DAMNATION FEST, LEEDS UNIVERSITY, NOVEMBER 3 2018

With Damnation 2023, in its new Manchester home, looming up on the horizon, here we go back to Leeds in 2018. As usual, it was a hefty mix of metal, featuring legendary names and bands you've never heard of in equal measure. And stuff in between, obviously.

Clearly, I couldn't see everything, so the line-up below features only those bands I did manage to catch. You'll have to forgive me if I have the pics mixed up a bit, it was a long time ago and I'm very old.  Also, there are no videos from this event. No idea why.

Line-up, in no particular order:

VOLA: Danish progressive metal.

https://www.facebook.com/volaband

ENTOMBED A.D.: Swedish death metal, formed by ex members of...ummm Entombed.

https://www.facebook.com/EntombedAD

HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN: Glorious soul crushing post-metal

https://www.facebook.com/hundredyearoldman

A FOREST OF STARS: Progressive metal from Leeds, with a fondness for Victorian imagery and silly names.

https://www.facebook.com/aforestofstars

CELESTE: French post black metal. You might remember them from the recent CORE fest post, but here they are in all of their dark and foggy glory, complete with those dinky little head torches.   

https://www.facebook.com/celesteband

CALIGULA'S HORSE: Australian progressive metal.

https://www.facebook.com/caligulashorseband

CANCER: Veteran British death metal.

https://www.facebook.com/goryend

ISAHN: Experimental progressive rock from Norway's own Vegard Sverre Tveitan, best known for being an Emperor, or something.

ROSETTA: American post metal/hardcore. One of my personal highlights of the day.

https://www.facebook.com/rosettaband

OHHMS: UK progressive doom/sludge.

https://www.facebook.com/OHHMStheband

NAPALM DEATH: English grindcore veterans. You might have heard of them.

https://www.facebook.com/officialnapalmdeath

CORE FEST, DAY 2, MARYHILL COMMUNITY HALLS/HUG'N'PINT, GLASGOW,AUGUST 19 2023

As the title might suggest, we've reached Day 2 of the Core Fest in Glasgow, and now we extend the territory to include the very compact Hug and Pint and the Radical Glasgow stage in the main building. A wide variety of genres, today, diving between hardcore and post-metal, noise rock and math-rock and something a bit blackened.

Line-up:

HAMMOK: Sweary but exhilarating Norwegian hardcore trio. The 'compact' Hug & Pint was made for this sort of thing.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/CLCGSOaZ03k   https://www.facebook.com/hammokband

UNIVERSITY: Unsettling and slightly unhinged math/noise from, I believe, Bristol. Or maybe Brighton. Or somewhere. Definitely somewhere. Used to be called CHEAP VODKA. Featuring a ski-masked man playing an X-Box.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/3jP71VBQhVY   https://www.facebook.com/cheapvodkaband

CWFEN: Witchy doom, pronounced 'Coven', playing in somewhat inappropriately bright daylight, because the Radical Glasgow stage has many windows but no curtains.

POTHAMUS: Hypnotic Belgian post-metal, with a very flexible guitarist.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/Mmt7ylmBCp8     https://www.facebook.com/Pothamus

h e a l t h y l i v i n g : I don't really know how to describe this band. They mix a lot of different genres - a bit doom, a bit post-rock, a bit goth, a bit indie, etc - all glued together by Amaya's stunning voice.This set was, for me, one of the festival highlights. That's not their usual bass player, by the way.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/zCcNoX0zfiA   https://www.facebook.com/healthylivingband

CELESTE: French post-black metal titans. Usually play in near darkness with only little red head lights, but not this time. 

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/_lMrSft_kSo   https://www.facebook.com/celesteband

'68  Rattling US rock'n' roll duo, featuring guitarist Josh Scogin, formerly of The Chariot and Norma Jean. Nice suits.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/zXUHOiXdJ6c   https://www.facebook.com/theyare68

CHAT PILE: Oklahoman sludge/noise rock. Chat, by the way, is a byproduct of the zinc mining industry, piles of which can be found around Oklahoma. If you wondered.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/KziU_mGe4J8    https://www.facebook.com/chatpileband

CUMGIRL8: New York post-punk/indie quartet. Sadly, there will be no video for this one due to YouTube's crippling fear of nipples.

https://www.facebook.com/cumgirl8

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR: Belfast post/math veterans. I first saw ASIWYFA in 2009, but somehow this is the only video I have of them. I think there might have been some on MySpace back in the day, but they've disappeared into The Void, and I've lost all of the original files.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/02r_Nc0QkaA    https://www.facebook.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar