"See you Filthlings there": Cradle Of Filth to headline Damnation Festival 2024 with an "old school ritual performance"

UK black metal veterans Cradle Of Filth have been announced as the headliner for this year's Damnation Festival in Manchester. Also inlcuded in the latest announcement are Inter Arma, Fuming Mouth, 200 Stab Wounds and REZN.

Damnation had previously announced a handful of acts for its 2024 edition, including Dool, Gatecreeper, The Ruins Of Beverast, Russian Circles and Ahab, who had previously been booked to perform at the 2023 edition but were forced to pull out on the weekend.

The festival has long been revered as a celebration of underground metal, spanning everything from thrash, black and death metal to experimental acts from across the extreme and alternative spectrum.

Damnation was first held in 2005 at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester, England. The festival moved to the larger site of University Of Leeds in 2008, before eventually moving to its current home at the 4,500 capacity Manchester's Bowlers Exhibition Centre in 2021.

In recent years, Damnation has cultivated exclusive appearances and performances, booking bands to play classic albums in full with notable recent examples including At The Gates playing Slaughter Of The Soul, Converge playing Jane Doe and Enslaved playing both Vikingligr Veldi and Below The Lights in 2003.

The 2024 edition of Damnation is no exception, promising a UK exclusive return from grindcore heroes Nails and Orange County metalcore group Bleeding Through playing 2003's This Is Love, This Is Murderous in full.

Cradle Of Filth's headline performance also teases a unique performance, the band promising an "old school ritual performance", festival organiser Gavin McInally saying:

"Cradle Of Filth have been an iconic part of the UK extreme metal landscape for the past three decades so our paths crossing has been long overdue[...] The fact the soundtrack will be their old school black metal classics, and the hits we grew up with on MTV2 and Scuzz, will mean a memorable close to the 2024 festival."

Damnation Festival 2024 is set to take place at Manchester's Bowlers Exhibition Centre on November 2. Tickets are on-sale now and are priced at £88, but can be secured for £10 via a deposit scheme set to run until the end of Feb.

For more info, visit the official festival website.

Damnation Poster 2024 — (Image credit: Press)

Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn't fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.