Next year will mark 20 years since Bloodstock first opened out into the fields of Derbyshire, officially becoming "Bloodstock Open Air" and giving metalheads a dedicated mecca each summer for the best and brightest from across the world of metal. The festival might have evolved and grown in that time - its trad metal roots still strong even if the likes of Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive and Lamb Of God have helped modernise the festival's image in recent years - but Bloodstock is still a vital part of the UK metal ecosystem.
But while Architects headlining their first UK festival feels like big news, they certainly weren't the only band making waves at Catton Park this year. That in mind, we've assembled a definitive list of the 10 bands who best defined Bloodstock 2024, from black metal mayhem in the Sophie Lancaster tent on Thursday to triumphant, career-best performances from the likes of Malevolence and Hatebreed. See you in the field again next year for Bloodstock's massive 2025 line-up!
Hellripper
Aberdeen black-speed metal king Hellripper has in recent years become one of the most popular underground acts in the world and one of the most widely represented t-shirts on site, so it’s little surprise than when the band took to the Sophie Lancaster stage on Thursday night, it was booming to the degree that it easily seems they could headline it.
An unrelenting volley of hyperkinetic thrash shredders set the tent non-stop spinning, from opening calling card All Hail the Goat to the ultra stupid and so much fun Nunfucking Armageddon 666, bringing fresh hellraising abandon to a strand of heavy metal that never seems to die. PH
Green Lung
"We're Green Lung and we play Old English, black magic, goat-bothering, heavy fucking metal!" The sun might be at its apex on Friday, but so too were London stoner/doom champions Green Lung, the band's transformation from beloved occult sensation to straight-up metal heroes all-but assured.
Latest album This Heathen Land dominated the set, but with good reason; that album's mixture of mythology, folklore and undeniably brilliant metal tunes has helped turn Green Lung into a serious force and there's no fucking about with the enormity of songs like Maxine (Witch Queen). It doesn't hurt the band pull an utterly enormous crowd for their main stage debut, a sea of arms waving for Song Of The Stones showing even their folksy ballads have mass appeal. Talk about a midsommar dream. RH
Hatebreed
It was a special occasion for Hatebreed as they prepared to set foot on the Ronnie James Dio Stage once again; their 30th birthday celebrations. Prior to their arrival, a video of a bunch of heavy metal royalty, from members of Anthrax and Slayer to Ice-T, all wax lyrical about the band, but once Jamey Jasta and his merry men stroll on, there’s no cake cutting or a rendition of Happy Birthday, it’s all business.
We do get the bumps though; theirs is a classic, all action set, complete with circle pits, pyro and even a gigantic inflatable "Ball Of Death" from one of hardcore’s most reliable live bands. The only thing different from your usual Hatebreed set is a cover of Slayer’s Ghost Of War and Jasta’s rather fetching new beard and long hair combo. As a monstrous I Will Be Heard closed their set, the old “if it ain’t broke...” mantra has never seemed more apt. SH
Eternal Champion
Modern masters of swords and sorcery Eternal Champion are exactly the kind of band destined for a hero’s welcome at Bloodstock, and so their debut appearance on the second stage is met by already dedicated lovers of the epic and curious punters surely discovering their new favourite band.
Frontman Jason Tarpey pounded his feet over the stage in chainmail, and the lurching Skullseeker and galloping Ravening Iron strike a perfect anvil spot between fancifully escapist and just plain tough courtesy of riffs from John Powers and producer extraordinare Arthur Rizk, not to mention dedicating the set to recently passed bassist Brad Raub. PH
Clutch
"Nice to finally meet ya!" Considering just how often Clutch play the UK - we'd bank on an average of at least once a year, COVID-years notwithstanding - it's amazing that this is Clutch's first time at Catton Hall. They didn't squander their chance to make a great first impression, though; opening on X-Ray Visions and Firebirds!, they go for broke with good ol' fashioned rock'n'roll right out the gates.
From there, the set becomes an eclectic showcase of songs from across their careers; there's the weaponised funk of In Walks Barbarella and The Mob Goes Wild, bluesy grooves of A Quick Death In Texas and Mercury and even some sludgy, cosmic stoner in rare, early cuts Spacegrass, El Jefe Speaks and Binge And Purge. Sure, there are plenty of anthems the band could have trotted out, but that's not Clutch - such puerile pandering is beneath them and they'll always find ways to excite and surprise, whether it's your first show or 50th. RH
Crypta
Crypta are newer on the scene having split off from Brazilian thrashers Nervosa who also played earlier over the weekend, but they delve heavier, dishing out death metal informed by the legends of Death and Hypocrisy that clearly made them one of the surprise discoveries of the weekend for many.
The four women on stage just look straight cool as fuck, frontwoman Fernanda Lira the spitting image of Morbid Angel iconoclast David Vincent in her power stance and old school evil theatrics putting on a show for the camera every time one’s near and conveying maximum death metal aura. PH
Mimi Barks
Mimi Barks looks like an absolute star. Combining the style and attitude of alt.culture with trap metal, she grew up in Berlin’s club scene, moved to London, and now finds herself in… a field in Derbyshire. Yet for half an hour on Saturday afternoon, the Sophie tent is turned into something that feels darker and more underground.
Mimi stalks the stage as she sang and spat, a DJ bringing the beats while a long-haired, corpse-painted pal provided live drums. Banshee’s semi-industrial chorus creeps and crawls, while Suicide is a vibe. The pit heats up and, by the end, Mimi herself is in it. EG
Unleash The Archers
In one of the most blazing hot slots of the Saturday, Unleash the Archers took to the stage with a mixture of unflappable leather-clad heavy metal composure and affable “we’re not used to this heat, we’re from Vancouver” Canadian energy that makes them so darn likeable.
They might not be built for this temperature, but their songs represent the cutting edge in mixing swashbuckling power metal with the brawn and screw-face seven-string riffing power of contemporary sounds. It’s prime Bloodstock music, and frontwoman Brittney Slayes just plain rules, putting her whole chest into sky-high choruses on total bangers like The Matriarch. PH
Whitechapel
Sandwiching Whitechapel between the classic death metal of Deicide and the more contemporary stomp of Malevolence feels like the perfect bridge between styles. The Tennessee deathcore legends have a foot in both camps, and on Saturday they brilliantly showcased each of their many eras.
The groovy, more nuanced material from their superb The Valley album is the perfect accompaniment to when they dish out some truly revolting old school deathcore like I, Dementia from their debut album. Watching frontman Phil Bozeman nonchalantly stalk the stage, barking his guts up is truly a sight to behold, and both the death metal purists and hardcore kids seemed to be loving it. Whitechapel, bringing people together since 2006. SH
Malevolence
Malevolence have built this place into their back garden. From a main stage slot in 2021, to a second stage headline the very next year, and now all the way up to subheadlining Architects, the Sheffield rabble-rousers have put in the graft to turn Bloodstock's crowd into their own, down to their beer branding everywhere on site. The rewards reaped on Saturday are barmy; the main stage’s most voracious reaction all weekend is coloured by a sense of local heroes come good, surely the only band in this prestigious a slot who could get a “Yorkshire!” chant going.
When they asked for a circle pit going all the way around the sound tower, it seems the geography won’t physically accommodate it, and yet through force of will they made it happen, netting the biggest in Bloodstock history in the process. Keep Your Distance and On Broken Glass are merely a couple years old, yet by the sound of this field, they are your new BOA anthems. PH
Tickets for Bloodstock Open Air 2025 are on sale now. The first 19 bands - including headliners Trivium, Machine Head and Gojira have already been announced.
