by Fred Pessaro / BBG

Despise You at Shea Stadium, Sept. 2011 (more by BBG)

The Power of The Riff's West Coast edition expands further with some notable new bands today. In addition to the previously discussed appearances from OFF!, Dr. Know, Repulsion, Noothgrush and others, the Los Angeles festival has added sunn O))) (who plays the East Coast edition as well), Hoax, Despise You (who played NYC last year), Nausea from California (who played Maryland Deathfest this year) and Bio Crisis. Tickets are on sale for the August 11th show at Echo/Echoplex in Los Angeles.

While we're riffing, tickets are on sale now for the POTR East which happens September 1 and 2 at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Get tickets for September 1 HERE (with Pentagram, new addition Agnostic Front, Poison Idea, Negative Approach and more), for September 2 HERE (with sunn O))), Repulsion, and new additions Double Negative and Coffinworm) and for both days HERE.

The latest flyer for the Los Angeles edition is below.

Continue reading "The Power of The Riff West adds sunn O))), Despise You, Hoax, Nausea (CA), Bio Crisis"

by BBG

Saint Vitus

Arguably the centerpiece of the entire Maryland Deathfest lineup was the return of the UK doom juggernaut Electric Wizard (pictures HERE), so suffice it to say that a large portion of the Sunday (on 5/28) roster leaned in that direction. Doom legends Saint Vitus headlined the second stage that night, while the bluesy Church of Misery, glacially-paced Cough, zen-like Yob and eclectic Rwake all represented for the genre.

The rest of the day fell all over the map, from speedy straight-edge to grind, black metal to crust, and death metal of the technical and primitive sorts. The odd-experimentalism of Bethlehem caught my ear the most, but sets from the always entertaining Suffocation, Disma, Pentagram (black/thrash from Chile), Ulcerate, Mortuary Drape and Agents of Abhorrence were similarly fun. I unfortunately arrived too late to catch Backslider or Coke Bust. Demonical's old school Swedish death metal sounded excellent but didn't put on much of a live show and my flirtation with Morgoth was interrupted in favor of Rwake's full set.

More pictures from the final day at Maryland Deathfest is below. If you missed it, check out pictures from day 1 HERE (and Rorschach HERE), day 2 HERE and day 3 HERE.

Continue reading "Maryland Deathfest Day 4: Saint Vitus, Mortuary Drape, Bethlehem, Rwake, Church of Misery, Disma and more"

by BBG

Today Is The Day at Highline Ballroom (more by BBG)

And so it has begun. After a fun Maryland Deathfest 2011 (pictures of day 1, 2, 3, 4), the festival has announced confirmations for MDF 2012 including some amazing names (Bethlehem, Demigod, Ghoul, Church of Misery, The Devil's Blood, Dragged Into Sunlight, Ulcerate, others) and even a true a headscratcher (Anvil?). Full lineup thus far is below. Maryland Deathfest X kicks off on May 24th, 2012 at Sonar. No tickets yet

In related news, Today is The Day, whose rhythm section once was home to half of Mastodon and now features members of Wetnurse (Curran & Ryan), have completed their new LP Pain Is A Warning and are preparing its release for August 16 on Black Market Activites/Good Fight. Preorder it now, and check out the lead track "Expectations Exceed Reality" streaming below.

Anvil plays Bowery Ballroom on July 30th as part of a summer tour. Tickets are still available.

All MDF additions, that new Today is The Day, and some video is below.

Continue reading "initial Maryland Deathfest lineup, new Today is the Day song"