MILWAUKEE METALFEST 2025

Milwaukee Metal Fest 2025 

By Theron Moore

DAY ONE

Friday, May 16

I made it to The Rave / Eagles Club a little before 4PM. When you’re not a young man any longer an event like this becomes a marathon, not a sprint. You gotta plan out who you want to see, and time manage the hell out of it. The area around the venue was jammed with people and cars extending for blocks and blocks in just about every direction you can think of. Getting to the entrance was like playing a real-life game of Frogger. 

I got dropped off, did the security check, the ticket zap, and caught the last 20 minutes (or so) of AVERNUS absolutely crushing it on the Blue Grape stage on the first floor. The doom this band is churning out is mind boggling and brutally heavy. The angst, the gloom, the sheer weight of sorrow in their music, rolls over you like an avalanche you won’t outrun. But I need to find a place that’s going to accommodate some physical limitations I have if I’m going to enjoy the rest of my evening. 

I broke my right leg back in August, had to have surgery to repair it, and although I’m walking OK, I’ve lost mobility and have lower back pain because of it. The good news is, I know The Rave well enough to find certain places I can occupy up front (first and third floor) which allow me to lean against the guard rail near the stage taking pressure of my leg and back. I look behind me at the stairs going up to the balcony, but that section is closed off. I’m right up front, maybe 20 feet away from AVERNUS killing it. Good enough for me. 

Texas metal machine FUGITIVE is up next. In case you’re not familiar with them, FUGITIVE features guitarists Blake Ibanez (POWER TRIP) and Victor Gutierrez (IMPALERS), vocalist Seth Gilmore (SKOURGE/POWER TRIP), bassist Andy Messer (ANS, STYMIE), and drummer Lincoln Mullins (CREEPING DEATH). Sporting two members from POWER TRIP and CREEPING DEATH, the bar is set high for this band to get over and trust me they did! They were aggression personified and sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel. Just a great, great set. 

FUGITIVE’s set is 1000% pure thrash, pure speed, and pure metal. Watching them was like watching a young METALLICA again, their energy level is off the charts. Even if there was a way to accurately measure it, I doubt it’d be possible. FUGITIVE’s set me made me an instant fan. I’m listening to their music as I write this review.

Up next is one of several bucket list bands I’ve come to see, someone I’ve been into for decades but never got around to seeing them live – PENTAGRAM, featuring the one and only Bobby Liebling. For me this was a true nerd out moment because their song “Forever My Queen” was featured in one of my all-time favorite horror movies, ‘Late Night With The Devil.’ 

Last summer I caught the ‘Happy Together’ tour with THE TURTLES whom Flo & Eddie were part of, who also had a couple of songs on that film soundtrack as well. Plus, I also had a lot of Tequila and Whiskey flowing through me which certainly didn’t hurt. God bless Tequila and Seagram’s Seven.

PENTAGRAM were amazing, Bobby looked and sounded fantastic, and the band for me defined what old school rock N roll should look and sound like; their guitarist was taking swigs from a Jägermeister bottle throughout the show. Their brand of stoner / doom was off the charts fantastic.

I thoroughly enjoyed PENTAGRAM’s set and yep, they played “Forever My Queen” which sounded incredibly good, hell, the whole band was firing on all cylinders for that gig. Bobby Liebling: ROCK STAR. Seeing PENTAGRAM completed the “dream” of having seen BLACK SABBATH, SAINT VITUS, and BLUE CHEER  previously, now adding PENTAGRAM to this winner’s circle as well. 

I decided to make my way out to the Rave bar and caught parts of NO/MAS and BONGZILLA’s set off and on. Prior to seeing them I wasn’t really into their music but fuck it, they’re here, so why not check them out? I won’t slag on them, but neither band connected with me.

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM took the stage after PENTAGRAM but again, not a fan and not into their music. I figured now would be a good time to rest my leg and lower back and made it upstairs to level two where I sat at the bar for a while. 

Props to the Rave bartenders, great people with outstanding people skills which you kind of need if you’re going to work an event like Milwaukee Metal Fest. I ordered a shot of Jim Beam but the bartender, a super cool older gentlemen, suggested I try something new and less expensive called ‘American Metal’ whiskey. I did and now I’m hooked. That’s the whiskey I turned to when I needed a break from Tequila. While talking to this man, the girl immediately to my right projectile vomited all over a bar stool and the floor in front of her. It didn’t faze me, I just thought, “that’s rock N roll.”

Did I catch the S.O.D. tribute in the ballroom upstairs? Nope, I had no intention to, I’m not into seeing tribute acts. Still glad I passed, no regrets.

Returning to the first floor, I noticed the upstairs balcony had opened and quickly made it up those stairs in slow but awkward fashion and found a great seat overlooking the stage. PARADISE LOST was setting up their gear to play next, ENSLAVED would close out the night, both are bucket list bands I came to see. 

PARADISE LOST churned out a brand of super heavy, atmospheric, goth-inspired doom metal that floored me. I even heard bits and pieces that reminded me of classic era TROUBLE which made it that much better and more meaningful to me. There’s a reason why this band is a trailblazer since their inception in 1988 and tonight’s performance solidified it. 

ENSLAVED capped off the evening with a set of show stopping music which reminded me why I was a fan of theirs in the first place. Great energy, inhumanly heavy, and almost more metal than anyone in the room should be allowed to experience per Wisconsin state law. Their sound was laden with massive amounts of “chunk and crunch,” a veritable wall of total destruction that was part prog, part thrashy-death, and  metal as fuck. I saw who I came to see, got overdosed with metal, and was primed and ready to do it again Saturday. 

Day Two

Saturday, May 17: 

What do OPPRESSOR , DEMOLITION HAMMER, NECROT, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, DEATH ANGEL, and EXODUS have in common? SATURDAY. It’s time to get a bottle of wine, pre-game it, and hit MMF for the second and final day.

We stopped and got a bottle of burgundy but the cheap shit is hard to put down. It was a screw top wine, not a corked bottle which makes a difference. ‘Grumpier Old Men’ is on TV. We leave at 3:30PM for The Rave, it’s time to do this and get ‘er done. Tomorrow, we get up early and leave for home. Ugh. I’m having too good a time being here. Plus, it’s back to navigating airports which is always a nightmare for me. The wine is hard to get down but it’s getting me there.

There’s something special about seeing rock concerts at The Rave / Eagle’s Club. As a kid my parents would drive by this iconic joint and I’d see the sign outside advertising, “Tonight: LIZZY BORDEN” or “Tonight: VENOM, SLAYER, EXODUS.” The history inside this building is astounding and goes back decades and decades. I know the guy who started Metal Fest back in the mid 80’s – Jack Koshick, great, great dude. He’s the man who put all this in motion that HATEBREED’s Jamey Jasta is continuing now. 

I arrive at The Rave and catch the back end of NECROT’s gig. They’re crushing it live, but I only catch a song or two before trekking it up to the third-floor ballroom to watch OPPRESSOR. What I did catch of NECROT was damn good. Every band today is must see, so I manage my time like it’s money.

OPPRESSOR is a band I nearly saw in 1996 (with MALEVOLENT CREATION) at their Albuquerque tour stop but alas, I never made it to the gig. 29 years later I’m finally gonna see ‘em live. OPPRESSOR’s set is a true assault on the senses, their damage path extends at least a mile wide through the ballroom. The huge crowd they’ve drawn is clearly digging their vicious brand of death metal. 

A year earlier I saw EEMBRYONIC AUTOPSY at MMF ’24. I didn’t realize it until I dug a little deeper into OPPRESSOR that not only did their lineup feature the original 3: Tim King , Adam Zadel, and Jim Stopper but King, along with members Marco Fimbres and Kenxi Dupey, are also in EMBRYONIC AUTOPSY. So that’s why I dug E.A. so much, explains everything.

From what I understand this is one of two reunion shows they’ve done after having been broken up for the last 25 years. Their set is amazing, you’d never know they’ve been absent from the scene as long as they have. Punishing. I’m hoping this isn’t a “one off,” I’d really like to hear new music from them. On stage their chemistry was great, and it really looked like they were having fun doing what they were doing.

Next up is DEMOLITION HAMMER, a band it EVERYONE has shown up to see. They’re kicking ass and taking names. The pop from the audience is huge. The pit for DEMOLITION HAMMER is insane. I’m into their gig but I leave after three songs. I’m anticipating the balcony on the first floor will fill up quickly with 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, DEATH ANGEL, and headliners EXODUS set to play later tonight, and I was right. I get the feeling there was more anticipation for these three bands than headliners DOWN scheduled to play later.

FUGITIVE set the bar high for speed/thrash but the newly reactivated 3 INCHES OF BLOOD went above and beyond that – they raised the bar even higher if that was possible. In terms of intensity, stage presence, and brutality, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD went above and beyond, and trust me, that’s saying a lot. They looked and sounded metal; you’d never know they had recently reunited. Their set was super tight, and they played with blood thirsty vengeance, the sheer carnage happening in the pit was testament to that. 3 INCHES OF BLOOD are a true denim and leather, battle vested band who put on a master class of NWOTHM tinged thrash.

DEATH ANGEL was up next. Truth be told, I’ve been an on again, off again, casual fan of this band so I wasn’t expecting much from their performance but I’ve never, ever seen a band take the stage and rip into a song/start a show the way DEATH ANGEL did. Hell, in all honesty, I wasn’t prepared for it. My jaw hit the floor; I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. This was TRUE METAL. DEATH ANGEL were TRUE LEGENDS. All hail this band!! This was by far the best performance of the fest.

Their command of not just the stage, but the fans on the floor, the music they were delivering, DEATH ANGELwas the total package. Every member of that band was invested in the gig, and it showed. This wasn’t amateur night at the Rave, this was a master class in the heaviest of metal. 

DEATH ANGEL’s set never let up; they reminded me of POSSESSED at the ’24 edition of Milwaukee Metal Fest who got faster and more brutal the longer they played. The same for DEATH ANGEL. I was thoroughly impressed and now I’m a fan. DEATH ANGEL’s set ranks as one of the best live performances I’ve seen in my life. 

I don’t normally talk about the intermission between sets, but I found the music played over the PA while the EXODUS stage was being built intriguing:  happy, upbeat, 80’s pop. I wonder if there was concern about the crowd having been worked up into a frenzy from the last two bands that played, especially DEATH ANGEL? Who knows, it might’ve been somebody’s subtle attempt at humor, either way it was entertaining.

When EXODUS hit the stage, I’m sure blood was spilled in the pit! Good Christ, EXODUS was brutal. Their set was an ass whooping with a leather belt, buckle first. EXODUS lived up to their reputation, they never let up, never took a breather. Every song became faster, more aggressive, and more violent than the last one. Imagine hand to hand combat on some battlefield with bombs dropping all around you and tanks rolling over dead bodies stacked three feet high. This still doesn’t adequately describe the experience of an EXODUS gig, not the one I saw!

EXODUS didn’t disappoint. They had to be the loudest metal show I’ve been to and the scariest pit I’ve seen. EXODUS exceeded their “violent” reputation. 

And “new” vocalist Rob Dukes? He’s the perfect frontman for this band, no one else, could pull it off. He commanded the stage and directed the audience to “fuck this place up!!!!” which it looked like everyone was trying to do. Dukes is an intimidating figure and stalked the stage like a bear circling its kill. 

After EXODUS left the stage, I remained on the balcony for a few minutes letting everyone leave since I had to “gimp” it down the stairs. I also needed a few moments to let the sights and sounds of Milwaukee Metal Fest soak in, and the fact I’ve been fortunate enough to make it here two years in a row. It’s not lost on me that today is to be enjoyed and tomorrow never promised. I keep that in the forefront of my mind every day. 

I end my evening with my wife and a Rocky Rococo pizza. How does it get better than this? Well, doing it again next year if I’m healthy and able to make the trip again. Word on the street is that Metal Fest ’26 is scheduled for June 18-21. Will I see you there? 

MILWAUKEE METALFEST 2025

May 16–18

The Rave/Eagles Club, Milwaukee, WI

By Dr. Abner Mality

That time of year again! The third edition of the “reborn” Milwaukee Metalfest run by Jamey Jasta is at hand. Gotta be honest, these get more difficult for this old Doctor every year and 2025 was no exception. This year, ridiculous shenanigans at the parking lot, scheduling goofs, a $6.75 glass of water and falling down a flight of stairs really pushed me to the limit. There were several points during my time this year that were less than enjoyable. Yet, when life deals you lemons, heavy metal is there to bring you back up and that’s just what happened this year.

The line-up this year was probably not my favorite and the conflicting set times were definitely worse than ever, yet I have to admit, there is a good deal of variety amongst the bands with no one subgenre dominating. It’s a given that no one is going to like every band, but a real metal connoisseur should still find plenty to like. Bands like BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and whatever passes for GWAR these days draw more mainstream fans, which you need to make money, but no underground rivet-head can argue with bands like DECEASED, WORMROT, DEMOLITION HAMMER and ENSLAVED on the bill. There were bands like TESSERACT and AMIGO THE DEVIL I just don’t get, but they have their fans and bring a touch of something different to the show.

FRIDAY MAY 16

I got to the venue on Friday a little later than usual, but still with a cushion before the first band played. It was a nice warm day out, so I was grateful The Rave got new air conditioning or things would have been really frightful in there. I remember my first MMF in the mid-90’s and I’m not kidding, it was 95 degrees inside. Thank God those days are in the rearview.

As usual, financial and work concerns forced me to miss the third and final day. Same for fellow Worm-scribe Theron Moore, whose account you have already read. The previous two years, this didn’t bother me much, because Friday and Saturday had the bands I really wanted to see, but this year, it really hurt, as Day 3 boasted the likes of DECEASED, SCOUR and FROZEN SOUL. Plus ARCH ENEMY, who I would watch just to see Alyssa prance across the stage in pants that look spray painted on, wink wink. The cost of attending these big fest is always prohibitive for some.

Stage set up was the same as last two years….the medium stage and bar stage were conveniently close to each other on the ground floor, the big stage was up 3 flights of stairs in Eagles Ballroom. Those stairs were my worst enemy. When they get an elevator in there, I’ll fall to my knees in gratitude. I spent a lot of time with the smaller stages, but ventured upstairs for must-see bands.

As always, things kicked off in the bar stage and this year’s first band was a good one! They were called 6FIVE6 and rolled in from Pennsylvania with a lot of thunder. Better than the openers in 24 and 23, these guys attacked with a mix of thrash, hardcore and thunderous groove. Not a real original band, but you want to kick things off with dudes like this. They did a great job of getting the pit going early!

Made my first run up the stairs to the Eagles Ballroom to see the Madison death metal band RUIN DWELLER. Theron gave these guys a good review, so I was curious to see them. They didn’t disappoint if you like rotten, violent death metal with monster roars. Surprisingly, they drew a decent crowd for playing the big stage and being a “local” band. Keep an eye out for these guys...along with YOTUMA, they are putting Madison on the death metal map!

I skipped the last RUIN DWELLER song and made my way back to the bar stage. No way was I going to miss the ghouls in THE LURKING CORPSES. Bands dressed up as monsters are a dime a dozen these days, but the CORPSES have been doing this shtick for over 20 years and they are really good at it. Their cackling monstrous front-man used a cartoon villain voice right out of “He-Man” for his between song banter, but he was a multi-talented vocalist on the songs themselves. There’s a lot of MISFITS and DANZIG in this band, but sprinkled along with that is a good chunk of grisly death metal and traditional “real” metal. They’ve got an amusing and entertaining show with evil tracks like “Satan Is Real” and “Mummy-Cum”. If you ever have a choice between them and GWAR, pick the CORPSES without a second thought, because GWAR without Brockie is awful. Now a choice between them and GHOUL, that’s a harder one!

A massive double-barreled dose of doom awaited me next as I wandered back and forth between AVERNUS and DUSK. AVERNUS had the medium stage; these guys have been around forever and I remember seeing them at either the first or second MMF I attended in the 90’s, I forget which. Man, I don’t remember them being anywhere NEAR this heavy the first time around. The bass was so massively downtuned you could feel it in your guts and the band excelled at melodic death/doom that was not light on either death or doom. The first real surprise of the weekend for me; I won’t sleep on AVERNUS any more. At the bar stage, Green Bay’s DUSK was just as gnarly. Slow as molasses, these guys leaned on the “death” angle a bit more, yet sported almost industrial synth and a female violinist at points. For a band that had just one album in the early 90’s, they drew a hell of an enthusiastic crowd. Ain’t it time to get another album out, dudes?

Had to miss doom supergroup LEGION OF DOOM and the harsh noise of NEST. Reason? FUGITIVE was on the medium sized Blue Grape stage. These guys have an insane buzz comparable to POWER TRIP about them and in fact, they boast former members of that band. The hype was not exaggerated as these fuckers stormed the Milwaukee stage like the landing on Omaha Beach at D-Day. A ferocious, non-stop blast of raw thrash bordering on death metal yet retaining considerable groove is what these guys delivered. The crowd responded with a wild, furious pit. This band is set to be absolutely HUGE if they don’t drop the ball on their next album and it won’t be long before they headline the big Eagles Ballroom!

I bounced around like a human pinball between stages for the next couple of hours. Made the weary trudge up the stairs to see Greece’s black metal warriors ROTTING CHRIST. These guys are very much an acquired taste, but I was fascinated by what I saw. They can certainly not be mistaken for any other band and their “Mediterranean” style of black metal comes across surprisingly well live. It’s almost like watching a religious performance, with lots of almost Gregorian chanting, tribal drumming and mid-paced, medieval melodies. A constant deep “thrum” accompanied the music and Sakis Tollis was a powerful frontman as the band skillfully played tracks like “Fire, God and Fear”. There was crowd surfing and mosh pits, but much of the crowd swayed along to the music in a way different to any other band. I find myself up and down on ROTTING CHRIST’s recorded output, but I would watch them perform live again in a heartbeat.

Despite that, there was a lot of other good stuff going on, so it was back downstairs before the end of ROTTING CHRIST’s set. I stopped by the bar stage to see whacky ultra-tech death metallers GIGAN in action. Man, I actually like some of their records, but their live set was as much fun as putting your head in a drill lathe. Guitar riffing was virtually indistinguishable, resulting in just a flat noisy roar while the drums sounded like a Buddy Rich solo going on and the menacing bald frontman just growled incomprehensibly while bathed in a sickly green light. I was hoping for something along the likes of IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT meets OBSCURA, but this was just a mess. After trying hard for two tracks, I wandered back to the Blue Grape stage, where PENTAGRAM was playing to a packed room.

I don’t like Bobby Liebling in the least and I wasn’t even planning on watching him, but GIGAN was unendurable. Credit where it’s due, PENTAGRAM sounded good and metal’s oldest junkie wasn’t bad as frontman. By the time the fest rolled around, I was already sick to death of the stupid meme featuring a zonked out Liebling. They sounded alright, but I’m not a fan for moral reasons.

I was really hoping to see L.A. grindcore maniacs NO/MAS in action at the bar stage, but heading over there, they were hopelessly bogged down in sound problems and already way behind their start time. I just don’t have the patience for endless repetitions of “Check, check, check” when there’s so much going on elsewhere. So hasta la vista, NO/MAS, it was time to go outside and check out the food truck mall. Managed to snag some decent tacos to take the edge off my hunger and really didn’t pay an outrageous amount for them, which was nice. I couldn’t say the same about the $6.75 can of Liquid Death spring water I got ripped off for in the bar. Jesus F’N Christ…

I opted to see the Northwest black metal favorites WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM for the first time on the Blue Grape stage. BONGZILLA, who played one of the worst sets I’ve ever seen the last time I saw them at NYDM Spring Bash years, didn’t interest me at all and neither did the S.O.D. tribute act upstairs, even though it boasted Scott Ian, Dan Lilker and Charlie Benante. The WOLVES had by far the best light show of the fest, at least for the acts I saw. They played their long, droning black metal odes under prismatic columns of colored light. The result was rather hypnotic even though tracks tended to merge together. WITTR pioneered this style of “blackdrone” so they own that sound

Just managed to grab some tacos before heading back to the same stage to see venerable English goth metallers PARADISE LOST in action.  These guys are so smooth on stage ...they are really at home performing live. Their set may have been the most melodic of the weekend, but the hardened pit warriors ate up catchy tunes like “Enchantment” and “Embers Fire” like they were thrash screamers from hell. Nick Holmes is quite the amazing vocalist, able to croon with heartfelt emotion as on “Enchantment” or roar like a beast as on “Eternal”, which went all the way back to their “Gothic” LP. There are definitely some eras of the band I don’t care for, but live, I had no complaints and their sorrowful melodicism made a nice change from, say, WORMROT.

Speaking of that Singapore grind institution, holy shit, they blew the bar stage apart like an atom bomb! Last year, I thought HAVOK was unbeatably crazy at the bar stage, but WORMROT was another level of insanity above. I couldn’t even get INTO the fuckin’ room, it was so packed. I caught just a few of their jackhammer tunes, but the stage divers were like kamikaze pilots. One dude crowd surfed from the stage all the way to the bar! I have never seen that before. What I did manage to see of WORMROT was like chaos personified...intensely violent fun!

After that, I made it to the upper balcony over the Blue Grape stage to join fellow Worm-Scribe Theron Moore on comfy chairs. Time to get off my feet for a while. We were lucky enough to see the Norse wizards ENSLAVED play a rare American show. What a great set these guys had! They can do everything on stage that they can do on record, which is astounding, because they are as progressive and unpredictable as hell. They came blazing out with “Ethica Odini”, with Grutle effortlessly handling both harsh and clean vocals. He’s right up there with Nick Holmes, but Holmes doesn’t play bass while singing like Grutle does. Their set ranged from the progressive metal of “Forest Dweller” to the blazingly fast black metal of “Jotunblod” to the thumping folk/Vking metal of “Havenless”, complete with perfectly executed “Viking” chants that got the crowd singing along. They ended things with “Isa” and left the crowd wanting more...a lot more! This was my favorite set of the weekend and I easily could have watched them play for three more hours.

The end of Day One had me dragging my carcass up the stairs to see sludge/Southern metal supergroup DOWN in action. When I saw them play Maryland Deathfest in 2013, they blew me away with their sheer energy. This time, they were pretty good, but not quite on that level. They kicked things off with “Lysergic Funeral Procession” and swung into one of my favorite DOWN tracks, “Lifer”. Phil sounded great! There’s always some question about the man’s abilities...I heard nothing to complain about tonight. Guitarists Windstein and Bowers were on point as well. The band for sure played their greatest hits, with “Hail The Leaf” and “Temptation’s Wings” getting great response from the big crowd. I really wanted to hang in there and see them play “Bury Me In Smoke”, but this old boy finally ran out of gas. I had a long drive home and another full day here tomorrow so I skipped out after “Temptation’s Wings” and made the long trip back to the Lab. More mayhem awaited tomorrow…

SATURDAY MAY 17

No sweat getting to the gig, but man, what a bunch of bullshit at the parking lot. First, anybody entering the “Pay Lot” is going to seriously get their front bumper messed up, as there’s a steep divot in the pavement going in. My SUV grinded hard into the pavement both days. If I’m lucky, it won’t need a trip to the body shop. This has been there for years...isn’t it time to get it fixed?! Then we had a real rocket scientist trying to guide me into the “proper” parking spot. Stevie Wonder could see that the telephone pole on the driver’s side was so close I couldn’t get out. But this knucklehead kept insisting I park that way. To hell with you, dickwad! I parked two car lengths over. I am paying almost the equivalent of a whole day’s ticket for this nonsense? Next year I’ll park five blocks away for free and walk through the hood...I advise you to do the same!

I was not in a good mood when I got inside. The first couple of bands had already played, so the first band I saw at the bar stage was GHIDORA. They were awful. Another bunch of guys in masks and make-up and a mediocre female vocalist trying to whip up some SLIPKNOT type noise. Hard pass on this one...they reminded me of the kind of pay to play bands Jack Koshick had in the last three years of the original MMF.

Saw REPENTANCE on the medium sized Blue Grape stage. They played a pretty typical “core meets LAMB OF GOD” style, but they leaned into it hard and had a lot of energy. These kind of bands are all over the place, but at least these guys go hard. But man oh man, WRAITH back at the bar stage was on another level. I know these guys well, but this is the first time I’ve seen them live. Pure raging thrash of the most authentic vintage, delivered with absolute ferocity. Reminded me a lot of the wild gig HAVOK played on the same stage last year, although not quite as crazy. These guys are right up there with ENFORCED as thrash metal’s new messiahs

On the Blue Grape stage, Chicago’s venerable brutal death metallers GORGASM showed they still have what it takes to eviscerate the weak. I remember when these guys, along with FLESHGRIND, LIVIDITY and BROKEN HOPE, made Illinois a capital for gurgling gore metal. They had a triple pronged vocal attack and it was hard to figure which guy was the most brutal. I got a kick out of the one GORGASM dude who asked the ladies in the audience to scream, which they did. He dedicated the next song to them...”Dirty Cunt Beatdown”. In E# Minor, no doubt...CANNIBAL CORPSE couldn’t have done it any better. They drew a big, enthusiastic crowd, too.

Back over to the bar to see the heavily hyped grinders BRAT in action.  I don’t think they take themselves real seriously. The gimmick of having a cute cheerleader doing cheerleader moves while growling like a beast is a pretty good one and put a smile on a lot of faces. Lots of “pop diva” samples were played between songs and I think they are “Barbie” fans. Their drummer was also a sight. I weigh in at a svelte 320 lbs or so...this dude had me beat by at least 200 lbs. But he beat those skins like a champ. As for the music, I can’t say I was blown away. It’s decent grindcore, but not yet in the upper echelon. Their cover of HEART’s “Barracuda” is average at best. A band to watch, though.

It was up the stairs to see MMF perennials MACABRE ply their bloody trade on the big stage. I love these guys...Corporate Death is one of the most underrated guitarists AND vocalists in metal and drummer Dennis The Menace is even more grievously overlooked...but have to admit, I’m kind of over them live. This year they didn’t have all the technical glitches of last year, but the set was much the same, with the same masked serial killers invading the stage during the songs that pertained to them and the same tasteless stories from C. Death. I think these guys will be playing Milwaukee as long as the fest endures or until they’re behind bars. Great fun if you’re seeing them for the first or even second time…not that much if you’re really used to them.

Back to the Blue Grape stage, where I joined Theron at the balcony. Long running death metal fiends NECROT hit the stage...this was my first time seeing them. They started off well, but they grew in intensity throughout the set, playing a very classically inclined type of death owing a lot to DEATH, MASSACRE, IMMOLATION and the like. Lots of stuff from their most recent album and they whipped up a pit-ready stew for the good sized crowd they drew. Hope to see them again sometime when they can play a longer set.

I had some free time before the mighty DEMOLITION HAMMER took the stage upstairs. I had no interest in catching TESSERACT, who aren’t my cup of tea at all and OPPRESSOR I took a pass on. On my way down the stairs from the balcony, I managed to fall and almost break my neck. No lighting on the very narrow stairs sure didn’t help. I got off with just my left knee getting scraped up. Well, at least this time, the whole roof didn’t fall in on my head like  it did at The Apollo Theater for MORBID ANGEL!

I had an absolutely awesome Malaysian chicken curry at the food trucks that was a weekend highlight. Wish I could recall the name of the truck...this was an unexpected treat. Then I made my way down to the basement where all the vendors were, including the legendary Sabi the Shirt Guy. This year I didn’t get a shirt and instead opted to buy a couple of CDs from the Hell’s Headbangers booth. Picked up discs from DESOLUS and ACERO LETAL...both great!

By the time I hauled my aching body up to the big stage, DEMOLITION HAMMER was more than halfway through their set. GODDAMMIT! I waited more than 30 years to see these East Coast death metal lunatics, one of the most rabid bands to ever exist! At least I got to see some of the set, including killer tracks like “Infectious Hospital Waste” and “.44 Caliber Brain Surgery”. These dudes were well along in years and looked almost the same as the guys in PENTAGRAM, yet they dove into a ferocious thrashing set that probably even WRAITH and NECROT would have had trouble keeping up with. Hated to miss anything but these guys, but I did score a guitar pick from them!

That was my last show in the Eagles Ballroom. The only bands left up there were BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, DEVIN TOWNSEND and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY...none of which were essential for me. Not like DEATH ANGEL. That was a band I haven’t seen live in more than 15 years, but who left a very good impression with me. I met Theron up in the balcony again for this final stretch...3 INCHES OF BLOOD, DEATH ANGEL and EXODUS.

I didn’t miss much of 3 INCHES OF BLOOD but regretted not seeing the start of the gig. The reunion of these true metal crusaders was something that had been keenly awaited by many. I’ll be damned, but they blew everybody at the Blue Grape stage away. The place went wild from the get-go. Half the guys in the band now look like the Comic Book Guy from “The Simpsons”, but you sure couldn’t tell from the fury they whipped up. I never considered 3 INCHES OF BLOOD a thrash or speed metal band, but they can sure play with fire if they have to.  There were no ballads or mid-paced crunchers tonight...it was all hands on deck!

The piercing vocals of Cam Pipes were just absolutely PERFECT. This guy hasn’t lost a step in all the years of 3IOB’s layoff and he looks pretty much the same as well. One of the guitarists backed him up with occasional rasping vocals. Lots of screaming leads all over the place. Tracks played included such crowd pleasers as “Night Marauders”, “Silent Killer” and of course, “Deadly Sinners”.  The 3 INCHERS got a royal reception tonight and I sure hope we get something new from them soon. Welcome back, you were missed!

Time for DEATH ANGEL. 6 songs wasn’t nearly enough for these guys, but that’s what they had to work with. I don’t think any band on Earth could have put more into a six-song set than DEATH ANGEL did tonight. For those old fogies who only seem to listen to their debut album, they should have been pleased with the opening barrage of “Evil Priest” and “Voracious Souls”. These were guaranteed to please old school metalheads and boy, did they. The band played like there was no tomorrow and Mark Osegueda in particular had something to prove. “We’re a fuckin’ thrash metal band!”, he roared at one point and that put an end to any debate. The band worked hard to keep up with him and did a great job.

We also got “Mistress of Pain” (“We haven’t played this live in almost 30 years!”) and “The Ultra Violence” from the debut, but there were also some rippers from more recent albums, with “Thrown To the Wolves” and “I Came For Blood” being particularly ferocious. The crowd, packed to the rafters, was going nuts through all this. Now I could have wished for “Seemingly Infinite Time” from “Frolic In The Park” or maybe the title track to “Killing Season”, but we all knew this was a shortened festival gig. DEATH ANGEL impressed the fuck out of me and this band looks to be as potent now as at any  time in their history!

That left EXODUS to mop everything up. I just didn’t have the time for silly cosplay band NEKROGOBLIKON, but I’m sure they drew well. I wanted to see real metal by real veterans of the scene and that’s what we got from EXODUS, only recently rejoined by singer Rob Dukes after Zetro’s most recent exit. I’ve seen Dukes before and as far as beer-bellied foul-mouthed thrashers go, he fits this band perfectly. 

They got a 10 song set so they had a little more room than DEATH ANGEL. Like DEATH ANGEL, they started with the most classic of tracks, “Bonded By Blood”. More insane mosh warfare broke out in the crowd right away. I noticed one chick covered almost completely in a black Islamic burqa with only her eyes showing that threw herself around as violently as anyone. Good for her! Dukes got to play some tracks from his prior term with the band like the crushing “Deathamphetamine” and “Children of a Worthless God” but he was generous with older cuts like “Fabulous Disaster”, “Blacklist” and the ultimate mosher, “The Toxic Waltz”. Mark from DEATH ANGEL came out and joined the band for “A Lesson In Violence”. It made my blood run boiling hot to see the pit action on this one, but my days of diving into that kind of stuff are long gone.

To wrap things up, they trotted out “Strike Of The Beast” from the debut and all was right with the world in Milwaukee for just a few minutes. Oh, for the energy of youth! EXODUS are getting into the AARP stage of their lives but you wouldn’t know it from this gig. Not a surprising performance but a really enjoyable one.

That did it for MMF 2025 as far as I was concerned. Had a long trip back home and the next day, I had to work. I sure would have loved to come back on Sunday to check out bands like FROZEN SOUL, DECEASED, TROUBLE and SCOUR but it just wasn’t to be. Maybe some day I’ll whip up a super energy potion in the lab that will give me the strength to do 3 days of this madness. Maybe….but I wouldn’t bet on it.

So that’s MMF 2025, warts and all. I still love heading up there and mixing with the metal brotherhood, despite all the drawbacks. If you can afford it and you’ve never gone, give it a try! Until next year...