Maryland Deathfest May 22nd – 24th 2009

- Report written by Ewan Gibb

Death, one of Metal's dominant preoccupations, there's no getting away from it. Perhaps it's fitting then that the world's premier (in terms of line up) Deathfest in 2009 should be hosted in a city, Baltimore, whose murder rate is such that it is also referred to as Bodymore, and its official subtitle Charm City, is bastardised as Harm City. Apparently, if a city the size of London had the same murder rate as Baltimore it would suffer more than 3000 murders a year. This needn't be of concern for the travelling Metaller as the home of the Maryland Deathfest, the Sonar venue, is ensconced in Baltimore's Down Town area which with its dozens of shiny sky scrapers provides one of the safer parts of the city in which to see some serious live music. And serious live music is what MDF VII promised, the line up on the outdoor stage on the Saturday afternoon alone of Brutal Truth, Immolation, Atheist, Napalm Death, and Bolt Thrower, didn't just make that day a hot ticket, but a bone fide dream ticket.

Before the Deathfest proper kicked off, an appetiser was provided by Pulling Teeth, Lethal Aggression, and Ghoul (plus others) at the Sonar with the pre-Fest show, where Ghoul provided the most seriously goofy entertainment with their hoods, and cast of supporting characters (e.g. Numbskull chucking around bits of his own brain). The Splatterthrash attack was fun but this barely touched the sides compared to the feast which lay ahead.

Day 1 – Friday 22nd May

Having seen the Sonar on an ordinary night, one did wonder where the outdoor stage was going to be, with no obvious significant open area adjacent to the venue for the crowd and the stage, that is except for the road itself plus the small grassed area opposite. So that's what the organisers used – fencing off the whole area in front of the venue, and closing off the entire block of East Saratoga Street which the Sonar calls home. It made for an often surreally urban music festival experience, surrounded by multi-story car parks, and the raised freeway.

The converted festival site was a real treat for the long hair with cash burning a hole in their pocket, as the street out front hosted a row of stalls selling thousands of underground Metal CDs and merchandise, many (if not all) offering 3 CDs for $25. Inside the venue, the whole of the 2nd room was devoted to traders who offered yet more shiny circular bargains and black apparel, and a smaller 3rd bar had yet more stalls. The voluminous main room itself focused mainly on merch for some of the bands of that given day, oh and of course hosting those bands playing inside. None of which, incidentally, took the fancy of this correspondent on the Friday afternoon.

This meant, in effect, that the first band of MDFVII for Diabolical Conquest was Cattle Decapitation on the outdoor stage. Their sound was just awful, all booming bottom end with no clarity whatsoever to speak of. All that could be heard were the vocalist's OTT grunts and squeals. No thanks.

First cancellation of the festival came from Marduk due to passport issues. This was a shame as I was looking forward to seeing and hearing the current line up. It was a case of swings and roundabouts as it meant Cephalic Carnage were shunted up from 0040 on the inside stage to the mid-evening sun outside, which suited Colarado's stonedest much more than it would Sweden's Panzerest. Kicking their set off slow and doomy, it wasn't long before they picked up the pace. Lenzig is an endearing frontman, and the band's performance was staggeringly tight and fiddly; their material blindingly fast and always immensely heavy as shown by run throughs of Endless Cycle of Violence, Touched by an Angel, and Lucid Interval. A weed costumed mascot appeared during Kill for Weed, but the highlight was Black Metal Sabbath for which the band donned spikes and various masks (including a horse's head) for the Black Metal half before returning to normal for the Sabbath end which saw a great circle pit for its laid back pentatonic riff(!)

The second half of the would be Black Metal heavy weight double bill comes from The True MayheM. Hitting the stage as the sun disappeared behind down town's skyline with the statement of intent that is Pagan Fears, Mayhem treated Maryland to a strong set culled from across their career. Of course there was Freezing Moon (how could they not?), but also Ancient Skin from Wolf's Lair Abyss, a number from Grand Declaration of War, some slower moments courtesy of Ordo Ad Chao, while Deathcrush itself rounded off the main set. Hellhammer's bone flaying flagellation hit the spot, the 2(!) new guitarists were just audible enough, but of course the focal point is Attila in his Satanic Priestly attire and sunglasses. The encore of the untouchable 1-2 of Buried by Time and Dust and De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas itself plus Pure Fucking Armageddon fully justified Mayhem overrunning their allotted time slot.

Asphyx's outdoor headlining set tonight is their first ever show on US soil, and they have the bad luck of having to curtail it slightly due to Mayhem overrunning. Martin Van Drunen (who gives the best microphone check you're likely to hear) apologises profusely, repeatedly, so they get stuck into their ultra simple old school Death Metal with much gusto. The man Van Drunen is an energetic and charismatic frontman as well as a Death Metal vocalist par excellence, mind you, the bass player's backing vocals are also formidable, and he appears to have a louder mic. These are old pros who attack the set with fervent headbanging and know how to work the stage. The weakness is in the material, which is satisfying in small doses, but proves too samey to hold the interest for the entire length of their set.

50% of Napalm Death and 50% of Brutal Truth you say? In one band? I'll have some of that! Dan Lilker on bass and Kevin Sharp on vocals from the latter with Danny Herrera on drums, and Shane Embury on guitar (!?) from the former; Venomous Concept are here to show the Deathfest how to do fast and basic, big G Grinding Hardcore! Man of the day, perhaps man of the fest, Kevin Sharp, is clearly off his face and in his own words is “higher than God!”, repeatedly requesting “more alcohol in the monitors please”. This evening Mr Sharp grants us a master class in unhinged showmanship, whether he's all about the stage, jumping, falling, balancing precariously on the monitors, attempting (and failing) to get into the crowd, or bashing his own face with the microphone until he bleeds, he's a whirlwind of uncontrolled chaos. The kind of performance that instant fandom is made of.

Day 2 – Saturday 23rd May

Saturday was the business end of MDF VII and as the stature of the line up had increased over Friday's bill, so did the temperature of the baking May sunshine, getting up to the mid 90s in Fahrenheit. Saturday was a complete sell out making space in the shade outside a premium, and venturing inside an instant sweat experience.

Making enduring the heat inside that little bit easier is Willowtip's Maruta, a 3 piece Grindcore unit consisting of a drummer, vocalist, and guitarist. No bassist, which probably helped their sound in that it didn't suffer from an overabundance of bottom end like much of the fest. Maruta showcased a supreme amount of energy and filled the space on the stage. Their material was interesting and presses all the right grind buttons, with blasts, thrashes, some hardcore, screams and low lows. A strong advertisement for their merchandise indeed!

More Grindcore followed in the shape of PLF (“not Pretty Little Flower”, they protested); another 3 piece, albeit with bass time. The guitarist/vocalist and bassist/vocalist flanked the stage aggressively, delivering their strong Assuck flavoured material. Another impressive performance that held the attention…

…which is more than can be said for Crowpath whose sound was just dreadful, and as someone not familiar with the band there was nothing there which made me want to stay and watch.

Now to the band with the greatest drum fills in all of Grindcore. Rotten Sound are greeted like conquering heroes by the crowd, cheekily suggesting they are responsible for the increasing popularity of MDF due to their repeat appearances at the festival. Theirs is a professional display of Scandinavian Grind ferocity, helped by the improved sound allowing that guitar sound to be audible and supported by a dirty and distorted bass sound. The band play fast and mean gunning through material from Murderworks, Exit, and new album Cycles, sadly though there was no Super Satan or anything from Still Psycho. That is nit picking though as Rotten Sound are brilliant today.

The first band in the sun today is Fail of… sorry, Hail of Bullets. The most entertaining thing about the band was their full run through of material during sound check which attracted a decent crowd only for Van Drunen to explain that they weren't actually playing yet. I just don't see the attraction of their lifeless, yawnsome, basic, old Death.

Now, a band with energy and charisma and suited to the late afternoon sun are Brutal Truth, as they kicked off with Sugardaddy and proceeded to play the first half of new album Evolution through Revolution in its entirety, all that energy and charisma was required in order to maintain any momentum as the polite and reserved crowd just weren't playing ball. The place went apeshit however, once the band had had their fill of new material and launched into Birth of Ignorance, followed by Stench of Profit. Now this is more like it! Kevin Sharp was up to his old antics, although wasn't as entertaining as the previous night, but then I suppose he hadn't had as many hours yet to get intoxicated. Rich Hoak's manic presence behind the kit more than made up for this – is there a more entertaining drummer to watch? Those 2 being the focal points, Lilker and Burke did their jobs dutifully, Lilker unable to perform backing vocals due to throat issues. The intensity of the second half was maintained with classics such as Dementia, God Player, Pass Some Down, Walking Corpse, and best song Choice of a New Generation - simply awesome Grind! Please, next time mix the new with the old a little!

Now this is where Saturday got interesting as quality bands began to overlap between the inside and outside stages. Choices would have to be taken; compromises and sacrifices would have to be made as the attendee tried to squeeze in as much quality Metal as physically possible.

First casualty were Misery Index whose first moments were missed thanks to Brutal Truth's last moments. Picking up with the set with the awesome Ruling Class Cancelled, Misery Index are blessed with what is maybe the best sound of the entire weekend. This is a home town show for the band, and they put on a commanding performance which is full of confidence. The band concentrated mainly on latter day material, and I didn't appreciate how Death Metal the band are until heard amongst all the Grindcore MDF had to offer, with their avalanche of triggered double bass drums and tight blasting, theirs was a unique sound with respect to their festival compatriots. It's a shame about the scheduling as theirs was a set I would definitely like to have caught more of.

And talk about irritating scheduling overlaps, the next band on the outside stage were the mighty Immolation. If today taught me anything, then it is that Immolation are not the kind of band you can't just dip in and out of; they demand and require your full attention if you're going to reap maximum listening pleasure. Unfortunately, arriving late due to Misery Index meant that I couldn't quite get into the correct headspace to fully appreciate Immolation's performance today. That's no fault of the band, who pummel their way through a variety of material, but it is a bit quiet, and it's far too sunny for Immolation's brand of darkened twisted death. I promise to keep my appointment with you at this year's London Deathfest chaps.

Back inside and putting the Grin into Grindcore Birdflesh give what is perhaps the performance of the fest. Yes. That good. No matter that the bass player is wearing a floor length dress and a fluffy orange wizard's hat, the guitarist is in a string vest with pink woman's underwear over leggings, and the drummer a kamikaze head band and mask. Is it a gimmick? Is it schtick? No, this is just what Birdflesh is . Everything that is great about Birdflesh on CD is amplified in the live setting, amazingly energetic, fast, short and catchy songs complimented by hilarious and obscure in between song banter from the drummer. The sound is incredibly clear allowing ultimate enjoyment of The Flying Penis, Gore in Gore Out, and Gut to Kill. Midway through the set there's an eruption of multi-coloured glow sticks in the pit, which in the black as pitch indoor stage cause an epilepsy inducing fountain of electric colour. All around brilliance. If you get the chance to see this band, take it!

Back out in the sun in time for Atheist, the band start the set with Unquestionable Presence itself, but something's not quite right. The crowd reaction is noticeably subdued, which noticeably affects frontman Schaefer, which in turn affects the crowd reaction. Maryland patently require convincing. I think perhaps Atheist were in the wrong place at the wrong time on this occasion, and would've better suited a much later slot when the crowd had less energy and would've appreciated their frequently laid back material. To support this theory I cite the fact that their 2 heaviest and fastest numbers, On they Slay, and Piece of Time receive by far the most enthusiastic response. Mother Man also went down well, but less so, while the Elements numbers of Air and Mineral went down like a shit in a swimming pool. Personally I was surprised but pleased that they visited album number 3. It's always a privilege to see Tony Choy in action, and the wailing solos (always a strong point of Atheist's I think) cut through wonderfully - no doubt helped by the lack of volume from the 2nd guitarist. Schaeffer is an oddball of a frontman (which is a good thing), with his head tilting and peering eyes, but that was a mistake to let the crowd smell blood.

No such mistake from Napalm Death who tear several new arseholes for those in attendance and give the most ferocious set I think I've ever seen them give. Surely if any band has nothing to prove to the Extreme Metal community it's Napalm Death, but you wouldn't believe it from the display they give. It is essentially a best of set, which could be forgiven for the inertia sapping brace of newies 2/3s of the way through, simply because you cannot argue with having Unchallenged Hate going back to back with Suffer the Children early on, or It's a M.A.N.S World, or The Kill/You Suffer in quick succession, or Nazi Punks Fuck Off - bottom line is you cannot argue with Napalm Death. It's the 3rd time I've seen the band in the space of 9 months (who knows how many over a lifetime) and I would not hesitate in going to see them tomorrow, given the opportunity.

Putting the Bolt into Boltimore (sic), and underlining the supremacy of the English Midlands this Saturday night, Bolt Thrower simply own the Maryland Death fest. The US blatantly love Bolt Thrower and show their appreciation from the second the band fire up, right through until the time they leave the stage. Theirs is the most enthusiastic response of the weekend by a light year, as the crowd repeatedly surge, bodies constantly swirl, overlaid with continuous crowd surfing. The set was chosen from across their catalogue, although there was a little too much from their post-Earache albums, highlights are definitely the segueing of World Eater with Cenotaph, War coupled with Remembrance, the Brutality of Warmaster, the old school speed of In Battle there is no Law, and the encore of the godly ...For Victory. The band's trademark battle roar topped with dramatic, hail inducing melody and guitar harmony seems specifically designed for maximum crowd enjoyment tonight. And it's all so damn heavy! Karl Willets looks very happy with himself, and so he should be, as he lead his troops to an unmitigated triumph; Bolt Thrower are deserved headliners of MDF VII.

Day 3 - Sunday 24th May

In contrast to the business end of the MDF that was Saturday, there's a far more relaxed atmosphere to the fest site on Sunday. The sun's not so hot, the attendance is far reduced, and the vendors are beginning to pack up their stalls early, offering crazy multi-buy deals. Still, the line up is still strong offering a mix of the Blackened, and naturally, Grind. Having gained entrance through the side of the site it's not until mutterings are overheard in the crowd that I become aware of the big news of the day. I make my way to the entrance, and there it is, an announcement stating that Pestilence would not be playing tonight. They'd been packed on the first flight back to Europe by US immigration for not having organised the correct visas. No Pestilence. Denied! In their place would be a surprise performance. Who could that be? The rumour going around was that it'd be some old English Death Metal band who had played Baltimore recently.

First band on the "to see" list today are Magrudergrind, and they're possibly band of the day. MDF has had far far more Grindcore than Death Metal, and it's been of an incredible quality, both old school and new. Magrudergrind play far too short a set, vacating the stage nearly 20 minutes before their time is up. Yet again it's a bass-less affair, and it's not quite as good as label mates Maruta's display the previous day, but Magrudergrind do pip fellow labelmates Kill the Clients (just), however this is vein poppingly furious nonetheless. If it wasn't for those silly "can't miss" multi-buy deals flying around on the last day, their latest album would've been bought, no mistake.

Following in quick succession are the aforementioned Kill The Client. Now, despite that comment about Magrudergrind pipping Kill the Client, it is purely on musical grounds. Kill the Client are quite the live act, oh yes. In terms of rage and stage presence they're second to none. The band are actually a full 5 piece, but you wouldn't know it if you just happened across them mid-set as the vocalist spends much of the set either on the front rail, prowling the press pit, or in the crowd. Kill the Client were another band let down by awful sound, all bottom end, drums, and vocals, and hardly any of the guitar could be made out. Once they'd finished battering those present with their own material they rounded off the set with a brace of covers including the godly Nasum's Time to Act, and Brutal Truth's Kill all Politicians. Class!

What do you like to listen to on sunny Sunday afternoons? Some Grindcore perhaps? Good job, because that's what we've got for you, and attempting to break the Willowtip roster's strangle hold on Sunday's Grind title are Sweden's Splitter. Oh ok, they don't manage that feat, but they try damned hard and produce a high quality set in the process. Splitter's is another excellent Grind performance, this time it's Disrupt flavoured, punkier, with not much in the way of all out blasting but light speed thrashing all the same. It's a fierce outpouring, and they're clearly delighted to be here and making plenty of new friends.

Opening the outside stage today are The Red Chord whose intro was the most interesting thing about the set. It sounded as though someone had left their phone to ring next to a microphone, as plinky plonky tones emitted from the PA alongside the band. Whoops, my bad; as the intro ended the vocalist thanked Mirai from Sigh for joining them onstage. They are the only band to bring the stench of the breakdown to MDF, that alone is enough to have them black marked. The blasting parts are pretty compelling and musically they're very tight and cannot be faulted. If they could surgically remove those breakdowns from theirs songs they'd be an alright band.

Absu, in my opinion, are a band that are more than simply “alright”, but today they are preposterous. I was looking forward to their set, but they begin testing the patience straight away by taking an age to set up and coming on late. Was it worth the wait? No. The sound is utterly dreadful, especially the drums which deny us the pleasure of fully appreciating Proscriptor's world class percussion. There's nothing wrong with Absu's material but the presentation is full of the things that can make Black Metal laughable, chief among these is Proscriptor's between song “banter” which is delivered in full Black Metal rasp. It's hilarious frankly. Traces of salvation were offered during the songs, but these were heavily hindered by the sound. And the insult to the injury was ending the set with a cover song. Why do this when they have so much of their own material, which the fans are clearly very eager to hear?! Absu have a lot of support in Baltimore today and they get by on their charitable goodwill.

2nd band in a row with a singing drummer, 3rd band of the fest - this time it's the legendary Chris Reifert pulling double duty with Abscess. The deathpunk cum deathstonerdoom of the band is energetic and exhudes, rather counter-intuitively, good friendly vibes. Its fun to watch and added entertainment comes from the most fun looking pit of the weekend – if I was a bigger fan and/or knew the material I'd have been in there like a shot. It was almost as fun to watch as the band itself. Abcess typified the general relaxed feeling of the fest-site on the Sunday.

Back into the dark now for Poland's Antigama, who're yet another bass-less Grind band. What is it that's wrong with bass players exactly? I thought it was lead singers and lead guitarists who were meant to be difficult to work with. Maybe they'll have their revenge, and next year's MDF will feature a 6 piece band with 5 bass players, plus a drummer/vocalist (natch). Back to the band at hand, and unfortunately Antigama sign off the Grindcore representation on a low note. They come from way over there in left field, and I commend them for it, but sadly their performance just doesn't hold the attention despite the rage and the intricacy.

Finally 10pm arrives and we can find out for certain who the surprise performance is from. The bad news is that it isn't a 45 minute bass solo from Tony Choy; however, the good news is that we have Bolt Thrower again. For the second night in a row! Sweet! “The worst kept secret in show business” as Karl Willets puts it during their set. On this occasion we get a shortened version of the set from Saturday night, with superior sound, and consisting practically of the title tracks from all their albums. So if you want song titles go find yourself a discography. All those same elements that made Bolt Thrower special on Saturday night are present and correct, albeit with an air of familiarity and not so quite a rabid reaction. As the new Brutal Truth song says - "War is Good"!

And so it comes to the last band of MDF for Diabolical Conquest in the shape of the infamous Devourment. After 3 and a bit days of live music and a headlining set from Bolt Thrower, it personally feels like they've missed the party, but luckily for the band there are plenty in attendance who don't share my view. The enthusiasm of the crowd is impressive for this time on a Sunday night, and it's easy to see why – those trademark slamming grooves are custom built to induce violence. The vocals are incredibly strong, but after a while prove monotonous, and things fall apart during the fast bits with the riffs become inaudible. Once more a generally awful sound doesn't help matters as the performance seems like an unstructured mess punctuated by those crowd pleasing slams. The entertainment value of a horse's head mask on the bass player doesn't last long and as it proves too hot for the performer so does extreme tiredness prove too much for this writer, and it's goodnight Maryland Deathfest 2009.

The 7th Maryland Deathfest proved to be a high quality mixture of old school Death Metal, Black Metal, and a heck of a lot of Grindcore. Its strengths lay mainly in the quality of the key acts, many of whom fit squarely into the legendary bracket rather than being “of the moment”. There was quite a bit of chaff in the line up though, particularly inside during the early parts of the day, and maybe some of the schedule overlaps could've been avoided if 1 or 2 acts were jettisoned from each day's line up. That aside the other problem with the music itself was the sound - it was pretty much uniformly bad, with too much bottom end, and dare I say it, too much volume (the best place I found to be able to hear a band playing inside was standing outside and to the side of the door.)

The location of the festival site being in the city was incredibly convenient, but it had its issues – the current location or maybe the current orientation of the outside stage would be inadequate for a band who draw a bigger crowd than Bolt Thrower did on the Saturday night. The problem is with the outside stage being adjacent to the fencing on the right hand side – when the crowd began to surge there was nowhere to go for the people in the front right. Wisdom holds that if you want to get out of a crowded area the easiest way is to move laterally, but this wasn't an option as in one direction was main body of the crowd, and the other was a 7 foot fence topped with barbed wire. Heading backwards in such a situation is notoriously hard so the only option is to crowd surf. Moving the stage 8-10 feet to the left would alleviate this possible issue as the crowd could focus on the stage equally from the left and the right, rather than just from the left. Another issue was the food vendors. There was nothing wrong with the degree of choice (the options available were plentiful and highly tempting) but another couple of stalls would've helped reduce the queues.

Mere growing pains I'm sure, as the organisers ought to be congratulated for what they achieved with the Maryland Deathfest, and that is the organisation of a stunning Extreme Metal line up and festival for the successful entertainment of (literally) thousands. Hats off!