The commanding voice of Tim 'Ripper' Owens kicks off proceedings on the main stage today, causing thousands of metallers to stand to attention involuntarily and take heed of a solid set of hard rock. Obviously enjoying themselves, Five Finger Death Punch shout at the crowd a lot to keep them interested, playing some loud and simplistic heavy songs with prominent growling vocals similar to the familiar bark heard later in Hatebreed's set, during which even tracks from their most recent album of cover songs melt into one monotonous blur. With these two sandwiching Devildriver those nu-metal fans didn't even have to move for a while. [MG]

Clad in Matching Black shirts with red armbands the trio In Case of Fire who hail from Portadown in Northern Ireland enter the second stage and launch into a driving beat with the front man Steve Robinson delivering an accomplished performance. [HK]
Still on the stacked main stage,beneath the blazing sun, Down fans (many having a blaze themselves) got some belting renditions of crowd pleasers like 'Lifer' and 'Lysergic Funeral Procession'. Anselmo stood above the crowd like a leader of men, his gravelled voice inciting a conviction that few can. Lets hope he never gets into politics.

Over on stage number two Hardcore Superstar put some gruff vocals over some power-metal backing and get away with it quite nicely, their enthusiasm carrying the audience with them. Chris Cornell played a very familiar set mainly consisting of faithful reproductions of Soundgarden and Audioslave hits, which is exactly what the crowd wants to hear. [MG]

Opening with an intriguing mix of both chord and time changes on ‘The English Way’, Fightstar, which if you don’t know by now features singer Charlie Simpson (formerly with Pop band Busted) urges the audience to “Get a circle going” and do a reasonable job doing so.

Architects take to the stage in the Tuborg tent and wreak havoc on their instruments and the audience with a stuffed toy taking the brunt of the release of aggression from both band and audience as it is hurled back again. [HK]

Returning after filling the second stage tent two years previously, The Prodigy set a whole lot of rockers jumping up and down with a frankly obese bass sound sending shockwaves back through the gathered armies. Shouting out to their 'Download warriors' they raced from beat to beat and abridged tracks like ‘Their Law’ to half the length. But nothing was going to hamper the euphoria inspired by their classic 'Out of Space' encore and the sheer scale of The Prodigy live sound.

Pendulum whipped up a similar fan frenzy on the main stage with their almost scientifically honed sound and sample-ish drums sweeping a young audience of its feet and bouncing them around plenty. Later Slipknot finally ascended their way to the top of the bill after many huge appearances at the festival. With their usual stunts and pyrotechnics Slipknot have defied critics who dismissed them as a short-lived fad and here they are playing their heavy yet somewhat tamed popular metal style in a headline slot at Donington. Who would have believed it? [MG]