Download Announcement 4

So Download are not going to get my money this year, apart from a possible day ticket if one day shapes up in a particularly pleasing way.  Despite that, they are continuing as a festival!  Who’d have thought it?  Anyway the most recent announcement was actually quite an exciting one and I am, as usual, going to give you a quick round-up of my thoughts.

First up is the big one.  A newly reformed SikTh will be making their return to Donnington.  This is a great booking and it’s great to see SikTh back.  They’re a band that was so far ahead of their time first time around and if anything, the current explosion of djent, should mean they could be bigger than ever in this run.  If I do get a day ticket, it will be on the day these guys are playing.  

When it comes to Dillinger Escape Plan there is nothing to say that hasn’t been said before.  They are one of the most exciting, innovative and brilliant bands on the planet at the moment and any festival that has them on the bill will be all the better for it.  Alongside that we have Volbeat, who continue their quest to break the UK the way they have the rest of Europe.  These guys are headliners on the continent and are slowly making their way up UK bills and to be honest they are the perfect festival band.  They have an armoury of catchy festival friendly songs and they are always going to be good value.

Suicide Silence are back after the traffic death of Mitch Lucker next year.  With a new vocalist in place you imagine this will be a celebration of Lucker’s life and an indication of where this band will be going in the future.  It could easily be one of those festival ‘moments’.  Buckcherry are fun but ultimately a bit pish no matter how you look at it.  While Thy Art is Murder released one of my favourite albums of this year.  I don’t know what they are like live but they are some angry men and if you like things heavy you should make sure and not miss them.

A band I have seen live is Feed the Rhino and if you haven’t seen them live you’re missing out.  They are the best live band in the UK not called Skindred and Lee Tobin will destroy whichever stage Mr. Copping has placed them on.  I’ve heard a lot of good things about Battlecross but have never listened to them.  The same goes with Memphis May Fire.

Jake E. Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel have a daft name but Lee did play guitar for Ozzy so must have something about him.  While The Amity Affliction, Avatar, Lonely the Brave and Arcane Roots have never entered into my world but if you click on their names you can discover more about them.

All in all this is a great Download announcement and has continued to prove that the headliners aren’t everything.