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.
Last Friday, the 31st of January 2014, was a good night for the area’s metal heads. Attila sold out Empire in Springfield and Amon Amarth, Enslaved and Skeletonwitch played the Fillmore Silver Spring. However I decided to skip both of those shows for the rare chance to catch Morbid Saint play a DIY show on the campus of American University. So who the hell is Morbid Saint?
Well they were a thrash metal band from Wisconsin that in 1988 put out their only album, the underground classic Spectrum Of Death. They were a frequent opener on Death’s tours in those days but unfortunately broke up in the 90s. In 2010 they reformed and if you went to Maryland Deathfest X in 2012 then you got to see them play Spectrum Of Death from start to finish on one of the big outdoor stages there. That was a pretty great performance in the midst of many at MDF X but last Friday’s show at the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University was something else altogether. There was no lighting rig, no barrier between the bands and fans, no big stage, hell there wasn’t even a stage. The room was small, packed, and hot and you couldn’t hope for a better DIY setting to see an old school thrash band in. Most of those old thrash bands from the 80s have either blown up like Slayer and Megadeth, disbanded after the rise of grunge, or regularly come through the area to places like Empire promoting whatever new album they may have. Those shows are all good but this show wasn’t like any of them and I knew it going in. Basically, I couldn’t let myself miss this show!
I showed up a bit late but apparently there had been an issue with the electrical box at the start of the night and everything got delayed. The show was sold out when I arrived but I had ordered tickets online ahead of time cause I knew it would. The room was basically a big oval with merch tucked into a small room on the side opposite the venue entrance. Normally it is used as an on campus religious center for any religious denomination that wants to use it but this night it would become a place to worship metal! When I got there the first band, Genocide Pact, was still playing. Genocide Pact features members of another local band, Disciples Of Christ, but isn’t quite as grindy as D.O.C. is and instead has more focus on the death metal sound. They were fun but since the room was already packed I didn’t get up front to see them. The next band up was Baltimore’s Noisem, formerly known as Necropsy. These guys are young but ever since getting signed to A389 Recordings they’ve really started to garner attention, and not just locally. They opened on a run of 22 shows for The Black Dahlia Murder and Skeletonwitch last fall and they’ll be the opening act on the entire upcoming Decibel tour with Carcass headlining. They’re definitely getting better in the live setting, that showed even when performing at a DIY show with no stage. Their high energy death/thrash really got the audience into the show and the pits got pretty intense a few times. Next up was another A389 band, the (mostly) DC based Ilsa. They play a crusty style of death/doom that is full of mosh friendly riffs and very heavy slower parts as well. It has been a little while since I’ve seen Ilsa live and in that time they’ve replaced one of their guitar players with a guy who used to play with several of them in a band called Time Of The Wolf that was a precursor to Ilsa’s formation. Their set was heavy but I do wish the band members would face the audience more. Most of the show they formed a circle facing inward at each other, aside from vocalist Orion who looked all around the room with his vice grip on the mic he was screaming into.
Finally it was time for Morbid Saint to play and after the delay and several sets you could tell the audience was getting a little restless. The audience wouldn’t settle for a bad performance from the headliner at this point and Morbid Saint delivered. The crowd erupted into a mosh pit from the first note played and frontman Pat Lind really kept the intensity up the entire show despite the heat that was becoming overwhelming. The band did not play Spectrum Of Death start to finish as they had at MDF but instead kept the set list pretty varied, they even played songs off their never officially released 1992 demo Destruction System and some other obscure material as well. They had a few extended pauses between songs because the drummer was overheating but they mostly played songs back to back to back. There were crowd surfers and people flying in and out of the mosh pit the entire set with the intensity reaching its apex when Morbid Saint played “Lock Up Your Children.” Maybe I’m just getting old but by the time it was over I was feeling pretty drained and headed straight to the water fountains. A big thanks goes out to Mariana and the AU Independent Arts Collective for making this show happen. I hope they put on more awesome metal shows in the future. Getting the chance to see one of the classic old thrash bands up close in a small, sweaty, sold out room was like stepping into a time machine back to the days of Heavy Metal Parking Lot and despite the other options that night, there’s nowhere else I’d have rather been.
Who? Morbid Saint When? Friday, January 31st Where?Kay Spiritual Life Center (map) How much? $12 cash at the door (online sales already closed)
This Friday old school thrashers Morbid Saint are coming to DC and they’re playing a really tiny venue on the campus of American University. The band is from Wisconsin and while they used to open for Death on tours in the late 80s they only ever released one proper full length album, the 1988 cult classic Spectrum Of Death. They broke up in the early 90s (like many smaller thrash bands did after the rise of grunge) but recently they’ve reunited and starting playing shows again. They made their only area appearance since reforming at the 2012 Maryland Deathfest where they played Spectrum Of Death from start to finish. This show will be a much more intimate setting than the large outdoor stage at MDF and since time won’t be as much of an issue hopefully they’ll also play some songs from their 1992 demo Destruction System.
The show is at the Kay Spiritual Life Center which is basically a small non-denominational church/mosque/whatever-religion building on American University’s campus. Online ticket sales have already ended so you’ll want to be sure to get there early if you want to get in as this show will most likely sell out. Luckily the local opening support is pretty excellent! First will be Genocide Pact, a local death metal band featuring members of D.O.C. followed by Baltimore’s Noisem, a young death/thrash band that will be opening for Carcass on their upcoming US tour. Direct support will be from Ilsa, a DC based crusty death/doom that never disappoints live. You couldn’t ask for a better line up for just $12! This Friday night this show will be a mosh friendly, sweaty and intense night for all in attendance and it’s going to be awesome! If you’re unfamiliar with any of the bands on this bill be sure to check them out by streaming the songs below.
Band: Exist Album: Sunlight Release Date: 5 November 2013 Buy from the band’s website (digital) for $2: Here Buy from the band’s website (CD) for $12: for Here
It’s been a slow start to 2014 for not just this site but metal in this area in general. However things are about to start picking up on both fronts in a big way and I’m glad we can start this off with an extensive review of the debut album by DC’s own Exist. This review was written by Tal and you can read more of her writing about metal and other subjects on her blog here. And of course be sure to stream the songs at the end of this post as you read it. Now sit back and enjoy this in depth album review.
Although I saw vocalist and guitarist Max Phelps perform with the Death tribute tour Death To All in April of 2013 at the Fillmore Silver Spring, I didn’t know about his band Exist until Metal Chris asked me to review Sunlight (Max is also a current member of Cynic). Considering how pioneering the music of Death and Chuck Schuldiner was, Max’s role in the tribute shows was rather fitting since Max’s band Exist also pushes genre limits. They draw on the heaviness of death metal, while incorporating progressive and jazzy vibes, as well as far weirder sounds. There are frequent changes in tempo and character – hardly a bar is like the one before it. The album is overwhelmingly heavy and hammering, but can fade suddenly into softer melodies, jazzy wandering or strange noises. As far as heavy progressive metal, I’m a fan of The Ocean, so that was the first comparison that came to mind, but there are similarities with bands like Opeth and Between The Buried And Me as well, and of course Cynic.
I don’t listen to much progressive metal because I often find it to sound aimless, or even chaotic and disjointed, which I just don’t enjoy. There were some parts of the album that I found uninteresting or even irritating, however, there were also more purposeful, heavy sections aplenty. Overall, the album is a constantly shifting soundscape, with many layers of sound, sometimes at odds with one another, sometimes juxtaposing fast and slow, or harsh and melodic, with different instruments or characteristics coming to the fore at different times.
The aggressive parts are very aggressive, often with a hammering sound and intensity to the riffs, although at various points they also create impressions of writhing, pounding or churning, along with some moments of standard thundering death metal riffs. And then there are moments that leave genre limits in the dust. One of my favorite of these unusual moments is in the song “Like The Weather,” which is a song where fast, heavy segments featuring some tremolo-ish playing bookend a spacey segment in the middle. The tremolo-ish parts are cool in general, but toward the end the melody takes off and soars over the churning vortex of guitars and growled vocals. Another unusual moment occurs in “If Or When,” which starts out with an energetic, almost thrashy intro – once the drums speed up, it has the driving rhythm of thrash, though the lead continues to strum a proggy melody. The first minute or so continues to channel some thrash energy but shapes it to unusual rhythms, or lays over slower or weirder guitar – as elsewhere on the album, the music doesn’t stay the same for very long.
Most of the vocals are a low growl, just barely comprehensible (though having the lyrics makes this easier). The clean vocals reminded me very much of Loïc Rossetti’s clean vocals for The Ocean – floating lightly over the backdrop of instrumentation. The growls are pretty solid, but in some places the clean vocals sound strained. For instance, with some of the higher vocals in “If or When”, the singer seems to be having trouble sustaining that high voice, which detracts from the attempt to sound light and airy. All of the band members do vocal duties on Sunlight so I’m not sure who’s singing there. In a few places, the band uses some different vocals, which can be an interesting or unpleasant change depending on your personal preference. For instance, in the last song, “Sunlight,” the singer asks, “is it wrong for me to churn the peaceful waters i suffered to see?/ sunlight shine down on me” in a lofty tone while the keyboard does some random and jazzy stuff in the background, all of which I found irritating. There are some different harsh vocals in this song as well, a more wet and guttural growl, which gave those parts an extra visceral touch.
Although not a fan of jazz, I must admit that some of Exist’s forays into that genre turned out kind of cool, such as when their playing imitates jazz instruments. When I heard the jazzy bridge in “Writhe,” my first thought was, “sounds like the typical saxophone player on the corner,” right down to the bright and reedy guitar tone. Some of the others songs include similar “saxophone” parts. The effect is rather cool, although I thought it went on too long. Some other songs include parts where the bass imitates the sound of a double bass, most notably in “Sunlight,” which features an undertone of double bass strumming that sounds almost tribal.
Beyond jazz fusion and typically proggy-sounding melodies, Exist also throws in some strange segments that leave conventional music behind. Like the constant changes in tempo and tone, these moments keep the listener guessing. They also directly evoke emotional responses, like the confusion and anxiety brought up by the discordant segment toward the end of “Sunlight,” the last song on the album, where the guitars churn like a jet engine revving up, with shrieks and saw-like noises mixed in, or the sense of loneliness in a vast space at the start of the third song, “So We Are…,” which begins with a spacey intro, with undulating notes that sound like whalesong over a high, wavering, radio static-like sound. At other times, I thought they went too far with their experimentation. The first song, “Writhe,” has a segment about two thirds through where the guitars tangle chaotically with each other, which seemed meaningless and annoying to me. The sludgy, churning segment after it, while also buzzing with dissonance, at least has some direction and force to it.
In keeping with the progressive vibes, the lyrics of the songs approach existential questions in an oblique way. The album begins on an uneasy note with “Writhe,” a restless song full of discord and tension, the heavy parts either hammering or churning, sounding very much like the song’s title. The most prominent lines in the song are:
“absoluteness hammers down
onto the self built on the stilts of my dreams
stripping all vanity away
all i acquire is all i am; nothing more”
Of these, the line, “absoluteness hammers down,” really drove itself into my brain, leaving me crushed by the weight of the cold and uncaring universe.
The second song, “Self-Inflicted Disguise,” begins very aggressively as well, invoking at once a sense of confinement in identity and of having one’s identity totally stripped away, but then there’s a mellow segment where the singer muses about
“newfound stillness gave a glimpse,
rifts above reveal sunlight
some sort of subtle whisper
through the trauma
blissfully reminds me that we are everything
all energy
simply currents radiating
we are forever”
This is one of the few hopeful moments in the lyrics on the whole album, and it’s soon overwhelmed by the ending of the song with even more forceful hammering riffs than before (along with extra hammering noises) and harsh growls insisting on maintaining the meaningless prison of identity:
“i am a shell, built, ever revised
absorbed in proud vanity
subconsciously tuning out
ease of my deconstruction
i love and i suffer,
but only through my defensive eyes
(nothing. a self-inflicted disguise)”
So we are not forever – we are nothing but empty shells.
I actually felt repelled by the lyrics of the third song, “So We Are.” The first verse is particularly disturbing, evoking an image of some sort of imprisonment or torture chamber, which seems to represent being forced to confront the disgusting nature of one’s own humanity. From the emptiness of self of the previous song, the theme moves to revulsion at others and self-hatred for not being any different from them.
The next song, “Like the Weather,” was the first song where I was able to identify with the lyrics. The song begins,
“experience of change in circumstance
says discontent is a container always filled
adjusting the size of all of our pain with respect to what’s there”
As someone who is frequently dissatisfied with how my life is going, I found this very insightful. However, if I hoped to be uplifted, I was wrong. The chorus questions:
“what really matters at all?
ascend as I ascend and fall as I fall
in sameness
my feelings change as they change;
i’m the weather”
Around the same time, I just happened to be reading a book on the practices of Tibetan Buddhism (The Places That Scare You by Pema Chödrön) that compared the constant changes of life to the natural climate. You can’t do anything about it; you just have to endure it. So that was what I read into this song – our feelings pass over us like weather, to be withstood or experienced, without lasting significance. Without the emphasis on compassion of those Buddhist practices, though, this is a rather bleak outlook on life. Not only that, but the frequent references to violence made me uneasy with this persona.
Yet, he can’t help questioning,
“if the riches of the world have jaded me for time and time
why must i still fill this emptiness?”
In the end, the lyrics which touched a chord with me, along with some lovely melodic moments, made this my favorite song on the album.
The next song, “Vessel,” is a song that’s overall slow and soft, and has a lovely intro that makes me think of rippling water (and it continues as the instrumental backing to the soft, drifting vocals). It’s a nice break from the heaviness and emotional intensity of the other songs, with some heaviness and discord in the bridge in the middle keeping it from getting boring. The piano sweeps toward the end are kind of irritating though – they destroy the peaceful mood and bring back the uneasiness of the other songs. And then the distant, distorted voices and wafts of guitar sound at the very end make one feel lost in vast emptiness.
In terms of lyrics, “Vessel” is more meditative and open-ended than the other songs – almost every line ends with a question mark. “need we others to see our truth at all?” “as to suffer so is to love. do we love? do we see beyond the wall?” “just a vessel, all is one / will we? won’t we / hold the sun?” With the soothing, rippling-water melody and the gently questioning lyrics, it’s a moment of peace and hope amid the violence and self-destruction of the other songs.
The intro to the next song, “If or When,” draws me in with its infectious momentum, especially the drums. Once the vocals start, it’s an assault similar to the other songs – attacking our notions of being able to attach any meaning at all to life (this time, the focus is on the pointlessness of chasing the future).
The last song is “Sunlight,” and as the title might indicate, this song brings back a note of hope. The growled parts seem to be doing their damnedest to hold the persona back in uncertainty, questioning the potential to ever accomplish anything:
“are you the one that made you complete?
with your face in the dirt?
was nobility there in the absence of sin?
did you fly higher in your ascent than where you were before?”
But the clean vocals win out in the end:
“wash away the lines i see
everything’s disharmony is everything it needs to be
everything i see is me
watching skies above in my own search for nothing
wash away the lines I see so I can be at peace”
After the harsh vocals bid us “goodbye” and the guitars take off with a jet-engine like sound, clean female vocals add “we are everything, all energy, simply currents, radiating, we are forever.” Then two alternating keyboard notes usher the album out.
As I traveled through the album with lyrics in hand, I experienced a lot of discomfort as I tried to get into the persona of the songs. Are we really this despicable? Maybe we are, and yet somehow we go on. We still exist; we still see the sunlight. Metal can examine the most desolate corners of humanity, but the end result is we feel more human. Or perhaps it is that we define being human by questioning what we really are.
“equated to an empty shell
yet we’re still sentient beings trapped in our defeat
so if the value was myself
i wonder now on what terms i even exist”
(“Writhe”)
Exist couches these questions in the medium of a progressive death metal album that is at times crushingly heavy or drivingly aggressive, at times beautiful, even gentle and calm, and at times just weird, sometimes to the point of being irritating or seemingly pointless. There may be a statement in that, considering how deeply the lyrics probe questions of the meaning of existence. The beauty of it is that we are left to wonder and figure it out on our own.
Dark Tranquillity, one of the bands that formed the “Gothenburg sound” of melodic death metal, is coming to the Baltimore SoundStage on Sunday, February 2nd. We here at DCHM are giving away a free pair of tickets to the show to one of you lucky readers of the site and entering to win is easy! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me who your favorite melodic death metal band is. Maybe it’s In Flames, Carcass, At The Gates, Soilwork or another band (I can’t list them all!). At 5pm EST this Friday, January 24th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to receive two tickets to the show! Be sure to use a valid email 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. 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 Ticket Fly right now for $17.60 here.
Dark Tranquillity released their album Construct back in May but I’m sure they’ll be playing classic songs from their older albums like Damage Done and Character too. The Swedes aren’t the only band from Scandinavia on this tour though as Finland’s Omnium Gatherum will be bringing their own brand of melo death to the Baltimore SoundStage as well. There will also be support from LA thrashers Exmortus that you won’t want to miss. Local support comes from Pennsylvania’s March To Victory. Check out these videos by the touring bands and let me know who your favorite melodic death metal band is!
The excellent instrumental band Russian Circles is coming to the Rock And Roll Hotel on Tuesday, February 18th and we’re really excited about this show here at DCHM. So excited that we’ll be giving away not one but two pairs of tickets to this show! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me who your favorite instrumental band is. Maybe it’s Pelican, Animals As Leaders, Blotted Science, Karma To Burn or another band entirely. At 5pm EST this Friday, January 17th, two winners will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries and each winner will receive two tickets to the show! Be sure to use a valid email 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. 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 Ticket Fly right now for $16.50 here.
Russian Circles gave us the moody album Memorial in late October and this will be their first area appearance since its release. That’s not all to look forward to at this show though, there’s also going to be support from KEN mode, a sick Canadian hardcore/noise band. The opening act is a personal favorite of mine, Richmond’s Inter Arma. These guys released an incredible album on Relapse in 2013, titled Sky Burial, and their live shows are even better. Get there early to see these guys, you’ll be glad you did! Now give a listen to some of my favorite songs by all three bands below and leave a comment telling me your favorite instrumental band!
Russian Circles – Geneva
Russian Circles – Burial
KEN mode – Extending Common Courtesy Throughout The Evening
2013 has had a lot of great moments this year so again I thought I’d ask a small sample of the various people, personalities and characters from around our area’s metal scene about theirs. I asked everyone two questions, what is your favorite album of the year? and what was your most “metal” moment of 2013? Feel free to leave a comment with your own answers to these questions, you readers of this site are part of the scene too!
Grant Dickie is better known around these parts at Grimy Grant and you’ve hopefully read some of his album reviews on this very site. You can check out his posts here. Also be sure to add him on Twitter at @jgrantd if you haven’t already. Favorite album of 2013:Soma by Windhand Most metal moment of 2013: When I started to really get into metal a few years ago, it was because I listened to Ilsa. One day I noticed a curiously named band called Bolt Thrower on Ilsa’s MySpace page in their “influenced by” section. Learning more about Bolt Thrower I found out that they’re a band based off of the table-top game Warhammer 40k. This piqued my nerdness and enticed me to get more into the band. Years later, they’re one of my main go-to bands and when I found out they were playing at Maryland Deathfest on May 23rd I nearly tore my shirt off and yelled out in my cubicle chair. Karl Willets and his merry band played onstage for only about 50 minutes due to some logistical problems with the Maryland Deathfest, according to their official band page. Still, when the fog erupted onstage and those four recognizable and epic figures emerged, when I somehow managed to squeeze near the front row, when I saw Willet’s sweat, it was just as good as any amount of time that they could have played. During the first chords of “World Eater” I completely flipped out, went raging in the pit, and then did a first-ever crowd surf – things a respectable adult would never do. Then again, Bolt Thrower brings out the most valiant and rocking in all of us.
Milla Lindqvist is the other album reviewer on DCHeavyMetal.com though she’s known as Tal on the site (see her posts here). She also runs a blog called In My Winter Castle where she reviews concerts she attends and other things. Favorite album of 2013:Pelagial by The Ocean Most metal moment of 2013: I really love the Russian folk/pagan metal band Arkona, and I’m kind of crazy about their vocalist, Masha Scream, with her long blond hair and just slightly Asiatic features, her outfits of furs over a traditional Russian tunic, her beautiful clean vocals and most of all her vicious growls. So it was pretty amazing getting to see Arkona play a headline set at Cafe 611 in Frederick, Maryland on October 28 – not just because I got to see Masha up close and to headbang and push people around to over an hour of Arkona’s music, but also because some other fans mistook me for Masha – not once, but twice. I could hardly believe it when a guy came up to me between two of the openers and asked, “Are you Masha?” It was probably the best compliment I’ve ever gotten – certainly the most metal one!
Simon Callahan books DIY metal shows in Washington DC and manages to get some great underground bands from around the country to play with top local metal talent through his Metal Squad Party Force. He also plays guitar and sings in the local band Midnight Eye. Favorite album of 2013:Sky Burial by Inter Arma Most metal moment of 2013: This year had a bunch of memorable metal moments, but some of the most memorable were probably: Midnight Eye’s release show on August 8th at The Pinch where we managed to fry both of our guitar amps the first night of the tour. And booking Absu there November 14th was one of the biggest, craziest shows I’ve ever booked in DC. And of course, the DC Heavy Metal 4th Anniversary show at the Fillmore Silver Spring on September 26th was fantastic. Years ago the first DC shows I played or booked involved Earthling at the now-defunct Corpse Fortress, just a few blocks away from the Fillmore. So getting to drink DC Brau while backstage with Earthling at DC’s biggest venue was a nice highlight and poetic touch to my time here.
Photo of Downfall Of Gaia performing at The Lab by Metal Chris.
Justin Woodward, aka Hollow Lung, plays guitar and does vocals for the local metal band Permafrost and also books DIY shows through his Hybrid Hearing Productions. Favorite Album Of 2013:Valonielu by Oranssi Pazuzu Most Metal Moment Of 2013: Four years ago Permafrost played a show with a band called Empier from New York. They became our first out of state friends. Soon after they became Black Table. Our styles were now more similar and we had a strong connection. This year I started booking shows at The Lab in Alexandria and I was presented with an amazing opportunity. Riff Lifter Booking and Black Table contacted me to book the German black metal band Downfall Of Gaia with Black Table for a Virginia date on their US tour. Stepping back and seeing a full room of all new faces while watching a band from half way across the world that I also love was my most metal moment. Being able to orchestrate shows with amazing bands is very surreal. Booking has been such an awesome experience and has made my life more fulfilling. Thank you everyone. Stay Metal.
Mary Spiro runs the blog Metallomusikum, is a Baltimore metal music contributor at Examiner.com and she runs the Black Metal Baltimore Facebook group. In addition to all that, she’s a staple at metal shows in Baltimore. Favorite album of 2013:Valonielu by Oranssi Pazuzu Most metal moment of 2013: One of my most metal moments of 2013 began on Halloween night when I sludged it up in my viking costume with Black Tusk and Inter Arma at The Sidebar Tavern in Baltimore. The next night I was thrashing with Death Angel and 3 Inches Of Blood at Mojo 13 in Wilmington, Delaware. That Saturday, I enjoyed some post-this and some post-that at Washington’s DC9 with Pelican and Coliseum. I concluded my show marathon on Sunday, where I celebrated a black and death metal “ritual” with Watain, In Solitude and Tribulation at Baltimore Soundstage. A stretch of shows like that, each one different from the last, represents the diversity of my musical interests. It also proves that I don’t have to travel more than 100 miles from home to find that diversity. I love living here!
James Healy is the vocalist and guitar player in local black metal band Thrain and now, after working for a local music shop for years, he has started Old Town Lutherie doing guitar repair and tweaks for many of the area’s metal musicians. If you want a real pro who is a metal head to make your guitar sound great, he’s the best guy to talk to in this area. Favorite album of 2013:Vermis by Ulcerate Most metal moment of 2013: This is a pretty tough one! 2013 as a whole has definitely been the best year in metal for me personally. It’s hard to choose just one “metal moment” as there were so many awesome moments to choose from! Well I’d have to say first that watching the D.C. scene grow bigger than I’ve ever seen it is a mighty contender that overshadows any one event. But, in the spirit of this write up the most metal moment I experienced was having the opportunity to share the stage with one my all time favorite bands, Battlemaster, on December 7th at The Lab. I’ve been a huge fan of those guys for what seems like a lifetime and D.C. always shows them a warm welcome! Here’s to an even better 2014!!
Adam Jarvis is a great drummer and he’s a busy one too. He’s currently a member of Misery Index, Pig Destroyer, Fulgora and Asthma Castle and he’s also worked with many other bands. Favorite album of 2013:…Like Clockwork by Queens Of The Stone Age Most metal moment of 2013: I’d have to say this year’s Maryland Deathfest was the most metal thing that happened this year. Not the obvious awesomeness of bands and friends united in the slums of Baltimore for a great weekend of boozin and blast beats. But this moment has to do with some events that happened that weekend. Down headlined on Saturday night and my other sludgy southern fried band Asthma Castle opened the fest that day. We ended up acquiring a massive bottle of Jameson. I filled up my flask and kept it in my care package for Phil Anselmo which also had some records from my other bands Fulgora, Misery Index, and Pig Destroyer. I handed the bag off to Jimmy Bower when I was super wasted and it still had the flask in the bag. This wasn’t just any plain Jane flask: it was a flask that my high school girlfriend gave me!! It had my name engraved on the front of it and “I Love You” engraved on the back!!!! So I brought it up when I ran into Phil at Hellfest in France, that I accidentally gave him my flask, and he just looked at me weird and then we just kept on drinkin!! That flask is now gone hopefully sitting in Phil’s room with my name on it and I love you!!!
Photo of Adam Jarvis of Pig Destroyer performing at Gwar-B-Q by Josh Sisk. Click it for the larger version.
Josh Sisk is a photographer who shoots all kinds of bands around the Baltimore and DC area, including tons of metal bands. You can see some of his work here. He’s also the heavy metal columnist for the Baltimore City Paper. Favorite album of 2013:Return To Annihilation by Locrian Most metal moment of 2013: Early in Pig Destroyer‘s set at the Gwar-B-Q in Richmond on August 17th, there was a palpable moment where the crowd and the band suddenly locked into sync together before turning it up SEVERAL notches. Everyone started screaming, mobbing the stage, knocking into the band, each other. Band members fell down, everyone fell down. Suddenly people started hauling themselves up into the rafters of the gazebo-like outdoor structure they were playing in, hanging upside down, stomping their feet along with Adam Jarvis’ breakneck drumbeats, making the “building” shake and causing a fine mist of white particles – I assume birdshit? – to rain down on the band and everyone. The security tried in vain to get the kids to come down, but pretty much failed, overwhelmed. The band, feeding off the crowd, ripped through the rest of their set in rare form. A highlight of a great day, and something that made a big fest feel, just for a second, like a grimey, intimate warehouse show.
Chris Penrod is better known as the Chicken Man and if you go to many metal concerts in the area you’re sure to spot him sooner or later tearing it up in the mosh put in his bright yellow chicken suit. The more brutal the band playing, the more likely you’ll find him there. Favorite album of 2013:Passages Into Deformity by Defeated Sanity Most metal moment of 2013: I’d have to say the my most metal moment of 2013 is a draw between Pig Destroyer‘s set at Gwar-B-Q. When everyone was hanging off of the ceiling rafters in that little gazebo. I thought that thing was gonna fucking collapse. Or at Dying Fetus at Empire on November 2nd. I wound up taking a hard fist to my nose and I’d have to say, that was the most blood that has ever poured out of my face at once. This year was very metal.
Richard Johnson aka The Grindfather, is the main man of the Northern Virginia based grindcore band Drugs Of Faith and he also runs the ‘zine turned blog Disposable Underground. Favorite album of 2013:Surgical Steel by Carcass Most metal moment of 2013: Dave Witte asking me to play a song with his band Brain Tentacles (along with his musical partner Bruce Lamont) for the D.C. date of their tour on November 4th. A string of musicians played with the band, each sitting in on a different date of the tour, but I was just honored to be asked. Having borrowed Taryn from Drugs Of Faith‘s bass, I got down to the Black Cat in DC, and using his saxophone, Bruce showed me the riff I was to play. What I didn’t know was that Agata from Melt-Banana (Brain Tentacles was opening for them) was going to improvise on guitar as well for the song. So not only was I performing on stage with Dave and Bruce, two awesome musicians themselves, but with the guitarist from Melt-Banana as well, for me it was a show to remember!
Photo of Mark Osegueda of Death Angel performing at Empire by Metal Chris.
Kim Dylla runs Kylla Custom Rock Wear where she creates custom clothing that you have probably seen worn on stage by members of bands such as Slipknot, Machine Head, Watain, Death Angel, Children Of Bodom, Kreator and more! She can even make you custom clothing to wear on stage or to just bring out your inner rock star. Favorite Album Of 2013:IV: An Arrow In Heart by Aosoth Most Metal Moment Of 2013: I’ve been making custom stage clothes for bands with my company Kylla Custom Rock Wear full time for about two years now and I’d have to say the most metal moment of 2013 for me would be seeing two of my favorite bands, Kreator and Death Angel, wear my pieces on live on stage in the same night, October 30th. Somehow the Kreator/Overkill tour date at the Baltimore Soundstage and the Death Angel concert at Empire in Springfield were booked on the same night, and my assistant and I were determined to go to both. Kreator purchased a whole stage wardrobe from us and when it arrived, Kreator guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö told me that for the first time they felt like a “real band,” which was quite a compliment coming from the thrash legends I had been listening to for my entire adult life. My assistant Laurie and I met with them about some new wardrobe pieces and went on a very Baltimore adventure with Kreator’s Mille Petrozza to a vegan restaurant. Our cab driver was right out of Grand Theft Auto. We had to leave the show early in the set and speed down to Springfield to catch Death Angel’s set. Unfortunately we walked in after the first few songs had been played. Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda got on the microphone as I walked in to tell me how much he loved the vest I made that he wears on stage. Being a die hard old school thrash fan (in addition to my true love of black metal), nights like this really blow my mind, and I feel so privileged that through the clothing company I get to actually be a contributing part of the music that I love and give back to metal.
Mario Trubiano is the drummer for the local stoner metal band Borracho. If you like fat riffs then check these guys out! Favorite album of 2013:Earth Rocker by Clutch Most metal moment of 2013: Earlier this year, we (my band Borracho) met and became friends with Port City brewer Will Cook and before long we were talking about collaborating on a beer. From that first conversation, through several pilot batches, and after many beers together at tastings at the brewery, we finalized and approved the recipe for Borracho Smokin’ Brown Ale. The beer debuted in super-limited quantities at a party we threw at The Pinch in Columbia Heights on May 18th. We organized a killer show with our buds Wasted Theory from Delaware, Weed is Weed from Maryland, and Cortez from Boston to mark the occasion. The beer sold out, the bands threw down, and it was a drunken good time for all involved. Metal through and through.
Will Cook is assistant brewer at the Alexandria based craft brewery Port City Brewing Company and is the man behind the occasional Metal Night events held there. Follow him on Twitter at @PCBCBrewMetal. Favorite album of 2013:Earth Rocker by Clutch Most metal moment of 2013: Apparently my submission for 2013 Most Metal Moment was the same as Mario Trubiano’s from Borracho. We even picked the same favorite album of 2013. Our virtual mind meld is now my favorite metal Moment of 2013! And oh, fucking Slayer and Gojira played at the Fillmore Silver Spring on November 19th, my birthday! It was awesome: “Chop” gave me a ride, folks bought me DC Brau beers, my old ass survived the pit, and a good friend crossed the brutal circle pit to deliver me a much needed glass of water – without spilling a drop. Bad ass! Most unmetal moment of 2013: Constantly missing great shows because I have to wake up at 4am to brew beer.
Jo Gonzales runs Black Mess Records in Baltimore, a record store specializing in extremely underground heavy metal from around the world. They’ve also got patches and other merch that you just can’t find anywhere else in the area. Favorite album of 2013:Satanae Tenebris Infinita by Imprecation Most Metal Moment Of 2013: The most metal moment in 2013 was December 13th when I choked on the fumes of burning flesh at the Satan’s Unholy Abomination Fest II in Hyattsville, Maryland. The perpetrator was the vocalist for a great new sickening black metal band Ritual Decay. He was burning his beard and his hand badly, it was pretty fucking disgusting. I felt like someone had burned hot peppers in a pan, the way it was macing the whole crowd was really unbearable. Their music was solid and original as well!!! I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit at shows but that was a first for me choking on burnt flesh and burnt beard smoke… I felt bad for the venue!!!
Photo of Nina Osegueda performing with A Sound Of Thunder at Metal Quest II by Sako Tumi. Click it for the larger version.
Nina Osegueda is the lead singer for the local band A Sound Of Thunder and she also sets up some metal shows from time to time. Some would call her the Queen Of Hell. Favorite Album Of 2013:Valkyrja by Týr Most Metal Moment Of 2013: My dream has always been to put on a show with as many “nerd” themed bands as I could find. I was able to pull it off in 2012, so I wanted to do it again in 2013 during Otakon. Growing up, I used to be an otaku [Editor’s note: fan of Japanese culture, particularly their comics and cartoons]. I cosplayed and would go to conventions well into my twenties, but having joined a band after college I no longer had the time. I decided that this would be the year I fixed that. I scheduled the show for August 10th at the Sidebar (which I later realized was within walking distance of the convention center), and planned a Nathan Explosion of Deathklock costume. The bands were: Burning Shadows, Aries, Cassandra Syndrome, A Sound Of Thunder and Dethlehem. It went off without a hitch. The bands came, but more importantly, the people came. More people than we could really fit into the place, to be honest! The Sidebar is such a tiny spot, but it has such great character. People came from the convention (I had passed out flyers with the help of some friends), and people even came in costume. Imagine a bar full of costumed nerds rocking out to metal songs about dragons. This was my dream, and I was able to make it happen! It doesn’t get much more metal than that.
Metal Chris is me! I’m the guy who runs this whole DCHM thing! Favorite album of 2013:Soma by Windhand Most Metal Moment Of 2013: So many great metal moments for me this year, Phil Anselmo taking over my Twitter account to directly answer fan questions, Pig Destroyer‘s beer release show, the return of Black Sabbath with Ozzy, Maryland Deathfest and Gwar-B-Q were all super fun and of course getting to interview Kerry King of Slayer was something I’ll never forget. My favorite moment of all had to be the DCHM 4th Anniversary show on September 26th at the Fillmore Silver Spring with Vektor, Earthing, Borracho, Midnight Eye and Asthma Castle. Seeing so many of you fans of the site come out and support the bands and this site was just incredible! This wasn’t just a show with the DCHM name slapped on it either. It was a lot of work to put together but it was a success and the venue was so pleased that they want to do another DCHM show in 2014 and I can’t wait to do it all again!
