Damnation Pageant is nice, isn’t it? It’s sort of just like the UK steel contingent’s equal of Christmas: it’s the tip of the 12 months, you get to let your hair down with a load of excellent family and friends you haven’t seen in ages, a heroic amount of booze is consumed… The one distinction is, as an alternative of sitting spherical a tree and unwrapping pairs of novelty socks, you get to observe Sodom unleashing chaos in Leeds College Union. And to proceed this barely ill-advised analogy, Damnation’s current satchel is in peril of bursting on the seams this 12 months, with probably the greatest lineups within the competition’s illustrious historical past.
It’s so good, actually, that it’s maybe a bit daunting: with a lot sensible music on supply, it’s troublesome to resolve which stage is most deserving of your tinnitus addled eardrums. After all, the upside to having such an ace lineup is which you could’t actually go mistaken, both – you’re just about assured to get your fill of riffs wherever you find yourself, particularly when you make it alongside to the pre-show tonight with Barrabus, Immortal Chook, Daybreak Ray’d and extra too.
However, listed below are a number of bands that we’ve deemed “unmissable”, so be sure you’re not queuing for a burger or handed out within the smoking space when these heavy-hitters take the stage…
PALLBEARER
Jägermeister Stage, 14:35PM
Presenting cavernous preparations steeped in sorrowful melody, Arkansas quartet Pallbearer convey a recent accessability to doom steel. This 12 months’s majestic ‘Heartless’ opus has marked the band out as one of many style’s most essential acts of the final decade. Combining tectonic plate shifting riffs with accessible progressive melodies, elegant melancholy awaits you. [Ross Baker]
MYRKUR
Jägermeister Stage, 15:55PM
Myrkur has seen Amalie Bruun has gone from underground phenomenon to cult black steel heroine. Distinctive sophomore launch ‘Mareridt’ (‘Nightmare’ in English) has seen a rise in the usage of hovering classical preparations and icy Nordic folks coupled with scathing black steel. This transcendent and emotive ritual will depart you breathless. [Ross Baker]
DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT
Terrorizer Stage, 16:45
This mysterious UK black/demise squad have all the time offered an intense stage present, however their relentless touring schedule as of late has seen them up their recreation even additional, turning into a very formidable dwell unit in their very own proper. Come for the strobe lights, dry ice and candelabras; keep for a number of the most intense, visceral excessive steel you’ve ever heard. [Kez Whelan]
WARNING
Jägermeister Stage, 17:30PM
Patrick Walker is the knowledgeable relating to mixing crushingly heavy riffs with lyrics so painfully stunning they make your soul ache. Put together to be misty eyed as Warning play the Jägermeister Stage, figuring out you’re within the presence of one of the crucial influential UK doom bands of our technology. [Angela Davey]
NAILS
Terrorizer Stage, 18:20PM
The collective disappointment when Nails cancelled their look eventually 12 months’s competition ran like a shockwave by all in attendance. Nonetheless, they’re again this 12 months to blast the faces off of everybody on the Terrorizer Stage – how’s that for making it as much as everybody?! Put together your physique and eardrums for a full sonic assault. [Angela Davey]
PARADISE LOST
Jägermeister Stage, 19:15PM
The godfathers of gothic doom and Damnation veterans, Paradise Misplaced, return as soon as once more this 12 months to convey their gloom to the Jägermeister stage. With virtually 30 years of fabric to select from it’s troublesome to resolve what we need to hear of their set record. Assured after a number of beers we’ll be on the entrance screaming for ‘Without end Failure’! [Angela Davey]
DYING FETUS
Terrorizer Stage, 20:15
Whether or not you like getting caught into that pit, banging your head or simply standing there in slack-jawed amazement at vocalist/guitarist John Gallagher’s lightspeed fretting hand, there’s no denying that Dying Fetus are one of the crucial enjoyable dwell acts in demise steel, and we will’t wait to listen to cuts from ‘Incorrect One To Fuck With’ blasting out of the Terrorizer Stage’s PA. [Kez Whelan]
AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED
Terrorizer Stage, 22:00
One of many greatest attracts this 12 months must be the promise of certainly one of grind legends Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s first ever UK reveals. After devastating occasions like Netherlands Deathfest and Hellfest with various, career-spanning setlists and extra power than a nuclear powered dynamo, you may anticipate this to be very quick, very loud and really, very fucking good certainly. [Kez Whelan]
BLOODBATH
Jägermeister Stage, 23:00PM
Excessive supergroup Massacre sees Paradise Misplaced frontman Nick Holmes pulling double obligation in what guarantees to be a uncommon and memorable outing. Additionally that includes members of Opeth and Katatonia, this brutal Swedish/British outfit guarantees tales of cannibalism and necromancy wrapped up in uncooked, blasphemous demise steel, crushing all in its path. [Ross Baker]
Damnation kicks off tomorrow at 13:00 at Leeds College Union
You could find Damnation Pageant on Fb