Metalheads and noise lovers across the continent will gather in the BEC Arena in Manchester on Saturday the 4^th November this year for Europe’s biggest indoor metal festival. This will be the 17^th year of the day festival first held in Jilly’s Rockworld in October 2005.

Iconic singer Julie Christmas’ set will be her UK exclusive this year at the annual festival. According to the festival’s Instagram post, “fans can expect to hear an eclectic mix of new and old solo material as well as Made of Babies and Battle of Mice gems”, during Christmas’ set.

Last month, Christmas delighted fans with her return to the scene releasing the post-metal song “Not Enough”.  The atmospheric scream-filled single is her first release since the space-themed collaborative album, Mariner, she worked on with Swedish metal band Cult of Luna in 2016 and her first solo work in 13 years. Listen to “Not Enough” below:

Undeath shared their delight at their upcoming Damnation debut with the festival saying, “Damnation has been a fest that we’ve wanted to play since we started Undeath a few years ago, so it feels surreal that we finally get a chance to tear it up with y’all in Manchester this fall. We can’t wait“.

Undeath played to sold-out venues on their 8-date UK tour earlier this year and will also be appearing at Download festival in Derby this June. Just over a year ago, the band released their second LP It’s Time… to Rise From the Grave to favourable reviews from Pitchfork and Kerrang!. See the full Download line up here.

Taking their loud and hypnotic sounds to the stage will be the three-piece Kurokuma. The band from Sheffield released their much-awaited debut album, Born of Obsidian, last year. The band shared the announcement on their Instagram with the caption, “New logo, new era, new show”.

Back in March, it was revealed that headlining the festival this year would be Dorset-based doom heroes Electric Wizard – returning to Damnation after seven years. The Norwegian black metal band Enslaved, Belgium atmospheric sludge band Amenra, and Japanese avant-garde metal band Sigh are also topping the bill. For tickets and more information click here.

Prices are continuing to soar for everything in this current climate, from food to shipping to tour buses this has meant bands have either had to rethink their touring obligations or just cancel entire legs of their tours altogether. It has affected other major bands such as Anthrax as well as many other acts. The band shared news of the cancellation via a statement on their social media which read “Due to previously unforeseen circumstances, including the recent cancelation of a festival, we are forced to cancel our fall Europe tour. Hope to see you all next summer. We’re sorry, and we’re here to answer any questions you guys have.” You can view the post in full below.

https://t.co/nds1dasExF#MinistryBand #WeAreMinistry #Ministry pic.twitter.com/KJlbi53ANj

— Ministry (@WeAreMinistry) October 3, 2022

News about the tour cancellation first came from organizers of the Damnation Festival in a Facebook post on the event’s official page, organizers said they had just received word that things were not going to go as planned. A post on the Facebook page for Damnation Festival stated:

“We’ve just been told, literally minutes ago by e-mail, that Ministry have cancelled their entire European tour due to a festival they were due to play on that run being cancelled without any warning. This is obviously a huge blow to Damnation, albeit not one that will have any impact on it taking place in Manchester in November. We haven’t really had a chance to digest the news, or even start to consider a replacement as yet, but we didn’t want our fans to find out via third parties, or worse, have Ministry fans buying tickets tonight when we know they won’t be playing.”

Hopefully this isn’t a continuing trend for much longer as fuel prices surely cant keep rising and Covid slowly becomes a distant memory otherwise it will be a long wait till we see some international bands arrive on our shores as even some bigger acts have struggled so it may be next to impossible for some of the smaller bands.

Having long been an event for those with more extreme palettes, Damnation Festival 2022 features a whole host of exciting heavy artists. First and foremost, headline sets will be performed by legendary industrial metal outfit Ministry, and the highly influential hardcore punk/metalcore titans Converge. In addition to this, the long-standing and well-revered American grindcore band Pig Destroyer will be playing at the festival, as well as death metal/grindcore group Full Of Hell, a band well known for encompassing almost all aspects of extreme music in their catalogue of work, including hardcore punk, powerviolence, death metal, sludge metal and noise rock. The band hails from Maryland, USA, and recently released their eighth full-length studio album Garden of Burning Apparitions, which sees the ambitious group taking their established sound in a more noise-rock driven direction. Check out the album here.

For those who gravitate towards the slower, more droning side of heavy music; the festival has you covered with a selection of some of the best doom/sludge metal bands out there, including Arkansas-based riff-masters Pallbearer-who will also be playing at ArcTanGent festival next year-as well as a collaborative set between Bell Witch and dark folk artist Aerial Ruin, who recorded an album together in 2020, entitled Stygian Bough Volume I.

Also on the bill are Canadian deathcore outfit Despised Icon, progressive/psychedelic rock band Elder, German thrash group Destruction, and renowned American black metallers Wolves In The Throne Room.

The festival is not all pummelling riffs and demonic growling however, as Australian post-rock band We Lost The Sea were recently added to the roster, joking on Twitter: “In fact, looks like we’re the only band that uses a clean tone”.

The announcement of the event comes mere weeks after Damnation Festival 2021 occurred, meaning that more acts will likely be announced in the coming months.

To re-iterate, Damnation Festival will take place at Bec Arena in Manchester on the 5^th of November 2022. More information about the festival can be found here, including the line-up, tickets, official Damnation Festival merchandise, and a link to the festival’s very own podcast, which features special guests such as band members and festival organisers. According to a tweet from Damnation Festival themselves, 2,000 tickets have presently been sold.