The big review: Download Festival 2025 – Sunday

Download Festival 2025 is here! Stay tuned to Kerrang.com and our socials for reviews from each day of the fest and much more – but now, let’s get stuck into all things Sunday…

• The big review: Download Festival 2025 – Friday
• What happened when Green Day headlined Download Festival 2025
• The big review: Download Festival 2025 – Saturday
• What happened when Sleep Token headlined Download Festival 2025
• What happened when Malevolence surprised Download Festival
  
• What happened when PRESIDENT played Download Festival 2025
• What happened when Korn headlined Download Festival 2025

Having made it to the top of the table after all this time, it’s like Korn are playing with a point to prove – that they not only deserve the spot but that it should have happened years ago. And you’d be hard pushed to find anyone here who disagrees. Even with nu-metal back in vogue, Korn deserve this space, armed with cross-generational bangers like Twisted Transistor, Somebody Someone and Falling Away From Me that make up the of DNA 21st century heavy music. And more than that, this is a band who are fully locked in, relying solely on their own unspoken bond to send raptures through tens of thousands who’ve been waiting for this moment almost as long as the band have. (LM)

Read the full review: What happened when Korn headlined Download Festival 2025

"We kinda' wished it would be raining tonight," smirks Mikee Goodman to a half-full tent, as Korn rip through their huge headline over on the main stage. Numbers might be short, but that's really the only thing lacking from Sikth's Dogtooth-closing Sunday showcase. Songs like Hold My Finger, Skies of the Millenium Night and Bland Street Bloom feel as cutting-edge decades down the line as when they first shredded into existence, and although most of the cult Watford prog-metallers' fans are far longer in the tooth these days, no-one is holding back on the weekend's last front-row throwdown. Whether Sikth should've really been in this slot above the red-hot likes of Fit For An Autopsy and Whitechapel is a legitimate question. But as they announce UK celebrations for 2006 classic Death Of A Dead Day in November, amongst this crowd there's clearly plenty of appetite for more. Sick sick Sikth. (SL)

There's something lovely about the idea of Kids In Glass Houses putting a bow on this incredible weekend's activities on the Avalanche Stage. The larger-than-life opener Theme From Pink Flamingo certainly feels like it’s arrived at the perfect moment, soundtracking the last hours of festival fun, and the choice to swing into Give Me What I Want immediately after is audacious but as wonderful as it sounds. "I know it's Sunday - my knees are bad too," jokes the affable, sharp-dressed Aled Philips, but sore feet and aching bones are no match for the crowd's enthusiasm. The rest of their hour is crammed with feelgood energy, with Saturday sparking jubilant sing-alongs and Matters At All ending things on an anthemic high. Not even some mid-set technical fuckery can put a dampener on the sunny mood inside the tent. A great big nostalgic hug of a set. (EW)

"I wanna see one last circle pit out there," drawls Whitechapel frontman Phil Bozeman as the Tennessee terrors come to the boil. "If you're going in, take someone with you!" The deathcore stalwarts' more intense, ferociously gnashing formula sees some of the casuals in the tent scuttling off towards Korn, but just as many surge forward to indulge in Download 2025's last unequivocally brutal display. All tub-thumping high tempos and bone crunching munch, songs like Hymns In Dissonance and This Is Exile aren't the subtlest or most technical on offer this weekend. Few give a fuck, however, as they burn up the last remaining energy reserves in an almighty tangle. Flesh-rippingly fantastic. (SL)

Several pre-teens crowdsurf out of the pit during Fit For An Autopsy's awesome Dogtooth devastation. As do a handful of pensioners. And one man dressed as Toad from Super Mario Brothers. It's that kind of set. Download 2025 has been relatively heavy on the deathcore, with a few bands consequently struggling to make their mark, but with the mainstage on changeover and legendary guitarist Will Putney pitching up to lend his heft there's something of a good-natured stampede for crushing compositions like Savior Of None / Ashes Of All. "I've wanted to come here since I was a little kid, watching Lamb Of God crushing the place back in 2007," grins frontman Joe Badolato. And although the New Jersey crew don't manage quite that level of legend-making mayhem, their dark hearts are very much in the right place. A stiff showing. (SL)

“We’ll headline this fucking stage soon!” That’s the closing sentiment from Bullet For My Valentine’s never-knowingly-understated frontman Matt Tuck. Time will tell if he’s right, but one thing’s certain, the Brit metal legends aren’t lacking confidence. Theirs is an assured performance for the ages – and it’s an important one. Marking the 20th anniversary of debut album The Poison, BFMV are playing every track from it, in sequence. That debut saw the band climb ladders at scary pace; the year after its release they were not only on Download’s main stage, but third from top. While certain detractors ludicrously decried The Poison as not being ‘proper’ metal, the way the 2025 iteration of the band perform it silences all doubters.

Matt and friends perhaps have more to prove than usual, having left The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour with Trivium after just the North American leg apparently early. Whatever the reasons, BFMV’s response at Download is channelled, hard-hitting and utterly professional. And those old songs sound heavy as hell, 4 Words (To Choke Upon) and Hand Of Blood invigorated by a vastly improved band that has added a ton of weight to its sound in the decades since. Predictably, Tears Don’t Fall, “the song that changed our lives forever”, all cathartic chorus and tingling familiarity – is one of Download’s singalongs of the year. Nostalgia isn’t healthy every day, but right now it rules. (SB)

Novelists don't quite get a fair roll of the dice this evening. With the sound of BFMV showcasing their biggest hits in the background and the exhaustion of a hot, hard weekend sapping even their most ardent fans, the Parisian collective find themselves faced with some punishingly heavy lifting. Magnetic vocalist Camille Contreras is on one of her first-ever UK excursions, though, and songs like Say My Name and Turn It Up (Keyboard Warriors Social Club) showcase their blend of early hardcore munch and latter-day proggy expanse, so they're not fading easy into the early evening light. As a wave of crowdsurfers crash over the barrier and the front rows crash into action, it's clear they're winning Donington over. And there will be few here not hanging on every word as they write the rest of their story. (SL)

Well, holy shit. What Lorna Shore have pulled off today has the makings of something historic. Their moment sub-headlining the Opus Stage is a spectacle in the truest sense of the phrase, a cinematic display of virtuosity from everyone on stage amid hair-raising bursts of pyro. Amid the walls of classical harmonies and fret-burning guitar solos, vocalist Will Ramos’ skills are on an acrobatic level, making inhuman noises like he's alternatively gargling glass, choking on his own guts, or, at the end of the epic To The Hellfire, like a blocked drain (in the best possible way). Of course, it's heavy enough to create some murderous looking mosh pits, but with the symphonic elements, there are some rather beautiful moments too. Not even a brief power cut can dampen this down - instead, the crowd chant “LORNA SHORE!”, and when his mic works again, the ever-charismatic Will jokes, “What seems to be the problem?” Unreal is an understatement. This might just be the set of the weekend. (EW)

Arriving in a blur of biker hats and sailor caps, rainbow murals and sweaty dungarees, Turbonegro are still a band quite unlike any other. The Scandi superheroes aren't the hard-touring upstarts they once were, so it's a treat in 2025 to get to soak in the none-camper glory of black-eyed bangers like Selfdestructo Bust and City Of Satan in a festival setting. Asses swing and beers spill, but everyone has a smile on their face. Late frontman Hank von Helvete will always be missed on boozy afternoons like these, but his replacement Anthony 'Duke Of Nothing' Madsen-Sylvester has a captivating persona all his own, playfully acknowledging Donington's storied history ("We're so old that last time we played here we were called Bad News!") and leading a tent full of wannabe Turbojugend through one of the biggest choruses of the whole festival on All My Friends Are Dead. No-one else could even dream of pulling off a sing called I Got Erection, but these beloved jokers can always stick it in our ears. (SL)

The last time Spiritbox were at Download, in 2022, they had one of the best sets of the festival with their jam-packed Avalanche Stage slot. Three years later and they’ve done it again with their staggering main stage debut to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. Speaking about that historic performance as “one of the best and important memories of our lives”, vocalist Courtney LaPlante stalks the stage, radiating pure magnetism as one of the greatest frontpeople in heavy music today. Leaning hard into new album Tsunami Sea, the metalcore powerhouse are on ferocious form, bulldozing through Black Rainbow, Perfect Soul and a positively crushing Soft Spine, delightfully dedicated to “anybody that I fucking hate”. Tearing through the soaring Circle With Me and knockout breakthrough Holy Roller to rapturous reception, climaxing with a wrecking-ball Cellar Door, this is a clear statement of intent from a band primed to take things to the next level. As Download continues to evolve and bring through new headliners, it feels like Spiritbox’s eventual place at the top of the mountain is pretty much secured. (LM)

Are PRESIDENT the new (or new-new) Sleep Token? Well, yes and no. They’re mysterious and masked, of course, with a hell of a crossover fanbase already – many Download-goers crammed at the front of the festival’s Dogtooth Stage are sporting the merch of last night’s headliners. But, as this first-ever live appearance – or inaugural presidential rally, as they call it – confirms, the band are very much their own proposition. More to the point, they’re already ace.

It helps that it’s incredibly easy to get caught up in all the buzz. Long before stage-time people start piling into the tent, holding up their camera phones and zooming over to the side entrance to wishfully catch a glimpse of PRESIDENT’s imminent arrival. Once Shavo Odadjian’s Seven Hours After Violet are done with their killer showing, a proper podium is brought out centre stage, to hundreds of screams. Meanwhile, a backdrop – sporting the band’s name – is actually too big for the whole space, and has to be hastily folded back up again and stored away. These are exciting, intriguing talking points in the build-up, though, and it makes the payoff even more special… (EG)

Read the full review: What happened when PRESIDENT played Download Festival 2025

Hidden on the far side of the Download site is one of the weekend's underrated gems. Dead Poet Society are sounding utterly formidable today as they rouse a weary assembly of fans, with a theatrical touch to their gravelly riffs. No wonder the crowd have such an appetite for a mosh – “I wanna see more of that fucking dust, baby!” yells vocalist/guitarist Jack Underkofler. Menacing and suave, muscular and cool, they play with the sparkling star quality of a band used to conquering bigger rooms than the sort they usually play. And with a show like this, they might quickly find themselves levelling up. (EW)

It used to be the case that every time Airbourne (basically AC/DC on speed) played a festival, frontman Joel O’Keeffe got away with something life-threatening like hanging off the lighting rig. Today, thankfully for the sake of our tickers, he’s sticking to rocking out. That’s something that Airbourne do as if in thrall to an evil magician’s spell – their energy is relentless, the sweat constant, and those beer-swilling riffs and hooks come at you like rugby forwards. The brash Aussies have two speeds: full pelt and not quite full pelt. During Girls In Black, one of the former, bassist Justin Street and guitarist Brett Tyrrell sprint across the stage towards each other like the Red Arrows synchro pair. Joel goes further, a helpful staff member carrying him, guitar and all, on their shoulders through the crowd. This culminates in his now ceremonial act of smashing a beer can open on his head. How this man is still alive and sort of sane is anyone’s guess. They finish, naturally, on a positive note, with a new wide-stanced, typically headbanging song called Gutsy which happens to be the quartet’s first material in around six years. (SB)

It’s probably right up there among Donington’s we’re-not-worthy moments. Alice In Chains’ legendary guitarist Jerry Cantrell steps out onstage to a rapturous reception; this after all is the man entirely responsible for that surging, downtrodden, cathartic noise that we now almost take for granted. Now 59, he’s made four solo albums, and opens with one of their high points, the moving if almost laconic Psychotic Break. There’s I Want Blood from last year’s album of the same name, plus the gorgeous Atone. Vocally, he’s backed by a superb band, those three-part harmonies as much a part of the sound as the sludgy guitar. This is great, but let’s face it, the biggest roars are reserved for the Alice In Chains songs, including Them Bones and Would? Most movingly, Jerry concludes matters with an astonishing rendition of Rooster, that stone cold standalone classic from the grunge legends’ seminal 1992 album Dirt. How do you follow that? You don’t. (SB)

The brainchild of Stephen Harrison and Aric Improta, both formerly of FEVER 333, House Of Protection bring Download a whole different vibe. Playing a deviant brand of electronicore, combining circle-pit inducing guitar heft with shafts of computerised noise, it’s no surprise to learn that they’ve been working with former BMTH multi-instrumentalist and producer Jordan Fish. Though more than a few are somewhat nonplussed by the unorthodox sounds seeping their way, the fact that that widescreen noise fills this huge space says a lot about how well thought-out this new take on alternative post-hardcore really is. Songs like the phenomenal, all-action Pulling Teeth and Afterlife just whet the appetite for more. (SB)

This is the closest to SOAD's Shavo Odadjian you might ever get. Swapping their Opus slot for a later time on the more intimate Dogtooth Stage has arguably heightened the death blow impact of Seven Hours After Violet's angular yet savage metalcore. While Shavo is chugging away to the side on his fetching-looking metallic bass, it's his bandmates’ talents that really elevate their set, particularly unclean vocalist Taylor Barber. Away from his day job with Left To Suffer, he's a majestic presence with some huge lungs, particularly when he dips into the deep gurgle of his usual deathcore range. The crowd are loving it, with Cry compelling even those furthest back to jump along, and a maelstromic pit opening for closer Sunrise. It's been absolutely massive. (EW)

GPS suggests that we're still right outside East Midlands airport, but the Dogtooth Stage becomes a portal to downtown Slamchester on Sunday afternoon. Like it or not, everyone is getting mugged. Technical hiccups seem to hamstring the arrival of cult brutalists Ingested (hearing a sound guy insisting "We can't hear you!" over the PA gets a wry cheer from the fired-up crowd) but it doesn't take long for them to grind up to maximum momentum with new single Altar Of Flesh and the always-demented Invidious. There's a joyously silly pit spinning for basically the whole set, too, with one dude dressed as Mario's Yoshi and another channeling Louise Belcher. It's chaotic confirmation that as unpleasant as cuts like masochistic closer Skinned And Fucked may seem on face, it's all done with the aim of an absurdly good time. (SL)

"Download!" growls a spectacularly beardy Jens Kidman. "It's a beautiful day for some metal..." Ascending to headliner status at smaller festivals like Bloodstock and ArcTanGent in recent years, it's fascinating to see Meshuggah back in the sunlight this afternoon. Their light show is lost in the Sunday glare, and some of their subtler atmospherics are blown away in the wind today, but there are no concessions to the massive mainstream audience in terms of abrasiveness or technicality. The pneumatic pound of Bleed is still by far their most iconic offering, but the torrent of snarling, angular tech metal peaks and pummels throughout, spurring on the pit warriors like they're getting ready to rip up some demons in Doom. Proof, if it was needed, that they iconic Swedes are as relevant today as they as they were groundbreaking three decades ago. Meshuggah-sweet! (SL)

As chants of ‘Yorkshire! Yorkshire! Yorkshire!’ echo around the big blue marquee, the unmistakable cockney drawl of Alan “Brick Top from Snatch” Ford readies the tens of thousands gathered for mid-afternoon melee. Rushing straight into the metallic mayhem of If It’s All The Same To You, the Northern noisemongers waste no time giving the Midland mosh contingent exactly what they came for. “Make these security guards fucking work” urges barbarian frontman Alex Taylor, with more and more crowdsurfers pouring over the barrier. It’s complete chaos and absolutely fucking brilliant. (LM)

Read the full review: What happened when Malevolence surprised Download Festival

Jinjer’s masterful groove metal successfully combines the feral with feeling this afternoon. Welcomed like the heroes they are, their barrage rattles along via Vladi Ulasevich’s astounding percussive speed, ragged patterns on which Tatiana Shmayluk's pours conversely sweet vocals. These of course soon get subsumed into throaty rage, the incredible frontwoman alternating light with dark at whiplash speed. Green Serpent and Someone’s Daughter emphasise their contrasting waves with the greatest impact, and there’s an energy on stage that seems to come from the angry, determined but slightly fearful atmosphere in which the Ukrainian band created their music. Fast Draw, the subject of their most recent video, simply slams. Tati’s voice is a rising tide of rage: “Draw your weapon before I draw mine.” The eye of Jinjer’s hurricane, its inevitable back story, surely isn’t lost on anyone here. In fact, the knowing and respectful Download reception they get will hopefully remain in their memory for years. (SB)

"Wake the fuck up stage left!" scowls Tony Foresta a few minutes into a trademark Municipal Waste dismantling of the Opus arena. "Let's kick up some fucking dust!" The Virginian thrashers' firecracker frontman is in no mood for fucking around this afternoon, regardless of whether his audience are suffering heatstroke, disastrously dehydrated or simply too shitfaced to run in a circle. The wake-up call works a treat as the legions get to greeting peerless party-thrash anthems Slime & Punishment, Breathe Grease and The Thrashin' Of The Christ with the sheer silliness they deserve. We get a torrents of beach balls toppling in the wind one moment, and orders to flip-off the planes swooping overhead the next. No amount of barmy bullshit is more fun, however, than seeing circle-pits converge (a 'rectangle pit'?!) and security struggle with the bodies tumbling over the barrier as Restless & Wicked and Born To Party hit full speed. "Hail Satan and smoke weed!" Tony recites the gospel. It's impossible to argue with that. (SL)

Sunday's last-minute scheduling rearrangements mean that many fans are stuck scrambling to catch Spiritual Cramp way over on the Avalanche Stage, but those who take in even a little of their half hour of power receive an energy jolt that's well worth the hurry. Shaking elements of garage-rock and loose-limbed punk together in nuggets like Talkin' To The Internet and Better Off This Way, the wild-eyed Californians are perfectly calibrated for days like these. And even after multiple nights in the campsite, the bodies slinging back and forth under the Avalanche roof feel like a guarantee that their hardcore faithful are perpetually limbered-up and ready to go. No-one is going to cramp their style. (SL)

Who will be the British underground’s next heroes? There’s a strong case for it being Vower. It certainly helps that their ranks comprise former members of the now-dissolved Black Peaks, Toska and Palm Reader, but even without those credentials, they’ve been brewing something monumental. Drawing an impressive contingent to the Dogtooth Stage, they come out swinging with the growling riffs of False Rituals and the crystalline atmospherics of Shroud - complete with big sing-alongs, all tied together with Josh McKeown’s sonorous, emotive delivery. “We have been a band for a year and this is happening,” he says in disbelief, looking out at the crowd. “Thank you. Fucking mental.” All in all, it’s a stunning display, and if you’re not keeping an eye on them in anticipation of what they do next, you’re making a big mistake. (EW)

Some bands simply will not accept a destiny out of their own hands. Last time Power Trip played Download's massive main stage, the world was a very different place. Keystone frontman Riley Gale was still alive, for one thing, but the pre-COVID landscape was markedly at odds with today's, too, and their brand of bludgeoning, American revivalist thrash was very much at heavy music's adrenaline-soaked cutting edge. Six years down the line, pit-spinning bangers Executioner's Tax (Swing Of The Axe) and Crucifixation aren't as fresh or thrilling as they once were, but they still pack a heft that underlines the Texan crew's heavyweight credentials. And in new vocalist Seth Gilmore (of good friends Fugitive) they've joined forces with a heavy metal hoss able to hold his own even in the face of the slaughterhouse onslaught. A closing run through of Waiting Around To Die and Manifest Decimation harks back to the glory days, yet the hunger in their performance feels like a promise of coffin-loads more still to come. (SL)

California ‘fairy doom’ trio Faetooth might look on paper like a leftfield booking for Download, but it's an unexpectedly genius one. Their half hour on the Dogtooth stage is the woozy, swampy Sunday hangover festival viewing you might not have known you needed, their otherworldly, glacially-paced metal feeling like something you could dissolve in. But before you float away too far, their powerful, primal shrieks that cut through the walls of sound lure you right back in. And we must say – it’s bloody lovely to have some women and non-binary people making music like this in what is usually a rather blokey genre. In more ways than one, it’s refreshing. (EW)

“FREEEEEDOOOMMMM!!!” scream the Saltire-wrapped fans up on the hill. Rocking up for their fourth Download in five years, Bleed From Within are finally where they belong. After 2021's incineration of the Pilot event, 2022's demolition of the Dogtooth and 2024's Rob & Romesh-hijacked party on the Opus, the mighty Glaswegians step up to the tens of thousands on the Apex and absolutely own it. Playing main support on Slipknot's European arena tour last winter has evidently rubbed off on their production, with towering pyro jets, slick visuals and artistic direction that apparently sees their flame-haired majority laying claim to the colours orange and red. It's the consolidation of a 20-year evolution in songs like Levitate and I Am Damnation that makes this such a rewarding culmination, however. "The sun is out, we're in a field watching bands and drinking beer with our friends," laughs frontman Scott Kennedy, remembering how he and his bandmates got the Megabus down from Scotland together in 2005. "Does it get any better than this?!" Watching them set off dozens of pits and hundreds of crowdsurfers with The End Of All We Know and bagpipe-infused closer In Place Of Your Halo, it's hard to imagine that it ever really does. Here we fucking go! (SL)

Amira Elfeky is endearingly and excitedly sweary. “Put your fucking hands up!” she demands after making a suitably cool and dramatic entrance with her bandmates. “Let’s hear what you’ve fucking got…” Rather a lot, it turns out. The faithful followers gathered at the Avalanche Stage are all-in on Amira’s killer brand of alternative / nu-metal / metalcore, sharing massive screams of approval after every song, swaying their arms in the air, and – of course – moshing enthusiastically for 2023’s viral Tonight. With the likes of Bring Me The Horizon and Architects already giving this future superstar their seal of approval, she’ll have inevitably picked up even more new listeners here today – something she clearly recognises, grinning, “I fucking love you, thank you!” Fuck yeah. (EG)

Texan rockers Nothing More look like they’ve been honed in the gym, before being spray-painted gold and black. From the second they burst on to the stage, their sound is that hewn of a band honed into one deliciously muscular pointed arrow of a thing. They’re direct, and they hit hard. Opener House On Sand has extracurricular electronics with on point riffs and a sharp-as-nails lead vocal from Jonny Hawkins. The band’s cinematic sound probably works even better in clubs, but the band have enough panache to take it to a massive Opus Stage audience that’s eating from their proffered palm. Their energy matches that of the mostly hot-paced music, songs like If It Doesn’t Hurt jabbing memorable hooks into the cauldron. Most of the set is culled from last year’s Carnal, suggesting it’s probably worth seeking out if you missed it at the time. (SB)

If ever a film could recapture the spirit of The Crow – and we mean the classic 1994 Brandon Lee original, of course – there'd be few better choices than VOWWS to provide the soundtrack. The quartet, led by U.S.-based Australian duo Rizz and guitarist Matt James, are purveyors of beautifully disconcerting, forcefully melodic darkness. Shudder has one of those hooks that sends you off into a black hole of goodness. Rizz – shades, white face paint, casually cocked cigarette – is as cool a freak as they come, but probably isn’t used to being up this early, and there's a touch of discombobulation having been moved to this stage only yesterday. Ultimately, their mellifluous music brings its voodoo to the pleasure receptors, and closer One By One is another alternative sweet-as-cherry goth treat. It's potentially music you could lose yourself in – definitely one to watch. (SB)

Archers are thanking their lucky stars today. As they touch UK soil for the first time, the Midwest metallers' gratefulness to be here is writ large on their faces, and that passion is the kindling for their mighty showing on the Dogtooth Stage. They headbang hard enough to leave them with sore necks as they attack their set, the pounding breakdown of Better Off and the punchy Made For Love giving the punters the eardrum rattle they crave. “The security guards are looking hella bored! Let's give them something!” crows vocalist Nathanael Pulley. And they get something in return – a passionate a capella sing-along to closer Bitter. This has been a very successful maiden voyage. (EW)

Anyone up for a morning boogie? Arrows In Action sure are, even if a great deal of the Donington masses haven’t quite made the trip to the Avalanche Stage just yet. Their loss. “I know it’s early, but we’re gonna give you everything we’ve got, alright?!” yells guitarist Matthew Fowler, as the sunny U.S. trio deliver a spot-on set of pop-rock bops. Between a slick cover of twenty one pilots’ Ride, some “viral TikTok dance” crowd participation, the fact Arrows In Action look like total rock stars, and it being drummer Jesse Frimmel’s birthday, the vibes are impeccable throughout. We can’t wait to see them back in, er, Action at more UK fests in the future. (EG)

“Are you guys ready to fucking party or what?” asks Niklas Karlsson. Yes. More than ready, actually, with a late start meaning that Swedish metallers Orbit Culture taking to the stage later than planned. And a party they deliver, and a very heavy one at that. “I don’t care if you guys are hungover, let’s fucking do this together,” he yells, demanding the second of two walls of death. But even for those not joining the dust-swirling pits – including a bloke in a spiked Bane mask – it’s an arse-kicking start to the day. Their chunky death metal is beefier than the portions in a particularly generous carvery, with Tales Of War and Death Above Life sounding deliciously satisfying as Sunday lunchtime comes up. It’s a shortened set, but they don’t need longer than this to press their footprint onto Download. (NR)

Despite playing at an hour where everyone is still digesting their breakfast, Harpy's brought a shard of the loose, sensuous energy of the nighttime with her. Performing alongside a band of shirtless, masked men, her decadent industrial rock feels bigger, grittier and sexier live – doubly good as it is on record – and her vocals twice as powerful. Although she is elegant and almost a little reserved at first, as the crowd warms up, the atmosphere becomes charged, and her confidence blossoms. She's pouring blood over herself – and the crowd – during Last Time, and the air becomes cloudy with dust as she charms the punters into opening a pit for the pulsating Slaughterhouse. “Mommy wants a pit! Let mommy have a pit! A breakfast pit!” Put her onstage, and Harpy metamorphoses into her truest form. (EW)

Easy like Sunday morning? Eh, not quite. Stomach churning hangovers and desperately chugged breakfast coffees are already conspiring to make Download's early risers shit themselves, but the disgustingly heavy arrival of NECKBREAKKER might just push those still clinging on over the edge. Audible from the other side of site on the long walk in, the rising Danes' soundcheck might be the heaviest thing we've heard all weekend, but it's just a tease for the devastation of tracks from awesome debut Within The Viscera flying free. Is it, as windbreaker-sporting frontman Christoffer Kofoed suggests, a showcase of death metal's serrated cutting edge? Or is it bastardised hardcore for the bruisers swinging arms and spinning kicks in the pit? Frankly, as songs like Shackled To A Corpse detonate with megaton force, it doesn't really matter. "Oh, we like to have fun…" Christoffer grins, having watched proceedings devolve into absolute bedlam over 20 chaotic minutes. And as they sign off with a shot of Face-Splitting Madness, there's nowhere else Donington's most bloody-minded would rather be. (SL)

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