EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!

Grab your #BOA23 tickets now at https://t.co/6G0x8HDzkV pic.twitter.com/XTIwd6xc7i

— bloodstockfest (@BLOODSTOCKFEST) August 14, 2023

Architects continue to grow from strength to strength and after serving as the opening band for fellow metalcore heavy hitters Bring Me The Horizon at this summer’s Download Festival, the band now seemed poise to headline festivals in their own right. Bloodstock represents a major coup for the band, with the festival billed as one of the greatest platforms for heavy metal artists in Europe.

Bloodstock, set in Catton Park, Derbyshire just completed its 2023, three day event on Sunday to rave reviews. Particular praise was reserved for Killswitch Engage who, unbelievably, were headlining their first ever outdoor UK festival set. The Massachusetts metalcore pioneers made the most of their set, playing a staggering 21 song setlist that contained hit songs such as “My Curse,” “Rose Of Sharyn,” and the band’s cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver” to close out the performance and weekend.

This year’s festival was jam packed with some of the genre’s most successful and crowd-pleasing acts, with In Flames, Knocked Loose and the UK’s own Employed To Serve delivering supporting performances that will live long in the mind of many a metal festival goer. The weekend was rounded off with legendary acts, Meshuggah and Megadeth on the Saturday and Sunday respectively.

And for those that are already missing the three day event, organisers have moved quickly to whet the appetites of metal fans by announcing two headliners for next year’s festival. Amon Amarth, who have already headlined the festival in 2017, expressed their enthusiasm, saying, “England! We are excited to be returning to the Bloodstock hallowed grounds to do battle with you and the Saxon hordes. We look forward to fighting and feasting with you! See you soon.” 

Began in 2001, Bloodstock Open Air originally began as an indoor, single day’s event. By 2019, the festival boasted five stages and a capacity for 15,000 spectators outdoors in Catton Park. In addition to providing some of the biggest names in the scene to headline the main stages, Bloodstock also dedicates the New Blood stage to providing exposure to up and coming metal acts-many performing in front of large crowds for the first time.

2024’s Bloodstock Festival will take place on 8-11 August with further announcements on performing bands to follow in due course. Early Bird tickets can be purchased here.

The ‘Legacy of the Beast’ tour comes barely a year since the band’s last, which saw them commemorate their sixteenth studio album The Book of Souls, and successfully headline Download Festival in June 2016.

The ‘Legacy of the Beast’ Tour -which kicks off in Tallinn, Estonia on May 26, and culminates at London’s famous O2 Arena in August- is inspired by the ever-conceptual Maiden’s mobile game, and comic book series of the same name. The stage set for the tour- often a spectacle in it’s own right- is believed to combine a number of interlocking ‘worlds’, with a setlist that will cover the storied career of the band, which spans over three decades.

Maiden’s co-manager Rod Smallwood explained the tour in further detail to Blabbermouth:

“As our fans know, we’ve been following a particular touring cycle ever since Bruce [Dickinson, vocals] and Adrian [Smith, guitar] rejoined Maiden at the start of the millennium, alternating new album tours with ‘History/Hits’ tours. We enjoy working this way for many reasons, not least because it gives the band a chance to play both new material and the older favourites which we know fans like to hear. It keeps things fresh, not just for the fans but for the band too.

“For this History/Hits tour we decided to base the theme around the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ name, which suits our purposes perfectly by giving us scope to get creative and have some fun, especially with Eddie! I don’t want to give too much away at the moment but we’re working on a number of different stage sets, all in keeping with the MAIDEN tradition and we hope to give our fans a fantastic experience when they come to see this very special show.”

The band will be ably supported by New Jersey metal heavyweights Killswitch Engage, who will be touring with Maiden from May 26-July 1. Further support acts have not yet been finalised and will be announced very soon.

We will be touring alongside the legendary @IronMaiden on #TheLegacyOfTheBeast 2018 tour in Europe and the UK. #IronMaiden pic.twitter.com/HTJi6M4QkS

— Killswitch Engage (@kseofficial) November 13, 2017

Tickets go on sale here on November 24, and you can see the full list of UK dates below.

31/07/2018- Radio Arena- Newcastle
02/08- SSE Arena- Belfast
04/08-  Exhibition & Conference Centre- Aberdeen
06/08- Manchester Arena- Manchester
07/08- Genting Arena- Birmingham
10/08- O2 Arena- London

In January the band announced that they would be touring the UK following the release of their fifth studio album Venom in 2015 – and today, the news came that American bands Killswitch Engage and Cane Hill will be supporting Bullet on their six date headline UK tour, which commences this November. The dates are as follows:

24/11/2016 – Newport, Wales – Newport Centre

27/11/2016 – Newcastle, England – Newcastle O2 Academy

30/11/2016 – Glasgow, Scotland – Glasgow O2 Academy

3/12/2016 – Manchester, England – Manchester Academy

6/12/2016 – Birmingham, England – Birmingham O2 Academy

9/12/2016 – London, England – Brixton O2 Academy

Matt Tuck, the band’s frontman, spoke to Kerrang in January, saying:

We’re excited to announce our next UK tour in support of our latest album Venom! We can’t wait to get back out and see all our UK friends in venues that have massive sentimental meaning for us. We’re gonna be bringing the full rock show to town so make sure you get your tickets early. See you there!

Back in February, Bullet For My Valentine explained via Facebook post that drummer Michael Thomas would be taking a short hiatus from the band in order to be at home for the birth of his first child, and that Axewound drummer Jason Bowld would replace Thomas during Bullet’s tour of America with Asking Alexandria (named the British Invasion Tour) which ended earlier this month.

Meanwhile Bullet’s newly announced support act Killswitch Engage are storming the Billboard Top 200 Charts with latest album Incarnate, which debuted at number six – the band’s highest chart position to date. The metal-core band formed around the same time as Bullet and have since amounted seven studio albums, proving them to be just as durable. Fellow supporters Cane Hill are relatively fresh faced by comparison, with their debut album Smile due to be released 15th July this year.

Tickets for the tour are available via Livenation and Ticketmaster.

One of the most critically and commercially successful bands of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal which included Slipknot, Mastodon and Avenged Sevenfold, Killswitch Engage broke onto the scene in 2000 with their self-titled debut, and have since earned a reputation as one of metalcore’s most important acts.

‘Disarm the Descent’, released on April 2nd, is the bands first album since 2002’s ‘Alive or Just Breathing’ to feature original singer Jesse Leach.

Leach quit via email while Killswitch were touring, stating that the hectic schedule and separation from his wife had resulted in depression, and that he was finished with music. The band quickly recruited With Blood Has Been Shed frontman Howard Jones, who stayed with the band for nine years and three albums, before leaving in 2012, due to serious diabetes. Leach reconciled with his bandmates in 2005, performing alongside Jones at a Roadrunner anniversary show, and returned to Killswitch Engage in January 2012.

Check out the lyric video for, ‘Always’ below.