Damnation 2026 Locks In Its Heaviest Lineup Yet with Carcass, Crowbar and Eyehategod
Damnation establishes itself as an essential can’t-miss stop on the death metal circuit for late November, with a lineup for the ages – genre icons Carcass, Crowbar and Eyehategod the latest added to the best lineup the festival has had yet.
Taking place across three stages in November, Saturday 7 and the 8th, at Manchester’s BEC Arena, Damnation is a festival designed to have your ears shattered. If you like loud music, you’ve come to the right place – this is a festival tailor-made for fans of the likes of Arctangent and with it sharing many of the similar names this year, it makes going to both practically an essential stop on your tour. Gavin McInally, festival organizer who regularly features on must-listen 2 Promoters 1 Pod podcast with Arctangent promoter James Scarlett, promises early ticket buyers that they’d “repay [the] faith with the strongest lineup we could pull together. Promises made; promises kept.”
It’s a real treat. Incredibly, there are still 19 bands to come, and the six dropped recently, among them Crowbar, Carcass and Triptykon, showcase the highlight of the heaviest of the scene. Carcass can count as one of the metal bands to appear on seminal tv favourite FRIENDS, where Phoebe asked whether they were available for the wedding of Monica/Chandler “are they spelt with a C or a K? doesn’t matter they’re both great” – and their 1993 album Heartwork is a cult favourite among fans of death metal. Crowbar also have their following – the New Orleans sludge icons dip into the depths of despair across an extensive back catalogue that capture the essence of the likes of Pantera and Black Sabbath. Cult of Luna may have no Julie Christmas which means no Mariner this time out in full; the seminal genre classic, but they are a formidable force in their own right; and Igorr have dropped one of the best albums of the decade so far – Omen, sure to be a treat for fans attending both festivals.
One of the harshest clashes of Arctangent is Maruja and Møl; the Danish blackgaze outfit showing up at Damnation touring an album of 2026 contender Dreamcrush which is arguably their finest work to date – and allows fans going both festivals to see both bands independently. Health add a touch of American Industrial rock, active in the genre since 2005 – this is a real collection of legacy bands as much as new talent; incredibly alluring but also incredibly world-weary and nihilistic. If sad music for horny people was a t-shirt, this would probably be the band responsible for it. Their new album ADDENUM will be out in the wild by then; and early singles are very promising indeed.
Booking both Damnation and Arctangent has never been more essential than it has been today but Damnation exists in its own right as a festival and should be praised as such – all six of the new bands announced could’ve, in McInally’s own words, “headline Damnation without raising an eyebrow,” so you get the likes of Eyehategod and Wolves in the Throne Room on the new circuit. Their guitar-driven black metal is instantly appealing – tapping into the eco-spiritual consciousness of Black Cascade – one of the best modern examples of the genre for any doubters. Eyehategod are practically essential too, bizarrely not a headliner, showing you the incredible strength in depth of this festival and bringing sludge to the forefront – one of the key forerunners of the genre with the unmissable Take As Needed for Pain – there was something brewing in the air of the genre in 1993 when Eyehategod and Carcass dropped genre-defining albums that would act as a forerunner in the scene.
New names also added feature the likes of Satyricon, the Norwegian black metal outfit fronted by Satyr and Frost, who have been around since 1993; having toured as the support for Pantera in the past – tapping into the fascination of their love for the Middle Ages with their legendary debut Dark Medieval Times, rooted in the blastbeat early days of black metal and the icy atmospheric influences of their home country. Age of Nero, Deep Calleth Upon Deep, and Satyricon and Munch were to follow: the Oslo outfit as much essential as you could get.
Hotly rising Belgian band Slow Crush switch between the dynamic shoegaze and dream pop elements but fit perfectly at home in this lineup of big names. It’s a new chapter for vocalist and bassist Isa Holliday, a veteran of sludge metal – hence the connection to Damnation; but that doesn’t stop the band from being unafraid to tap into heavier music: contrast is key here, with their debut effort Aurora capturing the attention of fans. They make for a good pairing with Holy Fawn, also at Damnation, drawing some inspiration from Deftones for their records that have a strong mix of harsh and clean vocals that allow for a similar contrast. It’s getting harder to compare Holy Fawn to just about anyone the more I listen to them – their sound is just that distinctively unique.
Like Arctangent, Damnation books bands that rarely appear on other festival scenes so the only band that I have seen before on this billing is Long Island natives Car Bomb, back in Manchester after their appearance at Radar in 2024, dipping into Mathcore. Their 2024 set blew me away: focusing on their iconic Meta record and bringing it to the forefront in full detail. If there was any justice in the world, the new names would be enough to sell out Damnation already – but with 19 more to go, it looks highly likely that they will. There’s never been a more perfect time to buy than now.
You can buy tickets for Damnation here https://www.damnationfestival.co.uk/tickets