Tuesday was back to the Saint Vitus bar for a night of doomy sludgy bands. This time I only got slightly lost in Brooklyn but I think I can successfully get there now. I was flying solo again but I like the local stout beer they produce so I was fine. Had only heard half a song of headliners Mares Of Thrace so I wasn’t sure what to expect which is a fun way to go to a gig. I had actually bought a ticket for this show but forgot and paid at the door but considering how great the gig was I didn’t mind spending another $10.

Local all girl doom/sludge band Mortals opened the gig and they were really quite good. The drumming was interesting and they had a killer bass sound. My radio cohost Mark would have been happy that the guitarist was rocking a stylish Gibson Explorer. Something about her reminded me of Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth from Overkill though which is not exactly flattering (I think it was the facial bone structure). If I didn’t live on the other side of the planet I’d check them out again.

Sky Burial were next and they play a doomy post rock style and play it well. The strong, heavy vocals were a standout. I do quite like post rock but not when I’m tired and I think I had several micro sleeps as I had found a comfy couch to rest my weary feet. After their set I switch from stout to coke in an effort to stay conscious.

I had nothing to worry about as the next band Batillus certainly kept me awake! I knew they had a split with Aussie doom maniacs Whitehorse so I figured they’d be pretty heavy but I was very pleasantly surprised that they were bloody crushing! Consisting of a drummer, guitarist, bassist and singer who also triggered samples/created noise they were DAMN loud (and Saint Vitus sound is already loud) and reminded me of old Civic Youth Cafe gigs in Canberra where you could feel the music through your chest. The samples/noise really added to the overall sound and the vocalist was quite varied too. If you like doom/sludge ala Corrupted or Grief then check these chaps out. So far these guys have taken the cake for live bands and this includes Evoken, Destruction and Tragedy.

The split 12″ with Whitehorse is available here so check it out as both bands are killer.  Check out their website here for tour dates as they are touring the US with Whitehorse through June.

Here is a new song they played that sounds great but doesn’t quite capture the sheer force of them live.

Mares Of Thrace from Canada had the unenviable task of following such brutality but they managed very well and had an amazing sound for a 2 piece. They had a replacement male drummer which was a shame from my perving side but he was bloody good and did a great job. They didn’t seem to play for long but their upbeat sludge with killer vocals was very welcome.

But for me the band of the night was definitely Batillus and I bought their Furnace LP from the friendly merch lady who promised to bring me an XL Batillus shirt to MDF.

With nothing planned for Monday night I consulted Last.fm and found a black metal gig on in NoHo. I caught the subway down to Greenwich, browsed a record store where I nearly bought a Samantha Fox 12″, ate my customary slice of pizza and then headed off to the gig (no offers of cocaine though). After my usual trick of getting slightly lost, I persisted and finally found the Lit Lounge (partly due to the obvious metalhead out the front – thanks mate). Grabbed a beer and headed down the very steep steps into the basement where the bands play. The neo martial band listed was no longer playing (fine by me) so it was just two atmospheric black metal bands with locals Yellow Eyes playing their first gig and Vattnet Viskar from New Hampshire. I even got chatted up by the obvious metalhead who it turns out was the label owner who must have taken pity on me sitting alone like a Nigel.

The venue had comfy lounges which were nice but I was nearly drifting off to sleep after some late nights of boozing and getting lost on trains. There was an odd atmosphere at the gig which despite the Venom-like music on the PA was decidedly unmetal. Maybe this was the New York hipster black metal scene I had heard much scorn about. I felt out of place wearing a metal shirt and shorts but I’m the type of idiot who enjoys feeling like the odd one out so I was fine. As the night wore on I noticed the telltale thick hipster glasses and side parts and also people who looked to be friends with the band and were just waiting for the noise to be over so they could scuttle off to consider which olde timey moustache would suit them best.

Yellow Eyes played first for about 30 minutes which was merciful of them. The music had its moments but was predominantly long songs of fast tremolo black metal They were let down by a crap drum sound (and somewhat crap drummer) but most of all by some woefully awful vocals. On the flight over I watched a Family Guy episode which had a skit about a seagull watching an Adam Sandler movie and ruining it for the rest of the crowd with high pitch squark/laughs. That was exactly what happened with the vocals and I couldn’t think of anything but the seagull every time he sang. He seemed to actually be squawking for a whole song which appeared to only have one word lines. He also lacked the force & conviction needed for black metal vocals. Overall pretty bloody average despite a few decent passages of music.

Vattnet Viskar were the headlining band and thankfully were much more interesting. They had mastered one of the main ingredients needed for atmospheric black metal – dynamics. Where Yellow Eyes just hammered along with no change until the end of the song, Vattnet Viskar used slower sections to great effect and also managed to build songs to climaxes. They were also more animated on stage which is always a plus. One highlight for my juvenile mind was that the drummer had a big Star Wars logo tattooed on his chest along with an X-wing fighter and a TIE interceptor. After probably 40 minutes they finished with the classic rock and roll cliche of feedbacking their guitars against the amp and the lead guy ripped his strings out (or tried to) and then stood there looking stupid for another minute while the other guitarist fiddled with pedals to make his feedback even more irritating. Personally I hate such pretentious and predictable endings to sets but I’m sure was “cathartic” for them or something equally wanky. Despite the ending I was impressed with their music and bought a record of theirs and thanked Star Wars drummer on the way out.

So I survived the hipster black metal assault and thankfully didn’t have to avoid telling obvious metalhead guy that the first band (and his new signing) were dogs bollocks.

On the walk back to the station I managed to twist my ankle badly which didn’t make the rest of the trip home much fun. It was nicely swollen the next day but I’ve strapped it and will continue my metal journeys with a slight limp.

PS. I ended up buying the Samantha Fox 12″ the next day as I couldn’t resist the raunchy cover! (plus I do love that song)

After 29 hours of exciting travel I finally made it to New York to begin my 2012 US trip. I rested up on the Friday night but come Saturday night it was time for metal!!

The first gig I attended was a huge bill with Behemoth, Watain, The Devils Blood, In Solitude and the mighty Evoken at Irving Plaza. I came to the US earlier than I planned JUST to see Evoken so I was pretty bloody keen to check out their awesome death/doom live. In got there early and jumped in the queue and after an eternity they started letting people in but when I got there I had a different ticket so I had to wait in a different will call line. D’oh! While in this line I did at least enjoy hearing a big argument behind me between a youngish guy and his drunk mother who was not happy to be in line with him (I assume she had to sign him in). My amusement faded pretty bloody quickly when at 7pm Evoken started and I still had 8 people in front of me who weren’t moving. Grr! Not happy Jan! After a few minutes I was desperate so I asked a security guard if I could buy another $30 ticket just to get in and I pulled the “I came from Australia to see this band” card (which was sort of true) and it worked as he took my ID and returned 2 mins later with a ticket. I sprinted upstairs to find Evoken on their 2nd song and my crankiness faded immediately. They were in the middle of a mellow part when I entered so when the heaviness kicked back my smile must have been blinding. They had a clear but not quite loud enough sound and the keyboards were quite prominent in the mix. For some odd reason there were guys behind me growling loudly throughout their set (but not in time with the vocalist) but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. One other guy who definitely having a fun time was a chap in a Duff’s Bar shirt who was obviously on one or more drugs as he looked to be interacting with imaginary friends. One giant meathead behind looked ready to rip in half but nothing happened. Evoken’s 3rd (and sadly final) song was a newie which was bloody awesome and made me even more keen to hear the new album in a couple of months. Despite missing the first song I was pretty bloody happy and had several moments of goosebumps when they played their super heavy riffs.

Here is my crap photo I took with my phone and below are the first and third songs that someone was nice enough to film. I was somewhat crushed to discover the first song that I missed was one off Quietus which is the album that got me into Evoken.

After picking up some Evoken merch and a beer I went back upstairs and watched some of In Solitude before I departed for Tragedy. In Solitude are a band that several mates really love and I saw some of their set at MDF 2011 but they’ve never really grabbed me because frankly I don’t think the vocalist can actually sing! The music is OK for 80s Fate worship and they definitely get into it on stage but something is lacking for me (plus the songs seem too long). Immediately a mosh started up which included my good mate Mr drugfucked Duff’s shirt guy and it looked to be quite an incompetent affair with the usual young guys running into each other. 2 songs were enough and I left the venue and thanked the generous security guard again.

I walked to Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich and for once timed my arrival perfectly as Tragedy started about 5 minutes later. I had seen them at MDF 2011 but they weren’t really suited to the big stage and didn’t blow me away however tonight was their own gig and it certainly showed as they were on fire. They started with Conflicting Ideas which is a favourite of mine and when the breakdown kicked in the mosh got pretty hectic. It was good to see a hardcore mosh were people actually knew what they were doing instead of the amateur dickhead mosh that occurred earlier. Whenever Tragedy played an old song the there was more frantic moshing and stage diving galore. Most amusing of all was the classic hardcore gang singalong from the crowd which looks a little odd when the 2 vocalists are guitarists too and don’t offer the mic to the crowd. They played 2 new songs from Darker Days Ahead which were a bit slower overall but with a heavy, stomping style which worked really well. Although one song sounded a bit odd when they sped up for brief spurts which didn’t really suit the song. Maybe I’m just getting old but to me it didn’t seem loud enough. Being very DIY and unrockstarish there was no encore and so at 9.15 the gig was over which felt a bit odd. However they had just kicked my arse so I was still happy as Larry.

Next I loitered on Bleeker Street with some mates which was interesting as we were offered cocaine a few times (classy neighbourhood). However we were only interested in boozing which occurred mostly at Peculier Pub which had a decent range of beer which our quite busty barmaid was happy to bring us regularly. I tried a Honey Brown beer which was a high school favourite of one mate and it was pretty tasty. But most of the night was given to the lovely Belgian beer Corsendonk of which I preferred the Abbey Brown Ale to the Abbey Pale Ale. By 2am more than enough beer had been consumed so the Jersey Boys left and I bought a divine slice of pizza, was offered cocaine again and finally hailed a taxi. I didn’t think I’d drunk that much but my hangover told another story. Here’s a pic of me looking stupid with my US mates.

 

2011 was another quick trip to the US without my darling Ann but despite this, I had another awesome time. This time I stayed in New York for a few days before and after MDF and I also went to the Chaos In Tejas festival in Austin, Texas which was another highly enjoyable adventure.

The night before MDF I went to Brooklyn to see a superb grind gig featuring Cripple Bastards, The Kill, Noisear, Magrudergrind and Shitstorm put on by the good people at Catbomb. CB seemed better than MDF 2007 and Magrudergrind and Shitstorm were pretty nifty too but Noisear were bloody awesome and blew me away with their excellent blend of technicality and blasting grind. I chatted with the singer at this gig and MDF and he was a really nice bloke. They were contenders for the best band of the night UNTIL The Kill came on. I may be a bit biased as I’ve seen The Kill plenty of times in Australia but this was one of their best and most blistering (to use a grind cliché) show and it was helped that the crowd were appreciative and got into it. Really killer gig and here is one of the best live shots of a band I’ve ever seen

Cripple Bastards

After the shonky bus hijinks of 2010 I took a train to Baltimore this year and it was a much better way to travel. From the train line in Baltimore I could see a neighbourhood with houses mostly boarded up which of course made me think of The Wire and both the hiding places that Chris and Snoop used for dead bodies as well as the ill-fated Hamsterdam project. This reminded me not to stray too far in Baltimore and wisely I staying in the city centre the whole time.

Back to the Tremont Plaza and then off to the pre-fest show which featured Cathedral in fine form playing their final ever US show. They sounded great and Lee was charismatic as ever although I don’t think he heard me yell “Scum” which I had been instructed by fellow radio idiot Mark to request. Sadly they didn’t play Soul Sacrifice but they did play Ebony Tears which made me very happy. My poor mate JJ from Australia (a huge Cathedral fan) received several drunken text messages from me during their set gloating about how good they were. Thankfully we both attended the Cathedral farewell tour of Australia earlier this year so I don’t feel so bad. He may well cop a few gloating texts this year during Electric Wizard (sorry mate!).

Cathedral

The other highlight of the night was Flesh Parade who were way better than I expected and had a really fun vibe to them. The new vocalist’s shriek took a bit of getting used to but they seemed to be enjoying themselves which always helps. Tragedy were really enjoyable but I got the feeling they would have been better in a club and I wasn’t as blown away as I expected to be. Buzzov*en were pretty decent and I had managed to chat with the bass player for about 20 minutes before discovering he was in the band (oops!). Nice chap though. Miasmal were a bit of a disappointment but they had a terribly muddy sound so I suspect that was the problem.

Friday highlight was of course Neurosis who were the band I came to see. There was an awesome thunderstorm just before their set was due to start so there was a 40 minute wait while the dried the stage. I asked Scott Kelly about it when he played in Canberra recently and apparently their keyboardist would have been in a very dangerous position if they hadn’t taken the time so I’m glad they did. The delay seemed to get them very riled up and Steve Von Till looked even more pissed off than usual and they put on an amazing show that I doubt I’ll see matched for intensity. One highlight was At The End Of The Road which didn’t stand out much on the Given To The Rising album but live the dynamics were amazing and when the songs kicked in it really KICKED IN!! They even played my favourite song Locust Star and finished with the tribal drumming of Through Silver In Blood which was very impressive. Neurosis were as good as I hoped and my only minor gripe is that they didn’t do any songs from Times Of Grace.

Neurosis

Other bands that impressed that day were Funebrarum who I had been very eager to see and played their Scandeath style perfectly. Kingdom Of Suffering Souls was massive! Machetazo also excelled and thankfully played my favourite song Banquette Funerario.

Corrosion Of Conformity sounded pretty terrible to me although I am not overly familiar with their earlier material so maybe it was supposed to sound like that. I thought they were standard circle mosh NYHC stuff but they didn’t sound like that. Aura Noir also didn’t do much for me despite several of my mates saying they were the best band of the festival. I was too knackered to watch more than a few songs of Marduk as they were last and unsurprisingly Exhumed sounded exactly the same as when they toured Australia in 2004. It’s always fun to see the songs Limb From Limb and Open The Abscess live.

Saturday opened well for me with Innumerable Forms who have obviously heard an Autopsy cd or two and played quite impressive death metal. Very keen to hear an album from these guys as their Dark Worship 7” was pretty nifty. Saudi Arabian grind band Creative Waste were impressive too and their singer was quite energetic.

The Kill received the party brigade treatment with all sorts of blow up toys and glowsticks being thrown at them. They also featured a nude kangaroo hop from a fellow Aussie (Brad from Internal Rot and Super Fun Happy Slide) who made even more of a fool of himself during Doubled Over the next day (see below). As usual they were amazing live and received a great response.

The Kill + kangaroo

I missed Blood Freak for some reason but I managed to catch Hail Of Bullets outside who sounded bloody awesome. Martin van Drunen is a god and thankfully the outdoor sound was excellent for their Swedish sounding death metal. Doom played inside and sounded killer but I wasn’t that familiar with their songs so they just sounded like all the more recent bands that have been ripping them off for years.

Impaled Nazarene were bloody awesome too and there was a hilarious moment when a beach ball landed on their stage and singer Mika grabbed it and snarled into the mic “What is this some kind of fucking hippy festival? You people make me sick!”. I was a tad disappointed that Mika doesn’t seem to waggle his tongue sleazily at the crowd as much as he did when they toured Australia in 1999 but he was still in fine form. Really happy to see the songs Sadhu Satana and Total War live.

Impaled Nazarene and the offending beach ball

Inquisition, Hooded Menace and Acid Witch sadly suffered at the hands of the bartender at Sonar who was a little over generous with his mixing. I asked for one bourbon and coke and he misheard and poured me two and when I tipped him well he insisted I have a third shot. Nice chap but he certainly pours a strong drink! So I watched Voivod on the outdoor stage while popping in to see brutal death metallers Defeated Sanity whenever Voivod played a new song (which worked really strangely but surprisingly well). It was warm so the drinks went down quickly and then it’s a blur until I remember standing in the carpark after the show talking to some friends with whom I was apparently going to an aftershow with. I do remember a bit of Inquisition who were the last band but the inside stage area was totally packed with people so they were a blur on the stage miles away according to my drunken vision. They did sound good though. I promise that 2012 will only feature beer consumption in an effort to retain some memory of events.

Sunday was unsurprisingly hampered by a hangover and the usual very painful feet but I arrived early enough to catch Oak which was excellent as they are crushing death/doom and were super heavy. Malignant Tumour were not what I expected as I was more familiar with their earlier grind stuff but their Motorhead punkthrash style was great fun and the party brigade were in full force for them. Below is some footage I took during their set.

Malignant Tumour

Dead Congregation were way better than I expected and really impressed with their dense death metal sound. Skinless played their last ever show with old vocalist Sherwood rejoining and it was one of the most fun sets I’ve seen with all their old classics played. I’d seen them before at the final Metal For The Brain festival with the later lineup and they were pretty average so I was very happy to see them in such fine form. I’d planned on seeing some of Orange Goblin but was having such a fun time that Skinless won out.

Coroner were the headliners on Sunday and so they played for about 90 minutes which was 90 minutes too long for my liking. They were AWFUL although I never was much of a fan. After reading other reviews they apparently barely played anything off the first 3 classic albums although I did luck out and the 2 minutes I saw were from the only Coroner song I like, Masked Jackal. I spent the 90 minutes much more productively by having dinner and a rest back at the hotel (too old for this shit!).

Australian 2 piece Doubled Over were a last minute replacement for Lock Up and so they had a prime spot on the indoor stage which looked odd with only 2 people on it. Their heavy death grind eventually garnered them a decent crowd and Nik from The Kill joined them onstage for a song or two. However also joining them onstage was Brad from Internal Rot and Super Fun Happy Slide who had had quite a bit of booze and he danced across the stage playing a broom COMPLETEY NUDE! I heard later that another Aussie had luckily intervened before the security guards beat the shit out of drunken Brad. Of course I had been talking to tipsy Brad beforehand and he pre-warned me about the streak so I wisely filmed it and here it is (assuming YouTube haven’t taken it down). Sorry mate.

Doubled Over

Wormed opened with a perplexingly long sample about physics that must have gone for 4-5 minutes although when they did start it was heavy as hell!! I was worried their technicality would be lost live and it was to a degree as the drums weren’t loud enough but the guitars and vocals came through nice and clearly. Their set was the sort of thing I’d love to transport Beethoven to and explain that this is what music would develop into. If you are into brutal death metal and for some reason haven’t heard Wormed then remedy that immediately and check out their Planisphaerium masterpiece.

Last Days Of Humanity followed and they were another act I was greatly anticipating as they are one of my favourite goregrind acts. Plenty of my mates were hoping for them to sound like later blasting Putrefaction.. era however I was very pleased that they sounded more like Hymns.. with plenty of discernable riffs and of course those lovely pitch shifted vocals. They were a bit sloppy but were way better than I expected so I was very satisfied.

Last Days Of Humanity

Here’s a charming picture of my good mate Christoph (from Doubled Over, Internal Rot, Trench Sisters etc) and I looking chummy.

Ghost closed out the whole festival so of course it was super squishy inside and so I could barely see them on stage. I like their album but to me the vocals sounded really thin and the whole performance lacked power. So I said my goodbyes and stumbled up the hill back to the Tremont Plaza and that was another MDF done.

After MDF I returned to NYC and after more pizza and a night of recuperation I ventured out to Brooklyn to Union Pool to see Hooded Menace, Negative Plane, Anhedonist and Ilsa. Thankfully I actually remember this Hooded Menace gig as I avoided another bourbon blitz and stuck to beer. Ilsa started and were pretty good but didn’t quite grab me for some reason. But the second Anhedonist took the stage I was a very happy chappy as they were crushing in the wonderful Disembowelment style of death/doom. Afterwards I bought their demo The Drear on vinyl but when I finally got around to listening to it I was a tad disappointed as the newer songs live were so much better. Definitely check out their debut album Netherwards on Dark Descent. Negative Plane followed and I really didn’t expect their odd black metal style to work live but it certainly did, possibly more so than the albums. A definite pleasant surprise for me. Finally I got to see Hooded Menace while in a vaguely sober state and they were damn good BUT having only one guitar meant they sounded a bit thin and the thick sound on the albums is half the charm. I believe they now have a 2nd live guitarist at least. They still kicked arse but for me Anhedonist stole the night. This had been the only gig I went to where I was the only Australian present but I met a few of the Anhedonist guys and also Dave from Evoken/Funebrarum so I wasn’t too lonely and after the social assault of MDF I didn’t mind some chill time. The venue had a very tasty taco van out the back (see below) and I scoffed a few yummy treats from there. I caught the subway back to Manhattan by myself which always feels a bit dodgy but I got chatting with a few blokes who had been at the Tragedy show up the road so all was good. Damn fine gig!!

El Diablo taco van

Anhedonist

Chaos In Tejas festival (CiT) was the final stop of my 2011 trip and so I flew to Austin, Texas where I must say that it’s BLOODY HOT!!! Thankfully it was a drier heat than Baltimore or NYC but I was very glad when I walked into my hotel room and the aircon was very powerful. Haha the first night I pretty much hid in my hotel room and ordered a pizza delivery as even at night it was boiling outside. CiT is much like SXSW and is a festival spanning about 5-6 venues so there was plenty of wandering between bars but thankfully they were all pretty close together. CiT is much more hardcore oriented than MDF however Autopsy were headlining one night and I couldn’t resist the urge to see them again which paid off as the venue was more intimate and more chaotic with stage divers galore.

One of the gigs that I spent most time at was a death metal show at Red 7. Sadly I missed openers Mammoth Grinder while waiting in a line but I did hear them and they sounded boss. A tip for anyone thinking of going to CiT – get their early and go to each venue you will be seeing bands at and get a wrist band asap as it cuts down on queueing time. Bone Sickness were pretty nifty too. Acephalix play a early Bolt Thrower style of death metal which certainly tickled my fancy and I really enjoyed their energy. I think I missed Danish band Undergang as I went to watch Trap Them which is a shame as their new album is killer. Hooded Menace kicked fairly large amounts of bottom again although the poor bastards looked like they were about to melt in their hooded sweatshirts.

The other bands I saw that day were scattered at various venues and the highlight was probably Trap Them at Mohawk who were quite intense and the singer was a doing a great Tarzan impersonation climbing around the outdoor stage (no vine swinging though sadly).

Trap Them

It was bloody hot outside though so I’m glad I had my trusty Akubra hat. Converge also played at Mohawk but I only caught the last few songs. Veins played on the indoor Emo’s stage and the place was a madhouse. They play very aggressive hardcore and the crowd were quite excited about that fact and there was stagediving and pits galore. In true hardcore fashion they only played for 15 minutes but it was fun. I caught a bit of Japanese punks Isterismo (I think) but it was a complete wall of noise and I couldn’t make out anything except “screeeeech” so I wandered off. I also caught some of Cro Mags at Emo and they were great fun and had the crowd completely whipped into a frenzy like any NYHC band should be able to do.

The next day I did much less travelling and pretty much just stayed at Emo’s which conveniently had all the bands I wanted to see on one bill. Earlier that day I’d wandered around downtown Austin and managed to send some postcards (the day before I came home – oops!) and scoff some pretty damn yummy barbeque ribs.

I showed up to the gig and Innumerable Forms kicked my arse again with sludgy death metal so definitely keep your eyes out for a debut album of theirs. Hatred Surge were another standout with their heavy grind/powerviolence and they had Rahi from Insect Warfare on vocals which was an added bonus. Iron Lung received an awesome response from the crowd which is not surprising considering their intensity on stage.

Here is a picture of me (with Catbomb head honcho and top lass Vanessa) enjoying the local cheap beer Lone Star which was quite average really. I saw a 6 pack of a beer called Moose Drool on sale in Austin but foolishly I didn’t try it.

Autopsy were in fine form though and seemed to be enjoying the club feel and I was in heaven once more!! Another fanboy incident occurred with Chris Reifert which you can see here. Their set was heavily weighed with Severed Survival tracks so I was a bit sad I didn’t get as many Mental Funeral songs (no Destined.. or In The Grip..) however their sound was better than MDF 2011 so the leads in Dead could be heard perfectly which made me a happy boy. The new songs from their Macabre Eternal album sounded great live too which was a bonus. I really enjoyed the club atmosphere and the stagediving and moshing was suitably frenzied. Can’t wait to see Autopsy again for the third year in a row at MDF 2012. Below is a guitar they had on display although I don’t think Autopsy actually used it live. Looked pretty bloody cool though.

Here’s a pic of my mate John and I and some derro bloke sculling beer

Foolishly I only stayed for first 2 days of CiT and so I missed Doom, Tragedy and Kriegshog but most importantly (I realise now) was that I missed tons of the Black Twilight Circle bands including Arizmenda who are my favourite of that group. D’oh!!!!

Finally here is a sequel to the video I shot at MDF 2010 of the comings and goings at MDF while I ate my lunch. I think the band playing is Nokternel.

2010 was my next visit to Maryland Deathfest (MDF) and this time I left my darling Ann at home with the cats and travelled alone. I flew straight to New York City and checked into a hotel which had about 14 other Australians staying in which was a fun party atmosphere. This is a picture of one of our rooms which had 8 of us staying (I had the crappy fold out bed sadly). The window on the right is the infamous “toilet” as explained further down this post.

Instead of going to sleep I foolishly walked about 30 blocks to a free gig where Municipal Waste, Atakke and Ramming Speed were playing but it only took 2 beers for me to realise I was exhausted from the trip and after MW I went back for a snooze. The gig was fun although it was very cramped and the bands only played short sets for no apparent reason so I saw about 5 MW songs. Hehe I think the band are in this picture somewhere.

Municipal Waste

Sadly the next night I missed an Inquisition gig however a decent batch of Aussies had a great time at a pub down near the World Trade Centre site where we all got pretty sloshed. We really enjoyed putting horrible metal songs on the jukebox which for some odd reason had the whole Relapse Records back catalogue and it’s an odd feeling sitting in an Irish pub in NYC listening to local Canberra legends Alchemist playing! I suspect the bar owner turned the volume down a bit as when I put Disembowelment’s The Tree Of Life And Death song on none of the normal people batted an eyelid. After way too many beers and complimentary shots of various Irish whiskies we went to another pub of which all I remember is that it had a fire breathing bartender and a dodgy toilet door. I left with a group of us quite late however a few Aussies continued boozing and after escaping from a dodgy local trying to sell them cocaine they eventually returned to the room blind drunk and singing Bon Jovi songs. The next morning we discovered that one unnamed poor chap had mistaken a window for a toilet and managed to piss all over another guys bag. Don’t look at me folks as I was fast asleep with ear plugs in.

Some pissed Australians in the Irish Bar

Me looking a little worse for wear

The fire breathing bar

Most of our Aussie contingent went to Duffs metal pub the next night which was quite fun despite being in a rather dodgy and scummy looking part of Brooklyn. Duffs is the clubhouse for the New York Death Militia (NYDM) so I was hoping to see Will Rahmer from Mortician there. Sadly it was mostly empty except for 3 drunk Swiss metalheads who were moshing to Dying Fetus songs which seemed to come on the jukebox way too regularly. We did enjoy celebrating Richards birthday though and he even received a free shot of booze in a condom which of course he drank.

Next NYC gig was Czech grinders Gride, P.L.F., Unmen and Powercup at Bushwick Bike Shop (yes it was in a bicycle shop!) in Brooklyn which was a very odd venue that I think was slightly less than legal. An amusing moment occurred when we were sitting in a courtyard out the back when I noticed a door of a nearby apartment building was open and a well dressed middle eastern man was standing there just staring at 50+ crusties and metalheads sitting around drinking booze. After a minute of blankly staring at us he just closed the door. P.L.F. were probably the highlight for me although Gride were pretty raging too. The venue was very hot inside as the doors were shut to avoid the cops being called and it was amusing with naked drunken moshers sliding along the floor on their stomachs. Here is a video I found of P.L.F.

P.L.F.

While in NYC I also saw Gorguts, Portal, Krallice and Bloody Panda at a killer show at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn which still rates as probably the best I’ve seen Portal play. I suspect it was due to them having supreme quality sound due to Blacky from Voivod (who was the sound guy for some odd reason) but also because their lighting was very subdued and was punctuated by flash photography that made The Curator look even more sinister. Gorguts were pretty nifty and it was good to see Obscura songs live as that the only album of theirs that I really like. The highlight for them was seeing the pleasure on Luc Lemay’s face at playing live again as he genuinely looked to be enjoying himself. Gorguts didn’t sound as good at MDF a few days later so I’m glad I saw them in NYC. I also had the pleasure of meeting Paolo from NY deathgrind pervs Copremesis who was a top bloke so below is a pic of him looking normal and me being a tool while scoffing pizza.

Portal
   

The next day we took a bus to Baltimore and the trip was going quite smoothly until we were unexpectedly dropped off at the only stop in Baltimore which was in the middle of nowhere about 30 minutes drive from downtown Baltimore! Grrrr. It was quite close to an Ikea store so I suppose so we could have subsisted on meatballs. After waiting in the summer sun for about 40 minutes we eventually all took expensive taxis to downtown while cursing Megabus’s name. The only bright side was that our taxi driver was a very jovial chap who kept us amused and answered all our geeky questions about the tv show The Wire and when I asked where the dangerous areas of Baltimore were he laughed very loudly and pointed up about 5 streets saying “up there and there…”. He got a decent tip from us. So kiddies when travelling from New York to Baltimore make sure you check where the drop off point is.

The bus stop and a group of sweaty Aussies

The MDF pre-fest was first up and I made the somewhat foolish mistake of trying to drink a beer for every band playing which as there were 8 bands meant that unfortunately my memories of headliners General Surgery and Birdflesh are quite hazy. I do remember enjoying them a lot but maybe not quite as much as the 2007 MDF for some reason. Iron Lung were a standout of the pre-fest although I wasn’t that surprised as they had impressed mightily on a previous Australian tour. I still don’t think I’ve seen any drummer hit their kit as hard as Jensen does.

Friday was the first proper day and by now there were 3 stages at MDF and a lot more bands and merchandise so my eardrums and wallet took poundings. 2010 was the first year I was exposed to the party brigade which is where people dress up in amusing costumes and throw glow sticks and blow up toys at the bands. Generally they chose grind bands so it amusing to see the bog standard sweaty-blokes-in-black-shirts mosh for the previous band suddenly contain people in chicken suits and wrestling masks running around with giant blow up penises!

Party Brigade

Putrescence kicked arse again and I had the pleasure of meeting the below character for the first time as he was doing his special crunking in the pit. He’s a top bloke though and I’m keen to party with him again this year. I also hung out with Putrescence badboy Mike Depends who is another fine individual.

         

Australian black metal legends Nazxul were the first band outside and to tell the truth any atmosphere they might have generated was quite spoiled playing outside in full sun! I really pity the singer as he wears a huge trenchcoat thing that looks to be quite warm. Sound hijinks meant the keyboards were missing for the first song or so which really doesn’t help their sound but eventually all was right and they put on a great show. I’ll never get sick of hearing the song Totem live.

Nazxul

I tried to watch some of Watain who played inside but the place was completely packed and I couldn’t be arsed barging my way to the front but I did listen to them from the back and they sounded bloody good and new song Reaping Death sounded as killer as I expected. Apparently they took offense to the D.R.I bassist moshing on their stage and had a bit of a scuffle so it’s a shame I didn’t see that. Here is some pretty poor footage but it’s all I could find.

I was slack and didn’t watch Gride or Gorguts as I’d seen them days before so Coffins was the next highlight for me and they were nice and heavy. I was slightly surprised that they played a few of their really slow songs as I thought their mid paced stomping songs would have gone down better live but I was very happy when they ended with Slaughter Of Gods which is my favourite song of theirs. D.R.I. headlined and were flat out awesome! I have always loved Dealing With It and Crossover and they certainly played plenty off those. It’s always great to see an old school band who know how to work the crowd up and to finally see Couch Slouch live was a real treat. As expected the pit was insane for them so I stayed well clear. Those guys must getting on in years but they looked really fresh and singer Kurt was quite energetic.

Being a chubby, unfit bastard meant I already had sore feet and needed sleep but the fitter/drug affected people continue partying after MDF at several afterparties and that night several Aussies went and saw Coffins, Oak and Massgrave and it sounded like quite an adventure. The gig was in a squat called The Annex somewhere in Baltimore near a graveyard and the only access was a rusty fire escape which apparently was very dodgy and likely to give way at any moment (probably lucky I didn’t test my weight out on it). From all reports it went pretty damn late with Coffins playing at 5.30am while the sun came up!

The Annex

Saturday was the first full day with both outdoor stages being used much more and for me it was another gig going high point as I finally saw Autopsy live!!! But first the other highlights of a fun day. Looking at the lineup I seemed to miss tons of bands that day but I did catch Obliteration (sort of). They were playing indoors and I was standing outside talking to an old friend from Melbourne but we were close enough to the open door that I heard their whole set which was some killer old school death metal. The Chasm played well on the around-the-corner outside stage which always sounded awful unless you were really close to the stage. It was amusing to watch the mosh as for starters it was on bitumen that wouldn’t be very forgiving to skin but also the stage was built on a sloping street so the whole mosh was on an angle.

Next was the only really unfortunate clash of bands for me with Impaled vs Sadistic Intent / Possessed. Possessed had been scheduled to play the day before but missed a flight so they were bumped back to be part of Sadistic Intent’s set as they shared the same band members. I chose Impaled and planned on skipping out on their final few songs to catch some SI but it didn’t work out that way because Impaled were bloody awesome and I couldn’t bear to miss their set. It didn’t matter anyway as apparently SI only played 3 songs and then Possessed took over. Leon del Muerte sung a few songs with Impaled (but sadly not Trocar which had been promised to me by him – bastard!!) which was cool and I also got to see them play Raise The Stakes and my favourite Impaled song Operating Theatre.

Grind legends Blood Duster were in fine form and much better than the last few times I’d seen them in Australia and the party brigade went crazy with glow sticks and costumes in the mosh which was a sight to see. I was pleased to hit singer Tony in the head with a glowstick. The band really seemed to rise to the abuse and they certainly looked to be enjoying it a lot more than when I saw them last New Years Eve in Melbourne where a very drunk and decidedly unattractive woman jumped on stage, took her top off and lingered dancing onstage way too long. Later I saw her showing the contents of her underpants to the bartender for a drink.

Blood Duster meets the party brigade
    

Back outdoors and I squeezed up near the stage for a good view of Melechesh who are a favourite on our radio show as Steve plays them most weeks. After an eternity of sound checking and fiddling around on stage they started and played an excellent set on their middle eastern black metal which went down surprisingly well with the predominantly death metal crowd. The only downside was that they planned on finishing with their best song Rebirth Of The Nemesis but got cut short. The bloody idiots shouldn’t have taken so long to set up!! For some reason one guitarist had a scarf around his head ninja-style however after a song he took it off.

Melechesh

Here is a photo of me peeking over the fence during Repulsion which an Aussie mate was nice enough to take. I’d arrived late and couldn’t be bothered struggling though the huge crowd to get near the stage so I stood on a park bench near the side of the stage and had a great view and excellent sound! Several friends waved at me so I obviously stood out. I’ve also included footage I took from this position which show the mosh in full force but be warned as the sound is ATROCIOUS as I was right next to the PA so I recommend turning the volume off and just listening to Horrified while you watch.

Repulsion (WARNING – TURN THE SOUND DOWN)
  

Asphyx played on the round the corner stage and it just wasn’t loud enough but it was great to finally see Van Drunen sing live. But I was getting too twitchy so I left them to get a decent position for my reason for being there – AUTOPSY!!! Sadly everyone else had the same idea so I picked a spot a bit further back where the sound was decent and the mosh wasn’t encroaching as I certainly needed plenty of space for the involuntary headbanging that ensued. When they came on they opened with Twisted Mass.. which isn’t my favourite song but followed with In The Grip of Winter which IS my favourite Autopsy song so I can’t describe how happy I was. My friends John and Mikk were standing next to me probably thought I was having a seizure as I couldn’t restrain myself. My feet and back had been killing me earlier but the second they started I felt no pain plus there was a chick behind me with very long hair which acted like a fan cooling me which was appreciated. Mental Funeral is their best album so I was very happy to see songs such as Dead and Slaughterday played as well as Destined To Fester which I’ve always had a soft spot for after Alchemist used to cover it live back in the mid 90s so it was fabulous to see the real thing! Plenty of Severed Survival was played too. The whole set was magical and the only downside was that the solos weren’t very loud but I have them all memorised so I wasn’t too worried and best of all Chris’s voice sounded amazing. Unsurprisingly this was the highlight of the whole festival for me and I could ramble for many pages about how much fun I had. Below is a pic of the band and also the crowd and thanks to my manly bald spot (and John’s white Coopers hat) I spotted myself in the crowd which I highlighted with a poor drawn arrow.

Autopsy
   

Deceased followed and I wandered inside and caught half a song but I was on such a high from Autopsy that they didn’t really sink in and I stumbled back to the hotel for a rest. It was a shame as I was keen to check them out and they did sound really good. Portal closed the night and were bloody LOUD! The sound had been maxed out and everything was too loud and distorted which for a band as chaotic as Portal means they were just a wall of noise. I struggled somewhat close to front and was amused to see people moshing although I have no idea what rhythm they were following!

Sunday featured more missed early bands but I did manage to catch Dutch goregrinders Rompeprop who were bloody awesome and very hilarious with their between song banter. Their mid pace stomping style worked perfectly and the crowd lapped it up. Somehow I stuffed up and only caught the last minute or two of Gridlink who sounded incredible. I heard they only played for 10 minutes so I guess I was lucky to catch that much.

Gridlink

One band that really impressed me were Black Breath who had a crystal clear sound and managed to sound even more Swedish death metal than either Entombed or Nirvana 2002 which is quite clever for a bunch of Yanks. They mostly played songs off Heavy Breathing which is an album I love and so I was very happy and watched their whole set. Outside I caught some of Necrophobic who sounded OK on the crap stage and I had finally remembered to bring my camera along so here are some amusing pics I took. Another example of why black metal makeup doesn’t work so well in full light.

Necrophobic
 

Next were sludge legends Eyehategod and quite simply they kicked arse! Thankfully they had a great sound and played a killer setlist which I was pleased to find featured my favourite EHG song Dixie Whisky. The band are well known for their substance abuse and guitarist Jimmy Bower looked so stoned it was hilarious but as you can see in the below pic he was having a fun time. I’m super keen to see them again this year as they’ll be on the indoor stage which will probably a bit better suited.

Eyehategod
  

Pestilence bored me stupid unfortunately and I think they were made worse by the bass player looking like a tosser wearing a poxy shirt, having his bass too high and not appearing to know how to headbang. He looked like he should be in Keel or some AOR band. I was hoping for Martin Van Drunen to get up and do some old songs but no luck. Hard to believe they put out the raw death metal masterpiece Consuming Impulse and then turned into a widdle diddle technical band. Nirvana 2002 sounded pretty decent and it was funny to see them play Crawl and then Entombed play it an hour or two later. I ended up watching them from the side of the stage as I got there late and, like Repulsion, I couldn’t be bothered struggling through the crowd.

Pentagram played on the crappy corner stage and sounded quite excellent so I watched a few songs but my feet were getting really painful so I went inside and sat down and watched Aussie grind masters Captain Cleanoff (even though I’ve seen them 20+ times). For some odd reason the crowd seemed a bit subdued and CC didn’t go down quite as well as I expected. Odd. Entombed played outside and the sound was bloody dreadful as they really need a second guitarist. They did play plenty of classics though including Supposed To Rot so I was happy with that. Now that I think about it I am yet to see Entombed with a really awesome live sound except maybe a Canberra gig in 1999 of which my memory is a bit too hazy (possibly due to substances consumed). Their first Australia tour was in 1998 and I saw them at Marrickville Town Hall in Sydney and the sound was atrocious as it was a huge room not suited to modern music. Damaged played that gig too and Jamie was having a hissy fit so they started without him and my mate Jesse got on stage and growled random through half a song before Steve from Manticore kicked him off and then sang a song properly before Jamie finally came out. Fun times!

Pentagram (those pants!!)

Caught a few songs of Obituary which just happened to be from their Cause Of Death masterpiece but I’d seen them in Australia 6 months earlier so I stood up the back chatting with some friends while half listening. Trevor Peres always was an odd looking fellow but with his big hillbilly beard he looked like a scary methhead.

Obituary

One band that did go down well were Capitalist Casualties whose singer had recently been in hospital but he didn’t show it as they raged hard. I’ve never been a huge CC fan but live they were a revelation. From Ashes Rise did the whole heavy hardcore thing well but my energy levels were flagging and after seeing just how packed it was for the last band Converge I scurried off to my hotel and collapsed into my very comfortable bed.

The next day I had tons of time to kill before my plane left so I went for a wander in downtown Baltimore which was pretty much deserted as it was a public holiday for Memorial Day. My brother in law had bought me a tshirt from the tv show The Wire which featured Omar Little on it so I felt obliged to wear it as I was in Baltimore where the show was set. In hindsight it might not have been the best idea as it features a black guy with a gun on it but I didn’t have any problems and the airport security laughed when I mentioned it and said “don’t worry we understand The Wire here” (although he had mistaken the pic for another character called Marlo – pfft amateur!). I decided not to try out the LAX security people and changed to a nondescript shirt. Had a fun wait at the airport as Tony from Blood Duster was on the same flights back to Australia so it was amusing hearing about the back stage shenanigans that went on. One quality story was that plenty of cocaine and other drugs were being consumed in the band room and Bobby from Pentagram (a long time drug user who was on the wagon at the time) suddenly said “Argh I can’t take it” and stormed off. After the usual temporary insanity of long distance flying I made it back to Canberra and said my usual “I’m getting too old for this shit” which of course was overridden once they announced Neurosis headlining MDF 2011.

I’ll leave you with this video I took of the comings and goings from the festival while eating my dinner one day. Gorguts and Blacky from Voivod walk past at one stage. The bald guy who stops to talk to me is Matt from death metal band Blaspherian who recognised me from the 2007 MDF when we chatted about the Disembowelment patch on my jacket. Good memory mate!!

This is the first in a series of posts about my adventures at the various Maryland Deathfest (MDF) gigs that I have attended in the US. These are leading up to me going to MDF 2012 in May from which I’ll be reporting to this wonderful blog.

2007 was the first time I attended MDF while on a 6 week trip to the US with my partner Ann. Back then MDF was only 2 full days on one stage with a pre-fest on the Friday night. I dragged poor Ann along on Friday night which was quite the eye opener for her. I think we missed Defeatist so amusingly enough the first band I saw at MDF was Australian hardcore band Pisschrist who were in awesome form with singer Yeap all over the stage and in the crowd. They went down a treat and were quite a contrast to the next band which was one man band Putrid Pile. I knew there was only one guy in the band and assumed he’d have a session backing band so I got a surprise when he came out by himself and played guitar and sang over a backing tape. It still sounded bloody awesome but it was sort of surreal to watch.

Pisschrist

Putrid Pile

I don’t think Insect Warfare’s album was out by then and so they totally blew me away with their razor sharp grind. Singer Rahi was a hairy madmen on stage and Dobber’s effortless drumming satisfied my blast cravings very nicely. Poor Pig Destroyer had to follow them and were good but in reality they paled in comparison.

The next day we had some very tasty crab cakes for breakfast and then I left my weary Ann at the hotel and taxied over to the first full day. The line was very long so I missed the first band but a local crusty chick kept us entertained by playing with her pet rats that she kept in a shoebox. But the looks of amusement turned to sadness or disgust when she discovered one of them was dead and tried to revive it. Of course being a deviant I took this photo of her.

Eventually I got in and I was in heaven. A huge metal gig with awesome bands, tons of booze and merch for sale is about as good as it gets. I actually had to be very strict and not buy an vinyl as we still had several weeks of travel ahead of us so I was supremely strong and didn’t even look at any vinyl (I’m not sure how!).

First highlight of the day was Japanese band Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation partly for the rather cute female singer but also because their straight forward grind was really enjoyable. Next was Nunwhore Commando 666 which is a band with Gut members playing dance porno grind who I was very eager to see as I love their recordings. Sadly the sound was terrible and all you could hear was bass and muffled vocals however the stage show was most amusing with 2 attractive women abusing and trying up the masked vocalist for some reason.

Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation

Nunwhore Commando 666

I was hoping for good things from Swedish d-beat band Skitsystem but they were pretty lacklustre, however I wasn’t disappointed for long as the mighty Cock And Ball Torture were on next! They are one of my favourite bands and were one of the main reasons I went to MDF. The crowd went apeshit for their bulldozer grooves and somehow I managed to headbang pretty vigorously with a backpack full of merch! It was one of those rare special moments when seeing a band where everything comes together perfectly and I hope the memory never fades. Luckily there was only one stage that year so I had some time to recover while the next band set up and I needed it as Rotten Sound followed and played one of the tightest sets I’ve ever seen. Their precision grind combined with the Swedeath guitar sound was just pulverising. Gorerotted spoiled the mood slightly after that although they were still somewhat fun with 2 vocalists and the classic song Fuck Your Arse With Broken Glass.

Then a massive 1 – 2 combo hit knocked me on my arse with General Surgery followed by Regurgitate! GS were covered in blood and playing one of their last shows with Grant singing. They were insanely good playing oldies off Necrology and new songs off Left Hand Pathology which still rates one of the best albums of the last 10 years. I still consider their set as one of my all time favourites and I’ve seen A LOT of gigs. I was on such a high after their set that it took a few songs for me to realise that I was watching grind gods Regurgitate but they certainly lived up to their legendary status and blasted a killer set (which included my favourite song Vulva Fermentation). Vocalist Rikard switched perfectly between the growls, screams and gurgles and they crammed 32 songs in about as many minutes. I remember nothing whatsoever of Vomitory so I assume I buggered off for dinner or collapsed somewhere. Extreme Noise Terror were surprisingly awesome even though one singer was missing (apparently too drunk to play) and played a killer old school grind set. Brutal Truth sounded exactly the same as the 2 times I’d seen them in Australia (ie. a wall of noise with a few discernable riffs and amusing facials from the drummer) so I staggered off up the road to East Baltimore street (the dodgy strip club area) and rapidly hailed a taxi to escape the sleaze. Quite the amazing day and probably one of the best of my life as far as gigs go.

General Surgery

Extreme Noise Terror

Brutal Truth

The next day I was back for more and started the day well with Canadian deathgrinders Putrescence who feature cuddly Mike from Swallowing Shit on vocals. Next highlight was Jigsore Terror who are an old school grind band ala Repulsion or Terrorizer and they really did the sound justice and proved to be a nice surprise. Then came Creepsylvanian mosh merchants Ghoul who drove the crowd crazy with a short but sweet set of songs that all but forced you to mosh or thrash. The whole costumed look and hilarious stage banter really helped but the songs themselves were so much more fun live than on cd and I really can’t wait to see them again this year in both New York and at MDF. They now number among bands such as Crowbar and Damaged that I prefer live than on cd. The fun continued with Birdflesh who have never really blown me away on cd but live they had such a fun spirit of stupidity that it was infectious. The pit was even bigger than Ghoul and the band have songs about cats so you can’t go wrong with them.

Ghoul (plus Gore Boar)

Cripple Bastards seemed to play forever and were not too exciting but then Gut came on and all hell broke loose. By the end of a couple of songs there were about 4 friends of the band and 3 scantily clad women onstage dancing around and spilling beer. Eventually security chucked a wobbly and kicked them off which of course led to some tough guy attitude which resulted in the security practicing their “restraint” techniques. The gig was stopped for a few minutes but Gut came back on and played a normal set with no hijinks. I love old Gut songs but their new stuff is generally awful so thankfully they only played a few new songs and concentrated on older classics which sounded great and they were better than I expected.

Gut

Dead Infection were one of my most anticipated bands and unfortunately I was disappointed as they had a crap, muffled sound and as vocalist Jaro had recently left the guitarist and bassist both sang and they couldn’t come close to his sheer power. Sure they played From The Anatomical Deeps and tons of stuff off their awesome Brain Corrosion album but it really lacked the punch they needed which was a real bummer for me. Malevolent Creation and Zyklon finished the day but they were pretty boring so I sat and watched them to take pressure off my poor feet which were very painful after 2 days of standing (yes I’m a wimp).

This MDF had been a lot less social as later ones which had dozens of Aussies friends as well as plenty of Americans I had befriended in the intervening years however I did enjoy hanging out with the 2 Aussies I found who were Damon Bloodstorm of Corpse Molestation/Bestial Warlust/Cemetery Urn fame and Frog from Sydney perv grinders Volatile. Here is a picture of us with me looking particularly stupid (and me bloated and sweaty). Frog also introduced me to Urban from Regurgitate who was a very nice chap so here’s another happy snap of him and I.

Damon Bloodstorm, Frog and I

Urban from Regurgitate and I

Again I’ll say thanks to Rev Aaron from Return To The Pit for taking killer pics and I encourage everyone to check out his site and his radio show.

 

2012 marks the 10th anniversary of Maryland Deathfest (MDF) which is America’s premiere extreme metal festival and it’ll be my 4th time attending. In mid May I depart from Canberra at 6.30am (groan) and nearly 30 hours later I’ll hopefully arrive in New York City where I’m spending nearly 2 weeks seeing the sights and going to plenty of other kick arse gigs (including seeing Evoken, Pallbearer and John Zorn!). Come Thursday May 24 I’ll catch a train down to Baltimore to go to MDF and then fly home the day after the festival with a mighty hangover, a sore neck, fatigued feet, suitcases full of merch, an intense ringing in my ears, but most importantly a big grin on my face. I plan on documenting this trip with photos and videos and of course I’ll post it all here along with reviews of bands I loved (or hated).

Here is the lineup for MDF 2012 and once again I am amazed at how the organisers seem to read my mind and pick so many bands that I love.

As soon as they announced Godflesh and Bethlehem were playing I knew that my attendance was mandatory. My main must-see-for-the-first-time bands this year are Godflesh, Bethlehem, Disma, Nasum, Brujeria, Haemorrhage, Looking For An Answer, Church Of Misery, Yob and of course Saint Vitus. But of course it’ll be a pleasure to see again bands like Autopsy (3 years in a row!), Eyehategod, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Macabre, Electric Wizard and good old Napalm Death. In reality I want to see pretty much every band on the bill but with 3 stages there will always be clashes and I also need time to buy excessive amounts of merch, schmooze with mates and drink lots of booze!

My next 3 posts will be my thoughts and reminisces about the MDFs that I have already attended (2007, 2010 and 2011) as they were some of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. Some of the photos featured are mine but several are stolen from Return To The Pit as Rev Aaron takes superb pictures with much better equipment than me. I definitely encourage you to check out this site as the guy takes a LOT of photos.

Enjoy!