FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
After tonight’s show we now know why Dying Fetus deserve to be a bonafide headliner. Holy fuck! What a ferocious machine these guys are live. They have the songs and riffs and you cannot get any tighter than they are right now.
Here’s the scene: Hellbound’s old man posse – myself, photographer/CD pillager Albert and our fearless leader Sean – have found ourselves in a Motel 6 in suburban Baltimore, our digs for the duration of our time at the Maryland Deathfest. That this joint looks like a cross between 1970s IKEA and the set of the first Alien movie, is of no bearing or consequence, but I it was bizarre and needed to be mentioned. One morning, Albert emerged sporting a long sleeve shirt of the old Sounds of Death magazine. SOD was known for a few things, the most conspicuous was editor David Horn’s enthusiastic reviews in which album were rated on a “skull scale” out of ten, with the most raging of records scoring a brutal “10 fucking skulls out of 10.”
So, without further distraction, here’s what I thought of the bands I saw at MDF, reviewed in classic SOD style.
At only 15 minutes long the Witness EP is definitely a teaser, but the three songs show a pleasing attention to old-school songcraft.
Part two of Jay H Gorania’s recap of the 2010 Maryland Deathfest, covering what he saw and heard on the Saturday, May 29th portion of the fest. It includes Incantation, Asphyx, Repulsion, Jucifer and Autopsy
Festival is not far removed from Savatage’s (likely) final album, Poets & Madmen. Inclined to a middling pace, the focus is on weighty, bludgeoning riffs wrapped in grandiosity and drama.
The great thing about fests like MDF is that the metal is simply overflowing. The bad thing about fests like MDF is that the metal is simply overflowing. If it’s sitting down to catch your breath, or grabbing a drink or a bite to eat, there are plenty of reasons causing one to miss one or too many killer bands.
The Wicked Symphony is exactly what you want from an Avantasia record. The production sounds huge, and clear, there isn’t a bum note in the playing, the songs are catchy as hell (I defy you to not sing along with “Dying For an Angel”) and the silly, tongue-in-cheekiness of the Edguy lyrics are left behind
It was shortly after 8:00 pm when Hypocrisy made their significant entrance; the excitement in the room was palpable when they strode onto the stage, lit vaguely by dim blue light and partially obscured by theatrical smoke. I can only describe their set as an all-out assault. While the sun might have still been impudently shining outside of the Wreckroom, inside the audience was completely consumed by Hypocrisy’s blistering intensity.
Natalie Zed reviews the May 29th Toronto performance by Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry and Blackguard. Live photos by Adam Wills
By Adrien Begrand It goes without saying that the summer of 2010 is going to be a big one for Rush. Not only are…
The inveterate Slough Feg are one of those bands that pulls it off so well live that they’re able to sound identical to what they do on tape, which I found pretty impressive considering how ornate their songs can get. Personally, I was there to hear songs from their latest, Ape Uprising!, and they did not disappoint, throwing the excellent “Simian Manifesto” into their set early on. But as they’re touring for their 20th anniversary, the band threw loads of gems into their set. It was great to hear older tracks like “Tiger! Tiger!”, “The Final Gambit” and “Hiberno-Latin Invasion” live. And seeing Mike Scalzi and Angelo Tringali work their guitar magic, playing off each other is especially jaw-dropping – they recall the classic Gorham/Robertson harmony work in Thin Lizzy.