Round two! Fight! My second day of this year's Deathfest started out with a rare performance by Wisconsin thrashers Morbid Saint. They played a solid set, showcasing the classic Spectrum of Death album. It's weird, though; seeing lots of these classic/ostensibly mindblowing bands all in one festival kind of diminishes the greatness of each individual bands' performances. That's just a downside of the festival environment, though.
Speaking of being underwhelmed, there wasn't much to tickle my fancy before Brujeria, so I checked out Anvil. Honestly, I was only familiar with them through their documentary, which is basically them whining about not attaining success over their 30-year run. There's a reason for that: the music just isn't that good. Sloppy playing, tired metal clichés, and cheesy old-metal-guy stage banter do not help.
Most unfortunately, death metal asesinos Brujeria and sludge legends Noothgrush played at the same time. I decided to watch a bit of Brujeria then head inside for Noothgrush. Both bands killed it, but I'm a bit more of a Noothgrush fan honestly, even with Jeff Walker and Shane Embury playing in Brujeria. Morbid Angel were supposed to play immediately following Noothgrush, but there were some technical difficulties (sound man yelling at guitar techs) happening on Morbid Angel's stage which delayed them for a bit. All was good when they launched into their classic "Immortal Rites," though. Their set consisted mostly of songs from Altars of Madness and Covenant, a good move by the band. However, they did play two songs from their dreaded new album, Illud... whatever. This was contrary to the rumor going around that they were contractually forbidden to play any song from that release. When they changed guitars for the last two songs, lead guitarist Trey Azagthoth inexplicitly walked off the stage, without the other members even acknowledging it (my recorder also stopped recording at this point). Weird, but maybe he needed to get back to Quake III or something...
The last band I caught was Winter, after witnessing some police bullshit involving fireworks. Another legendary band, another great set. I feel like a bit of a broken record by praising most of the bands I see/record, but this blog is more about documentation than critique. Winter's bleak Celtic-Frost-at-33rpm set was a fitting closer for the evening; everyone worn out from the long day of metal. One more day!
-Ben
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