Review by Emily Castles
Photos by Artur Tarczewski

Friday
Bloodstock is a bloody scorcher this year, that’s for sure. The sky is blue, the grass is brown and the bearded faces are turning red. Away from the much-anticipated line-up, the hallowed ground of Catton Park is rapidly becoming a pop-up shrine and annual pilgrimage for any Motörhead fan. Back in 2016, the festival unveiled Lemmy’s Bar, which has now become an integral part of the festival.

This year, promoters grew this hellraising sanctum extensively – including a recreation of Lemmy’s dressing room featuring a specially-created bust, additional band memorabilia inside the wider gallery exhibits, and not to mention a themed ‘Motörhead Friday’. With an array of stalls, as well as official bin jousting and Viking battles, your average punter would struggle to fit everything in – Bloodstock is bigger and better than ever.

Friday kicks off hard with Dutch band Haliphron taking on the Sophie Lancaster stage – although only formed three years ago, the band members are all seasoned musicians and have already taken on multiple support shows for the likes of Arch Enemy. Frontwoman Marloes Voskuil is incredibly smiley and chippy this morning, strutting up and down the stage with white hair – her guttural screams quickly shatter this angelic allusion.

Over on the Ronnie James Dio stage, the Greek titans Rotting Christ have a surprisingly early slot. Entering the stage to the iconic chants and bells of 666, five years since they last graced the Derbyshire countryside with their dark themes and gruesome sounds, the set is full of crowd favourites including ‘Apage Satana’, with frontman Sakis Tolis getting particularly animated with his fist pumps.

On the same stage, we then have Norway’s Enslaved taking to the RJD with the almighty ‘Kingdom’ – a song, which truly demonstrates the evolution of the band – with playful riffs combined with electronic keys. With their unique heady concoction of clean vocals, brutal growls and traditional Nordic chants – Enslaved are no strangers to change and their set is varied and keeps you on your toes, ending with the undeniably epic ‘Havenless’.

Heavy-hitters Hatebreed switch up the pace on the main stage with their hard, fast, mean sound with so many sing-a-long classics Bloodstockers are at risk of a sore throat – ‘Destroy Everything’ and ‘I Will Be Heard’ do not disappoint, and a cover of Slayer’s ‘Ghosts of War’ goes down a treat.

Also on the main stage, Maryland’s Clutch offer up some old school hard rock whilst The Vintage Caravan embark on a psychedelic Zeppelin-infused set over on the Sophie Lancaster stage.

Sweden’s favourite sons Opeth headline tonight, with frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt enjoying regular five-minute ponderings mid-set, accusing the crowd of booing but which may have in-fact just been impatience. The complex and thoughtful sounds of Opeth aren’t for everybody, but once you settle into it you may just find yourself on a journey of pain, hope and discovery. Forthcoming new album, The Last Will and Testament, promises to be a treat.

Saturday
As the sun rises for another day, death metal pioneers Deicide wake up sleepy Bloodstockers from their not-so-restful slumber with some hard riffs and deep growls. Recently releasing their brand-new album Banished by Sin, Deicide have been going for a whopping 30 years and show no signs of slowing down with this high-powered performance on the main stage.

Whipping up a storm over in the Sophie Lancaster tent are Norwegian-American industrial core crew Combichrist, bringing their special blend of hardcore electronic music to a highly-energised crowd.

American deathcore brutalists Whitechapel take on the Ronnie James Dio today, fast approaching their twentieth year and having recently announced their upcoming ninth studio album – the group offer a few trips down memory lane whilst also firing up some of their newer material.

They are shortly followed by Sheffield metalcore mob Malevolence, cementing the afternoon in an array of blastbeats and double bass drumming. The band conjures up some of the more epic circle pits of the weekend with the likes of ‘Self supremacy’ and ‘On Broken Glass’.

Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage, Reading-based Sylosis suffers some terrible delays just minutes into their set with frontman Josh Middleton’s guitar cutting out almost immediately. After fumbling around for a pretty long time, the band manages to finish a shortened set to a packed out tent. Headlining the main stage this evening are Architects, concluding a metalcore-heavy day with more metalcore – complete with a visually hypnotising display.

Sunday
As the sun rises on the final day here in Derbyshire, the melodic cries of Martin Lopez (ex-drummer for both Opeth and Amon Amarth) ring out across the park as Sweden’s Soen take on Ronnie James Dio. Their most recent album Memorial was released last year, and is full of Tool-esque riffs and rumblings – the rich vocals and often-moving tracks go down a treat with the Bloodstock crowd this morning.

On the Sophie Lancaster stage, we have some good old thrash metal from Xentrix – fast, brutal, just like they did it back in the 80s. Also serving the sacred tent are Moldova’s Infected Rain, with Elena ‘Lena Scissorhands’ Cataraga a demented force leaping around the stage in flaming leathers with haunting vocals and truly working the crowd with lots of audience interaction.

Back over on the main RJD, under the burning fireball in the sky, Septicflesh perform their theatrical take on symphonic death-doom with lots of crowd favourites including ‘Anubis’ and ‘The Vampire from Nazareth’ – frontman Spiros ‘Seth Siro Anton’ Antoniou is another one to watch for when it comes to crowd participation, with his regular cry of ‘join us my friends!’

Scouse legends Carcass follow soon after, their nearing 40-year life earning them a vast crowd this afternoon with the diehard death metallers triggering a succession of serious circle pit action.

Concluding the Ronnie James Dio this evening – and bringing down the festival curtain overall – are everyone’s favourite Viking marauders Amon Amarth – complete with a massive row-row-row-your-boat. For those who haven’t collapsed with exhaustion yet, Satyricon follow over on the Sophie Lancaster stage afterwards – concluding Bloodstock 2024 with some old-school no-nonsense Norwegian black metal.

• For all the very latest line-up and ticket news for Bloodstock 2025 click here.