This upcoming weekend marks the return of the biggest underground metal festival in North America, the Maryland Deathfest. Quite a few Hellbound contributors are making the pilgrimage down to Baltimore for the four day festival, which starts this Thursday and carries on through Sunday, so we have picked some of our most anticipated bands to see each day and will be running daily previews every day between now and Thursday.
Here are some bands that Sean and Adam are excited to see on Thursday night.
FLESH PARADE (8:35 – 9:10)
Hailing from New Orleans, grind quartet Flesh Parade have been annoying innocent bystanders on and off for nearly two decades. I first came in contact with them through the Kill Whitey 7″ that Relapse released around 1997/98 and love the absolute tortured speedy vocals and the great drumming of Todd Capiton. I have to admit I don’t know a lot about them, except that they played an earlier MDF in 2008 and, according to what Metal Archives says, have a new album coming out this year. I’m looking forward to see if they can do this stuff live, but here is a taste of what they can do. – Sean
BUZZOV•EN (10:15 – 11:00)
Reuniting after a 14+ year career, North Carolina’s Buzzov•en return with their “…At a Loss” lineup for a select few dates. Along with Eyehategod, Buzzov•en are often credited with founding the sludge sound in the early 90’s, and are best known for their violent and out of control live performances. The wide array of musicians involved in the band over the years have gone on to play in such acts as Weedeater, Bongzilla, and Acid King. – Adam
TRAGEDY (11:15 – 12:00)
Portland, Oregon quartet Tragedy originally formed out of the ashes of His Hero Is Gone when that band broke up. Three of its members are now in Tragedy, including Canadian born Yannick Lorrain, who was also in Union of Uranus and ran The Great American Steak Religion record label in the mid-to-late 90s. The band has always done everything themselves, from releasing albums to booking tours, and remain one of the most exciting crust punk bands in the USA. I had the chance to see them play once in 2008 in the basement of Welfare Records in Haverhill, MA and am looking forward to the opportunity to see them once again. – Sean
CATHEDRAL (12:15 – end)
Thursday night’s final band will be playing their last ever North American show at Maryland Deathfest. Cathedral has been a mainstay in the doom metal scene for nearly two decades. The band was started by Lee Dorrian after his departure from Napalm Death to celebrate his love of slow, atmospheric heavy metal from the likes of Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Trouble and Witchfinder General. The band has experimented heavily with its sound over the years, going from slow, morose and exhausting doom in its infancy on Forest Of Equilibrium to much more experimental ways, especially on 2010’s double album The Guessing Game. – Sean
