DARKEST HOUR, DECREPIT BIRTH, WINDS OF PLAGUE TEAR SHIT UP AT DIRT FEST 13
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 5:00pm by Angela Gossowski
Ahh, Michigan. We have lakes. Big fucking lakes. We used to have a booming car industry, but unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, you need not an explanation of why I won’t be speaking of that in this article. Besides, we harbor a little music festival every summer called Dirt Fest, a metal get together a few hours outside of Detroit, founded by two dudes looking to showcase their own band. Dirt Fest quickly became the summer festival for local bands looking for recognition and inspiration. It wound up becoming comparable to the one hot chick at the party which turned out to be a sausage fest – she ends up having such a good time that she lets everyone have a turn.
Anyhoo, thirteen lucky summers later and Dirt Fest is rocking a roster that has, in the past, included bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Black Dahlia Murder. Obviously something is working if these bands are rolling through, so I decided to finally go check it out this year. Armed with nothing but a delicious bottle of Jagermeister and a set of tits everyone at the MetalSucks Mansion is dying to get a look at, I embarked on what turned out to be a very interesting day. My mouth already tasted like booze before noon…
Bahamut, Blackguard, After the Burial, Beneath The Massacre Origin and Born of Osiris: Missed a large majority if not the entire performance by these bands because I was conducting interviews for MetalSucks [Coming soon - Ed.]. The little bit I caught of Decrepit Birth was great despite losing sound mid-song at one point. Beneath The Massacre finally started bringing more people in to the main stage. Solid for the sliver of the set that I caught. From what I heard, fans thoroughly enjoyed Born Of Osiris.
Winds of Plague: WOP’s performance probably got the most reception from any of the bands I was able to watch. Everyone on stage was giving their A-game, despite the technical difficulties and the overall shitty fucking speakers equipped on the main stage. Their pit was below mediocre at first, most likely because the fans didn’t want to mess up their hair. Most of them resembled these, um, well I have no idea if they’re male or female at this point. “One Body Too Many” finally got the kids lubed up and thrusting the pit for a while. The only downside? West-coast moshing… uggggggh. It’s gymnastics for the kids that didn’t want to wear leotards, but think its “uber kewl” to wear pants that cut off circulation to the genitalia. In the end, the set was great on their part. If you haven’t seen these guys live yet, you need to shut-off World of Warcraft and get with the program
Darkest Hour: Should have had a MUCH better response then they did. Although they had a crowd there, they had lost a decent chunk of fans after WOP left the stage. I’m not really sure why, because those guys fucking ROCKED it as usual. If you’re reading this and you’re one of the assholes that walked away after WOP, fuck you. You missed out on a great fucking set by a band that consistently puts out solid records, which is unfortunately rare these days. There was a giant hole in the center of the crowd, but no pit. It got less action then Barbra Walters’ vagina. At one point in time, some kid jumped off the stage, assuming he would be able to crowd surf – wrong. I don’t know what a full belly-flop on concrete feels like, but I’m sure that dude can give you a detailed description once his face grows back. All in all, DH murdered face. The crowd did not. Except for that one kid. Literally.
Ensiferum: Had a few stragglers at the stage, but most of the patrons had left the venue at that point. Either that or they were checking out the merch booths and vendor tents. The only people really checking these guys out were the older metalheads. At least they got a good show out of it. I believe the sound gave out while they were playing at one point in time, which would normally send the crowd into a pissed off frenzy. Not the case due to the lack of people actually listening. There music is fun. It was my first time seeing or remembering that I saw these guys live. Although most of the guys sounded like they have been gargling with whiskey and thumb-tacks for the past twenty years, I was pleasantly surprised.
Necrophagist: Meh. Not really a fan [But we are! - Eds.]. Apparently no one else there was either, given the fact they had maybe twenty people at the stage. Still not quite sure why they were headlining.
Summers prior, Dirt Fest had brought in huge crowds. Unfortunately, this year was lack-luster, even with Summer Slaughter Tour taking over the main stage. Nothing was very organized, and who-ever decided on the layout of the event needs to get kicked in the shins. Along with the main stage, there were five other small stages scattered throughout the parking lot in which everything took place. The two stages that were closest to the main stage were so loud, and the main stage sound so shitty, that whenever there was a band on both stages at the same time, the main stage got the shaft volume and quality wise. Unfortunately from the crowds’ point of view, the sound they were hearing resembled that of a download from Napster circa 2000 – muted, blotchy and unbalanced.
Still, at the end of the day, I have to say I’m happy to have supported the uprising of American Metal festivals. Europe has shat on us for so long with events like Wacken, Grosspop and Metalfest, its about time we get in the game. Although Dirt Fest can’t even compare to those OR the New England Metal and Hardcore festival, at least we’re trying to give our brethren across the pond some competition. So while the setup and layout gets only one horn, I’ve gotta give the festival as a whole a four out of five.
And as far as Summer Slaughter is concerned, I have nothing but good things to say about the melding of metal chosen for this years line-up. If anything, its introducing new types of music to those who remain close minded about expanding their horizons. If you live in the Midwest and aren’t ready to head out to the east coast for a event like this just yet, give Dirt Fest some serious consideration. Not just because it’s a pretty sick event, but because I don’t know if I can handle that many scenesters again next year and still be confident that I won’t go completely fucking insane.
Oh, one more thing: To all those kids I attempted to give a MS sticker too, and you clearly didn’t understand that “MetalSucks” does is dripping with sarcasm, fuck you. You little bastards looked at me like I was the only pro-choice advocate at an anti-abortion rally. And to the ginger-kid that ripped up the sticker and threw it in my face: I’m going to find you, motherfucker. I promise. Hold on to your nuts, because after I’m done with your as you’re going to be screaming for your mother while you shit them out.
Thanks for your time.
-AG
Holy crap! A girl!
who knew geurls liked metal?
and she made a joke about “Barbra Walters’ vagina”, classy lady.
is this the same “get to the choppa” as from FN?
nope
You gave high reviews to Winds of Plague and said you aren’t a fan of Necrophagist.
Perhaps because Necrophagist are a band that play REAL death metal and the other band mentioned is hot topic trend-core!
Agreed , the Michigan metal scene is one of two things now shitty Deathcore bands or Lamb of God/Pantera rip off bands . They only stick to their own stuff and are very short minded when it comes to metal.
I live in Michigan and am currently working with a group as a road manager and i see this all over the state , its kind of pathetic in my opinion that people have such a closed minded view on Metal when there are so many great bands in so many of the sub genre’s .
Decrepit Birth is neato.
that sounds really terrible.
does anyone know if suffocation is playing on both summer slaughter ny dates?
the fillmore isnt very big and i dont want to be crammed in there with a bunch of rainbow raccoon looking motherfuckers only to find out suffo isnt playing.
I know they’re playing Sunday night… which I will be there for.
its because winds of plague has a girl in it.
Who the hell in their right mind doesn’t like free stickers????????? I’ll take a free sticker if only to use it in an ironic way later. Goofy gingers.
lol, you know that kid just thinks he’s the greatest person ever now.
I would donate a bumcheek to see Necrophagist. Each to their own I suppose. Darkest Hour would be smashing also.
girls have tits?
“And to the ginger-kid that ripped up the sticker and threw it in my face…”
I never would’ve thought Ziltoid would be at a festival like that…
ZING!
win
“………… to the ginger-kid that ripped up the sticker and threw it in my face: I’m going to find you, motherfucker. I promise. ”
you had him right in front of you anus, why do you have to go find him?your kung-fu is weak!
god. the end of this article makes me want to give ron weasley a cleveland steamer.
you couldn’t pay me to see any of those bands…
The same exact thing happened at the summer slaughter date in cleveland. The idiots at Peabody’s decided to over book local bands. So i had to sit for literally three hours of local fakecore bands that all sounded the same until the real show started. Then as soon as Winds of Plague ended their set, which i slept through by the way, all the kids left leaving Darkest Hour with only people over the age of 19. The kids in this scene are horrible. Without bands like Darkest Hour, Necrophagist and Suffocation there would be no Winds of Plague, Whitechapel or whatever generic deathcore band that is in nowadays. Their fourth generation metalcore bands suck because they have no idea where those watered down swedish melodies are coming from. While Darkest Hour may be heavily influenced by At the Gates at least they know their roots. These kids could care less and they ruin the show for everyone that doesnt care about wearing tight pants, running in place, and fighting off invisible ninjas. You are not tough you weigh 90 pounds and you will not be straight edge anymore once you hit college because you are to impressionable.
Yes.
Fuck, I love Darkest Hour. Your comment is on point.
I know the bitch that wrote this article…and trust me she really does have a set of tits that all of you wankers would slice a nut off to get a look at.
Um…. congratulations?
no love for necrophagist in MI???
it’s offical…time to burn that motherfucker to the ground
michigan sucks fuck. i live in jackson, michigan which is the worse city in all of the state especially because of the fact that we have the highest teen pregnancy rate in all of the nation. pretty much the only good thing about michigan are the music programs at the universities… but that’s only if you’re into “classical” or jazz.
winds of plague is so fucking gay
I was there, one of the few people up front for darkest hour. Did not understand the lack of reaction for them as they put on the best show of the day without a doubt. I can’t agree about winds of plague however… they had the biggest crowd reaction and I felt their live performance was poor. Not a huge fan of the band so I guess that would probably influence my opinion. It seemed all the bands that did not have a lot of breakdowns did not get a reaction out of the kids that were there. Ensiferum was fun (i had a few beers by that point so it was especially fun), and i thoroughly enjoyed necrophagist too. Seemed there were less people at it this year than the one that BtBAM headlined. Unfortunate, as I do really like the venue and the festival in general.
awesome piece! people uninterested in live Darkest Hour must be exteriminated.
agreed
Bahamut is a terrible band. I hate the whole deathcore, hardcore, applecore, whatever the fuck core shit that exists in the Detroit area.
+1000 for clever reference to Wesley Snipes in “Rising Sun”
dillinger were scheduled to play at dirtfest a few years back, but they never played. i was pissed.
I’ve noticed that Darkest Hour is constantly over looked.
At thrash and burn last year the same thing happened. Parkway Drive played and there was a huge crowd. Then they finish and Darkest Hour comes on and no ones fucking there. It’s fucking sad. That band deserves so much.
I feel like the only place a DH show would be perfect it DC… but something tells me they’re probably overlooked in their own hometown. Sucks.
Not true, I live right outside DC, and have seen them twice there.
yup same at croc rock last year way over crowed for parkway and like 30 people for darkest hour
upstairs or downstairs show?
HAHA. And you fuckers whined when I said DIRT FEST WAS SHADY.
“technical difficulties, sounded like shit, no crowd”
GUESS I WAS RIGHT
Dicks.
I guess over 1,000 venues in the states are considered shady then.
Darkest Hour had a similar reaction at the MN summer slaughter date which was a bummer as they had one of the best sets of the night, only difference was the played after ATB not WOP since ATB got bumped up for the hometown show.
you stupid bitch you missed atb boo and beneath the massacre you are a waste
Wow, a positive comment regarding Winds Of Plague on MetalSucks?!??!! Has hell frozen over? I find it hard to believe they can suck so bad in the studio, and even be remotely decent live.
going to see most of this line up at summer slaughter tomorrow, will definently use darkest hours set as my break to smoke a bowl, very boring dont blame anyone for not watching them
Darkest Hour got a decent reaction in Toronto at Summer Slaughter. Less than the other bands, but some kids were certainly into it. It’s a huge shame they get overlooked like that by many because they are one of the best live bands in metal today in my opinion. Even if you don’t like their tunes, they put on a damn good show. I personally loved it.
Ensiferum had the best reaction and a lot of kids left after them unfortunately.
Necrophagist ruled, naturally.
Shitstain on the ass of the universe part 1,000,000= EVERY SINGLE DEATHCORE/METALCORE/EMOCORE BAND IN EXISTANCE!!!!!! YOU ARE DESTROYING METAL!!!!!! HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY FUCKFACES!!!!!
The cumdumpster that wrote this review is a waste. What a shitty review, why did you bother, etc.
and they say metal fans are misogynistic….
i was there too for another blog. can’t beleive the underground juggernaut that was ‘KING’ did not get mentioned!
Necrophagist got the headlining spot because they are highly preaised in the death metal underground(and rughtfully so) however i dont beleive their album sales come anywhere close to that of any of the other bands
it looks to me like you, richard, and all the other misogynistic moron little boys w/ even smaller wankers are the cumdumpsters, my friend. Stop fucking whining and go get laid. You’d probably cream your pants if you saw this girls tits in a sweater. And she can write. don’t you have anything worthwhile to say, “etc.”? And now, you can call ME a cumdumster too or some other clever, overused, dumbass term. I’m sure you’ve got an exceedingly big repertoire of them since there doesn’t seem to be anything else taking up room up there.
DH and Ensiferum were amazing, even with shitty sound quality. My brother and I thought it was almost comical that as soon as the cookie cutter breakdown whoring bands got off the stage, Literally 2/3s of the crowd (who were, of course, mostly scene kids) migrated towards the 2nd stage, where they could pretend to fight ninjas to their comfortably unoriginal chugfests. By the time DH and Finns started playing some actual metal, there didn’t seem to be a single gauged ear in the entire crowd, leaving the real bands with hardly any crowd at all. Fuck deathcore, and fuck the Michigan metal scene. I wish I lived in Germany.
Also, Blackguard only got to play 2 songs. Bull fucking shit.
Metalsucks.net,
Thanks for the criticism and the glowing review.
Perhaps you could give me some insight as far as how to improve Dirt Fest’s site plan, organization, and choice of bands.
I will take your comments to heart and strive to integrate them into next year’s Dirt Fest.
Until then, I wish you luck with your website.
-Andy Dalton
-Event Coordinator
-www.dirtfest.com