Live Review : Damnation Festival 'A Night Of Salvation' on November 1st 2024

There is something ornamental and ritualistic about an album playing in full. Usually sets are a Russian roulette of endless probabilities. For a band with a healthy back catalogue there is an existential dread that the next song is either going to be one that you don't like or even worse the dreaded "one from the new album”. A playback of a legendary album takes away all of that uncertainty and instead becomes a musical installation, an art form frozen in time. You are plunged into a warm bath of familiarity where you know exactly what's coming next. This comfort blanket approach is especially true of albums that are very much of their time or define a specific moment, era or movement. Hearing those songs again in exact order that you would have listened to them on vinyl/CD/minidisk/personal stereo (delete as applicable) offers a gateway into the past allowing the listener to reconnect with their younger selves.

Heavy metal is not immune to nostalgia, in fact it revels in it. Extreme metal may thrive on both its street credibility and also its nihilistic impenetrability, but it also loves a bit of nostalgia. Damnation’s plucky “eve of” precursor Night of Salvation leans into that yearn for nostalgia and also the veneration of the full album playback.  Tonight, we get seven world changing pieces of vinyl performed in full (yes we know we don't get all of it “Hear nothing see nothing say nothing” but give us a bit of poetic licence). Interspersed with these exclusive performances we get not one but two curated stages. Pelagic Records get to showcase five of the most exciting acts currently on the roster, whilst on the Cult Never Dies stage we get an immaculately constructed guided tour through some of the most interesting black metal acts currently on the market.

Whilst the venue is never full (the sign for packed house is reserved for the next day) there is enough punters on site to make the place feel electric and wrought with anticipation. The two curated stages run simultaneously and that is where the action starts on the dot of 4 PM. Norna are every lover of eclectic avant-garde metal’s latest band crush. Their debut “Star is Way Way is Eye” has turned many heads and looks to feature in a plethora of end of year retrospectives. This is only their second visit to the UK and the first outside the capital and therefore the room is resplendent with curious souls looking to clap size on the much-touted next big thing.

They take big chunky riffs and stretch them out as if they were laid on some old-fashioned torture device. The sound is circular and spirals in a dark repetitive refrain.  But for all its sludgy goodness there is a crispness to their delivery. Rather than a blur of undulating instruments you can distinctively point out the different components that make up their gargantuan sound. A highly impressed audience bang their heads in adulation, including event organiser himself Gavin McInally safe in the knowledge that once again he's got bookings spot on.

Whilst tonight's Cult Never Dies venue has been dubbed the black metal stage, none of bands this evening play a form of black metal that would be viewed as KVLT by the strict disciples of the art form. Black metal has far evolved far beyond its true Nordic roots and tonight's purveyors are all bringing something very different to the consistently changing .genre. Underdark have been building a reputation that has meant that an appointment at the U.K.'s premier extreme metal destination was an inevitability. Beyond the steely icy stares, they seem genuinely chuffed to be here and Abi Vasquez is quite honestly having the time of their life. 

This is black metal of a cinematic variation. They have thrown off the claustrophobic cloak that the genre has diligently hung onto for decades. Instead, they create a widescreen almost euphoric sound that fills the confines of the venues second-biggest room. They are startlingly good and are armed with the confidence that begets their young age. This may well be their first visit to Damnation, but you can be sure that they will be haunting its corridors for many years to come.

It's Friday night so who better to usher in the goodtime than self-confessed thrashing idiots Insanity Alert. Their set tonight is an exclusive anomaly. Their rendition of Stormtroopers of Death’s seminal speak “Speak English or die” is neither complete nor in the right order but it is almost note perfect. Its blatant playful xenophobia may seem uncomfortable in today's more enlightened times, but there is no denying its importance as a genre defining masterpiece. It was never designed to be taken seriously, and Insanity Alert have a ball with its unashamed stupidity.  

Tom Lower is the pulsating heart of every Mancunian circle pit. The last time Insanity Alert played Damnation he marshalled his beloved pit besuited as a blowup Pikachu. Tonight, he goes one better and insanity alert bring him on stage resplendent in a newly purchased Pikachu outfit to bounce up and down like a Pokémon on a serious amount of uppers. His moment in the sun is glorious and more than any other moment this weekend he illustrates the absolute unique bond there is between those organising this festival and those of us who attended.

The rest of Insanity Alert set is made up of their obsequious and highly irreverent covers album “Moshemian Thrashody”. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘Careless Whisper’ and ‘Fear of the Dark’ are all bastardised and sodomised to become brainless odes to beer and mosh pits. It is riotous, disrespectful and stunningly good fun. A stonkingly good start to the main stage celebrations.

If you want to be lazy you can summarise post-rock as simply being loud, quiet, loud, quiet. There is of course much more to it than that but Bristolians Sugar Horse do absolutely a stunning job of being really heavy and then immediately plunging into a level of fragility that is just above the level of hearing. When they do so, the room descends into reverential hush and you could hear even the slightest suggestion of somebody considering dropping a pin. it is a wondrous moment that makes the hairs at the back of your neck dance the veritable fandango. There is a wondrous complexity to what Sugar Horse are doing. Its muscular and corrosive but it is also peppered with sheer beauty. An absolutely astonishing 40 minutes.

Next door the veritable deconstruction of black metal continues with long serving Damnation alumni Fen. They have been plying their atmospheric take on black metal for nearly 20 years and seem quite happy with the low-level cult status that they have achieved. Tonight, they give us exactly what we would expect; an introspective and distinctively ethereal set that removes the malignant evil from the genre and instead inserts an almost euphoric optimism. To call it happy black metal would be an offensive oxymoron, but their music brims with hope rather than despair and you get the distinct feeling they are heading towards the light as opposed to away from it.

It's sometimes hard to compute how a band as fiercely unconventional as Discharge have become so revered and iconic. They took punk’s blueprint and dragged it towards both musical and political extremity. For those in the 80s who wanted their music to be provocative and antiestablishment they were the veritable scene leaders (even if as anarchists is they completely disown the idea of hierarchical structures). Tonight, we get most (but not all) of the genre defining “Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing”. At the time its blatant revolutionary themes and brutal take on punk enamoured fired up those who wanted their music to be antagonistic. It still stands up today as an absolute cornerstone of riled up aggression and feels drenched in animosity.

The audience is split between those not quite sure what to do with this much blatant hostility coming from the stage and those absolutely revelling in it. The majority of those parading on stage are the original members. In fact, the newest component of the band is vocalist JJ Janick, himself a veritable veteran of the New York hardcore scene. The kinetic energy dispensing from the stage is extraordinary and you feel like you're being dragged through a warts and all history lesson of how our beloved music found its voice. A belligerent but brilliant celebration of a record that influenced everything we hold dear.

Irish born but now Liverpool-based A burial At Sea have been drafted in as super subs to cover for Hippotraktor. As late additions to the bill it is heartening to see that so many people have decided that they are their chosen destination this point in the evening (especially with Morne performing “Engraved with Pain” a mere yards away). A Burial At Sea have the feel of Damnation house band Maybeshewill. Their take on post-rock is distinctly positive and avoids the usual morose introspection. Instead, they weave a musical cloth that is full of bright colours and buoyant hopefulness. They bring a much-needed sanguinity to the process and their uplifting waves have a life affirming nature to them.

On the other side of the wall Morne are also fighting a war against miserabilism. As counterintuitive as it is, their take on black metal is incredibly beautiful and full of intricate fragility. This evening we get a full run through of their most recent released “Engraved With Pain”. For a band that began as reverential revivalists of crust punk, this album saw them move in a much more delicate and atmospheric direction. Everything is slow and precise. The music grows in front of you, building in a measured and gradual manner. It's complex and deliberate but it also feels organic and grounded. There is no histrionics here or illusions of grandeur. Instead, they are weaving multifaceted tapestries of sound that deliberately deconstructs black metal but are also inexplicably connected back to its history. An unhurried and resolutely humble masterpiece.

Talking of masterpieces, “Conquering” was ROCKFLESH’s album of the year in 2021. This is the first time Employed To Serve have played it in its entirety and it seems fitting to do it at the last show of its three-year album cycle. Employed To Serve are a band destined for big stages. They have a swagger and an alluring confidence that sets them aside from other members of the post-hardcore fraternity. Justine Jones is a magnificent front person, and she absolutely excels in the additional space that the main stage affords her. She commands the growing crowd with ease, marshalling up pit after pit and crucially managing to convey herself to the very edges of this vast room.

With their set we get a Damnation first, Pyro. Plumes of flames roar into the air as they crash through the album. Played in its entirety and in order you really get a sense of what an astonishing and unparalleled record “Conquering” actually is. It contains no weak points, no fillers and manages to avoid being in any way top-heavy. Even as we march on towards its conclusion it still manages to dispense banger after banger. Justine's pride is evident in being able to seal the promotional duties for this record with such an illustrious conclusion. She heartfully thanks the organisers for giving them this opportunity and also us for making the decision to watch it. The mix of raw aggression and blatant commerciality in “Conquering” showed that Employed To Serve are ready to step into the big league. Tonight's performance just put a ruddy great line under that statement and cemented their position as arena botherers in waiting.

With “An Empire”, A Swarm of the Sun have produced not only one of this year’s best albums but also one of its most intriguing. For live purposes the Swedish duo are expanded to a six piece. However, it is obvious from the off that Svengali's Jakob Berglund and Erik Nilsson are very much in charge. The former crouches over a sophisticated array of buttons and sequencers and plays them like a space age fruit machine. Like a futuristic conductor he uses his gadgets and gizmos to guide the music and pilot it through its complex arrays. The music they play is simply astonishing. It is bombastic and euphoric but also full of warmth and tenderness.

Necessity begets that most of the set is drawn from 2015's “The Rifts”, but when we get the singular track from their new release the results are utterly wondrous. ‘The Burning Wall’ simmers and slow burns, it contorts in exquisite beauty and manages to bewitch the hypnotised crowd. It is awe-inspiring the level of complexity being unfurled in front of our eyes. There are an infinite number of layers to their music, yet it still manages to be alluring, simple and heart-warmingly triggering. When we spoke to them before the show (interview here) they hinted that 2025 could see much more action from this usually lethargic outfit. Here's hoping that this UK debut is the start of many further visits.

The downside of simultaneously running stages and such a gorgeously stacked line-up is that inevitably there will be clashes. Like Swarm Of The Sun, Mizmor is a predominantly studio project now expanded to allow live performances. For those who like their music complex but also soaked in emotion it is annoying that they are pitched against each other. Mizmor creates a blanket of dark rumbling black metal. It rolls out like a perpetual rumble of distant thunder; low, penetrating and unnaturally seductive. Like all the acts on the Cult Never Dies stage he is playing with black metal but also expanding far beyond its confines. The repetitive nature of what he's doing is entrancing. The low-frequency noise sweeps around the room, enveloping the crowd and drawing every listener in. This is black metal used as a cathartic bloodletting exercise and there is real beauty in its desolate nature.

The announcements heralding The Ocean’s much anticipated performance of their magnum opus, “Pelagial” had been cryptic to say the least. They had trumpeted as its final performance, with this lineup. During the show it becomes clear what they meant, as Loic announces long-standing guitarist’s David Ramis Åhfeldt exit from the collective. It gives this already very special show an additional poignancy as for the last six years the band's never-ending churn of members seem to have dissipated.

“Pelagial” is a concept album, a journey from the very top of the ocean to its furthest depths, each track describing a stage in that dissent. Its beauty is the way that it becomes darker and more claustrophobic the further you journey into it and the further the story takes us into the bottom layers of our oceans. The vast video walls behind them also add to the illusion by showing footage of the creatures we encounter at each stage.

Full immersion is one of those concepts thrown around but this evening’s performance of “Pelagial” is utterly immersive. It is impossible to drag your eyes away from the stage as the band diligently and with increasing ferocity weave the sounds that penetrate your ear holes. It is an astonishingly precise and emotive performance as they create a body of sweet noise that truly aurally describes each juncture of our plunging trip to the bottom. 

There is movement in the audience but for the most part we stand aghast, completely transfixed by what is unfurling in front of us. The completeness of experience means for just under an hour we forget that we are stood in a soulless warehouse on the outskirts of Manchester and instead we are all part of this tempestuous journey through the topographic layers. A truly breathtaking experience. 

The oceans set is so expansive that a slightly shellshocked audience wander away in search of their final split stage destinations for the evening. A large chunk choose the unknown pleasures of a rare appearance by Cult Of Fire but an admirable amount plump for the more prolific but still enticing promise of Danish auteurs LLNN. It is quite difficult to actually pinpoint what they are doing. There is an industrial, almost electro-feel to approach that is tethered to our world by the most astonishing and insular guitar work. It is dark and hypnotic but also danceable in a warped apocalyptic manner. It is as if Massive Attack decided to make their most impenetrable album combining their creeping synths with distorted riffs. They have been on many people's Damnation wish list for years and you can see the collective relief as those who have bade for them realise they are as good as they expected.

It is quite difficult to describe the true majestic nature of what Cult Of Fire are doing. Even watching it with your own eyes it is difficult to comprehend the sheer scale and ambition of what they are pulling off. Up until now black metal's influences and the religions it has artistically rebelled against have been distinctly Western. Cult Of Fire change all this and we get black metal within a Hindi context. It describes itself as a ritual and that is exactly what transpires. Two massive golden pythons frame the stage, with a candle adorned alter in the centre. The air is rich with incense and smoke and the atmosphere is awash with transcendental reverence.

The sound they usher fourth is black metal tinged with Eastern promise. The riffs are grinding and penetrative but still manage to retain a meditative quality. They choose a single refrain and loop it around again and again, drawing the listener into a trance like state. Vojtěch Holub stands at the alter robbed in larger-than-life apparel. His ceremonial garb makes him visible from every point of the auditorium, an astonishing focal point that is impossible not to be drawn in by. His vocals are ever looping chants that feel simultaneously menacing but also enticing and alluring. This is black metal as performance art and ritualistic splendour taken to its nth degree. An outstanding climax to a quite extraordinary showcase of just how diverse and emotionally literate modern black metal actually is.

The night isn’t over yet, we have one further special set to feast on. The recent news that Decapitated had parted company with their much loved front man Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski was greeted with both shock and sadness by their devoted fan base. However, they negated (pun instead) this slightly by announcing that his predecessor's predecessor, Sauron, would make a special appearance for this one-off performance of their third album “The Negation”. Decapitated’s Night Of Salvation headline appearance takes on additional importance as the much reported collapse of as I Lay dying’s European tour means that this is now also the live debut of their new singer, Eemeli Bodde.

During the frantic and hectic rendition of a much revered third album, there are two distinct surprises. The first is that Sauron’s appearance is best a cameo as he only features on three of the album's nine tracks (yes we know ‘The Calling’ is an instrumental). The second is how comfortable and commanding Eemeli seems in his new position. Whilst Rafał Piotrowski was Decapitated third front man he had been in that position for over 15 years and had grown to become the modern face of the band. Eemeli seems at perfect ease with replacing such a dynamic presence and by the time we reach the album’s proper almighty conclusion, ‘The Empty Throne’, (‘Lunatic of God's Creation’ is a cover and therefore doesn't count) he has very much cemented his position as the new focal point of this band.

The fact that “The Negation” is so short (32 minutes, including the Deicide cover) means that they have plenty of time to meander about the recesses of Decapitated’s wider back catalogue. Eemeli continues to make its presence most eloquently known and it becomes obvious that the news story from this evening is not, as expected, the return of Sauron but instead the majestic arrival of Eermeli. The former does return one last time for “Nihility” exquisite ‘Spheres of Madness’. His joy to be reunited with his former bandmates spills over into over exuberance and a well-aimed block by Vorg stops him from being barbecued by the towers of flames that accompany their performance.

The lateness of the hour and the intensity of the performances witnessed means that there is a consistent peeling off from the audience as Decapitated’s set trundles on. By the time that we reach ‘Never’ curfew was already being broken and we are left with a small but fanatic contingent bunched up. But they are not finished yet. Not only is this Eemeli’s first outing with Decapitated but it's also his 30th birthday and we get a requisite cake and rendition of happy birthday. Just when we think we can all go home there is still one last track, ‘Iconoclast’ tops off the evening and proves beyond doubt that there is very much life after Rafal.

The promise of an expanded two-day damnation next year means that it is likely that night of salvation will be relegated to a much smaller and select event. Whilst inevitable and also completely understandable it is still a shame as the intent and promise of this distinct event is absolutely stunning. It provides a small snapshot into the exclusivity of events like Roadburn which thrive on one-off special performances. A wondrous evening and a marvellous precursor to the main event to come.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Decapitated + Cult Of Fire + LLNN + The Ocean + Mizmor + A Swarm Of The Sun + Employed To Serve + Morne + A Burial At Sea + Discharge + Fen + Sugar Horse + Underdark + Norna