PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Bloodstock’s 2015 ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ tour kicks off on the Emerald Isle this weekend, with the first finals in this year’s competition to earn coveted places on the festival’s ‘New Blood’ stage.
The festival has a long standing reputation for supporting grass roots metal and the annual M2TM programme is at the forefront of that. 2015 has been M2TM’s biggest programme to date, with 22 venues participating, and hundreds of unsigned or self-released bands taking part, each one hoping to land a slot in their local final – the first of which takes place in Belfast this coming Friday (May 8).
It’s not just UK and Irish acts that Bloodstock gives opportunities to, as bands from across the world can also enter for a slot on the Hobgoblin New Blood stage by uploading a video to http://www.wychwood.co.uk/#/mischeif//competitions/Bloodstock. Winners will be chosen by the Bloodstock panel from submitted videos. The first batch of lucky bands have been chosen (there’ll be more, so don’t worry if you’ve not uploaded your video yet).
Friday’s bill will include the Cotswold-based modern metal outfit Mutagenocide, Canadian progsters Diatessaron and Welsh groove metallers, Piss Viper. Saturday’s bill includes Codex Alimentarius’ groove/thrash/classical infusion, Nottingham progressive tech metallers Akarusa Yami and London post-proggers Sumer, while Sunday sees progressive hardcore outfit Taken By The Tide, Luxembourg’s death thrashers Scarred and Northern Irish hardcore beasts By Any Means join the bill.
The full list of Hobgoblin Metal 2 The Masses finals is as follows:
Fri 8 May – BELFAST, Voodoo
Sat 9 May – DUBLIN Fibber Magee’s
Sat 16 May – SANDNES (Norway) Club Tribute
Sun 17 May – EXETER Cavern
Sat 23 May – WOLVERHAMPTON Fixxion Warehouse
Sun 24 May – BRIGHTON Green Door Store
Fri 29 May – GLASGOW Ivory Blacks
Sat 30 May – SELBY The Venue
Sun 31 May – CREWE The Box
Thu 4 June – NORWICH The Brickmakers
Fri 5 June – LUTON The Castle
Sat 6 June – READING Facebar
Sun 7 June – LONDON Purple Turtle
Sat 27 June – CARDIFF Fuel Club
Sat 27 June – LIVERPOOL Crazyhouse
Sun 28 June – MANCHESTER Grand Central
Fri 3 July – OXFORD The Bullingdon
Sat 4 July – MANSFIELD Intake Club
Sat 4 July – CORBY Zombie Hut
Sat 11 July – BRISTOL The Fleece
Sat 11 July – BURNLEY Sanctuary Rock Bar
Sun 12 July – BIRMINGHAM Roadhouse
Tickets for Bloodstock 2015 are available via the 24hr ticketline on 0871 230 5584 or online, priced at the very reasonable £135 (plus booking fee) for a four-day Thursday through Sunday weekend ticket with camping. VIP packages and upgrades are also available, plus pre-booked car parking pitches. Camper van pitches are now all sold out.
All these killer bands are already announced:
Friday’s headliner TRIVIUM and special guests SABATON, Saturday’s headliner WITHIN TEMPTATION and special guests OPETH, Sunday’s headliner ROB ZOMBIE and special guests BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, plus CANNIBAL CORPSE, IHSAHN, SEPULTURA, ORANGE GOBLIN, DEATH T.A, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, 1349, NAPALM DEATH, DARK ANGEL, ARMORED SAINT, BELPHEGOR, OVERKILL, ENSIFERUM, AGALLOCH, KORPIKLAANI, PRO-PAIN, ENSLAVED, RAGING SPEEDHORN, XERATH and WOLF.
Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage, there’s headliners DELAIN, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, GODFLESH and ARNOCORPS, LAWNMOWER DETH, MORDRED, ETHEREAL, ONSLAUGHT, OAF, CONAN, PLANET OF ZEUS, GODSIZED, plus many more.
Bloodstock will be held at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 6 -9 August. Keep up to date with the very latest info on Bloodstock’s official Facebook and website.
