WEBVTT

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Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, metal's my religion, and yeah, it's my dope. Standing in the thunder on stage in the pouring metal rain. What a feeling, baby, the lights are exploding.

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Hello, this is George.

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And it is Thursday, May 25th, the first day of the 2017 Maryland Death Fest. I am currently preparing to head down to Baltimore and meet up with John, where we will be taking in the bands at Ram's Head Live this evening. The lineup tonight begins with a band called Crud, whom I've never heard of. Moving on to Samothrace, who I would like to see.

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Then Dope Throne, which, as I've said before on the podcast, there's so many bands that are prefaced with Dope. I'm not really sure which one this is, so I might like them. I can't recall. Then, after that, Sub Rosa. Definitely looking forward to that. And then after that is Conan, or Conan. And also looking forward to that. Acid King. I feel like I've heard...

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But I don't recall what I think of them. So I guess I'll have to check them out. And then the headliner for the evening is Tiamat, who doesn't sound like they have been here for a while. And so that's a good thing. I've always wanted to see them. Hopefully they'll play a varied set rather than just stuff from the last couple albums, because it'd be really nice to at least hear something off of like Wild Honey or

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I hope the astral sleep so I guess we'll see so there you have it I'm gonna meet up with John maybe we'll do some more while we're having a beer and getting some food before the show later I don't know if you heard that but as soon as I hit record the thunder rolled John and I are sitting in my car in the parking garage over

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had live it is pissing down rain at the moment there was just some lightning and then that massive roll of thunder uh so yeah here we are maryland death fest 2017 we have yet to see a band we've been over in the line and kugel uh beer garden uh having some dinner having some beers talking with uh dc metal chris and his girlfriend nope there's no lightning how you doing john i'm doing well thank you uh i should say we were drinking uh guest taps at the line and

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Yeah, we weren't drinking Leningkugel. Yeah, so. Brewers Art Resurrection, I believe it was. And I had a Hobsecutioner from Terrapin, just in case Will was wondering, so. I was thinking about that one, too. But I've had the Brewers Art before, and I like that, so. Yeah, if people don't know, Brewers Art is a brew pub, brewery, I wouldn't call it. They're not a brewery. It's a restaurant-front brew pub that's been in Baltimore for years. Excellent. We like them, so. Excellent.

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So yeah, as it turns out, Dope Throne canceled tonight, as John told me while I was driving down here, I think. No, actually I was still at home. Yeah. That kind of blows. That would have been kind of cool to see him. Yeah. So we totally skipped Crud. And I wanted to see Sam with Thrace, but we were drinking beer and eating dinner. So I skipped that. Some band called North is probably the one playing right now.

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who replaced Dope Throne. So in about 40 minutes, we'll be seeing Sabarosa, which is what I'm definitely looking forward to. Yeah, definitely. I like them. They're a little bit of a chore for me to listen to because their songs are long and they're kind of doomy-ish and post-rocky-ish and stuff, but I'm looking forward to them, definitely. I want to see some violin tonight. I expect that we're going to hit some serious bass in our chests. I just have to imagine that it's just going to

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Yeah.

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It's a little remosa at times.

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You know, you're like, oh man, I'm bummed out listening to these guys.

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But they're cool.

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I like them.

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So they're definitely going to be one of the bands that are different this weekend.

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I mean, they're not as different as possibly Tiamat will be, but they should be cool, though.

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Yeah.

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And then after that is Conan, which is probably going to be just as crushing in terms of bass.

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Oh, God, yeah.

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Probably.

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So I may have to take a break after them.

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Yeah, well, after them is Acid King, and I haven't told John, but I did record a little bit before I left, and I already mentioned that I don't really care about them too much. I mean, they may be cool, but I'll check out a little bit, but I may head outside after that. Beer break, possibly? Possibly. Possibly? Or, you know, vinyl and shirts and patches and all kinds of cool medley shit. Merch hunting, you know? Yeah, I think it's ironic that

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We and many other people, I'm sure, bitched so hard about the fact that there's no Edison lot, and yet we're sort of benefiting from the fact that there's no Edison lot since it is just pouring. Yeah, it sucked last year when it rained, but I came prepared this year with my sweet-ass rain slicker. You know, that wasn't like a nasty piece of shit $5 poncho where you sweat your balls off in like three minutes. And I got here before I met you, and it's like, oh wow, it's nice. It's like 75 out in the sun.

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And so I didn't bring it. And now I got wet. Only a little. But it's raining really hard. It is. You can see the parking garage that I parked in my spot. You can see right out into the street. And there's a street lamp there. And you can just see the rain pissing down. So now is not a good time to be outside. So I'm not missing Edison lot right about now. No. So yeah. It's different.

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Most of the merch booths are under a covered section. So we can still check that out. The first couple are probably not getting a lot of business because they are in the rain. But not as much merch this year. But still, it's cool. There's still plenty to look at. But not as many CD vinyl vendors. Do you feel the same way? I didn't even really notice any vinyl. There's one place that had vinyl. I saw some people pulling some stuff out. But last year, there was a shit ton of merch.

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I would say there's maybe only half as many vendors as there were at the Edison lot. I agree. It's just it's smaller it just is but it's still nice though it's covered so you're not going to get wet and everything's close it's not like it's spread out it's all right in one area so it works. Yeah and I'm in this parking garage which is literally attached to Rams head how I did not know this was here I don't know because normally I park over at soundstage which is across the street and I pay 20 bucks to park there all night which is

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It was a bit ridiculous. But I looked up on Parking Panda to see what I kind of deal I could get down here. And I was like, what? There's a garage attached to Rams Head Live. And I only paid $10 for that. So that's pretty awesome. And I can hop in the elevator here, go down, and literally right there is the entrance into the show. And with Panda parking, you're guaranteed a spot because you paid for it in advance, which is kind of cool. It was a little weird because

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I don't pull a ticket. I just swipe my phone under a scanner and it opens up. Oh, nice. Oh, really? So you didn't bring a copy to put in your windshield or anything like that? No. And yeah, they're all saying, take your ticket with you. And I'm like, but I don't have a ticket. Yeah. So when I Panda Park, when I do it for shows or I'm hanging out in D.C., when I don't want to drive and deal with bullshit, I just put the slip in the window. Unless there's somebody working the booth that night, then you don't have to worry about it.

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Yeah, well, I mean, this is my second parking panda, and both times have been completely different. The last time for the Atlas thing, I literally had to have a dude come out of his little hidey hole, come out, look at my phone to see the thing, and, like, fill out this long sheet of things, and I had to sign it, and then he put something in my window. This time, nobody. Just swipe my phone, and I go, and then swipe my phone to get out again. I never had to fill anything out when there was a dude in the booth when I parked.

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If you're not from D.C., you wouldn't know. There's this place called the Black Hat, and it's in the middle. There's a U Street corridor, 14th Street area. And it's just, it's gone from one side of the avenue to the other, meaning it's changed dramatically over the last couple of years, so parking's really hard to get over there. Dude just came out and said, just stick your thing in the window and have a good time. And I, yeah, I was like... So like a glory hole. Without the glory and without the hole, yeah. Stick your thing in the window. And it was great, because he watched the car.

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all night and then I just drove off to you have to see it but and another time I was in Baltimore at another show and it was nobody there just pulled in and you had to just put the your receipt in the window so they they could see that you were there and I think there was like eight cars in this massive lot and I was like two bucks I'm not complaining so nice but uh yeah anyway so then after acid king we have diamant yes who haven't played here in like 20 years at least a couple decades you know I think I think it was 96

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That would be 21 years. Yeah, god, that's shit. Assuming I'm not thinking of the wrong band. There are many bands. No, and that's what, right after Wild Honey and before Slumber? Wow. Yeah, so I'm interested to see them just because I want to see what they play. They're probably the most un-metal band here. Even though they play metal, they're not going to be like everybody else. I don't know. Like we were talking with Metal Chris earlier, maybe we'll get some clouds, something off of that tonight. That'd be kind of cool, but we'll probably. Astral Sleep.

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I expected nothing from Astro Sleep. Like I was saying, I looked at some of their old set lists from the last couple years, and they tend to play the Sleeping Beauty off of Clouds as part of their encore. You get that and you get Gaia, which I expect those, and it's heavy on their post-Gaia period, which is like the last 20 years. I'll take it, you know? Yeah, it's cool. I've never seen them, so I'm looking forward to what they're bringing tonight.

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Yup.

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All right.

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Well, I don't know.

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Either we'll talk again after, or if we're too tired, maybe we'll hook up tomorrow and cover the rest of the night.

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Sure.

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We'll figure it out.

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We'll figure it out.

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All right.

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We'll talk to you later.

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Later.

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Bye-bye.

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Hello again.

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This is George.

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And this is John.

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And it is post-Thursday Maryland Death Fest. It's 20 of 1 o'clock in the morning. And these are today's bands. So the first band we finally saw was Sub Rosa. And I don't know about you, but I think the whole set list or band list should have just been flipped. Because Sub Rosa really stole the show. Yeah, they were the winner for me today, by far.

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I just... thinking that... just... I'm confused. I'm sorry.

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It's almost 1 o'clock in the morning. You've only been up for like 20 hours.

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My throat's killing me. Sorry. I almost lost my voice there. Sorry about that.

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Yeah, for me, they definitely took the evening because they had the most power behind their show.

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So there was a lot of emotion behind it. But there was a lot of lulls and kind of quiet moments that they built up. And the fact that they were playing kind of doomish music with violins was really cool, I thought. Yeah, I liked the, you know, there's a violin player on either end of the stage and they're just going to town on those things. Some loud people outside, by the way. Yeah, and I had some trouble hearing her singing a little bit during it, but it didn't distract from the overall set.

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Where I was, I was underneath the hangover, so I was getting a little too much bass. It seems to be very bass-heavy tonight for all the bands. So that was my only drawback on the sound overall. But I thought they were great. I was quite impressed with how, you know, I mean, like, the drummer would just, like, stop for a while because there would be quiet passages, and I'm like, he's got to be back there, like, counting in his head or something. Because it's just, like, all of a sudden,

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Everybody comes back in altogether after several minutes of almost really nothing going on. Almost ambient stuff playing. And then it's just like everybody knows to just boom come right back in without the drums or anything to keep time with. I'm like wow that's pretty impressive. Yeah and their songs are not short. Their songs are long. If you're familiar with any of their at least the last two albums. Songs are 13-14 minutes long and there's a lot of different parts to each one. It's not necessarily like a reoccurring theme throughout

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the song, they kind of shift and move around a little bit. So yeah, there were some moments where she was just strumming on guitar and singing, and the rest of the band was just kind of waiting, and you're right, and then they would just kick right back in again and get real heavy. So it was interesting, but it was also very good. I enjoyed it.

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Yeah, it was, you know, and I sort of related it to the skepticism set a couple years ago, in that this was something that really stood out.

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It's different from the other... Well, it wasn't as different as I thought because there was a lot of similar... It was a very doomy night. But still, even so, it still stood out. And I enjoyed it a lot. It sort of reaffirmed my belief that I underestimated this band when I first heard them. And then I actually had sort of like a zen moment with them. I was like listening to their last album, sitting on the beach,

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and it was just like you know i got it and uh and since then i've been a fan

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pardon me um after sub rosa was conan and uh they were pretty good i mean they sounded good what my one

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complaint with uh the band in the past was that the singer was always kind of buried a little bit in

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the mix on their albums. But, man, he came out just roaring. And so he was sort of on top of the mix a little bit. I mean, I think they brought him back a little bit after the first song or two. But, yeah, I mean, they sounded good. Yeah, I don't know much about them other name and listen just a little bit here and there. And they, I thought, were very good, too, for what we saw, because we had to go drinking again. But they were having some technical difficulties on the guitar.

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And I couldn't tell if that was part of the song or if he actually was having an issue where his guitar was kind of kicking out on him and he had to keep fiddling around with his cable. But yeah, I mean, they were fine. I don't normally listen to that kind of stuff all the time, so I'm not familiar with them, but I thought they were fine. They were fine. They were good. Yeah. As John mentioned, we did need some more beer, so we cut out on the end of their set and the beginning of

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the next band set, which would be Acid King, we went back over to the line in Kugel, saw our favorite waitress there, and had a couple more drinks before heading back in. And yeah, we thought we were going to miss most of Acid King, but they played over. And I remembered, I couldn't recall a lot about them, but as soon as I saw them, I remembered, and I was like, yeah, that's why I don't really like them much.

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So, I mean, they're all right. It was very samey for me, and it was long and drawn out, and I don't know. I mean, you know, they kind of reminded me of a very poor man's sleep a little bit. At least in that approach, the difference is that sleep is badass. And I'm not trying to disparage ass of Kenya. It's just they weren't my thing at all.

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Yeah, I'm not saying they sucked or anything like that. I mean, they can certainly play, and I'm sure they seem popular with the crowd that is into that. It just hasn't been my thing. Yeah, you know, the whole... I don't want to use the word post, but I'm going to call them like the post-Sabbath bands, that they use Sabbath as their bass, and then they... their bass line, and then they kind of just expand the sound a little bit. They had a little bit of that, at least on the bass guitar side. The problem for me is that the bass guitar was way too

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He was pounding it too.

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And they're a bit more psychedelic.

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They are.

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I did dig the imagery on the screen.

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They were showing random images.

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Things that we've all seen.

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Whether on television or somewhere we've seen these images.

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They have the buildings in southern Nevada that get destroyed when they drop the H-bomb in the desert.

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and you see the shock wave or whatever from the explosion. It just rips through the building. Stuff like that. It's like old Headbangers ball kind of thing. Yeah, a little bit. Years ago, I mean, this is going way back. Nobody would know this. A place called the Insect Club in D.C. Do you remember that? Crickets. Yeah, exactly. Well, literally. That's before my time. They used to go in and they'd have TVs with stuff like that playing in the background. And it was all current music in the mid-90s.

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So like Nine Inch Nails would be playing and they'd have all these just random images just constantly just streaming through which they did in their set too. So I thought that was kind of cool. They were the only band with imagery or any kind of video going on. So that added a little bit to them. Just not my style. Fair enough. So then we had the headliner Tiamat and I really don't know what to say about this. I mean I didn't hate it.

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But I felt a little disappointed, I think. Oh, I was disappointed. Yeah. Not from the band perspective, not from the music perspective. I just thought the main guy just did not bring it at all. At least vocally, he didn't. Yeah. It was a weird set overall. Weird shit happened. For instance, in the second song, he starts choking the guitarist with his mic cord.

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And he pulls him down to the stage. And the guy's still playing. It was like a spinal tap moment almost. Like, you remember when Nigel Tufnell, he starts to kind of lean back. And he goes all the way down. And his knees are bent. And he can't get back up. So the guys have to come and lift him up again. It was just a bizarre moment. And I thought for a second they were going to get into a fight. I didn't know what was going on. And he was like gnawing on his face and stuff. And I was so fucked upset. Yeah.

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And, you know, I've been a TMA fan for a number of years. I mean, pretty much since Astral Sleep came out back in the... Early 90s. In the dinosaurs age. Yeah. And so, you know, I kind of figured, well, you know, I'm not as much of a fan of their later stuff as their earlier stuff, but I still probably think it's kind of cool. And as I was telling John earlier, I was expecting more Marilyn Manson, less bread.

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Paisley. You know, because everything I've seen from him in the past, like, 15 years, he's all, like, gothed out looking. At least I thought it was him. Maybe it wasn't even him. Maybe it was just, like, an album artwork or something. I don't know. But he comes out with a cowboy hat, sunglasses, and, like, a shiny shirt that's unbuttoned down, like, halfway down. Skin tight. Yeah, and he's, like, you know, chest hair and, like, necklaces and stuff. Just, like, a country singer. Yeah.

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And I was like, well, that's kind of off-putting. Yeah. I was like, well, that's not metal, dude. You know, dress the part. Come on. You don't, jeans and a t-shirt's fine, but Brad Paisley is not. So he kind of irked me there because I'm such a fashion whore who has to, has to tell everybody how to dress. But come on. It just, it didn't, it didn't fit the theme of the music at all. And, and then he just couldn't sing.

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Which, again, I've sort of known that. I mean, the early Tiamat albums, it's kind of a death thing. But like by Wild Honey, he's kind of singing like this. And, you know, you could tell it was strained and all. But on the album, it was kind of cool. But he's been doing clean vocals on his records for how many years now? That came out in, what, 94, 95? Yeah, so at least 20 years.

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And he hasn't learned to sing yet. He was so off in so many places. I mean, I give the guy credit. Sometimes he was on and he and it sounded okay. But there were a great many places where it was just like you're wincing because it's like, oh, dude, you can't sing. No. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm saying, you know, metal is not being able to sing is not mandatory for singing heavy metal. But if you're going to do clean vocals, I think it is. Yeah. And don't get me wrong. I actually like TMI too. Like you, I like, you know, the kind of

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I like some of this stuff. I like gothic metal, but it was very gothic rock. I think you called it when you said, this is the Sisters of Floyd tonight, which is Sisters of Mercy mixed with Pink Floyd. It wasn't working overall. I don't know what it was. Again, I thought the band sounded very good in terms of their performance. It started to weigh on me after a while because it

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It was kind of the same prodding song. And I was hoping, and I didn't have to hear all of their early death stuff. I mean, there was some fans that were, there was one dude running around. Did you notice one guy kept just going back and forth? He was pissed. He looked like an angry old Beavis, you know, and he, he banged into me one time. I was like, Oh, come on, man. Really? The venue's half empty. Come on. How do you run into me? He just, he just kept going in circles because he was so angry.

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because they wouldn't play any old stuff. So, just, again, a weird set, I thought, overall. And the singer dude got kind of pissed because somebody threw, like, a can of beer. But it didn't look like it. I mean, I didn't get the impression it was thrown at them because it sort of, like, went straight up in the middle and came, and maybe it, when it finally came down, it came down on the stage. But, and I understand bands being pissed about shit being thrown at them, but, but, I don't know, I just didn't get the impression that it was thrown at them.

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I thought it was just more of a,

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we throw the beer up in the air and, you know.

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Yeah, I didn't even see it happen until he picked it up.

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And then he like started cursing the guy out and like,

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you fucking asshole.

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And, you know, you come down here and we'll,

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I'll tell you what I have to say.

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I'm like, oh, okay.

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You don't fuck with Tia, Matt.

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Yeah, that was kind of lame.

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I thought I was like, well, okay, whatever.

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Yeah.

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I mean, I, I, I have no problem being pissed if somebody threw a beer at him,

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you know, and calling him out.

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It's just, it seemed weird.

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He just didn't seem like he was all with it. Maybe we're just being too harsh. I don't know. But I was actually I was disappointed because the band was playing well and I thought they deserved a little better than that. Yeah. Vocal wise. So he just didn't seem like he's prepared. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I don't know. Maybe everyone right now is in the front. It was the best fucking show ever. And for the crowd size, which had diminished at that point, they were all into it. There's a lot of people who were chanting their name and everything. And I just was hoping for a little more.

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Maybe they're jet-lagged. I don't know. I don't know. You'd think for their first performance in how long in the States, you'd think he'd be ready to sing. So there you have it. That is Thursday night. We are taking Friday and Saturday off because they're just... That which reminds me, you know, the last couple years at Maryland Death Fest with the Edison lot, which I realize is a fairly recent thing,

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to cry about it leaving now is kind of a wussy thing to do but it was really nice i mean there were at least twice as many bands on an edison lot day and you know one ended two minutes later the next one began and so you could skip out on four five six bands and still see lots of bands and there were only seven bands tonight we skipped out on the first three so we only caught four bands and it was kind of like

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Wow, we're done already? Yeah. Well, there's pros and cons to both. I agree with you on that. The nice thing about this setup is there's a little bit of a break in between. And I felt last year in Edison Live, I was like, oh, shit. Literally, five minutes and the next band kicks right in. And it's just, it's a constant thing of noise. And sometimes I just need those few minutes just to kind of get my bearings straight, what I want to do. So, pluses on both sides and negatives on both, you know.

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far less than the positives of both areas. Yeah, and so the point that I was originally going to make when this reminded me was that to pay this kind of money, which I feel like we paid the same amount for the tickets for half the bands. And so if you're only going to have half as many bands for $45, I think Sundays was like $57, so it's more. And to only have like

00:27:34.680 --> 00:28:04.600
You know, like Morbid Angel. I don't even like Morbid Angel without David Vincent. I don't like it with the other guy. I know some people do, but I don't. He's wearing a cowboy hat now, too, isn't he? Yes, he is. And I think Autopsy would have been cool, but the majority of the bands I just didn't care about, and I'm not going to pay and take four days out of my whole weekend for just one or two bands that I might want to see, maybe. Yeah, I mean, for me, Sunday's the draw overall for the whole festival. Again, there were one or two bands, maybe.

00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:34.660
each day on Friday and Saturday, but not enough for me to come up for the whole time, personally. Yeah, like Nordjavel would have been cool, but they're like an early band on, I don't know, like tomorrow or something, and it's just like, eh, no, I can't justify the time away from home and the cost of the tickets when, you know, it's going to be kind of like today, which was cool, but it could have been better. I mean, overall, I enjoyed everything because

00:28:34.680 --> 00:29:01.440
I wasn't so packed in, but I expect that Sunday will be way busier and a lot more people, is my guess, given the bands that are playing. Yeah. I think that was the case last year, even. The last day was the busiest day. It feels like it's going to be. Yeah, I mean, there's a fair amount of bands on Sunday, which is probably what convinced us to go in the first place.

00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:34.640
was only coming for one band and there was other bands that I saw on there but yeah we'll see I'm sure I'll like other bands on Sunday I'm interested in about five or six different bands yeah all right so Friday and Saturday well if you're not there you can either have to find other coverage or just kind of guess make it up in your head what it might be like because we're not going to be there to tell you about it but we will return on Sunday and we will

00:29:34.680 --> 00:30:04.640
I'll have my voice and I won't have this annoying allergy cough that I can't get rid of. I'm coughing too. I don't know what it is. It's probably allergies. So yeah. All right. Well, until Sunday, we will see you later. Goodbye. Hello, this is George. This is John. We are on 695 headed to Baltimore for the final day of

00:30:04.680 --> 00:30:34.600
Maryland Death Fest. You may be asking yourself, George, what's the point of covering Maryland Death Fest if you're leaving out Friday and Saturday? Well, you know, that's why I'm going to go on record as calling this a partial Maryland Death Fest coverage because, you know, there just weren't enough bands to entice us into going to all four days. Yeah, you know, I think with it being indoors, that was the main reason. If it was outdoors, maybe I might have thrown another day in and said, ah, fuck it, let's just go. But being indoors,

00:30:34.680 --> 00:31:04.620
and it's going to be really crowded today. I don't know if I want to be indoors for one band for, you know, 10 hours or whatever. So not enough for me. Exactly. So, you know, take it for what it is. Today, we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 bands for you. So a few more than last time. First band is called Encoffination. While I cough. Excuse me. Don't really. I think I've heard of them, but I don't really know.

00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:34.640
them, so that's a pass for me. Don't know them. Sorry guys. Next is a band I know I haven't heard called Kerasphorus. K-E-R-A-S-P-H-O-R-U-S. I have never heard of them either. I was talking with Will earlier today and he was asking about how Death Fest was going and I was like, dude, there's bands that I haven't heard of. If I have not heard of a band, they're obscure. Okay? Not to like

00:31:34.680 --> 00:32:04.640
toot my own horn or anything like that. But as much time as I spend pouring over bands, if I haven't heard of you, then you're obscure. So I haven't heard them. I'm assuming John has neither. That is correct. All right. So we are likely to skip these bands and wait for the third band today, which is October Tide. And I'm definitely looking forward to these guys. Probably, with the exception of the headliner, this is probably the last

00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:34.640
the least heavy band of the day, I'm guessing. It's a little more Death Doom as opposed to the Death and Black of these other bands. But I've liked their last few albums. I've picked them up on vinyl, and I'm looking forward to them. What about you, John? Yeah, it's got the whole Catatonia connection, you know, so definitely. I like them. I don't have anything by them, but I've liked what I've heard, and so I'm looking to see if I need to be even more influenced in buying their stuff, but they were definitely a band when I looked at the ones that wanted to go to that still

00:32:34.680 --> 00:33:04.640
I look for the second tier bands. Like, okay, who do I want to see that I might maybe not paying attention to enough? And they were definitely one of them. So I'm looking forward to getting in there and starting off with them. Excellent. After that, we've got the band Nightbringer. They're sort of an up and coming golden child black metal band that everybody is talking about. And they're all right. I kind of dig them. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they're about. I expect it will be

00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:33.340
a pretty evil and intense set. John? Yeah, bring it on. Same thing. Up and coming. Heard a little bit of them. Heard a little bit from them. And so, yeah, let's see what you got. All right. Excuse me. Next up is the band Acheron. And I've heard of these guys. I've listened to them periodically throughout my past, but was never a huge fan.

00:33:33.900 --> 00:34:01.940
When we were talking to Metal Chris the other day, he was saying how they're playing this album. It's anti-something, anti-God, anti-something. I can't remember what it's called. And he was kind of ripping on it a little bit because he's like, it's literally like intro and then song and then another intro and then another song. He's like my Chris impersonation. I got that deep voice. Hey, Chris. See, now because of that, now I want to see it.

00:34:03.900 --> 00:34:04.780
Sorry, Chris.

00:34:05.540 --> 00:34:08.300
You just have such a deep, booming voice.

00:34:10.620 --> 00:34:12.360
And he, you know, so I was like,

00:34:12.360 --> 00:34:13.399
yeah, well, let me get to check this out.

00:34:13.419 --> 00:34:14.740
And he's not wrong.

00:34:15.179 --> 00:34:17.940
It's literally every other track is called Intro.

00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:24.200
And it's a LeVean, satanic-themed,

00:34:24.980 --> 00:34:26.720
you know, Church of Satan kind of stuff

00:34:26.919 --> 00:34:29.600
with anti-Christian lyrics.

00:34:31.020 --> 00:34:33.340
But I was like, you know, I kind of liked it

00:34:33.360 --> 00:35:03.200
because I like old school death metal over a lot of the death metal that comes out these days. And so I like listened to almost the whole album. I was like, hey, this is actually pretty good. So I might stick around for them a little longer than I thought I would, depending on how they sound. I have no idea if I will. I'll check them out because I want to hear the intro song, intro song thing. But at some point I'm going to have to grab a beer, but I'll check them out definitely. Yeah, maybe I'll get the beer inside.

00:35:04.099 --> 00:35:31.260
But the beer inside isn't as good as the beer outside. No, I'll have to look again. I mean, there's... We'll see. I mean, I'm not going to be a total beer snob about it, but I'll check it out and see what they got this time. I didn't look on Thursday. Yeah. Thursday I had to drive, so I had to be, you know, I had to limit myself from only having a couple beers today. Or I'm staying over.

00:35:34.080 --> 00:35:35.780
I'm gonna rage today!

00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:39.720
No, but I am gonna probably drink more beer than I did the other day.

00:35:40.200 --> 00:35:45.440
So, the next band up is called Be Hexin, and they're another black metal band.

00:35:46.700 --> 00:35:51.520
And I've actually been a little bit familiar and fond of them for their past couple albums,

00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:55.300
so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing those guys.

00:35:55.900 --> 00:35:56.680
I think they're Finnish.

00:35:57.560 --> 00:35:58.460
There's a lot of Finns today.

00:35:59.720 --> 00:36:01.160
At least two Finns.

00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:03.240
Anyway, do you know these guys at all?

00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:33.280
No, I don't know. So again, I'll check them out a little bit. But I'm also going to move around. I'm old and my legs get creaky and my back hurts, so I have to move around. So maybe I'll check out a little bit and then head out to the merch area. The only issue with the venue this time is that you have to go through the metal detector every time. And while security is not tight, they're attentive, they've been very friendly about it. I don't know what they're like now because Thursday was kind of not

00:36:33.380 --> 00:37:03.260
but probably a little bit slower in terms of traffic in and out of the venue. I anticipate today's going to be a little different but they were good about it. I just don't know if I want to keep pulling all my shit out of my pockets all the time. But this might be a band where I kind of filter out, walk out and see what's going on. At some point I got to eat. Because after this going forward it might get pretty tight. Might not be able to leave the whole time. That's a good point. Maybe catch the beginning of Acheron and the end of Behemoth.

00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:32.280
and squeezing some dinner in there. Because after that there's a little band from Finland that I think John might be mildly interested in called Aronsi Pazuzu. Which I was doing a little reading on them last night. Did you know that Aronsi is Finnish for Orange? Yes, and Pazuzu is the name of the demon from The Exorcist. So when T.R., our friend, makes fun of him, says they sound like a clown, no it's an orange demon, it's evil.

00:37:35.160 --> 00:37:37.000
Kind of hard to be afraid of an orange demon.

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:39.360
Have you seen the exorcist?

00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:41.480
Okay, I guess that's true.

00:37:43.780 --> 00:37:50.040
But yeah, I went to bed listening to these guys last night because it's trance-like.

00:37:50.500 --> 00:37:55.500
You know, it's mostly instrumental and it's cool.

00:37:55.580 --> 00:37:58.840
And I have a feeling that this will probably be the band to beat today.

00:37:59.460 --> 00:38:28.840
Certainly from John's perspective. And probably from mine as well. Well, I'll be honest. This is the reason I'm going. I wasn't going to go. Even though I wanted to see Cerosa, I was like, eh. You know, do I want to go just for them? Just the one night? Which I probably would have ended up wanting to go just for the one night because we did have a good time, despite not feeling well for the show. But when I saw Ron Sandler, I was like, that's done. I'm there that day at the minimum. So, because I'm a super fan of theirs. I love that band a lot.

00:38:29.839 --> 00:38:59.380
Yep. Definitely gonna be cool, I hope. They're not even, they're only playing 50 minutes, which is kind of lame. Yeah, so we're only literally gonna get like four or five songs out of it, but, you know, and some people will say, oh, it's a lot of black metal bands in a row there, but they're not, I don't even think they're black metal, to be honest with you. I don't know how you feel about them, George, but to me they're kind of like a combination of like four or five different genres all wrapped up into one, and it just kind of goes where it goes when they, it seems like they just kind of go where they are.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:02.080
moving forward when they're writing.

00:39:02.380 --> 00:39:05.080
Because there's no blast beats in there.

00:39:05.660 --> 00:39:07.700
The vocals are probably the closest thing to black metal,

00:39:07.780 --> 00:39:08.980
but there's a lot of avant-garde.

00:39:09.230 --> 00:39:11.380
There's a boatload of psychedelic going on there.

00:39:13.940 --> 00:39:17.140
Yeah, I think calling them black metal is a little...

00:39:17.820 --> 00:39:19.040
It's just taking the easy route.

00:39:19.520 --> 00:39:20.680
It's definitely...

00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:24.280
I don't mind them being lumped in the umbrella of black metal

00:39:24.420 --> 00:39:27.720
because now there's like a gazillion sub-genres of black metal.

00:39:28.160 --> 00:39:58.080
But I just get a little annoyed when everyone's like, oh, these black metalers from Finland. They're way more than that, I think. More so than the other bands at this festival. There's no doubt about that, that are falling under the black metal umbrella. Fair enough. The next band is also considered a black metal band, In the Woods. However, I don't really think this last album was very black metal at all. It was more Doom. Yeah, it had a progressive metal feel to it. Not a wanky progressive metal feel, but it was,

00:39:58.160 --> 00:39:59.500
It's very progressive

00:40:00.430 --> 00:40:00.920
in nature.

00:40:02.140 --> 00:40:02.600
But I agree.

00:40:04.200 --> 00:40:06.460
But have they been even a black metal band

00:40:07.160 --> 00:40:08.380
in a long time to begin with?

00:40:08.590 --> 00:40:09.940
I mean, their first album, definitely.

00:40:10.110 --> 00:40:12.880
But then they got kind of that avant-garde thing going too

00:40:13.160 --> 00:40:13.460
with them.

00:40:13.680 --> 00:40:15.600
So they're all over the map, I think.

00:40:16.500 --> 00:40:16.660
Yeah.

00:40:17.220 --> 00:40:19.140
And I was telling John,

00:40:19.380 --> 00:40:20.040
we were talking about,

00:40:20.610 --> 00:40:21.720
rather with John the other day,

00:40:22.860 --> 00:40:24.980
that, good lord, motorcycle.

00:40:32.859 --> 00:40:37.000
That I don't even know that there's any original members in the band at this point.

00:40:37.600 --> 00:40:39.920
The singer's only new for this last album.

00:40:40.470 --> 00:40:41.840
The drummer's been around a while.

00:40:42.460 --> 00:40:43.340
And then there's the two brothers.

00:40:44.619 --> 00:40:47.720
And word is that they are not traveling here.

00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:52.160
I don't know if they're still part of the band, but they just don't travel.

00:40:52.900 --> 00:41:22.800
So it's going to be a band of people that we don't know who they are playing music by, I don't know. I mean, I think it'll probably still be cool, but there's just something weird about that for me. Yeah, and I definitely want to see them too because, let's be honest, I mean, I like In the Woods. I'm not a super fan. I have all their stuff, but I like them and I never thought they would, A, make a new album again, which they did after, what, 15 years or whatever, and I never thought they'd come back to the States or come to the States.

00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:52.640
for that matter. So whatever incarnation they are, I definitely want to check them out though. Yeah, hopefully it'll be good regardless. The penultimate band is Acker Cocker, as you say, because you got to put that R on there even though there's no R at the end. Acker Cocker. And of course these guys are a band that I'm familiar with and I am well pleased that they're playing. They've reformed after being broken up for a while.

00:41:52.880 --> 00:42:22.840
And I know they have an album slated to be completed later this year at some point, but there's still no details on that. However, I think they are probably going to rip. I don't really know much about them. I know the name and I've heard them a little bit, but I couldn't tell you a song title or an album title or pick them out of a crowd. But yeah, check them out. At this point, it's going to be a long day, so I might need to move around again. So maybe I'll listen a little bit and then venture around. I mean, but I'll

00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:50.400
I'll definitely give them some time. Excellent. Yeah, it's going to be getting late by that point. The final band of the evening, Candlemas, who will be performing with the singer that John will tell you his name in a moment, they're going to be performing all of Nightfall, which is, of course, my favorite Candlemas album. But they're not scheduled to take the stage until 1225, so it's going to be a long one.

00:42:52.520 --> 00:43:21.120
I haven't heard this guy, I mean maybe I've heard him before and I didn't know it, but I haven't heard him in the context of Candlemas. But based on what everybody else has been saying, it sounds like he's a pretty cool singer, so I guess my only question is going to be, does he work within the context of these songs for me? You know, I have a very long history with the Nightfall album and I expect it to sound like Messiah Markolan. I'm guessing he doesn't sound like Messiah Markolan.

00:43:22.380 --> 00:43:51.780
But, you know, Robert Lowe was not Messiah Mercolin either, and he did a damn fine job with Candlemas. So I'm going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and see what he sounds like. I can tell you right now he does not sound anything like Messiah. That I know for a fact. And what was the name? His name is Mats Levin. I believe that's how he pronounces his last name, L-E-V-I-N. He's been around forever. Chances are, if you like metal from Sweden, you've heard him in somebody.

00:43:52.380 --> 00:44:21.060
Playing with someone. I saw him perform with Therian when they played at Prog Power. God, the first time they played there, he was with them. And I think he's a great singer. I personally like the way he sings. But I'm interested to hear how he sounds too with this music because it's... If you know him, you know what he sounds like. You don't know what he sounds like. You probably do, George. You just don't recognize the name and the face and the voice.

00:44:21.720 --> 00:44:46.660
But I'm curious to see how he performs with them too. Because I do like him. So we'll see. And it's funny because, you know, Metal Chris and I were trying to convince you when we were over at the Lanninkoogle Beer Garden, you know, having a beer. Because he's a big fan of this guy too, it seemed like. Or he seemed like he liked what he's done. So although I don't think he's that big of a Candlemas fan. But we'll see how it plays out. I'm interested.

00:44:47.840 --> 00:45:17.820
What the hell's all that? It looks, we're actually driving over like where, where the Edison lot would have been. Yeah, what's that old venue that was over here? Sonar, right? Sonar around there, yeah. Yeah, so I don't know what they're doing there. I know there's like cops up here with lights, I don't know if they're directing something or what, but. I don't know. Anyway, so that's, that's the lineup for this evening. We will report back to you after, if not during the evening.

00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:47.820
but probably after with how it all turns out. Until then, I'm George. And I'm John. See ya. Hello, my name is George. And this is John. We are traveling back up I-70 the morning after the final evening of Maryland Death Fest. It is in the books. And I don't know, I guess we'll see if we decide to go

00:45:47.860 --> 00:45:52.820
Next year, gonna have to decide on what bands are gonna be there.

00:45:52.870 --> 00:46:00.880
But anyway, last night was definitely a more improved evening than Thursday, I think.

00:46:01.490 --> 00:46:03.940
There were more bands that each of us enjoyed.

00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:09.500
So, let's get started.

00:46:12.460 --> 00:46:15.660
We went down to Baltimore, we went and got some food and some beers,

00:46:15.900 --> 00:46:42.340
We went to Soundgarden and picked up some vinyl and made our way to the venue. And when we got there, we had time for a beer, didn't we? Yes. Yeah, we have more time for beer. Okay. Yeah, I'm not remembering that part too well. So we went to the beer garden and probably had a beer. Yeah.

00:46:45.920 --> 00:47:13.340
and October Tide featuring former members of Catatonia. And they sounded really good. I think I like the earlier material better, a little more Death Doom. But all in all, they sounded good. Other than John noticed they had a bass problem where the bass was just a little too thumping and kind of drowning everything out. Yeah, I was a little worried we were going to have that brown note syndrome from too much heavy bass.

00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:45.860
I guess midway through their set and I know them and I've listed them a little bit I wasn't as familiar with them as you were but I wanted to see them because of the Catatonia connection and I actually enjoyed their set quite a bit especially as the sound started evening out it was just kind of cool to get there weren't at least not for us when we saw there weren't many Death Doom bands when we were there so it was kind of nice to get one because I like Death Doom together and I thought they performed great yeah

00:47:45.900 --> 00:48:15.860
It was good. And then somewhere in here, actually it was probably before the first band, we met up with John's friend Jeff and his son. Tristan. Tristan. Yes. And I mentioned that because the next band to play was Nightbringer. Hold the presses. It has come to my attention since we recorded this that we did not have all the information. It turns out that Nightbringer did not

00:48:15.900 --> 00:48:42.440
in fact play yesterday at the maryland death festival because they were not able to make it and they were replaced by the band angel corpse being that none of us were terribly familiar with the band we did not notice the difference although i did think it was strange that nightbringer was only three people uh so everything we're about to say should be considered about angel corpse not nightbringer thank you

00:48:44.080 --> 00:49:10.780
And, you know, they... I'm not a huge fan of the vocals live. They're a little more tolerable on record. But damn was that dude fucking playing that Warlock bass. You know, the singer. He was finger-picking. And his fingers were flying. And, you know, the guitar player was pretty amazing, too. But Jeff did not like them.

00:49:11.580 --> 00:49:40.040
Yeah. So it was kind of funny because I was indifferent. I like a lot of black metal. But I was like, eh, they're okay. But setting aside what I thought and what my friend Jeff thought about them, it seemed like the rest of the crowd really liked them because they were into them. And those guys were just machines. They just cranked out the songs. And I think though we, I can't remember if we went back out for a little bit during their set.

00:49:40.060 --> 00:49:40.540
I think we did.

00:49:40.880 --> 00:50:10.860
again just to kind of walk around a little so they're okay I mean I wasn't into them that much but I enjoyed watching the whole crowd and them interact and play together so that was kind of cool. I'm pretty sure not certain but pretty sure that the singer bass player guy was standing behind and to the right of us during Candlemas. It probably was yeah I mean there were actually quite a few musicians standing around it seemed like during different sets in the evening which was kind of

00:50:10.900 --> 00:50:13.080
They were just kind of hanging out watching.

00:50:13.820 --> 00:50:17.540
Yeah, we saw the Acheron guy, Vincent Crowley, he was watching.

00:50:18.160 --> 00:50:22.360
Pretty sure I saw the In The Woods singer standing in the crowd like right after they played.

00:50:25.160 --> 00:50:32.240
So then, yeah, so speaking of Vincent Crowley, Acheron played next, assuming that's how it's pronounced, A-C-H-E-R-O-N, Acheron.

00:50:33.080 --> 00:50:34.860
Hard, hard C-H, not soft.

00:50:36.420 --> 00:51:05.160
And we only caught the tail end of them, unfortunately, because we decided that it was a good time to go grab some dinner. Yeah, and we were at this Leinenkugel beer garden, and it was a mess in there when we were there. And they only had a couple people working, which, you know, they're only doing what they can, but it became kind of... We waited a long time to get what we wanted and ended up realizing, oh, we've got to get inside.

00:51:05.340 --> 00:51:35.160
And they were a little ahead of schedule, I guess, at that point. So we ended up missing, like George said, a good portion of their set. What we saw was cool. I liked it. But we just didn't get enough. We wanted to see more. We didn't get a chance to see more. Yeah, I was disappointed we didn't hear more. But what we heard sounded really good. So I think I'm actually going to go home and take a journey of discovery on more of their catalog. Because the album they were playing, I listened to a little bit before we left. And I really liked it.

00:51:35.360 --> 00:52:05.280
So I think I'll do that. Next up. Holy hell. Next up was Behexin. And man did they bring it. You know they had their black metal band. I'm fairly certain they're from Finland. And you know they had all the corpse paint on. You know and it wasn't even just like half-assed corpse paint. It was like stuff like symbols and stuff painted on their faces and heads.

00:52:05.440 --> 00:52:34.940
It was impressive to look at and their sound was just incredible. It was black metal, but right away the vocals were nice and on top of everything when they started. I was like, oh, well you can hear them screaming and even enunciating a few words. That's awesome. A lot of times when you have bands like Nightbringer for instance, they're not playing chords and stuff.

00:52:34.980 --> 00:53:04.900
They're just playing tremolo leads and all kinds of fast stuff. And then you're screaming on top of that. It all just kind of turns to mush live. And then the tremolo picking that this guy was doing for like an hour. I was like, man, his hand's got to be tired. It was amazing. It was crisp. You could hear it. It was wonderful. You know, the bass and the drums were pounding. I was completely blown away by Behexin.

00:53:04.980 --> 00:53:34.360
So kudos to them. Yeah, again, I'm not, again, I like black metal, but I guess I'm on the fringe of what I like. I like a lot of atmospheric and progressive type stuff. But don't get me wrong, I mean, I like my Megwiz too. And they were, again, not my, necessarily my favorite band to watch, but I enjoyed their performance 100%. It should be said that when we were watching Nightbringer, George has suggested we stand in front of the board because it was a big, huge,

00:53:37.180 --> 00:54:04.920
They put... Not plexiglass. Yeah, around it. And it was nice and solid so he could bump into it. He said, let's stand here. We'll get a good view of the stage. And if you don't know Ram said it's... I'm not going to waste time trying to explain. It's too hard to explain. But it was dead center. And we were just far enough back from the stage that we wouldn't get caught in the pit. And I said to him, you know, I don't know, man. I got caught in the pit here once for good cheer. And I almost got my ass beat crushed against the board one time. He's like, you think so? I'm like, I'm telling you.

00:54:04.980 --> 00:54:34.940
I don't know. So we said let's give it a try. And I was like nah it'll be fine. Then within one fucking minute the pit broke out. They slammed into us. We got slammed up against the board. Not hard but just enough to notice it and I said that's it. I'm checking out. I got a bad left knee. I'm not taking my chances. So for this band how do you say the name again? I can't remember. Behexen. Behexen. We stood on the side of the board. There was a nice area that used to be a ramp for wheelchairs. They took out

00:54:35.520 --> 00:54:39.240
and because they configured the place a little differently now so it's easier for people

00:54:39.400 --> 00:54:41.340
wheelchairs to get in and go to a different part of the venue.

00:54:43.180 --> 00:54:47.540
So we went to that area which was a nice standing or which we ended up being in most of the time.

00:54:47.830 --> 00:54:59.360
The view is great there we're out from underneath the hangover and man I was squished like anything up against the sideboard it was packed for them. I think they probably had the most

00:55:01.480 --> 00:55:04.340
crowd and intense crowd for anyone who played.

00:55:04.420 --> 00:55:07.640
I don't know how you felt but it was the whole thing again I wasn't my thing

00:55:08.440 --> 00:55:13.660
overall I generally wouldn't probably listen to them but I enjoyed their set 100% I thought it was a lot of fun

00:55:14.280 --> 00:55:34.380
and they just cranked it out from start to finish it was non-stop for about an hour yeah so yeah it was pretty impressive um you know I I was starting to get tired and their set woke me up and like wired me I you know I didn't think about or complain about my feet the whole time I think uh so

00:55:34.400 --> 00:55:35.520
It was really good.

00:55:37.460 --> 00:55:38.220
And then

00:55:39.180 --> 00:55:41.280
when they finished, we weren't going anywhere

00:55:42.140 --> 00:55:42.500
because

00:55:43.560 --> 00:55:44.600
the next band up

00:55:45.460 --> 00:55:45.700
was

00:55:46.070 --> 00:55:46.620
the mighty

00:55:47.220 --> 00:55:47.780
Aronsi

00:55:48.800 --> 00:55:49.760
aka Orange

00:55:50.300 --> 00:55:50.700
Pazuzu.

00:55:52.280 --> 00:55:52.740
And

00:55:53.660 --> 00:55:54.780
at this point, John

00:55:55.230 --> 00:55:57.860
struck up a conversation with a familiar looking guy next to us.

00:55:58.980 --> 00:56:00.260
A bald gentleman

00:56:00.880 --> 00:56:00.980
that

00:56:01.440 --> 00:56:03.319
we must have seen him at shows before or something

00:56:03.340 --> 00:56:04.400
because IE really looked familiar.

00:56:05.380 --> 00:56:09.460
Yeah, we just started talking and come to find out that we noticed nobody was really leaving.

00:56:10.360 --> 00:56:12.940
Usually when a band finished, like the whole place would almost clear out.

00:56:13.080 --> 00:56:15.900
You'd only have about, what, sixth or seventh?

00:56:16.360 --> 00:56:18.780
It was a small number of people would be waiting for the next band.

00:56:19.100 --> 00:56:20.920
There was only like 20, 25-minute changeovers.

00:56:21.640 --> 00:56:24.280
We noticed that no one was leaving and a lot of people were hanging out and waiting.

00:56:25.300 --> 00:56:29.680
I think they might have been the most anticipated band to play there, at least on Sunday it seemed like.

00:56:29.720 --> 00:56:59.660
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that, but it seemed like a lot of people wanted to see Arantzi Pazuzu, and they had a really good crowd for their show. I'll say more, but I'll let you say something out, George. All right. I was definitely looking forward to them. I mean, they were probably the band that brought me out last night the most. That was like, okay, well, they're going to play, I've got to see this. I enjoyed their music, but I haven't been quite as fanatic.

00:57:01.740 --> 00:57:29.680
and I think that may have changed last night because wow what a set did they play that was I mean you know it's one thing to listen to the music but when you see them while they're performing the music as well it was mesmerizing they they were very physical in their presentation a lot of thrashing about and it wasn't even like you know a lot of metal bands

00:57:29.940 --> 00:57:59.540
They like thrushed together in unison like Judas Priest or something. These guys were like all independent whirlwinds of doom. And I told John afterwards, I was like, when they were doing that for me, because like the strobe lights were going at the same time as well. So it was sort of, you know, stuttered their movements. And I was like, that so made me think of the children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, when all the monsters do their like dance.

00:57:59.720 --> 00:58:29.680
and they're all just like and and i was like i've never seen anything like it it was amazing it looked amazing it sounded amazing kudos to ronzi pazuzu and now back to john yeah this is the after now seeing everyone that we saw i would say that they were not the only reason but at the time when i bought my tickets they were definitely the only reason i was going uh because one they'd never played the states before

00:58:29.840 --> 00:58:58.720
And while we were supposed to get the exclusive first ever U.S. show, they decided to book a show beforehand in New York, which I thought was good to get some time under themselves now that they're in the States. I don't know. I'm assuming bands when they come here, maybe they're not nervous, but I assume they want everything to go well when they make their first trip to a country. So they came out and I didn't know about the thrashing on stage that they did because they reminded me of those like really shitty metalcore bands that do that, but they're not playing anything.

00:58:59.080 --> 00:59:28.100
These guys are all playing something the whole time. Everyone's doing something. Not just playing a chord and kind of making it look like they're doing more than they're not. I mean, they were all doing something extensively on stage. They are a band that deserves even a bigger stage to even have a bigger visual presentation. But they were just outstanding. By far, when they got done, I think, I don't know if you remember George V said, well, I'm guessing that was your highlight of the festival. Which was, yeah.

00:59:28.280 --> 00:59:58.040
Now, my friend Jeff, who, he likes some of that music, but he didn't really know it too well. He listened to the album, came back and was like, what the hell did I just see? You know, and I think a lot of people felt that. I thought they got the most, you know, hands in the air and cheering to anyone we had sought up to that point. Yeah, we should note that this is a hipster band and John is a hipster. And in fact, for the better part of the set, I had a fucking hipster in front of me. It's like, as soon as the music started, he just like popped up out of the ground.

00:59:58.360 --> 01:00:28.060
Like, you know, they grow there. Big bearded, shaved side of the head, floppy mop on top. Hipster. And I was like, god damn it, you know. And so I spent the whole set, about three quarters of the set, moving to the left, moving to the right, probably pissing John off behind me. And just moving to the left, moving to the right, trying to see around his big fucking melon. No, you know what pissed me off about that? I mean, we were all moving around, because I kept moving, and there was a guy behind me that I kept moving in front of a little bit, and I kind of felt bad, because I was blocking.

01:00:28.140 --> 01:00:57.420
Because he was pretty quiet and he wasn't saying much back there where we were. But what pissed me off about that guy standing there is he fucked up my line of sight for pictures. Because I wanted to take a boatload of pictures. But I couldn't do it because of his head. And everyone's phone up almost the whole show taking pictures and filming. Which I don't, I didn't remember that for all the bands like that. And we couldn't do anything anyway because I couldn't get a clear shot because they were moving around so much. The lights were going crazy. So the one picture I got that I actually posted on Twitter was them during sound check.

01:00:58.560 --> 01:01:27.580
But they looked like they were playing. So I was like, oh, fuck it, I'm going to go with this. So, yeah, they've become, they're not a hipster band like Deaf Heaven, but they've, a lot of sites that reviewed their album, I think just fell in line because a lot of places, the angry metal guy type sites, you know, all liked it. So all the so-called fringe metal sites all jumped on top of them and said, oh, they're a great band to listen to. Not even know what the hell they were listening to. So they are by far the least commercial band you'll see anywhere.

01:01:27.700 --> 01:01:57.660
when you go to a show. Hipster's gonna deny being a hipster. I got it. I got it, John. Fuck those hipsters. I'm just kidding with you. So next up was In the Woods. And we've been kind of looking forward to that. And, you know, it was kind of like an In the Woods cover band. I'm gonna be saying that a lot. Because the two brothers that are the core of the band, I don't know if they don't

01:01:57.720 --> 01:02:27.660
or if they've actually left the band, but they were not there. The guitar player and the bass player. Or wait, maybe that's a different band. That's... No, it was them. Yeah, the guitar player and the bass player. And they had different people there for that. And of course, the singer's only been around for one album. And the singer was bad. He was really, really bad. You know, and when the Pure, when the album came out last year, I listened to...

01:02:27.700 --> 01:02:55.980
I kept listening to it because I really wanted to like it because I like their older material. And I just never quite got into the album because I was like, I don't know if I don't get it or if this guy can't sing. And after watching him last night, I've come to the conclusion he can't sing, which is very odd to me that they would have this guy singing. Yeah, because they played one song that we saw off the album and it sounded pretty good, even though I was a little iffy on the band.

01:02:57.680 --> 01:03:27.480
there that had played with them for a while. And then the rest of the band were new, but I could be wrong about that. It sounded good, but I was like, oh, ouch. You know, and I don't want to disparage anyone out there performing, but I just wasn't getting into his vocals either. So. Yeah. And it was kind of difficult for me. And I say this tongue in cheek because the singer actually kind of looked like my my brother-in-law, my Norwegian brother-in-law with the long hair. And I was like, hey,

01:03:27.680 --> 01:03:57.660
"What you doing over there? You can't sing!" Actually, I think my brother-in-law can probably sing better than this guy. So it was like, it was weird. I'm bummed because I really wanted to see them. I wanted to see them play some of their material from the 90s. I was kind of excited to see that. It doesn't work out sometimes, you know. Yeah, by this point we were really tired and we didn't stick around for the whole set. We went out and sat down and tried to recuperate a little bit for

01:03:59.820 --> 01:04:27.160
And based on the fact that we've been pretty much on schedule up to this point, we were using the set schedule to decide to go back and, you know, skip the first couple of Acker Cocker songs and catch the end of the set and be ready for Candlemas. But there must have been a huge delay because I think they just started playing when we went back in there because they played 20 minutes past their set ending time.

01:04:29.519 --> 01:04:57.460
I don't know what happened because before Aranti Pazuzu, it took them a while to get set up. And I just assumed it was because they had a lot of equipment. And my friend Jeff was upstairs and he said when you would look down from the upstairs, he said they had tons of pedals on the boards and everything. So there was a lot of stuff they were putting together. But I think they finished like what, maybe one or two minutes over their original end set time. So they were on time. And in the woods didn't take that long to get set up, I didn't think.

01:04:57.700 --> 01:05:04.600
A little bit of time, but same as, a little less than Aranzi Pazusa, but they got started fairly on time, I thought, and then something happened.

01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:27.620
Yeah, I don't know what it was. Maybe, maybe Agri-Cocker just wasn't ready to get on stage yet or something. We sort of missed that part, but, and I thought, I thought they sounded pretty good. Musically, it was good. The singer, you know, he goes all over the place. He's, he's high, high screeching and low growls and did some clean singing.

01:05:27.680 --> 01:05:37.120
It wasn't all that swell, but on the whole, I was so tired that I really wasn't enthusiastic, but I thought they were okay.

01:05:37.690 --> 01:05:54.780
They were entertaining. I'm not into them, but they performed well. I thought they played well as a band, and they seemed to have a lot of enthusiastic fans who wanted to go body surfing and then run through the crowd to get back to the pit and knock people over.

01:05:55.820 --> 01:06:25.120
So it was an active set of watching them and watching out for guys who look like the singer from Jackal, you know, running through the crowd and pushing their way to get back up to be surfed up to the front again to come back and push by again five minutes later. So they were an act. It was an active band on stage and they were an active crowd in the in the pit. Yeah. And should note that it was almost 1230 by the time they ended and we still had Candlemas yet to go.

01:06:25.460 --> 01:06:29.120
And so Candlemas was supposed to start at 1225, but that's when

01:06:29.740 --> 01:06:37.000
that's when Acker Cogger ended. So it was closer to one o'clock by the time Candlemas finally came on.

01:06:37.600 --> 01:06:54.240
At this point, I was so exhausted. My, my, I like, I would close my eyes and when I try to open them again, the lids would stick because there was just no, no tears or any sort of liquid in my eyeballs left. I was so dry.

01:06:54.500 --> 01:07:24.420
Probably from all the damn nasty smelling pot smoke around. Somebody's like smoking dog shit or something. It was fucking horrible. And so yeah, I was pretty wiped out. But we did stick around for Candlemas. And I've always been skeptical of anybody that wasn't Messiah Markolan. I mean, I like the Robert Lowe albums, but I would be skeptical of him singing the old songs live just because he's not Messiah, you know?

01:07:28.360 --> 01:07:52.080
But John and I think it was Metal Chris were pretty high on Matz. He's Matz Levin is his name. If I'm saying it correctly, Matz Levin. Yeah. So, you know, I gave him a fair shot. And it did sound like he was doing a reasonably good job. I mean, it sounded like he was hitting the notes.

01:07:52.120 --> 01:08:22.000
But he was kind of buried in the mix. And so I couldn't really hear him all that well. And that was a little bit disappointing. Had I not been familiar with the songs, I really would have been lost, I think. Yeah, I mean, I always have liked everything he's been involved with. I always thought he had a unique kind of cool voice. And, you know, he didn't let anyone down for his performance. It's just, for whatever reasons, he was a little buried. And it was a little bit of a bummer because I kind of wanted to hear him hit some of those higher notes.

01:08:22.160 --> 01:08:52.100
and they're not like you know he's not gonna boom those notes there's only one guy who can really do that for that for candlemask but i thought he did okay just he was fine he was just buried unfortunately yeah and this is where i called them a cover band as well because no no disrespect to mats he was he sounded like he was doing a great job but he's not the original singer and and leif edling wasn't there which was partly just it was disappointing to me that

01:08:52.100 --> 01:09:21.859
I would have really liked to have at least seen life. But the guy that was there for him at least excited John a little bit, like a little girl. Yeah, and I hope I don't say his last name wrong. I'm sure I can go to. But on bass was Per Weiberg from formerly of Opeth, who was there. I cannot think of the name of the band he's in right now, but he plays bass for them. And he's got a bunch of his own kind of bands. I think he plays guitar.

01:09:22.100 --> 01:09:52.080
So he's a multi-instrumentalist. It was cool to see him out there on stage. And I believe he's been playing with Candlemas in some form or another here and there for the last few years, hasn't he? A little bit, I think. I'm not sure. I thought he was. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Somebody can correct me on that. But it was cool to see him. It was a bummer that, you know, he had to replace Leaf. But, you know, if he can't play, he can't play, unfortunately. So I thought he still as a band sounded pretty good, though, considering that I don't know who was...

01:09:52.120 --> 01:10:21.900
There from the early period of not, but... Yeah, it was definitely cool to hear, you know, at the gallows end and Samaritan just pounding. You know, that was very cool. And even in my sleep-deprived state, I was able to enjoy that. Then we walked back to the hotel.

01:10:23.540 --> 01:10:51.500
And shortly thereafter, John got some interesting news from Jeff. Oh, yeah. So earlier in the night, when he came down to where we were standing, he was upstairs. He's like, ah, some asshole threw a beer and it hit us and covered us in beer. And I was like, oh, that sucks. You know, it's random. It happens sometimes, but, you know, it still sucks. Apparently, because we left just a little early,

01:10:51.560 --> 01:11:19.300
because at one point, I mean, I was just checking out, unfortunately. My legs were killing me, too. Get a text message back at the hotel, and Jeff's like, well, you guys picked a good time to leave. I just got pelted with another beer from upstairs. I'm covered in beer. All the people around me are covered in beer. The soundboard area is covered in beer. I'm like, oh, man. We were standing right next to the soundboard when that happened. It really sucks that it happened again. But I'm not going to lie to you. I'm glad we weren't there for it.

01:11:21.560 --> 01:11:29.160
I just have sensed that the impending incoming beer barrage was imminent and we took off just in time.

01:11:29.720 --> 01:11:46.120
That sucks. Sorry to hear that happen to you Jeff. I hope you didn't interest it and get too wet again but I'm glad. Trust me I've been covered in beer at shows before because of douchebags and assholes. It's nice for once that I didn't get hit. So sorry.

01:11:46.560 --> 01:12:15.200
I did get something spilled on my foot in said same location right before we left too. Oh, from weed girl who decided to pull out her rank and just blow it in our faces for like 20 minutes? Yeah, and she was like blowing it in the face of the guy that was there who didn't obviously want it because she was laughing and pushing him and, you know. Or I would just want to take her weed and step on it. I have no problem with people smoking weed, but when it smells like dog shit, I don't want it around me. Yeah. So, a lot of stupid people there last night.

01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:46.520
Oh, during Acker Cocker. I was right Thursday when I said that, but that Dan Kaplan was there. Yeah, we got to see him for a second. Yeah, I was like, hey, you were here. I thought you were. I thought I saw you the other day. So that was kind of cool. So hello to Dan. And that's just about it, I think. Any wrap-up from you? No, I mean, I was a little skeptical on it being indoors. I thought certain bands benefited

01:12:46.640 --> 01:12:56.640
from being indoors. I thought the violin fiddle setup would not have

01:12:57.680 --> 01:13:02.460
maybe done as well outdoors. Maybe the sound would have gotten lost. So I thought they benefited. Ronzi Pazuzu without

01:13:02.700 --> 01:13:15.580
question was better indoors so that they could kind of get that whole imagery thing going. But overall it was fine. Again, I'm not so sure I'll go next year unless somebody is on the bill that I really want to see.

01:13:15.620 --> 01:13:44.960
And it may be another piecemeal where it's a day here, a day there kind of thing. It's just not enough to keep me indoors like that the whole time. Kind of scrunched up watching the show. I did like that we didn't get rained on for once. You know, and that's nice. But I do miss being able to walk around a little bit more. So. Yeah, that would have been nice. And, you know, I mean, we would have probably had more opportunity to do that even now if we had been going to the soundstage as well. Like,

01:13:45.620 --> 01:13:49.280
Most of the people that we saw there were popping back and forth between the two places.

01:13:50.060 --> 01:14:02.660
Yeah, I get it. For people who go to both venues, they like this setup better because it's only a block away. Half of that block is the whole courtyard power plant area itself. So I get that part.

01:14:05.060 --> 01:14:32.680
Yeah, but... But, you know, I mean, I suppose if we were smart and maybe we could get, like, a comped press tickets or something like that, if we really tried, it would be worthwhile. But, you know, to pay, like, another 50 bucks to make sure that you only catch half of any given band, you know, because they're not... They're staggered such that you can watch, like, the first half of a band and then you'd have to run over to the other place to catch the first half of that band before you come back to catch

01:14:32.720 --> 01:14:33.400
of the other band.

01:14:34.730 --> 01:14:42.840
And there just weren't enough bands over on the other side that I wanted to see and wanted to pay even more money to just run around like crazy.

01:14:43.140 --> 01:14:47.220
So we just stuck to one place where the most bands were that we wanted to see.

01:14:48.660 --> 01:14:49.420
So I don't know.

01:14:49.470 --> 01:14:50.640
We'll see what happens next year.

01:14:50.820 --> 01:14:59.800
I'm guessing that it was successful enough that they're not going to feel the need to go back to the old way, which is unfortunate because Edison, we miss you.

01:15:00.620 --> 01:15:01.560
Yeah, I'm not going to lie to you.

01:15:01.660 --> 01:15:31.620
I didn't have to wear a stupid hat so Will could make fun of me the whole time. Which is fine. Fair enough. Whatever. I look stupid. I look stupid. But there's pluses and minuses to both setups, I think. Yeah. I have to see what it's like next year to see if it's any better. I will say this. The Rams had staff were fine. I mean, there were no issues with them. I mean, we weren't getting a hassle going through security. Everyone was good about it. You know, if you just, if you weren't an

01:15:31.640 --> 01:16:01.580
They weren't an asshole. So I thought that was good in that aspect. I really could have brought in anything because, you know, they walk, they had you empty your pockets and then walk through the metal detector. But my vest has, you know, spikes, but, you know, the pyramids all over it. And I was like, do I need to take this off? And they're like, nah, just go through. And so I set it off every time that I went through there. I could have just, you know, kept a freaking gun in my pocket or something and been like, hey, you know,

01:16:01.660 --> 01:16:31.620
I don't have to take it off so I can bring in whatever. No. So again, Death Fest security somewhat lax just like last time. But, you know, and for the most part, the crowd was pretty good. I think we only encountered one, which I thought there'd be more. Minus the dudes running around pushing people because, you know, their spot's more important than your spot and they have to get to their spot, which is in front of somebody else's spot. But minus those idiots. I thought the crowd was pretty good and everyone's

01:16:32.380 --> 01:16:35.680
and we only saw one verbal altercation the whole time we were there.

01:16:36.290 --> 01:16:40.920
Which I don't know how it started, but I was a little concerned these guys were going to start throwing punches at each other.

01:16:40.920 --> 01:16:41.760
I was like, come on guys.

01:16:42.340 --> 01:16:43.240
It's almost over.

01:16:43.640 --> 01:16:46.140
We're really close to being done with the whole festival.

01:16:47.380 --> 01:16:50.240
I call the altercation Skinny Boy versus Old Man.

01:16:51.900 --> 01:16:59.460
Apparently, you know, the pit had surged up and Old Man got shoved back into Skinny Guy.

01:17:00.280 --> 01:17:30.200
And skinny guy was taking exception to it. And old guy was dressing him down like, you're fucking standing next to the pit. What the fuck do you expect, idiot? And it's not my fault I got shoved. So, yeah, that was pretty much what I heard from it. And, yeah, people are tired and probably cranky. I'm guessing that's all it was. All right, well, I think we're going to wrap this up now, unless you've got anything else. No, that was cool. Enjoyed going again.

01:17:30.740 --> 01:18:00.220
But we'll see about next year. I think my focus outside of Prague Power for Festivals will be Decibel Fest. Yep, me too. We say this, but then it's going to be something super awesome next year. Like, I can't even think of something that would be super awesome off the top of my head. We'll get, like, Emperor, you know, but Isan will also do a set himself. Like, oh, fuck. But they'll be, like, on Friday and Sunday. Oh, we gotta go those days. You know, it'll be something crazy like that. Yeah, I'm sure they'll have something that they pull out.

01:18:00.280 --> 01:18:19.760
that makes me want to go at least one day but we'll see so all right we are just about home actually so we've talked almost this whole trip uh so we will talk to you uh next episode uh which we hope to be bringing to you soon so see ya later