Bloodstock : 30 Bands Not To Miss - Killswitch Engage

10. Killswitch Engage – Ronnie James Dio stage - Friday, August 11th – headliners!!!.

Let's have another headliner and it's a band making their Bloodstock debut. It's difficult to find anybody who doesn't have a soft spot for these Massachusetts marauders. Stalwarts of the new wave of American heavy metal, next year they will celebrate 25 years of existence. 

Essentially they took the hard but accessible sound that Carcass cultivated with the sublime “Heartwork” and ran with it. Somewhere along the lines, they have become an institution, an absolute mainstay of our world. They have spent many years propping up the bill at Download but this is our first chance here in this country to see what a proper Killswitch Engage festival headline set looks like.

With eight incendiary albums in their armory they have certainly got the material to make Friday night a singalong and mosh-along paradise. So, expect guitar heroics, plenty of "we love you man” and just the right pinch of irreverence. Because this is the moment Killswitch Engage show us that they are the rock monster we always wanted them to be.