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Maryland DeathFest XVIII 2022


JorKid

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Yeah I have seen them (Demilich) already whichever year that was, 2014 maybe when Ryan came? I didn't hate them or anything but almost all of our brethren who were present that year cited them as their best set of the weekend, and I'm just not getting that at all. They're just a bit too technical and a bit too discordant for me. And yes Purtenance, Demigod, Convulse and Adramelech are all much more in my wheelhouse than Demilich. I remember Convulse absolutely killed it at Metal Threat in Chicago 3 years ago in 2019, now that was a badass set. But as always to each their own.

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I really really dig a lot of stuff from that scene, but if I had to pick my favorite Finndeath album (not "the best" or "the coolest"), I'd be hard pressed to choose between Nespithe and The Karelian Isthmus. Karelian was one of the first death metal albums I had as a teenager and it's stayed up there for me ever since, safe to say it's in my bones. Nespithe was a later discovery but I've never heard anything quite like it, headbangable and memorable even with the weirdly chopped-up rhythms and jerky tempo shifts. Phlegethon wins my vote for unsung heroes, they were doing some unique shit, but they also weren't as well realized.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Was a damn good festival!  Super glad I went, easily the best festival I've been to.   Cool bumping into Navy, even if I was a bit drunk at that point.

So many great shows like Coroner, Tryptikon/Hellhammer, Cavalera Brothers, Enforced, Skeletal Remains, Carcass, etc, etc.

Missed you Goat even if we've never met before!

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Yeah Josh, it hurt to have to miss it. I was checking the schedule every 15 minutes Sat and following along at home band by band, watched some Youtube live vids of the Saturday bands, and was living vicariously through all the texts that were coming in from the gang who were there. They were clearly having obscene amounts of fun last weekend and I really felt left out as unlike some of them I haven't completely missed an MDF since 2012 because I'm a local east coaster. But then by Sunday when I was laid up in bed with the fever I was glad I hadn't tried to drive down Saturday and then would've gotten stuck in the hotel room bed for 3 days and also obviously I wouldn't have wanted to get you or anyone else sick.

From what I've heard, including Navy's report from his buddy who sat next to Ryan's mom on the plane ride home (Ryan Taylor one of the 2 creators/organizers of MDF) she said the festival will take a break next year, but then they do plan to come back with something, although they're not yet sure exactly what. Might be a scaled down version of the festival or something completely different. I'm assuming these guys are big death metal fans which is why they started a death festival in the first place, so I'd bet there will be more death metal coming to Baltimore in the future and I will have another shot at some of my bucket list bands. 

Glad you had such a good time without me though, I really felt like I was letting you down by not showing up and I'm glad to hear that you made your own fun.

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I heard about the diver (awful), not the lovers.  I also heard something about people rushing the barricades at one show and together with the skyrocketing cost of insurance it is no wonder the organizers need a break.    This is why we can't have nice things.

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Rushing the barrier happened when they moved Obituary and Vio-lence over to the Powerplant because of the weather. Basically, they told people that after a certain amount, they weren't letting anyone else into the Powerplant area due to fire codes, so people got pissed and rushed the barrier to get in.

This part is just guess work, but I think what happened is that because those bands were originally supposed to play Edison, they were allowing anyone with a wristband into the Powerplant to see Obituary and Vio-lence. So you had more people than normal showing up and trying to get in. I went with a buddy to see Spite, since I've seen Obituary a couple of times now, but some of Whitenoise and I's other friends who got in said it was a bit of a madhouse.

I also suspect having to eat two separate years worth of costs may have played a role in them taking a break.

I sometimes give those dudes shit because the way they schedule the running order never makes sense to me, but honestly, I've got nothing but respect for the way they manage to adapt to all the different crises that spring up

EDIT: ...I know this isn't the first time someone died at MDF...pretty sure some dude died from heat exhaustion way back around 2012 or so.

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If I had known the rest of you were there I'd have made an effort to at least meet for a beer.  

I was in a nicely sublime area inside the barricades near the bar yet outside in the Power Plant venue area that I found Thursday night and leveraged.   So when the rain hit, that is exactly where I went and turned out to be in retrospect strategic.    I do remember when the the barricades were removed, but I was watching the show, Carcass?  Were too many.

Any standout shows looking back for the rest of you?

For me:
Coroner-- never seen them before and good super close (I'm old/broken), so this was abnormal, but it was tits. Demilich, I loved as expected they were so Finnish in their humor/antics.  Loved it.  Cavalera bros were special, as was Hellhammer/Trypikon.    Skeletal Remains was a crushing show.   Navy pointed me to Cardiac Arrest, which I didn't know but was amazing.

I loved Enforced!, Destruction I had never seen before and didn't know well was fun. 

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Sorry, I should clarify...I've known Whitenoise for about 12 years or so. He along with a bunch of other guys we met on a different board a long time ago have become pretty good friends and MDF has become something of a tradition for us to all meet up. I think other than Navy, I'm the only one from this board who was at the fest this year, but yeah...I'm sorry I didn't realize you were there on your own. You'd have been more than welcome to hang out and share beers with us.

Yeah...when that rain hit, we were just far enough under the main overhang to stay dry during Carcass

Standouts for me:

Demolition Hammer was the best set of Friday, and was definitely top 5 for the weekend 

Cerebral Rot.

Autopsy always does a great live show.

Necrophobic was great.

Pungent Stench killed it.

Necrofier and Mortiferum sounded way better live than they do on their albums.

Cavalera was a big surprise. Didn't know they still had it in them to go like that

Demilich was fantastic...and totally agree on the humor. Dude was a trip

Destruction was another I had no expectations for and they slayed

Hellhammer was on point

Profanatica

Sacramentum thankfully really came through as well to close the show

...bummed I missed Antichrist Siege Machine and Gravesend.

 

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I missed a good few bands I really wanted to see like Necrophobic and Sacramentum.  But I just crashed, especially after multiple beers.   I really tried to stay up for both above but couldn't hang, especially since I generally started around 1-2pm in Edison.   I wished they would come to Toronto, or at least Buffalo and I'd go see them.

 

 

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