The all conquering Download Festival returns to Donington Park in Derby this June and promises to be the biggest and best ever as it celebrates its 20 year anniversary.
Offering up FOUR days of music for the first time ever, metal legend Metallica and Slipknot will team up with the likes of Architects, Bring Me The Horizon and more for a four night special addition of the festival that has sold out for the very first time in its history.
Many of those attending will likely already have their bags packed, essentials ticked off and a list of bands they are desperate to see but, as with every festival, there’s always one band that rockets to stardom after blowing away a festival crowd. There is simply nothing worse than finding a cool new band and then realising you slept on them at a festival you attended only weeks previous.
So while we are pretty sure all the bands mentioned above will be on your must watch list, we’ve put together a list of 10 other bands you may not yet have heard of that we recommend you check out at the festival this summer.
5. Touche Amore
Fronted by the rather excellent Jeremy Bolm, Touche Amore will be one of the band's closing out the Dogtooth stage on Sunday. Energetic, heartfelt and full of great lyrics, check out their song 'Home Away From Home' for a taste of what to expect. Photo: Jason Kempin
6. Cancerbats
Liam Cormier and his band of merry men have been causing chaos as the Cancer Bats for a number of years and are one of the best live punk bands on the planet right now. Check out their song 'Hail Destroyer'. Photo: Simone Joyner
7. Lorna Shore
The New Jersey deathcore band come in the vein of Deafheaven and have been making a name for themselves for quite a while. They will be making some noise on the Apex stage on Sunday. Photo: Creative Commons 2.0
8. Nova Twins
This London based duo are one of the most exciting bands in Britain. Full of attitude, energy and - most importantly - great songs, you should definitely check out Nova Twins before they get massive. They play the Ape stage on Friday - and may very well join Bring Me The Horizon for their headline set to sing a track they feature on called 1x1. Photo: Antony Jones