Welcome to the third installment in our Damnation previews, today is the turn of the PHD stage. According to the festival facebook page tickets are now getting very limited and they expect to be sold out by early next week. If you are planning to go and haven’t got your tickets yet, get them here now.
This stage kicks off at 1pm and first up is Liverpool 4 piece Corrupt Moral Altar. Despite only starting in 2012 the band released a demo and 2 EP’s and were quickly picked up and signed by Season Of Mist who released their debut full length “Mechanical Tides” in July this year. Mixing elements of punk, metal, grind, doom and sludge this should be a very noisy start to proceedings.
Find Corrupt Moral Altar on facebook here.
Next up is Atlantis from the Netherlands who started in 2006 “as a one man project combining soundscapes, metal, doom, noise,electronica and rock”. Now filled out to a full 6 piece live band they’ve released 2 EP’s and 3 full length albums including their latest “Omens” which came out on Burning World records last year.
Find them on facebook here.
3pm will see Leeds based home town favourites Black Moth bring their mix of Garage Rock and Psychedelica to Damnation. Formed in 2010, last month saw the release of their second album “Condemned to Hope” on New Heavy Sounds with unanimous praise coming in from the rock press. Having already smashed it at Temples Festival earlier this year and currently working their way through Europe on tour you can be sure they will make their last UK show of the year a banger.
Find them on facebook here.
At 16.15 Swansea based HARK will bring riffs, riffs and more riffs to Leeds. Formed out of the ashes of Taint, this latest beast from Jimbob Isaacs and company have recently been on the road through Europe with Ken Mode. Founded in August 2010, they are another Season of Mist signee, their debut album “Crystalline” coming out earlier this year. I challenge anyone out there to go watch them and not nod their head, it can’t be done!
Find HARK on facebook here.
Icelandic 4 piece Solstafir are up next with a 50 minute set starting at 17.40. Formed in 1995 they started out as a black metal band releasing 2 demo tapes “Í Norðri” and “Til Valhallar” and then in 2002 the “Black Death” EP. By 2005 and the release of their debut full length “Masterpiece of Bitterness” their sound had evolved considerably into something reviewers have found extremely hard to pigeon hole. The evolution continued with their next 3 full length releases “Kold”, “Svatir Sandar” and this year’s masterful album “Otta”. I can see this album making a lot of end of year lists, but yes it is very hard to describe. Previous albums have ended with with review like “a heavy version of Sigur Ros with a hint of The Cure filtered through Enslaved” or “Imagine if Nachtmystium, Alice In Chains, and Neurosis got hammered while listening to Entombed’s DCLXVI – To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak The Truth – it would sound something like this”. Catch them in Leeds and decide for yourselves!
Find Solstafir on facebook here.
Next up at 19.20 are Monarch, hailing from the areas of Bayonne and St Augustine in France. How do you describe this band live? Like a loud, claustrophobic, downtuned, crushing nightmare. I’ve only witnessed them twice before but both times came out with tinnitus and a sheer feeling of impending doom and anxiety. On album they are superb, but live the mix of Emilie’s echoed screams and your face and chest being pounded from the volume of noise eminating from the guitar cabs is jaw dropping. Prepare yourselves, this is not a show for those of a nervous disposition!
Find Monarch on facebook here.
The final band on the PHD stage is Ahab who formed in Germany in 2004. Their debut album from “The Call of the Wretched Sea” is an absolute must buy for any fan of Funeral/Death Doom. Their third album “The Giant” released on Napalm Recrords is a monstrous beast “inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s work The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym”. Damnation marks their second only live appearance in the UK, their first being in 2012 at the “Doom Over London” alldayer, so be sure to catch this rare UK performance between 21.10 and 22.20.
You can find Ahab on facebook here.
Check out our preview on the main stage bands here, and the Eyesore Merch stage here.
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