Live show #9: Maryland Deathfest X; Sunday

Sunday; the day of DOOOOM! I first caught my pals in Cough's set. Hands down, they had the best sound of the festival, which was mostly because they brought their own gear. In fact, they even had better tone than their masters in Electric Wizard would have later.

Next I saw some of Rwake's set and most of Morgoth's. The latter would have been a lot better on the inside; seeing their eerie death metal outside in the bright sun kind of diminished any atmosphere they might have. Still though, it was fun to see the old Death-imitators.

I really wanted to see all of Japan's Church of Misery, but watching them meant having the blistering afternoon sun in my face, so eventually pasty me decided to head inside for New Zealand's Ulcerate. I'm not too into that technical death metal stuff, but I enjoyed their approach. While the drums and vocals are clearly in the tech death vein, the guitars use Neurosis-like riffs and atmosphere to conjure something more.

Next inside were the mighty YOB. They were crushing as expected. It was my first time seeing them with their original drummer, who made a difference by playing more slowly and forcefully. Forty-five minutes isn't much time for a YOB set though; they only played three songs. They closed with the 20+ minute "Mental Tyrant" from The Unreal Never Lived, which was a rare treat to see. If not for the sheer spectacle of seeing Electric Wizard live, YOB's set would rate as my favorite of the day.

Wino and Saint Vitus were the next band I caught outside. While their set favored their classic Born Too Late, something about this band doesn't lend itself to an outdoor festival environment. I saw them in a more intimate small club and they were much more convincing. Perhaps it was also that everyone (myself included) was most stoked for the immediately proceeding Electric Wizard. Unfortunately, my recorder shut off after one song of Electric Wizard, so that's all you get. I'm sure there are other recordings floating around, though.

I don't care that I didn't record them though; it was insane to actually see this band. Electric Wizard never stray far from their home of England. I have to point out their live guitar tone was not quite up to their recorded standards, but that was clearly due to them using rented, tinny Marshalls. As mentioned before, Richmond's Cough had better Electric Wizard tone than Electric Wizard. But I digress; EW's set was phenomenal. They played mostly Black Masses and Witchcult Today material, but threw in a song from Come My Fanatics and of course they ended with the legendary "Funeralopolis."

The last band I saw was German "dark metal" act Bethlehem. I'm honestly not too familiar with this band even though I have their first two albums. However, they put on a good performance, with an emphasis on atmosphere. Their vocals were actually pretty close to being scary. I recognized their talent, but at this point I was pretty numb from experiencing all the weekend's amazing bands. I hate festivals, but Maryland Deathfest is about as good as it gets in the U.S. for that kind of thing. Another year, another Deathfest.

-Ben

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Live show #6: Sky Burial at Piss Palace

The Piss Palace is not actually a palace made of some sort of crystalline urine, but a tiny basement in Baltimore. I'm not sure if they're still calling it Piss Palace, as the promotion for this show merely said the address of the house. Regardless, this was not my first time here; At the Graves played here with openers Dead Peasants not too long ago.

Dead Peasants started things off well with their bassless drone/black metal set. These guys are seriously one of the best new bands in Baltimore; be sure to check them out. I was particularly transfixed by their drummer's performance. I've never seen blasts so fast, so forceful, and unaided by triggers (or even microphones in this case), and he only uses a miniscule 3-piece set. Mind blown once again.

Next was The Lottery. I was pretty stoked to finally see them after recording them a while ago. Instead of bass, this band uses a cello. It's an effective replacement, and it certainly gives them some originality. While each member was plagued with technical difficulties throughout the set, it was still very enjoyable from an audience perspective. Their set consisted of one 30-minute sludge epic, with a smidge of post-rock dynamics thrown in occasionally.

Sky Burial were the headliners, on tour from Nashville, TN. I wasn't familiar with them prior to this evening, but any band that uses the holy grail of tone that is the Mesa Mark III is worth checking out to me. They didn't disappoint, giving a very solid performance of their spacey post-metal sound. They happened to be the only band that had a bassist this show. His basslines reminded me of the bass playing in Isis; very present but clearly serving the song. Despite being the headliners, Sky Burial played only a criminally short 20-minute set. I guess it was at somebody's house, though: such a show needs to be over at a reasonable time.

-Ben

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