Download Festival have announced another load of names for their 2013 line-up. You can check the full list of additions to the bill after the jump.

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Bloody heck, that’s an awful lot of new bands to add all at once. Not that we’re complaining, mind you – the less inane line-up announcement news pieces we have to try to find new and inventive intros to write for is always a welcome development here at Thrash Hits. You can check the full list of additions to the Download Festival 2013 line-up after the jump.

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Opinions? Too early in the morning for that. Just a list of bands after the jump.

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Last night on BBC Radio 1 and Scuzz TV, Download Festival announced another seven bands for their 2013 line-up – Queens of the Stone Age, HIM, 30 Seconds To Mars, Mötorhead, The Gaslight Anthem, A Day To Remember, and Alice In Chains.

This week, Raz and Hugh tackle the somewhat-thorny subject of the role record labels have to play in the modern metal scene. From Warner Bros. Roadrunner Records cull, to Hydra Head’s decision to close, through to Century Media’s digital litigationathon and the power of modern micro-labels, we’ve gone at it from all angles. We also throw out some brief reaction to the news of Slipknot being booked as the third and final headliner for Download Festival 2013.

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Download Festival have confirmed the identity of their third and final 2013 headliner: Slipknot. The eight-piece – arguably alongside Rammstein, being one of the “last” great festival headliner bands to emerge from metal – will make their first appearance at Donington Park since their 2009 headline spot, which of course has subsequently been packaged as their (sic)nesses DVD.

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Well, Download Festival has announced their first two headline acts for 2013 – not that we knew that when we recorded episode 14 of the Thrash Hits podcast. Hugh and Tom sta down a mere two hours after Iron Maiden were confirmed (and a whole 14 hours before Rammstein were “officially” confirmed) to talk about the first major festival announcements for 2013, as well as a bit of not-so-idle speculation as to the identity of the as-yet-unnamed third Main Stage headliner. And then because they’d had a couple of beers, they took some time to debate why certain trends and cycles keep happening in the world of heavy metal.

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So Download Festival have announced that yes, those fire and dick-obsessed Germans, Rammstein, will indeed be headlining the Main Stage on the Sunday night at next year’s festival. Seems legit.

Download Festival have confirmed the identity of their first 2013 headliner – Iron Maiden. The titans of British metal – and indisputably one of the biggest metal bands both a) of today, and b) of all time – will mark Iron Maiden’s first appearance at Donington Park since their 2007 headline spot.

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Yes. Yes they have. According to the list of tour dates the band have posted, at any rate. There’s a screengrab of the offending tour dates from the band’s official Facebook page after the jump.

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