(((O))) : Festival Review: Damnation 2015

So. Damnation again. Attending this, the finest medium sized one-day metal fest in the country, is becoming something of a tradition. This will be, after all, my fourth visit¹ in as many years, and the second as Echoes and Dust’s best writer² and most ham-fisted of photographers³.

To be absolutely honest, I wasn’t hugely excited by the first announcements. At The Gates – yeah, OK, not really my cup o’ tea, but let’s see how it goes. Plenty of time yet. High On Fire  - nice, tell me more.  Ooooooh, Amenra!

Anyway, I’ve been getting more and more excited as the line-up was revealed, band by band. I’m excited by the re-appearance of the post-whatever stage. I’m excited by the new bands I’ve never seen before. I’m excited by the bands I HAVE seen and really want to see again. I’m excited by the organiser’s bold decision to cut the number of available tickets by 1000⁴. I’m excited by the thought of the pasties in the venue shop.

The stage line-ups are announced.

The stage times are announced.

Oh, yes. I’m excited.

To Leeds.

LATER:

We’re here, Sander and I. It’s raining… no, wait, the sun’s ou… no, it’s raining again. And now it’s windy. It’s not a day for hanging about on the steps, so in we go, get wristbanded up and head down to the press room where you, Dear Reader, cannot go⁵. I plan my day and head out for a pasty. Steak and ale.

Time to go see some bands.

It’s been a while since I last saw Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, so that’s where I go first. I was, to be honest, expecting a three-quarters empty room – you know, first band on, not traditional Damnation fare – but there’s a healthy crowd. Not packed, but a long way from embarrassing. They take the stage with no fuss, no leather, no bullet belts or metal studs and play. Their towering, long form post-metal, vocal-free and vaguely Tool-scented, is the ideal start to my day. It’s too early for  the extreme metal of The King Is Blind, who are keeping the youngsters happy downstairs. I know that things are going to get significantly more turbulent later, but for now I’m more than happy to nod my head and stroke my beard like the old fart that I am.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster

TNBD don’t move around much, leaving the majority of the generous stage unexplored, but nobody expects dancing girls and flamethrowers. The lights are effective and the sound is surprisingly clear⁶, which is more than good enough for me. Could live without that smoke, though…

Sadly, I can’t stay for the full set, as I need to make my way to the Eyesore Merch Stage down in the Mine for Undersmile, about whom I know nothing other than that a lot of people like them. And, it will turn out, quite rightly too.

Undersmile

Now, there will almost inevitably be many complaints about the Mine. How small it is, how crowded it gets, the terrible sound. All of which are justified, to some degree. However, it is my personal favourite room at Damnation. Yes, it’s small, but I like that. There’s no barrier separating us from the bands. There is basic lighting, and no smoke. And if you are in the right place, near the front, the sound is bang on.

As it is for Undersmile. Slow, brooding doom, as much windspwept open spaces as crushing riffs, Undersmile are a revelation. Hel Sterne and Taz Corona-Brown on dual guitar-and-vocals are astonishing, perfectly matched voices shifting from spooky croon to fearsome roar with ease. The bass is suitably trouser-trembling, and the drums are sparse, economical and exactly right for the job. They don’t do short songs, though, running through just three in their half hour set – 'Atacama Sunburn', 'Song of Stones' and 'Sky Burial'⁷, all from their recent Anhedonia album. The crowd loves them, I…well, I can’t say I LOVE them, because we’ve only just met and I’m not that kinda guy, but I AM impressed.

Talons

Back upstairs next for the mathy post-rock of Talons, of whom there are many. Six of them, in fact, including a pair of violinists. The violin is probably an instrument not often seen at Damnation, I’d guess, but bugger me if they don’t rock like absolute bastards. Talons are ferocious. Those violins and the two guitars make a stabby, shrieking wall of noise, and it’s glorious. The two guitarists and the bass player flex and twist and bang their hairy heads like loons, the latter especially, as he lurches back and forth across the stage. The drummer too, flails like a mad thing in the murk at the back. Thick smoke, apocalyptic lighting and dead-on sound top off a blinding show. Brilliant.

Who’s next…oh, yes, OHHMS. Another new one for me, down in t’Mine.

Psychedelic stoner doom from far away…um…Kent. Despite some technical problems – we lose one of the guitarists for a while, but they carry on regardless – they give us a fine helping of retro styled hypnotic groove. There’s more than a hint of Sabbath, not least in the bare-footed singer’s Ozzy-esque body movements⁸. It’s mesmerising, head-nodding stuff, and I’m keen to see them again with everything working properly. I’m also fascinated by the little pink baby shoe dangling from the bass player’s multi-coloured instrument…

OHHMS

From Kent, over the channel to France now with C R O W N. Heavy duty industrial doomy sludge, they rather confusingly describe themselves as a ‘one man band, three men and a drum machine live band’. I’m confused because there’s two of them today. And, presumably, the drum machine. Well, anyway. However many of them they are, they make an impressive racket, relentless and pounding. Once more, I have no idea what songs they are playing, but they batter the crowd with their sludgy/Godfleshy, Nine Inch Nailsy, huge-fucking-factory-y noise. There’s not much to look at – they don’t move a lot and their projection screen shows only their logo – but no matter. Another win.

So, a brief recap – five bands in, all very different, and five damned good shows. Can this continue? Yes. Yes it can.

Sea Bastard

Sea Bastard are a last minute replacement, Black Tusk having had to drop out, but I’m OK with that, as they’re a band I’ve been meaning to see for a while. And here they are. And they’re slightly terrifying. Colossal, relentless sludgy doom is what they offer, and we lap it up. The guitarist, more tattoo than skin, looks enormous, probably because I spend most of the set looking up at him from a range of about 8 inches. He looks like he eats raw bears for breakfast. And the singer – well, bellower, really – appears to be wearing a small Cthulhu, whose tentacles flap and flail with every shake of his head. Quality stuff, and I’m glad I’ve managed to catch up with them at last.

Sea Bastard

Now, I love Maybeshewill dearly. Always have. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since they were announced, as they were one of my Damnation highlights of 2012, and I want to see them one last time before they call it a day next year. But, something’s not quite right. It’s not them, they are as fierce as they have ever been, whipping off one mathy classic after another, and the crowd is more than happy. It just seems to me – although other reports later will disagree – that the sound just isn’t right. It seems murky and thuddy. Maybe it’s just where I’m standing. I hope that’s it, because the sound has been pretty damned good in this room up to now. I may be a tad disappointed, but Maybeshewill still give us a hefty and rousing show, and it’s all good with the crowd. And that’s what matters, in the end.

My first visit of the day to the main stage next, and it’s The Ocean. At least, I presume it’s The Ocean, as it’s hard to see anything through the billowing smoke. Anyway, it SOUNDS like The Ocean, but with added keyboards and cello, bringing an extra little dimension to their thunderous prog metal. To be fair, we don’t hear much of the cello most of the time, but it does come into its own during the intro to ‘The Quiet Observer’, the song from their split release with Mono, and the only new thing they play tonight. Singer Loïc is mostly invisible, though, only appearing occasionally when he comes to the front of the stage and, inevitably, when he scrambles up the PA onto the balcony before hurling himself backwards into the crowd below. He’s a brave lad, that one, but the gentle hands of the audience catch him safely and waft him back to the stage unharmed.

The Ocean

I’m not a great fan of the cavernous room where the Jägermeister stage lives, but the sound is surprisingly – and pleasingly – crisp. The Ocean are immense, if perhaps a wee bit predictable. Their set seems all to brief, just the four songs, but they’ve only got 40 minutes or so. No time to get bored. Not that I would have, obviously. But I do get stuck to the floor, which is awash with what I hope is just spilled beer. Could just as easily be sweat.

Peeling my shoes off the floor – it’s like walking on Velcro, really it is – I head back down to the Mine, stopping briefly in at the Terrorizer Stage to see what’s happening. What’s happening is some kind of knuckle-dragging Neanderthal metal. I have no idea who it is, and don’t care enough to find out. Onwards.

Witchsorrow

Witchsorrow are on, and they are mighty fine⁹. A straight-up, no nonsense doom metal trio, unpretentious and entirely free of frill, they bludgeon the crowd into happy submission. They have (gasp!) a female bass player, who is, almost inconceivably, very nearly as good as a man! I know, incredible, isn’t it? Seriously, though, that bass is hefty enough to shift continents.

Witchsorrow

I can’t stay to the end of Witchsorrow’s set, as I MUST get back up to the Electric Amphetamine Stage for what will be, I think, the highlight of the day, the majestic Amenra.

CHVE from Amenra

Amenra, as expected, play their stunning set in near darkness, shrouded in smoke. Gritty, grainy monochrome movies are played on the giant screen at the back. Singer Colin¹⁰ rarely turns to face the crowd. Spends most of his time, in fact, on his knees. But when he sings, oh my, it’s like listening to a tortured soul. His tormented shrieking and the crushing weight of the music are truly awesome. They draw their set from Masses III, IIII and V, song merging into song in one long glorious, harrowing,  agonised scream. It’s hard to convey the Amenra experience in words, you really need to be there. Sadly, they don’t tour often, and somebody told me that they plan to do it even less in the future. Which is a shame, because I want to see them again and again.

It’ll be hard to top that performance, and it’s up to High On Fire to try. Matt Pike’s stoner legends are definitely one of the big draws of the day, and it shows in the packed main room. They come on to tumultuous applause, Pike traditionally topless, and rip into a fearsomely loud set of classic turbocharged RAWK. They are phenomenally loud, and appear to be enjoying themselves as much as the crowd. They smash through ‘The Black Pot’, ‘Rumours of War’, and on, ten slabs of smoky fury. It’s furnace hot in here, and the crowd seethes and churns, and the first crowd surfers I’ve seen today start to appear, tossed and rolled hand to hand into the photo pit, to be ushered away to try again.

High On Fire

Sadly, there is some unpleasantness at the front, one young ‘lady’ in particular taking it upon herself to own the front row, kicking out viciously at anyone brave enough to bump into her. Now, I’m not the greatest fan of mosh pits, being perhaps a tiny bit older than the majority of the crowd, but I can, and do, accept that a certain amount of turbulence is to be expected at gigs like this. I deal with it, as do most people. The rule is, ‘Don’t be a dick’. Follow that, and everything will be fine. There is NO excuse for deliberate violence, intention to hurt. None at all.

There’ll be none of that nonsense over at the other end of the building, where Japan’s post-rock maestros Mono are playing. In fact, I see many people sitting, even lying, on the floor, just absorbing the shimmering wash of guitar noise, the colossal orgasmic crescendos, the sweet, sweet melodies. Lost in smoke, Mono do what Mono always do, Taka and Yoda on their stools, Tamaki elegantly enigmatic on bass in the middle, Yasunori Takada at the back (sadly without his gong, this time…). They open, if I recall correctly, with the best song from their last album, the sublime ‘Recoil-Ignite’, they even throw in a new song, ‘Death in Reverse’ from their split with The Ocean. The sound, the lights, the songs, everything about Mono tonight is glorious.

The crowd during Mono's set.

That would have been a fitting way to end Damnation for me this year, but I still have one more thing to do. One last trek downstairs to catch 40 Watt Sun.

I admit, I have problems with 40 Watt Sun. In truth, I can’t fault their minimal, elegant doom. It’s sparse. Mesmerising. Flawlessly performed. Gloomy, but strangely beautiful. But, to my dismay, it just leaves me cold and I can’t really say why. The crowd is enthralled, even though the occasional shout out for a Warning song is firmly ignored. But not the whole crowd, it seems. Walker swaps his Les Paul for an acoustic guitar, saying ‘This is the bit where you shut the fuck up’, but the chatter continues. ‘Thanks for that’ he says¹², and the band plays on. And this is where I get a clue, maybe, as to why I struggle with 40 Watt Sun. Because, even with the acoustic guitar, all of their songs sound exactly the same to me. Even the new songs. Which is a shame, as I really WANT to like them. Really I do.

40 Watt Sun

But I realise that everybody has an opinion, and mine, as a reviewer, is the least important of all. The audience – that part of it not chatting to its mates, at least – loves 40 Watt Sun. And that, Dear Reader, is what really counts. Don’t be offended if I’ve said bad things about a band you like. The fact that you like them is so much more important than the fact that I don’t.

Anyway. Enough of that. Damnation is over for another year, and it’s been grand. Fantastic line-up. Unbeatable organisation. No over-crowding. It’s been hard work, but great fun, mostly. And the pasty was damned good.

My band of the show? Weeelllll… despite my slack-jawed drooling for Mono, it has to be Amenra.  No contest.

See you all again next year.

Footnotes:

1. Yeah! Fourth! Woo…
2. Open to debate, apparently.
3. Sadly, NOT open to debate.
4. It’s refreshing to see them take a kick in the wallet in response to the many (justified) complaints about last year’s overcrowding.
5. To be fair, it’s not that exciting, really. Lots of mis-matched chairs and tables. And, inexplicably, a Wendy house.
6. A situation which will not remain constant, sadly.
7. Although, to be honest, I missed that one.
8. He’s a better singer than Ozzy, though. Is that sacrilege? Don’t care. It’s true.
9. A fan tells me that they won’t come on stage until Judas Priest gets played over the PA, which is interesting. And true, sadly. I really don’t like Judas Priest.
10. A singularly un-metal name, Colin.
11. I manage to get there a bit early and watch them sound checking. As a result, I have photographs of Pike wearing A VEST!
12. Or words to that effect. I wasn’t taking notes.

When I woke up in my Premier Inn hotel room in Leeds City Centre on the morning of Damnation, I wasn’t off to a good start. The first step I made when I got out of my bed made me painfully remember of the previous night at the Temple of Boom where I stupidly (and fuelled by lots of cans of Guinness) tried to catch the biggest fucking bloke in the venue stagediving during the Slabdragger show. By myself. Without the help of anyone else. As this act of bravery (or absolute idiocy) resulted in a nearly torn ligament in my knee, the first thought I had that morning, after thinking of the pain and how on Earth I had managed to stumble back to the hotel the night before, was one of horrified fear of missing out on Damnation. Luckily a warm shower, a taxi ride to the Student Union and a hefty dose of freshly purchased paracetamol managed to do the job. I was going to be fine!

So, there I was in at the Terrorizer Stage waiting for The King Is Blind to kick off this year’s proceedings. I was pleased when I found out they were going to play. Their singer/frontman Steve Tovey is one of my online friends and editorial colleagues and I really like their The Deficiencies Of Man EP they released last year. They were visibly excited to be able to play Damnation and they showed no signs of restraint, furiously blasting into a new track, called ‘Devoured’.

The King Is Blind

Damn, these boys play a brilliantly tight brand of death metal, with Steve working the crowd as if he’s been doing this for decades. The recent addition of Ceri Monger on bass really works well as it gives Steve so much more freedom on stage. Sadly I had to leave their set after 3 songs as I wanted to catch a bit of Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, but I am very excited for their upcoming new album Our Father, planned for release on January 29th through resurrected metal label Cacophonus Records.

The King Is Blind

When I made me way over to the Eyesore Merch Stage to see TNBD, my eyes spotted a poster with the stage times and it said Undersmile was scheduled to play at 1pm, instead of the original 1:30pm start time. As I really didn’t want to miss them I turned around and went to Electric Amphetamine Stage instead, but to get there and not see Undersmile on stage. Damn, that poster must have been wrong. I decided to catch up with the Sea Bastard guys over a pint while I waited for Undersmile to start. And this was more than worth it. Their recent album Anhedonia (Black Bow Records) is awesome and simultaneously very eerily. They didn’t disappoint on the smallest Damnation stage, bringing that slow, punishing doom with those beautiful dual vocals by the two guitarists Hel Sterne and Taz Corona-Brown. Nice detail, their drummer Tom McKibbin was wearing a Dinosaur Jr. t-shirt, which always scores some bonus points with me.

Undersmile

I left Undersmile’s great set a few minutes early as I had to be back at the Terrorizer Stage in time for the first of the “not to be missed” bands of the day, namely Wiegedood. These guys have released one of the, if not the best black metal release of the year with De Doden Hebben Het Goed (Consouling Sounds). Plus the fact that one guitarist is the bass player in Amenra (Levy Seynaeve), the other guitarist is the bass player in Oathbreaker (Gilles Demolder) and drummer Wim Sreppoc used to play in Rise & Fall and numerous other Church Of Ra related bands, this was only going to be good. And they were more than that, they were outstanding. After their 3 song set (‘Kwaad Bloed’, ‘De Doden Hebben Het Goed’ and ‘Onder Gaan’), myself and various other people in the audience had that “what the fuck did we just witness?” look on their faces. Their set was a powerful demonstration of no-nonsense black metal. Three guys just playing their absolute best, with the addition of a great light show and lots of smoke they really created something special. Wim was tightly blasting away on his drums and Levy’s vocals were spot on as well. It was also great to see the Church Of Ra spirit on stage with Amenra frontman Colin H. van Eeckhout walking on stage in between songs to make sure everything was working fine for the band.

I didn’t have much time to fully register everything after they finished, as I had to run (or rather stumble) back to the small stage to see OHHMS. These guys have been building on a huge live reputation with recent impressive sets at Temples Festival and various UK tours, and more recently in a small European tour with The Moth. Sadly Daniel Sargeant’s guitar seemed to be malfunctioning during the first song of their set, which luckily got solved pretty quickly when someone offered another guitar for him to use. OHHMS’ singer Paul Waller was definitely the one getting most of the attention as his stage presence is something else, with Paul getting completely drawn in the psychedelic music his band was creating. Though bassist Chainy was another focus point, and not just because of the baby pink Converge shoe hanging off his bass, but also for his long periods of disappearance backstage while continuing playing. These guys are definitely ones to look out for and I can’t recommend them highly enough.    

OHHMS

At this point I had to miss some bands as I had an interview with the guys from Ghold scheduled in the pressroom (which you can read here). I did manage to catch a couple of Oathbreaker songs and from what I gathered they were pretty much destroying the Jägermeister Stage. Similar to Wiegedood’s earlier set, they were tight as fuck and singer Caro Tanghe was very impressive, with her vocals screeching through the loud blasting hardcore. It was similarly impressive to see Gilles laying down another tight set so shortly after the Wiegedood performance.

Again I had to leave their set a bit earlier as I had another interview lined up, this time with Colin H. van Eeckhout (which you can read here) followed by an interview with both guitarists from OHHMS (which will be available to read soon). So the next band I saw was Ghold at the Electric Amphetamine Stage and after my interview with the band I was very excited to finally get to see them live. If you’re a Melvins fan than you can only love what these guys are doing. Their brand of heavy sludge-infused noise-rock went down a treat with the Damnation crowd and they really gave it all. Drummer Paul and bassist Aleks were loud and heavy and the addition of guitarist Oliver really complimented their sound perfectly. Oliver has a huge interest in jazz, which was clear from his playing style, throwing in odd solos and time scales in the mix of heavy distorted bass and poundingly loud drums.

I should have left Ghold’s set before their last song as I faced the expected huge crowd wanting to see one of Altar of Plagues' last ever shows at the Eyesore Merch Stage, so I missed the first two songs of their set while I queued on the stairs next the venue entrance. When I finally was allowed in a ferocious wall of sound hit my eardrums. This was something else and their popularity wasn’t difficult to understand. Similar to Wiegedood, this was another fine example of no-nonsense black metal. Three dudes who played their hearts out, without any gimmicks other than a great light show. After their set their was a huge applause, partly for the set they played, but also to give them a well-deserved sending off, and there were many nods of approval. I’m really glad I finally got to see them.

At this point on the day I really had to give that bloody sore knee a little break so I went for one of those infamous Damnation Burgers, and then made sure to be back with plenty of time to spare for Amenra’s much anticipated show at the Eyesore Merch Stage. Disclaimer: I am a huge Amenra fanboy and this year’s Damnation was all about seeing them again as I only managed to see them in action once before at last year’s Beyond the Redshift in London.

Mathieu from Amenra

While Colin was warming up his vocals by singing Tool’s ‘Parabol’, the anticipation in the audience was visibly getting higher and higher. This was Amenra’s return to Damnation as they played the small stage (or the toilet as the band calls it) 3 years back, and boy, they did not disappoint! Starting with the older track ‘The Pain It Is Shapeless We Are Your Shapeless Pain’ was perhaps a surprising opening, but one that struck my fanboy heart instantly. This was going to be another memorable show. They followed this by the Mass IIII track ‘Razoreater’, and two tracks taken from their latest album Mass V, ‘Boden’ and ‘Nowena | 9.10’, with bassist Levy taking care of the second vocals (originally sang by Scott Kelly on the record). Colin was on great form, with his characteristic, enigmatic stage presence, while guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove impassively stared into the audience while playing the heavy riffs. As far as post-metal goes, Amenra are at the top (remember, fanboy!), and the combination of hardly any stage lights and the huge backdrop playing bleak black and white videos really combines to an unforgettable live experience.

I then decided to not go and see High On Fire straight away, but to go for a quick break first. So I witnessed the second half of Matt Pike et al., but what I saw was all destroying. This was a band on absolute top form. Matt Pike was riffing even better than he usually does, the drums sounded loud and pounding and the bass was throwing as much heavy as possible into the mix. What really stood out this particular set were Matt’s vocals, which sounded better than previous times I’ve seen High On Fire. And Matt visibly had a blast, with his characteristic grin never leaving his face for a single second. Fan favourites ’10,000 Years’ and ‘Snakes for the Divine’ went down an absolute treat and the crowd got more rowdy the longer they played, with an hefty mosh pit and increasing number of people crowdsurfing. Long live the Church of Pike!

Church of Pike

What do you do after you’ve seen an amazing High On Fire? Are you going to see Primordial or perhaps chill out a bit while watching Mono? I choose the latter, even though beforehand when I was getting my schedule together I was 100% sure I was going to see Primordial. Perhaps it was that damn knee or the riff overdose, but Mono won and I’m glad they convinced my inner self to witness their fabulous set. Yes, it was fabulous. I am not the biggest post-rock fan in the world, but this was pure emotion. I was happy to see a big crowd present to watch them as they were headlining the Eyesore Merch Stage and Damnation is a metal festival after all, though this also brings in the drunk, rowdy metalheads, loudly demanding the girls nearby to “take their bloody clothes of for the lads”. This was a huge downer on the Mono experience, but I suppose this sadly happens at festivals when a band plays that just needs absolute silence from the crowd.

Mono

But to hear the beautiful song ‘Recoil-Ignite’, from their last album Rays of Darkness live, happening right there in front of my eyes was a different experience all together. Not being a huge post-rock fan I did feel there were some moments during their set that couldn’t excite me as much as I was hoping for, but overall this was an amazing and very emotional experience. Mono play with their heart and soul and many metalhead present witnessed an fantastic live experience.

Sadly Mono and earlier Amenra also drained me completely, emotionally and physically and my poor old fucked up knee was demanding a lie down, so with regret I decided to skip headliners 40 Watt Sun and At The Gates and decided to call it a night. From what I heard the next day At The Gates were bloody amazing though.

Overall, the Damnation crew really made this day another great success. The decision to sell 1,000 less tickets paid off in the end as I managed to get around the venues very easily, there were no issues with the security staff as far as I know of, and it made the bigger stages feel a bit more intimate. Hails Damnation! And see you next year again!