dump em out
I had been surprisingly calm about going to Maryland Deathfest #5 this year. Last year was me coming off a 4 year absence and still working on my social anxiety and had been expecting to be similarly anxious about going back this year. The past few weeks have featured so little going wrong or concerning me that I started to get anxious about not being anxious, thinking I had overlooked some small factor that would cause me undue stress.
The drive up was probably the easiest I've had - there was a small slowdown due to a wreck, but even the normally stagnant traffic between DC and Baltimore was incredibly fluid. I realize that in five trips to this shinding I've had different accomodations each time. This year's hotel was easy to find and right next to an underground parking deck. They had a room ready for me and it's a pretty nice place.
Getting into the main parking lot venue was quite tedious. I waited in line almost an hour and even though it wasn't super hot the sun was beating down heavily. After getting inside I spent a while trolling around, checking out the vendors, and getting re-acquainted with old friends I'd not seen since last year and in some cases meeting some online friends for the first time. Just like last year everyone and everything was incredibly spread out, but very well organized in terms of keeping to schedule and letting people in and out.
I'd wanted to check out Artificial Brain but was stuck in line for that time. I could hear a bit of them through the fence though, so that counts for something. After nosing around the lot a bit more I headed over to the Soundstage to check out F.I.D. This was the first time I'd been to that venue and it was rather nice. Having a bathroom attendant for a day long grindcore fest was a bit out of place, but an amusing juxtaposition.
F.I.D. were awesome and I dug them just as much as the last time I'd played. They were followed by Nekrofilth who played a similar thrash/grind style and I found them highly entertaining. There weren't many bands I was interested in for a while but headed back to the lot to check out who all was there.
I caught the end of Aura Noir and while they were solid I'd seen them before and wasn't all that into seeing them again. Suffocation also fell into the category of "good but I've seen them and was ambivalent about seeing again". I did have the good fortune to run into and catch up with some more friends in the area and that was always fun. Leon introduced me to his wife who opined that we looked like brothers, so I wonder if that means I was in that last Rambo movie? While I'm not a fan of Bloodbath I checked out a few songs so I could say I've seen them.
The last bands of the night I wanted to see were at Ram's Head so I headed over there to check out Drawn and Quartered. They were good but didn't blow me away or anything. After their set I bullshat with some guys from Costa Rica and New Zealand and it's always interesting to meet up with people from other countries/cultures and get some firsthand knowledge about what life is like in their corners of the world.
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult sounds like a name that came from some black metal name generator but their music is serious business. I've listened to a few songs of theirs here and there and it did enough for me to look forward to seeing them and exceeded all expectations. Their vocalist has amazing range and her performance was some of the most evil-sounding vocals I can recall hearing. About 2/3 of the way through their set the other guitarist had some trouble with his instrument and couldn't get it back up and running. The band conferred between a song and did the rest of the set as a three piece ("We will go on with just the three of us. The guitar isssss deeeeeeeeeeaaaaaadddddddd!").
My phone was pretty much dead at this point and I had to go on a vague sense of direction to find my way back to the hotel. Fortunately I found it with minimal difficulty and was way too beat to do anything much after that.
The drive up was probably the easiest I've had - there was a small slowdown due to a wreck, but even the normally stagnant traffic between DC and Baltimore was incredibly fluid. I realize that in five trips to this shinding I've had different accomodations each time. This year's hotel was easy to find and right next to an underground parking deck. They had a room ready for me and it's a pretty nice place.
Getting into the main parking lot venue was quite tedious. I waited in line almost an hour and even though it wasn't super hot the sun was beating down heavily. After getting inside I spent a while trolling around, checking out the vendors, and getting re-acquainted with old friends I'd not seen since last year and in some cases meeting some online friends for the first time. Just like last year everyone and everything was incredibly spread out, but very well organized in terms of keeping to schedule and letting people in and out.
I'd wanted to check out Artificial Brain but was stuck in line for that time. I could hear a bit of them through the fence though, so that counts for something. After nosing around the lot a bit more I headed over to the Soundstage to check out F.I.D. This was the first time I'd been to that venue and it was rather nice. Having a bathroom attendant for a day long grindcore fest was a bit out of place, but an amusing juxtaposition.
F.I.D. were awesome and I dug them just as much as the last time I'd played. They were followed by Nekrofilth who played a similar thrash/grind style and I found them highly entertaining. There weren't many bands I was interested in for a while but headed back to the lot to check out who all was there.
I caught the end of Aura Noir and while they were solid I'd seen them before and wasn't all that into seeing them again. Suffocation also fell into the category of "good but I've seen them and was ambivalent about seeing again". I did have the good fortune to run into and catch up with some more friends in the area and that was always fun. Leon introduced me to his wife who opined that we looked like brothers, so I wonder if that means I was in that last Rambo movie? While I'm not a fan of Bloodbath I checked out a few songs so I could say I've seen them.
The last bands of the night I wanted to see were at Ram's Head so I headed over there to check out Drawn and Quartered. They were good but didn't blow me away or anything. After their set I bullshat with some guys from Costa Rica and New Zealand and it's always interesting to meet up with people from other countries/cultures and get some firsthand knowledge about what life is like in their corners of the world.
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult sounds like a name that came from some black metal name generator but their music is serious business. I've listened to a few songs of theirs here and there and it did enough for me to look forward to seeing them and exceeded all expectations. Their vocalist has amazing range and her performance was some of the most evil-sounding vocals I can recall hearing. About 2/3 of the way through their set the other guitarist had some trouble with his instrument and couldn't get it back up and running. The band conferred between a song and did the rest of the set as a three piece ("We will go on with just the three of us. The guitar isssss deeeeeeeeeeaaaaaadddddddd!").
My phone was pretty much dead at this point and I had to go on a vague sense of direction to find my way back to the hotel. Fortunately I found it with minimal difficulty and was way too beat to do anything much after that.