Written by:	musclassia, omne metallum
Published:	November 20, 2024
Event:	Damnation Festival 2024 (Website)
Location:	BEC Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom

Musclassia: Closing in on its 20th anniversary, Damnation Festival remains the shining light of the UK’s late-year metal festival scene, and showed its ambitions to grow further still when it returned to Manchester in 2022. The last three editions of the festival, spanning the end of its time in Leeds and its first outings in its new home, were respectively attended by myself, Omne Metallum, and both of us, and 2024 saw each of us returning to the Bowlers Exhibition Centre (BEC) Arena.

Last year, I did voice some concerns in my conclusion of last year’s article about the perils of scaling up venue size and costs in an increasingly crowded UK festival scene, and while the initial post-event noise championed the event’s success, subsequent comments acknowledged that the financial outcome for 2023 would be unsustainable long-term. However, 2024 evidently had substantially higher sales, falling just shy of a sellout, and in return, the organizers provided ticketholders for the ‘A Night Of Salvation’ pre-festival Friday night show with an extra free ticket for this day (which I gladly passed onto a Manchester-based friend of mine). Encouraged by this positive story, I ventured forth eagerly to get stuck into what was another fairly stacked bill, including several exciting full-album sets across the two days.




Omne: While the darkness of winter nights might be rolling across the Northern hemisphere, the stage lights of Manchester are bright like beacons in the dark; it can only mean that Damnation Festival has rolled around once more. With 2023 being a personal hit, and one that broadened my horizons, I eagerly jumped on the festival's offer of a "blind early bird ticket" not long after returning from 2023's edition, one that traded in any knowledge of the line-up in exchange for paying for your ticket in £8/month installments. This was a great deal, and one that got seemed to only get better with each subsequent announcement...and then Cradle Of Filth were announced as headliners... d'oh.

With Damnation once again offering a combination ticket for both the Night Of Salvation event on the Friday and Damnation Festival on the Saturday, me and Matt attended both days, and I expect, given the diverse line-up, we attended for wildly different reasons.

Table Of Contents

Friday: A Night Of Salvation

Saturday: A Day Of Damnation

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Omne: With the promoter of Damnation candidly revealing that last year's Night Of Salvation wasn't the financial success they had hoped for, it was unsurprising then that this year's edition saw the formula shaken up. This year, instead of many bands appearing twice across the weekend (ostensibly) doing different sets (Deadguy seemed to have missed that message, however), each day had unique line-ups. The Friday saw the two smaller stages being dedicated to Pelagic Records and black metal, respectively, with the main stage being given over to bands doing album in full sets.

To give some context as to the wildly different experiences me and Matt had this weekend, I was close to pulling the plug on attending as my prior week had been spent ill with a heavy cold, back injury and a gum infection that were not shifting: I know, I know, pantomime aww's and ahh's. Long story short, given that I already forked out funds on the trip, I decided that I might as well try and enjoy what I could and make the most of things.

Musclassia: After the stress of travelling up the previous year and getting stuck on a train for 4-5 hours, I was blessed with a far smoother journey this time around, and was able to arrive in Manchester, check into the AirBnB shared by my festival party for the event, and get into the arena in time for the first bands of the day. The bands on this day alternated between clashes on the second and third stages, and then one band playing by themselves on the main stage (thankfully with the 5-minute overlap between bands starting and finishing on different stages axed from last year), but annoyingly on the Friday I was somewhat keen to see virtually every band involved in the second/third-stage clashes, while the main stage offered limited intrigue until later in the day. Of note, this event felt visibly busier than the Friday of last year’s edition pretty much from the very first band, which was indicative of both the increased sales reported by the organizers and the free tickets given away for this day’s entertainment.

Norna 16:00-16:30, Pelagic Records Stage




Musclassia: The first bands of the day were British post-black ensemble Underdark up against Swiss-Swedish post-metallers Norna, the first of several representatives from my beloved Pelagic Records on the stage bearing that label’s name. I’d seen both of these in recent memory, the former supporting Wallowing in August and the latter at Beyond The Redshift last Autumn. Given that I’d enjoyed their self-titled album from this year, I opted for Norna (who, I have just discovered, feature Tomas Liljedahl of Breach/The Old Wind, explaining how they’re getting such major festival bookings so early in their career), and they made for a respectable warm-up act. Performing as a trio live of two guitarists and a drummer, they presumably have one of the guitars running through a splitter given just how deep and bassy their tone was; there were some softer bits in their set, but it largely consisted of slow, very heavy material. It’s a bit of a one-dimensional sound, but it’s a rather enjoyable dimension.

Insanity Alert 16:30-17:10, Lou’s Brews Stage

Musclassia: I caught glimpses of this set – enough to see someone in a giant Pikachu costume on stage early, and hear a snippet of a “Bohemian Rhapsody” cover later – but as this band is definitively not my thing, I took this slot as an opportunity for some early downtime.

Fen / Sugar Horse 17:10-17:50, Cult Never Dies Stage / Pelagic Records Stage




Musclassia: The next clash featured Fen, a band that I generally enjoy quite a bit on record, and liked when they supported Primordial for a show in 2017. I was also eager to have a chance to see them after having to miss Incineration Festival in May due to illness. However, their set was hindered greatly by a very washy sound that turned a lot of their music into an amorphous wave of sound bar the blast beats. It didn’t take long to go instead to Sugar Horse, who put on a good show supporting LLNN earlier this year. This is a band that arguably should be in our database, despite their core sound arguably owing more to styles such as space rock, shoegaze, and indie, due to their frequent forays into sludgy/doomy territory, and their performance here leant heavily into their slower, crushing doomy material, albeit with some non-metal tangents to diversify the set. The heavy sludgy sound carried far better than Fen’s atmo-black, making this a better experience, even if some of the cleaner instrumental and vocal passages didn’t really bring much to the table.

Discharge 17:50-18:30, Lou’s Brews Stage

Musclassia: Replacing Sick Of It All as a like-for-like old school hardcore band, Discharge are a group I know entirely for Metallica’s covers from Garage Inc., which were enough for me to know in advance that I was likely to not get much from this. I did watch a bit from the distance, from where I could mostly hear drums and vocals due to some rather washy guitars; the punky energy was somewhat fun, but again this is a style I have minimal interest in, and ultimately opted to spend my time elsewhere for most of their set.

Omne: Well, despite making into Manchester on the train with no incidents unlike last year, the hour it took me to get to the right hotel (yeah, I went to the wrong hotel initially... I told you I was ill) meant my arrival to Damnation was delayed until Discharge was in full swing, so I was already two bands down on the must-see front. On the bright side, I bumped in Sam Dunn at the tram stop and got to speak with him, which was a nice bonus as a fan of his documentary work.

Anyway, arriving with a much-needed trip to the bar (and bumping into the bass player of Vulgaris to boot - two celebrities in an hour, crazy world), my first full set of the weekend was Morne.

Morne plays Engraved With Pain 18:30-19:15, Cult Never Dies Stage




Musclassia: The first full-album set of the weekend was initially scheduled to clash with Hippotraktor, who unfortunately had to withdraw only a couple of weeks away due to family concerns. This did have the knock-on effect of avoiding what would have been a painful clash, as I had no interest in A Burial At Sea’s post-rock when Engraved With Pain was the alternative. In truth, this album’s appeal to me largely comes from the incredible opening title track, and Morne gave me exactly what I was hoping for in terms of trancelike atmosphere with that song, albeit with a slightly muted mix that inspired me to take my earplugs out for a clearer listen. The other songs on the album don’t quite match up to those early high standards, but there were still some cool lead guitar parts, and a satisfying wall-of-soundiness to the ending of the set.

Omne: So my first proper band of the weekend (I turned up as Discharge were nearing the end of their set and I needed a beer dammit) was to be Morne's slow, grinding and emotive sludge. I was looking forward to this, having been introduced to the band as they were announced for the festival; the problem was that I was not in the mood for what they were offering, so that connection to the music didn't happen for me, and as a result I spent the set trying, but failing to engage with them. The band were tight and the sound was solid, so this will have to be a band I give another chance to when I'm in better health. But here? Wrong place, wrong time.

Musclassia: This performance was followed by Employed To Serve on the main stage, who I again had little interest in seeing; as the remainder of the schedule was packed, this was a golden opportunity for refreshment and relaxation before a hectic 4-hour streak to the end of the day.

Employed To Serve plays Conquering 19:15-20:10, Lou’s Brews Stage

Omne: Needing a bit of energy, I went into Employed To Serve's set a bit more enthusiastic, as they have some good music to get the adrenaline going, despite not being a big of either the band or the album.

With an upbeat and energetic performance that paired well with the sound on main stage, the band didn't hold back and put on a good show, albeit one a bit too flame pyro-heavy (could have at least given those of us at the front marshmellows). While "World Ender" and "We Don't Need You" hit harder live than on record, and I enjoyed what the band put on, I can't say I was particularly enthused beyond that, and likely won't be rushing to see them again anytime soon.

Mizmor / A Swarm Of The Sun 20:10-20:55, Cult Never Dies Stage / Pelagic Records Stage

Omne: Now, black metal and I have never fully clicked over the years, despite numerous attempts to get into the genre; with little else to do and a cult favourite playing, I had little excuse not to try and be converted.

Well, Mizmor got a wild welcome for sure; those who had turned up to see him were eager fans to be sure, if not the most well attended bunch. With a sound that was on point, Mizmor took advantage of the opportunity and laid out the hits to entice those in attendance to become regular attendees of his. I was hooked throughout and found myself enjoying the spectacle, taken in by the wild, manic heaviness that was his music.




Musclassia: While I would have liked to have seen Mizmor again, I was lucky enough to enjoy their full-album performance of Cairn at Roadburn 2022, which I imagine is close to an optimal set for the band. As such, I was amped to further my growing infatuation with A Swarm Of The Sun after becoming completely besotted with new album An Empire. Of note, the two-piece expanded to a six-piece here, with vocalist Jakob Berglund also performing theremin as a nice novelty. He was an intriguing presence on stage with his particular movements, but the music here meant I didn’t pay too much attention to the performers; as on record, the songs were all super atmospheric, to a point of being transformative. I was transfixed by the almost overwhelmingly evocative nature of it at times (even though I would have killed for “Pyre” to have made it into their set).

The Ocean plays Pelagial 20:55-21:55, Lou’s Brews Stage




Musclassia: The announcement of this set was simultaneously very exciting and bittersweet: the former due to The Ocean playing one of my favourite albums from the 2010s in full, and the latter due to the cryptic announcement that these final dates in late 2024/early 2025 will be the last performances of The Ocean with their current line-up. The cryptic nature of what exactly this means raised the question of who I would never again see as part of the Collective. If one of them is frontman Loic Rossetti, he sent things off in style, clambouring into the crowd as he is known to do. The set generally came through clearly, particularly the vocals, but there was a bit of muddiness with some of the instruments. Ultimately, this performance wasn’t quite as memorable as I expected, but it was a solidly enjoyable experience.

Omne: Now, this is where my evening came off the rails, as around the start of the set I was flagging hard. I stuck it out and hoped that it would pass as I lost myself in the music and spectacle in front of me. Alas, despite enjoying it as much as I could, I had to tap out and leave. The mind was willing, the body was not; and it gutted me to miss Cult Of Fire and Decapitated.

LLNN 21:55-22:50, Pelagic Records Stage




Musclassia: I’ve said it before on multiple occasions, but there is nothing that compares to an LLNN gig in hype levels; it’s a guaranteed 10/10 experience every time, even with this being the ninth time I’ve seen them. My enthusiasm wasn’t even mitigated by taking a head right to the nose in the first minute (typical considering this was the one band I moshed to across all of Damnation); their set (which continues to draw heavily from Unmaker) was ferociously intense and heavy. It was a shame to not get to see Cult Of Fire since another opportunity to catch them likely won’t appear for a while, but I don’t regret the decision I made.

Decapitated plays The Negation 22:50-00:00, Lou’s Brews Stage




Musclassia: A promise of early-career material is about the only way I can be tempted into see Decapitated live these days, but unfortunately The Negation is one album short for my own preferences (Winds Of Creation would’ve been the dream). Still, with nothing else on, I opted to catch this celebratory set, during which original vocalist Sauron came on stage for several tracks. The Negation part of the set was solid, with a chunky enough mix, even if the material itself I am mostly unfamiliar with. After finishing the album, they continued on for several more songs, most of which unfortunately were derived from their last two albums, but mercifully the band threw me one bone in the form of “Spheres Of Madness”.

Omne: Despite a highly tempting line-up, I had missed two of my big draws by virtue of not being able to get to the venue in time. The few I did see, it was mostly on me not being able to enjoy them that hindered my evening, rather than anything they did wrong. What little I did see was OK, though it was like taking one bite out of an appetizer and calling it a meal. Mizmor is certainly worth seeking out for those interested.

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Omne: Having traversed the Northwest, I managed to find a necromancer who was willing to resurrect me on a Saturday morning. While still not 100%, I was going to do my damned best to enjoy as much as I could (and ensure that you readers got to enjoy a write-up of the bands you care about, not Matt's obsession with post-metal bands). While I planned out my day when times were released a fortnight ago, after yesterday I had made the decision that this was to become provisional and would depend on how I felt at the time.

Musclassia: The three stages were renamed for the main day, but proceedings were pretty much the same: no clashes with the main stage, and no overlaps at the start and end of non-clashing sets.

Enforced / Pijn 12:00-12:30, Holy Goat Brewing Stage / Eyesore Merch Stage

Omne: Kicking off day two with one of my most anticipated bands in Enforced was a much-needed dopamine hit, and given the intensity and power provided by the music, an adrenaline hit too. Packing out the 2nd stage, the band had a fresh and eager audience to bounce their frenetic thrash attack off of. Wheeling out the hits, the band were in fine form, with the sole downside that Colby's between-song chat being incomprehensible, which is a minor niggle. The first great set of the weekend for me, and the first one for which I was able to lose myself in the music and fully enjoy myself.

Musclassia: I instead opted for Pijn, a group I’ve seen on a couple of occasions and reliably enjoyed. Despite the presence of a cellist, their sound is pretty typical of instrumental post-rock/metal, but it’s a pleasant sound, and was performed with a decent mix (albeit with a touch too much reverb perhaps).

A.A. Williams 12:30-13:10, Pins & Knuckles Stage




Musclassia: Last year featured a memorable early performance from cinematic post-rock duo Nordic Giants in the first main stage slot, and 2024 similarly opted for a low-key act to kick off the stage’s schedule in the form of A.A. Williams. I had seen her previously a couple of times in 2019, but between improved stagecraft, the presence of As The Moon Rests material in the setlist, and a fantastic mix, this was far more memorable. The mix allowed the louder post-rock parts to swell very fully and satisfyingly, while also accentuating the subtleties of the softer portions. Pretty much everyone from my group that saw her set ranked it as one of the highlights of the weekend.

Omne: Things seemed to be turning a corner after Enforced... and then they came to a screeching halt; after a high-speed, high-energy start, A.A. Williams’ slow and orchestral style was like slamming the emergency brakes on a bullet train. While the performance sounded great, with it offering the perfect showcase for her sound and style, personally it was the wrong place and time for it.

Towards the end I realised that, even at the best of times, festivals are a marathon and not a sprint; recognising the need to go low-power mode when I could, I took a break outside and sat out the next set of bands (the bass player from Vulgaris evidently thought so too, as I again bumped into him again; didn't offer me any of his chips though, so minus a point off their album scores).

Musclassia: Indeed, the next slot (a clash between Gillian Carter and High Parasite) was one of the few instances during Saturday where I wasn’t keen to see either act, so this was prime time for lunch. From what I heard from my bandmates, Gillian Carter’s set was derailed by some serious sound issues, which is unfortunate for them, but made it even clearer that this was a good timeslot for downtime.

Celeste 13:40-14:25, Pins & Knuckles Stage




Musclassia: I was initially concerned at the start of Celeste’s set, as not one of their members had a head torch equipped; mercifully, at the end of their first song, they strapped their signature red torches on. As for the music, the drums had a jackhammer power to them, and I really love the light-speed chugging riffs combined with the relentless double bass roles. There were also some surprisingly tender parts; in particular, one track was accompanied by a backing video (the content of which was a bit dubious in its nature and appropriateness), and the song was genuinely quite beautiful, especially the guest clean vocals (sadly a backing track). I really enjoyed this, although the ending song was a bit slow and forgettable in comparison to what came before.

Omne: Retuning for Celeste, the hypnotic and powerful sludge was something that hit the spot for me, enabling me to relax and just absorb the music. With the stage show being underwhelming, I spent much of their set with my eyes closed and just nodding along to what I was listening to, and had a great time doing so.

Hexis / Pijn 14:25-15:05, Holy Goat Brewing Stage / Eyesore Merch Stage




Musclassia: Perhaps the harshest clash of this year’s event was putting stoner sensation Rezn up against the blackened hardcore fire of Hexis. Given the latter’s stylistic similarity to Celeste, I opted to catch the first half of Rezn and then move over stage. This meant that I witnessed the fiercely hench and heavy opening track, “Instinct” from this year’s release Burden, before the band moved into groovier and spacier songs that were a bit more to my taste. The dual responsibilities of saxophone and keyboards for Spencer Ouellette were made more entertaining by the curious use of what seemed to be a game controller for some of the electronics.

Ultimately, this was tough to draw myself away from, but after having missed Hexis due to illness ruling me out of attending Incineration Festival earlier this year, I made sure to see at least some of their performance, and in doing so was treated to some bludgeoning drums, but also a strong ominous atmosphere during the slower parts that arguably comprised more of their set (or at least what I caught of it). I’m also glad to have seen the ending of their slot, as the elongated beat down that they concluded with was impressively emphatic.

Omne: Conversely, neither Rezn or Hexis compelled me, so instead I sat out again, as I then had a run of seven bands back-to-back that would be a stamina challenge at the best of times; with how I was feeling here? It was daunting. Still, onwards we go with...

Gatecreeper 15:10-15:50, Pins & Knuckles Stage

Omne: Truth be told, if it hadn't been for Enforced, I would have stayed at the hotel and started my day here. Off the back of a solid showing at Bloodstock last year, and one of contenders for album of the year in Dark Superstition, Gatecreeper was a big reason as to why I attended Damnation.

Culling the majority of the set from the aforementioned album, and peppering in a few established hits like "Flamethrower" was always going to be a winning combination, and so it proved to be, delivered with a concise and powerful performance that drew a line in the sand that highlighted the gulf in quality with other acts that came before them.

Spot on, powerful and with an audience in the palm of their hands, Gatecreeper showed everyone that they had mastered mid-afternoon slots, and were eagerly awaiting more prominent slots in the near future.

Musclassia: In contrast, I, and several others I was with, were far more muted in our appreciation of Gatecreeper, although considering this was the first time that the event actually felt on the verge of being a sellout given how far back into the arena the crowd stretched, we were in a minority. The OSDM guitar tone was tasty, but this style in general is not to my taste, and what I saw of the beginning and end of this set did not convince me otherwise to Gatecreeper’s particular greatness.

200 Stab Wounds 15:50-16:30, Holy Goat Stage




Omne: Following such a set was going to be near impossible, yet somehow 200 Stab Wounds rose to the occasion and put me in a bind as to who to crown as band of the weekend. The mix of hardcore-inflected death metal created an unholy union that demanded full attention thanks to solid airings of the likes of "Ride The Flatline" and "Skin Milk". It was evident that I wasn't the only one thinking this, as the room was packed out and crowded in a way I didn't experience any other time over the weekend. This duo alone made the decision to power through it and attend the right one.

Musclassia: Unlike with Gatecreeper, I caught the whole of this set, on account of the enthusiastic reports of past performances of theirs that I had heard. While I probably preferred 200 Stab Wounds to the preceding band, I again struggled to stay overly engaged throughout the whole of this set, and felt that the chopping between riffs and sections within songs was excessive in a way that hindered any meaningful flow being built. Good, but another indicator of the stark difference in experience between myself and Omne.

Ne Obliviscaris plays Citadel 16:30-17:20, Pins & Knuckles Stage




Musclassia: Along with Pelagial, this was my most anticipated full-album set of the festival, not least due to how impressed I’ve been previously by Ne Obliviscaris in live settings. As with last year, Xenoyr was absent, with James Dorton (Black Crown Initiate) again covering harsh vocals. While I miss the complete clash of vibes between Xenoyr and Tim Charles, the latter was as usually puppy-like on stage with their energy, and their vocals and violin were one of the most reliably audible features of a mix that at times lost the clarity of the more intricate guitar parts. While that was unfortunate, the performance was generally solid, and the best moments in “Painters Of The Tempest” and particularly “Devour Me, Colossus” hit very nicely.

Fuming Mouth / Hangman's Chair 17:20-18:00, Holy Goat Brewing Stage / Eyesore Merch Stage

Omne: While I had planned on watching Ne Obliviscaris, my plan was to quickly grab some food and watch from the back. Alas, "quickly" was not an option given the queues and slow service, resulting in me missing the entirety of their set.

I was also originally going to watch Hangman's Chair, but given the run of amazing death metal thus far, I decided to try and go 3 for 3 and watch Fuming Mouth instead. While it wasn't the knockdown smash success I had been spoilt with prior, it by no means a bad showing, with Fuming Mouth putting on a decent, hard-hitting set that helped keep the adrenaline flowing and keep me on my feet. A good, if not great show that kept the day rolling in style.




Musclassia: The most striking feature of Hangman's Chair’s set was the drum sound, which was absolutely emphatic, particularly the snare. The mix as a whole was huge, surprisingly so given my past memory of seeing the band at Roadburn. The music itself was quite dreamy, in a way that were generally pleasing, albeit losing some of its enduring appeal as the performance ran on.

Nails 18:00-18:45, Pins & Knuckles Stage




Omne: Now, given Nails's history, I was expecting them to drop out between being announced and Damnation rolling around, but lo and behold, Todd Jones strode upon the stage and wasted no time launching into "You Will Never Be One Of Us", and just unleashing a sonic attack that put The Ramones, Slayer and rocket fuel into a blender. The sheer power and intensity felt like sitting behind a jet engine and holding on for dear life, as the band tore through their set like they had kept a taxi waiting outside with the meter running. With songs flashing by in a ‘blink and you miss it’ fashion, and pyro providing the visual element to the band's sonic aggression, it was hard not to be mesmerised.

You know how they sound on record? Yeah, crank it up by 100% to the point of overwhelming your senses with pure sonic violence. Recommended.

Musclassia: Yeah, these guys were impressive in their ferocity, and benefitted from a good enough mix to support the power of their sonic violence. Considering their albums normally last for about half the runtime of their slot, I did find myself zoning out to the non-stop assault some time before the end of Nails’ set, but I was more receptive to their set than the earlier death metal bands.

Memoriam / Dool 18:45-19:30, Holy Goat Brewing Stage / Eyesore Merch Stage




Omne: To say that Memoriam felt like a calmer and relaxing experience compared to Nails served only to highlight just how much of a sensory bombardment Nails were.

Speaking of bombardments, I was excited for Memoriam and the chance to cap off a day of solid death metal which a heaping dose of the old school by some of the best going. Kicking off with "Undefeated", Memoriam tore through a set with sonic intensity but performative levity that it was like watching your drunk uncle enjoy himself in front of his mates. A tight celebratory event, Memoriam treated the audience to a highly enjoyable set, while Willets treated the audience to seeing his dad bod... more pyro, less strip show please lads. Still, a solid showing from some of the best to ever downtune a guitar.




Musclassia: I hadn’t been quite as keen on Dool’s latest album as its predecessor, but was still keen to catch a glimpse of them, even with fatigue starting to set in somewhat. I tapped out before the end of this set for food and a rest, but the vibes and clear sound mix made what I did see pleasant to space out to, and the band had a good stage presence.

Bleeding Through plays This Is Love, This Is Murderous 19:30-20:20, Pins & Knuckles Stage

Omne: It was around this time my body's dash board was also flashing red, with alert sounds and signals going off; despite powering through and medicating my way through it all throughout the day, I knew I was going to have to tap out sooner than later, so I decided to make the most of Bleeding Through and call it a night.

On paper it sounded like a good sign-off, as the band were performing overlooked metalcore gem This Is Love, This Is Murderous in full, but beyond the clip of Willem Defoe that introduces "Love Lost In A Hail Of Gunfire", nothing else of the band's sound was coherent for much of the set. A blur of noise, keyboards and occasional harsh vocals, it was a good thing it was an album-in-full set, because without that knowledge you would have had no idea what the band were playing. While the sound engineer had improved it to the point of just about being passable towards the end of the set, it was too little too late for both myself, and much of the audience who had walked off by this point.

While I had wanted to see Russian Circles and Dragged Into Sunlight, I had to tap out; hopefully Matt will report that both of these sets were awful and I missed nothing, but let's find out.

The Ruins Of Beverast / Inter Arma 20:20-21:10, Holy Goat Brewing Stage / Eyesore Merch Stage




Musclassia: Having heard most Inter Arma albums, I can’t say I was sure what to expect from this set, and how much I would enjoy it. The abrasive blasting extremity on their last couple of albums has been something I’ve found draining, and live these sections were a bit excessive and muddy. However, the janky death/sludge riffs were fierce and tasty, the tom-heavy passages sounded great, and there was a quite spectacular blues rock detour midway through the set that I believe was “The Long Road Home”.

I had planned to half-and-half this clash, but I was genuinely too enthralled by Inter Arma to tear myself away until right near the very end; the 5-10 minutes of The Ruins Of Beverast that I did see sounded slow, thick and doomy, but while I’m sure I would have enjoyed more of it, I’m confident I made the right call.

Russian Circles 21:10-22:00, Pins & Knuckles Stage




Musclassia: It still perplexes me that I was underwhelmed the first time I saw Russian Circles many moons ago, as every time I’ve seen them since has been reliably great. So it was here again, with a solid mix, some epic drum patterns, and captivating trances. I was disappointed by the absence of “Afrika” from their set, and was irritated by the pair of idiots in the crowd who decided it was appropriate to dance and spin what seemed to be tennis balls in neon socks throughout the set to the detriment of the surrounding crowd, but I was sufficiently in the zone with the band that I missed the apparently very distracting and irritating cameraperson moving through the crowd with a giant light (it seems this set attracted all the annoying attendees).

Dragged Into Sunlight plays Hatred For Mankind / Ahab 22:00-23:00, Holy Goat Brewing Stage / Eyesore Merch Stage

Musclassia: Dragged Into Sunlight is a band that I really should have dedicated more time to over the years, and particularly their album Hatred For Mankind, which was being performed in full here for what was one of the most anticipated sets of the day for many attendees. The stage was shrouded in fog, and featured a giant candelabra in the middle, setting the atmosphere very aptly. After a long noise opening, the band moved into the filthy first riff of “Boiled Angel”, and remained mostly hidden from the audience while doing so. From there, this set was a mixture of nasty churning sludge doom riffs alongside plenty of blast-heavy aggressive bursts, all bolstered by a hench mix. I frankly wish it had been earlier in the day, as by this point my feet were on fire and my energy levels were approaching zero, so I couldn’t appreciate it as much as I’d have liked, but it was still an impressive experience.

I did take a moment a bit past the halfway mark to stretch my legs by switching stage for a snippet of Ahab’s set, given that they had to withdraw from last year’s edition of Damnation. I only caught one song, but there was a strong bassy mix that bolstered the grim, mean death/doom guitar tone and trudging riffs, although the clean, soft parts didn’t translate quite as well.

Cradle Of Filth 23:00-00:00, Pins & Knuckles Stage

Musclassia: The idea of seeing Cradle Of Filth after the poor display at Bloodstock 2021 was unappealing even when I wasn’t shattered, but for the 15-20 minutes that we stuck around for, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. It was quite blast-heavy, and the mix was a bit soupy, but some clarity did cut through. Also, my memory of Dani Filth’s vocals being totally terrible wasn’t entirely fair, as the typical blackened rasps were competent enough; it’s just the yappy really high-pitched shrieks that absolutely do not work at all for the band anymore.

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Omne: Well, sometimes things don't go the way we hope, and this weekend was certainly one of them. While I'm gutted that I missed the chance to see several acts that I’m unlikely to cross paths with again in the foreseeable future, the quality of the bands I did see more than compensated for these misses. Apart from Bleeding Through, who were let down by horrendous sound, no band put on a bad show, which, even with my smaller sample size, is great going. As for best set? It’s a tie between Gatecreeper and 200 Stab Wounds, hands down the best performances of the weekend.

As for the festival? Well, the two biggest complaints were again lack of seating (I managed to get lucky, but there was a real contrast in audience-to-seat ratios), and the poor service at the food vendors that compounded the issue over a lack of stalls. Am I glad I went? Yes. Am I paying the price for pushing myself like I did? Yes.

Now if you'll excuse me, there is a bed with my name on it.

Musclassia: The two points raised by Omne above were both very valid; even with a wider range of food options that more adequately catered to vegetarians and vegans, the numbers were insufficient to accommodate the festival’s attendees around the busy periods without very large queues (aside from the one indoors kitchen, which I managed to get some poutine from fairly swiftly for dinner), and the lack of seating meant that the (thankfully not rain-soaked) concrete and asphalt floor in the area outside the arena was covered with people finding anywhere to take a seat. I’m not quite sure how these can really be addressed going forward, though, as there’s not a whole lot of empty space outside the arena building in which to add more stalls or benches, nor is there much place inside to add significant amounts of seating. I’d also add that the drink prices were taking the piss a bit at £8 a pint for most drinks, considering ArcTanGent earlier in the year managed to provide some more affordable options for all-day drinking.

Beyond that, I’d say this year’s edition was an improvement on the last one, at least partly due to the increased attendance stopping any sets feeling embarrassingly quiet (while still not making it too difficult to get a close spot for anyone but the most popular acts), and the diversity and quality of bands across the two days was consistently enjoyable. For me, LLNN were once again an obvious highlight, but A.A. Williams hugely impressed me and most of my group. Fen once again proved that anything atmo-black/post-black/blackgaze is prone to turning into an amorphous soup of distortion unfortunately, but the sound otherwise was fairly reliably decent for most acts, and in several cases excellent.

Next year is the 20th anniversary of the festival, and they are planning to go all-out with a 2-day event on both Saturday and Sunday, with the Friday warm-up supposedly returning in format to the smaller gig-style event that it used to be in the years before I first attended the festival. I wish them the best in selling out the event, and will likely join should the line-up they assemble be as strong as most of the last few have been.