Mad About Rock

  We checked in with rising UK hard hitters OPENSIGHT and asked the band to exclusively reveal the five songs that have greatly shaped their sound, and here's the lowdown: "Choosing only five songs was difficult, but it was also a really interesting and cool exercise. Opensight has always drawn inspiration from different places: heavy metal, hard rock, cult cinema, vintage video game music, progressive music, spy themes, horror scores and plenty of other corners. Rather than choosing five favourites, we thought it would make more sense to pick songs that connect in some way with the ingredients behind our new album, The Outfit. Of course, that means leaving out a lot of artists who have been hugely important to us, including Faith No More, Iron Maiden, Cynic, Fabio Frizzi, Jerry Goldsmith, Black Sabbath, Henry Mancini, Stelvio Cipriani and many more. Their influence is still there somewhere." OPETH - The Lotus Eater "The entire journey of Opeth has influenced Open...

  Download Festival, the greatest rock and metal festival of all time, has today added a further wave of 22 artists to an already stellar line up for its 22nd edition in 2025. The new additions include Rise Against, Opeth, Myles Kennedy, Shinedown, AWOLNATION, Power Trip, Hatebreed, Palaye Royale, Municipal Waste and more. This year’s festival will take place on 13-15 June 2025 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire. General tickets are on sale now at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . Also announced today are Crossfaith, Dirty Honey, unpeople, Smash Into Pieces, MOTHICA, Zetra, Bastardane, Kids In Glass Houses, Elliot Minor, Twin Atlantic, Cattle Decapitation, PRESIDENT and NECKBREAKKER. They join a colossal line up headlined by the mighty Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn, and also featuring the likes of Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, Within Temptation, Eagles Of Death Metal, The Darkness and many more. The mighty Shinedown are ret...

  Photo Credit – Abbi Draper-Scott Bloodstock festival continues to grow each year, with 2024's event being their biggest yet. This was evident by selling out weekend tickets and Saturday day tickets, a mighty achievement that was well deserved and expected considering the magnitude of the line-up. Thursday 8th August Tailgunner - Photo Credit - Abbi Draper-Scott New traditional metallers Tailgunner only launched in 2022 and released their debut album, 'Guns For Hire,' in July last year. They have already made a name for themselves. I was very impressed with their performance at a rammed-out tent on the Sophie Lancaster stage, which was the first band on the festival's opening day for me, and what a way to kick things off. The crowd and energy were insane, with constant mosh pits and crowd surfers for the entirety of their 40-minute set, showing just how much support the band have and making them an unstoppable force that is only surely going to rise in the ranks. It ...

  In a new partnership, BLOODSTOCK is excited to announce the line-up for its 2024 EMP Stage (formerly the Jagermeister Stage)! Friday’s bill will include tech/death squad LOST BRETHREN , thrash/death trio LETHAL EVIL , occult rockers CROWLEY , heavy blues rockers KING KRAKEN , and goth metal outfit MAB . Saturday’s line up features grindcore/hardcore outfit PUBLIC EXECUTION , metalcore beasts PARTING WITH ORIGIN , doom-fused heavyists FLAMEBEARER , high octane fusionists RUPCHA FARMS and alt metal band LURCHER . Coming up on Sunday will be ‘fantasy space metal riff machine’ WARPSTORMER , celtic punk troupe THE CALLOWGATE MURDERS , fuzz-soaked riffmeisters of the Toad King GOBLIN SMOKER , the 3-man noise machine YERSIN and heavy blues rockers LOYDS TRIP . Regarding the new collaboration, EMP tell us, “We are absolutely thrilled to announce our partnership with BLOODSTOCK 2024! As proud sponsors of the 4th stage, EMP is ready to rock alongside the best in metal. Stay tuned for ex...

  London's finest purveyors of heavy occult rock, GREEN LUNG, are pleased to unveil another batch of EUROPEAN live dates for this Summer. The live run, titled 'Midsomer Tour 2024', will see the band appear at a number of huge Summer festivals, including Hellfest (FR), Bloodstock (UK), Resurrection Fest (ES), Alcatraz (BE) and Reload (DE), alongside support shows for legends Opeth and Clutch, as well as a few headline club shows across Europe. Please see below for all dates. Tickets are available now! GREEN LUNG – MIDSOMER TOUR 2024 27-Jun-2024 France – Clisson, Hellfest 29-Jun-2024 Spain - Viveiro, Resurrection Fest 05-Aug-2024 Germany - Frankfurt am Main, Batschkapp * 06-Aug-2024 Germany – Dortmund, FZW Dortmund * 07-Aug-2024 Netherlands – Tilburg, 013 Poppodium * 09-Aug-2024 United Kingdom – Derbyshire, Bloodstock Open Air 10-Aug-2024 United Kingdom – Southampton, Papillon 11-Aug-2024 Belgium – Kortrijk, Alcatraz Festival 1...

  The Metal 2 The Masses tour returns in 2024! BLOODSTOCK’s initiative to give emerging bands a step up and also support grassroots venues, kicks off on 10th May, with 30 regions and 6 countries participating. The fun begins in Belfast and rolls down through Dublin and back to England, Scotland, and Wales, taking in Norway and Poland along the way. The tour wraps up in Coventry on 15th July, with all the regional winners from the finals being revealed in due course. Check out the local events below and get along to your nearest event to support the headliners of tomorrow! BLOODSTOCK is also thrilled to announce a collaboration with Timothy Taylor’s Hopical Storm as the official Metal 2 The Masses sponsor for 2024. Expect to see them on site and lend their name to the Hopical Storm New Blood Stage! To celebrate the new partnership, BLOODSTOCK’s very own S’tan popped by their brewery to greet the team… watch here . Today also marks the first batch of bands selected to showcase their ...