Festival Preview: Damnation Festival – Sunday
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Tim Finch
Sunday will see a plethora of bands from the darker regions of extreme music, with main stage headliners, Norwegian legends, Satyricon, ready to bring the curtain down on the event for another year. Beginning back at the start of the Second Wave, the duo of Satyr and Frost took their obsession with the Middle Ages and turned it into the band’s first two records. Over time, Satyricon began pushing what Black Metal could be, issuing genre classics like Nemesis Divina, Now Diabolical and The Age of Nero. Shockingly, it’s been nearly a decade since the last record Deep Calleth Upon the Deep, and this appearance might signify new material is incoming.
Cult Never Dies stage headliner, eco-Black Metal warriors, Wolves in the Throne Room, seemed to catch lightning in a bottle back around the release of their third full-length, Black Cascade, spear-heading a movement which rejected the Satanic focus and looked toward the ideas of a relationship to the land itself. Built on lengthy passages of blasting drums and chainsaw guitars, this is bound to be a worthy companion to the events on the mainstage. Germany’s Ultha, will be getting a day’s rest after their show at the Night of Salvation, but will be an early mainstage act on Sunday; grandiose and overblown symphonics are the order of the day for Florida’s Worm, whose current album, Necropalace will challenge Dimmu Borgir for the most spectacular black metal release of 2026. Damnation does like its misanthropic black metal, with Nathrakh and Dragged Into Sunlight always ticking the right boxes, and Germans, Groza, look set to continue this tradition with their own nihilistic and atheistic rawness. Going back to the roots of the genre, Final Dose take the speed of Venom (RIP Cronos) and replace it with a primitive punk punch. Not to be outdone come Machukha, who explore the nether-reaches of hardcore and punk in their pursuit of black metal perfection.
It’s been eighteen years since British death metal legends, Benediction, last played at Damnation, and on that 2008 mega-bill you could also find both Carcass and The Berzerker; Ravages of Empire was in my Top Five Albums last year. Sadly, Dave Ingram has had to step away from vocal duties due to a health condition, which leaves the door open for Dave Hunt to step into the breach and pick up the mantal once more. You hear the phrase Swedish Death Metal and you instantly go to Entombed, Dismember and Bloodbath and, luckily, it’s the very place the Scandinavia war machine that is Lik want you to be. Chicago power-violence mob, Weekend Nachos put some killer grooves into their killer riffs and raw grind, landing just after everyone’s heads have been mashed by Igorrr.
And speaking of the avant-garde Frenchman, Igorrr make their Damnation debut on the back of the majestic Amen album and killer live shows. From extreme metal to the Baroque style of the eighteenth-century classical music, and from breakbeats to trip-hop, nothing is off the table for the band; expect a complete pummelling, both physically and mentally. Whether Tom G’s Triptykon are to continue with the Celtic Frost set, or to blend the old and the new is to be seen, but whatever happens, to see one of the Godfathers of the Extreme, in whatever capacity, is a mouth-watering prospect. Norway’s Shining make a third appearance at Damnation after a successful Bloodstock rendition of their Blackjazz album; it was a treat to see them that afternoon and it’ll be an equally sized treat to see them doing their thing in the intimate confines of the Meliora stage.
From just across the Channel come Belgians Slow Crush to close out the show with a deeply introspective and deeply emotional run through of their extensive Shoegazing catalogue. Also in from the low countries are Hippotraktor who finally get to bring their progressive and groove-laden post metal to Damnation after having to withdraw the other year. Bristol’s Sugar Horse are always a spectacle as they unfurl Shoegaze introspection with post-metal grandeur and crushing sludge intensity. And for all those already missing Crowbar and Eyehategod, there’s Californians noise merchants, Black Sheep Wall to mess with your noggin’ and Rotherham’s Swamp Coffin to give your Sunday and early boost.
I am not going to lie, but when Walls of Jericho were announced I shed a little tear of gratitude. The Detroit hardcore mob are known to thrash and to indulge themselves in a little metalcore from time to time, and their billing between Benediction and Triptykon could be one of the most intense few hours of the whole weekend; hopefully might even get some new material from the forthcoming System Error: Humanity album, arriving mid-November. Los Angeles screamo/ emo / melodic crusties, Lagrimas promise a different kind of intensity, but few people at the Bowler’s this weekend will need much of an introduction to Mastiff and their nihilistic blend of sludge and hardcore; Eyes, from Denmark have a distinctly grinding ambience to their hardcore and punk-adjacent thrashers Medulla Nocte will be showing off their most recent record A Conversation Alone as they open the Cult Never Dies stage.
Lou’s Brews Stage: SATYRICON / Igorrr / Triptykon / Walls of Jericho / Benediction / Ultha / Hippotraktor.
Cult Never Dies Stage: WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM / Weekend Nachos / Worm / Groza / Lik / Eyes / Final Dose / Medulla Nocte.
Meliora Software Stage: SLOW CRUSH / Shining / Black Sheep Wall / Lagrimas / Machukha / Sugar Horse / Mastiff / Swamp Coffin.
So, there you have it – a whistle-stop tour of the many delights awaiting us at Damnation 2026. There’re just too damn many highlights to chose from and you’d only find yourself missing someone important out.
Photo credits: Tim Finch
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