Maryland Deathfest 2010

Hello all,
I don't have my main post for the month of May ready just yet, but now I'm going to be posting an entry that would be taking up a big part of May's entry anyways. This post is dedicated to my experience of the Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore, Maryland. It's an annual festival that sees a bunch of death metal, sludge, punk, doom, grindcore and other kinds of bands associated with metal play over a series of 3 days.

This year, I was lucky enough to have the chance to go! I was pretty expensive for me to go, but it was well worth it. The ticket ended up costing 130, the bus ticket ended up being around 200 or so, and the hostel was maybe around 200 as well. Maybe it's not that expensive for you, but as a student, it was expensive for me! Anyways, I still feel really fortunate to have gone in the first place, because it almost didn't happen. I was skeptical about going in the first place, but that was because I had heard some not so great things about Baltimore. But when it comes down to it, any city has its good and bad and you just practice common sense.

Not only was it my first time going to MDF, it was my first time going to the United States, which was pretty exciting for me. It was interesting to see the differences between Canada and the States. I think what I noticed most was the architecture. Upon passing through different cities on the trip, I got to see new forms of architecture. In Buffalo there were really beautiful Victorian era homes that were some of the most colourful I've ever seen, New York was full of skyscrapers and monumental structures, and Baltimore had some beautiful historical architecture. Another thing I found interesting were the tunnels on the road, which resembled the subway stations here in Toronto- tiled instead of just pure concrete tunnels. One thing I had to get used to was the fact that American money is primarily bills- Canadian bills start at 5 dollars, but the bill for American money begins at 1 dollar. On the plus side, things were a lot cheaper in the States!

My trip began on May 27th when I had to catch a bus leaving Toronto at 8:30 p.m.. Because of delays, it didn't arrive the next day around 4:00 p.m. because of delays. The bus ride to and from Baltimore was probably the worst part of the trip, because there were several delays and it was just really difficult to sleep. It doesn't really matter though, because I hardly got any sleep the whole weekend anyways! In the end, I would say that the bus ride was around 15 hours each way.

The hostel where I ended up staying was really nice! It was my first time staying in a hostel, but it wasn't what I expected at all, it was a lot better. It was in a good area of town, and I liked the architecture of the building too. I think as long as you don't mind sharing a room with at least 3 other people (I had to share a room with 7 other people), and you like being independent, than staying in a hostel is no problem. While I was traveling with someone else, I was usually off on my own, but I didn't mind because I met other people that I won't forget. I met some really cool people at the hostel, from different places in the world....the east and west coasts of the States, Canada, and Australia. I swear Australians are some of the coolest people I've met, they seem so laid back. There were a lot of stories there that make me laugh when I think about them, I hope some of the same people return to the festival next year! There were also some really cool people at the show too, it's great how people can bond over music.




I really liked having my own independence there and on this trip in general. The hostel was also a short walk away from the venue and from Inner Harbour, which was really convenient. Baltimore's streets were a bit confusing, because you would be walking on one street but then it would change into another. Finding the venue and Inner Harbour wasn't difficult at all though. Baltimore also had plenty of art and sculpture- while I didn't get to check out the art museums, I got to see some public sculptures.



The venue, Sonar, was just your average venue. Nothing really special about it. MDF had 3 stages set up for the event, two outdoors and one indoors. The crowds could get really big, it was crazy. Like I said before, I could walk to the venue from my hotel. The only downside was that the trip there was going down a hill, which meant that going back after the show, you were walking uphill, and you would already be exhausted from the shows you had seen that day.

To see more pictures from Inner Harbour and Baltimore, view this album.

I had some interesting things happen...first of all I lost my cell phone at one point inside the venue. Luckily I managed to get it back, but there was a bizarre story behind how it was returned. It turns out that someone had picked it up after I dropped it, and then a bouncer at the venue bought it off them. When my mom phoned the cell, she found out that the bouncer had it, and he said that he was the victim because he bought the cell phone from the other person, and he would be out that money spent if he were to return it. I guess he returned it in the end because I found it at the lost and found, which was really lucky.

Also really lucky was the fact that I managed to win a new electric guitar from fireplant guitars! I entered the draw with 5 tickets, and I ended up winning it! I was brought up on stage (and I really didn't want to be on stage at all, ahha), jumping over the rafters with help of one of the bouncers. I was told that some people had bought 30 or more tickets for the draw, so my chances were clearly outweighed! The guitar looks and sounds beautiful though, I LOVE it! So thanks so much to he organizers for this, it's amazing! :D

I purchased a lot of merch as well....there was SO much good stuff there! I ended up purchasing an MDF silkscreen poster, Deathspell Omega patch, Incantation shirt, Black Breath shirt, a Death shirt for my sister, Drudkh's Forgotten Legends cd, and Krallice's Dimensional Bleedthrough cd. I really enjoy buying cds because I like seeing the cover art, and the art for both of these cds looks great. Plus, these cds are two of my favourite albums.






The first day of the show I got to see Nazxul, Coffins, Gorguts and D.R.I.

Nazxul was the first band of the day I saw, and they were alright. Pretty good black metal, that's all.



Gorguts was who I was waiting to see all day, and man did they ever put on one hell of a set! I was in the 2nd row for them, so I was really happy about that. This guy in the crowd kept shouting out 'Luc Lemay has the Midas Touch!', and you know what? He's right haha. The man is a genius. They played Obscura and With His Flesh They'll Create, which were the highlights for me.



Coffins was amazing too. I had a pretty bad view of their set, but from what I could see, Uchino was wearing sunglasses. How badass. Their set was so fucking heavy.



D.R.I.'s set was full of a lot of energy, the crowd was really into them. I'm not too familiar with their stuff, because I've only heard a track or two of theirs, one being from Agoraphobic Nosebleed's album Bestial Machinery. I think I'll have to listen to one of D.R.I's albums though. They started one of the biggest moshpits at the show, an at the end, the lead man crowd surfed.



On May 29th, I got to see Ingrowing, Obliteration, Jucifer, Impaled, Melechesh, Repulsion, Autopsy, Asphyx, Wolfbrigade, and Portal.

Ingrowing was the first band I saw of the day, and this was my first time hearing them. Their set was just some really good grindcore to listen to, which I enjoyed. I really need to listen to some more grindcore.



Next up with Obliteration, a death metal band. It was my first time hearing them play as well, but I REALLY enjoyed their set. I was fortunate enough to be in the front row, and I got into their stuff really easily- I liked their style!



Up next was Impaled, who came out on stage in army-like uniforms. I really liked their stuff too, which is like a mix of death metal and grindcore. They could also be said to be goregrind, since their lyrics and art for their merch/cds is quite grotesque. It's strange, I hate gore, but yet I like their stuff. I guess it's because of the sound.



Jucifer set up a whole wall of speakers for their set, and while it wasn't as loud as it could have been, it was still really loud. Sludge-y, doom-y music, which is always good! The drummer seemed to be getting into it, he kept making these ridiculous faces when he was playing. I always support women playing in bands, and the guitarist/vocalist is a chick, which is awesome in my eyes. There' not a lot of women in metal and in music in general, so to see more women take the stage is inspirational. I'm not a feminist or anything, I just think it's really good to see.



Melechesh was playing on the outdoors stage. I had listened to an album by them before, but I didn't like what I heard. However, when I heard them play at MDF, it sounded a ton better. Someone else I met at the festival agreed with me on this matter, so maybe they're just one of those bands that only sounds good live.



Repulsion gathered quite the crowd for their set! I don't have much to say about their set because I don't remember much of anything from it.



Asphyx totally blew me away. While I didn't get to see their whole set because I wanted to get a good spot of Autopsy, I loved what I heard. I had a really bad view of Asphyx's set too, but it doesn't matter because the music more than made up for it. Their music was just really good stuff to headbang too, and can be described as a mixture of death metal, doom and thrash metal. I've been listening to their albums ever since I came home from the festival, I can easily see these guys as becoming one of new favourite bands.



Autopsy was packed as well.....I had an ok view of their set. I don't remember much from their set either, but it was a good set! The crowd really seemed to think so too.



Wolfbrigade was a punk/hardcore band that played before Portal. Maybe it was partially because I was really anxious to see Portal, but Wolfbrigade kind of bored me. I found their music to be a bit repetitive. While they had good stage presence and energy, I just couldn't get into their music.



Finally Portal, the band I was waiting to see all day, took the stage! I was so happy to be in the front row for their set, because it was definitely one of the highlights for me. The stage got dark to set the tone for their set, and some guy in the audience shouted out 'SHOW ME THE CLOCK!!!' which was exactly what I was thinking, haha. However, there was no clock! The lead ma came out on stage wearing what appeared to be a pope's hat. I really like Portal's get-up though- it's so dark and mysterious in my opinion. All of the band members have their faces hidden, wear black, and the rest of the band members besides the lead man all have nooses around their neck, how grim. I tried to take videos of their set, but the sound quality turned out horrible. Anyways, they were easily one of my favourite bands during the show, I headbanged like there was no tomorrow haha. I'm pretty sure they played Glumurphonel too, which is one of my favourite songs by them, I just really enjoy the riffs and atmosphere.



On May 30th, the final day of the festival, I got to see Krallice, Rompeprop, Crucifist, Black Breath, Obituary, N2002, Entombed, Pentagram, Converge and From Ashes Rise.

Krallice was the first band of the day that I wanted to watch. It was really hot outside,and I arrived early, hoping to get a good spot. However, there was confusion abut which stage they would be performing on, so I didn't get in the spot that I would have liked- in the front row, in the middle. I ended up being in the front, on the side- but I did have a really good view. Their set kind of disappointed me, but maybe that's because they didn't play some songs I was hoping to hear them play. Regardless, Krallice is one of my favourite bands and they continue to amaze me with their shredding skills!



Rompreprop was the first band I saw on the final day of the festival. They were a grindcore/pornogrind band that was really fun to watch. Before they began their set, they danced on stage to some weird country music, which was really amusing. The guitarist was wearing a blood soaked outfit, and the bassist was wearing a skeleton outfit. I couldn't see the drummer from where I was standing, but I'm sure he was wearing some kickass outfit too. The vocalist has these really intense pig squeal like vocals, but they weren't too bad.



Crucifist was another black metal band, I only got part of their set but it was alright. Don't remember much, except for the inverted cross, corpse paint and spike bracelets.



Some guys in the hostel suggested that I go watch Black Breath, and I'm really glad that they did! Black Breath's music can be described as a hardcore/sludge metal band, which is a pretty interesting combination. I ended up purchasing one of their t-shirts after their set- yes this was my first time hearing their music, but I enjoyed it enough to purchase some of their merch!



The sun was shining really brightly for N2002's set and the sun got in mine and most of the crowd's eyes for a bit, but their set blew me away. I know they've been around for a while, but I wish I had known about them sooner. It's strange that they don't really have any real albums, because their music is worth a listen. Apparently their t-shirts sold out pretty fast at MDF, which is why at the end of their set, one of the guitarists threw a t-shirt into the audience for people to fight over. Jeez guys, it's just a t-shirt! Still amusing to watch though haha.



Pentagram kind of bored me, I ended up walking off early from their set. I think I'll give their music another try though.



Obituary was great to watch, even though I could barely see anything from where I was standing. I tried to push my way to the front, but when that didn't work, I just remained in my spot and headbanged to the music. I've been listening to Obituary's albums since I got home, and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing them again. They just had a show in Toronto on the 1st of June, but that was RIGHT when I returned from MDF. I only watched a part of their set though, because I wanted to get a good view for Entombed.



I did end up getting a good view for Entombed, right around the third or forth row! The crowd was really pumped for them, and the place was absolutely packed! I had my arms full of merch at the time, but one guy told me to 'SHOW SOME ENTHUSIASM, IT'S FUCKING ENTOMBED!!!' When I said I had my arms full of merch, he said 'You have one arm free, make the claw!!!' And so I did, haha. After that, the two of us were headbanging for the whole set! Entombed may only be a four piece band, but they're a damned good one at that.



Converge was a band that I don't think too many people were that excited about, one of those people being who I traveled with to Baltimore, haha. Anyways, I was pretty excited about seeing them, even though I've seen Converge live before and I think Jacob Bannon sounds like a barking dog live. But there's something about their stage presence and energy that makes them worth watching. Jacob Bannon and the band are just really good at engaging the audience- and the people who did watch them perform were really full of energy as well. I was really happy that they played Eagles Become Vultures, fuck yeah.



From Ashes Rise was the final band to play at MDF. I don't know why they were chosen as the final band, because i personally thought they were a bit of a letdown. Their music, which is hardcore/punk, was just boring to me. Not terrible, but nothing special either. I think they were lucky to be the last band performing though!



After From Ashes Rise's set, I had to walk back to the hostel with my friend (and my new guitar! :D), which was kind of sad for me, because I realized that the festival was now over! Even though I was exhausted, I ended up staying up late hanging out with some other people at the hostel, which was a great way to end the festival.

To see more photos from MDF, view this album!
Ok, so I went a bit crazy with my camera. It was kind of hard not to, I'm a very visual person!

There were a few bands I wanted to see that I missed, like Eyehategod (I hope I get to see them sometime soon before they kill themselves with drugs or something- they were supposed to have an after-show on the 30th, but it was canceled because the drummer overdosed on some drug), Trap Them and Watain, but you know what, you can't see everything and there will always be other times! I had a fantastic time, and I found a lot of new music that I really enjoyed.

It also turns out that on a site called Return to the Pit, there are TONS of pictures from MDF. I managed to spot myself and a few people I met at the festival in some of the pictures, haha.


(I'm the one with the camera. I look horrible, but whatever, it was during Portal's set! That guy's face makes me laugh, haha. Being in the front row was awesome, fuck yeah.)

All I can say is, this is one experience I'll never forget.
The music and people were just amazing. This has definitely been one of the highlights of my summer!
If the line-up is as good as it was this year, I'm so going back next year!!! :D