If you tuned into Planet Rock Radio this morning, you’ll have been amongst the first to hear Bloodstock’s hotly anticipated news, revealing the final two Ronnie James Dio main stage headliners for 2020’s event. Devin Townsend was announced as Friday night’s headliner last month. Without further ado… Metal legends Judas Priest will headline Sunday night. In a year when Bloodstock celebrates 20 years, we can think of no better place to also celebrate Judas Priest’s 50 Heavy Metal Years! The Grammy Award-winning British icons were recently nominated again for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and to date have sold over 50 million albums. Their latest release, 2018’s ‘Firepower’, saw the band return all guns blazing, earning the accolade Best British Album at the Planet Rock Awards. Judas Priest enthuse:- “Horns up Bloodstock - the Priest is back to headline the 20th year of Bloodstock with our 50 Heavy Metal Years anniversary show!! A double barrel, once in a lifetime, blast of metal mania 2020....!!” You can watch a special message from the inimitable Rob Halford at: https://youtu.be/2VJIsrJf_Mc. The mighty Behemoth are set to headline Saturday in a UK festival exclusive for 2020. Having wowed fans across the globe with their phenomenal set on both Slayer’s final US tour and Slipknot’s current Knotfest Roadshow, the Polish metal heavyweights will be upping the stakes by bringing their biggest and best production to date. Don’t miss the spectacle of them closing out the Ronnie James Dio main stage on Saturday night! Charismatic frontman Nergal tells us:- “Bloodstock! The hallowed lands of Catton Park will once again host our Fiendish Festivities. This is Behemoth’s first UK festival headline and that will be celebrated in the only way we know how; Hell will be raised, blood will be shed, and magick will descend! We shall see you there Legions!” Hear it straight from Behemoth themselves at: https://youtu.be/oe_1eQyZpXY. BLOODSTOCK will be headlined on Friday by DEVIN TOWNSEND and also welcomes PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, SKINDRED, PARADISE LOST, LIFE OF AGONY, BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, DIAMOND HEAD, JINJER, VIO-LENCE, SACRED REICH, GLORYHAMMER, DARK TRANQUILITY, and BUTCHER BABIES so far. Many more bands performing over the weekend will be announced in due course. Discounted Early Bird tickets, VIP tickets, child tickets and car parking tickets for 2020’s event are available now at the ticket store. Campervan tickets for 2020 are already sold out. BLOODSTOCK 2020 takes place at Catton Park, Derbyshire from 6th-9th August 2020. For more info, click to www.bloodstock.uk.com.
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As we creep through October, BLOODSTOCK is very excited to announce three more bands for 2018! Joining Friday’s bill in the Ronnie James Dio main stage special guest slot are black metal legends, EMPEROR in a UK exclusive appearance. Frontman Ihsahn tells us that they’ll be performing a special set based around one of their classic albums. “We're finally bringing the 20th Anniversary show for ‘Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk’ to the UK! We’ll be performing the album in its entirety and look forward to celebrating with everyone at BLOODSTOCK!” Check out a stream of the atmospheric opus here and get excited for next August - https://youtu.be/Jmlhq5rtFXw. Also stepping into a main stage slot on Sunday are Californian circle pit kings, DEVILDRIVER. Frontman Dez Fafara tells us “DEVILDRIVER is playing BLOODSTOCK in 2018 and we couldn’t be more fucking ready to bring the heavy and get the whole festival moving! We are thankful for the opportunity and can’t wait to see everyone there! Get ready to get the fuck in the pit!” Check out the band doing what they do best in the video for the title track of their current studio album, ‘Trust No One’ - https://youtu.be/XuVibnWHoLA. Hotly-tipped, super brutal three-piece, NAILS land a Ronnie James Dio main stage slot on Sunday in a UK exclusive show. Frontman Todd Jones informs us, “I've been following BLOODSTOCK and looking at their advertisements online for the past few years, admiring how great a job the festival does having a great mix of underground bands and some of metal's biggest and finest. We're proud to finally say we're part of what BLOODSTOCK is doing to fight the good fight! We'll see all you motherfuckers at BLOODSTOCK!!!” Not familiar with NAILS? Melt your face with 91 seconds of hardcore intensity via the video for ‘You Will Never Be One Of Us’ - https://youtu.be/hGGGh03jN4w. With Friday night headliners, JUDAS PRIEST, Saturday night headliners, GOJIRA and Sunday headliners, NIGHTWISH already announced for next year's event, 2018 is shaping up to be another stellar year for BLOODSTOCK. Snap up your VIP tickets now as they’re going fast! The first wave of Serpents Lair VIP tickets (priced £290) and deluxe VIP packages are in the ticket store now for those who want their VIP spot guaranteed. Luxpads have already sold out, but a selection of Podpads, Bellepads and Octopads are still available. A smaller second wave and a limited amount of VIP upgrades will then become available on 16th December at 9am. Don't delay if you want to join us in the VIP Serpents Lair, as they’re moving faster than ever before! Standard weekend tickets are also currently available at ‘early bird’ prices (just £125 for four days of metal fun) so grab yours now at the ticket store if you want to save £20! In order to keep up with inflation and extra costs in 2018, standard weekend tickets with camping will increase from last year's £139 to £145 once the ‘early bird’ allocation is gone. The limited allocation of VIP upgrades (for those who've bought early bird tickets) will cost £145. BLOODSTOCK will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 9th-12th August 2018. Get additional information over at www.bloodstock.uk.com. Bloodstock is excited to announce their third and final headliner for 2018 will be Judas Priest! The metal icons are one of the most-requested bands by the festival’s loyal fan base and finally make their Bloodstock debut at Catton Park in 2018 on Friday night, 10th August. The legendary band tell us, “Judas Priest are thrilled, honoured and primed, ready to unleash Priest-style metal fury into the headbanging heart and home of heavy metal at Bloodstock 2018!” With Saturday night headliners, Gojira and Sunday headliners, Nightwish already announced for next year's event, 2018 is shaping up to be another stellar year for Bloodstock. Before we focus more on 2018, we’re very proud to reveal that Bloodstock raised £11,686.88 in 2017 for the very worthy Teenage Cancer Trust, bringing the total to over £60,000 since our partnership began. A giant thanks to everyone who has contributed over the years for their generous donations! Get tickets now for 2018! The first wave of Serpents Lair VIP tickets (priced at £290) and Deluxe VIP packages (Luxpads, Bellepads, Podpads, etc) are available now for those who want their VIP spot guaranteed. A smaller second wave and a limited amount of VIP upgrades will then become available on 16th December at 9am. Don't delay if you want to join us in the VIP Serpents Lair, as they’re moving faster than ever before! Standard weekend tickets are currently available at ‘early bird’ prices (just £125 for four days of metal fun) so grab yours now at the ticket store if you want to save £20! In order to keep up with inflation and extra costs in 2018, standard weekend tickets with camping will increase from last year's £139 to £145 once the ‘early bird’ allocation is gone. The limited allocation of VIP upgrades (for those who've bought early bird tickets) will cost £145. Bloodstock will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 9th-12th August 2018. Get further information over at www.bloodstock.uk.com. It's always a special occasion when a band decides to do an album launch concert, gig, party, however you wish to term it. The truth of the matter is that not only are album launch parties great for showcasing a wide variety of bands, in this case metal bands, but also the nationalities drawn it from it. With Epica's EpicMetalFest II, people from far and wide came to the 013 Poppodium in Tilburg to witness bands from Europe and as far away as Tunisia and Canada. (This was my first time at a concert abroad and first time flying alone having come from the UK) Sadly despite best efforts, due to some rather annoying maintenance works going on the Dutch railway and highway between Arnhem and Tilburg, I missed Off The Cross (BE), For I Am King (NL) and Myrath (FR / TN) and so cannot really report on either band. However, by chatting to some punters who said all three bands were on the ball, I'll take their word for it and give all three bands a 7.50/10. Dutch Modern Metal outfit Textures certainly had their A-game in check as they carried off where Tunisian Oriental Metallers Myrath had finished. By unleashing a charismatic on-stage presence with some rather tight and malicious sounding music, there was no reason why the crowd couldn't have matched the intensity radiating from Textures performance. Underrated at times, Textures have shown during this evening why they're worthy of a Bloodstock slot next year. Ballistic at all angels, Textures were simply raising the bar for the evening, was there anyone capable of stealing the show (besides Epica)? [8/10] Having only made their Napalm Records debut last year, Belgian Speed Metallers Evil Invaders showed exactly why the Austrian label snapped up the quartet without question. Blisteringly fast riffs crashed against all four walls of the Universe Stage, all whilst Textures were doing their own shindig next year on the Storm Stage. Evil Invaders have been knocking around for nearly 10 years and yet despite the age of the band as a unit, the members started off as teenagers, yet they're capable of proving that they've shed their teenage skins and morphed into a formidable, respectable force. By belting out songs as if they went out of fashion, Evil Invaders only had one thing in mind... total carnage and boy did they deliver. [8/10] One of a handful of Dutch Metal bands performing at this year's EpicMetalFest, Stream Of Passion are really no newcomers to the erotic world of female-fronted Symphonic Metal, in fact all but one band member have been in previous bands thus being no strangers to the scene. Moreover here is a band who despite their best efforts at delivering sweet music that is so sumptuously good to the ears, hasn't yet managed to reach the heights of their fellow contemporaries in Within Temptation and Epica. However their set demonstrated that they're on the path to achieve that goal and despite it still being late afternoon, had no reservations about keeping the crowd on their toes. Drinking was in full flow during their set, Stream of Passion? A Stream of alcohol more like. [7.5/10] Since the departure of Alissa White-Gluz (The Agonist kicked Alissa out of the band, thus enabling her to join Arch Enemy after Angela Gossow became band manager; thereabouts), The Agonist have been finding their way with their new vocalist Vicky Psarakis. Now, Vicky showed she is up to the task-in-hand by delivering a performance worthy of continuous applause if not for some of the other band members who seemed rather lost and at times not fully convincing; it's as if they haven't stepped out of the shadows of their former vocalist, resulting in a rather disappointing set. Not entirely sure what their plans were for the evening but it seemed to not involve band practise, despite this the whole set was of reasonable standard yet without a doubt, probably the most disinteresting performance of the night. [6/10] Herewith is an example of grandiose perversion of the extremely meticulous kind, and now you're probably thinking what the actual f*ck am I on about? It's certainly a technical sentence no? Perfect for Italy's Fleshgod Apocalypse who once again don the theatrics and emit such musical ferocity that earth tremors could be felt. Seriously enough they did not put a foot wrong, in fact they are so rehearsed in their dramatis personae that they would do well at Eurovision next year (are you reading this RAI?). Strobe lights abound and an air of operatic grandeur circumventing the venue was certainly the case, plenty more where those came from as walls of death came to and fro by the commands of Tommaso Riccardi; it was as if he was playing the king and the punters as the fools, either way Fleshgod Apocalypse demonstrated once again why they are still underrated. [8.5/10] Where Fleshgod Apocalypse managed to succeed in shitting the audience, Katatonia did not, instead they commenced the slitting. A once great and brutal institution has now turned for the dank and dismal worse; it was as if they weren't meant to be here because to be quite frank, the music did not fit in with the rest of the evenings line-up. That said, at least Katatonia trump Justin Bieber hands down and have the decency to sing, not lip sync live. But Katatonia just could not get the audience going, some just standing and watching bare-face, expressionless, it was as if they have been subjected to a public culling of animals, it was horrific. Despite all their might, Katatonia just did not deliver tonight... well they delivered, but the music was stale and too depressive. [5/10] Now whilst I interviewed Anis Jouini from Myrath, The Ocean were doing their thing (and we could hear it, so let's give them a decent 7/10). Now the time had come for the star performance of the evening, well it is Epica's show of course... joking aside, Epica are another band who know how to deliver a mesmerizing yet epic live show and they did not disappoint. Using props designed to mimic their new album's artwork (The Holographic Principle), Epica used laser deflecting pyramids to divert light beams across the stage, creating a psychedelic feeling as a result. Additionally in tow was Coen Janssen and his 'keyscooter' (let's call it that because it's a keyboard on wheels) and of course the expected pyrotechnics (which culminated in the end to a firework explosion). Epica simply were sensational, by delivering a set, performance and indeed day-concert worthy of being unleashed on DVD, all in the namesake of their new album, calling it magical is simply not enough and does not describe the overarching package that is EpicMetalFest... may the 2017 edition be as breathtaking. [9/10] RHYS STEVENSON Richmond Virginia’s speed metal punks Municipal Waste have today been confirmed for the 2017 instalment of the infamous Persistance Tour - which will bring the five piece to London venue The Forum on 29th January 2017 – as part of an 11 date European run. The tour will kick off on January 18th in Berlin, Germany - taking the band across 6 countries before wrapping up at the renowned north London venue. They will be playing alongside New York hardcore legends Agnostic Front, the ‘fathers of crossover thrash’ Suicidal Tendencies and Detroit metallic hardcore veterans Walls Of Jericho. More bands to be announced! You can purchase tickets for the London show here: 29th January – London, The Forum Municipal Waste recently announced the addition of brand new member Nick Poulos to their ranks – playing second guitar! Guitarist Ryan Waste commented: "Nick joining the Waste is a big deal for us, we couldn’t just add anyone to the fold. It had to be a close friend, and he's one of our best buds in fact. It doesn’t hurt that he can play his ass off too! He gets our style and totally adds to it, making us an even heavier force to be reckoned with. We’re all having a blast working together, cooking up new tunes and pulling out some classic Waste cuts." Nick Poulos added: "I couldn't be more thrilled about teaming up with the Waste! We're no strangers when it comes to making music together and when they asked me to join on second guitar, there was zero hesitation. The history of this band and watching the growth has not only made me proud but excited for the future.” Youtube |
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