This fest wore me out, I only made it through the second day because I had an ample supply of energy drinks, nutritional supplements and plenty of smoking nmaterials. Since I photographed all the bands I was one of the few that actually saw EVERYONE play, like them or not. Here's my rundown.
My highlights from the two days:
Death Angel - I wasn't a huge fan of any of their stuff other than "The Ultraviolence" but last nights set fucking blew me away. It's rare to see a band with so much energy, sincerity, and an obvious love for what they are doing. Simply amazing!
Dreams of Damnation - Fucking cool to see Durkin up on stage again and Loana has a HELL of a voice! Thrassshhh!!!
Dragonlord - The keyboards got a little gay sounding at times but they still put on a hell of a set. It was pretty cool to see Eric Peterson and Steve Smythe all decked out with corpsepaint and leather.
Nevermore - Totally off the hook, probably the best performance I've ever seen from the guys.
Exhumed - Not too bad but not the best, Leon De Le Muerte isn't as entertaining on bass as the last guy. They were way better when I saw them last in Portland last December.
The Braindead - Since the band has been around since 1984 and I've known the guys since high school I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen them play live. Yesterdays set was hands down the best I have ever seen from them, tight as fuck and full of energy. The Braindead are proof that metal, punk, and hardcore can be fused without sounding like the tons of boring, breakdown laden ",etalcore" bands out there.
Cornucopia - Unique grindcore with a mix of clean and death vox, lots of energy and aa simply amazing drummer. They had some serious problems with the drums so it took them a while to get started but the music still killed. The bassist was playing with a broken leg so he wasn't as mobile as usual.
Locals worth mentioning - Headdirt, Scorched Earth, Black Goat, Myiasis, Serpens Aeon, Myiasis, Drawn and Quartered, and Beltfed Weapon tore it up and represented the Seattle underground well. Both MTF and Agony of Deceit did a good job with their Pantera-esque style of metal, but I just wasn't in the right mindframe to enjoy them as much as I should.
Bands I did not enjoy at all:
Hyperthermia - Shot my photos quick and got the hell out. I don't remember much about them so they must have been pretty damned generic.
Soultorn - Reminded me of a high school band, not sure what the fuck they were trying to accomplish.
Aggression Core - I *think* that they try to be a blend of Pantera and the new wave of Swedish death metal. Curran is an awesome guitarist and I think he is wasting his potential playing with these guys.
Savannah - A cross of nu-metal and hardcore, some godawful shit which really surprised me since the guitarist kills in The Almighty Punchdrunk.
36 Crazyfists - Totally gay bouncerock.nu-metal. These duys did NOT fit on the bill at all, definitely the worst band of the evening. I have a feeling they were booked as an attempt to get the Ozzfest type crowd to turn out.
Skinlab - A very high energy band but the music was awful, too damned repetitious for me to get into.
That's my two cents. Back to work on my photos which I will be done with by the end of the week.
My highlights from the two days:
Death Angel - I wasn't a huge fan of any of their stuff other than "The Ultraviolence" but last nights set fucking blew me away. It's rare to see a band with so much energy, sincerity, and an obvious love for what they are doing. Simply amazing!
Dreams of Damnation - Fucking cool to see Durkin up on stage again and Loana has a HELL of a voice! Thrassshhh!!!
Dragonlord - The keyboards got a little gay sounding at times but they still put on a hell of a set. It was pretty cool to see Eric Peterson and Steve Smythe all decked out with corpsepaint and leather.
Nevermore - Totally off the hook, probably the best performance I've ever seen from the guys.
Exhumed - Not too bad but not the best, Leon De Le Muerte isn't as entertaining on bass as the last guy. They were way better when I saw them last in Portland last December.
The Braindead - Since the band has been around since 1984 and I've known the guys since high school I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen them play live. Yesterdays set was hands down the best I have ever seen from them, tight as fuck and full of energy. The Braindead are proof that metal, punk, and hardcore can be fused without sounding like the tons of boring, breakdown laden ",etalcore" bands out there.
Cornucopia - Unique grindcore with a mix of clean and death vox, lots of energy and aa simply amazing drummer. They had some serious problems with the drums so it took them a while to get started but the music still killed. The bassist was playing with a broken leg so he wasn't as mobile as usual.
Locals worth mentioning - Headdirt, Scorched Earth, Black Goat, Myiasis, Serpens Aeon, Myiasis, Drawn and Quartered, and Beltfed Weapon tore it up and represented the Seattle underground well. Both MTF and Agony of Deceit did a good job with their Pantera-esque style of metal, but I just wasn't in the right mindframe to enjoy them as much as I should.
Bands I did not enjoy at all:
Hyperthermia - Shot my photos quick and got the hell out. I don't remember much about them so they must have been pretty damned generic.
Soultorn - Reminded me of a high school band, not sure what the fuck they were trying to accomplish.
Aggression Core - I *think* that they try to be a blend of Pantera and the new wave of Swedish death metal. Curran is an awesome guitarist and I think he is wasting his potential playing with these guys.
Savannah - A cross of nu-metal and hardcore, some godawful shit which really surprised me since the guitarist kills in The Almighty Punchdrunk.
36 Crazyfists - Totally gay bouncerock.nu-metal. These duys did NOT fit on the bill at all, definitely the worst band of the evening. I have a feeling they were booked as an attempt to get the Ozzfest type crowd to turn out.
Skinlab - A very high energy band but the music was awful, too damned repetitious for me to get into.
That's my two cents. Back to work on my photos which I will be done with by the end of the week.
