Bloodstock is continuing to fill out the second stage (Sophie) for the festival being held over the weekend of 8 to 11 August 2019. On this day they have released 5 new names, 5 of which are for Sunday and one for Saturday. There is a mix of thrash, death and progressive metals to be found. Most of them are new to this reviewer but having listened to all of them I can say that all of them are of good quality with 3 for me being must-sees (I am a sucker for proggier bands so am always happy to catch new adventurous artists.)
Sunday Sophie Stage Bands:
First up are Wheel, a 4 piece that play technical prog. They mention or namecheck artists including Karnivool, Radiohead, Alice In Chains along with Tool who they mention saying “as we continue to await Tool recording a new album, we thought we would make an album that we would like to hear”. Yes, there are definite nods to them but there is still plenty of other influences to make them an interesting prospect. They have released their first album called Moving Backwards and it is a socially aware piece looking at the subject of censorship.
Also playing are Solitary an old school thrash outfit from Preston, UK. They formed all the way back in 1994 with their first album coming out in 1998. They have toured with bands like Xentrix and Lawnmower Deth as well as being on some cover mounted CDs including one for the magazine Terrorizer. They released their latest album last year which is called The Diseased Heart Of Society.
Keeping in the thrash vein but this time from Spain come Violblast who have a Slayer meets Kreator thing going on. There is plenty of technical ability on show as well as an ear for great riffs and a bit of groove. I have been impressed by what I have heard.
Next up is some death metal brought to the festival all the way from Egypt. Crescent have a sound of their own in the genre with their Eastern tones and progressive leanings. Yes, it is black metal, it is dark, intense but there is definitely more to them. As a band, they have been around since 1999 but have just released what appears to be just their second album entitled The Order Of Amenti. Reading their Facebook page is interesting as they say they were born in 1999 “witnessing the embers of a dying world, yet maintaining the strength of struggle/power to reflect to you the bitter truth (in the hope of global awareness and unity of nations) till our message reaches every soul“. Looks like Bloodstock will be a continuation of spreading that message!
Finally, for Sunday from Finland are Blood Red Hourglass. They have been around since 2005 and are due to release their fifth album next month (May) called Godsend. Folks that like early to mid-period Children Of Bodom or In Flames will probably find much to enjoy in what these guys do.
Saturday Sophie Stage Band:
The final announcement is for Saturday and it is The Parallax Method who are a 3 piece instrumental group from the UK. They reference artists such as Karnivool (second band in this group to do so), Tesseract (who play the main stage on the Friday at Bloodstock), Steve Vai and from watching one of their videos you can probably add Primus. These are no po-faced prog band as their song titles are often daft (“Welcome One And Owl“, “Honey I Shrunk The Squid” and “Let’s Get Kraken” to name a few) and as you can see from the attached video below they make really silly videos as well.
So 6 very good additions to an already busy festival which is headlined by The Scorpions, Parkway Drive, Sabaton, with other names including Powerwolf, Queensryche, Anthrax, Dee Snider, Dimmu Borgir, Metal Church and Soulfly amongst many others.
Support Local Music And Help The Best Play Bloodstock:
The festival continues to look for new stars for the festival to play the New Blood stage. They have announced a series of nights around the UK (and beyond) where final heats are going on. This is your chance to support what you think is the best band in your area to lay waste to the festival. Check through the dates and get along drink some beer and make a load of noise for your choice!
