BLOODSTOCK shares M2TM finals, plus 24 bands for the New Blood & EMP Stages
Rockfiend • 14 April 2026
Are you ready for the battle to end all battles
Are you ready for the battle to end all battles Presented by Westons Stowford Press, the METAL 2 THE MASSES grand finals start in Cyprus on April 19th and roll through 30 locations across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Norway, as well as Cyprus! Every winner will perform a 30 minute slot on the Stowford Press New Blood Stage! Round up your mates and get along to your local night - help shape the line-up of the festival and support grassroots venues and bands.
Dates and locations shake down as follows:
To help you pass the time, BLOODSTOCK has also set up eleven special club nights around the U.K. where you can win BLOODSTOCK tickets to the day of your choice! For a riotous night out, put on your glad rags and run-don't-walk to the following:
Dates and locations shake down as follows:
April 19th – Cyprus – Savino Live, Larnaca
May 8th – Belfast – Voodoo
May 23rd – Leeds – The Belgrave
May 23rd – Scotland – La Belle Angele, Edinburgh
May 23rd – Sheffield – Corporation
May 29th – South Coast – Bear Cave, Bournemouth
May 30th – Northants – The Black Prince, Northampton
June 6th – Manchester – Rebellion
June 6th – East Anglia – Brickmakers, Norwich
June 6th – Birmingham – The Flapper
June 13th – Norway – The Tribute, Sandnes
June 20th – North Wales – XS @ Penny Black, Wrexham
June 20th – South Wales – Corn Exchange, Newport
June 20th – Hitchin – Club 85
June 20th – Somerset – Cobblestones, Bridgwater
June 20th – Newcastle – Trillians
June 20th – Kent – Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend
June 26th – Channel Islands – The Pit @ St James, Guernsey
June 26th – Cheltenham – Frog and Fiddle
June 27th – Nottingham – Saltbox
June 27th – Burnley – Sanctuary
June 27th – Coventry – The Arches
July 4th – Merseyside – Box Park & Arc:Hive, Liverpool
July 4th – London – The Dome
July 4th – Brighton – Daltons
July 4th – Devon & Cornwall – Livewire, Saltash
July 5th – Nuneaton – The Queens Hall
July 11th – Oxford – The Jericho Tavern
July 11th – Stoke – The Underground
July 12th – Bristol – The Exchange
No other festival does more to support grassroots metal and local venues across the UK and beyond. That commitment was recognised at the 2024 Heavy Music Awards, where BLOODSTOCK and the Metal 2 The Masses initiative were honoured with the prestigious “H Award” for exceptional contribution to the underground scene. You can get a flavour of what Metal 2 The Masses is all about here.
In exciting news for all BLOODSTOCK’s M2TM winners this year, fellow sponsors ESP and Engl Amps are offering up 3 incredible prizes, to be chosen from amongst the M2TM victors performing at the festival and presented on Sunday evening. The prizes include a new-for-2026, EC400 Quilted Maple guitar in See Through Black, a Phoenix 204DX bass in Redburst, and a Ravager IR amp head with a matching 1x12 Cab!
Got your tickets? Without further ado, let’s reveal a massive 24 more bands joining the heavy metal party this August!
While you’re waiting for those M2TM finals to get underway and shape the majority of the New Blood stage line-up, BLOODSTOCK HQ has chosen a few other favourites from hundreds of cross-genre submissions to complete the bill. Stop by and discover your new favourite band! On Friday, you’ll be able to see death/doom devotees VOID BELOW, alt prog rock Londoners TEMPLES ON MARS, boisterous hardcore-metal alchemists NEGATIVE FRAME, and CONCRETE AGE, with their distinctive mix of ancient world music with extreme metal.
Joining them on Saturday, are old school riff merchants THRASHERWOLF, N.Irish melo-death purveyors IMPERIAL DEMONIC, young aggressors CHAINED SAINT, and dark prog metal fiends IMBRIUM (featuring former members of Dreamcatcher, Memoreve and The Defiled).
Not to be outdone, Sunday invites OVERPOWER, who forge together riffs of early influences like Metallica and Slayer, with the savagery of UKHC.
BLOODSTOCK is also excited to reveal the full line-up for the new and improved EMP stage! Now situated in a new location in the main arena for less noise bleed, with a bigger stage and a bar, it’ll play host to more than a dozen up ‘n’ coming attention getters, so if you like to discover hot new music first, make sure you check out some bands here as well over the festival!
Friday welcomes heavy rockers UNTAMED SILENCE, melodic punkcore beasts CHANGE PERSONA, metalcore headbangers AFTER SMOKE CLEARS, rock-metal hybrid SOULRIDE, and symphonic prog metallers VANITAS.
Saturday offers occult doomsters GOAT MAJOR, modern classic rockers CANCEL THE TRANSMISSION, trad metalheads TEMPEST SAINT, power sludge duo TROLLMOTHER, and hardcore punkers DOSED.
Rounding things off on Sunday are hardcore fans STITCHED, electro alt rockers WREX, modern metal squad FOLLOWING THE SIGNS, power trio THE CARTOON CARTEL, and dark alt crew AETHORIA.
If these bands are new to you, you have 4 months to get to know them!
To help you pass the time, BLOODSTOCK has also set up eleven special club nights around the U.K. where you can win BLOODSTOCK tickets to the day of your choice! For a riotous night out, put on your glad rags and run-don't-walk to the following:
Sat 25th April - Camberley, Agincourt - Old Skool Rock and Metal Night
Sat 25th April - York, Bluebox - Deadbolt
Sat 25th April - Manchester, Rebellion - Deadbolt
Sat 9th May - Bristol, Basement 45 - Apocalypse
Fri 5th June - Guildford, All Bar One - Schism
Sat 6th June - Brighton, Above - Apocalypse
Sat 6th June - Birmingham, RedCorc Bar - Eddie’s Rock Club
Sat 6th June - Nottingham, Rock City - Alpha Omega
Sat 11th July - Isle of Wight, Strings - Apocalypse
Sat 25th July - Southampton, Sobar - Apocalypse
Fri 31st July - London, Elektrowerkz - Voodoo