavy metal madness. Trivium, Machine Head and Gojira headline this edition of the 20,000-capacity gathering, making for one of the most stacked lineups in recent memory.
On Friday, Emperor prove why they’re still black metal’s measuring stick, despite having released no new music since 2001. Such tracks as I Am the Black Wizards are masterpieces of infernal majesty, keyboards blaring while singer/guitarist Ihsahn shrieks and makes his instrument wail. No other band combine adrenaline, anguish and ambition this excellently. Charging back after a Bullet for My Valentine co-headline tour ended in ugly fashion, Trivium bring every bell and whistle they can. The Floridians cover Black Sabbath and Metallica, then inflate a gigantic mascot, comparable to Iron Maiden’s Eddie, to hammer home the sense of occasion. Guest appearances from Machine Head, Sleep Token, Malevolence and Emperor members reaffirm these 90 minutes as a proud celebration of all things metal.
Machine Head returned to the festival circuit after eight years away with an intimate set at Bloodstock 2022, and on Saturday, the thrashers triumph at full scale. Where Davidian blows through presumably the entire pyro budget, Darkness Within gets thousands of phone torches piercing the air. But the most amazing moment is Halo: a nine-minute labyrinth of harmonies and solos, worthy of the extreme metal Mount Rushmore. The band’s crowd-surfer count of 1,011 sets a new festival record.
Sunday wraps up with a one-two punch of prog metal. Despite weathering an acrimonious split with founding guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds in March, Mastodon haven’t lost an iota of strength. Temporary member Nick Johnston fits right in, to the point that he and co-shredder Bill Kelliher play rock-paper-scissors during one staccato riff, and Blood and Thunder smacks as mightily as ever. And Gojira’s blazing set is more a victory lap than a statement of intent. In 2018, Bloodstock became the first festival to recognise the crusaders’ headline potential, and they return as proven arena-fillers. Flying Whales and Another World are supercharged yet conscious anthems that hardly need the accompanying cinematic visuals to bolster their impact. The most action-packed weekend on 2025’s heavy metal calendar has come to a very apt close.
