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.

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Sonic Blast Festival, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year, is an event that has, since its inception, played host to the stoner and doom metal genres’ finest roster of groups, and this upcoming 2022 event is no different. Performing at the festival this year-as announced in October of 2021-are legendary Dorset fuzz-pedal connoisseurs Electric Wizard, Nashville stoner/psychedelic rockers All Them Witches, Greek stoner metal band 1000mods, long-running North Carolina doom metal outfit Weedeater, and most recently, London heavy metal band Orange Goblin. After the 2021 festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, as was the case with many a festival around the world, Sonic Blast 2022 looks to be a great one indeed.

Orange Goblin, one of the most exciting recent additions to the line-up, have been at it since 1995, and since then, have put out a steady stream of records, commencing with 1997’s Frequencies from Planet Ten. The band’s latest album was 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back, a record which was well-received by critics and fans alike. Distorted Sound Magazine praised the group on their consistency and staying true to their sound, saying: “The Wolf Bites Back is potentially the most outstanding effort from the band in truly showing what they have got to offer. It’s nothing fancy, there’s nothing on there that makes it a one-trick pony, it is plain and simply an ORANGE GOBLIN album that has been amped up to 11.”

Orange Goblin has also been teasing some new music as of late, posting a picture of guitarist Joe Hoare on Instagram, accompanied by the caption: “Two weeks running in the rehearsal studio! That hasn’t happened for about 10 years but we have the best part of 4/5 new songs in the pipeline and we’re excited for the world to hear what we are cooking up!”

The band has a busy schedule ahead of them for 2022, with a whole host of tour dates and festival appearances, including Desertfest in London, New York and Berlin, Into The Grave Festival in the Netherlands, Barcelona Rock Fest in Spain and Steelhouse Festival in Wales. Full information for the group’s show schedule can be viewed here.