Knotfest 2025

This year’s Knotfest experience almost didn’t happen, what a wild adventure it would turn out to be. We were originally all good to go for the Melbourne Show on Friday, February 28th, when boom, a major spanner in the works, my wife’s clearance for her new agency nursing job came through two days before. Great news, right? Not when the new job is a lazy 23-hour drive away, three hours from Brisbane, and she starts on Monday. What a predicament!

Not wanting my wife to drive that distance on her own, I decided not to go to Knotfest… In Melbourne, anyway. It was a lightbulb moment when I realised I could probably tie in the Brisbane festival into the road trip, and that’s exactly what I did. This review isn’t about almost missing the festival; it’s about music. Live music is our number one love!

***Please note our photos are all from the Melbourne festival, where our photographer Nicole Noy once again did an amazing job!***

The review, however, is from Brisbane, and this is the first time I’ve been to a festival outside of Melbourne since Soundwave finished up back in the day; we used to go to the Adelaide festival regularly. Located at the Brisbane Showgrounds on a hot and humid day, everything about this seemed different except for the music itself.

First up, big props to Knotfest for only running two stages, band clashes are an absolute headache, but that certainly wasn’t the case here. My first impression of the Brisbane Showgrounds was that it was a lot smaller than Melbourne. It was almost like having a festival on your local football oval but with a massive grandstand surrounding it. Making for great shade and relief from moshing (for a minute anyway) and an excellent place for onlookers to watch on who didn’t want to get in amongst the chaos.

Here’s how our day went:

Sunami

There’s nothing like some extreme hardcore music at 11.30am, It’s kind of bizarre really. Entering the Showgrounds on a Peaceful Sunday, I was met by a punch in the face of adrenaline from Josef Alfonso and the boys from San Jose, California. Now, these guys are only entering year six of their career, originally forming in 2019, but if this set is anything to go by, they’ll be a staple in the hardcore community for years to come.

Vended

It was time to hit the pit for Des Moines, Iowa nu metal band “Vended”, I’d had these guys highlighted on the to watch list since the line-up announcement. Another relatively new band (forming in 2018) and featuring Slipknot’s Corey Taylor’s son Griffin on vocals and Clown’s (Shawn Crahan) son Simon on drums. When you think about it, there is probably a lot of pressure on these kids to perform and do something special having come from such great parents in the scene.

Unfortunately, Simon was unable to make it to Australia but that didn’t stop Vended from absolutely carving up the stage. Griffin sounds so similar to Corey that if you were only listening and not watching it would be very hard to tell the difference, born into show business and taking it in his stride. It’s safe to say the future of metal or Nu Metal or whatever you want to call it is alive and well.

If you haven’t checked out their 2024 debut full length album, be sure to give it a listen. Kicking off their set with Nihilism and wrapping it up with Asylum there was never a dull moment, with the pit even opening up for a circle pit at one stage. All before !2.30pm!

Miss May I

I’ve been kicking myself since missing their Shadows Inside Australian tour a few years back for not having a chance to see Miss May I live, that was all about to change. Quickly shuffling across stages and landing myself in front row. Brisbane for the win! The only complaint here was I feel the vocals could have been up a little louder (same with Vended) but then again it could be where I was standing or possibly years of live music is starting to take its toll (lets hope not, wear ear plugs people).

None the less, Miss May I’s set was a fun one and front man Levi Benton had the crowd’s attention as he smashed through songs from their back catalogue before finishing up with the epic Shadows Inside. Levi teased new music in our interview and fingers crossed they head back to Australia with that!

Check out the interview here:

HEALTH

We have nothing but love for HEALTH here at The Underground; as a matter of fact, seeing them on the bill for Knotfest cemented it as a must-attend the event. We were lucky enough to interview both Jake Duzsik and John Famiglietti of the group ahead of their late 2023 release “Rat Wars” and they are some great dudes. Discussing the group with our photographer, Nicole, we both concluded that HEALTH was an interesting choice for the event, but a good one. Metal heads could take some time out to take in some industrial.

I have nothing but respect for vocalist Duzisik, who, at the end of their set, thanked Slipknot and Knotfest for having them on but said something to the likes of “I’m not going to scream when I say it, you’ve heard how I’ve been singing. I’d sound like a f***ing idiot”. I thought that was great, as was their set, which featured a fantastic mix of older tracks and new ones that kept fans happy.

The guys were feeling the effect of the Brisbane heat, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to the music as I felt their set was the closest thing to just hitting play in your car on your Spotify playlist or whatever. It was crisp, their sound so clean, and I must confess, with Duzsik’s unique voice, I was pondering how it would sound live. My hat goes off to these lads, an absolutely amazing set and a highlight of the day!

Industrial music is alive, if you missed our interview with HEALTH, you can check it out here:

In Hearts Wake bashed through an array of anthems while I took a quick tour of the Show Grounds and picked up a shirt. You have to get a shirt right? I’m assuming the merchandise area was in the animal pavilion at the Show Grounds. It was interesting, that’s for sure, again providing much-needed shade from a hot day in Brisbane!

Hatebreed

For the first time in over ten years, the mighty Hatebreed had returned to our shores. I’m really not too sure why it has been that long though? The demand was clearly there. My wife, who was taking a break in the grandstand at the time, said when they hit the stage, a sea of people flocked to the showgrounds, describing it as unbelievable to watch

Hatebreed more than made for lost time as they tore it up with multiple circle pits surfacing, I even found myself in one at one stage. To say it was wild is a massive understatement, they delivered what the die-hards had been waiting for and really made it hard for the next act.

Never mind the “Wall of Death”, Hatebreed introduced the “Ball Of Death”, a massive blown-up ball that was thrown into the crowd during the closing stages. What an unbelievable time! From Proven to Smash Your Enemies, I Will Be Heard, the amazing Last Breath and of course, Looking Down the Barrel of Today, the set was on point, and the nostalgia was high.

It was time to try to catch a breath and take it to the atmosphere of the day during Enter Shikari and Within Temptation’s sets. Both make for a great soundtrack to a perfect setting as we sadly got ready for the last two acts of the day (for us anyway), new jobs to start, and planes to catch (sob).

Slaughter to Prevail

Now, when it comes to heavy music, it really doesn’t get much heavier than the mighty Slaughter to Prevail. Hailing from Russia, these guys certainly pack more than a punch and provide what could most likely be described as a soundtrack to doom. Or something extremely heavy and devastating.

Despite this, frontman Alex Terrible seems like a super friendly dude who was genuinely stoked to be living out his dream and performing in front of thousands of fans internationally. Unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties during their song “Bonebreaker,” but this did earn us some stories from Terrible, who grew up listening to Slipknot!

A real highlight was during their track “Koschei” when a young fan joined the group on stage playing guitar and lapped up every minute of it, not seeming to miss a beat. What is the best way to describe their entire set, though? Pure carnage!

It was main event time for us as we had to leave after Polaris and sadly miss out on A Day to Remember, Slipknot and Baby Metal (Not in that order, haha)

Polaris

How great are Polaris? How awesome is it to see an Australian band play so late in the day? The future is well and truly in their hands, and I believe they’ll step up to be just like big brothers “Parkway Drive” and soon enough be main eventing such festivals.

Having seen them play a sold-out John Cain Arena and a small venue in Ballarat, this time around, I got the opportunity to see them in an open-air setting. They did not disappoint, jumping right into one of my personal favourites in Nightmare, and the Brisbane crowd was LOVING it; fans were up and about going crazy. The Pyro added to the heat of the day but made for an amazing setting as the Sun went down in Brisbane! Dissipate mid-way through the set was maybe the highlight, with the breakdown being nothing short of phenomenal but Overflow, All of this Fleeting and Inhumane really hit hard.

What an amazing set from one of the best Australian bands on the scene right now, they did us proud.

Ever had to leave a festival when one of your favourite bands is about to play? In this case Slipknot! Yeah, it really wasn’t easy, and I highly recommend you don’t do that, but even with missing A Day to Remember, Baby Metal and Slipknot, we still had the BEST DAY. Brisbane is where it’s at, that’s where we hope to be this time next year.