Maryland Deathfest held their annual festival in the venerable city of Baltimore a few weeks back. The four-day is one of the best-run independent underground metal festivals in the world. As usual Ghost Cult was on hand for the festivities, with Hillarie Jason bringing you her spectacular eye on bands through photos. Continue reading
From the team that brought you Maryland Deathfest, Quebec Deathfest, California Deathfest and, we now have a Scandinavia Deathfest! It makes almost too much sense, as the region has been the birthplace of some of the greatest bands and albums of the metal genre. Right off the bat, headlining the festival are the reunited original-LAEFS-lineup of Dismember are making an exclusive European appearance. Other bands confirmed are Benediction, Birdflesh, Centinex, Death Toll 80k, Demilich, Demonical, Entrails, General Surgery, Interment, Iron Lamb, Martyrdöd, Massgrav, Nuclear Assault, Purtenance, Putrid Vision, Rippikoulu, Rotten Sound, Sarcasm, Soils of Fate, Sorcery, Toxaemia, Unanimated, Undergang, and Wombbath. Taking over Stockholm on October 11-12 at Kraken Sthlm and Slaktkyrkan. , 2019, the ticket information can be found below. Weekend passes go on sale today!
Maryland Deathfest has announced their daily lineups for the 2019 festival. Last week they made their “round two” announcement, but “a handful of bands will be announced this week to wrap up the billing”. All ticket options are now on sale at the link below. Continue reading
Maryland Deathfest has added a plethora of new bands to the 2019 festival. Borknagar, Unleashed, and Benediction will all play Exclusive USA shows at the fest and joining them are Voivod, Anaal Nathrakh, Churchburn, Revenge, Primitive Man, Spectral Voice, Neckbeard Deathcamp and many more. Usually, round two is the “final announcement for MDF, but “a handful of bands will be announced next week to wrap up the billing”. All ticket options are now on sale at the link below. Continue reading
In what is shaping up to be a banger of a festival, Maryland Deathfest 2019 has added their second wave of bands, Among the chosen are Cryptic Slaughter, Messiah, Naglfar, Malignancy, Devourment, Disharmonic Orchestra, Rippikoulu, Drogheda, Sorrower and many more listed below. Maryland Deathfest XVII is set to take place at Rams Head Live and Baltimore Soundstage on May 23-26, 2019. Early bird tickets on sale now at the link below. Continue reading
Does the “underground” really exist anymore? Most Metal fans over thirty will remember some albums being difficult – in some cases nearly impossible – to track down, but these days the most obscure and veiled albums can be heard online without any real issues. Even the arcane releases of the past are being dragged out of the underground and hauled into the light – a case in point being this ’93 demo from a Finnish Black Metal band so fourth-tier that if you’ve heard of them before you were probably in the band. Finnish Death Metal is often characterised by a crushing Doom-flavoured approach and a preference for suffocating atmospheres over catchy riffs. Rippikoulu (apparently the first DM band to sing in Finnish, which is interesting if not terribly useful for pub quizzes) certainly didn’t buck this trend, the six tracks of Musta Seremonia (Svart Records) consisting of crushing slow-motion riffing, drawn out song structures and an atmosphere of utter bleakness.
For a near-unknown demo one year off its twentieth birthday, Musta Seremonia holds together surprisingly well, with a thick sound and merciless song-structures that at times creates a genuinely stifling feel. This is ugly music, as far as one could get from the thrashy-riffing and audible growled choruses that often pass for “old school Death Metal”. Some of the songs are longer than they need to be, but that’s entirely consistent with the atmosphere of prolonged suffering they build up. The same could be said for the lack of variety and generally one-note nature of the composition.
No, the biggest issue is, of course, the question of what it has to offer for a new listener now. A lot of bands have played this style of crushing Doom/Death in the twenty years since Musta Seremonia was recorded, and some of them have developed and progressed it further. There’s nothing on here that will be new people who are already familiar with the style, and the overbearing bleakness may not make it the best introduction for the curious, but for what it is Musta Seremonia is pretty hard to find flaw with. Rippi Koulu, Motherfuckers! I’m sorry. 7.0/10.0 Rippikoulu on Facebook RICHIE H-R