Noizze
After celebrating 20 years last year, Damnation is once again returning to Manchester’s BEC for two whole days of monster riffs and delightful misery, but as always, it’s bound to be one hell of a party too. With the likes of Cult of Luna, Satyricon, Eyehategod, Igorrr and Health topping the bill for this year’s Damnation, there are plenty performing who warrant no introduction. Instead, here are some of the lesser-known acts you really cannot miss. Words by Kevin Ashburn and Niall Creane.
Hundred Year Old Man
Hundred Year Old Man have the pleasure of being your first band of the weekend if Swamp Coffin and Wormed aren’t for you, gracing the Eyesore Merch Stage at midday on Saturday. Buckets of atmosphere and a growing sense of dread are where HYOM work their magic. Their unique approach to blending post-rock ambience with immense grooves and devastating riffs have the potential to be damn cathartic. Big sad? Big riffs. Absolutely not to be missed. – NC
Holy Fawn
Opening the Pins & Knuckles Stage on Saturday (12:30) ought to suit Phoenix, Arizona’s Holy Fawn. With their alluring blend of post-rock, shoegaze, extreme metal and electronica, their cinematic sadness sits right at the heart of the Damnation Venn diagram. This ought to kickstart the weekend perfectly for those who want to squeeze the absolute most out of their weekend. – NC
The Moth Gatherer
One of the strengths of this year’s Damnation line-up (and the festival as a whole) is the presentation of acts that very rarely, if ever, get a chance to play on these shows and it feels like this is a long time coming for Swedish post metallers, The Moth Gatherer in particular. Last in the UK as far back as January 2020, the band took a short hiatus and now seem to be back in full groove. Often lauded as cult heroes, their sound is built on a classic post-metal tension and release, with dense curated soundscapes that dance on the ear before breaking into the sonic equivalent of a mountain collapsing. Playing on the Saturday at 17:45 on the Eyesore Merch stage, this can be marked categorically ‘Do Not Miss’. – KA
John Cxnnor
Fans of MØL may be treated to the unmistakeable voice of Kim Song Sternkompf over on the Eyesore Merch Stage at 19:05 (Saturday). Frequent collaborators at this point, John Cxnnor will be offering up a unique experience for punters at Damnation. Their doomy glitch-hop industrial ought to be an audiovisual fantasmagoria for any who like their Damnation with a side of existential dread inducing electronica. Think Clipping. or Health and then add a double helping of the death metal. – NC
MØL
Speaking of the Danish blackgaze maestros, MØL are old hands at winning over festival audiences with their electrifying live sets. Sure to inspire a tear or two amongst the devoted and stern nods of approval from the newly acquainted with their soaring melodic black metal; The material from their critically acclaimed new album DREAMCRUSH is certain to dazzle over on the Eyesore Merch Stage on Saturday at 20:45. – NC
Sugar Horse
Sugar Horse are the UK’s most criminally underrated band. Check out this year’s stunning new album, Not A Sound In Heaven for proof (and our 9/10 review here). If The Cure were the heaviest sludge band you’ve ever heard, they would sound like Sugar Horse. Their intoxicating blend of big, nasty riffs and sombre electronic ambience is just perfect for a Sunday afternoon on the Meliora Stage. – NC
EYES
Also hailing from Denmark, EYES, over on the Cult Never Dies Stage (Sunday 14:35) have the horrible misfortune to clash with Sugar Horse. EYES sound somewhere between Frontierer, Refused and Mayhem. They combine extreme metal, hardcore, noise rock and crust-punk to electrifying effect. Their 2025 release Spinner was one of the best releases of the year, and we’d be remiss if we told you to do anything other than catch this set. – NC
Machukha
Coming from the Wiegedood and Oathbreaker school of abrasive Post-Black Metal, MACHUKHA are bringing their scintillating debut Mochari to this year’s Damnation line-up. Singing entirely in Ukrainian, the German/Ukranian metallers bring a fresh level of violent aural assault to a subgenre that often finds itself reverting to type. Sandblastingly abrasive and gloriously cathartic, it’s hard to see a world in which MACHUKHA don’t bring together every corner of the Damnation fanbase. MACHUKHA play the Sunday of this year’s Damnation festival at 15:55 on the Meliora Stage. – KA
Walls of Jericho
Battle jackets at the ready. 16:35 on the Lou’s Brews Stage (Sunday) feels like the perfect time to shake off that festival fatigue and rally for the final push, and what better way to do it than Walls Of Jericho with their no-frills, hardcore/thrash/metalcore hybrid. Seasoned veterans of the metal scene, their uncompromising approach to punishing you with their relentless riffs and seismic grooves feels like the perfect pick me up. Surely the best way to rejuvenate those tired legs and throw your hair about as the festival starts to wind down. – NC
Black Sheep Wall
It’s incredibly difficult to categorise Black Sheep Wall, and that’s all the more reason why you ought to go see them. Taking to the Meliora Stage on Sunday at 19:05, they are bound to bring buckets of Dillinger-esque energy to their nihilistic freak post-rock, sludge metalcore fusion. There will be filthy grooves and mathy riffs, there will be melancholy, there will be fury. Drawing from a whole big melting pot of influences, it will be abundantly clear to all why they inspire such a cult following. – NC
