Damnation Festival 2009

Greetings loyal subjects,

It has been a while since I decided to write a blog, due to the massive shift of people going to Facebook instead of using Myspace. Annoying really, as I quite like the camaraderie of Myspace and the meeting of new people on there (despite the problems that I have had with certain people). Probably another factor to the shift is down to the popular use of mobile Internet and the fact that Facebook is “cleaner to look at” on a mobile phone or Blackberry versus Myspace. I am not too sure.

Anyway, I digress.

I have decided to document my experiences of the Damnation Festival, which is held yearly at Leeds University. To those not in the know, this is an extreme metal festival that has three stages, with various bands playing. Due to it being held in the labyrinthine complex of a university building, it can be very easy for those breaking their Damnation Festival Virginity to lose their way around the place.

The Jagermeister stage is held upstairs, while the Rock Sound and the Terrorizer are down in the inner bowels of the building; notably, the Terrorizer stage is held in the Stylus room where The Wendyhouse and Rock of Ages nights are held. The Stylus room is a health and safety nightmare to the extreme lack of lighting. It can be alarmingly easy to fall “arse over tit” as a result in there. I am surprised that this particular room has got away with the lack of lighting, as I have tripped myself over some random person that was sitting on the floor while I was navigating around one night during my first outing on The Wendyhouse night. To those who are contemplating attending the Rock of Ages. Wendyhouse, or Damnation Festival night I recommend that they bring along a small LED key ring torch, to save yourself a mischief. Some people may argue that it provides a nice “Goth Ambience” to the place, but I disagree. They REALLY need to sort this out.

Due to the nature of scattered stages, and my preferences of bands in attendance, I cherry picked the following:

Nazxul (their UK gig debut, and an exclusive to the show)
Firebird
The Gates of Slumber
Electric Wizard
Mistress (their last show ever, watched half of the set waiting for Akercocke)
Akercocke
Rotting Christ
Therapy (viewed some of their set waiting for Life of Agony)
Life of Agony (view some of their set, and went off to see Lock Up)
Lock Up (some of their set viewed, due to watching previous band)



Nazxul:
I was at first initially worried about not getting to Leeds University on time, due to the time keeping of a certain person in attendance who is something of a “Time Bandit”. We had collectively gone out the previous night on an excursion around Bradford, with the last stop being at The Gasworks, “keeping it easy” so we weren’t too bollocksed for the next day.

Despite traffic getting to the place, we got there without a hitch. We discovered the previous night that Negura Bunget had pulled out due to the singer having Laryngitis, which had bought some time for others playing on the Terrorizer stage. Which meant that Naxzul played at around 1400-1430hrs or so, and I missed none of their set as a result.



As mentioned previously, it was Nazxul’s debut live appearance in this country. A finely polished, and clean – nearly clinical live sound. You could be forgiven for thinking that this band comes from deepest, darkest Scandinavia, due to their particular brand of 1349/Darkthrone/Immortal-esque icy black metal bombast. Not so, as they hail from Australia, a very large landmass below the equator. Known for such exports like the Holden/Vauxhall Monaro sports car, Fosters lager, and AC/DC to name examples. Corpse painted, and sounding “Grimmmmm” with a capital G, they tore the stage a second arsehole, with Luke Mills pacing up and down the stage in a red robe bearing the obligatory inverted crucifixes. A fantastic debut, and I only hope that they return to this poxy island in the North Atlantic very soon.



Stand out tracks worthy of note were: “Dragon Dispitious”, and “Black Wings”



Firebird:
Next up, on the Jagermeister stage, was Firebird. Featuring Bill Steer, who was famous for playing guitar in the legendary Scouse grindcore outfit Carcass. A complete and total departure from his extreme metal ex-day job, with a blues rock sound that reminded me heavily of The Black Crowes, and reminiscent of 70’s rock bands such as Cream.



They were an interesting, and refreshing diversion to the usual bands on the Damnation Festival line up. They are a band that I knew of for a while, but have only discovered relatively recently. To be perfectly honest, they are a band that I wish I discovered earlier. Bill Steer has particularly strong vocals that reminded me very much of Chris Robinson from The Black Crowes, that work very well and are a complete departure from the back up vocal styles he used on the Carcass albums “Symphonies of Sickness” and “Necroticism, Descanting the Insalubrious”. If you like your classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Cream, early Black Sabbath and the like then you shouldn’t be able to fault Firebird.



Stand out tracks worthy of note were: “Black Flame, and “Jack The Lad”.

The Gates of Slumber:
I decided to give The Gates of Slumber a whirl, purely on the basis of making damn sure that I got a decent viewing of Electric Wizard. Therefore, after Firebird I more or less decided to stay in the immediate vicinity.



This particular band, is of the Doom Metal variety, reminding me of Cirith Ungol, and Saint Vitus. Which, in my book, is certainly not a bad thing. The Doom Metal genre is something that I quite like, and I thorough enjoy St Vitus, Trouble, Electric Wizard, and Cirith Ungol. I have to say, I knew of the name but I had certainly hadn’t heard any of their output and certainly haven’t seen them in the live environment.



For some strange reason, the vocalist and guitarist Karl Simon reminded me of a biker version of the guy from the program “The Real Hustle”, but the band certainly delivered the goods and sounded great live. I wish that I had discovered them before, and this wouldn’t be the first time that I wished this as we shall see further into the realms of this blog. They have certainly gained a new fan, that’s for sure.



Stand out track worthy of note: “Trapped In The Web”

Electric Wizard:
Now, we were definitely getting somewhere. The last time that I went to see Electric Wizard was in the Manchester Academy, in the small cupboardy room that is accessed via a very scary metal spiral stair case, something that isn’t recommended ascending or descending if you happen to suffer from Vertigo.



Unfortunately, their set in this particular venue was plagued by a technical hitch. Due to the band’s preference of using 1970’s electronics and amplification, they had melted a speaker wire, which had screwed up their set by ten minutes. As a consequence, I wanted to see their set in its entirety, due to the problems that plagued that Manchester gig.



I am pleased to say that all went very well indeed, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable set that mainly appeared to centre around. The sound was epic to say the least, a mind melting blur of ultra distorted doom where one track and the next appeared to have no beginning, or end (apologies for any vagaries with regards to the stand out tracks).



The quartet of Oborn, Buckingham, Taz, and Butler having a particularly striking presence that reminded me of that Hammer Horror film. I can’t recall the name, but it was based around a biker cult where they became the un-dead after some form of ceremony, where they died in various instances such as a motorcycle crash, and one drowning themselves in a river. Feel free to remind me what the film was called, naturally.

Stand out tracks worthy of note: “Dunwich”, “Dopethrone”, and “Funerapolis”

Mistress:
In anticipation of Akercocke and Rotting Christ playing the Terrorizer stage, I managed to watch half the set of Mistress. I had only discovered this band on that night, having previously not known of them before.



Unfortunately, I discovered that the Damnation Festival appearance was to be their last ever show, as Dave Cunt and his merry band of men have decided to call it a day. Which I can only assume must be devastating news for its very loyal fans, which were merrily leaping around the place like migrating Salmon on amphetamines, circle pitting as if it was the last day on earth. I haven’t witnessed such a feral mosh pit since the likes of when I attended Slayer, and the now defunct Stamping Ground who I have seen supporting Chimaira.



Their sound is of a distinctly grimy nature, mixing punk, doom, sludge, and grind elements, and reminds me very much of the likes of Hatebreed but distinctly harsh and nastier, but in a very pleasing sense of the definition of metallic musical heaviness.

There were many stage divers observed, and on quite a few occasions the delightfully named Dave Cunt was observed giving some of the stage dive-e’s a cheery kick up the arse back into the sea of writing bodies in the audience. A lot of fun for all involved, and it’s a crying shame that such a band has decided to call it a day. They will be sorely missed, and I feel deeply privileged to have witnessed their last gig.



Akercocke:
As far as I was concerned, we were reaching the cream of the bands. One of which, in my humble opinion was the mighty Akercocke.



I decided on being right at the front, to witness Jason Mendonca and his merry men proper up close and personal. This was a band that I have wanted to see for a very long time, but constraints on geography (e.g. being too far away from my locale) had thwarted any plans. This time, I had the good fortune to see them. The line up has altered from that of a few years ago, with Matt Willcock (ex The Berzerker) now filling in for guitar duties to replace Peter Theobolds.



Despite this, the band certainly delivered the goods and a reasonably good mosh pit formed behind me. Their particular blend of blacked death metal (or is that deathened black metal?) going down a treat with the fans.

Stand out tracks worthy of note: “Verdelet”, “A Skin For Dancing In”, “Praise The Name of Satan”.



Rotting Christ:
Next in the line up on the Terrorizer stage were the mighty Greek black metallers Rotting Christ. This was also band that I have wanted to see for a very long time. In fact, some time ago I distinctly remember that they were supporting Decapitated in Manchester – but my sense of geography is shit so I didn’t try to find out where the venue was, unfortunately.



Anyway, I decided to stay right at the front, and basically didn’t go anywhere as soon as Ackercocke finished as I wanted to witness the potential of the band up close, and personal. Their unique Greek flavoured black metal went down a storm with the fans, with a fairly active pit forming behind me with equal enthusiasm and gusto.

The only fly in the ointment, was a brief altercation with some random guy from the southern counties having a rant about my anti vegetarianism, who felt that he had to provide some input when I was discussing with my good friend Death Metal Daria the negatives of having a herbivorous diet – sparked off by my sentiment that I would declare vegetarianism as illegal if I were to become prime minister.



To which, I basically quoted that as far as I was concerned the human body is not designed for this diet, notably with having canine teeth and an unused appendix. Not forgetting the basic irrefutable fact that the vegetarian friends that I know always seem to be susceptible to various illness and maladies than their omnivorous contemporaries. Topped off with that we will “agree to disagree, and to watch the band instead of enter an irrelevant debate”, which had silenced a potential face off.



Stand out tracks worthy of note: “Athanatoi Este”, “Non Serivam”.

Therapy:
Now, this was certainly a strange one. Now, let me get this straight; Damnation Festival is a Festival that is held for bands of the more extreme nature of the metal spectrum. The inclusion of Therapy was indeed, a very strange one. Nevertheless, there was a sizeable quantity of people in attendance on the Jagermeister stage. I had only watched them play a handful of tracks as I was waiting around to see some of Life of Agony’s set.



The band produced a fairly decent effort on stage, and performed pretty well – even though this kind of thing isn’t really “my bag” as it were. I hovered at the back of the room with Count Varg, Yorkshire Mark, and Death Metal Daria and hung out with them while watching the band with a somewhat passive interest.



Stand out track worthy of note: “Screamager”.



Life of Agony:
Now, this was a band that was certainly hotly anticipated. They haven’t played in the UK for quite a few years, so I am lead to believe. They were certainly met with a rapturous reception, with a set list that appeared to centre mostly on their début album “River Runs Red”. Something of which, is certainly not a bad thing in my book, as I don’t think they have been able to equal this album since.



I did feel very privileged to see this rather legendary band, and they were certainly one of the better bands that were in the line up for this year’s festival. Keith Caputo leading the crowd with aplomb, and from a distance sporting a barnet bearing a resemblance to a 1970’s Ozzy Osboure, or was it just me?



I watched a few of their tracks, and then decided to enter the bowels of the building to see Lock Up, the “super project” featuring members from Napalm Death, and At The Gates.



Stand out tracks worthy of note: “River Runs Red”, “This Time”.

Lock Up:
This particular band were the headliners of the Terrorizer stage, located deep within the bowels of the building in the room that hosts The Wendy House and Rock of Ages nights.



They were also a band that I had never witnessed before. An intriguing combination, featuring Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Nick Barker (Old Man’s Child, Cradle of Filth etc – he has been the drummer in numerous bands), Tomas Lindberg (At The Gates, now with a short back and sides barnet instead of the ginger dreads of yore), A band, that describes themselves as “mid eighties Thrash and Death Metal mixed with sixteen pints of Vodka and Red Bull”.



They were a good band, but sometimes I couldn’t help but feel it was a project band for projects sake. These so-called super groups can be an intriguing prospect, and in other instances it can be a case of having too much spare time on their hands (Fantomas springs to mind). Nevertheless, their delightfully grimy and crispy shredding went down a storm with their fans, and it was quite an enjoyable conclusion to the end of the night’s proceedings, reminding me of a Napalm Death-esque band fronted by that dude from At The Gates.



The Night Draws To a Close, and “My Kebab Son”:
We decided to stick around for the after show party, which had some fairly decent music played earlier on (Finntroll, Satryicon, At The Gates, Carcass, to name a few examples) before it descended into hair metal hell, something of which I found rather worrying. After all, there are plenty of nights that seem to pander to a hair metal disposition, so why ruin the play list with a load of poodle haired twaddle?

Anyhow, it appeared that quite a few people were too pissed to give a shit, but it was not to my taste. I mean, an extreme metal band after show party should have a play list that is packed to the gills and bursting with extreme metal goodness, and NOT, I repeat, NOT filled with poodle haired wankery. Amusement was provided by me trying to chomp through ice cubes that were in glasses of tap water to re-hydrate the body and mind. Not a good idea, seeing as I have sensitive teeth but I was spurred on by Count Varg deeming me to be a wimp!

The night ended at 0200hrs, where time went backwards one hour due to the end of British Summer Time. It’s a strange thing when that happens, and I have noticed that whenever a night out is planned it always seems to clash with the clocks going forward, or backwards when applicable. A bit of a confusing thing, as it leads to “real time”, and “pretend time” – the proper time where the clocks have gone forward or back, and the definition of time where you haven’t wound your clocks forward or back. Fortunately, universally all taxi firms only adopt the time alteration at something like 0600hrs in the morning, or thereabouts.

To polish the night off, some beer food was the order of the night. Thanks to Yorkshire Mark’s housemate, he managed to order what we refer to as a “Dead Cat Kebab”, as the previous night the establishment known as Curry Master in Cleckheaton had closed by the time we got back home from Gasworks the previous night.

The “Dead Cat Kebab”, as it has been dubbed by my friends, is called this because the actual weight of the thing in a carrier bag is roughly equal to that of a full grown cat been carried in a carrier bag. And not actually made from dead cats, well, at least we hoped so anyway, if it were made from dead cats we would be too pissed and too hungry to give a shit. The diameter of the kebab folded up is something to behold; a good 4 inches thick and stuff chock full of donner meat, various vegetable matter and sauces.



We decided on a competition, too see who could eat the most of the kebab, or even finish it (which might have resulted in one of us dying, and/or throwing up due to “intestinal rebellion”). A video of this event has been published on my Facebook and Myspace for “viewing pleasure”. Shaun joked that the kebab was as big, if not bigger than Dave, and he dubbed the kebab “his kebab son”. And I further joked that he was using “fly tactics” to eat the kebab. As a fly stomps around on its food, covers it in bile and juices, and sucks the food matter up via its proboscis.

I had got through approximately 60% of the kebab, and just basically got stuck into the beast but decided to call it a day. Shaun had decided to weigh the kebabs eaten by me, and Dave Taxidude, and it turns out that Dave’s was the lightest. Which, you would believe would be declared the winner.

Not so, as far as I am concerned.

Why? You may ask. Well, the following morning (and a somewhat foolish decision), I decided to eat the remainder of the kebab, making sure that I “nuked the fuck out of it” in the microwave. 10% of the kebab was left, and decided that this was far too grim to be breakfast and chucked the remainder of it away. Now, the thing is, we will never know what had happened to Dave’s kebab as he wrapped it up in tin foil and put it in his rucksack. He declared that “there is a time and a place for a kebab, and having one for breakfast isn’t one of them”.

Therefore, I discussed this with Sean via a Facebook comment, and declared myself to be the winner. As there was evidence that I ate a sizeable quantity of the kebab, and neither myself, Sean, nor Yorkshire Mark saw the remainder of Dave’s kebab. For all we know, he may have thrown it away and never ate the rest of it.

And thus, concludes my blog.

Greetings to the following peeps who attended (By Myspace pseudonym):
Death Metal Daria
Count Varg
Havoc Claudia

And many thanks to Yorkshire Mark, and Sean, for putting up with me and Dave Taxidude quarrelling like a married couple.

Next stop…WHITBY GOTH WEEKEND.

STAY TUNED!