Among the latest fleet of iconic names added to Europe’s biggest rock and metal festival this year is punk icon and Generation X frontman Billy Idol, who returns to Donington for the first time in five years.
Billy Idol said:
It was a fantastic experience playing at Download 2010 in the teeming rain with the audience completely unfazed. So if that was fun, this year should be dynamite! See you there!
Groove metal giants Lamb of God return from hiatus in 2015 amid rumours of a new album to blow away the minds of the Download faithful.
Other massive bands joining them include Black Veil Brides – the hard rockers following in the tradition of fellow Download 2015 performers KISS & Motley Crue with their raucous live performances and on-stage personas, while Rise Against return to bring a bit of poignancy and political edge to their barrage of heavy, melodic punk rock.
On playing Download Black Veil Brides said:
We are absolutely honoured to once again have the opportunity to play on rocks biggest stage at the Download festival 2015! We've always had a blast and we are looking to make our third time the best one yet! Seeya Saturday!
Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath said:
The Download Fest always puts together one of the best and heaviest line-ups in the UK and we¹re pretty damn ready to get muddy with the best of them.
Elsewhere, America’s most successful rock performer in the Billboard charts, the four times Grammy-nominated Godsmack will perform at Download for the first time in 2015 following the release of their acclaimed 1000hop album earlier this year.
Tongue-in-cheek but firmly balls-out rockers Eagles of Death Metal will also swoop into Donington in 2015 to make their eagle-ly (soz)-awaited debut at the country’s primary rock and metal festival.
Homegrown natural born killers Mallory Knox continued their meteoric rise with the release of their second album Assymetric in October and will give fans a taste of it at Download.
If those massive names aren’t enough, the sludgiest funk stoner rock beasts music has to offer, Clutch, return to Download after a four year absence, while DragonForce will also be blazing into Donington on a wave of the fastest, most frantic and fiery speed metal in the rock world.
Hardcore rap rockers Hollywood Undead will showcase material from new album, Day of the Dead, with the eponymous lead single providing some of the heaviest hooks ever from the LA six-piece.
Another rap-metal crossover joining the 2015 line-up, this time appearing at Download for the first time, is Body Count, fronted by rap legendIce-T.
More straight-edged rock comes in the form of prodigal Southern hardcore sons Every Time I Die, making their first Donington appearance in a decade, while Australia’s finest purveyors of anthemic metalcore Parkway Drive also return.
More long-lost friends join the party in the form of Swedish punk rockers Backyard Babies – making a first appearance in six years – while their compatriots H.E.A.T also bring their epic signature brand of Nordic hard rock to Donington.
Pennsylvania horror merchants Motionless in White make their first appearance since this year’s epic Reincarnate, while Download will also be treated to a savage dose of theatricality from symphonic metallers Crown the Empire, who make their debut in 2015, following the release of this summer’s The Resistance: Rise of the Runaways.
Adding to Download 2015’s burgeoning antipodean contingent and also making their debut this year are metalcore tyros Northlane, with yet another fresh slab of meat for rock and metal fans to get their teeth into are seasoned hardcore punk warriors Madball, who recently announced that they have begun recording an eighth studio album.
All of these incredible acts will join headliners Slipknot, Muse and Kiss, and main support Judas Priest, Faith No More and Mötley Crüe as well as an armada of the world’s finest vessels of rock and metal.