Damnation Festival always plays host to the most thrilling metal and alternative bands on the planet. Let’s listen to two of the brilliant acts – Perturbator and Frail Body – billed for 2025 and practise layering our analysis while we’re at it!

ACTIVITY 1

When reading the 3 lyrics quoted below, think of each lyric as its own poem. Then answer the questions and get in the good habit of exploring key moments in proper depth – the further down you dig, the more clearly you’ll understand the poet’s most interesting ideas.

Perturbator, ‘Sentient’

“Iā€™m shutting down
Shutting down
Shutting down”

  • LAYER 1: What is happening to the speaker? Explore the metaphor.
  • LAYER 2: What do we understand about the speaker’s experience? Explore the repetition.
  • LAYER 3: How does the speaker feel? Explore the assonance.
Summary of the full album’s story, and a bit of context for the events of this music video: “The main character is the motorcycle helmet-clad vigilante known as the Night Driving Avenger. His narrative intertwines with a female android/assassin, fighting for liberty and equality in a cynical world that attempts to eradicate all traces of the machines. The duo attempt to dismantle an underground faction spreading a message of hate through a false religion ā€“ its recruiting station is the black church that hovers over the city.”

Frail Body, ‘Monolith’

“I swear, by tomorrow I’ll check in
But don’t count the seconds
And I know I missed your call
Just another night in a city I’ve already been”

  • LAYER 1: What is the speaker promising? Explore the verb, ‘swear’ and the time marker ‘tomorrow’.
  • LAYER 2: What do we understand about how the person being spoken to might feel? Explore the imperative.
  • LAYER 3: What do we understand about how the person being spoken to might feel? Explore the rhyme.
  • LAYER 4: What do we understand about how the person being spoken to might feel? Weigh that person’s feelings up in relation to the language used by the speaker in the first line.

Frail Body, ‘Refrain’

“Now I’m alone
And you’re just five pounds of carbon
A vacant hospital room to pack
They’ll need this bed cleared when I get back.”

  • LAYER 1: What is the speaker feeling? Explore the assonance and other vowel sounds.
  • LAYER 2: What is the speaker suggesting about death? Explore the adverb “just” and the rhyme (or lack of).
  • LAYER 3: What do we understand about the speaker’s reaction to these ideas about death? Examine that last rhyming couplet from a different perspective.