 The Palladium Worchester, MA |
Once again the New England Metal and Hardcore
Festival shows why it’s the best festival in the Western Hemisphere.
Two days of chaos, yelling, and drinking, and that was just at the
bar. The festival sold out once again, so the crowd it self was among
the most intense that I’ve seen. All the bands that I saw were
amazing and melted my brain into mush by the end of the weekend. The one thing that stood out for me was the amount of big Hardcore bands names compared to big Metal bands names. Its not like the bands that were there had trouble getting the crowd going, it just seemed that there was a less metal feel than the last few years; leaning towards the hardcore more than the last three years. When you go to these festivals year after year, things sometime seem routine. On Saturday the power went out for 2 hours. It messed up the schedule for the rest of the night. Most bands had a few minutes taken from their set time, but some didn’t even play. From what I understand, after Everygrey heard about the power going out, they just took off and probably went to the next city on the tour. It’s hard to have a bad time at a place that has live bands playing for hours in a row, beer on tap, and endless vendors. When you have bands like they have at this type of festival, it just makes it ten times better. If you saw the list of bands before this show, you probably would be able to guess at what bands were the best. I actually got a chance to see Soilent Green after a bunch of times missing them for various reasons. They were awesome, and their music dragged me into the pit. In my opinion Iced Earth was the best at the show, and go figure, they were the last to play. The band, inspite of technical difficulties with their computer, played most songs from the last three albums including the “Gettysburg Trilogy” from their latest effort “The Glorious Burden.” Children of Bodom were amazing to watch, they have incredible musicianship and they work very well together. There were many bands that were worth mentioning. Arch Enemy, Machine Head, God Forbid and Black Dahlia Murder can be added to that list for Friday, and Misery Index, Zao, and Walls Of Jericho on Saturday. All things aside, this was another great extreme music weekend. My CD collection has another 20 CDs added to it now, some free promos, most were bought; I couldn’t resist the selection. I introduced another friend to this adventure that they call New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. He had a great time, and he said he wants to go to more. To all the Metal Minions, see you next year! Rating: 92 Reviewed By: Jeffrey D, Adkins --- New Englad Metal and Hardcore Festival 6 Preview 2004 brings another year of concerts and mayhem, especially in Worcester, Massachusetts. For the last five years the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival has brought metalheads and hardcore fans together to showcase some of the best of extreme music every year. This year is the sixth year for the fest, and it looks to be another great weekend. The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival will be on Friday, April 30 and Saturday May 1. Start times are 2:30 on Friday and Noon on Saturday. As it has been for a while, the fest has been at The Palladium, which is a great location for this type of show. Ticket prices once again can’t be beaten for this type of show. Friday individual day tickets are $30. Saturday individual day tickets are $35. Two-day passes are $60. Tickets are available now at all Strawberries Music & Video Stores, online at tickets.com or by calling tickets.com at (800) 477-6849. As always the caliber of the bands at New England always seem to amaze me. Killswitch Engage, Arch Enemy, Machine Head, God Forbid, Every Time I Die, As I Lay Dying confirmed as headliners, not for the whole fest, but just on Friday, and Saturday gets even better. Iced Earth, Children Of Bodom, Zao, Throwdown and Bleeding Through are the headliners for the second day of the fest. But that’s not all. Other Friday bands include A Perfect Murder, All My Sins, All That Remains, Black Dahlia Murder, Burnt By The Sun, Byzantine, Cattle Decapitation, Crematorium, Ed Gein, Enforsaken, Every Time I Die, Found Dead Hanging, From A Second Story Window, Full Blown Chaos, Mortal Treason, Most Precious Blood, Nora, Reflux, Soilent Green, The Bled, The Judas Cradle, The Red Chord and With Honor. Saturday’s headliners will include Iced Earth, Children Of Bodom, Bleeding Through, Zao, Throwdown and Terror. Also appearing on Saturday are Between The Buried And Me, Blood Has Been Shed, Bury Your Dead, Cannae, Darkest Hour, Diecast, Embrace Today, Evergreen Terrace, Evergrey, Glass Casket, Kataklysm, Love Is Red, Martyr AD, Misery Index, Misery Signals, Norma Jean, Pig Destroyer, Scar Culture, Scarlett, Since The Flood, Speed Kill Hate, The Autumn Offering, The Comeback Kid, Through The Discipline, To The Grave, Twelve Tribes, Walls Of Jericho and What Weapons Bring War. I can’t wait to see Black Dahlia Murder; they are always a crazy show. Soilent Green, will be a first for me, hopefully they won’t cancel like other times I’ve gone to see them. They are an amazing band and I’d love to witness a live show. If you want to see a band with great stage presence, heavy thrash riffs, and a vocalist that can sing with the best of them, Iced Earth is whom you want to see. I haven’t seen them in a few years, but every time I go to their show, they get better and better! Some other bands I can’t wait for the pit for include Six Feet Under, Kataklysm, Machine Head and Misery Index and there are still more bands that will help you, thrash your friends. Arch Enemy, God Forbid, Children of Bodom, Zao etc…it just goes on and on. A festival is not a festival unless there is more to do than just watch the bands. There will be a bunch of venders once again that will sell you the CD of your favorite band or of a band that you have just witnessed for the first time. You should be able to find t-shirts, vinyl, posters, and a hell of a lot more. There is so much to do at the fest that you won’t know where you want to go. My suggestion is to get yourself a beer and watch some metal. There is plenty of time to get the CDs and other stuff you want. Once again the pit beckons me, I’ll see you there!! |
