KNOTFEST AUSTRALIA 2025 MELBOURNE @ FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE
Featuring Slipknot, A Day To Remember, Babymetal, Polaris, Slaughter To Prevail, Within Temptation, Enter Shikari, Hatebreed, In Hearts Wake, HEALTH, Miss May I, Vended, and Sunami.
Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse transformed into a haven for metalheads as Knotfest Australia 2025 roared into town, bringing a line-up of heavyweights from across the globe. Headlined by the legendary Slipknot with a unique celebratory set, the festival delivered a mix of high-energy performances, surprises, and a few notable hiccups.
California’s Sunami was kicking things off, bringing their beatdown hardcore brand to the early crowd. Seeing these guys play with Scowl and Speed two years ago, I knew to be ready for this festival to start in full force. Their no-frills approach—massive riffs and signature higher-pitched vocals from Josef Alfonso immediately set the tone for the day. The pit wasted no time erupting.
Vended, featuring Corey Taylor’s son Griffin on vocals, had to push forward without drummer Simon Crahan due to a family emergency which also impacted Slipknot’s Clown. Despite this, their first time performing in Australia, they delivered a charged set, proving they could hold their own even with last-minute line-up changes. Songs like Nihilism and Asylum hit particularly hard, cementing their reputation as more than just the offspring of metal royalty.
Ohio metalcore veterans Miss May I followed with soaring melodies and crushing breakdowns. Celebrating just over 15 years of their 2009 album Apologies Are For The Weak, they tailored to the long-time fans who have been listening since the beginning.
Breaking up the metal onslaught, HEALTH injected the day with industrial noise and electronic chaos. The LA-based trio’s haunting synths and pulsating beats on HATEFUL and FEEL NOTHING provided a trippy contrast to the day’s otherwise brutal sounds. I was lucky enough to see HEALTH play at Northcote Theatre in 2024, and their music and live show certainly suits a darker environment that lends itself to their spectacular light show. Despite their tight performance, playing in the middle of a sunny Melbourne day restrained their set.
Representing Australia, In Hearts Wake got the home crowd roaring with environmentally conscious metalcore. Songs from their 2024 album Incarnation hit hard, playing tracks like The Flood and Orphan. Of course, the still stuck to the fan favourites, with Earthwalker absolutely sending everyone in the crowd.
The longest-living band on the line-up, Hatebreed brought with it legacy and promise. Jamey Jasta’s hardcore-infused motivational lyrics had the entire crowd screaming along to I Will Be Heard and Destroy Everything. A highlight of their set was an enormous circle pit that engulfed the entire front section of the stage. Followed by Enter Shikari with their genre-defying sound, they proved the UK band still has plenty of tricks up their sleeve.
Dutch symphonic metal powerhouse Within Temptation delivered one of the day’s most stunning performances. Sharon den Adel’s soaring vocals were flawless, particularly on The Reckoning and Paradise (What About Us?). Compared to the more aggressive acts on the bill, their theatrical stage presence, crazy music video background, and intricate melodies provided a refreshing shift. As another band hitting the Australian shores for the first time, you could sense how honoured they were to finally perform for their fans here.
One of the most anticipated sets of the day, Russian deathcore monsters Slaughter to Prevail unleashed absolute carnage. Frontman Alex Terrible had one of the deepest growls on the line-up that had us all in the palm of his hand, and the massive wall of death during Baba Yaga was one of the most chaotic moments of the festival. Due to an injury in the crowd, the band paused mid-set to ensure they were safely evacuated. Terrible showed such clear and direct attention to the situation as soon as it came to attention, which was refreshing to see – as well as his passion for the anime Berserk with the track Behelit. The most charming performer of the day goes to Slaughter to Prevail.
Sydney’s Polaris continued proving why they’re one of Australia’s biggest metal exports. Playing tracks from Fatalism, their 2023 album, they paid tribute to late guitarist Ryan Siew, with Masochist from the 2020 album The Death of Me becoming an emotional standout of their set. Bringing out Void of Vision’s Jack Bergin for one of their final songs was an amazing surprise that had the audience thrilled.
Japan’s Babymetal brought their unique fusion of J-pop and heavy metal, delivering one of the most visually spectacular sets of the festival. Gimme Chocolate!! and PA PA YA!! had the crowd dancing as much as headbanging, proving that even in a festival dominated by deathcore and thrash, their brand of kawaii metal has a well-earned place. A band that has been on my personal bucket list I was incredibly happy to see their choreography live. While the several feature tracks with prerecorded vocals weren’t as impactful, it just made me want to see them at a headline show with all their talented friends together in the same room.
Bridging the gap between pop-punk and metalcore, A Day to Remember was a blast to the past of what felt like the entire crowd’s angsty teenage years. They set off to an unbeatable start playing The Downfall of Us All and All I Want followed by a giant burst of confetti. At a point during their set, they had everyone singing Nirvana’s Come As You Are simply by strumming one chord before their ballad If It Means a Lot to You – it was hilarious how long the crowd kept on singing Nirvana’s classic and lead vocalist Jeremy McKinnon was loving it. It was nostalgic bliss with the majority of what ADTR played coming from 2009 album Homesick or 2010’s What Separates Me From You. Their ability to shift between anthemic choruses and bone-crushing breakdowns made their set a crowd-pleasing standout.
Finally, Slipknot took the stage to close out the festival in a chaotic, yet strangely bittersweet, fashion. The absence of Clown was deeply felt, but the band still delivered a furious set celebrating their 25-year legacy. Classics like People = Sht*, Duality, and Wait and Bleed tore through the night, while the unexpected finale of Scissors had longtime fans losing their minds. However, an awkwardly anticlimactic ending, where the crowd expected another encore only to be met with stagehands packing up. It left some grumbling.
While the music was phenomenal, the festival itself had issues. The crowd was one of the worst parts—disrespectful and aggressive behaviour, yelling childish slurs at performers, booing once Slipknot had left the stage, litter everywhere, and an overall lack of consideration for fellow attendees. Compared to Laneway Festival held at the same venue weeks prior, the difference in cleanliness and behaviour was staggering. Additionally, poor lighting on the way out of the venue created unsafe conditions, and Slipknot’s set suffered from multiple audio issues.
Another ongoing issue with Knotfest Australia is its glaring lack of diversity. Out of 13 bands, only two featured women, and the overall line-up remained overwhelmingly white. Last year’s festival’s only woman on the line-up was Lzzy Hale from Halestorm. For a festival of this size, and with the global reach that metal has today, this lack of representation is a continued disappointment.
Despite the flaws, the bands themselves delivered outstanding performances. Here’s hoping that in future years organisers take note and work to create an even stronger, more inclusive experience.