Damnation Festival – Leeds University 7/11/15

A quick meet up with friends who would not be seen again all day in the sprawl of four stages, a mass of people and 27 bands and it’s time to go charging around and trying to watch and cover as many of them as possible. Damnation festival is always a great day out but still one hell of a hectic one and even having been to the venue lots of times I still managed to find myself pitching up to see a band on the wrong stage a couple of times during the course of the event.

Thankfully right place and right time sees first group of the day The King Is Blind battering away on the Terrorizer stage. The East Anglian mob hold the accolade of being the first band signed to newly reformed Cacophonous Records and power out the speakers with opening number ‘Devoured’ bruising away. It takes a while to get used to the sound and there’s a choppy almost metalcore ballast about their abrasive death metal sound at first. With members having done time in classic UK acts such as The Blood Divine, Entwined and Cradle Of Filth they were always going to be an interesting proposition but it took me a while to suddenly realise the bassist Ceri Monger is also in one of my favourite bands New Model Army! Not like I haven’t seen him on stage before. TKIB are a totally different prospect from all the aforementioned though and really for me come into their own on Mourning Light, slowing the pace to a doom laden crawl and building slowly into a molten morass completely grooving down with grandiose precision. By complete contrast the whiplashing shred of ‘For All The Daemons Are Here’ has plenty of ferocity about it bolstered by ravenous vocals, death blasts and a galloping beat. At least everyone was awake now and I don’t know about blind, the king is probably deaf now too! (PW)

1000 people less this year or not it’s still a battle to find room to breathe in the smaller tunnel shaped Electric Amphetamine Stage for Oxford riot doomers Undersmile. Having been intrigued to catch them live after last album Anhedonia though it was worth the battle towards the front drawn by lumbering riffs which are merged with massive spine chilling yells from the combined vocals of Taz and Hel. Musically and lyrically we are well and truly dragged down to the depths by ‘Atacama Sunburn’ which suggests a watery grave ‘where the weeds grow thick.’ This has you held in a trance swaying to the unhurried beat before the venomous and indignant yells slap you round the face and knock you silly. It’s an interesting contrast that kind of made me want to perhaps somewhat un-pc wise refer to the band as Babes In Droneland. At their gentlest the group are completely entrancing and thankfully with much needed pint I felt soothed by long meandering instrumental passages before jumping and spilling half of it as the drums suddenly thwack in and heaven drops me right down into hell’s fiery backyard.  A slight break between tracks adds uncomfortable tension and the band only have time to play a few numbers with everyone pretty much standing on tip-toes trying to get a better view. I think I will definitely make a return trip to appreciate Undersmile more in a less crowded environment. (PW)

Hands up who has heard of Wiegedood a black metal trio from Belgium and who has their debut album De doden hebben het goed?  Well at a guess only a minute fraction of the people crammed into the Terrorizer stage area. I have, we reviewed the album and I liked it on couple of listens that I have had time for. Nothing prepared me for them live though and the band proved one of the finds of the festival for many. Guitarist stage left Giles saw me looking through lens as they tuned up and cheekily flipped me the finger and then shortly after the band didn’t start to play as such but literally exploded into a thick and devastating multi-layered charge that pretty much took our heads off. Opener of again the three hefty songs they had time to play ‘Kwaad Bloed’ literally flattened everything in the immediate vicinity. The drummer is hidden and the two at the front loom out from an icy fog of blood red lighting vocalist Levy rasping away and strumming furiously. This is black metal of the dragged through a hedge backwards variety. I guess you could lazily reference the likes of Wolves In The Throne Room in context for some comparison as it abrasively bites in and it sounds fantastic, every note replicated in the mix making it all the more powerful. There is a variation in the sonic delivery as it progresses with some depressive facets giving further depth and atmosphere to the performance. Track are massive and epic and I found myself as did others rooted to the spot as it continued in a dizzying and dextrous display of rigid riffing. This was a totally explosive and frenetic display and one that won’t be forgotten in a hurry, the album is going to need a lot more listens after this. (PW)

By the time it hit 14:30 and I’d finally got myself in some working order (i.e on to pint #4) Savage Messiah were about to hit the main stage. Whenever I attend Damnation, I always make a point of catching the thrash band as usually the number of thrash bands or the quality of thrash on offer at events like this usually decides whether I will attend or not. With the likes of Kreator, Destruction, Evile and Sabbat all playing this festival, Savage Messiah were the next to grace the stage and from the opening bars of “Iconocaust” you just knew it was going to be good. With a real classic Thrash sound, hailing back to the heavier spectrum of the 80’s style, the four piece blitzed through their set with tremendous power and volume. People who were outside were drawn in by the window-rattling performances and were blown away by it. The one downside though were the guitars. The vocalist’s guitar didn’t seem high enough in the mix so a fair few of the leads in the set were hard to hear unless you got into a sweet spot somewhere. Still, what you could hear was solid, no nonsense fast paced thrash and by the time the closing track “Majority Of One” came on, the room had a decent sized crowd and was informed that a new album is on the way.  Afterwards, some people remarked that the sheer sound of the rhythm section was what lured them away from the bar and those who are picky about their thrash seemed impressed too. All in all, despite some sound hiccups, a good start to my day. (Fraggle)

We may well be in Leeds but there is no escaping the smog and chaos of London as Voices return to Damnation and set about putting on one of their scary exhibitions on the Terrorizer stage. No strangers to us and indeed delivering my favourite album of last year it’s always a pleasure to see them in action and as they swagger into ‘The Actress’ I stand watching Sam Loynes twist and turn into contorted shapes as he devilishly mangles his guitar into notes that should never really be played  for human consumption. The jagged riffs surge and seethe into the likes of ‘Vicarious Lover’ and Pete Benjamin acts as possessed forcing all sorts of sounds from his vocal chords again sounding demonic and completely off the scale of comprehension for anyone who has never encountered them before. A slight break has to occur as the bass monitor goes awol for a while and when it thickly strums back in there roar of appreciation from the gathered throng of patrons. We are taken through the streets of desperation that is our home town with various thick black emotions, shimmering guitars and clean vocal chants and the effect is absolutely stunning as always with this lot. ‘The Fuck Trance’ is huge and ‘House Of The Black Light’ as frightening as anything ever put to musical form. Building up to ‘Last Train Victoria Line’ we are left stranded by this story of spurned love and seriously in need of a pause and sit down to recover. Unfortunately having done just that all I heard for the rest of the day was just how good Oathbreaker were, doh! (PW)

Up next for me were Sea Bastard down on the Electric Amphetamine stage. This part of the venue has a fantastic sound given how confined it is, but at the same time, it is such a nightmare to get too given the maze of stairs and corridors you have to traverse. Still, making it in there and picking a spot overlooking the floor area with a pint in hand, I was ready. The four piece from Brighton made a colossal noise during their very brief and final soundcheck and by the time they started up it was just crushing. With a fantastic stage presence and a real imposing image and sound to match, they laid waste to the crowd with some seriously meaty, pulverising sounds. Harsh controlled feedback, pounding bass and drums which made the floor vibrate to some extent and harsh sounding vocals all combined to a slow pace which felt like being hit by a sledge hammer repeatedly. It was horribly miserable and that’s just the way doom should be. Thunderous sound, harsh vocal screams and a rich tone were delivered with such ferocity that they could easily be considered the heaviest band of the day in terms of volume alone. Taking the time to treat us to some new material in the form of “The Hermit”, Sea Bastard channelled the spirit of Sleep ala ‘Dopesmoker’ with some phenomenally slow and crushing riffs with even more intense vocals, bringing a rather delightful feeling of despair. After that, well, it was time to refuel and wait for the next band on my list. (Fraggle)

Ah Vreid here we are again, same stage, same festival, same déjà vu of me trying my best to get enthusiastic and attempt to bounce about to your Norse heathen cleave. Yet again though I fail dismally and after seeing so many great performances so far today cannot find anything particularly enthusiastic to say about you. The band are no strangers to England in fact they play here all the time and perhaps that is part of the problem especially when acts like Kampfar who have not played this festival and have an absolutely storming new album could have been here instead.  Vreid too have new material and open with Når byane brenn from album Sólverv. The Norse tales of this and older numbers such as ‘Raped By Light’ go down well with most who are happy to jig about down the front, pump fists and shout out ‘hoy, hoy, hoy’ along with the band but I just fail to find a spark about this and to be honest the band look like they are pretty much going through the motions, maybe due to being part way through a long tour cycle. It’s not that they do anything particularly wrong but try as I might connecting with them is just a fruitless task and Pitch Black or not it’s time to go and look for other shades of darkness. (PW)

So The Ocean a band I have never really explored and one that have a vast body of work. This was going to be my first encounter and I had only a fleeting idea of what to expect. We get a post rock sort of submersion into things as the band take to the stage and I stand there and count the bodies, there are plenty of them. It’s a mellow start everything creeping up on us via Rhyacian: Untimely Meditations. Mediate is exactly what I find myself doing enjoying the soothing sounds and the stark lighting on the stage. It’s a bit jazzy at times and all etched in a noir hue if that doesn’t sound too pretentious. A cello player captivating sitting there playing and caught in shining back light and there’s plenty to capture attention both musically and visually. When vocalist Loïc Rossetti unleashes things at full range and stomps around on the monitor the fierceness kind of catches of guard and the band have flowed between moodiness to something much more in the face. The popularity of the band had proceeded them and as things continue I can see why as they have a sophistication about them that has plenty of appeal about it. They allowed me to feel like I was catching my breath for the first time today and totally absorb the sound and style of the 7 players as it changed and sculpted around me. Atmospheres both mellow and choppy like the large bodies of water their name represents twist and turn through their musical collages. At times vocally on numbers like ‘Demersal: Cognitive Dissonance’ things adopt a hardcore stance but not in any way with arm behind back antagonism more subtle, hitting hard but doing so with a certain finesse. The main stage suits them well with a full bodied stadium sound filling it up at full mast. Like a sponge at deepest depths I did feel fully absorbed and certainly enjoyed my first trip to this particular Ocean. (PW)

Unlike the other Noctum folk who witnessed The Ocean, I wasn’t impressed. Whilst the hype around them may have tipped my curiosity and the clever and intricate arrangements of their opening number might have sounded initially ok, I just couldn’t take to them. Vocally it didn’t work for me so instead, halfway through the first track, I opted to venture down to the Electric Amphetamine stage once again to catch the other band who were on at the time GHOLD. By the time I’d managed to fight my way down there, given how it was later into the day and the venue had more people in there, the room was rather packed and the band were already in full swing. Being greeted with some real pounding, meaty sounding riffs and copious amounts of filthy groove, I was hooked right away! There was a real buzz about this performance and that only grew in intensity as the music did, breaking into bursts of fuzzed out booming goodness and some tremendous sounding drums. With a real primal and raw feel to them and some extremely loud sounds to match, my choice to leave The Ocean was justified. Employing a similar vocal styling to Al Cinseros from Sleep/Om, (that shouty-chant thing he does) but over something more groove laden and upbeat, the three piece really hammered away with some crushing sounds and the tiny Electric Amphetamine stage, despite its drawbacks of being a bitch to get to and rather dark was the perfect place for GHOLD to ply their massive sounding riffs. (Fraggle)

Right it’s a bit confusing but after breaking up in 2013 Altar Of Plagues have now got back and are playing some farewell shows? I think that’s correct and with the one real annoying clash of the day for me it means absolutely having to watch them and miss Keep Of Kalessin. There is no doubt in my mind as the trio tune up in moody lighting and the thick sound of drums reverberate and shake the place around that I have made the right choice. The opening salvo of ‘Mills’ and ‘God Alone’ that track with the video dance routine is nothing short of staggering and sounds spot on precise and fully virulent full of the teethed glory and no doubt causing a few injuries behind me as the album title fully anticipated. The dynamic is nothing short of jaw dropping, green and white strobes pulsate and keep up with the velocity of the controlled sound making it all the more potent. It actually makes a change to see the band for once as it is normally a dark environment on stage that they perpetuate and despite the fact that there is not a huge amount of movement from the front two players it still spins the senses out along with the burgeoning heaving musical tumult. After this the singer leaves the stage and we get a ringing sound of feedback before he eventually comes back. I guess it was due to technical problems but it serves up all the more tension and expectation for them to continue which they do in style exploding into another twisting mass of layered guitar contusions, shrieks and muscular drumming. If this indeed does see Neptune and Altar Of Plagues dead there is no denying that they have gone out in style. The band go into complete overdrive and the churning whirlwind whipped up here for the next 20 minutes or so (well that’s what it feels like) left us all in pieces. The arid gun-slinging ‘Twelve is Ruin’ is a complete contrast leaving mouth dry as it trembles away and inevitably explodes. I was hoping for one absolutely fantastic set today and this proved one of many and the next lot were going to keep the momentum up too.

Last year Solstafir proved so popular the stage area had to operate a one in one out door policy meaning they have been invited back and upped to the main stage. As the Icelandic cowboys take up position looking like the epitome of cool there is an air of expectation around. They have left me with a bit of a foul taste after the still not fully explained drummergate debacle earlier this year but musically as they open with Dagmál from their last fantastic album Ótta it is the music that wins through along with the performance. Singing in Icelandic and with the words rolling off his tongue Aðalbjörn Tryggvason is as usual not content with the stage area and jumps up on the monitor stacks and stomps around flamboyantly, something the audience naturally eat up. As the title track arrives the banjo comes out to and adds to the chilly hypnotic tones of the music. It’s got an air of mystery about it all and transports us off to frosty ice-capped climates to sway around and get caught up in the atmosphere. We may not know the words but everyone has a damn good attempt at singing along to them and it’s a glorious and uplifting affair. After totally chilling us out we are promised a heavy metal song as apparently it’s a heavy metal festival Quite honestly though Damnation has exceeded genre conventions again as have Solstafir mounting their steeds and saddling up their Pale Rider. Mind you when it does gallop off and the jangling guitars pick up the pace and the vocals go through the roof the energy is there in spades. One of my favourites ‘Fjara’ from ‘Svartir Sandar’ balances fragility and passion with a chorus you could cut yourself on and is another highlight before they return to Köld and Goddess Of The Ages wrapping up the set in style with a song that I still cannot hear without thinking of ‘Like A Hurricane.’ When all is said and done Solstafir nailed it and although they surely won’t be back next year again left Leeds with something to remember (PW)

Witchsorrow were up next for me and once again, I found myself in the confines of the Electric Amphetamine stage watching another riff worshipping doom band, only this time, there was more praise for the Godfather of metal, Tony Iommi as they had a real ‘middle 3’ Sabbath sound to them (Master of Reality, Volume 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath). With Iommi-eqsue tone and riffs, a more laid back but ballsy vocal delivery, almost similar to that of Ben Ward (Orange Goblin), the three piece brought pace, groove and heavy to a crowd who were lapping it up completely. Whilst some people prefer their doom to be colossally slow and punishing, smashing you into submission at a snail’s pace and others prefer the more Sabbath worship and stoner metal influence, Witchsorrow were clearly one for those who prefer more of a kick to their doom and even the more traditional slow doom fans in the room couldn’t help but be impressed by the musical delivery which mixed the best of classic and contemporary. With some watching the band commenting that they seemed ‘faster’ than previous times they had saw them, Witchsorrow brought a real up-tempo style of doom to Leeds and the energy and enjoyment from both the crowd and the band made for what was a real solid contender for surprise package of the day for me. Overall, a thunderous performance and well worth following up on. (Fraggle)

Apart from catching some of The King Is Blind earlier on, Asphyx marked my first real foray into the Terrorizer stage, the place where I have spent most of my previous visits to Damnation given the quality of bands which have graced it over the years. The room quickly filled up and as the three tiers of the location were quickly rammed with people desperate to catch a glimpse, I soon discovered why – this was a band who had only ever played England twice in their history, and this instance, being the third time was also their first time playing outside of London. This was a massive grab for Damnation and yes, Asphyx may have fit the bill as the type of band you expect on the Terrorizer stage, but surely with their reputation and the actual significance of this set which was about to go down, placing them on the Jägermeister stage should have surely been a no brainer? Needless to say, the moment the Dutch death metal outfit took to the stage, opening up with “The Quest For Absurdity”, it pretty much gives one answer as to why this band were not on the main stage – the lowest tier of the Terrorizer stage area exploded to life. From my vantage point up on the top tier, it reminded me of the chaos which bands like Mistress, Lock-Up and Stampin’ Ground have unleashed on this stage over the years, and yes, it was magnificent to watch. The legendary death metal outfit stormed through the tracks and the dedication of this set in memory of Martin Kearns of Bolt Thrower, the crowd were into it even more. A full on maelstrom of death metal surged through the Terrorizer stage, taking everyone by the throat and not letting go. Track after track, they just punished the stage and the triple onslaught of “Death-hammer”, “Wasteland Of Terror” and “Forgotten War” was one of the best death metal moments I have witnessed in all seven instalments of Damnation which I have attended! (Fraggle)

Originally, I was supposed to be interviewing High On Fire earlier in the day, but unfortunately, logistics and travel deprived me of the chance to pick their brains, so instead I had to settle for catching them instead. Having been a fan for a few years but never managing to catch them live, this was certainly one of my most anticipated sets of the day and it would be interesting to see just how different Matt Pike actually is when he isn’t leading people towards the riff filled land when he worships at the altar of the riff in Sleep. Opening up with “The Black pot”, the opening track off this year’s release ‘Luminferous’, the incredibly fast paced and relentless wall of noise smashed its way across the main stage. With all the fury and intensity which is captured on each release, High On Fire brought it to the main stage. With thunderous riffs, harshly growled vocals and full on stoner doom metal grooves, the three piece repeatedly pummelled the crowd into submission. The venomous sounding “Caracossa” went down as expected and “Luminiferous” sounded phenomenal. In all, it was exactly what I expected and it did not disappoint. Sure, there may have been some points where the ferocious noise of the instruments drowned out Pike’s war cry like vocals, but when the riffs were that beefy and the soloing from Pike was wild yet so precisely controlled, it didn’t matter much. The only drawback however was the fact that despite the high octane sounding riffs and feel, there wasn’t much difference between the tracks… But then again, being the doom and stoner metal equivalent of Motörhead, you know exactly what you are going to get with High On Fire and maybe next time I can catch them in a headlining capacity, there may be a little more diversity in the set. (Fraggle)

It’s the second time I have caught Primordial this year and one of countless appearances I have seen over the years stretching right back to the mists of time when they first unveiled Imrama tracks in Camden. The passion and heartfelt performances have not changed since then but one thing I realised standing right by Alan Averill as he beseeched us with foot on monitor that needs to change soon is his stage apparel. Put simply it is more than beginning to hum a little and exudes the stench of rottenness, death and famine. I guess it goes well with the songs. From the start they have the audience in their grip as they open with title track from new album ‘Where Greater Men Have Fallen.’ It’s intense, stirring and vitriolic as drums bounce around and the audience responds thrusting fists in the air ready for a good old fashioned sing along. The ever flamboyant frontman acts out the melodrama within the music with theatrical flair and stirs the packed in masses to boiling point causing a rush to the bar in the process as these are songs designed for swilling hard to (not that we needed any excuse for that).  The two guitarists and bassist are locked into position strumming away heads twirling in time to the thunderous beat of the epic songs as the frontman stalks the stage looking like a caged lion as they construct Babel’s Tower from the roots up but it seems like everything is leading up to ‘as Rome Burns, which has more than a little fire in its belly. Everyone joins in singing for the slaves and looking at the crowd from the back balcony of the venue there is a huge sense of atmosphere watching the pressed in bodies united as one. It took a lot of a discipline to have to tear myself away from the spectacle to go and get in position for the headliners tonight and with ‘Empire Falls’ ringing in my ears I knew this was going to be a tough act to follow, so it was a good job the heathens had been the headliners on the Terrorizer stage tonight.  (PW)      

So as most of Damnation awaited At The Gates, a pleasingly full and cosy Electric Amphetamine stage enthusiastically welcomed unlikely heroes 40 Watt Sun back to Leeds. I say unlikely as main man Pat Walker is the most unassuming musician I have ever seen, and cosy because there is something so heartwarming about his emotionally raw and direct songwriting. From the moment his wonderful expressive voice reaches out over the crowd you’re in a wonderful emotional place and the response is enthusiastic showing just how many people actively chose to be here. The sound is rich, the songs excellent and yet… yet..

It was a curious performance, or at least a curious reappearance, constant retuning and a couple of false starts aside. The word had reached me that their new album will be more about allowing more melody through. From the number of new songs they played I’m genuinely unsure about this. The Inside Room was full of glowing melodies and bittersweet refains and the only difference here is that… Pat Walker has stopped playing riffs. Yes the man from Warning appears to want to move away from the riff. Even when they played old, beautiful songs like Carry Me Home and Restless the guitar was picked and strummed, or an acoustic used. It’s all part of Pat Walker’s personal musical and artistic journey I guess. Perhaps he wants to free himself from self imposed restrictions of his musical history as 40 Watt Sun was from Warning, but in essence he is still restricting himself by so completely jettisoning that fundamental aspect from his sound. Not every song has to use a riff of course but, well, if none can then that is another restriction and every time he bent over that guitar and looked on the verge of delivering one of those great, crushing but still gentle riffs the crowd cheered; in anticipation or just willing him to I don’t know. But to no avail. This appears to be the new 40 Watt sun. Still lovely, beautiful memorable songs but finally with the metal excised entirely. As a chill out session, something that would have worked just as nicely in a cafe bar somewhere, it was an excellent end to my Damnation 2015. Ah, yes. The but. It’s selfish I know, but in the end despite thoroughly enjoying the set, I am sad that the band I love appears to be no more. (Giz)

With everyone else either in the terrace bar getting their last drinks in for those who were venturing home instead of continuing the Damnation experience at the after show down on the Electric Amphetamine Stage or actually present in that part of the venue for the alternate choice of headliner, 40 Watt Sun, everyone else was standing there in anticipation for what was coming next. The band who were about to take to the stage have been one many a Damnation goer has been crying out for since they reformed in the later parts of 2007 and started to tour again… No, not Carcass, they’ve already played it twice… But it’s the other monumentally significant death metal band from the 1990’s who helped shape an entire genre of music and influence generations of bands to come… Yes, it’s At The Gates! 

“El Altar del dios Desconocido”, the haunting opening sample-based track from 2014’s “At War With Reality’ signaled the start of things to come and much to my surprise, expecting them to do the usual routine of going right into “Slaughter Of The Soul” which is one of the best tracks you will ever hear live, they mixed it up a little and went into “Death And The Labyrinth”, the follow on track from the same album. The moment the snare drum hit, chaos ensued. The bodies were flying, the melodic death metal was in full swing and that signature HM-2 Buzzsaw like sound from the twin guitars and Lineroth’s ageless vocals had everyone there in the palm of their hands. Following up with “Slaughter Of The Soul”, those braving the pit knew what to do. On the iconic shout of “GO!”, all hell broke loose as people ran head on into each other and did not stop. The set went just as expected from here on out. The majority of it consisting of material from the legendary ‘Slaughter Of The Soul’ album (Cold, Under A Serpent Sun, Suicide Nation, Nausea) went down as expected and given how these are the tracks everyone who attends an At The Gates show wants to hear, they did not disappoint.
Equally, the rest of the set, bar two tracks (one of which was Windows from ‘The Red Sky At Night Is Ours’) came from ‘At War With Reality’ and having reviewed that album last year, it was a pleasure to experience the likes of “At War With Reality”, “Windows” and the last song before the traditional closing three, “The Book Of Sand (Abomonation)” in a live setting, furthering my opinion that At The Gates, despite only having released one Album since 1996, are still a dominant force in metal today. As usual, the ‘encore’ section came and everyone knew what was coming. The harsh static samples got everyone in the room ready for arguably one of the most well known and most recognizable death metal songs and when the iconic riff kicked in, “Blinded By Fear” dragged whatever bit of life it could out of those who still had some left to give. Traditional set closer, “Kingdom Gone” from ‘The Red Sky At Night Is Ours” took whatever was left of the Jägermeister stage and cleaned up the mess the previous track had created in the crowd and the closing number, “The Night Eternal” from ‘At War With Reality’ drawn the live musical portion of the day to a close.

It was a fantastic set and to finally catch them indoors, having only experienced the melodic death metal masters in an open air setting was just as intense as I had hoped it would be. Battered, bruised, broken and in need of nicotine and beer, Damnation 2015 had just about finished me off, but the lure of the after party was too strong and I soon found myself down at the Electric Amphetamine stage for the final time of the day to spend whatever I had left on a combination of Jägermeister and Red Stripe, getting other people’s opinions of the day, double checking what notes I had made and repeatedly telling the guys from Sea Bastard just how phenomenal they were.

Whilst I may not have been as destroyed by alcohol as I was the night before at the pre-show, I was physically destroyed by the long day, but like after every installment of Damnation I have attended over the years, I knew just how much of an endurance test the day is. Forget your couch to 5K, forget your Tough Mudder, Stoptober, Dryathlons and all other things people prepare for… It took me nearly five months to prepare for Damnation and it defeated me once again. Here is hoping for more of the same next year… And maybe Obituary making the bill too! (Fraggle)

Reviews Pete Woods, Fraggle and Giz

Photos © Pete Woods