A View From The Pit: Possessed,Gravenloch, Funeral Age, Crush Your Enemies

The renowned Possessed decided to grace the Pacific Northwest with their presence in order to spread their message of anti-religion and evil, and the masses were more than willing to accept them in to their cold, darkened hearts. One of the best things about this show was that the openers were all local bands! Normally there is only one local opener for the major headliner bands but this was an exception, the only touring band was Possessed and 4 local band were more than willing to jump on board.

Metal Festivals in the US

As the summer of 2011 comes to an end, we realize all of the fun we’ve had going to shows, buying new records, hanging out with friends and listening to tunes, and simply enjoying the sun. That is life in the United States in the summer. Life in Europe seems to be a little different because they don’t just get the chance to see a few big acts come through every once in a while, they get the chance to see festival after festival after festival. One of the biggest things I admire about Europe is they truly embrace metal and give fans the chance to see as many bands as possible in huge settings that are usually saved for pop acts. Hellfest, Wacken, Sonisphere, Reading, Download, MetalCamp, Damnation; these are just a few of the many festivals that people on that side of the blue marble get a chance to witness every year. In addition to the amazing experiences of seeing so many different bands, huge underground acts that reunite or rarely perform live generally save these festivals as their few chances to play. That is why I probably will never get the chance to see Bloodbath live, as they have only performed a handful of times and it always at European festivals. There is only one good festival in the US and that is Maryland Death Fest, but as a result of the huge distance across the United States, many people cannot afford to make the trip over there. And the rest of us are forced to deal with touring festivals, which are generally filled with talentless trend hoppers and just one or two decent bands (see 2011 Summer Slaughter). Those of us stuck up here in the Pacific Northwest might not ever get a chance to see one of the huge, underground metal festivals, and that is a complete shame. One day, we here at NW MetalHead Productions would love to put on a metal festival here in the great Northwest, one with huge touring acts and not just a couple local acts. However, I would love to put local acts in with the bigger acts in order to give them more exposure and show that our roots come from the local front. And there would need to be a variety of bands so that the audience doesn’t get bored. Whenever there is a show and 4 bands in a row sound exactly the same, the concert can get very tedious.  So here is one lineup we would love to have at our Northwest Metal Festival (official name tbd):

Gravenloch

Fueled By Fire

Carnal Forge

Ceremonial Castings

Melechesh

Municipal Waste

Grave

Nevermore

Hail of Bullets

Bloodbath

Local Northwest Metal Bands Playlist

In an effort to gear more of our writings to the Northwest, we have decided to make this playlist a decidedly homegrown affair. We are solely featuring bands from Washington State, some of the finest bands to rear their ugly heads to the world. And in these selections we have decided to show them in the finest light, the live setting, where they continually destroy audiences both large and small. That is the best thing about local bands, they open up for the bigger touring shows and play for hundreds of people as well as 25 people in a small bar on a Tuesday night. They are not doing it for large amounts of money; these guys are playing for the love of metal in its purest form. These might not all be the best videos in terms of audio, but you can see the passion these bands put forth is just as real and intense as the larger acts of the world. So go out, listen to their recorded output, and support local metal!!!!

Gravenloch – The Dirge of Sunrise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJaJUbAzxJA&feature=channel_video_title

Drakul – Valley of the Dead Oaks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77eug8tBlPo

Nekro Morphosis – Filtering the Flock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrUsZ31TEjE&feature=related

Future Disorder – River of Corpses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGa8NG5HLY

Deathmocracy – Abort

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAoobmG5WNU

Project Black Book – In a Negative Light

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTC4ZBgR-pM

Phalgeron – Feeding the Phlegethon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l8elDh3U5Q

Shaded Enmity – Like Prayers on Deaf Ears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug17zUVSqjo