Summer Slaughter???

[Evil Red]

I swear I'm talking to myself here most of the time these days, but I'm a little surprised nobody mentioned this yet and I'm bummed as fuck to have missed Kataklysm last night.

Did anyone go and how was it?

[Cardboardurinal]

It was oversold and I didn't get in, I did stick around for awhile because the drive down was 2 hours, when it should have been 40 minutes...so I stuck around until traffic cleared up talking to people. The crowd was full of little faggot scene jerk-offs there to see the Black Dahlia Murder...In fact, after The Faceless played some kid said "after the faceless, there are no good bands until BDM." So I turned and said "you are crazy." And then berated him for listening to trendy "death metal." That was the kind of people there. They were there to see the new, unoriginal boring wannabe death metal bands (except the Faceless, who totally kills) who think breakdowns are part of death metal.

[Bonehand]

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, Fire Marshall drama and all.

Aborted, The Faceless, Cryptopsy (in a shortened set) and Kataklysm all tore it up, and it was great to finally see Vader. I even developed a grudging respect for Black Dahlia Murder, I'm not a fan but they definitely worked the crowd in fine fashion.

Full review is forthcoming...

[Evil Red]

Doesn't Cryptopsy have that horrible whiney new singer now?
How'd that work without Lord Worm?

Fire Marshall, huh? Man... S7 must have been fucking packed!

[Bonehand]

Doesn't Cryptopsy have that horrible whiney new singer now?
How'd that work without Lord Worm?

Fire Marshall, huh? Man... S7 must have been fucking packed!

Packed it was.

Cryptopsy only played 4 songs, none of which featured clean vocals, so they sidestepped the issue in a way. The new guy's roar was fine live, and he did a respectable job squealin' and screeching, though stylistically he is more akin to DiSalvo than Lord Worm anyway.

Beyond the vocal performance, the musicianship was astounding, as you would expect.

[Evil Red]

Four songs?!?!

What the fuck is the point of that? How long was the average set?

[imperator_Drakul]

yeah I heard from a friend who went that it was a hot topic scene show. I still don't understand why Black Dahlia Murder are so attractive to scene posers, as I have listened to all three BDM albums and none feature break downs or any trendy style riffing. But bands like Whitechapel, and all of the other core bands, lose.

[Six6VI]

This tour hits here in Milwaukee this Friday and while I know I could score free tickets, aside from a band here and there, I really don't have any interest. Unfortunately, for the tour, we have some real jerk offs here who somehow gained rights to the the "Milwaukee Metalfest" name and have basically done everything in their power to drag it further through the mud and have killed off any credibility that festival ever had. And I'll explain exactly what this has to do with the Summer Slaughter tour.

These so called "promoters" originally booked the "fest" to happen back in early June but never acquired any worth while national acts/headliners (if any). Yet, at the same time, ran all of the unsigned bands here and abroad through the usual ringer of having to buy their way in and then sell tickets to make any of their money back. Lo and behold, they never came through with any headliners nor any well known bands and then out of nowhere changed the date and announced the exact line up for the Summer Slaughter tour. All the while calling it The "NEW" Milwaukee Metalfest. This tour was already booked to hit Milwaukee LONG before these douchefags ever got their mitts in it. Now, instead of the lesser known/unsigned bands supporting the major acts they'll be competing against them for attention in a separate part of the venue.

I can't, in good conscious, attend this show and I have a feeling I'm not the only one in the area who feels the same. Of course, you'll get the younger crowd who doesn't give a shit about the politics of the whole thing but I think the "Slaughter" tour is getting raped by a couple of two bit hacks who could give a fuck less about what once was a really kick ass, premiere, metal festival.

Lee

PS. I've heard the new Cryptopsy and while I'm not put off by the fact that they've tried to incorporate melodic vocals, I just don't think they did all that great of job with it. To me it sounds forced and shmaltzy. Nice try but it didn't exactly work. At least not for me... but I did give it it's day in court.

[Chris Slack]

So Koshick is out of the whole Metalfest deal now? I had a killer time there in 2001 but that was the only one I have been to and since then I have heard so much shit about the dude from bands I don't know if I'd ever be able to support the dude again.

I was at the Seattle leg of the Summer Slaughter tour for about 30 minutes. I watched Whitechapel for a bit and wasn't impressed. I went outside for some air and took a look around and just wasn't feeling it with all the Hot Topic kids around (and nobody I knew except for Grandmaster stab who was BUSY working security) so I took off to a nature preserve that I enjoy (Spencer Island in Everett) and spent some time with the birds, animals and trees. Much better way of spending time. I would have liked to see Vader though and I will admit that BDM usually puts on a pretty good show.

[Evil Red]

Shitty.

I only wanted to see Kataklysm now that Cryptopsy changed their line up. Hopefully I'll catch them soon on a much smaller tour.

[grandmasterstab]

yeah was supper busy super super that night it was crazy packed and firemarshall shit was bullshit i had fun but ...it was stoopid crazy.....

[Six6VI]

So Koshick is out of the whole Metalfest deal now? I had a killer time there in 2001 but that was the only one I have been to and since then I have heard so much shit about the dude from bands I don't know if I'd ever be able to support the dude again.

Nah, if Jack has any sense at all he won't show his face around here for quite some time after last year's debacle. There was absolutely ZERO promotion for the 2007 Metal Fest. I didn't even know it had happened until a week after the event took place when everyone was severely pissed about how poorly it was promoted and run. From what I'm told, about 150 people watched God Forbid, who I believe were one of the main headliners, and 148 of those people were in the other bands.

Koshick is a scam artist and I've known this for a long, long time. I've had my run-ins with the fuck back in the 90s and I've refused to have any association since. There's a damn good reason why I've never played the Milwaukee Metal Fest and it's by choice. The last MMF I attended was in 1996 and I remember then hearing complaints from bands and attendees. Which, of course, didn't surprise me in the least. I don't even know if he's still "promoting" shows around here or elsewhere. I haven't seen him in over 10 years and I'd very much like to keep it that way. Regardless of his involvement or not, it seems that the Milwaukee Metal Fest is forever fucked.

My apologies to Red for hijacking her thread.

Lee

[Evil Red]

No worries. I've always wanted to go to the Milwaukee Metal Fest and now... I have a first hand perspective on why NOT to. It's all good, Lee.

The only 'real' large fest I've been too was the New Jersey Metal Fest and THAT one ruled! Everybody was at that one.

[Bonehand]

As Promised, full review