Maryland Death Fest – Day 4 : Coroner, Nuclear Assault, Skinless, Ghost, Citizens Arrest & more

Coroner @ MDF 2011
Gravehill @ MDF 2011   Citizen's Arrest @ MDF 2011
Malignant Tumor @ MDF 2011
Malignant Tumor @ MDF 2011   Ghost @ MDF 2011
Gravehill @ MDF 2011
Coroner @ MDF 2011   Coroner @ MDF 2011   Skinless @ MDF 2011
Skinless @ MDF 2011
Malignant Tumor @ MDF 2011   Nuclear Assault @ MDF 2011
Skinless @ MDF 2011

Finally! The last MDF 2011 post… so many photos to dig through! This final day was pretty fun, though I was dead tired. The surprise of the day for me was probably Skinless’ last show, which was ridiculous, with the singer stagediving and jumping into the crowd constantly. Malignent Tumor, who I’d never heard before, had a circle pit like no other, full of inflatable penises and other assorted insanity. Most fun crowd experience of the fest. Also, Nuclear Assault invited the crowd on stage with them, which was really really fun.

Other notable things were the dude from Exhumed playing in ANOTHER band (Gravehill), Cthulhu showing up for a visit, me saying I’d believe that Ted Leo was going to be playing with Citizens Arrest when I saw it… then realizing I was standing next to Ted Leo.

Another big deal for me was managing to make (with the help of my friend Dustin) this happen:

reunited

Yes, that’s Marel, the woman from the Deathfest City Paper cover, posing with Jason, the security guy in the photo, both standing in the same spot that picture was taken last year. I had tried to connect with her for several days, we finally managed to make it happen on Sunday. She was really nice, and said that she started getting texts about the City Paper cover as soon as her plane landed at BWI and thought people were joking! Too funny. Glad we could get this shot.

Maryland Death Fest – Day 3 : Voivod, Exhorder, Acid Witch, Cretin, Impaled Nazarene

Impaled Nazarene @ MDF 2011
fans @ MDF 2011   Acid Witch crowd @ MDF 2011
Voivod @ MDF 2011
Exhorder @ MDF 2011   Voivod @ MDF 2011
Exhorder crowd @ MDF 2011

Over the halfway mark with my MDF photos! Day 3 was a little more relaxing for me, the highlight was getting to see Exhorder, a New Orleans thrash metal band that I grew up on and hearing about, but never was able to see live (a little before my time), as well as seeing Voivod again… they were excellent and the crowd seemed super stoked. Many people told me their set was their high point of the whole show. My favorite discovery of this day was Acid Witch, who I had never heard before but who I thought were excellent live. Cretin was also good live, playing with Matt Harvey from Exhumed (he seemed to be guesting in at least one band a day at this MDF).

Maryland Death Fest – Day 2 : Neurosis, Marduk, Corrosion of Conformity, Exhumed

CoC @ MDF 2011
Neurosis Crowd @ MDF 2011   Exhumed @ MDF 2011
CoC @ MDF 2011
Neurosis Crowd @ MDF 2011   Neurosis @ MDF 2011
Marduk @ MDF 2011

Day 2 was pretty epic. I saw several bands that I had never seen before, the standout of which was Exhumed… amazing live, totally over the top, with chainsaws and severed heads and fake blood… just really fun. Marduk were great live, too… but seeing Corrosion of Conformity with the classic line-up was really great, as was meeting Woody from CoC and Steve Von Till of Neurosis. Right before Neurosis played, an epic rain storm loomed which threatened to end or severely delay their show… but hundreds of fans stood in the rain to wait it out, and they cheered and pumped their fists every time there was a flash of lightning. Pretty awesome and totally metal. When they finally came on, they were great and played a barely abridged set. It was slightly less epic on an outdoor stage than the last time I saw them, at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn, but they were still great live and actually played some older songs (Souls At Zero and Through Silver In Blood), which surprised me. This was a great second night of the fest.