Credit: Found On Internet

Boney M. Battle Metal. Boney M. Batttle Metal. Not the most obvious of bedfellows. But that’s exactly what Finnish viking fut-trimmed metallers Turisas have done by covering ‘Rasputin’ with their accordian-and-violin-player backed folk-metal (yes, folk-metal). Couple that with a bevy of storm-the-gates metal choruses, and they’re a uniquely pleasing way to kick open Music Towers second day of heavy metal gluttony.

The roar that comes up from the crowd when Hellyeah drummer – and of course, ex-Damangeplan, ex-Pantera, and brother of the late Dimebag Darrell – Vinnie Paul, walks on stage is bigger than most bands can muster. While the metal supergroup – also sporting members of Mudvayne and Nothingface – can only rise to some fairly basic southern-fried metal, when you’ve got bluesy growly tracks like ‘Alcohol and Ass’, and a bona fide legend on sticks duty, it goes down smooth like a shot of best bourbon.

Over at the Dimebag stage, ex-Vision of Disorder frontman Tim Williams’ new band, Bloodsimple, are providing an education in how to marry the tenets of East Coast hardcore with the brusquest edges of metalcore. Sadly, their lessons are lost on Bring Me The Horizon, who are next to take the stage. Just what is the point of BMTH? Inexplicably popular, it seems that taking a purely non-exceptional screamo-noisecore act and giving them some MySpace angles is all it takes these days to eleavate averageness to adoration among the be-fringed metal kids. Baby-faced frontman, Oli Sykes, does his utmost to rouse the tweenage hordes into a movement, but it’s shambolic and amateurish gash.

Over in the Tuborg tent, Priestess, on the other hand, are almost anti-image in comparison. They look like 4 lumberjacks who’ve survived out in the wilderness by chowing down on local wildlife by killing them with the sheer size of their riffs. Stripped of any excess, it’s a simple and winning combination.

But if the day belongs to anyone, it belongs to Machine Head. After their mid-career lull, the Bay Area thrashers have returned to the peak of their powers, first with ‘Through The Ashes Of Empires’ and now with ‘The Blackening’. Positively thunderous, their 50-minute unequivocal assault on Download has raised the bar for their contemporaries.