We were back for another glorious weekend at Download Festival.
Volbeat have continued doing what they do best - writing songs that rip, sing, swing, and soar, with their ninth studio album 'God of Angels Trust', which they delivered with a confidence that only comes from a band who know exactly who they are.
The truth is, Download is changing. Slowly. Carefully. But undeniably. It’s not just about what’s selling tickets now - it’s about building the scene, the industry, and the culture for the years to come. Because if we don’t, the future will be nothing but tribute acts and cover bands on the big stage. And that, friends, would be a tragedy.
DLXXII is just around the corner, we take a look at the line-up and what the weekend will hold.
Some bands mellow with age. Pop Evil, on the other hand, have gone the other way - getting noisier, heavier, and more unrelenting with each passing album. 'What Remains', their eighth full-length release, is the culmination of that journey. This isn’t just another Pop Evil record; this is the sound of a band snapping off the handbrake, baring their scars, and smacking harder than ever before.
Glasgow Hydro got Bizkit’d earlier this month and we were there to enjoy every minute.
Picture the scene if you will. Out the back of a sweaty, packed metal venue and System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, and Gojira are having an almighty tear up. A chaotic, sweaty, riff-fuelled rager in a back alley. And just when you thought it was over, they grabbed a meaty, bone rattling chorus, smacked you in the chops, and threw you into the pit. That’s 'Nu Delhi', the second album from India’s loudest, proudest, and most unapologetically ambitious metal export, Bloodywood.
If you ever needed proof that the ‘80s never truly died, 'Thrill of the Bite' is the irrefutable, iron-clad, smoking-gun evidence, swaggering into 2025 with more leather, hairspray, and fist-pumping bravado than Motley Crue on the Sunset Strip in their pomp.
Lacuna Coil’s new album, 'Sleepless Empire', isn’t just another chapter in their ever-impressive catalogue - it’s a bold statement of intent. Their tenth studio album dropped earlier this month and saw the Italian icons embracing their gothic roots, while fearlessly pushing their sound into unexplored sonic spectrums.
From the depths of the South London alt-rock underground a band has emerged who aren’t here just to play nice or make up the numbers. They’re here to drag you into their world of suffocating atmosphere, raw emotion, and rock n’ roll devastation. Their sophomore EP, 'Elements', is an emotional rollercoaster through the chaos of the human condition, an unrelenting dive into the depths of inner turmoil, wrapped in a package of searing alt-rock grit.