1st Annual VA Deathfest Coverage
We went up to Danville Virginia this Saturday to check out the VA Death Fest at the Plan B. First I have to say that this was one of the worst venues I have ever been in. There were no windows, and when I say no windows I mean that there were holes for windows, just no glass. There were bars and screens. No A/C, just fans blowing around hot air. I can’t even imagine how hot it was on stage under the lights. There was no alcohol being served but maybe because it was an all ages show. Maybe it was because this place couldn’t afford a liqueur license, I don’t know. A few cold beers would have made it a bit cooler though. There was plenty of floor space and one corner was reserved as the smoking area even though I don’t think it made shit of a difference. A couple of bands didn’t show or showed late. Cover was 10 bucks and if you went to check out some underground death metal, then it was well worth it. Let’s get on to the bands.
Comparative Anatomy
The first band up was Comparative Anatomy. These guys are a bit different. There are only two of them and they both play bass with backing tracks of drums and animal sounds. They dub themselves “Animal Metal” as all their “vocals” are animal sounds. They have a teddy bear that sits on a box that says “drummer”. Both dudes wear masks, one a duck and the other a bunny. They were…well, different. the sound was kind of strange but interesting at the same time. You can check them out and listen to their music on their Myspace.
Decryptic
Next up was Decryptic out of Virginia. A three piece band without a bass player. They seemed more of a deathcore band but were not bad but not all that great either. They could use some work. The singer tried talking politics between songs saying that Obama was supposed to be the president that would end wars, yet we’re sending people to Korea (which we’re not). Little did he know that the United States Army and Air Force already has a prety good size force over in South Korea and has for the last 50 years, ready in case North Korea decides to get stupid.
The Unburied
Unburied out of Mississippi were a really good death metal band and this was only their 4th or 5th show. They played well and had a good death metal sound. I would go see them again if they came near NC. After they played we decided to go eat. We missed Bonditron out of New York and I heard there were people Karate Moshing while we were gone. Doesn’t sound like I missed much.
Nefarious
The Doom Of Sarnath didn’t show so Nefarious came on next. These guys didn’t fit the bill. At times it was like Rob Dukes of Exodus trying to sing like Fred Durst. Kind of Nu-metalish. I think they could have a tight sound if the tried a slightly different style and lost the singer.
Mess In The Morgue didn’t show either, so on with Malebolgia. I talked about Malebolgia a few times. These guys are awesome. Grind to the fuckin max and they absolutely slay. Their set was great even though they were short a singer due to him coming down with an unlikely illness. Joseph Darling covered the vocals and I thought he did great. Check them out if they ever come near your town. Also check out the video of them playing Degrading Succession.
Atrocious Abnormality
After Malebolgia came Atrocious Abnormality, fronted by Steve Green who also runs Comatose Music. Good band but I wish there was a little more clarity on the vocals. Other than that it was pretty entertaining, especially when they played the DM version of The Misfits Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?
Bloodsoaked went on next. Of course you have to know about Bloodsoaked by now, as I’ve mentioned them {him} a few times. Below is a video of Bloodsoaked performing Rotting in Filth live. It was getting late and I was hot and tired, so we left before the last two bands went on. I hope I didn’t miss out on too much.
Overall it wasn’t a bad show. It was a terrible turn-out. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that most of bands are locals or if it was just not promoted enough. Maybe it was because if you didn’t know where the venue was then you were pretty much screwed. There is no sign out front and it’s on a pretty busy street. There was barely any place to park either. This place needs more than a Myspace page, the need a gigantic fuckin overhaul. Hopefully the NC deathfest will be a better turnout in December.
Posted in Tours And Dates | 
Tags: Atrocious Abnormality, Bloodsoaked, comparative anatomy, Malebolgia, Nefarious, VA Death Fest
19 Responses to “1st Annual VA Deathfest Coverage”
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i think you were the only one that didn’t like decryptic…lol
Considering that I was one of a handful of people there [at the time] that WASN’T in a band, then yeah, perhaps I was. They could use some work, but they’ll get there once they get a tight, cohesive group and work on their sound a bit more. I loved the Michael Jackson joke he told though!
Well, truth be told, it was about 9000 degrees in there at the time they played too, so I personally would have taken that into consideration, and trust me…they sound MUCH better with a bassist, it just makes everything sound much much cleaner.
Shoulda gone easy on us in the review, after all we were just formed a couple months ago and we’re all under the age of 18
. Personally…we liked Nefarious, something different. And you missed a lot with Blasphemer, shoulda stayed. And on a final note, we didn’t say one thing about sending people to North Korea. (We’re not Deathcore) -_-
Meant to add, we’re not trying to start internet wars, we’re just clarifying.
1. I think I went easy on you guys in this “Review”. All I said was that you were not bad but not great. You guys are young and have plenty of time to get things tight. Just stick to it and have fun. I know I wasn’t the only one that didn’t care for Nefarious. Something different compared to everyone else at the show, yes. Different from other metal out there, not really.
2.Yes, your singer, whether that is you or not, did talk about Korea. I don’t make this shit up for shits and giggles. I have a pretty good memory for these things. Afterward he said “Death metal can be political, right?”. Why would I make something like that up?
3. Lastly, perhaps the reason I may have assumed that you guys were more of a deathcore band is because you’re young and that’s mainly what young kids trying to play anything death metal related really are playing. My apologies for that.
I wish I had stayed but I live 2 hours away, it was hot as dog shit in that place, my son was getting tired and I had some shit to do in the morning
I know we said shit about korea but we didn’t say anything about sending people there. Which is what I said in my last post. Also he said “Who said metal can’t be political?”. You’re review just kinda pissed us off because you turned it into a review on korea trying to make us look stupid.
I didn’t look like Scott was trying to make you look stupid. He was pointing out that you need more work. His um… “review” of your band did not focus directly on your comments about Korea. Not enough was said about you to focus on anything.
One thing you’ll learn if you keep performing is that you don’t generally want to sweat the small stuff. Accusing someone of trying to make you look “stupid” because you disagree with what they said about you on their site makes you look stupid.
I’m just sayin’.
I personally liked all the bands, i didn’t enjoy Nefaroius that much, maybe cause their style. The Doom Of Sarnath did play, they were promoted as The Doom Of Sarnath but they have a new name which is Acrid Death it was just the Drummer and the Singer/Guitar Player and i really enjoyed them. As far as Decryptic you guys are good there’s no need no make a big deal about little stuff i was actually pretty impressed with the drummer and the vocals. Atrocious Abnormality did pretty good and so Unburied. Bloodsoaked as usual put up a good show too.
yeah, you’re right Scott about what they said of Obama, or at least that’s what i think i heard.
One last thing to Decryptic. Seriously, you guys should NOT be getting your undies in a bunch because of the very few words one dude says. What’s going to happen when you guys start playing out more and some asshole really starts being a critic and a cynic? Remember for every one person that doesn’t like your band, there are 5 that do like your band and those are really the only people that count because those are the people that are going to support you.
@Decryptic
Yeah… Scott mentioned more about Korea than about your music, maybe a mistake (his mistake) since… who cares his political views? must of us are here because of his music reviews (certainly we’re not here because of his website colors/logo). I don’t think he was trying to say you’re stupid, and even if that were the case, who cares?
The more you play & the more people listen to you, the more critics you will receive but focus only on what you do best, ok? ok!
ok, dude. I get the picture, you don’t like the yellow and black. Maybe later on down the line I’ll change thing up a bit but for now it’s bumblebees all over…
this is Decryptics vocalist…that was not me in the earlier posts but i do want to say i dont remeber what i said i might have gotten some things mixed up and said something wrong personally i dont care
im sorry this whole war of the forums popped up cause i know we are goin to get bad reviews and lots of them cause we want to be a band that pisses people off
we are working on a new set list and working with bass players so hopefully next time you see us you enjoy it more
sorry for the problems and i dont mind the black and yellow
Scott, the colors stand out. Like Stryper. I say leave ‘em!
Comparative Anatomy was the fecking SHIT dudes. I was bummed I only caught like the last two songs. I wanted them to play Flipper Summoner of Storms, but apparently something got screwed up on their MP3 player. You should see these guys now. Man.
Yeah, that fuckin place sucked. I’m not familiar with the place but they need more parking spaces and a big ass sign out front that says Plan B or something, so people know where they are.
I’m not trying to make anyone look stupid, but if you’re going to talk politics at least know what you are talking about. That’s why I don;t generally talk politics. I could almost paraphrase you word-for-word on what you said about Korea. Sure you didn’t specify which Korea but what was said was something in the lines of this: Obama was supposed to be the president that would end the wars, but know he’s sending people to Korea. I’m sure Martin could vouch for me on that one.
Bottom line is this; you guys played well. Did it blow me away? No, but with a little more work, some tighter and slightly more technical riffs (rip that Dimebag Dean like no other!) , a GOOD bass player and you guys will do fine for what you’re doing. Look at it this way; you’re young and you’re doing more than I am. I have a garage full of music equipment and I’m not playing gigs. I’m 33. Time is not on my side and if I ever get anything going it will be nothing more than a band playing local gigs [if we're lucky] for the fun of it. Very few words were even said about your band and I even linked your Myspace page so others could listen and draw their own opinion of your band. I’m not here to be a prick and start any internet wars either. Just stating my opinion and spreading the metal gospel.
I don’t think there was any real problem here, man. We all talked it through without any name calling or immature crap like that.
When you go to a death metal show and all the bands are, well, death metal, it’s really hard to express or explain how each band would differ. The best way would be to shoot video for it and unfortunately I only shot video of two bands. You guys were pretty good, I just wasn’t feeling it at the time. Sometimes it’s tough to get in to a band for the first time, especially when you see them live and they are one of many opening bands. Good luck and keep it up.