Deaf, dumb & blind, in Texas, courtesy of a two-day, late April confab, called Hell's Heroes. Essentially Spring Break, for the black shirted horde! While the fourth installment overall, this marked my maiden voyage. With ProgPower USA winding down and Maryland Deathfest uncertain about continuing beyond this year (definitely on hiatus in 2023), where's the next boutique American festival, fertile grounds to nurture the growth of baby bands? The mega-colossus Ozzfest replacements that are Epicenter/Carolina Rebellion, Upheaval, Rockville, Rockfest, Louder Than Life, Blue Ridge, Aftershock, etc. cater to commercial/big label acts, most of whom wouldn't be considered "metal" outside of America. So trve, kvlt, underground darlings (esp. from overseas, once the pandemic backlog of visa applications can be sorted out), as well as long running fan favorites, have discovered a much needed haven, in Houston.
The main room holds 1200, the upstairs "hole-in-the-wall" stage, just 250 and each day's running order dovetails the two venues, with no overlap between: when the downstairs ends, the upstairs starts, and vice versa. So it's impossible to take in the full sets of successive acts. Just traversing between the rooms, you have to miss something. Thankfully there was some space in the massive line-up during which to socialize, eat, etc (had previously seen more than half of the 27 bands performing, over two day, so it wasn't deemed necessary to see/hear everything onstage). Most are afforded 30 minutes, the nightly headliner, an hour.
krnt.run
myindigocard app
