MDF 08
Here's a long and probably not so informative post about my Maryland Death Fest weekend:
Originally, I was NOT going to go. I didn't have a place to stay nor did I want to shell out money for a room, I did not want to drive like last year since my car has become unreliable. I posted on the relapse.com board letting those guys know I wasn't going for those reasons. Much to my surprise two of them sent me messages saying that one could drive me because his friend Erin was leaving from NJ and the other said he could host me at his house which was close to the venue (Sonar) so I was like okay, I'll go.
Matt and Erin are both from New Jersey. Erin goes to Rutgers but Matt goes to school in Connecticut, Matt posts at Relapse but not frequently enough for me to notice him. Erin doesn't post at all. Matt is a nice dude, very into music, he has a bit of a cadence in his voice that makes him sound self-important but he's really not, at first though I was a little put-off by him but eventually his mind would shift from music into other areas and that was good. I cannot talk about music 24/7. Erin was a total sweetheart, I really enjoyed her company. Her appearance at first was a bit dodgy, she dressed mostly in black, torn down black denim pants with combat-looking boots, she also has short dreadlocks. Basically a watered down version of a punk, but it didn't take long for me to realize that aside from her looks she was a very normal girl. She is the music director of "The Core", one of Rutger's radio stations, so she's also a music head but is not like Matt in the sense that it's not everything she talks about.
We left thursday morning because Matt wanted to go to a show the day before. We arrived at Dan's house (another relapse poster, the one whose house we were staying at) and he arrived just as we got there with John, who also posts at relapse and came from Milwaukee. John was a blast, really nice dude. The show had three bands that were playing at MDF: Afgrund, Squash Bowels and Ingrowing. When we got to the "venue" (somebody's garage) it was infested with punks/crusties. You don't see these people much in NJ, only a few in NY. Almost all of them had chunky dreadlocks, tight clothes that looked dirty, just not people I would ever associate with. -- Quick side note: I hate to judge based on looks, I really do, but I fully believe you can like a certain style of music, identify with a sub-culture, support a scene, etc and NOT be a dirty looking fool. I've seen plenty of "clean" punks and don't mind them in the least, but if all you're going to do is smoke, drink and not shower, I'm not going to respect you. -- The show was supposed to start at 6pm, we arrived in time, but nothing started till 8:30 or so, which sucked because by then I was insanely hungry. John and I wondered around looking for food, nothing was open except for a convenience store. They had nothing to eat except chips, so we got that and came back. We missed the first few bands, which was fine by us because we had no interest in any of them except the three I mentioned above. Being inside was painful for me, I don't like cigarette smoke and that's all I could smell or even see for that matter, it also stunk of weed and beer. The bands though were great, specially liked Squash Bowels from Poland, so much energy! That day dragged on, we left the venue around 2 in the morning, all of us were tired, we got to Dan's house and passed out.
Friday - Day 1
We woke around noon and got breakfast courtesy of Dan's mom. Dan is an only child of a middle-upper class family. He's heavy into older punk and grind bands, he will also listen to anything that comes out of Japan. He's got an extensive collection of vinyl, cds and even cassette tapes of such music. I was impressed at the size of his collection but I don't really like the same music he does so I didn't care past that. Dan and his family were very nice and hospitable. His parents support him in his musical endeavors (a punk band by the name of Lotus Fucker) but it was funny to see them interact since his parents are very clean-cut and slightly older. They'd ask us which bands we liked the most and it was odd to reply with "Fuck... I'm Dead" or "Flesh Parade" but Dan did and they'd be like "hmm, well that's nice"
Before going to Sonar, we stopped at Dan's friend's house so he could get a haircut. Matt and Erin took the opportunity to rehearse some songs they'd be performing at the Memorial Day Massacre show, but that didn't happen because they couldn't get it all together and Dan, who was supposed to do vocals for them, became discouraged with the idea so that was scrapped. The kid's house though had a ranch in the back, his mom has two horses which I got to feed and some hens. That was awesome. We had to kill about two hours so I was petting and feeding the horses. We then headed out to Sonar.
Sonar this year was an improvement from last year. For starters they banned smoking inside! that was awesome, also, they set up two big screens on either side of the stage for those that couldn't get a good look, or simply wanted to stand back a bit. The sound was also improved, guitars still were low on the mix and the kick drum was still too high but it sounded way better overall.
This is where things started to get sucky for me, I was restless because day 1 of the fest was literally a repeat of thursday night for me. The bands scheduled to play were:
Skarp
Afgrund
Torsofuck
The Day Everything Became Nothing
Phobia
Squash Bowels
Martyr
Grave
Skarp was horrible, Afgrund I had already seen, Torsofuck SUCKED (picture a boring death metal band with a fat lead singer who CONSTANTLY used the mic to simulate a masturbation session. It was literally "ree ree reeee" *jerk off with mic* "ree ree reeee" very very boring) However, The Day Everything Became Nothing was great! one of my favorites of day 1, Phobia was good, Squash Bowels were great again but I liked them better the first day, perhaps because of the smaller size of the venue and that making the energy level that much greater. Martyr was good as well, Grave was great! a good closer for day 1, they played a lot of old stuff which was nice. I was wiped out that day but there was a Relapse.com party at the Mt. Vernon hotel so we checked that out. I met a whole bunch of people I talk to on the internet (haha) some were introverted, others very extroverted, but all nice in their own respects (Note for Andrew: I met Bodiesablaze, Ibringnothingtothetable, Whee of the dead, Father of lies, Trashmaster Flash, Neckwrecker, Rocky, Chrustinsanity, Necrometer, Smooth, geeheeb, neurotica, introvert, hispter hollocaust, lord darksoul and that might've been all, I purposely didn't try to meet that girl Mandie and her posse) but I was really tired and all I wanted was to sleep.
Back at Dan's I wasn't able to sleep that well, his basement was cold and I didn't have a blanket.
Saturday - Day 2
With little and uncomfortable sleep we headed out to Sonar. A little late so we missed the first two bands (a bummer, because I wanted to see Defeatist again, I really liked them last year)
Before I go on about the bands, I just want to make a quick note about crusties: A crusty as it was explained to me is a person who doesn't believe in the way society works and basically thinks that by working they contribute to the corporations/etc. However, the way they choose to not contribute is by being homeless, not buying anything, drinking cheap beer and bumming cigarettes off people. Oh, and never ever showering. I got a dose of them last year, but this year they were ten-fold. Also, they were NOT there for the fest, since none of them have any money and thus can't afford tickets, they were just there to hang out in the lawn outside the venue and be obnoxious. Never in my life have I been so disgusted at people, I still cannot understand why anyone would choose to live their life this way. I argued with Matt that although they may have started trying to be against "the man" eventually they just fell into a trap of being drunk and drugged out too much to take. They are basically homeless people in punk garb, the level of dirtiness I witnessed was unparalleled. For instance, "rat girl" (Andrew, remember her?! the girl who was trying to revive her rats?) was back with a vengeance, but twenty times dirtier and more fucked up looking. She was going through the garbage cans of the food vendors set up outside and EATING LEFTOVER PIZZA CRUSTS AND DRINKING LEFTOVER ENERGY DRINKS. I felt bad for her, because there is no way she's right in the head, but they're all white and so I know they didn't just fall through the cracks. I hope though that one day they walk away from that cycle and go back to their families that are probably wondering where the fuck they are. Anwyay, onto the bands:
Decrypt - (missed them)
Defeatist - (missed them)
Trap Them - (they were added last minute, I liked them a fair bit, but nothing memorable about them)
Keitzer - (Good, again, not great)
Kalibas - (Not bad, hadn't heard them before, they played some decent death metal, but nothing remarkable)
Waco Jesus - (everybody seemed to have something to say about this band. They're from texas and have sort of a "fuck you" approach to the death metal scene but I thought the music was solid as hell, I really thoroughly enjoyed their set, despite their antics)
Behold…The Arctopus - (This was a band I have already seen but love, however, I don't think this set was too good. Before they went on I spoke to their guitarist and asked him if they were going to play "You will be reincarnated as an imperial attack space turtle" which is their best song as far as I'm concerned. He said they were not going to because it was "too long" and they didn't have enough time. Every band had an average of a half hour to play - way too fucking much for some, not enough for others - but then they played other songs with long atmospheric breaks in between which made for a boring set as far as I'm concerned. I love "spaceturtle" because of how much is going on in that song and how relentless it is. They at least closed with "alcoholocaust" and that sort of made up for it, but I was disappointed that they didn't play Spaceturtle and instead played other spacey boring shit)
Defeated Sanity - (Food break, caught the end of their set, wasn't bad but didn't care to see them)
Flesh Parade - (AWESOME. Dan and Erin talked my ear off about this band, apparently they haven't done a show in close to ten years. They played like a punk-crust-grind thing but it was very cool, very energetic. I really liked them, I picked up their new cd. Also, the lead singer later that night kicked the shit out of a crusty for stealing some of his t-shirts, presumably to sell them off for beer)
Disfear - (Great, but unfortunately I only caught the last 3 songs)
Coffins - (Loved these guys! A slower, older sounding death metal band from Japan, sometimes a bit too slow but they brought the heavyness as well, liked them a lot)
Fuck…I’m Dead - (One of the reasons I wanted to go to this year's fest. These guys DESTROYED, they were so good. I recognize a lot of their songs and I was going nuts to their set, one of my favorite grind bands for sure)
Ghoul - (Skipped, I saw Ghoul last year and I'm really not much of a fan. Besides, I wanted to be fresh for Impaled the next day)
Monstrosity - (I liked them a whole lot, good old fashioned death metal)
Anaal Nathrakh - (Another reason why I wanted to go. They did not disappoint, they played "Submission is for the weak" and everybody went nuts. I love that track, their sound mix wasn't great but I was real close and the energy was unreal. Absolutely loved them)
We didn't go to any after parties since we wanted to be early for Copremesis the next day.
Sunday - Day 3
Erin and I had decided that since they weren't playing the monday show we would be leaving sunday night after Impaled, which is the last band we both wanted to see. We were both very tired and home-sick, Matt decided to stay for Monday, but we have no idea how he's getting back home. He's kind of hard-headed in that regard.
Copremesis - (They started a little late and unfortunately only got to play four songs but everything they did was great! Paulo I know for a long time now and he's never proud of the music Copremesis makes but he really should be! I love their groovy death metal, this time they kicked up the melodies. Erik did a song with them at the end, I yelled out "Pretty boy death metal!" because Erik looks straight out of an Abercrombie store but his vocals were sick. Copremesis' new album "Muay Thai Ladyboys" is slamming, I didn't buy it however because the cd cover art is way too twisted, if my mom were to buy that she would have lots of questions for which I'd have no answer, but everybody needs to check that out)
Infected Malignity - (Basically Japan's version of Job for a Cowboy, not bad but not good either)
Japanische Kampfhörspiele - (Totally awesome! two vocalists, one low, one high, all badass. Loved these guys, really good gore grind)
Engorged - (I was interested to see them because I like them on record, live though I think they didn't fit in all too well, they were playing most of their heavier, faster songs in order not to be too out of place)
Gruesome Stuff Relish - (Italian grindcore! Good stuff, highly energetic and extremely thankful to be at the fest, they must've said that eighteen times)
Hellnation - (Checked out little bit of their set, I liked it but it's too punky for me)
Gadget - (Another reason I was at the fest, they did not disappoint. I kept yelling out for them to play Crestfallen and eventually they did. They ruled live. They had good rapport with the crowd as well, the vocalist would say "Baltimore!" and the crowd would reply with "Fuck yeah!" in the style of the song: "America, fuck yeah!" by the Southpark guys)
Dead - (Sweet as hell death metal, these guys really brought it. I really liked their set)
Impaled - (Impaled was great! They played long songs though so they only played five in total but Jesus what a terrifically entertaining live show. I had never seen them live before so I was glad I got the chance to)
Dying Fetus - (Erin and I went to get coffee for the drive home, but I went to the bathroom during their set, sounded okay but I'm not a big Dying Fetus fan)
Macabre - (missed them, driving home)
Blood Duster - (same)
Nuclear Assault - (same)
All in all, MDF08 was a lot of fun. My complaints were mostly how long some of the sets were, most of these bands have songs that average out to maybe 2 minutes in length so there's no need for them to play for a half hour. I guess though that for the trip they take it's only right for them to really flex their musical muscle and be able to play a decently long set. There's no point for a band such as Anaal Nathrakh to come to the US and only play 20 minutes, but they were a headliner so they got a lot more time. When a band sucks though, as was the case for Torsofuck, you don't want to see them play for more than 10 minutes. After a while, the fest felt a little like an endurance test, being on your feet all day gets tiring (although the awesomely comfortable Nike's I brought saved my ass, my feet didn't hurt nearly as much as they did last year) Meeting up with Relapsers was a lot of fun and seeing Erik and his brother Kevin again was great, those guys are so much fun. I'm thinking next year's line up will have to be out of this world for me to go though. I don't really go to many shows so that's my one year fuck-it-all fest and a nice get away too, but yeah, I may be done with the fest for right now. I have to say there were only a handful of bands that I was super excited for that delivered while others were just okay. We'll see how next year looks to see if I go or not.
I made good frienships, especially with Erin, on the drive back we talked about a lot of things and played music for each other to look into. She's a really nice person, we differ in our beliefs a lot (she's vegan, yeah I never thought I'd befriend one either) but she's not a feminazi trying to kill people that eat meat. She perfectly understood why I eat meat, etc, and she didn't hate me for it, but we talked about things that could change in the meat industry, etc. Our conversation was very nice and fluid, there was no akwardness or anything, which was great. I told her she's the first girl I've met that was into the kind of metal I like and wasn't a complete idiot. I'm going to try to see her band play in New Brunswick soon, I think I can convince Lucazs to come with me since some hardcore bands he likes are playing.
I am probably forgetting about some things, but this is long enough as it is. I'm going to go enjoy this beautiful day.
Originally, I was NOT going to go. I didn't have a place to stay nor did I want to shell out money for a room, I did not want to drive like last year since my car has become unreliable. I posted on the relapse.com board letting those guys know I wasn't going for those reasons. Much to my surprise two of them sent me messages saying that one could drive me because his friend Erin was leaving from NJ and the other said he could host me at his house which was close to the venue (Sonar) so I was like okay, I'll go.
Matt and Erin are both from New Jersey. Erin goes to Rutgers but Matt goes to school in Connecticut, Matt posts at Relapse but not frequently enough for me to notice him. Erin doesn't post at all. Matt is a nice dude, very into music, he has a bit of a cadence in his voice that makes him sound self-important but he's really not, at first though I was a little put-off by him but eventually his mind would shift from music into other areas and that was good. I cannot talk about music 24/7. Erin was a total sweetheart, I really enjoyed her company. Her appearance at first was a bit dodgy, she dressed mostly in black, torn down black denim pants with combat-looking boots, she also has short dreadlocks. Basically a watered down version of a punk, but it didn't take long for me to realize that aside from her looks she was a very normal girl. She is the music director of "The Core", one of Rutger's radio stations, so she's also a music head but is not like Matt in the sense that it's not everything she talks about.
We left thursday morning because Matt wanted to go to a show the day before. We arrived at Dan's house (another relapse poster, the one whose house we were staying at) and he arrived just as we got there with John, who also posts at relapse and came from Milwaukee. John was a blast, really nice dude. The show had three bands that were playing at MDF: Afgrund, Squash Bowels and Ingrowing. When we got to the "venue" (somebody's garage) it was infested with punks/crusties. You don't see these people much in NJ, only a few in NY. Almost all of them had chunky dreadlocks, tight clothes that looked dirty, just not people I would ever associate with. -- Quick side note: I hate to judge based on looks, I really do, but I fully believe you can like a certain style of music, identify with a sub-culture, support a scene, etc and NOT be a dirty looking fool. I've seen plenty of "clean" punks and don't mind them in the least, but if all you're going to do is smoke, drink and not shower, I'm not going to respect you. -- The show was supposed to start at 6pm, we arrived in time, but nothing started till 8:30 or so, which sucked because by then I was insanely hungry. John and I wondered around looking for food, nothing was open except for a convenience store. They had nothing to eat except chips, so we got that and came back. We missed the first few bands, which was fine by us because we had no interest in any of them except the three I mentioned above. Being inside was painful for me, I don't like cigarette smoke and that's all I could smell or even see for that matter, it also stunk of weed and beer. The bands though were great, specially liked Squash Bowels from Poland, so much energy! That day dragged on, we left the venue around 2 in the morning, all of us were tired, we got to Dan's house and passed out.
Friday - Day 1
We woke around noon and got breakfast courtesy of Dan's mom. Dan is an only child of a middle-upper class family. He's heavy into older punk and grind bands, he will also listen to anything that comes out of Japan. He's got an extensive collection of vinyl, cds and even cassette tapes of such music. I was impressed at the size of his collection but I don't really like the same music he does so I didn't care past that. Dan and his family were very nice and hospitable. His parents support him in his musical endeavors (a punk band by the name of Lotus Fucker) but it was funny to see them interact since his parents are very clean-cut and slightly older. They'd ask us which bands we liked the most and it was odd to reply with "Fuck... I'm Dead" or "Flesh Parade" but Dan did and they'd be like "hmm, well that's nice"
Before going to Sonar, we stopped at Dan's friend's house so he could get a haircut. Matt and Erin took the opportunity to rehearse some songs they'd be performing at the Memorial Day Massacre show, but that didn't happen because they couldn't get it all together and Dan, who was supposed to do vocals for them, became discouraged with the idea so that was scrapped. The kid's house though had a ranch in the back, his mom has two horses which I got to feed and some hens. That was awesome. We had to kill about two hours so I was petting and feeding the horses. We then headed out to Sonar.
Sonar this year was an improvement from last year. For starters they banned smoking inside! that was awesome, also, they set up two big screens on either side of the stage for those that couldn't get a good look, or simply wanted to stand back a bit. The sound was also improved, guitars still were low on the mix and the kick drum was still too high but it sounded way better overall.
This is where things started to get sucky for me, I was restless because day 1 of the fest was literally a repeat of thursday night for me. The bands scheduled to play were:
Skarp
Afgrund
Torsofuck
The Day Everything Became Nothing
Phobia
Squash Bowels
Martyr
Grave
Skarp was horrible, Afgrund I had already seen, Torsofuck SUCKED (picture a boring death metal band with a fat lead singer who CONSTANTLY used the mic to simulate a masturbation session. It was literally "ree ree reeee" *jerk off with mic* "ree ree reeee" very very boring) However, The Day Everything Became Nothing was great! one of my favorites of day 1, Phobia was good, Squash Bowels were great again but I liked them better the first day, perhaps because of the smaller size of the venue and that making the energy level that much greater. Martyr was good as well, Grave was great! a good closer for day 1, they played a lot of old stuff which was nice. I was wiped out that day but there was a Relapse.com party at the Mt. Vernon hotel so we checked that out. I met a whole bunch of people I talk to on the internet (haha) some were introverted, others very extroverted, but all nice in their own respects (Note for Andrew: I met Bodiesablaze, Ibringnothingtothetable, Whee of the dead, Father of lies, Trashmaster Flash, Neckwrecker, Rocky, Chrustinsanity, Necrometer, Smooth, geeheeb, neurotica, introvert, hispter hollocaust, lord darksoul and that might've been all, I purposely didn't try to meet that girl Mandie and her posse) but I was really tired and all I wanted was to sleep.
Back at Dan's I wasn't able to sleep that well, his basement was cold and I didn't have a blanket.
Saturday - Day 2
With little and uncomfortable sleep we headed out to Sonar. A little late so we missed the first two bands (a bummer, because I wanted to see Defeatist again, I really liked them last year)
Before I go on about the bands, I just want to make a quick note about crusties: A crusty as it was explained to me is a person who doesn't believe in the way society works and basically thinks that by working they contribute to the corporations/etc. However, the way they choose to not contribute is by being homeless, not buying anything, drinking cheap beer and bumming cigarettes off people. Oh, and never ever showering. I got a dose of them last year, but this year they were ten-fold. Also, they were NOT there for the fest, since none of them have any money and thus can't afford tickets, they were just there to hang out in the lawn outside the venue and be obnoxious. Never in my life have I been so disgusted at people, I still cannot understand why anyone would choose to live their life this way. I argued with Matt that although they may have started trying to be against "the man" eventually they just fell into a trap of being drunk and drugged out too much to take. They are basically homeless people in punk garb, the level of dirtiness I witnessed was unparalleled. For instance, "rat girl" (Andrew, remember her?! the girl who was trying to revive her rats?) was back with a vengeance, but twenty times dirtier and more fucked up looking. She was going through the garbage cans of the food vendors set up outside and EATING LEFTOVER PIZZA CRUSTS AND DRINKING LEFTOVER ENERGY DRINKS. I felt bad for her, because there is no way she's right in the head, but they're all white and so I know they didn't just fall through the cracks. I hope though that one day they walk away from that cycle and go back to their families that are probably wondering where the fuck they are. Anwyay, onto the bands:
Decrypt - (missed them)
Defeatist - (missed them)
Trap Them - (they were added last minute, I liked them a fair bit, but nothing memorable about them)
Keitzer - (Good, again, not great)
Kalibas - (Not bad, hadn't heard them before, they played some decent death metal, but nothing remarkable)
Waco Jesus - (everybody seemed to have something to say about this band. They're from texas and have sort of a "fuck you" approach to the death metal scene but I thought the music was solid as hell, I really thoroughly enjoyed their set, despite their antics)
Behold…The Arctopus - (This was a band I have already seen but love, however, I don't think this set was too good. Before they went on I spoke to their guitarist and asked him if they were going to play "You will be reincarnated as an imperial attack space turtle" which is their best song as far as I'm concerned. He said they were not going to because it was "too long" and they didn't have enough time. Every band had an average of a half hour to play - way too fucking much for some, not enough for others - but then they played other songs with long atmospheric breaks in between which made for a boring set as far as I'm concerned. I love "spaceturtle" because of how much is going on in that song and how relentless it is. They at least closed with "alcoholocaust" and that sort of made up for it, but I was disappointed that they didn't play Spaceturtle and instead played other spacey boring shit)
Defeated Sanity - (Food break, caught the end of their set, wasn't bad but didn't care to see them)
Flesh Parade - (AWESOME. Dan and Erin talked my ear off about this band, apparently they haven't done a show in close to ten years. They played like a punk-crust-grind thing but it was very cool, very energetic. I really liked them, I picked up their new cd. Also, the lead singer later that night kicked the shit out of a crusty for stealing some of his t-shirts, presumably to sell them off for beer)
Disfear - (Great, but unfortunately I only caught the last 3 songs)
Coffins - (Loved these guys! A slower, older sounding death metal band from Japan, sometimes a bit too slow but they brought the heavyness as well, liked them a lot)
Fuck…I’m Dead - (One of the reasons I wanted to go to this year's fest. These guys DESTROYED, they were so good. I recognize a lot of their songs and I was going nuts to their set, one of my favorite grind bands for sure)
Ghoul - (Skipped, I saw Ghoul last year and I'm really not much of a fan. Besides, I wanted to be fresh for Impaled the next day)
Monstrosity - (I liked them a whole lot, good old fashioned death metal)
Anaal Nathrakh - (Another reason why I wanted to go. They did not disappoint, they played "Submission is for the weak" and everybody went nuts. I love that track, their sound mix wasn't great but I was real close and the energy was unreal. Absolutely loved them)
We didn't go to any after parties since we wanted to be early for Copremesis the next day.
Sunday - Day 3
Erin and I had decided that since they weren't playing the monday show we would be leaving sunday night after Impaled, which is the last band we both wanted to see. We were both very tired and home-sick, Matt decided to stay for Monday, but we have no idea how he's getting back home. He's kind of hard-headed in that regard.
Copremesis - (They started a little late and unfortunately only got to play four songs but everything they did was great! Paulo I know for a long time now and he's never proud of the music Copremesis makes but he really should be! I love their groovy death metal, this time they kicked up the melodies. Erik did a song with them at the end, I yelled out "Pretty boy death metal!" because Erik looks straight out of an Abercrombie store but his vocals were sick. Copremesis' new album "Muay Thai Ladyboys" is slamming, I didn't buy it however because the cd cover art is way too twisted, if my mom were to buy that she would have lots of questions for which I'd have no answer, but everybody needs to check that out)
Infected Malignity - (Basically Japan's version of Job for a Cowboy, not bad but not good either)
Japanische Kampfhörspiele - (Totally awesome! two vocalists, one low, one high, all badass. Loved these guys, really good gore grind)
Engorged - (I was interested to see them because I like them on record, live though I think they didn't fit in all too well, they were playing most of their heavier, faster songs in order not to be too out of place)
Gruesome Stuff Relish - (Italian grindcore! Good stuff, highly energetic and extremely thankful to be at the fest, they must've said that eighteen times)
Hellnation - (Checked out little bit of their set, I liked it but it's too punky for me)
Gadget - (Another reason I was at the fest, they did not disappoint. I kept yelling out for them to play Crestfallen and eventually they did. They ruled live. They had good rapport with the crowd as well, the vocalist would say "Baltimore!" and the crowd would reply with "Fuck yeah!" in the style of the song: "America, fuck yeah!" by the Southpark guys)
Dead - (Sweet as hell death metal, these guys really brought it. I really liked their set)
Impaled - (Impaled was great! They played long songs though so they only played five in total but Jesus what a terrifically entertaining live show. I had never seen them live before so I was glad I got the chance to)
Dying Fetus - (Erin and I went to get coffee for the drive home, but I went to the bathroom during their set, sounded okay but I'm not a big Dying Fetus fan)
Macabre - (missed them, driving home)
Blood Duster - (same)
Nuclear Assault - (same)
All in all, MDF08 was a lot of fun. My complaints were mostly how long some of the sets were, most of these bands have songs that average out to maybe 2 minutes in length so there's no need for them to play for a half hour. I guess though that for the trip they take it's only right for them to really flex their musical muscle and be able to play a decently long set. There's no point for a band such as Anaal Nathrakh to come to the US and only play 20 minutes, but they were a headliner so they got a lot more time. When a band sucks though, as was the case for Torsofuck, you don't want to see them play for more than 10 minutes. After a while, the fest felt a little like an endurance test, being on your feet all day gets tiring (although the awesomely comfortable Nike's I brought saved my ass, my feet didn't hurt nearly as much as they did last year) Meeting up with Relapsers was a lot of fun and seeing Erik and his brother Kevin again was great, those guys are so much fun. I'm thinking next year's line up will have to be out of this world for me to go though. I don't really go to many shows so that's my one year fuck-it-all fest and a nice get away too, but yeah, I may be done with the fest for right now. I have to say there were only a handful of bands that I was super excited for that delivered while others were just okay. We'll see how next year looks to see if I go or not.
I made good frienships, especially with Erin, on the drive back we talked about a lot of things and played music for each other to look into. She's a really nice person, we differ in our beliefs a lot (she's vegan, yeah I never thought I'd befriend one either) but she's not a feminazi trying to kill people that eat meat. She perfectly understood why I eat meat, etc, and she didn't hate me for it, but we talked about things that could change in the meat industry, etc. Our conversation was very nice and fluid, there was no akwardness or anything, which was great. I told her she's the first girl I've met that was into the kind of metal I like and wasn't a complete idiot. I'm going to try to see her band play in New Brunswick soon, I think I can convince Lucazs to come with me since some hardcore bands he likes are playing.
I am probably forgetting about some things, but this is long enough as it is. I'm going to go enjoy this beautiful day.