November 9th 2018 New Music Releases


Check out all of today’s new releases in the music world!Continue reading


Maryland Deathfest 2018 – Baltimore Maryland


For a metal fan, especially an underground metal fan with a cultured taste, Maryland Deathfest is the holy grail of music festivals. They are metal fans, so they understand metal fans. It has grown by leaps and bounds like a little cottage industry with California Deathfest, Quebec Deathfest, Netherlands Deathfest, Days of Darkness and more to come I’m sure. As I attended my first ever full weekend, I saw incredible bands on my bucket list, met a lot of great people from all over the world, hung out with friends and basically had more fun than I could imagine. It was basically summer camp for die-hard metal fans. No judgments, no fights, no fake kung fu in the mosh pit, just all awesomeness 24/7. Fun for families and even dogs. Plus Natty Bo’s and cheap and delicious street tacos! Continue reading


True Mortem Added To Maryland Deathfest, Ticket Options Selling Out Fast


Maryland Deathfest has added True Mortem to the bill to replace Inquisition. The festival is bearing down with a little over six weeks to go and ticket options are running out. The festival has also released its vendor list, which you can see with the entire band lineup below. Continue reading


Maryland Deathfest Drops Inquisition, Adds Three New Bands


Maryland Deathfest is now less than two months away. They have announced some lineup changes including Zemial, Chthe’ilist, Blk Ops, and Inquisition now being removed from the festival bill. Now added are Bölzer, Ascended Dead, and Future Terror, as well as Prong who were previously announced. A replacement for Inquisition revealed soon. Due to scheduling conflicts, The Ruins of Beverast has changed the day of their performance to Saturday from Sunday. Many of the ticket options will soon be sold out, so check our list below of current availability. Continue reading


Netherlands Deathfest Adds 12 More Bands


Netherlands Deathfest new ad mat 8 13

Netherlands Deathfest, a new indoor metal festival set to debut next February has added 12 more bands to its already impressive bill. In a post to Facebook, the fest announced that Asphyx, Blasphemy (in an exclusive appearance for Europe), Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, Lord Belial, Thanatos, and Wolfbrigade are amongst the newly added bands to a bill that already includes Autopsy (exclusive), Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Cripple Bastards, Doom, Dropdead, Gruesome, Razor, Wormed and more. Formed to replace the Neurotic Deathfest, which ceased existence early this year after 12 years, the show is being booked by the brains behind Maryland Deathfest, who are branching out and also booking events such as Phil Anselmo’s Housecore Horror Festival later this year. 3 Day passes go on sale on August 15th at 10 AM CET here.

12 more bands confirmed for Netherlands Deathfest 2016!

Asphyx
Blasphemy – Exclusive European appearance!
Cyness
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult
Haemorrhage
Interment
Lord Belial
Ofermod
Thanatos
Visceral Disgorge
Wolfbrigade
Wormed

Agoraphobic Nosebleed *
Aosoth
Asphyx
Autopsy – Exclusive European appearance
Blasphemy
Contrastic
Cripple Bastards
Cruciamentum
Cyness
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult
Demilich
Disma
DOOM
Dropdead
Entrails
Entrails Massacre
Excruciating Terror *
Flesh Parade (Original line-up) *
Gruesome *
Haemorrhage
Heaving Earth
Interment
Lord Belial
Kraanium
Morpheus Descends *
Ofermod
Pig Destroyer
Razor
Severe Torture
Teethgrinder
Thanatos
Visceral Disgorge *
Vitamin X
Wolfbrigade
Wormed

* = first time in Europe

This is not the full billing. More bands will be announced SOON!

3-day passes go on sale Saturday, August 15th at 10 am (CET)
Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/netherlands-deathfest-2016-tickets-17988974507

12 more bands confirmed for Netherlands Deathfest 2016!AsphyxBlasphemy – Exclusive European…

Posted by Maryland Deathfest on Wednesday, August 12, 2015


Suffocation, YOB, Eyehategod, etc Confirmed For Housecore Horror Festival III


housecore horror festival iii

Philip H. Anselmo is bringing his Housecore Horror Film Festival back for a third year in San Antonio, TX at the Aztec Theater on November 13th -15th, 2015.

The decision to return was driven by the desire to honor his friend and festival co-founder, Corey Mitchell, who tragically passed away last October. Mitchell was the driving creative force behind the festival’s success, and Anselmo believes there is no better way to pay tribute to his friend than to carry on for a third year.

“I’ve got a great team in place to help make this what Corey and I wanted it to be,” he says. “There are a lot of mixed emotions here because no one can replace him. But, we know he would want this to continue and so that’s what we’re going to do. We miss him and think about him every day.”

Bands confirmed to perform include:

Suffocation
Autopsy
Cripple Bastards
Nails
SYk & Dalila Kayros
YOB
Eyehategod
Child Bite
Warbeast

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Maryland Deathfest: Day 2 -Live at Ram’s Head Live & Edison Sound Stage, Baltimore, MD


MDF 2014

 

Friday

 

Good Friday indeed! Oh the wonderful tales I could tell you about successfully defeating homophobia by simply walking away from loudmouthed dumbasses, or I could just review bands, which is a better idea, actually.

 

Castevet-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

 

So, this is the second time I’ve seen New York’s Castevet here at Deathfest, and like their hometown, I’m not sure why it’s considered such a hot item, even though it has elements that I like. I enjoy their post-hardcore tendencies more than their Black Metal ones. Weird, ain’t it? I would have stuck around to hear more of Mgla (who are doing far more interesting Black Metal, straight as a shot of Beefeater), but I wanted to A) familiarise myself with the walk to and from the Baltimore Soundstage, because I would end up going back and forth. A lot. Like, more than a kid at a Gorilla Biscuits show, or someshit. Why do they do this to us instead of using the perfectly good former Sonar Compound for a shitshow, the only attraction being that beers were $3 rather than $6? Fuck logic.

 

Anyway, yes, Creative Waste from Saudi Arabia, pretty decent. They’ve got the novelty factor of being one of the only known Grind bands from that country for obvious reasons, though they could stand to be more creative in the years to come. They’ve got potential, however, and it’s sweet they could make it out to the US and do stuff.

 

After a bit of getting wasted, I walked back to check out Ruins Of Beverast, and I honestly found their brand of Teutonic Black Metal a tad dull. I swear one of their songs was repeating the same section over and over and over and over until I finally realised it, and then, as if to fuck with me, suddenly it changed. Is this what it’s like having a bad trip just to snap back into reality and find your loved ones dead? No? Completely off-base? I mean, I like atmosphere and all, but I didn’t come to Baltimore to be lulled to eternal slumber. That’s what got me in trouble the last two years.

 

The Ruins of Beverast-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

Following that was Necros Christos, and I must say, golf claps to having the most evil sounding bands play in the bright Baltimore sun. The irony was lost on nobody, I hope. They were decent enough, I remember, but nothing truly stuck out. Yep, the drought of interest was alive, but luckily Lake ACxDC was nearby to quench my thirst for some hard-hitting PV. Since it was still early in the day and not everyone had warmed up, you can guess that the pit was live, but not entirely lit up. Their caustic mix of standard Powerviolence and wacky fun-loving Grindcore makes for some good Christkillin’ tunes, indeed.

 

 

Necros Christos-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

 

A second helping of Coffins was on the menu, and boy was I hungry for more topsoil. Coffins could have played all four days and I’d have no problem with that at all. This time around they played more of their “fast” songs, meaning those with more mid-paced tempos, and even ‘No Saviour’, featuring a blastbeat, which, in my Coffins listening experience, is quite a rare treat. This, however, only proves that the band is not a one-trick pony, and is capable of devastation at several different speeds. Efficiency is terrifying; just ask the Nazis. Not a band to repeat themselves too much, the only returning tracks were ‘Evil Infection’ and ‘Altars In Gore’, the latter of which made the dance floor shine. With sweat. And beer.

 

Turning 30 just last year, Norway’s Taake has never been in the U.S., because playing shows in America is not Black Metal, or something. Hoest even decided to wear a robe rather than go balls-out, which would make more sense, given that the weather’s pretty nice around those parts at this time.

 

Controversy about telling someone to “go suck a Muslim” —something Creative Waste would probably not appreciate— and all other bullshit that has lead to people falsely pinning the NS tag on them, Taake is probably one of those bands that you hear about more than actually hear. Having exposed myself to some of their music, I can say with certainty that it is good Norwegian Black Metal, and controversy be damned; those riffs are ice fuckin’ cold, son. I’m not terribly familiar with much of their music aside from the hilariously awesome banjo solo on ‘Myr’ from Noregs Vaapen, but I hope this means that they can come back sometime without me having to pay hundreds of dollars. Also, I saw this dead bird on the way in to see them. Someone removed the bird later, but didn’t touch the dog shit, because I dunno, that’d be weird?

 

Inline image 5

 

Having to dash from the fog to catch the almighty Capitalist Casualties was a painful, but necessary decision for me to make. If I even missed a minute of their set, I probably would have missed two or three songs, and that is, I assure you, not entirely an exaggeration.

 

 

Blistering, impossible hailstorms of insane start-stop tempos, rapid-fire vocals and scathing guitars that straddle the line between an all-out Thrash attack and condensed hardcore ferocity, and I suppose you’ve noticed that I’m fanboying so hard I can’t even stop using ad-words. I’ll be up front and say Capitalist Casualties was one of the main draws for me this year, alongside Coffins. With a 40 minute time slot, I estimated that they’d play at least 10 songs that I knew. I overshot it by three or four songs, but still, good enough. The fact that they played ‘Selfish Parochialism’ nullified the fact that they didn’t play ‘Violence Junkie’, or more from their split with Man Is The Bastard, but I seriously can’t even bitch, because since I don’t live in California it’ll probably be another few years til I get to see them again.

 

But the madness was far from over, as Italy’s grind virtuosos Cripple Bastards were up next to ruin any semblance of a face remaining from the previous assault.

 

Ranging in styles from faithful three-chords-and-the-truth punk rock to blasting grind, to fret-melting death metal, Cripple Bastards are certainly not short-sighted in their brutality. I’d know what they talked about if I spoke Italian, but I get the feeling that it falls in line with socio-political vitriol, as grind is wont to do. From Assück to Discordance Axis to early Extreme Noise Terror, grind has many flavours, and Cripple Bastards brings a whole plate of goodness to the genre. Just thinking of Italy makes me hungry because I’m fat.

 

After my lower back was adequately punished by Punx Aerobics 101, I took yet another long walk (and it got longer every time) back to Edison to catch At The Gates, no big deal.

 

At the Gates-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

 

Alright, so I lied, pretty big deal. At The Gates is only one of the most legendary Melodic Death Metal bands that actually still plays Melodic Death Metal. Who does that shit anymore? Not In Flames, I can tell you that much, even though I love them to death. But yeah, to see the fucking pit surge during ‘Terminal Spirit Disease’ is like a breath of fresh air for MeloDeath. Some dude even got into the circlepit with a camera in hand, and somehow it didn’t get broken. What a man. He’ll put a baby in me one day.

 

The most pleasant surprise of the set: they actually played ‘The Beautiful Wound’. Holy shit; I thought I was the only person that cared about that song for some odd reason. Killer doesn’t begin to describe it. With fear, I kiss the burning awesome.

 

Following that with the atmospheric as hell black/death/doom two-piece meal Bölzer made for an odd contrast, but it was pretty chill, despite being given the distinct feeling that I had been launched into empty space. Not much I can say about these guys, unfortunately, but they’re good, so check ‘em, if you want. California’s most likely to be sued for medical malpractice, Impaled, however, was what my ears had their hearts set on at that hour. I intended to catch some of Enthroned, but they took too damn long to set up, and ironically enough, Impaled also were taking ages to set up, and thus started ten or fifteen minutes late. But fuck it, it’s Impaled playing ‘The Dead Shall Dead Remain’, in full, with dudes dressed as doctors, Hæmorrhage style, crowdsurfing/moshing in ‘blood’-spattered lab coats and surgeon masks.

Impaled-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

To add fuel to the spiritual bonfire of Bacchanal celebration, the infamous MDF Party Brigade struck suddenly with a bunch of glowsticks, inflatables, and other goodies. One second, it’s just Impaled playing, the next, it looks like someone turned on a garden hose that shoots little plastic things you should never, ever, ever, eat. Ross Sewage says: “Always tip your bartender, especially if they give you the ‘Spirits of the Dead!”

Enthroned-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

 

Then I went and caught some Incantation, and I must say they’re not quite as slow as I expected, since I believe some of their members had been in Disma, and lemme tell ya, that band’s pretty slow. I kinda liked it, but would have preferred if vocalist John McEntee (also known for his work in Mortician and live stints in Immolation) didn’t insist on trying to sound “evil” even though song titles like ‘Emaciated Holy Figure’ do that well enough. Sounded like a damn cartoon goblin. How brutal. No harm intended, it was just ridiculous being referred to as “sick fucks” two or three times in a 10 minute span. Good night.

 

 

Incantation-Hillarie Jason-Concert Photography-Maryland Deathfest

 

 

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WORDS BY SEAN PIERRE-ANTOINE

CONCERT PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON