Live Review: Bloodstock 2025 – Saturday

Warbringer

It seems a little surprising that despite being around for twenty years or so, Warbringer are only just making their Bloodstock debut. What isn’t surprising however, is just how quick it became busy for the modern thrash monsters set. Within the opening moments of ‘Firepower Kills’ the crowd are already losing their minds, the pit party animals out in full force with Shrek beefing with Deadpool riding a chicken, a full menagerie of silliness and chaos. They are putting on an absolute blinder, looking to impress the large crowd, which they do with ease. ‘Living in a Whirlwind’ has vocalist John Kevill calling for the biggest circle pits he can get and they deliver. He poses with a sword to cheers for crusade inspired ‘Sword and the Cross’ and calls for a massive wall of death for final track ‘Living Weapon’. As far as first impressions go, Warbringer fucking nailed it.

Zebulon

Winners of the Norwegian heat of Metal 2 The Masses, stoner/proto-metal throwback Zebulon have a packed out tent for their set on the New Blood stage. Not only is it their first set at Bloodstock, but it is their set in the UK in general. It starts a little rocky as the bass is missing from the mix, but once the issue is sorted every stoner fiend on site is on cloud nine. It is very much following the bluesy Black Sabbath blue print, leaning deeper into doom spaces, but it goes down an absolute treat. The vocalist has a great live presence, helped by his absurdly long hair nearly sweeping the stage as he moves, interacting with the crowd as much as he can. It’s a hell of a set, moving from monolithic doom riffs into energised guitar solos and even touching on some of the folk inspirations behind proto-metal bands from back in the day. Most of all, it’s clear the band are over the moon just to be playing, which helps to make them one of the stand out sets of the day.

Heriot

Next up on the main stage is rising British stars Heriot. Last performing on the Sophie stage off the back of their debut EP in 2022, it’s safe to say the fanbase and hype surrounding Heriot has grown exponentially since the release of their debut album last year. From the opening moments of ‘Sentenced To The Blade’ the band don’t let up, a torrent of bludgeoning industrial metallic hardcore battering everyone in attendance. ‘Enter The Flesh’ sounds monstrous out of a full main stage PA and ‘Siege Lord’ gets the chaos unfolding proper, as the tin foil wrapped cardboard siege lords seize control of the mosh pits. After a few years of mainland European festival runs and larger support slots, the band are truly coming into themselves as a full bodied force of British brutality, packing as many tracks into their forty minute set as possible. Before you know it the crushing riffs of ‘At the Fortress Gate’ is bringing the set to a close and it’s clear to see the future of the British metal scene is healthier than ever.

Creeper

Creeper have basically played at every alternative UK festival at this point in their career, with the lone exception being Bloodstock. Clearly there is a lot of curiosity surrounding the act, as the horror punk gone art rock collective have garnered a huge crowd. Starting their set with an Alice Cooper-esque ode to shock rock, a muscle bound female executioner throwing a fake head into the front of the crowd and blasting straight into new track ‘Blood Magic (It’s A Ritual)’ with a flash of pyro, making the most of the Bloodstock debut. By the end of the first track Creeper have done what Creeper always do, they have the audience in the palm of their hand, lapping up the metal ballads so much so that classic goth-punk cut ‘Down Below’ gets a ravenous reaction from the Bloodstock audience. There was little doubt that things would go this way and Creeper would continue their unstoppable ascent as theatrical rock darlings.

Fear Factory

Despite being a marquee act for the day, Fear Factory have the unenviable task of following up the madness that just occurred in front of the main stage. Whilst feeling like more of a cool-down after Kublai Khan, the audience still have plenty of life left in them to celebrate 30 years of Demanufacture. The band are on great form as they tear through the album track by track, long standing guitarist Dino Cazares still rips live through the forward thinking technical metal. It sounds just as fresh as it did thirty years ago, whilst not quite as busy as the previous set, the large crowd still lose their minds to favourites like ‘Replica’ and ‘Self Bias Resistor’, but generally speaking the album goes down a treat. ‘Pisschrist’ and ‘A Therapy for Pain’ are still monstrous as album closers but it’s not quite over yet. Joined on stage by their studio bassist and Static X member Tony Campos to do some backing vocals for the iconic ‘Linchpin’, closing out the celebratory anniversary set on a high note.

Undeath

After a ridiculous run on the main stage things are only going to get More Insane in the Sophie tent as NY old-school death metal worshippers Undeath make their debut at Catton Hall. Flanked by various clips from original DOOM with a 3D render of their logo, a large audience has gathered to be torn to pieces and put back together again in a haphazard heap of flesh and sinew. Undeath have been unstoppable on this recent run and tonight’s festival set is no exception. At this point the band are a finely tuned machine despite the gore and viscera that oozes from the centres of their beings. It’s a nice balance between their new album and some older cuts to show off the consistency in their catalogue, specifically the double dose of debut cuts ‘Chained to a Reeking Rotted Body’ into ‘Lesions of a Different Kind’. It’s no surprise Undeath are often touted as the top of the heap in an insane modern death metal scene, long may the rot continue and death metal reign supreme.

Ministry

You want another Bloodstock debut? How about industrial icon and living legend Al Jourgensen bringing Ministry back to the UK for the first time since 2019. As expected from a Ministry set, it is loud as fuck, almost worrying in it’s intensity at points, but it emphasises the power of the band’s music and message. The large LED screens are peppered with vivid visuals, lots of anti-fascist, anti-capitalist, anarchist and politically leaning imagery to alongside their heavily political lyrical themes. Al still looks as cool as ever, with a long crafted stage presence that doesn’t catch your attention, it demands it. There is always some kind of doubling effect, or filter and occasionally additional backing tracks to bolster the vocals, with the band sounding tightly compressed and punchy as all hell. It’s a rip ride through various eras of Ministry over seventy five minutes, being treated to the likes of ‘Rio Grande Blood’, ‘Goddamn White Trash’, ‘Stigmata’ and ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod’. There are still plenty of folks about the arena, but it’s definitely feeling quieter in front of the stage than both Fear Factory and Kublai Khan, not to detract from Ministry themselves, who are on great form, but maybe would have been a better fit as a second stage headliner.

Photo Credit:

Taya Llewellyn

Machine Head

After Trivium played the set of a lifetime last night, you’d be forgiven for thinking that was the peak of this weekends headliners. However, as Machine Head prove tonight (and even more-so with Gojira), this year’s headliners just keep getting better and better. They make one hell of an entrance, opening with the defiant cries of ‘Imperium’, big blasts of both stage pyro and fireworks popping off as the song kicks in. Barrelling straight into ‘Ten Ton Hammer’ and the crowd is already going absolutely mental for Rob Flynn front and centre. Machine Head are flexing their muscles and putting on a spectacle with this production, the amount of ludicrous pyro (that nearly touches the top of the stage), fireworks and other touches, clearly with higher sights once again on their radars. New material from UNATØNED fits so smoothly into the set, harkening back to the band’s groovier 90’s sound but incredibly approachable as they’ve found how to make their metal niche work for a more mainstream audience.

There are a lot of shenanigans throughout the set, with Robb Flynn indulging in quite a few beverages, throwing many out into the crowd and having a great time doing it, particularly loving Beer Crate Jesus who crowdsurfs multiple times. The energy is infectious and it feels like Machine Head are once again back to their primed spot from about a decade ago, when it felt like they could go all the way to the top. There is a very touching tribute to the band’s long term publicist/Bloodstock family member Michelle Kerr. Flynn takes the time to explain her importance to him, the band and the UK metal scene, dedicating ‘Darkness Within’, with the entire audience lighting up the arena with their phone torches making it feel like the mid-afternoon in a surreal sight. Something has changed in recent years for Machine Head in the best way, even embracing and bringing back the return of Rappin’ Robbie Flynn and getting a huge reaction for ‘From This Day’ with a massive pop of red streamers. They may have been having a bit too much fun, as their time has run over quite significantly, however there are two songs left: the ever powerful ‘Davidian’ and closing out the night with ‘Halo’, concluded with a full on fireworks display and confetti as the song reaches it’s finale. In a way it’s kind of mad they did an entire festival headline set with only one track from The Blackening, the proverbial black cloud of “perfection” thats hounded them for the past 18 years. Machine Head feel like they’re finally free to be who they want to be without the expectations hanging over their heads and with sets like tonight’s, that is a great place to be.

Static-X

Even though Machine Head ran over their set time by a whole fifteen minutes, fortunately Static-X pushed back their start time to make sure that nothing would be missed. Clearly a wise move, as the second stage tent is completely packed to the brim with excited alt-metalheads looking to go on a Wisconsin Death Trip. Having never played Bloodstock in their original form, the 2018 revival after Wayne Static tragically passed away has been paying tribute to the man himself every night for quite some time; with new vocalist Xer0 (Edsel Dope of Dope) wearing a visually stunning mask based on Static’s iconic look. The band are tearing it up, violent blasts of late 90’s industrial metal flanked by strobes and glitchy stage visuals fitting the vibe perfectly.

As expected, the tightly packed crowd are losing their minds, essentially treated to Wisconsin Death Trip in full (minus one or two tracks) alongside various dips into other classic material. ‘Terminator Oscillator’ from the first revival album fits in step with the band’s older works and is warmly received by the excited audience. At one point there is a big Rob Zombie-esque creature on stage, looking like the green goblin face from Maximum Overdrive. At another there is a man in a LED pumpkin mask crowd surfing in a boat, it’s just a great time. Capping off the Saturday night in style with fan favourite ‘Push It’ sending the tent into a frenzy. Hopefully this modern incarnation of Static-X continues to be successful and worthwhile for a long time as they put on a great show and a touching tribute to a legend who passed before his time.