FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Damnation Festival 2019

The night’s are drawing in, the temperature is plummeting and the cold grip of winter is here. Festival season feels like a distant memory but for us in the UK, Damnation Festival is here to whip up one last bout of festival fun before the year draws to a close.

Held annually at Leeds University Union, with the event selling out completely for the past several years, to say that the one day extreme metal extravaganza has been a hit with fans is quite an understatement. 2019’s edition of Damnation kicks off tomorrow, and as per tradition, this year’s billing is stacked with an array of talent across the spectrum of extreme music. From heavy hitters to emerging talent, working out who to see in just one day is quite an audacious task, but fear not, as with our festival preview we will digest this year’s billing to give you the lowdown on who you should see at this year’s Damnation Festival!

Casting your gaze to the top of this year’s billing and it becomes immediately apparent that the organisers behind Damnation have pulled out the stops to bring in some of the biggest names in metal to Leeds for the one day festival. Having both progressive metal juggernauts OPETH and the lords of chaos MAYHEM on one lineup may have seemed beyond the realms of possibility several years ago, but for 2019’s festival, both bands land the top slots and will surely give performances of sheer quality. For OPETH, they arrive at Damnation on the back off their brand new album In Cauda Venenum, so expect to hear plenty of new tunes whilst MAYHEM will celebrate the release of their first album in five years, Daemon, with what we expect will be a much more varied set than the fairly recent De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas celebration shows.

Elsewhere, just looking across the bill of this year’s Damnation, it’s clear that this lineup is bursting at the seams with quality bands. If black metal tickles your fancy, then this year’s lineup will tick all your boxes. Aside from the aforementioned MAYHEM, Norwegian outfit MORK, the formidable Gaahl (who performs with his new project GAAHL’S WYRD) and Polish juggernauts MGŁA make for an incredibly strong international black metal billing but there’s a sprinkling of quality UK talent too. Festival favourites THE INFERNAL SEA make their Damnation return, Irish stalwarts PRIMORDIAL are a welcome addition and DAWN RAY’D, who arrive at Damnation on the back of their stunning new album Behold Sedition Plainsong and a cover spot on our latest issue, will surely give a performance that stokes the flames for their bubbling hype.

Speaking of UK talent, Damnation has prided itself on being a brilliant festival that has helped emerging bands from our shores establish a foothold in a booming scene. And 2019’s edition of Damnation is no different. We’ve already touched upon DAWN RAY’D and THE INFERNAL SEA, but this year’s festival also boasts emerging Scottish technical metallers GODEATER, underground doom metallers ALUNAH, the classy virtuosic cellist Jo Quail and then there is VENOM PRISON. Arguably one of the finest bands the UK has produced in recent years, it was in fact 2016’s Damnation Festival that announced the band onto the scene, and now, they return with a high billing on the Tone MGMT Stage. Talk about a fine reward for a band who have only gone from strength to strength.

Throw in the masters of the slow build, INTER ARMA, the brutal death metal carnage found with CARNATION and BLOOD RED THRONE, 70s rock worship with THE VINTAGE CARAVAN, the spell-binding atmosphere found with ALCEST or the absolute party that will be the GOST afterparty, it’s clear that Damnation Festival has something for everyone; regardless of your taste in metal’s many sub-genres. Damnation has proved time and time again that they are experts in putting together a wonderfully diverse lineup and we are counting down the hours until we make our return to Leeds. We’ll see you down the front!

Damnation Festival 2019 takes place at Leeds University Union, Leeds on November 2nd 2019. 

For more information on Damnation Festival like their official page on Facebook.