Another cold night in wintry Wolverhampton beckons but KK’s Steel Mill is always a welcome sight. A former factory building owned by former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing, the venue, opened in 2018, has already gained a great reputation, landing many top quality metal acts ahead of other local rivals.
It’s one thing to see siblings together in music, but two generations in one band is not as typical. Go Ahead And Die features legendary Max Cavalera (ex-Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy, Soulfly, etc.) and his son, Igor Cavalera Jr. (Healing Magic, Lody Kong). What’s more, Johnny Valles (live drummer for Cerebral Rot, Black Braid, etc.) has picked up the drumming role on their latest album, Unhealthy Mechanisms (Nuclear Blast Records). The three-piece specializes in a groovy death metal band with some crossover punk spilled over the top.
It’s tempting to compare a band from New Zealand to Alien Weaponry, but the tribal folk of Shepherds Reign‘s homeland is woven into the fabric of their songs in a manner more like what Sepultura did on the Roots album.
Friday:
A challenge of being a concert photographer is seldom experiencing a full set. Often, I dash between stages, trying to capture each band as if on a Pokémon quest – though “gotta shoot ’em all” has a different ring to it. Nonetheless, the silver lining is I often witness a good portion of every set over the weekend. Here are my top picks and suggestions from Bloodstock’s two smaller stages, showcasing their stellar support for the underground scene and nurturing emerging metal talent in the UK and beyond.Continue reading
SATURDAY
With the weather nothing like the crispy oven-cooked hellfire of last year’s Summerpocalypse, Bloodstock is a much happier place this year, and not even the first downpour of the weekend can dampen the spirits. Especially as today is Corpse-paint Day where everyone is invited to daub themselves in black and white make-up and become angry badgers for the next few hours.
Final preparations are ready for this weekend’s Bloodstock Open Air, kicking off today, the 10th of August through the 14th at Catton Park, Derbyshire. Sad news as Helloween has been forced out of the fest due to a last-minute illness. They are being replaced by KK’s Priest, led by former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing. BOA ‘s2023 Ronnie James Dio Main Stage Headliners are Killswitch Engage, Meshuggah, and Megadeth. with the full band list below.
In case you forgot or were not alive, the late 1990s was a time when every Metal record label was jumping on the bandwagon of trend-hopping and hunting for the next “big thing” mostly Nu Metal or Nirvana’s take on pre-Grunge revival of Punk vibes. With almost no websites yet, pundits at music magazines, radio, and MTV, had declared metal dead (many bands would say otherwise, all the while the underground excelled like never before with stellar releases.
As this year’s event gets ever nearer, Bloodstock is thrilled to announce that Sunday day tickets for 2023 are now SOLD OUT!! Standard weekend tickets remain available but are going quickly, plus a limited day allocation for Friday and Saturday. Read on for more band news, plus all the details on the RAM Gallery exhibitors, the return of the T-Shirt/CD Amnesty and Planet Rock Signing Tent, plus how to do a one-stop-shop for all your festival essentials.
Okay, so it was decided that Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions (Nuclear Blast) were to be plucked from the Sepultura catalog for re-recording by founding members Max and Igor Cavalera. Can we all agree on that? Great. Now legions of fans will pound and holler about “we already have those available on CD and on streaming.” Then the other side of the audience moans about the Cavalera siblings being greedy or some such shit.
To be perfectly frank, the biggest issue with Static Abyss’ Aborted from Reality (Peaceville Records) is that they decided to release the album the same year as Obituary’s recent destroyer, Dying of Everything. It’s been a consistent thorn on the side of Chris Reifert and Greg Wilkinson for quite some time as Obituary has always outshined their most well-known project, Autopsy, as well.