Bloodstock 2022 Band Feature: Mastiff

Bloodstock Open Air 2022 takes place from August 11th and August 14th with a line-up that might be one of the best the festival has ever put on. A wide array of rock and metal acts spread across four stages, it’s looking likely to be a weekend not to be missed. Pick up tickets here.

We’re very excited for the festival and one such reason is the mix of blackened sludge, grindcore and power-violence that is Mastiff.

Playing the Sophie Lancaster stage on the Saturday morning of the festival, Mastiff are a miserable band from a miserable city. Hull, in case you were wondering.

Since 2013, Mastiff have been going from strength to strength, building up a reputation both on record and in the live environment. Wrank (Self Released) in 2016 got people’s attention but it was 2017’s Bork (APF Records) and their sophomore album, Plague (APF Records) in 2019 that really cemented Mastiff’s reputation for delivering an ear-full of filth.

In our review, we described Plague as:

8 songs and 30-odd minutes of stomach-trembling nastiness. It’s vile, it’s horrid, it’s every nightmarish sound you can imagine from the band and it’s great.

We also said:

There is something special about Mastiff.

We weren’t alone thinking that though and the major label, eOne came calling, resulting in 2021’s Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth. A landmark moment for Mastiff, all their hard work over the last decade, paying off.

Misery loves company – nine tracks of curmudgeonly driven and ill-mannered metal. This is Mastiff and Mastiff at their most cantankerous. More and more people are getting to experience the pissed off and aggressive noise this band creates.

In our review, we said:

A superstar making album. Everyone is going to be talking about Mastiff once this beast is unleashed.

It’s been an incredible 10 months for Mastiff since the release of Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth and Bloodstock is just another step forward and upward for this band. It’s going to be one of the sets of the weekend but don’t just take our word for it. We asked Mastiff what it means to be playing the festival this year and what people can expect from their show. This is what they said:

Playing Bloodstock this year is obviously a huge deal for Mastiff. We’ve been lucky enough to play some of the best of the UK’s inner-city festivals in recent years, like DesertFest and Incineration Fest, but opening up the Sophie stage on the Saturday of Bloodstock is a huge step up in terms of how many people we’ll be slinging our muck at, so to speak.

Although we’re fast approaching a year since ‘Leave Me the Ashes Of The Earth’ was released, we’ve still only played a relatively small amount of shows in support of it, so anyone brave enough to be up early enough to see us should expect our set to mostly pull from that, with maybe the odd ‘Plague’ cut making an appearance too.

We’re mostly just looking forward to being on a nice big stage with an obnoxiously loud sound system. Plus, we’re on first so once we’ve torn it up we can just have a nice day sinking some beers and watching our mates Black Tongue and Pupil Slicer pummel anyone left alive into submission.

Hell, should you somehow and foolishly miss them at Bloodstock, later in the year they will be on the road throughout the UK on the Midnight Creeper tour. You can catch Mastiff on the following dates in the following cities:

21st October – Manchester – Star & Garter
23rd October – Birmingham – Dead Wax
25th October – Newcastle – Trillians
26th October – Hull – Tower Ballroom
28th October – Swansea – Bunkhouse
29th October – London – 229

Pick up your tickets here.

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