It's been ages since I've gotten off my arse and gone to a festival - even just a one dayer - so I wanted to take the time to bore you all to the sweet release of death with my opinions on the bands that I caught at this year's Damnation Festival. I would quickly like to note that whilst this is my 8th Damnation-related event, I have had a break from attending for 4 years. In that time the festival has become significantly more popular, which caused some serious issues due to the layout of the festival and the opportunity to see certain bands was significantly reduced due to overcrowding. But, that is my only gripe, and now that is out of the way.
I haven't been to Leeds for ages so it was nice to go up the night before and have a few local brews. On a hipster-related note, I finally got to try Beavertown's Neck Oil on draught, purely by chance (Ratebeer will be hearing about this!) in some shitey indie bar called The Shed. If you like your Wheatus back to back with The Smiths, and your Jack n cokes approximately 8 quid each, then I would recommend this place. Otherwise I would not. On a similar yet slightly more positive note, I would like to shine some light on the Cosmopolitan Hotel, which was brilliant, the Six restaurant on Wellington street, which was also brilliant, and to all of the Uber drivers I encountered on my hazed meanderings across the city throughout the day.
On with the show...
Having a hangover is a pretty bleak way to start a festival but hey, I've only myself to blame. The day starts for me with the "progressive" doom of PALLBEARER (3/5) on the main stage. The sound takes a bit of time to level out properly, but I am struck by how much more lively these American fellows sound in real life. After a few sludgy numbers it is off to the 3rd (or 4th? I don't even know anymore) stage to have a goosey at LENG T'CHE (4/5) who are always worth a watch; their deathly-tinged grindcore is bursting with energy and the performance of their drummer is always astoundingly brilliant.
What follows is a trip to the 4th (or is it the 3rd? Hah) stage to catch a bit of PSYCHEDELIC WITCHCRAFT (4/5) who remind me of what Blues Pills could have turned into if they hadn't instead morphed into weak, arrogant rockstar dickheads. P.W. are, simply, the perfect band to watch whilst drinking a Brooklyn Scorcher, and really kick the whole 1000% done female-fronted-yet-sound-like-Sabbath thing right up the ass.
MYRKUR (3/5) would have been better suited to one of the smaller stages, but their (edit: her) popularity seems to have soared as of late. Standing at the back of the crowd, I am disengaged from any "magic" that those at the front might be privy to, but it is nice to hear some of the tunes off the M record, which was pretty cool. Unfortunately, it falls a bit flat and the keyboard parts and vocal backups, which are clumsily piped through the PA are far, far too loud (I recall watching Sigh live, who crammed a whole orchestra through the PA to disastrous effect).
DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT (4/5) never fail to entertain but the room is so, so fucking full that I literally cannot be bothered to endure the claustrophobic hell that is the Terrorizer stage for longer than a few tracks. I have seen DIS live 7 or 8 times and the quality, consistency and the intensity of their live performances will always remain unquestioned, but this stage can fuck off.
This gives me some chance to grab a breather outside before WARNING (5/5) take the main stage. I've never been the biggest fan of Warning, much preferring the musical stylings of 40 Watt Sun, but I was excited to catch them live, especially due to 40 Watt dropping all of the fuzz. I secure myself a decent spot, and watch the misery roll over me. As a Warning tourist, I hear exactly what it is I come here to see, the title track from "Watching From A Distance" and the crushing "Footprints", both of which are executed perfectly. Patrick Walker is the loveliest man ever to have appeared in a KitKat advert and his between-song banter is charming and humbling. Also, somebody got engaged during the set, which metalheads apparently love to see.
NAILS (?/5) can fester in the claustro-hell that is the Terrorizer stage; fuck that for a laugh. Reports from fellow veterans on the smoking terrace confirmed that attempting to get in to see Nails proved futile. These perplexing powerviolence-turned-Pantera-clones prove to be immensely popular.
I take a massive break from proceedings and spend a couple of hours in Leeds centrum before returning just in the nick of time for SODOM (3/5); I am lucky enough to catch a few of their songs but unlucky enough to watch the last pint pulled from the barrel of porter at the main stage bar and given to the customer served before me in the queue. C'est la vie.
I decide to leave early to get a good space for AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED (5/5) who are easily the band of the day, even though I may be slightly biased in this regard. At first there are some worrying developments with the band's drum machine amp stack, which does not seem to be outputting any bass (the horror!), but this is nipped in the bud before the band rip into a chaotic intro of "Engineering a Pill Frenzy" / "Bitch's Handbag Full of Money". The set is very much the same as the last time I saw them, which would have been in the Netherlands Death Fest of 2016, with the exception of the notable addition of "Not A Daughter", the lead track off the latest EP, Arc. Songs off the more obscure EPs and splits, such as "Anti-Christian" and "Self Detonate" seem to get a slightly less rabid crowd reaction, but I for one are more than happy with ANb really getting stuck into their discography. Another notable mention would be the treat that was the extended live version of "Mosquito Holding Human Cattle Prod".
On that high note, I shared some drinks with friends before Ubering back to my furnace of a hotel, waking up in the morning to find that Leeds had shut down for the day due to some fucking marathon, or some shit. We headed home via a detour to Manchester for dinner at Refuge, because I'm a trendy hipster fuck like that. Got to get a pint of Gamma Ray on tap, though, so it was well worth the journey.
Cheers for reading! Normal posting resumes tomorrow.
Next up on the festival radar: Dreadfest 2017 and Obscene Extreme 20th Anniversary.
A brief PS: One of the only thing that pains me about the fact that ANb are now doing live shows is that Randall does not perform live with them. Seeing Kat and Rich, who are both phenomenal vocalists, performs his parts and lyrics is pretty cool for an ANB nerd, but I can't help but feel the nihilistic heart of the band is missing. So, to cap off, here's "Self Detonate" with the original vocals by Randall.
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