My first Damnation was nine years ago, back in 2013. I went for one reason and one reason only, the (supposed) only UK show by my beloved Carcass (I say supposed as they were then added to an Amon Amarth UK package tour a couple of months after they were confirmed for Damnation). I went for the grind but ended up seduced by the variety of metal goodness on offer. It was a smorgasbord of diverse aspects of metal’s duplicit personalities. There was post rock (Cult of Luna), Doom (Conan), Black (God Seed), prog (Crippled Black Phoenix) and the downright bizarre (the Shinning). However the thing that entranced me the most was the distinct feeling of finding my crowd. Leeds University Union was filled to the rafters with Me’s. Middle aged guys and gals with good jobs, mortgages and families that had just never got around to growing out of that “Heavy Metal” phase in their collective teens. Instead of graduating to the shallows of radio two fodder, every person I met had elected to not just stay with metal but had (like myself) made a concerted effort to dive in deeper and explore the forbidden corners of our genre’s more extreme coves. 

I was hooked. Overnight it became my festival. Indoors, compact, eclectic, decent beer and I could get the last train home at the end of the evening. What more did I need? I have attended everyone since, initially as a mere punter but for the last few years a first person tense abusing reviewer (reviews are available here to pursue) and my infatuation with the festival if anything has grown. I have discovered bands that have gone on to become essential parts of my musical DNA (Solstafir, Darkher, Myrkur, Black Moth, VOLA, Wheel, to name six). I have also witnessed some of the greatest performances ever with Warning’s tearjerking interpretation of their bleak masterpiece “Watching from a Distance” and Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas’s breathtaking rendition of “Mariner” in 2016 holding joint honours for the greatest things I have ever seen at Damnation.

But crowd and performances aside the secret of Damnation’s success and why I keep coming back is the breathtaking honesty and humility that it is run with. This is a labour of love for Gavin McInally and Paul Farrington and they are fanboys first, second and third (with would be promoters coming a very low fourth). Seeing both of them stripped to the waist crowd surfing to Raging Speedhorn was one of the moments of last year and illustrated perfectly why they are so different to every other chancer trying to promote their gig or event. Where we all at some point have thought “I could do a better job than this of that event” they have actually had the audacity to do something about it. But they have never ever forgot where they came from. They have never let the success go to their heads and instead they have remained grounded, irreverent, and responsive.

They not only listen to feedback, but they also actually do something about it. In fact, they have allowed Damnation to be shaped by those that attend and the forum has become as an important part of the Damnation experience as the festival itself. It is that feeling of unity and belonging that I get with no other festival. I don’t just feel like a punter, I feel like a contributor and co-conspirator.  Gavin and Paul’s openness and self-effacement means that the whole endeavour feels like a year around installation that we build together. So, if you are still on the fence (and at the time of writing there are less than 250 tickets left) can I persuade you that it is an experience you will never forget. We may well be in a new venue but what you will experience is something that will be quintessentially Damnation. Join us, you will not regret it.