As the countdown to Catton Park continues, we are keeping our eyes firmly on the exceptional talent rising up through the underground. Today, we catch up with Channel Islands Metal 2 The Masses winners Apothis to talk ancient Egyptian deities, small pub gigs, and their upcoming appearance on the Stowford Press New Blood Stage. They’ll be dancing like Egyptians there on the Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We come from Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
We’ve been around since 2021, the lineup has changed a few times with us settling on our current lineup for the foreseeable future from 2025.
Where does the name of the band come from?
It’s based on Apophis, the ancient Egyptian deity of chaos which we thought was fitting for our style of music. We changed the spelling to make it a bit easier to say and make the logo better with a symmetrical ‘T’ rather than an asymmetric ‘P’
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We’re a blend between Metalcore and Deathcore, providing melody with crushing riffs and plenty of energy.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
We always aim to have as much stage presence as possible while delivering our performance with as much energy as possible, even if we’re limited to Guernsey’s mostly small stage sizes, we make it work.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
From our Bassist, Tom Relf:
‘I went to Bloodstock in 2014 and 2015. I found out about it when they brought Metal 2 the Masses over here and brought tickets as soon as I found out about it. A very welcoming festival. No BS. Everyone there is there for the music and there isn’t miles of walking.’
It’s Bloodstock’s 25th anniversary. If you’re old enough, what were you listening to 25 years ago?
Another answer from our bassist, as we are all too young!:
‘Don Maclean, Kevin Bloody Wilson, Beatles, Nik Kershaw, most of the James Bond soundtracks. Zelda soundtracks’
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We won the Channel Islands region heat and subsequent finals, there was great competition but we came out on top.
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
We were all ecstatic, three days of celebrations were needed.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We’re going to put together our best, and heaviest, tunes into one and can’t wait to show our music to a much larger crowd.
Stage times haven’t been announced yet, so which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Drew – ‘Either Lamb of God or Fit For An Autopsy, they’re both heavy weights in the scene’
Axel – ‘It’s hard to choose as there’s many great acts, but my main top picks would be Slaughter to Prevail, Bleed from Within and Lamb of God’
Nate – ‘Lamb of God, Municipal Waste and Sepeltura. ‘Cause they go hard’
Tom – ‘Judas Priest. Bucket list band. Was in a Priest tribute band for a charity night. Now I get to see the real thing. I’ve also heard great things about Vended. Let’s see them in action.’
Micheal – ‘Lamb of God, Northlane and Sepultura’
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re looking at releasing a new album in the near future, with a stance to move to 7 string guitars in Drop G with a more hardcore influence.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
We’ve on multiple occasions played a gig at The Britannia. Which is a very physically small pub with no music equipment but we made it work and packed it out. Sporting some videos which were recorded on a PSP which seemed very fitting for an already silly night.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Jose. Fucking. Cuervo.
A nice glass of water – Michael (the more reasonable one)
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The band were initially added to the bill alongside a massive wave of grassroots talent when twelve more bands were added to Bloodstock 2026.
Apothis: facebook | instagram | spotify | tiktok | youtube
We’d love to show you the video for “Cowardice”, but YouTube have age-restricted it so you’ll have to click this link instead.
