BLOODSTOCK have locked down the last handful of Ronnie James Dio main stage and Sophie Lancaster stage bands, as the Metal 2 The Masses finals roll through the UK to find the best of the grass roots to flesh out the New Blood stage. BLOODSTOCK can also reveal that a limited number of day tickets for 2019’s event will go on sale at the end of May. Don’t miss out – sign up for a reminder here.
BLOODSTOCK’s final main stage band are classic UK thrash squad, XENTRIX, who are set to play on Friday. Having recently signed to Listenable Records, the band are set to release a new studio album, ‘Bury The Pain’ on 7th June. Check out the brand new track, ‘Bleeding Out’ here; https://youtu.be/vFgiw7XOiGo. The album has been produced by Andy Sneap and you can pre-order it over at www.shop-listenable.net/en/268_xentrix.
Joining the Sophie stage bill on Friday are British death metallers, KARYBDIS. The band released their third studio album, ‘In The Shadow Of Paradise’ last year, which you can pick up over on their Bandcamp page; https://karybdis.bandcamp.com/. Watch the video for the title track and get yourself up to speed – https://youtu.be/g09x4f8cVUc.
A former winner of BLOODSTOCK’s Metal 2 The Masses competition back in 2012, melodic metal crew CONTROL THE STORM have gone from strength to strength, and we’re delighted to now welcome them to Friday’s Sophie stage. With plans afoot to release their second album, ‘Forevermore’ this summer, hopefully they’ll treat everyone to some new songs live! See what you think of new single ‘Follow Me’ at https://youtu.be/7SzIq8yc0T4 and if you dig it, help them along by contributing to their Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/controlthestorm/control-the-storm-forevermore-help-fund-the-album.
The pioneers of Norwegian Viking Metal, HELHEIM land a Saturday set on the Sophie stage. Hailing from Bergen, you can find their latest blackened sounds on new album, ‘Rignir’, released late last month by Dark Essence, who have kindly added no less than three songs from it to their YouTube channel, including the title track at https://youtu.be/ECRCW94pW_o.
There’s more from our Norwegian brethren, with GUARDIANS OF TIME also bagging a Saturday slot on the Sophie stage to showcase their brand of heavy/power metal. Don’t know them yet? Their fifth album, ‘Tearing Up The World’ came out in Oct 2018 and features guest appearances from none other than Abbath and Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens. Investigate that title track with Abbath here – https://youtu.be/69ItcYo8txU.
Bulgarian metalheads, ODD CREW also land a Saturday slot. The band take their influences from classic metal like Black Sabbath through artists like Pantera through to modern day acts like Killswitch Engage. Check ‘em out storming through ‘Death Trap’ here; https://youtu.be/MSpAig3cxaI. The band released their fifth studio album, ‘The Lost Pages’ last year, which you can check out on Spotify or via all major DSPs.