Damnation Festival 2007

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Damnation one again provides a balanced mix of heavy rock styles, appealing to metal heads of three generations while keeping away the sappy emo bands that clog up our beloved summer festivals.

Back for its third year and newly relocated to Leeds, Damnation Festival returns with a larger venue to cope with growing numbers. Providing both a platform for the cream of underground metal acts and old guitar heroes, the one-day festival is a welcome alternative to the increasingly mainstream Download aiming to, in their own words, drive “one more giant nail in the coffin of corporate rock."

Terrorizer Stage

Leeds' own deathsters Soulfracture get us off to a pulsing start with some rampaging numbers like the bruising 'Lament of A Fallen God' and 'Blood On My Hands' which come on like Swedish legends At The Gates injected with a [un]healthy dose of Despised Icon for good measure. Largely unchampioned by the media, it is clear that we may be witnessing one of Yorkshire’s best kept secrets in action and if this performance is anything to go by they’ll not be a secret much longer.

Replacing sadly departed Wigan grindcore nutters Narcosis, London’s Dead Beyond Buried have their work cut out. Thankfully recent tours with Zyklon et all have the quintet honed into a watertight unit of death metal ferocity. Technically dazzling fretwork and a heads down approach win them more than a few new friends this afternoon.

Lazarus Blackstar’s Paul Catten is a maniac. From the moment they kick into their grimy doom metal racket, the collective jaws of the audience have hit the floor with a resounding thud. The vocalist is utterly compelling, barking dementedly atop colossal riffs which come on like the piss stained sons of Discharge and Sabbath being gang-banged by Electric Wizard. Sticking mainly to new material like the foul grooves of 'My Final Restraining Order' they leave a packed Terrorizer stage baying for more and give the best pre dinner time performance of the day by far. Grab the straight jacket.

Glasgow hatemonger’s Man Must Die provide a moshfriendly ear raping blast of death grind that sure ain’t sophisticated but ticks all the right boxes. Singer Joe is unhinged and menacing and the band rip through vicious numbers like 'March of The Clones' and sonic GBH of 'Waster'. It’s no wonder celebrated U.S. metal label Relapse, who famously brought us the progressive metal ecstasy of Mastodon and The Dillinger Escape Plan, saw such promise in this group of magnificent bastards.

Ted Maul is here to send a message and they proceed to tear things up in exemplary fashion. These London delinquents have ridden the waves of praise for their live performances up and down the country and it’s not hard to see why. Coming on like Suffocation meets Roni Size, their drum ‘n’ bass soaked metallic grooves are irresistibly danceable with the band spitting out all the choice cuts from their recently released and long awaited White Label album. 'Spherical Lie' is a heavy dance floor killer that should give these London lads the platform they need to make a massive dent in the doors of the UK Metal scene.

On a darker tip, feral black metallers 1349 demonstrate what black metal should be about; viciously uncompromising like a band of marauding despots that have come to rape and pillage and lay waste to all that surrounds them. The sound may suffer early on in their set but once this mere hiccup is rectified they deliver a lesson few could ever match in terms of awesome showmanship and raw power.  Drum god Frost hammers his kit like it’s pissed in his pint, and songs from their most recent album 'Hellfire' are both sinister and compelling.

Aborted’s carcass style gore-grind is tailor-made for the live arena. If the number of fans running around in blood drenched surgical gowns is anything to go by, this Belgian mob have made a hell of an impression as do the buzz-saw guitars that power this mighty performance. When pitted against Orange Goblin on the main stage, and following 1349, they sure have a lot to live up to, but their combination of the theatrical and downright visceral more than win over a few new converts.

New Yorkers’ Kataklysm provide a fine alternative to watching 30 sweaty men running about on a field in pursuit of a certain world cup, which some punters seem to be more concerned with. The band proceed to bulldoze us with the subtlety of a pack of rhinos, delivering numbers such as 'In Shadows and Dust' with the kind of professionalism that only a rigorous touring schedule can achieve. Damnation is truly held in the arms of devastation.

That leaves us with brummie scumbags Anaal Nathrakh who treat us to a rare live outing with their brand of unholy blasts, invoking a zealous response from the audience with multiple stage divers and beer soaked head bangers loving every minute of the frantic break neck black metal. Singer Dave Hunt seems genuinely touched at the response his band receives tonight and the band do their best to reward those who forsook the main stage in favour of getting their brains blown out by the cream of home-grown talent.

Jagermeister Stage

Reading’s Malefice take on melodic death metal is a lively opener. Merging the thrash tinged melodies and watertight musicianship akin to the likes of Arch Enemy with some harsh beat-downs, they provide an interesting prospect for those brave souls and early birds that dare check them out.

If Romeo Must Die feature the presence of former Stampin’ Ground mainman Adam Frakes-Sime, whose charismatic personality tests the mettle of the crowd and satisfies the bloodlust of those hungry for some wall of death mosh action. Sounding much like SD’s but with less of the beat downs, they win over a couple of those in the pit and climax with a cover of Pantera classic 'A New Level'. Ones to watch.

Replacing last minute pullouts Devil Sold His Soul are cockney stoner metal troupe The Inbreds. Sounding like Phil Anselmo’s Down if they were from South London, instead of New Orleans, they are lively. Front man Joe Smith injects life into the proceedings with some lovable banter and riffs that have you reaching for the rizlas.

Panic Cell stick out like a sore thumb with their traditional meets nu metallic approach. Yet their call and response vocals get the crowd singing while managing to also have enough bite in the more guttural verses. They’re not the most extreme act on today’s bills but they’ll not be forgotten.

Minus the inclusion of former Hard To Swallow screamer Bloody Kev (who replaces the departed Frank Regan on vocals) and former Defenestration axe man Jay (who looks disturbingly emo in his tight jeans and pink laced trainers), Raging Speed Horn’s line up mix an unorthodox bunch. Yet numbers like 'Fuck The Voodoo Man' blow away any doubts that the ‘horn are unable to deliver the goods and numbers from new record Before The Sea Was Built are received with open arms as these Corby bruisers come out swinging.

With the party in full flow who better than Orange Goblin to truly light the touch paper with some whisky and beer soaked heavy metal anthems. Vocal giant Ben Ward is master of ceremonies and leads us through a set of balls out heavy metal that celebrates all the excess, sweat and power that rock ‘n’ roll has to offer. The greasy biker blues of tracks like 'Hounds Ditch' fit in perfect harmony with older gems like 'Blue Snow' and the untouchable 'Scorpionica', which threatens to bring the house down.

When Casey Chaos and his able band of session musicians take to the stage you would be hard pressed not to feel that it will take a real corker of a performance for Amen to win over the cynics in tonight’s audience. Thankfully Amen have both the abilities and the passion inside them to turn a curious throng into a partisan ensemble who lap up their violent and very gritty performance. Chaos himself may have put on a few pounds but it hasn’t dampened his lust to throw himself around the stage and deliver songs like the rampaging opener 'Coma America' with the reckless abandonment that they deserve. Stage driving, and the furious moshing that follows, show that Amen still have what it takes to start a riot.

Headlining trash legends Kreator are incendiary tonight. The German veterans’ take to the stage armed and dangerous and proceed to wow us all with striking renditions of tracks from their recent Enemy of God opus in addition to their stellar back catalogue. Vocalist/guitarist Miland Petrozza has the audience in the palm of his hand and numbers like 'Impossible Brutality' and 'Enemy of God' itself are greeted with the same adulation as classic numbers from the halcyon days of Pleasure To Kill. Gone are the trappings of experimentation with gothic and industrial styles as Kreator return to what they are best at delivering classic whirlwind thrash that has us all raising the flag of hate in salute to another fine day of Damnation.

• Event Information
• Damnation Festival 2007