Spanning multiple sub genres, Milwaukee Metal Fest has become a staple for the Midwest head bangers over the years.
This year the age of crowd-goers spanned decades, all brought together to see both new and legendary bands alike. Some seasoned names such as Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Symphony X, Overkill, Mr. Bungle, Testament, In Flames, I Am Morbid, and Lacuna Coil, boosted the lineup, with newer bands like Paleface Swiss, Creeping Death, and Gatecreeper sprinkled in. I was excited to see the merch booths that graced the festival and as I suspected, I was overwhelmed with options for vintage Black Sabbath tees and Iron Maiden patches. I wasn’t wearing a denim vest and I was an outsider. Although I never felt that way, since as I mentioned earlier, this crowd was packed with people of all ages from all walks of life.
Exhumed put on a death-grind horror show that proved to be one of the most fun and interesting sets to watch on Sunday with their on-stage bloody guillotine run by a psychotic-looking executioner (who also happened to have a chainsaw). While this may sound super serious, guitarist Sebastian Philips makes sure it doesn’t stay that way with his huge smile and laughing while shredding through Exhumed’s gore metal. The giant eyeball beach balls also added to the fun as I eyeballed (hehe) Ross Sewage wearing a harness for a top, wishing it were me because it was hot as shit in that small room.
Deathcore heart throbs Paleface Swiss took over the stage with their usual top notch energy, a perfect mix of goofy energy and raging metal brought on by vocalist Marc Zellweger (Zelli) in his signature mesh top. It wasn’t my first time seeing the band but this show proved to me that these guys are determined to blow your face off, no matter the stage or city. Apparently, they experienced technical difficulties but whatever was happening was almost unnoticeable and only gave us a quick breather while they adjusted and Zelli gently coaxed drummer CJ (Cassi) back to his throne, before launching back into a few hard as fuck classics. These difficulties were one of a few that I saw throughout different sets this day and made me wonder if the issues stemmed from the age of the venue or just being poorly equipped for the quick turns.
Gatecreeper had a surprisingly small, less energetic crowd than I imagined (still had a pit, of course) and a few brave souls crowd surfed through just a few rows of people. Lacuna Coil, the first goth band I ever listened to, was a real treat, albeit being super late on their set time. They needed their fancy lights, okay?! Cristina Scabbia, our queen of darkness, and her vocal abilities didn’t seem to have aged a second and the bursts of energy persisted through the insane amount of reverb that muddled her vocals. The muddy vocals is a known issue at The Rave/Eagles Ballroom and I hope they eventually work to improve the sound capabilities to give these bands the quality they deserve. They also performed a new single “In The Mean Time”, but not before Cristina spoke about the pressure on artists to always put out high-performing pieces.
Slaughter to Prevail was the closer of the night and finally, all the fun devil masks I saw throughout the day made sense. I clearly have never seen them before or I would have immediately recognized these face accessories. See below. I think I would much prefer to see them in a smaller venue but I’m sure the people in the first few rows got one hell of show.
*not our photo (source: 24hundred)
Overall, Milwaukee Metal Fest on Sunday felt pretty low-energy but could very well be because the first two days I missed might have sucked the energy out of everyone. Either way, it was a low-stakes way to get in my metal fix and enjoy the community.
