Bloodstock 2026 continues the see the festival finding more and more room for metalcore and deathcore acts, to the delight of some and the disappointment of others: the genres were in full-force on Saturday, practically overtaking the Ronnie James Dio stage completely! The booking of headliners Slaughter to Prevail continues to be a major point of contention, so much so that we skipped their set entirely. Even still, the day had an abundance of kickass shows across its four stages, from prog to slam and everything in between.

Froglord

Kicking things off early on Saturday were Bristol’s Froglord, a band who had the Sophie Lancaster stage packed out, even at 10:30 in the morning: based on the number of amphibian-themed costumes dotted throughout the crowd, it’s safe to say this doom metal crew had drawn quite a few eyes. Froglord have always had a theatrical show, and their Bloodstock ritual was as flamboyant as any other— sigil-bearing flags, overgrown altars and the group’s ominous masks all worked to immerse you into the band’s swampy storytelling (though it must be said that the bikini-clad dancers in the back were distracting, at best). With only thirty minutes to work with, the doom metal crew weren’t pulling their punches, racing through the stomping riffs of new single ‘Croak’ straight into fan-favourite number ‘They Came From Saturn,’ and sounding fantastic even in spite of a bass malfunction early in the set. The frogs definitely woke up a sleep-deprived crowd with ‘Swamp Boogie’ and ‘The Mystic Toad,’ delivering yet another excellent doom metal showcase at their biggest show yet.

Outergods

We stuck around to catch Outergods, who, like Froglord before them, were set on choking the Sophie Lancaster stage in atmosphere (though where the doom metal four-piece were full of jokes and dorky dance moves, this death metal outfit was such more stoic and menacing). Frontman Patrick MacDonald immediately stood out as a dominating presence on the stage, making his shy greetings to the crowd between songs rather amusing: compared to the distant grumbles you’ll find on the band’s studio work, his vocals were more like commanding barks at Bloodstock, doing their best to shake the tent. Outergods weren’t playing to a packed out Sophie stage, and they weren’t inspiring much movement from their audience either, but that’s quite a tall order for any group playing before noon. The five-piece brought respectable death metal riffs and a wonderful cosmic atmosphere to their show, which was certainly worth checking out.

IMPERIUM

For a band playing on the festival’s second stage, it’s a real honour to be labelled as ‘main stage worthy’— if any group earned the title on Saturday morning, it was London-based thrash crew IMPERIUM, who came rip-roaring out onto the stage in spectacular fashion. The five-piece put on a show that was honestly electrifying, throwing you headfirst into some of the most anthemic and kickass thrash of the festival: IMPERIUM’S debut album ‘Exodus Unknown’ may not be the most memorable release of the year so far, but these songs were positively jumping off the speakers at Bloodstock. Frontman Ben Porter had the presence of a musician with ten times his experience, a fact that only became more obvious once Venom Inc’s Tony Dolan came out for a surprise guest feature: the rest of the band were just flying their way through the set, with lead guitarist Hardip Sagoo and drummer James Hawes nary putting a foot wrong. IMPERIUM feel like a band destined for bigger things, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see them hit the Ronnie James Dio stage very soon.

Apothis

Bloodstock has a time-honoured tradition of showcasing the UK’s underground talent on their New Blood stage, with the winners of the regional Metal 2 the Masses competition earning the chance to show Catton-on-Trent what’s what. One such band this year was Apothis, who were bringing their brutal brand of metalcore all the way from Guernsey (and my goodness was it heavy). The five-piece’s show wasn’t so musical as it was punishing, finding every excuse to pummel you with breakdowns and harrowing distorted riffs ripped straight from the deathcore handbook: even the self-described sing-along of set closer ‘Glass House’ was transformed into yet another skull-crusher at Bloodstock! Apothis took to their show with absolute stoicism, almost to a fault— Drew Baudains’ guttural screams looked almost effortless, coming from a man with more swagger than intensity. Regardless, there was no arguing with the absolute heft the band brought to the New Blood stage, which was positively inescapable in that small tent.

URNE

URNE are no strangers to Bloodstock, having played at the festival now three times in the last five years: at last the prog metal outfit have been bumped up to a coveted slot on the Ronnie James Dio stage, though that wouldn’t come without its pitfalls. The group were subject to some technical errors during set-up— an issue that thankfully, wasn’t too prevalent across the acts we caught this year— which delayed their show and clearly rattled frontman Joe Nally, who was forced to rush through his speeches between songs. That was, of course, when you could hear him, as the singer’s vocals were almost entirely absent in this, one of the most uneven live mixes of the entire weekend. All that to say, URNE were dealt an unfortunate hand at Bloodstock, not that the emotional weight of ‘A Feast On Sorrow’ or the epic progressions of ‘Harken The Waves’ paid that much heed. You could watch this band for Kurtis Bagley’s ripping solos alone: it was just a shame that these talented musicians weren’t really given the chance to nail things this time around.

We also met the members of URNE after their show, all of whom were an absolute delight to talk to.

Nevermore

If any Bloodstock-goers were on-the-fence about seeing the newly-reformed Nevermore playing on the Ronnie James Dio stage, the impassioned recommendation Joe Nally of URNE gave them during their set should’ve clued you in that this was going to be something special. At their first UK show in well over a decade, the band weren’t pulling their punches, and neither should they have been: for a very specific group at the festival, Nevermore were likely the making of the entire weekend. The five-piece certainly did their utmost to go down as one of the most technically dominating bands of Bloodstock 2026, with Berzan Önen’s operatic vocals continuing to find new ways to impress well-into this hour-long showcase— of course, we hardly need to tell you that seeing the one-and-only Jeff Loomis playing ‘This Godless Endeavour’ and ‘The River Dragon Has Come’ was nothing short of unbelievable. Nevermore’s show felt like a genuine event, with members of a tonne of other bands singing along to ‘The Heart Collector’ and ‘Inside Four Walls’ from side stage. This really was one for the ages.

Death Angel

A few months ago, logistical issues forced Bloodstock to bump URNE and Nevermore up to slots on the Ronnie James Dio stage, and to move Death Angel into the Sophie tent: though we’re sure that went over just fine with the Bay Area thrash titans, the band sure were playing as if they had an axe to grind. Thrash metal is a genre that feeds off energy, and more than forty years since their inception, this outfit can still whip up a mighty circle pit when they want to— the response to tracks like ‘Claws in So Deep’ and ‘Thrown to the Wolves’ was immediate and unstoppable, both words we’d use to describe Death Angel themselves. For any thrash fans at the festival, this was surely a must-see show, full of wailing vocals from Mark Onegueda and killer playing from guitarists Cavestany and Aguilar. The frontman may have repeated the phrase “we play Bay Area thrash metal” to the point of insanity, but at least Death Angel proved that the moniker still truly means something on the Sophie Lancaster stage.

Sanguisugabogg

Devin Swank opened their show on the Sophie Lancaster stage by saying, “we are not Of Mice And Men: we are Sanguisugabogg, and we write songs about killing people,” and then all hell broke loose. It’s hilarious to think that some metalcore-enjoyers who hadn’t seen Of Mice And Men’s absence from the latest festival posters could’ve been caught in this, one of the most diabolically brutal shows of the entire weekend— it’s hard to say if they would’ve have a good time, but for the death metal fans in the tent, this show was the absolute pinnacle of Bloodstock 2026. Their status as fill-ins seemed not to bother Swank and company at all, who were more than happy to inflict all manner of pain and suffering on the eager crowd— the frontman had complete control over every metalhead in the place, with his calls for mosh pits and crowd-surfers being answered again and again and again. This show was positively suffocating, and not just because the riffs of ‘Abhorrent Contraception’ and ‘Face Ripped Off’ were so pulverising live. The gargantuan wall of death afforded to set closer ‘Dead as Sh*t’ confirmed Sanguisugabogg as one of the greatest acts of the festival.

Leprous

Leprous’ show was unlike anything else we saw at Bloodstock this year, in only the best of ways: this was a set that stepped outside the confines of the Sophie Lancaster tent, immersing you in something truly cinematic and dazzling. Solberg and company were taking every opportunity to up-the-ante here, using strobe lights, trippy visuals and an outrageous amount of pyro to sell you on the idea that this show was a big deal— where spectacle on this scale is usually reserved for your main stage headliners, Leprous took their slot and positively transcended it, delivering a prog metal masterclass that had us spellbound right from the top of ‘Silently Walking Alone.’ It was almost a given that the Norwegian crew would sound phenomenal live, and having now seen them, we can confirm that Solberg’s soaring vocals and Kolstad’s percussive chops really are without peer, bringing us renditions of ‘Alleviate,’ ‘Forced Entry’ and ‘Nighttime Disguise’ that took your breath away. Even if the band had to cut ‘Below’ short due to an issue in the crowd, the show’s momentum remained right until ‘Atonement’ and an excerpt from ‘The Sky Is Red’ closed out this untouchable showcase. It was, put simply, a staggering thing to behold.