After our summer wanderings on British soil and at ArcTanGent Festival, the time has come for its distant cousin, Damnation Festival. This is an almost two-day indoor festival that takes place in Manchester, England, in recent years. It was our chance visit last year that introduced us to 2 Promoters, 1 Pod and made us fall in love with the festivals organised by its creators.
Gavin McInally has just one festival baby: Damnation Festival, which returns for its sixteenth consecutive edition this year. Beyond providing a much-needed festival fix in autumn, when festivals are few and far between, Damnation achieves something remarkable: a carefully curated lineup spanning extreme, post and doom metal. Fans of any or all of these genres can put together their own dream schedule. Quite often, bands appearing at the festival return after years away from the stage or recording studio, adding even more prestige to the experience.
Of course, given the strong Greek presence at the festival, we know many of you are already familiar with the atmosphere we are talking about. For veterans and newcomers alike, we have picked our personal must-see performances for Saturday, 7 November, at Manchester’s BEC Arena. For some, the party starts on 6 November, when the festival’s warm-up event, Night of Salvation, will feature The Berzerker, Gorerotted, Undeath and Ultha, setting the stage for everything wonderful to follow. More on the festival’s overall setup in our Sunday picks article.
For now, we should point out that our selections, listed in performance-time order, give a little more attention to the festival’s unsung heroes. Saturday may boast names such as Carcass, Crowbar, Eyehategod and Pelican, but we have seen them live often enough to know exactly what they bring to the table – and expect to see them as much as all other bands. Naturally, The Berzerker’s return also stands out on the lineup, beyond their album-focused appearance at Night of Salvation. And if all those bands are missing from our picks, just wait until you see what else is in store…
Holy Fawn
We will not pretend we were not disappointed when Holy Fawn’s scheduled show in Greece this weekend was cancelled. Perhaps not quite as disappointed as everyone else, though, since we knew that their set was the first performance on the festival bill to catch our eye. The atmospheres created across the American band’s three albums are unlike almost anything else in the colourful spectrum of experimental post-metal. Will Holy Fawn’s surging storm overcome the need for coffee and/or a Night of Salvation hangover? We are betting it will.
Intercourse
If you have been reading us for a while, you know we are not joking about the name: Intercourse are a very real band, armed with an intriguing and honest blend of noise rock, hardcore punk and sludge metal that makes them stand out. And while we passionately loved "Hello Castration Institute", last year’s "How I Fell in Love with the Void" puts them even more firmly on the radar of anyone devoted to extreme music. If that is not enough to convince you, Intercourse released a cover of Hole’s "Violet" this year, and the mere possibility of hearing that song live is already one of our favourite (despite still imaginary) moments of the festival.
Car Bomb
We firmly believe nobody ever forgets the first time they hear Car Bomb. Mathcore in every sense of both halves of the term, Car Bomb sound roughly as their name suggests: deafening, with an indescribable weight to their bass and a sound that is instantly recognizable at its core. The little shot of music they gave us last year with the "Tiles Whisper Dreams" EP was hardly enough; it had been a long wait since their previous full-length, "Mordial", appeared in 2022. Based on our experience at last year’s Brutal Assault, we can tell you that you are not ready for what is coming. The explosion will be shocking.
The Moth Gatherer
They must be feeding those post-metal bands something special in Sweden; there is no other explanation for why they are all so good. That does not mean, of course, that they all sound alike. The Moth Gatherer are an outstanding presence in the realm of emotionally punishing music. Their latest record, "Esoteric Oppression", came out in 2019 and still haunts our souls with its bottomless darkness. Between lockdown and the years that followed, Moth Gatherer shows have been few and far between, as has new music created by their so talented hands. Seeing them live is therefore both the fulfilment of a long-standing promise to ourselves and a rare opportunity. It will be a difficult mouthful to swallow in the middle of the afternoon.
Fange
The French scene in general, and its battered, bruised doom/sludge corner in particular, is among our favourites in Europe. One of the leading representatives of the country’s new sludge/doom wave is Fange, who have delivered masterpieces of furious, slow-moving music almost every year for a decade (apart from this year and 2022). Every release has a one-word title beginning with "P". Our love affair began with 2021’s "Pantocrator", and that relationship has only grown and matured. Their political voices refuse to stay silent in the face of oppression, rising up in a genre that until recently was reluctant to take a stand. For all these reasons, finally seeing Fange live for the first time is thrilling. Doubly so because in a few months we will all have the chance to enjoy them in Athens alongside Igorrr.
Rwake
Even if you are only a casual sludge listener, you surely shared our joy last year when, after thirteen years away, the spirits of Rwake emerged from the swamps of the southern United States and gave us the spellbinding "The Return of Magik". One of perhaps the two most eagerly anticipated acts at the festival by our group, Rwake uniquely infuse sludge metal with essential doses of psychedelia and clear references to spiritual paganism, without resorting to elaborate stage theatrics. Their music tells its own story, needing neither translation nor support from another medium. The worlds Rwake explore are as fascinating as they are dangerous. The Damnation Festival audience may be the perfect setting for them to stir up the demons that keep them awake at night. Mortals and spirits, we will dance together in this glooming show.
Krallice
I would not call black metal the strongest suit of the Rocking writers attending the festival. Yet with a band like Krallice, the conversation goes far beyond the narrow confines of any single metal subgenre. The wild experiments Krallice have pursued over the years have sometimes worked against them, keeping them under the radar; at other times, particularly recently, they have become their greatest strength. Roadburn Festival’s commission for Krallice to write an album left us speechless last April. "Scour Order", with its cosmic dimensions, was officially released a few months ago and drew even more listeners into its universe beyond those lucky enough to attend Roadburn. Once again this year, we will lose ourselves in their technically accomplished and emotionally moving parallel universe.
Health
It will surprise nobody who follows our site that one Health show is never enough. So we are not stopping at their first show in our country, or their second, or their Roadburn appearance. The shocking "cum metal" world they have built through their two latest albums, "Rat Wars" and "Conflict DLC", as well as their seven (!) EPs released this year, invites everyone to dance without limits or inhibitions. All the more so since a few months ago they added a fourth member for their live shows, The Zenith Passage guitarist Justin McKinney, whom we will be seeing with them for the first time. If you have ever been lucky enough to connect with Health on a spiritual level, you know. If not, one show will not be enough. It will only be the beginning of a powerful musical relationship.
Frontierer
If the name Frontierer does not immediately ring a bell, the unmistakable cover of "Oxidized" probably will. With members scattered between Scotland and the United States, writing new music can sometimes be a challenge for Frontierer. Happily, we have now heard the freshly released "Ultraviolet Parasite", and the essence of Frontierer remains unchanged: technical, experimental djent/mathcore. As you can imagine, presenting this kind of sound live can only be compared to a battlefield. This will be our first encounter with Frontierer, and we are certain it will be unforgettable.
Cult Of Luna
Have we seen Cult Of Luna roughly seventy times (all right, perhaps that is a slight exaggeration) over the past year? The answer is yes, which perhaps makes it obvious that they have become such an irreplaceable band that no number of shows could ever be enough. How could it be, when one night they focus on their newer material, another on the old, and the next on their extraordinary collaboration with Julie Christmas and the magnificent "Mariner"? Multifaceted and always unpredictable, Cult of Luna will take the Damnation Festival stage on Saturday just one day after the release of their new album, "In the Shadow of Our Shadow". That will probably mean a few new songs in their set. Then again, who knows? As they confided in us—and as you will soon discover—they make these decisions at the last minute. If you have not seen them in a while, their intensity on stage will leave you speechless.
