The stars having aligned correctly and the goth festival season over it was with great joy that your the humble correspondent strolled the short distance to Leeds University and Damnation Festival 2017 - an appointment which where possible should be kept with extreme prejudice, as it represents unbeatable thrills and chills as one of the foremost extreme music festivals in Britain.
Disentomb kicked off proceedings on the
Terrorizer stage, providing pulverising riffs & death metal
growls in equal measure and setting the tone for a day of monumental
brutality. Meanwhile, slightly earlier than expected on the Eyesore
Merch stage Italian doomsters Psychedelic Witchcraft were making
their presence well and truly felt. Building on the mellow blues-rock
of their recorded output the band seems truly transformed on stage,
full of harder riffs and band leader Virginia Monti's bravado
performance behind the mic. Transformed with such striking
completeness. their vigour is almost too much for the early afternoon
crowd.
In contrast, Myrkur's live performance
doesn't really build on the quality of her recorded music. On record
her particular brand of ethereal banshee-metal is innovative and
uncanny, yet her live band comes across as almost disappointingly
orthodox, and prosaic. Although still a superior live band, their
performance leaves you wanted more of the angular, indefinable
thrills of her studio work.
West Yorkshire gothic legends Paradise
Lost return to a heroes' welcome, and despite some much-demonstrated
sound problems they turned in a flawless performance that took in old
classics like 'Enchantment' and a final rollicking 'Say Just Words',
this was a set worthy of a headliner and one that shows great things
still lay ahead for Cleckhuddersfax's finest.
Following such a set wasn't going to be
easy, but the Ruhr's Sodom prove more than up to the task. With their
stripped-down and sped-up barrage of riffs their high-octane
performance reminds the listener of a Motorhead on steroids, a
brutalised and streamlined thrash machine that is the perfect
counterpunch to the gloom of earlier sets.