April 2012
35 posts
Heavy thoughts, part 2
Killswitch Engage headlining Sunday
Every Time I Die playing Sunday
Vanna playing Sunday
Overkill performing Saturday
Unearth playing Saturday
Protest the Hero playing Saturday
Bane wrecking the upstairs Saturday
Hung performing Saturday
Huntress playing Saturday
Volumes playing Sunday
Upon a Burning Body playing Sunday
Recon...
Heavy thoughts, part 1
The Acacia Strain, Friday night
Black Dahlia Murder headlining Friday
All That Remains headlining Saturday
DragonForce playing Saturday
God Forbid playing Saturday
OK, so @moshfest is over, and we’re sifting through notes and computer files compiled throughout New England Metal and Hardcore Festival 14 to try and figure out exactly what the hell it was that...
Recap in the works
Adam D of KsE
We’re sifting through 2,000+ images from @moshfest and will be doing a few recaps ASAP
Welcome return
Killswitch Engage
What a pay off @moshfest. The return of singer Jesse Leach to Killswitch Engage surpassed expectations. Sounding fierce and in control, Leach had the same intensity that made him such a standout during his original tenure with the band, yet now he seems to better harness it.
The band looked a little shell shocked by the rabid response from the sold-out house, but fired...
The sound of crazy
Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die has always had an oddball charm, one that lets it get away with song titles like “Underwater Bimbos from outer Space.”
At its best, as it was @moshfest, ETID lurches back and forth between manic and menace. A little bit rock ‘n’ roll, a little bit certifiable. But no matter how the band came at it, ETID had killer chemistry that...
Hi, Neighbor, let's mosh!
Yeah, a big can of Naragansett some how got in the pit @moshfest
Hit their stride
Vanna
Usually when bands change lineups as fast and as furiously as Vanna did, they end up on a fast track to Suckville.
But this Worcester-bred band did just the opposite. Down to just one member from the original 2004 lineup. Vanna has kinda rebuilt, kinda evolved into a monster band….Frankencore!
Huge riffs, soaring melodies, bruising breakdowns are all there in a controlled,...
Better late than never
Emmure
By the time Emmure joined the bill @moshfest needed another act about as badly as Chelsea Grin needs another bass drum. But glad Metalfest made room, because these guys crushed skulls with a finely tuned hardcore that brings in shades of nasty death metal. Defiant and entertaining all at once.
Free birds
Attila
Lot of serious, brooding dudes @moshfest today. Attila from Atlata had a bit more of a laid back attitude in its attack. Brutal and heavy as need be, it was good to get some slinky soul in the rage.
Cooler than Coachella
Met these folks at Luciano’s sandwich shop next to Palladium. They’re from Australia. They were trying to decide whether to come to Metalfest or Coachella. They are happy to be here. So are we, especially when they offered us chips, and we got to tell them they were french fries.
WWJD @ MCMB
MyChildren, MyBride
While evil rules @moshfest, the event doesn’t discriminate. After all, there’s a lot of Christian metal out there, with As I Lay Dying and Norma Jean blending right into fabric.
MyChildren, MyBride wraps its faith in a dark, Gothic cloak and give JC some serious bass.
Found it
Texas in July
Every Metlafest coughs up a band that become my “new favorite.” Usually not a big band, just a band that catches my attention and becomes part of the rotation, hence my Pissing Razors and Wolf CDs
This year, I’m stocking up on Texas in July. Great, old-school underpinnings and explosive energy.
Singer Alex Good bellowed that he’s been waiting a long...
Core values
Volumes
Betraying the Martyrs on second stage
Upon a Burning Body
Recon
Day 3 @moshfest is already in overdrive. The show is sold out and already pretty well swarmed. Nothing like a rainy day to spur early arrivals.
With metalcore architects Killswitch Engage at the top of the bill, the rest of the show seems to be full of a lot of “-core” bands _ mathcore, gothcore,...
Offstage
Some shots of the fans and vendors @moshfest. Big buzz building last two days for the return of singer Jesse Leach to Killswitch Engage happening tonight.
KsE with Leach leveled Metalfest around the time of its debut “Alive or Just Breathing.” Then Leach left the band in 2002, and Howard Jones stepped in as the band rose from the underground and into the Grammy-sphere.
...
Remains of the night
All That Remains
All That Remains didn’t become one of metal’s biggest bands overnight. The whole thing started way back at first Metalfest when singer Phil Labonte and guitarist Oli Herbert had this band playing mid-day on the small stage.
Massholes from Springfield, All That Remains has gone through numerous lineups and played nine more times at Metalfest before headlining...
Don't fear the keytar
DragonForce
DragonForce compels you to take up arms! Fight the good fight! Vanquish the damned! Or at least have a bunch of beers and cheer on some mighty fine guitar pyrotechnics.
The U.K. band made ts U.S. debut at Metalfest in 2006 and came back this year to launch its new tour. New singer Marc Hudson took a few songs to get used to, but by the time the band hit the mountain peaks of...
Back to the old school
Overkill
Is there a more metal song title than “Fuck You”? The punk band Subhumans originated the song and Overkill metal-ized it in 1987, serving it up nicely once more for its closing number @moshfest.
Going strong now since 1980, Overkill is proudly unwavering old-school thrash. New stuff such as “Electric Rattlensake” revels in all the guitar wank and demon-waking...
Nothing succeeds like excess
Unearth
Protest the Hero
Bane
As Day 2 cruises into the homestretch, the word that keeps coming to mind is “epic.” The number of bands, the number of days, the number of shattered ear drums…all epic.
The bands that do best here are the ones that tap that sense of the epic, and it’s not the same for any two bands.
Unearth seized the epic with songs...
New school in session
Periphery
I Wrestled a Bear Once
Metal is a genre that is good at both preserving and evolving. Newer bands are always seeing what more they can balance atop the metal heap. With Periphery, there’s a mash-up of three-guitar proggery, hardcore breakdowns, and big-anthem drumming.
I Wrestled a Bear Once goes to even further extremes, adding synthy guitar effects and leaning into...
Speaking their minds
God Forbid has not mellowed with age. One of the few metal bands with an overt political edge, singer Byron Davis goaded the crowd into thinking about just how much freedom really exists in the land of the free. It’s a message carried over from the recently released “Equilibrium”
Doc Coyle is another under sung guitar god who brought plenty of flourish to God...
WatchThe second stage at Metalfest has a vibe all its own. In the tighter confines of The Palladium’s upstairs room, Stage 2 is better for the bands working on the fringes. The hardcore bands especially thrive off of the chaos generated by fans losing their minds right in front of the musicians. Here’s Rotting Out showing what I mean. Bane and Cruel Hand should get the room shaking pretty...
No boys club here
Hung
Huntress
Metal is full of dudes, but not exclusively. Saturday afternoon’s main stage had back-to-back sets by Hung and Huntress (and no, @moshfest does not run in alphabetical order). Violinist Lyris Hung leads the prog-metal band that bears her name, and Jill Janus brings her operatic wail to Huntress’ old-school thrash.
Huntress is all about the melodic blow...
WatchBlack Dahlia Murder sealed the deal with Max Lavelle and made him the band’s full time bassist. The band made the announcement Fridat night during its set @moshfest. Lavelle hails from the Masshole ranks having played in Burn in Silence and Goratory. He also did a stint with Despised Icon. Good pick, BDM
Back to Black
Pics by Sam McLennan
Black Dahlia Murder ended the night (and its tour) on a high. Ever since it bubbled up with the metalcore crowd, BDM has continually set itself apart from the pack with deeper dips into melodic grooves. The caustic death-metal thrash n howl is never far off, but BDM swings.
The band played a bunch of cuts off of the latest, “Ritual.” With such titles as...
Still not happy (good)
Yup, the Acacia Strain brought the mayhem with “4X4” and many more loathesome musings from its about-to-expand catalog. Singer Vincent Bennett addressed the grumbling brought on by the band’s recent signing to Rise Records, whose stable is far from strictly heavy (Dance Gavin Dance???)
Vincent’s response: “I….Don’t…Care”
If anything, he...
The picks
Right about now, the Acacia Strain is making people question the existence of God with a set that’s dripping in evil. Metalfest has nurtured these guys and now they are as good as it gets in the metal ranks. We went to Metalfest impresario Scott Lee and asked him to pick two bands you never heard of who have the goods to grow up and own this thing..
1) Rotting Out, playing @ 3 Saturday...
Still kings
Nile is a Metalfest vet that just sounds better each time the band comes back. Karl Sanders is a guitar god in every sense of the word _ mind-snapping solos, brutal riffs. And how these guys have sustained a career with songs about ancient Egyptian mayhem is itself reason to love them.
Acacia Strain up next
AIN'T GOING NOWHERE
So Metalfest is roaring and just survived double-barrel blast of Oceano and All Shall Perish.
Contrary to earlier reports, Oceano is not breaking up after tonight’s show. Singer Adam Warren laughed and shook his head “no” when the question was put to him after Oceano’s set.
Why should they break up? Oceano’s latest “Contagion” kills, and one of the...
Tick, tick, tick......
Yeah so, we were supposed to get this thing going Friday, but today’s release of the fest schedule just got me revved. With Acacia Strain, All That Remains, and Killswitch Engage, you’ve got to love the heavy Masshole dominance across the top each night. And the way Metalfest is sticking to its roots_ Black Dahlia Murder, God Forbid, Bane, Nile_ is also a good sign. In some years,...
