BLADES OF STEEL III

(Hey there, humanoids! Trying something a bit different with this live review. It's the first show in years that more than one Worm-scribe attended. So let's do a double-header, with Mr. THERON MOORE handling the first report on Blades of Steel III and then DR. MALITY following up with his own look at the fest! DIG IN AND ROCK ON!)

Blades Of Steel III Metalfest 2023 

By Theron Moore

I did something completely out of character this past summer: I bought a three day ticket to Randy Kastner’s ‘Blades Of Steel Metalfest’ in Madison, WI. Not that I had doubts about this event, just that I’m not prone to buying a plane ticket and going to a concert – or any event for that matter – 1,276 miles away from where I live, but I made the show and fucking hell, it I’m glad I did. It turned out to be a celebration of metal and community I won’t soon forget, and if this turns out to be the final hurrah for BOS, I’m proud to say I was there to witness it.

‘Blades Of Steel Metalfest’ was three days of the best curated indie and underground metal music (not to mention camaraderie) I was lucky enough to have been a part of. The overwhelming sense of community, brotherhood, and sisterhood laid the foundation for what proved to be a festival of epic proportion. No fights, no confrontations, no shouting matches, just a bunch of rowdy metalheads rocking out to the likes of EXCITER, MASSACRE, VIO-LENCE, JAG PANZER, RIOT V, MIDNIGHT and many, many more from 9/28-9/30. I won’t bore you with a blow by blow description of every band that played, just the highlights from this writer’s point of view.

DESOLUS opened the fest Thursday afternoon cranking out a pretty savage hybrid of death/thrash with a healthy dose of raw, early SLAYER and SODOM thrown in for good measure. DESOLUS is definitely a band to keep an eye on. They played with the intensity of a bomb going off and really kicked off the fest in style. Following DESOLUS was IDOL THRONE, MISFIRE, and Milwaukee’s own, BRAY ROAD.

Every band that performed Thursday night was thoroughly impressive and put on a helluva show for everyone; they played like it was the last gig they’d ever do and held nothing back. BRAY ROAD has already developed quite the reputation for themselves. Keep IDOL THRONE, MISFIRE, and DESOLUS on your radar, for sure. These bands go for it live and leave no survivors in their wake.

If Saturday was a bomb going off, Friday was the fuse that lit it. SOLICITÖR took the stage and rocked out a traditional speed metal set that was nothing short of pure power and titanium

steel greatness. SOLICITÖR is a band that lives, breathes, and eats metal 24/7 and it showed in their performance. Outside of Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson, and Rob Halford, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone command a stage and an audience like singer Amy Lee Carlson can and did, and her vocals? Get the fuck out of here! Her voice is unbelievably good. SOLICITÖR is riding a wave of popularity right now for good reason: Their music, their unwavering support of the metal scene, and especially their live show is untouchable. And fan friendly? They met everyone, they signed everything, I was more than impressed with SOLICITÖR  both on and off stage. They didn’t just play the fest; they were there multiple days (at least Amy Lee Carlson was) meeting and greeting fans and headbanging with the rest of us; that’s true metal worship and support. When you watch this band perform, you’re watching a band that NEEDS and WANTS to perform in front of and for their fans.

HAUNT plugged in right around 8:15 (give or take) and did what I didn’t think anyone could do after SOLICITÖR raised the bar as high as they did earlier that evening: Barring a few technical issues, they were as good if not better under the spotlight. Let me pose this question to you: What happens when an unstoppable force meets a stationary stage? You get HAUNT. You get massive metal worship against a wall of shred by a band whose on stage chemistry was infectious. It wasn’t a job to them (or any other band on the bill) to perform, it was fun and it showed.

Led by Trevor William Church, HAUNT pulls together a sound which is part traditional, part speed, with a dash of – dare I say – 80’s melodic inspiration to a certain degree? Again, HAUNTis another band that sounds fantastic on record and a million times better live.

Church and crew were beyond spectacular. Why this band isn’t bigger right now, I don’t understand it. Church took everyone to church that night and we collectively worshipped at HAUNT’s altar of rock.

Power metal greats JAG PANZER showed up and did a set that equally showcased their older hits and newer tunes from their most recent record, “The Hallowed”. From start to finish it was a grand slam performance, and what an honor and privilege it was to see this band live. Their mastery of this genre is scary good. For a band that’s been around since the early 80’s you’d never know it, they played tight, on point, and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt why they’re the undisputed leaders of the power metal genre.

PANZER is the very definition of denim and leather metal, right up there with the likes of SAXON and PRIEST. To be able to see them perform at a smaller venue like The Crucible, where there’s no bad seat in the house, so to speak, that’s a treat. After JAG PANZER played their set left me speechless and a bit humbled that I was here to see them throw down live, and in such top form. Guitarist Mark Briody has stated that JAG PANZER might be doing some 2024 dates, possibly stateside, and if they do I’m making the trip to see them.

So…VIO-LENCE pretty much laid waste to the Crucible and all that remained in attendance later Friday night. I don’t think I need to go into much detail describing the action there, just lots of moshing and crowd surfing, your typical-friendly-violent fun that was had by all. Apparently everyone survived and showed up Saturday because the pit for MORBID SAINT on the final night of the fest was exceedingly brutal.

For the record, I’ve never walked into a venue and got punched in the face and gut at the same time by the physical sound of the band performing like I did with MORBID SAINT. They were loud – think MOTÖRHEAD ‘Iron Fist’ loud – fueled by bloodlust and violence. The lead singer gripped the mic like he was holding a severed head trophy; at that point there’s nothing the audience wouldn’t have done for him had he asked. Being a glutton for punishment I moved as close to the stage as I could to witness the brutality firsthand. MORBID SAINT were super impressive live. This band is a legend and rightfully so.

Chicago death metal gods CARDIAC ARREST, followed  and kept the tsunami of metal destruction rolling through the venue in wave after bloody wave. CARDIAC’S set was tight, a masterclass in mass musical carnage. The lead singer Adam directed crowd traffic like a general leading troops into battle. Not a single soul was spared that night and thank the dark lord for that.

CARDIAC ARREST, like MORBID SAINT and HAUNT... it’s beyond me why these bands aren’t mega huge in their respective genres by now. CARDIAC have the chops, and the hooks, and a true talent for death metal not many bands have. They oughta be out on the road destroying audiences with DYING FETUS or CANNIBAL CORPSE.

Cleveland’s legendary DESTRUCTOR had quite the task before them late Saturday evening: They had to follow MORBID SAINT and CARDIAC ARREST. Good luck. Did they need it? Hell no. DESTRUCTOR is a wrecking ball of tank driven, leather studded heavy metal backed up by a wall of sound, a ton of attitude, and enough riffs to make Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing do a double take even on their best day.

DESTRUCTOR are gearing up to drop their new ten ton slab of vinyl entitled “Blood, Bone, And Fire” November 24 and the perfect place to showcase some of the new material is center stage at Blades Of Steel and man, did they take advantage of it. DESTRUCTOR had us all in the palm of their hand that night racing through a setlist of new and old songs which would’ve burned down a lesser venue. They have been around forever and their ability to throw down a live show the way they did Saturday night was a cool sight to behold.

MASSACRE. Kam Lee. Both names are iconic, both names stand for something: State of the art, classic, Floridian death metal. MASSACRE opened with “Dawn Of Eternity” from their ’91 opus, ‘From Beyond’ and all of sudden all was well with the world and my faith in metal was renewed, not that it needed to be, but when you’re in the presence of greatness, you feel it immediately.

I moved to the front of the stage to soak it all in. MASSACRE’s set was old school heavy, and the band sounded amazing. What struck me about Lee was both his professionalism and his love for both the music and fans alike. He looked loose, he was having fun, and the crowd lapped it up, every last note of it. The last time I saw MASSACRE was ’89 / ‘90 but it wasn’t in concert.

Quick story: I worked at the Belvidere Illinois Tollway Oasis. MASSACRE and GRAVE were on tour and pulled in the parking lot. Kam came in and ordered. I recognized him and bought him dinner. He was cool and gracious, and we spoke for about fifteen minutes before burger duty called and I had to get back to the grind. This night, I finally saw the mighty MASSACRE live and it was, for me anyway, life affirming. Watching Kam and MASSACRE perform equates to being in the presence of greatness and watching a true master work his craft, which Lee did with ease.

In a nutshell, that was Blades Of Steel, 2023. Aside from the bands I hung out with, Ifinally met the mighty editor in charge of Wormwood Chronicles himself, Dr. Abner Mality aka Mike Korn, great guy. If you get a chance to meet and hang with Mike, do it. You can talk metal, wrestling, and one of my favorite topics, UFOs. The same goes for John Vom of Chicago’s legendary crossover band, JOHNNY VOMIT. Enjoyed meeting him, hanging out and watching bands, not to mention downing a few beers with too (Thursday night).

Props to Kurt Manthe from VERMILLION, another awesome metalhead I met, Bob Byrne of Legions Of Metal fame, and last but not least, the great Randy Kastner who produced this event.

Unless Kastner makes an announcement prior to the publication of this feature article, the fate of Blades Of Steel hasn’t been decided yet. It does return, I’m going back. This festival was all I thought it would be and more. That’s it, peace out till next year…hopefully.

BLADES OF STEEL III METALFEST

By Dr. Abner Mality

A few weeks back, we ran an interview with Southern Wisconsin metal promoter Randy Kastner conducted by Theron Moore and much time was spent discussing the difficulties of putting together a more personal and non-corporate heavy metal festival. You can check out that chat HERE. Well, Blades of Steel 3.0 may have been the biggest event that Randy ever put together and it was for sure one of the most difficult to put together.

I remember wrestler Arn Anderson doing an interview and saying “adversity introduces a man to himself”. I’m sure Arn didn’t come up with that phrase, but he sure knew what he was talking about. This festival underwent numerous line-up changes and hiccups on the way to its final form and I’m sure Mr. Kastner probably put his head in his hands a couple of times. He probably met himself more than once.

But the show must go on and let the Good Doctor tell you, I have rarely spent three more enjoyable days than I did at the Crucible Club up in the Mad City. Every metal show has a certain amount of brotherhood and camaraderie, but never more than at Blades of Steel. The feeling of friendship and sharing the love of metal was palpable. Earlier this year, I went to the revived Milwaukee Metalfest and while that is on a much bigger scale, the warm and homey feeling I got from BOS3 was a rare sensation indeed. That’s something that the giant fests just can’t duplicate.

For the first time, the fest was moved out of Milwaukee and into Madison. While I will always have nostalgia for the old Metal Grill, the Crucible Club was a great place to hold a mid-sized metalfest. It was easy to find, the parking was free and a breeze to boot and the booze prices were much more reasonable than the fleecing you’d get at The Rave in Milwaukee or just about any Chicago club. The venue is mostly known for raving dances on the naughty side, but metal is not unknown there and the “alternative”-looking staff treated everybody wonderfully.

To give you an idea of the lineup changes, the original roster of bands for the show included FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, CYCLONE, ARTILLERY, BLIND ILLUSION, RIOT CITY, LYCANTHRO, LIGHTBRINGER OF SWEDEN and SAINT DEAMON. All of whom dropped out at various points. That list would make for a pretty good metalfest in itself. Randy dug in hard and came up with VIO-LENCE, DESTRUCTOR, MIDNIGHT, HAUNT and GOTHIC KNIGHTS as replacements. In many cases, the replacement was a bigger draw than the original they filled in for.

When avant-garde metallers BLIND ILLUSION quit the fest with only a week to go, I’m sure Randy was about one step from hara-kiri. In this case, not even he could swing a replacement. The solution? Give the other bands longer set times. Sometimes you just gotta go with it. I know nobody could have worked harder getting the word out about the bands and letting people know about the changes.

It’s enough to test the will of the strongest, but in the end, Blades of Steel wound up being a hell of a metal show for sure. Hey, once the name EXCITER was announced, I was in no matter what. When you consider that JAG PANZER, RIOT V, MASSACRE, VIO-LENCE and tons more played, it was miraculous. And in the end, this fest became one of my favorites, if not THE favorite, in a long career of attending metal shows. Not to beat a dead horse, but the fellowship at this thing was off the charts.

Well, let’s swing into this bitch and do a day by day rundown

THURSDAY SEPT. 28

Got to the Crucible Club with plenty of time to spare. I can’t relate how smooth and easy the parking was for the club and it didn’t cost a dime, unlike the shakedown fee I had to pay for Milwaukee Metalfest or the horror show that Chicago parking is. Things like this put you at ease even before you hit the door.

Attendance Thursday was not all it could have been, but by the last few bands of the night, it reached a respectable level. I met fellow Worm-scribe Theron Moore in the flesh for the very first time and really enjoyed hooking up with him over the weekend and introducing him to well known characters like the delinquent Johnny Vomit, Legions of Metal promoter Bob Byrne (who has made a second career out of tormenting Randy Kastner), BRAY ROAD drummer and drum-tech Metal Pete and PREZIR singer and dwarf aficionado Luka Djordevic. To name just a few of the reprobates frequenting the fest. One person that was keenly missed was Ben Miller, who passed away just a couple of weeks before. That is a guy a lot of us will miss.

First band of the fest was DESOLUS and these suckers kicked things off with a volcanic blast. This was insanely raging death-thrash reminiscent of old SODOM and crazy South American bands of old such as VULCANO. They even looked the part, with spikes, war vests and high-top sneakers. At times their set veered almost out of control, but that was the kind of near-chaos the scene used to thrive on. A good band to initiate the weekend’s facilities.

Suddenly Indianapolis is a burgeoning area for underground metal. That was the home base of the next band IDOL THRONE, who played a very energetic kind of power-thrash reminiscent of 80’s bands like ATTACKER, OMEN and the very early FATES WARNING. Their singer had a piercing voice and a manic stage presence and looked like he belonged on stage. Lots of energy in IDOL THRONE’s set and I know Theron was most impressed with them. I knew nothing about them previously but will keep an eye out for them now. One of the bigger treats of these fests is discovering promising new bands.

Chicago’s MISFIRE was up next. I had the pleasure of interviewing them last year and saw them play a pretty rousing set at the bar stage for Milwaukee Metalfest. Looks like the guitarist got a buzz cut, which made him look like a marine recruit. Boy, I sure hope long hair comes back in vogue soon...the bald and buzz cut look doesn’t cut it for a metal band.  These guys play meat and potatoes metal that’s pretty easy on the brain. At some points they are straight up thrash, at others more like PANTERA-style groove metal. They were entertaining enough, but I liked their MMF set a little bit more.

After MISFIRE, I FINALLY got to see BRAY ROAD in action. I’ve been missing these guys by inches for years, but at last the stars aligned and these Wisconsin favorites hit the stage with the Good Doctor in attendance. They are coming off their latest album “Fierce, Focused, Relentless” and concentrated on tunes from that. These guys were tight! They had an energy live that didn’t really come across as much on the record, playing catchy metal that rode the line between thrash and groove metal. Cuts like “Feed The Beast” and “Nobody’s Junior” hit hard and they sounded very crisp. Speaking of which, the sound at the fest was generally acceptable, but worked better for some bands rather than others. Incidentally, BRAY ROAD drummer Pete and guitarist/vocalist Nino did great work on the stage crew for the whole event...got to talk and hang out with both of them, which was a pleasure.

Even though it was before 12:00 P.M., the clock struck MIDNIGHT next and the hooded horrors hit the stage. Now I’ve seen these guys a lot...most recently just a few months ago at MMF...and their set has become VERY familiar with me. Also, I was suffering a little disappointment that original headliners FLOTSAM & JETSAM, whom I had never seen before, had to pull out. Despite this, I have to admit that MIDNIGHT kicked the living shit out of the crowd tonight. These guys are way better in a club setting than on a big arena stage. Yes, they played all the familiar stuff like “You Can’t Stop Steel”, “Lust, Filth and Sleaze” and “Szex Witchery”, but goddamn, you would have thought they were playing their last ever gig in front of 10,000 in their hometown. They were jumping all over the place and at one point they were literally hanging off the rafters. I just wish it was a full house that saw them, but those that did show up went batshit crazy. This may have been the best gig I have seen from MIDNIGHT and it’s easy to understand why they are one of the most popular bands in the underground.

The last band for Thursday were the classic American metal band RIOT in their “RIOT V” incarnation. It has been brought up ad nauseum that the band has no original members left at all, with Don Van Stavern from the “Thundersteel” days having the longest tenure. Be that as it may, the band still plays tunes from across the length and breadth of their career, going all the way back to the 70’s. The band took their time before playing live and I was told the drummer was being real nitpicky before the set. I was also told he had more electronics in his kit than all the other bands put together. I know my pal Johnny Vomit was no fan of these guys, but then, he seemed to dislike 85% of the bands that played the fest. Perhaps he attended to enjoy my scintillating wit and erudition…

Once RIOT V took the stage, my complaints were few. This was classic American power metal of the 80’s, with an understandable emphasis on material from “Thundersteel”. Singer Todd Michael Hall had that classic rock star vibe and his high pitched voice was crystal clear. Vocalists like this are not easily found anymore. Some of the highlights of the set were opener “Fight Or Fall”, “Thundersteel” and “Fire Down Under”. But the best RIOT song has always been “Swords and Tequila” and tonight was no exception. That’s about as good as any metal track ever written in this country.

That did it for Night #1. A ton of fun and fellowship, but better was yet to come…

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29

Rolled into Madison just in time to be caught in a big traffic jam. Due to this, I missed most of the first band KOMMAND’s set. Too bad because I was looking forward to their BOLT THROWER influenced lumbering death metal. Managed to catch the last song only, but that’s not enough to really base a review on. I will say that the early bird crowd reacted positively to them.

AVENGER OF BLOOD is a band that’s been around a really long time but never had much of a breakthrough. Wow, these guys wound up being one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. This was 100% pure SLAYERized thrash delivered with bloodlust and precision! Much like ENFORCED and KORROSIVE, they pare everything down to the bone and just exude raucous thrash like a stream of acid piss from an angry giant. Wish they would have played right before VIO-LENCE later on, because they were the perfect warm-up band for those guys. See them live if you ever have the chance!

Theron told me how much he was looking forward to seeing SOLICITOR live. I know this band has a big buzz behind them, but due to one thing or another, I wasn’t very familiar with them. Their Amazonian lead singer Amy Lee Carlson spent a lot of Friday hanging out with fans before and after the show and seemed to be super approachable and friendly. That’s good, because she looked like she just walked out of Lord Humongous’ wasteland loaded for bear. When she tells you to take the trash out, you better fuckin’ jump, that’s all I can say.

This band is AWESOME live and tore the Crucible stage apart. The same time they started to play, there was an influx of fans into the club and the first really serious pits of the weekend broke out. I’d describe SOLICITOR’s style as classic speed metal...like NWOBHM jacked up on steroids to thrash speed and intensity. Not only is Amy Lee a super imposing presence live, she has a voice somewhere between an opera diva and an air raid siren. A tremendous frontwoman and WAY different than the evening gown divas of Goth metal bands. And the rest of the band didn’t just stand around either...they were all in a headbanging fury, even the drummer. I’m still not familiar with song names, but SOLICITOR are not just a PR hype job, but the real deal!

It would be a very hard assignment to follow SOLICITOR’s set and the task fell to long-running New York band GOTHIC KNIGHTS. I can’t say they were really up to the task and having HAUNT follow them up also kind of hurt them. Johnny Vomit, acid-tongued as always, called them a surefire C-list band. I wouldn’t go that far, but B-list is definitely closer to the mark. After the wildness of SOLICITOR, their stage appearance and demeanor was very laid back. Their lead singer/guitarist in fact looked like my old team leader back at the call center. As for their material, I actually like their style of metal, which is not a million miles from JAG PANZER and CRIMSON GLORY. The guitarist was pretty darn good and the drummer was the most entertaining guy in the band. In fact, my eyes were on the drummer most of the set. In the end, GOTHIC KNIGHTS certainly weren’t terrible, but paired up with SOLICITOR and JAG PANZER, they couldn’t measure up.

HAUNT were pretty late replacements for RIOT CITY, but their style of classic heavy metal fit pretty well with other Blades bands like RIOT, JAG PANZER and IDOL THRONE. They got a good response from the crowd, but their set was not without its hiccups. They went a minute into one song and stopped completely, with lead singer Trevor Church saying “the computer is fucked up”. That’s a rather lame thing to say and doesn’t do your band many favors. They started over and completed the song, but I don’t know if the sound for the band was ever what it should have been. The crowd seemed to like HAUNT a lot and reacted well to favorite tunes like “Mind Freeze” and “Burst Into Flame”. Considering almost every member except Church has been in the band less than 2 years, they did alright.

JAG PANZER, like EXCITER, are one of the bands that really kick started the underground metal scene of the 80’s. Their first album “Ample Destruction” was hugely influential and Blades of Steel was full of bands like IDOL THRONE, GOTHIC KNIGHTS and HAUNT that had to have grown up listening to Colorado’s finest. They were one of the bands I was most interested to see at the Fest and they are coming off a really strong new album “The Hallowed”. Theron not only reviewed the album, but spoke to guitarist Mark Briody, which you can check out HERE. 

“The Hallowed” played a huge part in their set tonight and the opening barrage of songs all featured the spoken narration that united the album’s tunes. Man, these guys were loud and HEAVY! The guitars had a ferocious bite to them and the lead work of Briody and Ken Rodarte was outstanding. Commanding the stage was The Tyrant himself, Mr. Harry Conklin, looking somewhat like a cross between Bruce Dickinson and Danzig. Oh my God, can this guy sing or what? A laser guided missile of clear, high-pitched singing on par with Ripper Owens, Halford and Tate. He brought the PANZER tunes to life, which included favorites from “Mechanized Warfare”, “Thane to the Throne” and more as well as “The Hallowed”. JAG PANZER had a nice long set that kept the true metal fans enthralled.

I saw thrash kings VIO-LENCE just a few months earlier at Milwaukee Metalfest. Honesty compels me to say I’ve never been the biggest fan of this band. So it was an unexpected delight to see them come out and blow apart the Crucible stage with an atomic blast. The whole place came unglued when these veterans hit the stage...the pit was the wildest of the weekend BY FAR and there was a steady stream of stage divers going for broke. I think the security was caught off guard by how fierce the reaction to VIO-LENCE was...I know I was. And by now the crowd was really big, too, which had to relieve Randy.

Singer Sean Killian has never been a fave with me, but on this night, everything clicked for VIO-LENCE. As he told the crowd, “thrash metal is a full contact sport...it ain’t for fuckin’ sissies!” Amen to that. The band ripped through neck-breakers like “Kill On Command” and “Serial Killer” with ruthless efficiency. On the basis of this performance alone, my respect for this band grew exponentially. It was really great to see a crowd go nuts like this!

That did it for Night #2. Tomorrow was gonna be the longest and heaviest day by far!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30

Before the fest, I stopped at the excellent Brothers 3 restaurant just a block away and fortified myself with a ton of hot wings and a Bloody Mary. Checked out this joint before the ANVIL show last year and was impressed. This time was no different and it was nice to see some headbangers mingling with the typical “Chad and Kristin” type crowd.

Missed Saturday’s first band LOST TRIBES OF THE MOON from Milwaukee and I was told that I didn’t miss much. The last record I heard from this bunch was more meandering prog than metal and I figured that they really wouldn’t fit the bill.

Not so for Cleveland’s OLATHIA, who were the first band I saw for Saturday. I was totally unfamiliar with them, but they played a nice set of American power metal with good female vocals. The bass player and the drummer were pretty jacked and put on a show, while the lead guitarist was quite excellent. Chris, the black clad lead singer, also ran one of the merch booths. Good band if you like RIOT/JAG PANZER type metal.

KURNUGIA were also from Ohio, but musically had nothing in common with OLATHIA. This was the most straight up brutal band of the entire fest, playing a slamming kind of death metal with resemblance to SUFFOCATION and DEVOURMENT. If the lead vocalist was any more guttural, I would have needed a special hearing aid to hear the ultra-low tones. A whole weekend of bands like this would have tested my patience, but at Blades of Steel, they came across as a pleasant contrast to everything else...if such a vicious band can ever be called “pleasant”.

Local heroes VERMILLION, one of the most active bands in Wisconsin, hit the stage next with their primitive and catchy death metal. There is something strangely laid back about the way these guys approach their craft...the riffs lope along easily, Kurt Manthe’s growls are almost soothing in a strange way and their material is easy on the brain in much the same way the first couple of SIX FEET UNDER records were. They’ve got a new album out which you should look for if you’re into more mid-paced death metal. Kurt is a very easy guy to talk to as well.

We actually had a food truck outside, which was convenient...if the lines weren’t too long. They specialized in burgers, churros and fries. Never been a churro guy, the burgers were good but not mind-blowing, but the truffle fries were out of this world. Lots of garlic and cayenne gave these spuds a good kick in the nuts.

Made it back inside to see the Michigan band HARBINGER. This was yet another band you could say were a mix of speed and power metal, with a really medieval flavor to their music. They played with a ton of energy, but unfortunately were the victims of the worst sound of the festival. The vocals were almost indecipherable most of the time and the drums sounded like they were smothered in wool. I could tell HARBINGER’s general songcraft was good, but this poor sound did them few favors. A most unfortunate situation for them.

All the way from Mexico came AGRESOR and they were one of the sleeper bands of the Fest. I would swear the lead singer, who was no spring chicken, was the crew chief for the guys who cut my lawn the week before, but this band delivered a most excellent brand of speed metal that reminded me of a mix between EXCITER and HELSTAR. Lots of shredding guitar work from the bookish looking axeman spiced things up nicely and the lead singer had a kind of “barking” style that actually fit the Spanish lyrics. Lots of Latino metalheads in the crowd as per usual at one of Randy’s events and AGRESOR did them proud will a killer set.

Up next were a truly legendary Milwaukee band MORBID SAINT, who brought plenty of their fans along for the ride. I’ve seen these guys several times, but I have to say that tonight they were on fire. Their original singer Patrick Lind has returned to the fray after a dog’s age on the sidelines and his presence really seemed to kick everything up a notch. The crowd was nuts with a swirling pit and even stage divers. Lots of stuff from classic debut album “Spectrum of Death” was played, including “Lock Up Your Children”, “Beyond the Gates of Hell” and “Burned At the Stake”. They also played something new and it sounds like they are going back to the death/thrash style instead of the PANTERA-ish groove metal they were playing about 10 years ago. I’m really looking forward to it.

I had an enjoyable meeting with Mercyful Mike Smith, who promoted many memorable doom metal shows in Wisconsin over the years. Mike not only brought his lovely wife Christine to the show, but two long-haired young bucks that were their sons. I remember them as grade school kids hanging around the first Days of the Doomed...now all grown up and ready to carry on the metal family tradition. Scenes like this can bring a tear even to my empty sockets.

Speaking of long time metal heads, CARDIAC ARREST from Murder City Chicago hit the stage next. It was probably 18 years or so ago when I first saw them in the beloved Rock Hollow Gun Club in Freeport. Since then, they’ve continued the same death metal rampage and have established themselves as one of the very best OSDM bands in the country. After an awesome death-doom intro, it was off to the races with face-ripping morbid murk in rapid fire fashion. I barely recognized lead singer Adam Scott, as he has shaved his head and lost about 40 pounds since the last time I saw him. But the growling vocals and monster facial expressions were the same. They played a varied selection of death metal stompers from their career as well as something new. Adam told us the next CARDIAC album will be on Hell’s Headbangers and I couldn’t think of a better label to handle a band such as this.

DESTRUCTOR stepped in for ARTILLERY with just a couple of weeks to go. They are tried and tested veterans of the old Spring Bash shows that were predecessors to Blades of Steel. Are they thrash or are they power metal? Only their hairdresser knows for sure….This time around they actually played their classic track “Maximum Destruction”, which for some reason they never played at previous gigs I have seen them at. What a great pounding cut that is...definitely along the lines of EXCITER’s “Pounding Metal”. They also played tracks from a band new album “Blood, Bone and Fire” which sounded promising. I missed some of this set but from what I saw, Dave Overkill and his boys did just fine.

We were approaching the finish line of the fest now, but the crowd had no trouble rallying for death metal OG’s MASSACRE, led by the one and only Kam Lee. Is this the guy who came up with the original death metal growl? It sure seems that way. Kam had a caveman look to go with his caveman growl and proved to be a humorous, amiable frontman. It was awesome hearing stone cold classics like “Chamber of Ages” and “Dawn of Eternity” live...they are every bit as catchy now as back in the day. Kam told us about the “dinosaur days” before metal was compartmentalized into little boxes like it is now. It was all just metal...he misses those days and so do I, but there’s no going back. MASSACRE blasted through tunes old and new and ended the set with a song called “Evil Dead”, which Kam wrote with Chuck Schuldiner in the pre-DEATH band MANTAS. A great bit of nostalgia there to drive the pit maniacs crazy. I was lucky enough to shake Kam’s hand after the show.

And finally it was time. The Blades lineup was full of great bands up and down the roster, but EXCITER beats them all in my book. An all-time Top 5 band for me, going back to my earliest days as an underground metalhead. I did manage to see them at last at 2016’s Metal Threat festival and what an orgasmic experience that was for me. Since then, original guitarist John Ricci has left the fold once more and has been replaced by Daniel Dekay. One of my biggest questions was, could Dekay possibly measure up to the iconic Ricci? After seeing this gig, there’s no doubt that he was the best possible replacement for the original axeman. He was a whirlwind of activity during the show, running not only across the stage, but into the crowd and even playing on top of the speakers at one point. I don’t think anybody can duplicate Ricci’s “chainsaw” sound exactly, but Dekay was as close as you can get and he also put his own touch on proceedings as well.

Band leader Dan Beehler was another guy I wondered about. I heard through the grapevine that he’s had some trouble singing lately. Well, he has one of the hardest jobs in music...drumming for a speed metal band and screaming out lead vocals as well. To my relief, he sounded fired up and on point tonight, unleashing high pitched screams as several points. For a guy in his 60’s, he looked and acted the part of a heavy metal maniac and kept up high energy throughout the gig, as did original bassist Allen Johnson.

How about the set? As you might expect, it was heavy on the classics, especially from “Heavy Metal Maniac”. They played the title track, “Stand Up and Fight”, “Iron Dogs”, “Rising of the Dead” and “Black Witch” from that all-time legendary album. A couple of cuts surprised me...”Die In the Night” from “Unveiling the Wicked” and “Feel The Knife” from the EP of the same name. But for me, the all time greatest EXCITER track is “Beyond the Gates of Doom” and they blew all the doors and most of the windows in the neighborhood off with this neck-breaking motherfucker. What an awe-inspiring slab of metal! Of course, there were a million other songs I would have liked to hear like “I Am The Beast”, “Destructor” and even some of the tracks from the Beehler-less albums later in their career, which I suspect will probably never be played. If the crowd was tired for these guys, they didn’t show it, as they were in the motion for the whole show, including the encore of MOTÖRHEAD’s “Iron Fist”. It was a great capper to a humongous metal weekend.

Will we see more of Blades of Steel? I would sure hope so. Despite the immense problems and cancelations involved, it was not only great musically, but also socially. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a feeling of metal fellowship as I did on those three days. Got to meet so many cool metalheads, both old and new. As of the time I write this, no word yet on whether Randy will do one for next year. I kind of suspect he will. Despite looking as happy as a cow going to the slaughterhouse, I suspect he’s very pleased with the enjoyment he provided for us headbangers. This sort of thing gets in your blood.

• = Theron Moore pic.       All others, Dr. M