Words: Kathryn Edwards  //  Photos: Jez Pennington

Rivers of Nihil

Rivers of Nihil are handed the unenviable task of waking up a field of metalheads on Sunday morning, and they do it with style. They launch into ‘The Silent Life’ and immediately sweep the cobwebs away with technical riffs sharp enough to cut through any hangover. Their set draws heavily from 2018’s ‘Where Owls Know My Name,’ blending death metal brutality with soaring textures that make the Dio Stage feel oddly serene for such an early slot. By the time they close with the title track, the crowd is locked in, and a saxophone sample at a metal festival before lunchtime feels like the perfect kind of madness.

Rizen

Over on the New Blood Stage, Rizen waste no time proving why they’re tipped as one of the UK’s brightest new acts. Their opener thunders out and the pit is moving almost instantly, which is impressive given some people are still clutching bacon rolls. Mid-set highlight ‘Ashes to Embers’ gets fists in the air, a proper call-to-arms that shakes the tent awake. By the closer, the crowd are fully with them, shouting back and grinning, the kind of reaction that makes you think you’ll be seeing this band on the main stage in a couple of years.

August Burns Red

August Burns Red arrive with a bang. They open with ‘Fault Line’, the pit goes nuclear, and Jake Luhrs is already commanding the stage like he owns the place. The setlist is a greatest-hits sprint, with ‘Composure’ sparking chaos and ‘Invisible Enemy’ getting one of the biggest singalongs of the afternoon. Every breakdown lands harder than the last, and the band play with the kind of precision that makes other musicians quietly hate them. They close with ‘White Washed’, the crowd screaming the words like their lives depend on it, and it feels like August Burns Red have just levelled the field.

Dogma

Dogma bring their industrial-punk hybrid to the Sophie Stage and turn it into a rave inside a riot. ‘Forbidden Zone’ sounds like being hit by a truck full of strobe lights, the tent bouncing as if it’s 3am in a club rather than mid-afternoon at a metal fest. The band are a blur of motion, snarling through songs that refuse to stick to any one genre. By the end, the Sophie crowd looks like they’ve just survived an exorcism, sweaty and dazed but grinning ear to ear.

Lowen

Lowen take things in a completely different direction, their doom-laden soundscapes rolling across the stage like a storm front. Nina Saeidi’s vocals soar above the weight of the riffs, equal parts mournful and commanding, and there are moments where you could hear a pin drop in the tent. Songs from 2021’s ‘Unceasing Lamentations’ unfold like ritual chants, slowly building until the air feels charged. They finish with ‘Hymn to the Mother’, the whole thing feeling less like a gig and more like a ceremony, and the audience leave quieter than they arrived, still processing the spell they’ve been under.

The Black Dahlia Murder

The Black Dahlia Murder hit the Dio Stage and instantly turn grief into celebration. They open with ‘What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse’, pits opening up as if on command, and Brian Eschbach proves he’s more than ready to lead from the front. The energy is relentless, ‘Statutory Ape’ causing carnage halfway through, the pit stretching almost across the field. They close with ‘Deathmask Divine’, the crowd screaming every word, and for a few minutes it feels like the entire festival is united in remembering Trevor Strnad. It is brutal, heartfelt and proof that this band is still very much alive.

Lord of the Lost

Lord of the Lost sweep onto the Dio Stage looking like they’ve just walked out of a gothic opera. They open with ‘Drag Me to Hell’ and it’s instantly clear they’re here to put on a show, all black leather, towering choruses and more melodrama than a soap finale. The set jumps between pounding industrial anthems and soaring ballads, each one somehow bigger than the last. ‘Blood & Glitter’, 2023’s German Eurovision entry, gets the biggest singalong, but closer ‘Loreley’ feels almost sacred, voices rising with the dusk. It is camp, theatrical and completely irresistible.

thrown

The Sophie Stage nearly implodes when thrown step up. They blast straight into ‘guilt’ and the pit detonates, walls of death colliding like rugby scrums on steroids. Marcus Lundqvist stalks the stage like a man possessed, every line barked like a challenge. ‘on the verge’ only adds fuel, the crowd practically tripping over themselves to get involved. They close with ‘look at me’, and by the end it looks like the entire tent has been put through a blender. It is chaotic, nasty and exactly what everyone came for.

Mastodon

Mastodon arrive on the Dio Stage and ease in with ‘Oblivion,’ the progressive layers slowly drawing the crowd into their otherworldly realm. Their set sprawls across their catalogue, from the crushing ‘Mother Puncher’ to the soaring ‘More Than I Could Chew’, each track delivered with trademark intricacy. The visuals behind them; cosmic, surreal, psychedelic, elevate the performance into something hypnotic.

As the sun dips, they close with the sprawling ‘Blood and Thunder’, the entire field screaming ‘white whale, holy grail’ as one. It’s a cathartic end to a set that reminds everyone exactly why Mastodon are revered: few bands can be so heavy, so complex and yet so universally captivating all at once.

3 Inches of Blood

Reunited and hungry, 3 Inches of Blood storm onto the Sophie Stage with ‘Deadly Sinners’, the crowd instantly transported back to the glory days of early 2000s metal. Their dual-vocal assault cuts through the tent like steel, fans bellowing along with every chorus. Midway through, ‘Destroy the Orcs’ sparks a frenzy, plastic swords and inflatable axes waving above the pit in pure joy. They close with ‘Goatrider’s Horde’, the audience in full voice, a triumphant comeback soaked in nostalgia and fire.

Gojira 

The day belongs to Gojira. As night falls, they open with ‘Ocean Planet’, the Dio Stage bathed in deep blues and smoke. The crowd roars as ‘Backbone’ follows, its stomping groove sending shockwaves through the field. Every song feels monumental, from the thunderous ‘Flying Whales’, greeted with inflatable whales bouncing above the pit, to the colossal ‘Silvera,’ which sees the entire crowd screaming along.

The second half of the set grows ever more intense, pyro and visuals amplifying the band’s overwhelming presence. ‘Stranded’ turns the field into one massive bounce, and by the time they reach ‘L’Enfant Sauvage,’ it feels as though the whole of Bloodstock is moving as one. They close with ‘The Gift of Guilt,’ its outro stretching into the night as fireworks burst overhead. It’s a masterclass in modern metal headlining. Gojira not only justify their place, they deliver one of the defining performances in Bloodstock’s history.

Obituary

Obituary stride onto the Sophie Stage like seasoned executioners, wasting no time in turning the tent into a swamp of riffs. They open with ‘Redneck Stomp’, the crowd instantly moving in that slow, grinding way only death metal can inspire. John Tardy’s growls sound as feral as ever, cutting through a wall of filthy guitar tone that rattles the walls. Midway through, ‘Slowly We Rot’ whips the pit into a frenzy, fans colliding with grins plastered across their faces. They close with ‘Chopped in Half’, the iconic riff landing like a sledgehammer, and it feels like Obituary have given Bloodstock one last, glorious beating before the weekend fades.

Kicking off the evening is the fast-rising thrown, the anticipation bubbling as Limp Bizkit’s classic ‘Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)’ warms up the crowd’s voices and limbs. Emerging from the shadows one by one, they rip straight into ‘guilt’, its opening guitar shrieks summoning cheers from the pit as it tears itself open for the first time this evening. It’s the perfect tone setter for everything that followed – precise and pulverising heaviness, delivered with menace and malice. From wrecking ball tracks like new favourite ‘Backfire’ to the devastating ‘new low’, and a very tasty sounding new track for good measure, the band provide a perfect warm up session ahead of the rest of tonight’s carnage. Closing number ‘greyout’ leaves a lasting mark, the thick grooves and their commanding stage presence winning over tonight’s early attendees.

Next up is Dying Wish, who have brought a crushing setlist to the Electric Ballroom that covers the brightest spots of their debut album and their crushing latest release ‘Symptoms Of Survival’. The title track of the latter kicks off their maelstrom, with vocalist Emma Boster standing tall above the onlookers, whipping them into a frenzy with her vicious screams. The chaos in the crowd continues to intensify as they roar through the crushing ‘Watch My Promise Die’ and the rabid ‘Starved’, with deafening snare bombs rattling old confetti off the lighting rigs and breakdowns so tight that the headliners would be proud. Limbs are flailing, bodies are surfing towards the barrier, all is going well; until the dreaded tech hiccups appear…

The band suffer through a handful of issues during their set, but they luckily all happen pretty early on. A couple of feedback problems plague Boster’s mic, though it doesn’t phase her at all, but a pedal problem completely stops guitarist Sam Reynolds in his tracks and fixing it eats into a chunk of the set. Does it affect the band’s momentum though? Nope, not even a little, and they continue to take swing after pendulously heavy swing into the audience. Confident and raging performances of ‘Prey For Me’, ‘Cowards Feed, Cowards Bleed’ and the evil ‘Path To Your Grave’ devastate the crowd, making the closing one-two punch of the stunning ‘Lost In The Fall’ and the devilish ‘Innate Thirst’ hit even harder. Many of us are left breathless, looking on in awe as we collectively process the most aggressive music we’ll hear this evening. They definitely gained fans tonight.

Now, the main event. August Burns Red make it immediately clear that this is their show – a cinematic, richly textured soundscape ushers in the start of an epic light show, the stage bathed in light as the band begin to creep onto the stage. Launching straight into ‘Empire’, the band unleash those faultless chops and almost inhuman tightness that they’ve built their reputation on, and the crowd lap up every single note. Vocalist Jake Luhrs sounds and looks like a grizzly bear, his ominous silhouette towering over the crowd as he bellows his aggression into the room with ease. The pit becomes the widest it’s been so far this evening, and it just continues to grow as they dive straight into the back catalogue with tracks like ‘The Escape Artist’, ‘The Truth Of A Liar’ and ‘Thirty And Seven’. You can almost feel the musicians in the room losing the will to keep trying to play their instruments – the musicianship masterclass that we’re all watching is sublime.

The set spotlights a handful of their newer cuts like the devastating ‘Bloodletter’ and the fierce ‘Backfire’, but the band does a great job of dipping into almost their entire back catalogue, the fluidity of the set being a testament to their creativity over the course of the last 20 or so years. The iconic ‘Composure’ summons a venue-wide wall of death, the majestic ‘Meridian’ creates an almost hypnotic state that washes over the entire room, the melodic adrenaline rush of ‘Animals’ spawns vicious circle pits – they manage to structure the set like a journey, and their incredible connection with one another makes the soundtrack destructively flawless.

After an incredible performance of ‘Mariana’s Trench’ that created one of those goosebump inducing moments, witnessing a crowd sing the riffs back at the band louder than the PA, the band left the stage and simultaneously created the “one more song” chants almost immediately. We aren’t left waiting long, the band re-emerging with the opening notes of the stunning ‘Paramount’, welcomed by hungry pit goers with enthusiasm. The floor opens one final time, transitioning from swirling cyclone to fierce brawl along with the evolving soundscape, but it saves itself for the final hurrah. That comes in the form of favourite ‘White Washed’, those opening drums calling every last drop of energy in the room to be expelled during the final offering of the night. Every breakdown erupts like a long dormant volcano, every head from front to back banging like a mosher Mexican wave, and the band all look out at the carnage with smiles on their faces. What an evening.

Not to sound too cliche, but August Burns Red really are like a fine wine and they do just get better with time. Metalcore is a genre where being robotically tight is the norm, but the precision they displayed tonight is in a league of its own. No mistakes, no hiccups, a perfect performance balance of confidence and fun, and a setlist that left every face smiling. They’ve conquered London once again, and the display they’ve put on was truly mesmerising. One of the best metalcore bands to ever do it.

DAVE STEWART

From their furious 2007 breakthrough ‘Messengers’ to the stunning 2017 album ‘Phantom Anthem’, they’ve transformed themselves from rage-fueled brutes into hard-hitting powerhouses, all the while keeping a firm grasp on a sound that is unmistakably theirs. 2020 sees them tighten that grip with new release ‘Guardians’ – their eighth full length album, their second release through Fearless Records, and arguably their most adventurous effort to date.

If you came here wanting to experience some classic August Burns Red moments, there are plenty of tracks that embody everything they’ve established over the last two decades. Album opener ‘The Narrative’ does a perfect job of setting the tone for the entire record, immediately showcasing the fine technical guitar work of John ‘JB’ Brubaker, Brent Rambler and bassist Dustin Davidson, the sensational drums of the legendary Matt Greiner, and the unmistakable passionate vocal delivery of front man Jake Luhrs. It’s fast, it’s complex, it’s heavy, it’s melodic – they’ve made their intentions for the record clear, and this is just the beginning.

‘Bones’ hurtles straight into frenzied riffs and blistering drums, only taking the occasional opportunity to relieve some of the pressure before reapplying it all without warning. ‘Paramount’ does something very similar, doffing its cap to the ‘Messengers’ era with unexpected tempo changes, ethereal guitar melodies and world-ending breakdowns. ‘Dismembered Memory’ sees every member of the band flexing their technical muscles, ‘Extinct By Instinct’ is an indulgent and delectable delight, fleeting between emotive and aggressive delivery at a moments notice, ‘Ties That Bind’ boasts their effortless ability to blend the beautiful with the brutal – there’s a lot to fall head over heels for here, and that merely scratches the surface.

If you’ve been dying for them to release something so heavy it makes you want to fold yourself in half, then ‘Bloodletter’ will have you head-butting your toes in seconds. Undoubtedly their heaviest track to date, it opens with a spine-tingling menace that slowly becomes more sinister as it builds towards a seismic finale. ‘Lighthouse’ puts vocal melody at the centre of the stage, injecting an anthemic infectiousness into the track as it continuously soars higher and higher. The star of the show, though, is ‘Empty Heavens’, a six minute epic that is possibly their most impressive song to date. It takes you on a beautifully turbulent journey as the lighter elements of their music battle the dark, like the sun trying to break through stormy skies.

This is yet another storming release to add to their already stellar back catalogue, but what did you expect? Everything that you’ve come to know and love about them is here bigger and bolder than ever – the smouldering riffs, the seething vocals, the mind boggling drums that make drummers everywhere want to rage-quit their instrument. Inject the welcome addition of more clean vocals to the mix and it hoists the music to an all new level, introducing an extra layer of melody to their already rich blend of tones. It’s not as punchy as some of their older records, but it doesn’t need to be. This is the perfect representation of how they’ve grown and what they’ve learnt over the years.

‘Guardians’ is a must have not just for fans of the band, but for fans of metalcore. August Burns Red are truly one of a kind and this record demonstrates that not only are they still growing, but they also still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. If you don’t know them yet, this is the perfect album to get to know them, and then there’s plenty of homework to do. If you do know them, you’re going to love this.

DAVE STEWART

This record picks up exactly where the last one left off, continuing to deliver punch after devastating punch of hard-hitting metal power. Album opener ‘Pray For Rain’ may initially lead you to believe that this is a slightly more relaxed affair, but the feeling will only be temporary. Out of nowhere, it erupts with huge riffs, courtesy of guitar duo Rick Schneider and Ryan Siew, bursting through the mix and practically forcing your neck to bang your head. It starts strong, and there’s plenty more where that came from.

There’s the anthemic wails and soaring choruses of ‘Masochist’, the full-force onslaught of ‘Creatures Of Habit’, the technical and sombre movements of the elegant epic ‘All Of This Is Fleeting’, the thunderous and unrelenting juggernaut ‘Landmine’ – it doesn’t provide any opportunities to relax or recover. There’s opportunities to bask in lighter moments, sure, but they’re temporary. The captivating and contagious guitar work just keeps on coming, as do the vocal hooks, digging themselves deeper into your brain with every passing moment – and this is just a mere scratch at the surface of this record.

‘Above My Head’ is a stunning collection of beautiful yet aggressive layers, each one contributing to the overwhelming weight of the music. Front man Jamie Hails and bassist and vocalist Jake Steinhauser are operating at their best here, putting what is collectively one of the most impassioned and catchy performances on the record. They also demonstrate their prowess on the poignant and heart-wrenching ‘Martyr (Waves)’, delicately suspending warming melodies over an ever developing musical landscape. Drummer Daniel Furnari demonstrates a phenomenal amount of feel in his playing here too, acting as the catalyst for the shifts in the surroundings by flaunting his impressive grasp on dynamics and pace.

‘Hypermania’ is a full throttle crash course in fast paced metalcore, tearing through endless frantic movements with unbridled fury and potent, seething venom. It’s the shortest song on the record by quite a way, but it does everything that it needs to in 2:42 and leaves your stomach grumbling for more. The real diamond of the record can be found in the album closer ‘The Descent’ though, bringing proceedings to an end in the most masterful and grandiose of ways.

The guitars are all gigantic, the pounding drums driving them even further skyward where they’re met with the staggering vocals. Hails and Steinhauser demonstrate great balance between the light and the dark here, spitting fire in all the right places before battling the flames with tidal waves of emotion. It ends after a calamitous breakdown, suddenly coming to a halt and leaving you sat in silence, in awe of what you’ve just heard. They’ve done it again.

There’s so much animosity and rage contained within this album that’s powerful enough to conjure up those feelings in you as you listen. But despite that boiling brew of bitterness, it somehow manages to make you smile throughout. As tempestuous as the record, is there’s something so undeniably fun about it. The big bouncy riffs, the pit-hungry breakdowns, the catchy vocal melodies and patterns – they’re all characteristics that come as part of the genre, but the way they’re delivered here is spellbinding.

Metalcore is not dead. Polaris have got a very firm grip on the flag that’s flying for it. If you’re a fan of this genre and you’re into bands like August Burns Red, Architects and Beartooth, then this album will soon integrate itself into your most played. ‘The Mortal Coil’ sewed the seed for Polaris’ success, and ‘The Death Of Me’ sees that seed begin to flower and blossom into something beautiful. A vigorous and triumphant belter from one of Australia’s finest exports.

DAVE STEWART

Earlier this year the band released their latest album ‘Phantom Anthem’ via Fearless Records.

The track is taken from their upcoming new album, ‘Phantom Anthem’, which will be released on the 6th October via Fearless Records and can be pre-ordered here.

The track is taken from their upcoming new album, ‘Phantom Anthem’, which will be released on the 6th October via Fearless Records and can be pre-ordered here.

The track is taken from their upcoming new album, ‘Phantom Anthem’, which will be released on the 6th October via Fearless Records and can be pre-ordered here.