This blog specializes in heavy metal music and how it relates to Washington DC and the surrounding area. Featuring info on upcoming metal concerts in Washington DC, Baltimore and Virginia, as well as info on local bands, area concert venues, reviews of live gigs, and lots of give aways.
2024 is the 20th anniversary of the classic Terrifyer album by local grind legends Pig Destroyer! To mark the occasion, Relapse Records is reissuing the album in a newly remastered version that also includes the 38 minute “Natasha” song and a ton of previously unreleased demos and bonus tracks. If this wasn’t cool enough, Pig Destroyer is playing an album release show for this killer reissue at the Black Cat this Thursday, November 14th of 2024! And if that wasn’t enough, DCHM is going to give away a pair of tickets to this very show, and the winner will also receive a copy of the Terrifyer reissue signed by the band. But wait, there’s more! Relapse Records label mates Mammoth Grinder are playing direct support of Piggy D on this show and they’ve got a new EP coming out, titled Undying Spectral Resonance, and the winner will get a signed copy of that at the show as well! If you’re not into vinyl we’ll make sure you can get another format (probably CD) signed at the show instead. Now to enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite metal release of 2024 is so far. Then on Monday, November 11th, 2024 at 5pm Eastern the contest will close and a winner will be selected from all valid entries using Random.org! Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly when you enter so I can contact you if you win. When you leave a comment you must click the little email icon and enter your email in (only I can see the email address) otherwise I won’t be able to contact you if you win. If the selected winner hasn’t written me back within 24 hours then another winner will be selected. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can purchase tickets here.
Pig Destroyer doesn’t play a ton of home town shows so don’t miss this chance to see them at the Black Cat! Direct support comes from Mammoth Grinder and I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention but they now include members of Exhumed and Battlemaster in their line up, so they’re only getting more brutal! Also playing will be Genocide Pact, another Relapse band and also based in DC. They play a modern take on that old school Swedish buzzsaw style of death metal. Opening the show is local band Entrail Asphyxiation, a local death metal/goregrind band that’s been getting a lot of notice lately. Anyways, check out these videos of the bands below and leave a comment telling me your favorite metal album so far of 2024 (Gotta make sure I haven’t missed anything for my end of year lists!)
The world is often a cruel place but we can make it a little better for those in need when we attend benefit shows that donate the proceeds to good causes. There’s a few coming up in the DMV that I thought I’d mention here real quick (you can always get the full list of upcoming metal concerts in the greater DC, Baltimore and Northern Virginia area on our handy calendar here).
Ben Blanton plays drums in Fuzz Voyage and was the original drummer for Foehammer, plus has performed in many other bands around the DMV. Additionally he is a regular face at hard rock, punk and metal shows in the DMV. Without going too much into detail, he’s had a medical emergency that left him in a coma and while he’s recovering we all know nothing about extended stays in this country’s medical system is cheap. As such there’s not one but two upcoming benefit shows for Ben scheduled right now. The first is coming right up, this Saturday, February 24th, in Frederick when Borracho headlines a show with Bloodshot, Marshal Fuzz and Et Mors also on the bill. A donation of $15 is asked for Ben but of course you’re always welcome to give more if you can. More details are on the Facebook event page for the benefit show here.
If Frederick is too far of a hike for you there’s another benefit show for Ben at the Pocket in 7DrumCity in NW Washington DC on Sunday, March 3rd. This show’s line up is headlined by Rise Defy with additional sets by Seasick Gladiator, Et Mors and Bodied. Yep Et Mors is playing both but it makes sense as the two members of the bands were originally introduced to each other by Ben. Anyways, this show is also asking for a $15 donation for Ben and more info can be found on the Facebook event page for this benefit show here.
Ever since the terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israeli civilians last October the government of Israel has been massacring Palestinians in Gaza as though they are all part of Hamas, which has created an enormous humanitarian crisis in the region. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East offers humanitarian aid in the region and this show’s proceeds will be donated to the organization. This show will be held at St. Stephen’s in Columbia Heights on Friday, March 29th. This gig will be headlined by local grind band No/Más but also performing will be the Palestinian fronted Nø/Man as well as Big No and Cimitir. They’re also asking for a $15 donation (presale tickets available here via Bandcamp) and you can get more info on this show via its Facebook event page here.
Hell in the Harbor Fest really was a hell of a way to spend Memorial Day Weekend. The entire block of Market Street in front of the Baltimore Soundstage was blocked off and fenced in for the festival. The single outdoor stage located on the northbound lane of Market Street faced North with East Pratt Street to its back which lead to lots of pedestrians hanging around gawking and the bands performing there. The event was sold out and it got pretty crowded in the street near the stage when the more popular bands were playing there, especially since some of the food and drink vendors were located very close to the outdoor stage. That said, it def had the feel of that era of Maryland Deathfest with the single stage outside of Sonar back in the day. Everything went off pretty well it seemed, only one band canceled out of the entire line up and there was even a surprise set by Jivebomb atop a shipping container located inside the fenced in area of the fest. Big props to Adam Savage for putting this all together and to Mike O’Brien at Baltimore Soundstage for letting me cover it (and give away tickets to one lucky DCHM fan!). Below I’m posting just some of my favorite photos and videos that I shot at Hell in the Harbor Fest but you can see all of my photos from the festival on Flickr here and all of the videos I shot at the fest and other shows on my YouTube page here. And if that’s not enough for you be sure to check out other coverage of the fest by people like Melissa Suarez Photography, Hillarie Jason Photography, Return to the Pit / Aaron Pepelis, and Misery Cartel Photos.
Friday the 26th of May was the pre-show for the fest at Baltimore Soundstage. Nothing took place outdoors that night and I only shot a bit of the set of the headliner, the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. Below is my video of their final two songs, “Solitude” and “Demon’s Gate,” but I also shot footage of their song “The Bells of Acheron” which you can see here.
The first full day of Hell in the Harbor Fest was on Saturday the 27th and the weather was sunny and warm. The first band I caught was the Ohio based death metal band Sanguisugabogg on the outdoor stage. They
Georgia based sludge band Black Tusk put on a super high energy set on the Baltimore Soundstage’s stage. It’s been a while since I have seen them live but their live show has really improved in that time, I was definitely impressed. They also played a new song, titled Brush Fire, which I shot video footage of that you can see below.
Next I saw Maryland’s own Dying Fetus perform their style of slam death metal on the outdoor stage.
The main headliner of day one was the most famous death metal band in the world, Cannibal Corpse! This was my first time catching them live since Erik Rutan joined the band and I’ve got to say they seemed even tighter with him in the line up. In the video I shot below lead vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher challenged the audience to best him at head banging (I don’t think anyone beat him tbh).
Eventually I found my way over to Angel’s Rock Bar inside the Power Plant area to catch Tombs play. They were solid but they had the stage lights turned down low and a ton of fog so the conditions we’re pretty poor to try to shoot anything in.
Sunday the 28th of May was the final day of Hell in the Harbor Fest but had what I considered the best line up of the weekend. The first band I caught was the chainmail wearing blackened speed metal band Demiser from South Carolina inside Baltimore Soundstage. I shot the below video of them including an epic stage dive by DCHM contributor Vivek at the 4:11 mark.
After Demiser I went outside to catch Misery Index on the outdoor stage. They’re always a fun band that is mostly local (founding member Jason Netherton now lives in Sweden) and they always do a good job of song selection for their live shows. Their drummer, Adam Jarvis, had an intense day as he also played with Pig Destroyer, the next band to play on the same stage that day.
I saw Michigan based grind band Cloud Rat perform next inside Baltimore Soundstage, but their set was really short (even by grindcore standards) due to technical issues causing them to start about when their allotted time was supposed to end. Luckily I’ve seen them before but next up I headed outside to catch local grindcore legends Pig Destroyer on the outdoor stage. By this point there were a lot of normies hanging around the outside of the festival watching what was going on not just on the street but even in the nearby stores such as the second story of the Marshall’s. Pig Destroyer vocalist even gave a shout out to all the onlookers on the street and in the IHOP and Marshall’s. The crowd surfers were starting to show up during their set and there’s something very Baltimore about witnessing the Chicken Man crowd surf in front of a Popeye’s. It was a fun set as always
The next band I caught was the Toronto based black metal band Spectral Wound. I had never seen them before and they put on a spooky show with lots of fog. The band came ready to play and their set was tight and very high energy as well. I shot a video of them playing their incredible song “Frigid and Spellbound” followed by a new song that I don’t know the title of, check it out below!
I really wanted to catch all of Spectral Wound’s grim and frostbitten set but I left about four songs in because one of my all time favorite bands to see live was on the outdoor stage at the same time, the legendary Napalm Death! I don’t know how they continue to do it but one of the oldest bands on the bill still puts on one of the best live shows of any metal band in the world. Always intense and fun, Napalm Death blasting out into the Inner Harbor of Baltimore was just awesome. The crowd surfers went wild during their set, the most I saw for any band the entire fest. I shot video of the last nine minutes of their set, which includes their cover of the Dead Kennedys classic Nazi Punks Fuck Off! which you can see below.
By the time Napalm Death ended their set Richmond’s Inter Arma was already on stage inside the Baltimore Soundstage. Another band that I love to see live, this was the first time I’d seen them with a theremin player on stage.
When Inter Arma’s set ended I had just seen several killer sets back to back to back and it was time for a bit of relaxing (read: tailgating) during High on Fire’s set. It’s not that I don’t like Matt Pike’s thrashy sludge band but I have seen them a ton of times in the past. I made it back in time to catch Undeath‘s wild set inside Baltimore Soundstage. The stage divers were going nuts during their brutal set and played a new song, titled “Brandish the Blade” (see it here). The Chicken Man was up to his normal antics and managed to get up on stage with a flag during “Enhancing the Dead” that I captured on video that you can see below.
I headed over to Angel’s Rock Bar for Philadelphia’s Sonja. I had caught them at a house show in Takoma Park back in December but that show suffered a bunch of technical issues so the sound was not idea. That’s fairly typical for house shows but their performance at Angel’s definitely seemed like more of a real show this time.
After Sonja played it was time for New York City’s Tower to close out Angel’s Rock Bar. I wasn’t familiar with Tower but they played an energetic style of traditional metal lead by frontwoman Sarabeth Linden. They were one of those bands that you can just tell is having a blast performing together, really fun to watch. Unfortunately they blew an amp head and while they were figuring that out I headed over to catch the end of Hulder‘s set at Baltimore Soundstage. Luckily I had seen Hulder in NYC back in February with Blackbraid because they cut their set short by about 15 minutes. Kind of a weird way to end the fest but as the lights came on I started doing my goodbyes to people I’d seen there. In all Hell in the Harbor Fest was executed really well. Aside from a few issues about crowding near the outdoor stage, there really wasn’t much to complain about (ok drink prices were pretty high too). I got to see some great performances by great bands, some that I’d seen before and some that I hadn’t, and of course the best part was getting to see a good chunk of the people I typically run into at Maryland Deathfest despite no MDF this year.
The second episode of the Metal Embassy podcast is now live! On this episode I speak with Fawaz Al-Shawaf of the Saudi Arabian grind band Creative Waste. He organized the first above ground metal show in Saudi Arabia and he talks about the entire history of live metal concerts in the country and what it’s like being a metal head there. After the interview you can listen to a song off Creative Waste’s latest album, Condemned.
You can listen by clicking the play button below or you can find it (and subscribe to future episodes) on most podcast apps including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more by opening the app and searching for “Metal Embassy” or you can just go here for the full list of links.
Metal Embassy – 002 – Creative Waste (Saudi Arabia)
Napalm Death are one of the fathers of grindcore and they’ll be returning to Washington DC when they play the Black Cat on Sunday, May 3rd, 2020! We’re so excited for this show that we’re going to give away a free pair of tickets to one of our lucky readers. To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me which of Napalm Death’s 15 albums is your favorite (if you need help remembering them all you can see their discography here). The contest will close at 5pm Eastern this Friday, February 7th. At that time the winner will be selected from all valid entries using Random.org to receive the pair of tickets to the Napalm Death show at the Black Cat. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly when you enter so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If the selected winner hasn’t written me back within 24 hours another winner will be selected. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Eventbrite here.
Napalm Death formed in the early 80’s in Birmingham, England, and helped create the genre of grindcore with their 1987 debut album Scum. Usually older bands in extreme metal have trouble keeping up as they age but not Napalm Death. They still defy expectations by releasing solid studio albums and putting on killer high energy live shows as well. Also playing will be the Belgian death metal band Aborted and Brooklyn based hardcore infused post-metal band Tombs. Do not sleep on South Carolina based death/grind band Wvrm, these guys shred and will be opening the show. Now check out these tunes below by all of the bands on the bill and leave a comment telling me which is your favorite Napalm Death album!
This coming Monday, July 30th, Richmond based Lamb of God will be headlining the Fillmore Silver Spring! This show has an all star line up of metal bands including Anthrax, Testament and Napalm Death. We’re so damn excited about this show that we’re giving away a free pair of tickets to this concert to one lucky reader! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me which of the four bands playing you are most excited to see! Then on Wednesday, July 25th at 12pm EST the contest will close and a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries. The winner will get two free tickets the show! Be sure to enter using an email address you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that, I hate spam too. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Live Nation for $45 here.
Lamb of God is coming hot off their tour as direct support on Slayer’s farewell tour. Anthrax, one of the big four of thrash metal, will be direct support for this show with Bay Area thrashers Testament performing as well. The opening band is none other than the still reigning kings of grindcore, Napalm Death. Top to bottom that’s a pretty stacked line up! Now check out these videos by the bands performing and leave a comment telling me which band you are most excited to see at this show!
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