Killswitch Engage
With most of the Main Stage crowd settled in for the day for Iron Maiden's later performance, Killswitch arrive to a heaving main stage. Without wanting to disappoint – the band launch in to a brutal bass fuelled attack on the grounds of Donington Park.
Killswitch's blend of darkly deep yet melodic metal is just what the Main Stage crowd want, just a couple of hours before Maiden are due to arrive back on stage at Donington. With their set – a mixture of the band's material over the years – any KSE or just general metal fan can't help but be enticed by their music. Killswitch's sets always guarantee that their music will sound different to the albums – with something fresh injected in to each song – something that a lot of bands simply cannot do and so just resort to using samples from their album.
Bowel shaking bass drums pound throughout their set, whilst searing vocals ring out the sound that is unique to Killswitch Engage. Howard Jones's voice moves effortlessly between mesmerising melodies and searing screams in a way that can bring beauty to the most heavy of metal.
By the time "Rose of Sharyn" appears midway through their set, Killswitch have, as always, left their energetic mark on the crowd. Right from the front of the stage up to the backs of the hills fans are singing along with the same energy that Howard himself puts in.
The band finish their set with two of their most known tracks, "End of Heartache" and "My Last Serenade". As the crowd emotionally sing with Killswitch Engage there is no doubt that this is one of the finest metal bands around these days.