Damnation Festival, now into its third year at the venue of Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester, has become a staple of the UK metal calendar and is apparently now the largest indoor metal festival in Europe.
By the time Friday evening arrives proceedings are in full swing for the warm-up evening, A Night of Salvation. Following sets from bands including Insanity Alert, Fen, and Discharge, A Burial At Sea take to the stage. Their set of blissed-out post-Rock is augmented by a guest saxophonist for the last few tracks. Huge doomy sections and flowing lead guitar melodies are occasionally punctuated by dreamlike vocals.
Employed to Serve are next up, playing Conquering in full. Their explosive and super-tight set gets the crowd going as they move between super-fast riffs and crushing beatdowns, augmented by vicious vocal growls and pyrotechnics.
Mizmor’s set is rich with doom-infused black metal textures and crazed screams. Super-sludgy and slow segments trade places with mournful clean guitar breaks throughout a transfixing performance.
Mizmor’s set is rich with doom-infused black metal textures and crazed screams. Super-sludgy and slow segments trade places with mournful clean guitar breaks throughout a transfixing performance.
The Ocean follow, performing their Pelagial album in full. The sound is epically massive as syncopated psychedelic riffs and frantic grooves are dished out.
Cult of Fire arrives on a stage decked out with huge snake figurines. The two guitarists sit cross-legged on plinths on either side of an altar-like table containing fruit and candles, and the whole band are dressed in robes and face veils. Their dramatic set of epic black metal is full of breakneck double kick drums, blast beats, and precise tremolo picking, with guttural snarling growls laid on top.
Rounding off A Night of Salvation are Decapitated, playing The Negation in full. Brutal guttural growls are barked forth atop frantically fast double kick drums and a plethora of blast beats throughout a furiously searing set. Nice to see and hear Sauron back for a few songs and the band transitioning to new vocalist Eemeli with ease.
Read part 2
here:https://ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-damnation-festival-part-2-live-at-bowlers-exhibition-centre/
WORDS BY DUNCAN EVANS
PHOTOS BY BILL MAWDSLEY