Damnation Diamonds: Lagrimas and Machukha

Damnation Diamonds: Lagrimas and Machukha

Damnation Festival has always been a place to discover something new, with its line-up offering plenty of opportunities to step outside your usual listening habits. While the big names will inevitably draw the crowds, some of the most rewarding sets can come from the bands you know little about before walking through the doors. With this in mind, today we look at two gems buried deep in Damnation’s line up, two bands you MUST check out!

Lagrimas

Formed in 2019, Lagrimas emerged from the DIY punk scene of South Central Los Angeles, initially playing backyard shows before building a wider audience through recordings and touring. Their bio might suggest a straightforward crust punk outfit, but there is considerably more going on beneath the surface. Their music combines the speed and aggression of hardcore punk with the emotional intensity of screamo, drawing on post-rock to introduce sweeping guitar melodies and more expansive passages. The result is a sound that can be as bleak and abrasive as it is strangely beautiful, balancing the raw energy of underground punk with a strong sense of melody.

For those heading into their Damnation set, expect more than a relentless barrage of distorted guitars and pounding drums. Their sound should appeal to fans who appreciate the crossover between crust punk, screamo and the more atmospheric edges of extreme music, particularly those who enjoy bands that put as much feeling into their music as they do aggression. With their roots firmly planted in the DIY scene, there is an unpolished immediacy to what they do, but the melodic elements give their songs a wider emotional reach. For anyone unfamiliar with the band, this is an opportunity to discover a group that makes heaviness feel as cathartic as it does confrontational.

Machukha

Machukha are a Berlin-based quartet whose music draws on Ukrainian identity and combines black metal and hardcore punk into a sound that is hostile. Their name translates from Ukrainian as “stepmother”, and their debut album, Мочарі (Mochari), introduces a band through music that feels raw. Ukrainian-language vocals are central to their identity, adding another layer of intensity to the band’s blend of tremolo-picked guitars, punishing rhythms and hardcore aggression. Rather than sticking to the conventions of any single genre, Machukha move between the bleak atmosphere of black metal and the direct, physical force of punk. They are a band with plenty to say, and their music delivers its message without sacrificing the sheer impact of the sound itself.

The live setting should be where Machukha’s combination of atmosphere and aggression really comes into its own. There is a rawness to their approach that should appeal to fans of blackened hardcore and extreme punk, particularly those who like their music to carry emotional weight alongside its ferocity. For Damnation attendees, Machukha offer the chance to catch a band bringing a distinctive perspective to the underground heavy music scene, and one whose set could prove to be among the weekend’s most intense discoveries.

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.