Sure there’s an incredible Download lineup filled with some of the greatest international acts and we introduced them before. But we can’t forget our hometown Aussie heroes.

So let’s introduce the hometown heroes of the Download Class of 2020!

In the front row of the classroom. Having spent more than a decade together Canberra born and bred rockers Hands Like Houses spend their time playing packed arenas and festival stages, thrilling crowds all over the world. With over 150k record sales worldwide, several USA and UK headline tours under their belt and three sold out back-to-back headline tours across Australia in just two years they’ve achieved a lot! While their newest release – Anon has seen them snatch up even more accolades, with the album charting at #4, seeing the band with their first Top 5 in the Aria Charts. A worthy seat in the Download Class of 2020.
 

Since 2012 Byron Bay’s metal core band In Hearts Wake have been changing lives and minds worldwide. With over 100,000 records sold worldwide and three Top five records under their belt the band hail as one of the leading light’s of melodic Metalcore. The band have looped the planet on multiple occasions in support of their powerful message surrounding ecological, humanitarian and urgent environmental matters. This band don’t just create music to enjoy, their music seeks to go further and inspire change and make a difference. Their most recent album Ark inspires global change on an entirely different level while musically paying homage to the past just as much as it signals an enlightened new future for conscious heavy music.

Originating in Melbourne extreme prog metallers Ne Obliviscaris blend an intense and intricate blend of progressive metal with thundering drums, shrieking violin, epic guitar riffs, gorgeous string sections and soaring clean vocals alongside brutal growls! This band are no strangers to festivals, having graced some of Europe’s heaviest stages and they are a huge and heavy addition to the Download Class of 2020.

Melbourne’s punk band Bodyjar are hailed as one of the most revered punk bands in Australia. Originating in the suburbs of Melbourne more than 20 years ago they graduated from pub stages during the worldwide ’90s punk boom, to the likes of festival stages such as The Big Day Out. With hit singles like Not The Same and Fall To The Ground, Bodyjar went on to tour the globe several times over with many of the era’s most respected acts! They reunited in 2013 after calling it a day in 2005, and have since continued to tour and release new music.

Melbourne five-piece, hardcore punk outfit Clowns have never been ones to conform. Originally debuting in 2010 as a relatively straightforward hardcore punk act, they have evolved over the course of their first three albums- 2013’s I’m Not Right, 2015’s Bad Blood and 2017’s Lucid Again. which has seen them mutate their sound in whatever direction they like. 2019 saw the band release their fourth studio offering Nature/Nurture and join esteemed punk heavyweight label Fat Wreck Chords, becoming the second Australian band ever to join the label.

Meet the future of Australian heavy music, Melbourne metalcore outfit Thornhill. Showcasing a thunderous, melodic alternative metalcore they have become renowned among heavy music fans courtesy of their impressive EP Butterfly and refreshing colourful debut LP The Dark Pool in October 2019. Alongside notable support slots for heavyweights Architects, Northlane, Parkway Drive and more.

Just 10 years after conception Brisbane death metal band Disentomb stand as one of the most commanding and unique bands in modern metal. From their rudimentary beginnings the pursuit of unrelentingly brutal death has seen the band evolve into an act with a unique sound combining lacerating energy with a bleak dissonance that embodies pure sonic malice.

Sydney’s pop-punk rockers Stand Atlantic are one of Australia’s hottest prospects, having played over 150 shows in the last 12 months. The pop-punk meets alternative rockers have gone from strength-to-strength since the release of their debut album Skinny Dipping. They have toured relentlessly across the globe and racked up over 30,000,000 streams online, secured airplay on BBC Radio 1 / Sirius XM / AppleBeats1 and gained a triple J Feature Album. They are a welcome addition to Download’s Class of 2020 and are universally tipped to be the next household name in rock music.

Sydney artist Plini is hailed as a bedroom bandit. He successfully composes, plays guitar, records, produces and manages his unique brand of instrumental progressive rock all from the comfort of his bedroom studio. Originally debuting music under alias Halcyon, Plini Roessler-Holgate later switched to using just his first name. Music Radar named him as is an Australian guitarist and songwriter. He began by releasing music under the name Halcyon, before switching to the use of his first name. Music Radar named him as “Best Prog Guitarist in the world right now” while legendary guitarist Steve Vai described his critically-acclaimed debut album “Handmade Cities” as “one of the finest, forward-thinking, melodic, rhythmically and harmonically deep, evolution of rock/metal instrumental guitar records I have ever heard.” Plini is an artist not to miss!

The rise of Sydney rockers Redhook has been described as meteoric. The band were Triple J Unearthed’s Download Sydney’s winners for 2019 and tore up the stage at Download UK 2019! Since their inception in 2018 their rise as self-styled heavy pop mutants has seen them create unique and emotional alternative music that fuses multiple genres including rock, rap, metalcore, pop and electronica. The band are a powerful force, with lyrics that aim to inspire listeners to keep fighting against the forces of darkness, not just in the real world but also in their own heads.

Hardcore Melbourne band Dregg bring to light a dystopian world where humans turn into machines and machines turn into humans. This five-piece band are renowned for their lively show that meldshardcore, nu-metal, and hip hop. Donning face masks, war paints, and outlandish outfits. Their defined artistic vision aims at breaking down and analyzing every aspect of life — socially, politically, spiritually, and mentally – they implore you to channel your inner weirdo!

Thus concludes the introductions for the hometown heroes of the Download Class of 2020! Welcome them.

Get your tickets to Download 2020 here

Featured photo: Stand Atlantic at River Sessions 2019 by Nikki May