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
Opening up the night was the enthralling German band, Lord of the Lost. Readers may recall these from their recent stint in Eurovision, but we won’t hold that against them. Despite the notoriously daunting task of opening for the legends that are Iron Maiden, they graced the stage with a riveting presence. Their performance blended a unique mix of dark metal Goth with even a dash of Glam Rock, like a diverse sonic tapestry.
Johan Lenox kicked off the night at the O2 Ritz venue, and even for the opening act of a two-band bill, the venue was already pretty full and the atmosphere positively electric. Right from the start, Johan’s performance was a sublime mixture of classical and hip-hop, highlighted by his absolutely divine voice. The audience and I include myself in that, was mesmerized, and the sea of phone lights only added to the visual impact.
Sunday
It’s an indisputable fact that it’s never too early for metal, a fact more than embodied by Avarus who have the unenviable task of getting everybody’s head banging on a Sunday noon with some genuinely impressive metalcore. I’m not normally a fan of metalcore so that last sentence still makes me feel slightly confused and somehow vulnerable. Reminiscent of times of Avenged Sevenfold they show some serious promise. A young band they need to work on their stage performance, turning their backs to the audience between songs and a lack of direct stage banter did let them down somewhat, hopefully, that will come with time and confidence as musically they’ve got it. Continue reading