Every year, the whirlwind that is Bloodstock seems to fly by faster and faster: its latest iteration was full of shows, bin jousts, pillow fights and more, yet it all seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. The festival always tries to go out with a bang, and the 25th anniversary was no exception, with massive names like Judas Priest, Black Label Society and Testament making this a completely sold-out event. The final day of the weekend did not disappoint.

Solatia

To start the day off (and to duck out of the scorching August sun), we headed to the New Blood stage for London’s Solatia, who were set on waking the Sunday morning crowd up in fiery fashion. The four-piece play a hefty rendition of groove metal, complete with more tom parts and pick scrapes than you can shake a stick at— the band’s Gojira influence is plain as day, but if you’re going to be playing at Bloodstock 2026, why not take inspiration from one of last year’s revered headliners? In spite of some apparent technical issues, the young crew took to the stage with complete confidence, launching us straight into their riff-heavy set without pause: the rest was really a blur of unsettling masks, infectious picking patterns and massive melodic choruses, which were clearly going over very well with the numerous fans in the audience. Opening the New Blood stage is no easy feat, but we couldn’t really have asked for any band to do a better job than Solatia, who seem to be on the up and up.

Kaaper

Sticking around to check out more exciting young talent, we caught Cyprus’ Kaaper, who’s theatrical brand of death metal had the New Blood stage in a chokehold: even this early on a Sunday morning, the band had the place packed out, and it’s not hard to see why. Atmospheric as it may’ve been, Kaaper’s music came at you thick and fast, filling the tent with gigantic growls, rumbling bass tones and death metal essentials that have yet to go out of style— the band found room for ambience in-between each savage barrage, but each one only left you waiting for the next round of brutality. Their constant calls of “thank you for your support” were endearing unto the last, and they were honestly the only indication that this group aren’t yet darlings in their field. From the response they got at Bloodstock 2026, you’d have thought Kaaper were set to play alongside some of death metal’s most revered acts.

Castle Rat

Castle Rat have become renowned in the past year or two for their theatrical stage show and their campy D&D-inspired theming, and you’d have been hard-pressed to miss these elements on the Ronnie James Dio stage— even in the excruciatingly hot weather, the four-piece were still dolled up in costumes and makeup, turning their show from a run-of-the-mill doom metal showcase into a hilariously overblown LARPing session. You’ve got to give Castle Rat, who used their show to tell a lighthearted fable full of magic potions, evil schemes and sword fights, points for ambition, if maybe not for execution: the ‘theatrical’ elements of their show were delivered almost exclusively in-between songs, leaving the old-school metal riffs of ‘DRAGON’ and ‘SERPENT’ feeling almost superfluous. Cheesy and fun as they may’ve been, the Rat Queen’s monologues slowed the set to a crawl, and a swelteringly hot one at that. Perhaps Castle Rat’s unique style isn’t suited to a midday festival slot— their ambitious tale didn’t quite stick the landing at Bloodstock.

Orbit Culture

When the festival team first unveiled the lineup for Bloodstock’s 25th anniversary last year, Orbit Culture received one of the most deafening cheers of anyone: now a year later, the hype behind this Swedish modern metal outfit hasn’t died down one bit. The four-piece sauntered out onto the Ronnie James Dio stage like they owned the thing, and they had every right to— once the staccato riff that kicks off ‘Death Above Life’ began to stab you in the eardrums, Orbit Culture’s place among the festival highlights was all but secured. This was one of the tightest shows of the weekend, sporting a better mix than the band’s latest record had, and it came in service of a show that wanted you to headbang, and to headbang hard. In the live setting, the indomitable riffs that make up ‘The Tales of War’ and ‘North Star of Nija’ were like atom bombs, aimed straight at a crowd that was all too happy to be utterly destroyed. Even having to abandon ‘Hydra’ due to an injury in the moshpit couldn’t slow Orbit Culture down, a band who’s stock continues to rise ever higher.

Testament

Believe me, we’re as shocked as you are that Testament— y’know, one of the most consistent and legendary thrash bands around— were booked to play a mere 45-minute slot: if there was any criticism to be levied against this show, it was that a band with this much legacy and this many diehard fans deserved far more time on the Ronnie James Dio stage. Billy and company are absolute pros, so much so that they could afford to inflate a gigantic demon to tower over the drum kit, and you’d best believe that the stomping savagery of opener ‘Into the Pit’ came at you like a freight train. Like Orbit Culture before them, Testament were sporting a gorgeous mix at Bloodstock, one that let you hear just how well Chuck Billy’s vocals have aged, and just how awesome Alex Skolnick’s lead playing is— after forty years in the game, these thrash legends are still playing with intensity, with passion, with reckless abandon, and the crowd was more than happy to give it back to them. Final track ‘Over the Wall’ came far, far too soon: we could’ve happily watched the band headline the festival.

Black Label Society

Speaking of bands who were booked lower on the bill that you would’ve thought, here came Black Label Society (complete with their three million monthly listeners on Spotify) to play in the late afternoon. Zakk Wylde is a genuine megastar, and you could feel his presence on the stage even before he picked up a guitar: right from the start, we knew we were in for a bonafide rock’n’roll show full of iconic tracks and spectacular showcases, and Black Label Society weren’t in the business of disappointing. This was a set defined by its jaw-dropping moments; a truly anthemic tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with a cover of ‘No More Tears;’ a wicked duel between Wylde and Lorina, with both of them playing their guitars behind their heads; and the massive sing-alongs that are ‘Suicide Messiah’ and ‘Stillborn.’ By show’s end, the four-piece were simply smacking their guitars and letting the feedback overtake Bloodstock— that, right there, is how you make your mark on the festival.

200 Stab Wounds

We took a break from all that anthemic action on the main stage to catch 200 Stab Wounds, a band you could’ve bet money on inspiring a hell of a lot of moshing and crowdsurfing: it was a little strange, then, to see the four-piece’s show getting off to a bit of a sluggish start, especially after we’d seen the group push the energy through the roof supporting Cryptopsy in January. The band were still bringing their signature style of gruesome death metal to the Sophie Lancaster stage, of course, and there really is no arguing with the out-and-out suffocation of ‘Tow Rope Around the Throat’ or ‘Skin Milk.’ At Bloodstock though, 200 Stab Wounds weren’t quite whipping the crowd up into a frenzy like you’d assume— for whatever reason, the energy in the tent just felt a little low, though you could honestly blame that on exhaustion by Sunday evening. 200 Stab Wounds are a prime example of good modern death metal, and their riffs continued to pulverise at Bloodstock: this wasn’t the violent exhibition we were hoping for though.

Judas Priest

The curtain our Sunday night headliners were hiding behind before their show began was emblazoned with 50 years of album covers: Halford’s joke of “25 years of Bloodstock, 100 f*cking years of Judas Priest” may’ve been funny, but it’s also a solid reminder of just how long this British heavy metal institution has been trucking along for. When the curtain finally dropped to ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,’ the ensuing sing-along was rapturous, and damn-near deafening. Judas Priest were pulling from across their vast catalogue at Bloodstock, from the progressive epic of 1976’s ‘Victim of Changes’ all the way to 2024’s ‘Invincible Shield,’ and everything in between— there may have been one too many mid-tempo rockers for some people’s liking, but you just can’t argue with classics like ‘Turbo Lover’ or ‘The Sentinel.’ Halford himself wasn’t nailing every track, especially towards the middle of the show, but by the time the band were rolling out ‘Electric Eye,’ ‘Painkiller’ and ‘Living After Midnight,’ he’d thoroughly reaffirmed his ‘metal god’ status. The guy drove onto the stage on a Harley Davidson, for goodness sake: Judas Priest really are that f*cking awesome, and we can only hope they keep kicking ass for years more.