Damnation Festival follow up a stream of announcements with their blockbuster headliner reveal.

HEADLINERS

Well…Damnation Festival have really pulled a rabbit out of the hat. With a slew of bands already announced, they have announced six bands that could quite easily all take top billing in their own right.

Headlining Saturday night of the festival will be Damnation Festival veterans Cult Of Luna. After performing in 2013 and 2016 with Julie Christmas, Johannes Persson also appeared in 2023 as a guest vocalist with Bossk.

Topping the bill on Sunday night are black metal luminaries, Satyricon. In a UK exclusive performance, Satyr and Frost will bring their unique Norwegian style to proceedings. Whilst starting out as an orthodox black metal band, their sound developed to include more heavy metal influences. It is sure to be a headline performance to remember.

Legends don’t come much bigger in the metal game than Carcass. Also Damnation vets, the influential death metal legends are always great value and in scintillating form. We witnessed this on said tour with Kreator in Manchester. Also in that legend bracket is Triptykon; fronted by the metal pioneer, Tom G. Warrior. Whilst Triptykon only have a handful of studio releases under their belt, Tom G. Warrior has an impenetrable back catalogue with Celtic Frost as well.

In addition to this, NOLA sludge heroes Crowbar join the bill. They’re one of the finest and most consistent bands on the circuit. In Igorrr, Damnation have secured a band that love to push musical boundaries. Fusing meaty metal riffs and heavy electronic beats, with glitchy electronics and operatic vocals, Igorrr are a band that are a perfect fit for Damnation Festival. It also bridges the gap between the old and new with a great slice of diversity.

ALREADY ANNOUNCED

They’ll join the likes of Health, Walls of Jericho, Eyehategod and Wolves In The Throne Room at BEC Arena in Manchester on November 7th and 8th 2026.

On the announcement, organiser Gavin McInally says: “We promised ticket buyers who supported us early that we would repay that faith with the strongest line-up we could pull together. Promises made. Promises kept. All six of these bands could headline Damnation without raising an eyebrow. To have them all play the same year is obscene, never mind alongside the likes of Health, Eyehategod and Wolves In The Throne Room.”

With more than half the tickets already sold, the festival is set for a sell out in record time, he continues; “Incredibly, we have another 19 bands to come and those are all gems too. If there’s any justice in our music scene, Damnation will sell out today, so please grab your phone, alert your friends and make sure that they don’t miss out on the metal weekend of the year.”

It is sure to be another great year in Manchester at one of the best metal festivals in the UK.

You can buy tickets for the 2026 event, here.

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