FESTIVAL REVIEW: Damnation Festival and a Night of Salvation 2023 Live at Bowlers Exhibition Centre


 

This year’s Damnation Festival is the second since it has returned to its original home of Manchester after many years at the University of Leeds. The festival had outgrown the confines of its erstwhile venue and now takes place at Manchester’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre across three large stages. Continue reading


Portals Festival 2023 Announces More Bands Including Sub Headliners Bossk, AK/DK, Hundred Year Old Man, Astrosaur, A Burial At Sea, and More


 

Eclectic and Heavy, Portals Festival has announced a slew of new bands, joining the already impressive bill. Bossk has been added as a sub-headliner, along with AK/DK (replacing Elephant Tree), Hundred-Year-Old Man, Astrosaur, A Burial At Sea, and many more. These band join Mono, And So I Watch You From Afar, Jambinai, Maybeshewill, Nordic Giants, Aa Williams, Bo Ningen, Ef, Svalbard, ’68, Pupil Slicer among others. Taking place at Earth, London on May 27th & 28th, 2023. Tickets and full fest details can be found below.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Luminous Vault – Animate the Emptiness


 

Luminous Vault consists of guitarist/vocalist Mario Diaz de Leon (Oneirogen, Bloodmist) and bassist/vocalist Samuel Smith (Artificial Brain, Aeviterne), and, as is a current common theme recorded, this pre-pandemic, with the fascinating results only now seeing a release.

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FESTIVAL REVIEW: Badgerfest 2019 Live at The Breadshed, Manchester


2019 see’s the third installment of what’s becoming an important event in the calendar for the discerning Heavy Metal connoisseur, BadgerFest. The brainchild of the undeniably hardest working man in the Manchester metal scene John Badger, If any qualification of that were needed, aside from it being reiterated by every band of the weekend, as well as their gratitude as to the smooth running, he’s also running the Drumming up Change in November whereby he’ll be playing the drums for the full sets of all ten bands. There’s hard-working and then there’s John Badger. Continue reading


Mono Books Exclusive London 20th Anniversary Show with Orchestra and Special Guests


Avant-garde Metal legends Mono will invade London this December to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary. The band will curate the “Beyond The Past” event, headline the Barbican in London on 14th December with an orchestra and they’ll be joined by specials guests Alcest. As part of the anniversary, they are also curating two other shows that weekend with Boris, envy, Arabrot, and Svalbard playing Oval Space on the 13th and then a matinee show on the 14th featuring Nordic Giants, Jo Quail, A.A Williams, and Floating Spectrum at the Underground. In 2019, the band released Nowhere Now Here – their 10th studio album in 20 years.Continue reading


Anathema, Paul Draper, Iamthemorning And Gleb Kolyadin Booked For Kscope 10 Year Anniversary


Kscope Music is celebrating 10 years as a label in 2018 and has booked a grand concert at London’s Union Chapel on October 2nd. It will feature performances from Anathema, Paul Draper, Iamthemorning and Gleb Kolyadin. Tickets are on sale now. Continue reading


Damnation Festival 2017 – Live At Leeds University Union


Dragged Into Sunlight, by Rich Price Photography

Over the course of its 12 incarnations, Leeds based Damnation Festival has grown into surely the most important yearly event for underground music lovers the UK has to offer. Far from merely an Extreme Metal festival, Damnation is the closest the UK has to the all-encompassing nature of Roadburn in its celebration of a wide spectrum of sub-genres. This year’s edition seemed to be especially diverse with a rich amount of Extreme Metal sitting alongside expansive entities and experimental Prog outfits. With four stages within the single complex of the Leeds University Union, and a sell-out capacity crowd (admittedly reduced to counter crowding issues from previous editions), the layout does appear labyrinthian at first, but is pretty intuitive and easy to follow pretty quickly; which with a stacked lineup from top to bottom, makes the continuous rushing from stage to stage a little more bearable at least.Continue reading


Damnation Brings The Heaviest And Grimmest One-Dayer To Leeds Today


Dragged Into Sunlight, by Rich Price Photography

The time is nigh! Damnation Festival, the UK’s top one-day underground metal festival is back today at Leeds University Union. The fest is totally sold out again and headlined by Bloodbath, Sodom, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Paradise Lost, Dying Fetus, Dragged Into Sunlight, Nails and many more. Continue reading


Vallenfyre, Grave Pleasures, And Leng Tch’e All Added to Damnation 2017


Three more top-notch bands added to the ranks of Damnation Festival 2017 as Vallenfyre, Grave Pleasures, And Leng Tch’e are added to the bill. Tickets are running out for the UK’s top festival event of the late year.Continue reading


Psychedelic Witchcraft, Wiegdood and Mutation Added To Damnation Festival


Damnation 2017 continues to build on its strong early lineup with three more bands: Psychedelic Witchcraft, Wiegdood and Ginger Wildheart’s Mutation have been added to the ranks. Continue reading