Damnation Festival is a one-day

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

festival currently held annually at Bowlers Exhibition Centre.

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. It was held at held at Jilly's Rockworld in

from 2005 to 2006 and then

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England from 2007 until 2021. It is organised by Gavin McInally and Paul Farrington.

Damnation 2005

The first Damnation Festival was held on 16 October 2005 at Jillys Rockworld,

, England. There were fifteen bands over two stages, headlined by

Raging Speedhorn Raging Speedhorn are a British heavy metal band, founded in Corby, Northamptonshire. Career Raging Speedhorn were formed in 1998 from the merging of the bands Soulcellar and Box. The band quickly established itself as a major presence wit ...

and Entombed. Tickets for the inaugural festival were priced at £13.

Damnation 2006

The second annual Damnation Festival was held on 15 October 2006 at Jillys Rockworld,

, England. There were fourteen bands over two stages, headlined by

The Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

and

Akercocke Akercocke are an English extreme metal band from London, formed in 1997 by Jason Mendonça and David Gray. The band also features Paul Scanlan and Nathanael Underwood. History Akercocke's first album, '' Rape of the Bastard Nazarene'', was sel ...

. Tickets for the festival were priced at £15.

Damnation 2007

The third annual Damnation Festival was held on 20 October 2007 and saw the festival move to a new venue at

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

, England. There were eighteen bands over two stages, headlined by

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédér ...

and

Anaal Nathrakh Anaal Nathrakh are a British extreme metal band formed in 1999 in Birmingham by multi-instrumentalist Mick Kenney and vocalist Dave Hunt. They are currently signed to Metal Blade Records. The band's name is Irish for ''snake's breath'' ( anál ...

. Tickets for the festival were priced at £22.

Damnation 2008

The fourth annual Damnation Festival was held on 22 November 2008 and saw the festival move to another new venue at

, England. The change of venues allowed the festival to expand to three stages incorporating seventeen bands with headliners

Carcass Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to: *Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc. *Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being *The str ...

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and

Pitchshifter Pitchshifter are an English industrial rock band from Nottingham, formed in 1989. The band was started by lead guitarist and programmer Johnny A. Carter, and bassist and vocalist Mark Clayden. The band’s early material was characterized for ...

. Tickets for the festival were priced at £29. British band

were initially booked to play the festival in what would be their last show, however they later cancelled to take on a more lucrative final tour in Japan.

would make this show their only UK show on their comeback tour.

Damnation 2009

The fifth annual Damnation Festival was held on 24 October 2009 at

, England. The organizers have announced the festival would again cover three stages but open doors earlier to allow for more bands and less clashes across the stages. Headline acts for 2009 were

Life of Agony Life of Agony is an American alternative metal band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 1989 by singer Mina Caputo (then known as Keith Caputo), bassist Alan Robert and guitarist Joey Z. The band has released six studio albums to date, most ...

, Lock Up and Jesu.

's headline slot was their only UK appearance in 2009. This appearance was

Mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...

's last show and

Rotting Christ Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creati ...

's only English show for 2009. Negura Bunget and

Extreme Noise Terror Extreme Noise Terror (often abbreviated to ENT) are a British extreme metal band formed in Ipswich, England in 1985 and one of the earliest and most influential crust bands. Noted for one of the earliest uses of dual vocalists in hardcore,Bonn ...

were originally booked to play the Terrorizer stage but both had to pull out. Negura Bunget played a make up set in May 2010 at sister festival Deathfest. On 3 June Entombed were announced on the festival line up. On 23 June the bands management issued a statement announcing that the band would not appear at the festival.

Damnation 2010

The sixth annual Damnation Festival was held on 6 November 2010 at

, England. Again the festival covered three stages.

The Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan was an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of odd time sign ...

and

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

co-headlined the Jägermeister Stage, whilst

Discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

headlined the Terrorizer stage and

Alcest Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band membe ...

the Rock Sound Stage. Early bird ticket prices were £19 and full price tickets £27. * Festival organisers ran competitions to determine the opening bands for each of the three stages. The Construct won the competition for the Rock Sound stage 45% of the total 4000 votes cast. * The competition for the terrorizer stage ended in a dead heat and both Diascorium and Colonel Blast were given opening slots on the stage. * Mutant won the competition for the opening slot of the Jägermeister Stage.

Damnation 2011

The seventh annual Damnation Festival was held on 5 November 2011 at

, England. Again the festival covered three stages, with headliners Devin Townsend Project, Ulver and God is an Astronaut. Early bird tickets went on sale in December 2010 for £19.50 and full price tickets £29.

Decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...

were forced to pull out after surviving a plane crash. Returning from their US tour, the plane was forced to make a landing with no landing gear in their native Poland.

Damnation 2012

The Eighth annual Damnation Festival was held across three stages at the

student union,

, England, on Saturday 3 November.

Damnation 2013

The ninth annual Damnation Festival was held across four stages at the

student union,

, England, on Saturday 2 November. The event was headlined by

in their only UK headlining show of 2013 following the release of their new album.

Damnation 2014

The 10th Damnation Festival was held at

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

Union on Saturday 1 November and featured a total of 26 bands across four stages. The sold out event saw a crowd of approximately 4000 in attendance. Headliners for the event were UK death-metal act

Bolt Thrower Bolt Thrower were an English death metal band from Coventry. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. The band then shifted to a new record label, Earache Records, soon becoming one of the best selling b ...

who played their only UK performance for 2014 at the festival. October File were booked to play the festival but were forced to withdraw prior to the event, they were replaced by Dyscarnate.

Damnation 2015

The 11th Damnation Festival was held at

Union on Saturday 7 November and featured a total of 27 bands across four stages. The event was headlined by

At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Ga ...

Damnation 2016

Damnation 2017

Damnation 2018

Damnation 2019

Damnation 2020

Damnation festival was forced to be cancel in 2020 due to ongoing regulations around music venues during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Damnation 2021

Green Lung were originally booked to play the Eyesore Merch Stage but had to pull out due to a member of the band testing positive for

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. They were replaced by

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

Damnation 2022

The festival was held at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in

for the first time. The festival is now the largest indoor metal festival in Europe.

Ministry (band) Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1981 by producer, singer, and instrumentalist Al Jourgensen. Originally a synth-pop outfit, Ministry evolved into one of the pioneers of industrial rock and industrial ...

were originally booked to headline the festival but pulled out due to the cancellation of their European tour.

Godflesh Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gree ...

were announced as the replacement as well as four exclusive full album performances: *

Converge Converge may refer to: * Converge (band), American hardcore punk band * Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body * Limit (mathematics) * Converge ICT, internet service provider in the Philippines *CONVERGE CFD s ...

Jane Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

At The Gates At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Ga ...

Slaughter Of The Soul ''Slaughter of the Soul'' is the fourth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates, released on November 14, 1995. It was their last album before their eleven-year breakup from 1996 to 2007. ''Slaughter of the Soul'' is conside ...

Streetcleaner ''Streetcleaner'' is the debut studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 November 1989 through Earache Records and was reissued with a second disc of previously unreleased material on 21 June 2010. The album ...

Pig Destroyer Pig Destroyer is an American grindcore band formed in 1997 in Alexandria, Virginia. The band was formed by vocalist J.R. Hayes, guitarist Scott Hull, and drummer John Evans. Throughout the band's earlier history, they were a three-piece group u ...

Prowler In The Yard Prowler may refer to: * "Prowler", a song by Iron Maiden from ''Iron Maiden'', 1980 * Prowler (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics superhero * ''The Prowler'' (1951 film), a film starring Van Heflin * "The Prowler" (''Australian Playhouse''), an ep ...

References

External links

*
Official MySpace
{{Major British Music Festivals Heavy metal festivals in the United Kingdom Music festivals in Leeds Music festivals established in 2005 2005 establishments in England