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DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL Preview: BODY COUNT, THE HYENA KILL and 6 More Bands to Check Out on Sunday

The highlight of the UK rock calendar, Download Festival returns to Castle Donington this weekend. Here are our picks of the day from an impressive Sunday line-up.

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Download Festival 2018 is officially go! Headlined by Avenged Sevenfold, Guns n’ Roses and Ozzy Osbourne, the highlight of the UK rock calendar, Download Festival returns to Castle Donington this weekend. By the time Sunday comes around, there will be time for one more day of top rock action so here are our picks from the Sunday line-up.

1. Hatebreed
Connecticut metal heavyweights Hatebreed have absolutely nothing to prove to the metal scene. The band simply don’t do bad shows. Ever. They’ve no new record to promote so, when they take to the Main Stage on Sunday and that midsection of “Proven” kicks in, there will be no more perfect a moment where it’s okay to stand in a field losing your shit. We will be!

2. Body Count
Ice-muthafuckin-T is in the field! Yes, Sunday sees the return of Ice-T’s metal project Body Count to Download. For forty minutes expect Ice-T and his henchmen to throwdown hard on the Zippo Stage and, if he treats us to that absolutely nasty version of Slayer’s classic “Raining Blood” that circled on the internet a while ago, Body Count will instantly make a field full of metalheads very happy indeed.

3. Kreator
Anybody who has seen these German thrashers live will be able to testify how utterly devastating they are. Their performance at Bloodstock last year was one of the highlights of the weekend and, if they’re even half as good as they were that day then even the most hardened thrashers will be left with a sore neck and bleeding ears on Sunday when Mille Petrozza and the gang appear on the Zippo Stage.

4. In This Moment
If you’re looking for theatrics and can’t be arsed waiting for Marilyn Manson, may we suggest you make a stop off at the Main Stage when Maria Beink and her band In This Moment promise to deliver the kind of performance that will blow your mind. Theatrics, thumping electro-tinged metal and a vocalist who is pretty stunning surely should put this lot high up your list of bands to check out on Sunday.

5. The Hyena Kill
Hailing from Manchester, this pair make the kind of noises that will surely set the tone for the rest of an amazing final day at Download. The duo are arriving at Download this weekend off the back of a run of European dates so, given that their latest video “Exit Mask” has been described by the pair as an “in your face tune”, by the time they hit the stage on Sunday lunchtime, expect your face to be ripped right off.

6. Myrkur
Another one of those acts who split the opinions of the purists and none purists, while being undoubtedly heavy, the Danish composer’s sound certainly puts pay to the age-old argument metal fans have endured for decades that “all that shit sounds the same”. Offering up something very different to the rest of the bill at Download this weekend, make the time to check Myrkur out if you fancy a break from the bigger acts.

7. Dream State
South Wales rockers Dream State have had an amazing seven months so far celebrating a new deal with UNFD and the reissue of their huge single “White Lies”. We were gutted about missing them kicking off Slam Dunk recently so we won’t be making that mistake again when they open the Avalanche Stage on Sunday.

8. A
Some of the younger attendees of this year’s Download might not be aware of the importance of A who came to the UK’s attention with their hit single “Nothing” back in the early 2000’s. These cheeky chaps may be a few years older but you can expect nothing but thirty-odd minutes of insanely catchy alt-rock when the band take to the Avalanche stage on Sunday.

Download Festival takes place from 8 – 10 June 2018 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire. Tickets available now at www.downloadfestival.co.uk/tickets.

I have an unhealthy obsession with bad horror movies, the song Wanted Dead Or Alive and crap British game shows. I do this not because of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle it affords me but more because it gives me an excuse to listen to bands that sound like hippos mating.

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