I didn’t really pay all that much attention earlier this week when I saw news of a plane crash in Warsaw, Poland. Call me cold if you will, but I saw that no-one was injured and didn’t really delve much further than that. I know bad news never relents, but I’ve been steering clear of non-essential news as much as possible lately. Things bum you out enough as it is without hearing about supposedly upstanding people beating their kids, or even worse, absolute monsters murdering their children for talking to an ‘infidel’. I will never understand people.

As it happens though, there was a point of interest to come out of this crash, insofar that Polish death metal outfit Decapitated, who were returning from tour in America, were on the plane.

Now, as I said, no-one was hurt, but the extremely unfortunate consequence is that the band have had to cancel their slot at this Saturday’s Damnation Festival in Leeds. A statement said:

“We are extremely sorry to inform our fans, that due to unforeseen circumstances that are out of our control, we will unfortunately have to cancel our shows in Aalborg (Aalborg Metal Festival) and Leeds (Damnation Festival)”

A huge blow for anyone hoping to catch them – and indeed anyone who would have anyway – but given the band’s history with accidents, we can breathe a sigh of relief that they are unscathed – many will recall their automotive accident in 2007 that killed drummer Witold “Vitek” Kiełtyka, and the band only recently returned with the excellend Carnival Is Forever. No specific reason has been given for the cancellations, but I can only imagine what kind of memories it brought back.

However the show – the seventh edition of Damnation – must go on, and with Ulver extending their set to 90 minutes, you’ll still be well placed for a day of awesome metal if you’re in the area. There are some absolute gems still to be seen, including Shining, God Is An Astronaut, Turisas, Humanfly and the headliner Devin Townsend amongst others.

- CG