As far as tough remits go, taking on the monstrous might of Iron Maiden at Download is up there with stopping the polar ice caps melting, finishing off the Daleks and listening to an entire Evanescence album.

However, these Canadian emo-punks made a pretty decent fist of it all told, tearing through an emotionally charged set of rabid punk fury.

Here’s five reasons why the modest throng of devotees that turned up to cheer them on to victory made the right choice:

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Drawing in by far the largest and most rabid Dimebag Darrell stage crowd of the day, veteran prog-metallers Dream Theater are the band that fashion forgot. For over twenty years they've bubbled under in the US rock underground, winning plaudits for their technical proficiency and derision for their total lack of style or cool. They only managed to squeeze a couple of never-ending solo-laden rock opuses into their late afternoon set, but it was enough for me to vow to never, ever listen to Pink Floyd again. Then again, they did make me want to don a cape and ride around on an invisible unicorn too - and that's always a good thing.

Best Moment: Guitarist John Petrucci's silly soloing.

Best Song:: 'As I Am'

If I could be in any of the bands on today’s bill, I’d be in Dimmu Borgir. Seriously, being a Norwegian black metaller looks like a hell of a lot of fun - burning down churches, arsing around in make-up and spiky body armour and shouting a lot being just three of the things I’d enjoy. With this lot it’s all about the spectacle – the stage was permanently cloaked in a blanket of Transylvanian mist, the band posed and pouted more than your average boy band and the songs sounded like Disney’s Fantasia as imagined by Cradle Of Filth. Amazing.

Best Moment: Frontman Shagrath telling us his band was teaching us “a lesson in violence”
Best Song: ‘The Serpentine Offering’

Frankly, the world needs another Evanescence like it needs a nuclear war or further series of Bigot Brother. Not that anyone seems to have pointed this out to Dutch symphonic rockers Within Temptation. Already squillion sellers across Europe, this afternoon they showed Britain what we're missing out on – namely, syrupy operatic-metal. Contrary to what Napalm Death told us an hour ago, however, I’m now leaning towards there actually being a God, as the band were beset by technical difficulties, reducing their set to only a handful of songs. Praise be.

Best Moment: Marvelling at the band’s tour bus, so huge it nearly dwarfed the stage (and knowing they’d be getting in it and buggering off soon).
Best Song:: ‘Ice Queen’

They may look younger than their fellow Brummies The Twang, but grindcore godheads Napalm Death have been playing at Donington longer than I've been alive. By far the heaviest band on the Dimebag Darrell stage today, their set was brutally heavy and totally ridiculous.

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On a list of people you’d want to resemble, Chad Kroeger falls somewhere between Noel Edmunds and Jeremy Beadle. Pity Paradise Lost singer Nick Holmes, then, for his uncanny resemblance to the Nickelback frontman was the only thing of vague interest during the veteran Halifax doom-metal merchants band’s uneventful, phoned-in set. Pity his band too, for their tunes are just as boring as the stadium grunge bore’s, with Nick sounding like a stoned James Hetfield and the rest of his band blasting out wave after wave of deathly dull metal riffing.
Best Moment:: When singer Nick Holmes gave a shout-out to Yorkshiremen. “God bless you” he gushed.
Best Song: ‘Grey’