Longtime friend and co-conspirator of the band Tash George is a common sight at Hamartia’s collective trauma-dumping sessions, cheering the band on from the sidelines. An experienced wedding singer, Tash George is much more likely to be seen performing covers but tonight gives her the opportunity to make her statement as an original solo performer.
Introduced by Hamartia front person Sophie Smith as “one of my BFFs with the voice of an angel”, Tash lives up to the high praise with a confident vocal performance and a soft, self-deprecating sense of humour. Joined by her brother-in-law and Blank Atlas guitarist Dan Thould for her final song, a break-up anthem inspired by the TV comedy Fleabag, Tash George supplied a beautiful beginning to an intimate evening.
Regress
The weekend opener set the tone immediately being heavy, stompy, and downright filthy. Regress wasted no time smashing the room to pieces, proving just how badly people need heavy hardcore right now. Dancers were out early with fresh joints and rested bones, all before the weekend could wear them down. Flailing arms, cartwheels, and total chaos broke out before the first song had even finished. A perfect, punishing start.
Break Them
Peterborough four-piece Break Them were firmly on the ones-to-watch list, and they showed exactly why. Despite a slight delay to their set time, they took it in their stride and still brought the house down. Dropping Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’ mid-song was a guaranteed crowd igniter, instantly lifting the room. Their diverse sound and confident stage presence make them masters at winning over new audiences. Ending on an explosive cover of Machine Head’s ‘Davidian‘, the temperature spiked, and the windows steamed over. Seeing members of other bands dancing along was a reminder of just how respectful and supportive this scene really is.
Casket Feeder
By the time Casket Feeder hit the stage, the room was primed. Screaming forward and stomping a hole straight through New Cross Inn, they delivered their savage blend of death metal and hardcore with full force. Hair hanging over their face, the vocalist growled through a beard, conjuring a graveyard atmosphere over otherwise relentless drums and riffs. Two-stepping collided with blast-beat fingers throughout the set. In short: very heavy and if you like that sort of thing, you’ll love them.
Negative Frame
The addition of an extra guitarist has elevated Negative Frame to another level entirely. Louder, heavier, and more intense than ever, their already ferocious performance felt supercharged. Walking onstage to Van Halen was a moment of perfect irony, sunshine rock ushering in something deep and crushing was not lost on the crowd. Despite the weight of their sound, their sense of humour remained intact, breaking unexpectedly into a jazz drumbeat to the audience’s delight. The vocalist watched the acrobatics in the pit, nodding between screams. Negative Frame once again smashed it, go catch them before they get too big!
Your Demise
Nothing hits quite like nostalgia, and with no new releases since 2013, that’s exactly what Your Demise were booked for. Still, the performance felt anything but tired and the energy produced could’ve powered a ferry. Galloping drums landed squarely in the chests of moshers and head-nodders alike, forcing everyone to feel every beat. Raw and unfiltered, they tore through the set list, belting out anthem after anthem to a crowd that included plenty of fans too young to have caught them the first time around. But, that’s the beauty of a comeback, rediscovery, and it’s probably why they’re still playing worldwide. Your Demise get bonus points for an anti-landlord speech and the public service announcement: “Insulate your floors if you live above people.”
Castle Rat are a Frank Frazetta painting come to life; each member a different character with their All-Seeing Druid (Joshua Strmic), the Count (Franco Vittore), the Plague Doctor (Charley Ruddell) and their ringleader, the Rat Queen (Riley Pinkerton) herself. From the opening riff it’s a very special show; campy, theatrical and pantomime in the most fun way as they lean into the theatricality without losing sight of the songs. Which, coincidentally, sound monolithic. The guitar tone is fuzzy and mesmerising, while Riley’s voice soars over their thundering riffs. Even on a support slot they expound their lore, introducing the Bestiary and the Rat Reaperess trying to steal it for nefarious purposes. Towards the end of their set there’s the now well-known battle scene, the Rat Queen slain only to rise again triumphant after the Plague Doctor resurrects her. It’s exactly the kind of over the top brilliance heavy metal often leans into, but it’s done so well and in arguably a new form, with the overarching narrative to their performance. They’re a fantastically tight live unit too, and it makes for a wonderful way to open the night and escape the horrors of the world.
Stepping out in front of the, at the time, modest crowd dressed in black robes with gleaming golden masks, and speaking only occasionally in heavily distorted vocals, Imperial Triumphant set the stage for the night to come with a barrage of snarling vocals and thundering guitars. A curious mix of art-deco aesthetics and crushing riffs reminiscent of death metal stalwarts like the eponymously titled Death, this three-piece grabbed the crowd’s attention by the throat. But just as you might think you have the band figured out, that you’ve seen everything they’ve got to show you, they mix things up with an ethereal, dream-like interlude of wailing, shivering bass guitar howling like supplicants prostrating themselves before an uncaring stone idol. It was a truly impressive mix of the pagan and profane, the quasi-modern and the primitive that set the stage for a night of music that was anything but mainstream.
First up is sole support Lake Malice, who’ve firmly cemented their place as one of the UK’s most exciting alternative acts, fusing glitchy hyperpop to caustic metalcore. With a full 45 minute set it feels like they’re given proper opportunity to spread their wings and really show what they can do, the opening duo of Magic Square and Power Game igniting a pit that barely lets up. It’s their final show of the tour and of the year, but there’s no signs of exhaustion or anything other than a trio having a blast. Guitarist Blake Cornwall pulls off enough split jumps to rival the Olympics as he whirls constantly around the stage, while vocalist Alice Guala makes just as much use of the space, always moving even during demanding vocal moments as she encourages the crowd to keep going wild for them. “This one goes out to every nepo baby,” she grins before Nobody Wants To Be You’s gyrating beat and excoriating takedown of the wealthy using that to entrench class divides further. The whole front of the room bounces for Stop The Party, a visibly overwhelming display for the band who’ve worked so hard to get here.
There is still a tonne of confetti littering the area in front of the main stage from Machine Head’s excess last night and clearly the crowd partied a little too hard as the crowd for main stage openers Ghosts of Atlantis is sparse at best. It’s a damn shame really, as the band are making the most of this opportunity with a great presentation and elaborate visuals, stage clothes, banners and all. Everyone is still a bit too delicate to be going hard in the pits, but you can see them slowly waking up, head banging along and gentle pits start to bloom in the morning sun. They sound monstrous battering through their symphonic tinged extreme metal, feeling grandiose as the first band and getting the day off to a great start.
Inside the New Blood tent is a slightly different story, with Birmingham hardcore bruisers Spitting Teeth. For 11:15am, the band are going hard, encouraging pure mayhem so early in the morning to a packed tent. The vocalist looks mental stomping around shirtless in his balaclava, catching the crowd in the palm of his hand and demanding more violent pits, two-steppers and violence. The hardcore amongst the crowd are happy to be receptive; limbs are swinging, fists are flying, the riffs and beating every down into the earth. It feels far too early for something this intense, but nobody is complaining as Spitting Teeth are definitively tearing the place apart.
Over at the Sophie stage, Manchester riff wizards Barbarian Hermit have pulled a healthy early morning crowd for what is (unfortunately) set to be one of their last ever shows. That being said though, what a note to leave on, with the vast majority of those in attendance locked into the gnarled stoner grooves tight and nodding along to every riff and rhythmic swing. Its a tight set of just over thirty minutes, getting a handful of tracks from the excellent 2024 album Mean Sugar, ‘Deadbolt’ in particular sounding mighty booming out of a big PA. Closing out the momentous set with the undeniable power of ‘Widowmaker’, it’s no nonsense riffy goodness and a high note to close out the band’s stellar run as well as a smooth starter to a stacked Sunday lineup.
Back at the main stage and things are still feeling rather quite for power thrashers One Machine. Considering the second half of the day is stacked to the rafters, it’s no surprise people are taking it easy after a hot weekend. That being said, there won’t be a huge loss to those who missed out on One Machine. It’s as straightforward as straightforward gets from their presentation to their tracks and with them not releasing an album in over a decade there isn’t much for anyone but the diehards. Not to knock them, they’re playing great and sounding great, but in the spectrum of Bloodstock they’re not offering much that stands out, just some thrash metal chops with power metal vocals and expected lyrical themes, there isn’t much to say other than it was a fine set.
The second stage tent is feeling a touch busier now for Ohio’s doomy post-metallers Frayle. Straight off the bat, the band’s style is immediately eye catching, everyone having unique and interesting stage clothes and masks. In particular vocalist Gwyn Strang having an elaborate raven inspired helm and striking facial jewellery connected with small chains. Musically the band are just as interesting, with Gwyn’s ethereal vocal style sitting atop crushing doom riffs, lengthy post-metal atmospherics and delicate melodies. It’s dreamy, feeling like you’re being pulled into another plane of existence by some ritual magic. It’s an interesting set up with the anonymous band members, the drummer sitting side stage instead of at the back, the band have a unique vision and atmosphere that makes them not only endearing, but effortless in generating further intrigue as well.
By the time US progressive death metal collective Rivers Of Nihil walk out on to the main stage, the crowd is looking a lot healthier, with most managing to shake off the rust of Saturday night. Their clean, modern progressive metal sound and technical chops sound immense from the large stage and despite the majority focus of the set being on the band’s recent self-titled release, the eager metal fiends in the audience are eating it up. The combination of barbaric progressive metal riffs contrasted the bands known touches of soulful sax melodies makes for an interesting appearance on the main stage. Closing with the title track of their regularly hailed opus Where Owls Know My Name leaves a strong first impression at the UK’s largest metal festival.
Clearly at this point in the day, there just hasn’t been enough riffs y’know? Thankfully instrumental two-piece WALL are here to provide gargantuan slabs of the good stuff in the Sophie tent. If you’ve seen the duo’s day job with Oxford stoner veterans Desert Storm then you get the rough idea of what to expect from WALL. However the two-piece focuses deeper into psychedelic Sabbath worship, curating long form neck crankers filled with powerful doom and gloom. The tent are loving it, hair is being whipped around across the space (providing a lovely internal breeze from the building heat outside). The sound is unbelievable for just a guitar and drums, with plenty of chest-rumbling low end in the guitar to give those proper groovy doom vibes for a perfect little afternoon treat.
