Memory of a Mayhem Festival

Ah, the American summer metal festival. While Europe has long since perfected the art of beer-soaked metallic gatherings with such monstrous annual outings as Germany's Wacken or France's up-and-coming Hellfest, here in the states there seems to be a bit of confusion. Sure, there are exceptions (Maryland's excellent annual Deathfest springs to mind) but on the whole, tours such as the Ozzfest just don't cut it for the serious metal enthusiast.

The two-year-old Mayhem Festival follows this same unfortunate trend. Sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drinks and created by the same minds behind the Warped Tour, the festival's first outing in 2008 featured some legitimate metal acts including selling-like-hotcakes-at-the-time Dragonforce, prog mavericks Mastodon, and post-thrashers Machine Head. Headlining the tour however, with their names printed four times larger than any band on the bill were Slipknot and Disturbed.

The 2009 lineup increased significantly, featuring 30 acts across three stages. On the main stage Slayer was surprisingly announced as a headliner. Closer inspection of the bill however placed the angels of death below shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. Also sharing the main stage, Killswitch Engage and... Bullet For My Valentine?! The "Jägermeister Stage" promised a whopping 17 bands comprising of an unsavory collection of under the radar for the wrong reason upstarts. To confuse things even further, the "Hot Topic Stage" boasted Metal Blade artists Job For a Cowboy, Whitechapel, Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, and Cannibal Corpse. Actual death metal! And er... deathcore. Just work with me here people. So what draws the metalhead to this kind of an event? What kind of masochist would bake in the unyielding sun for an entire day just for a handful of decent bands? Me!

Walking through the parking lot of the Comcast Center in Mansfield Massachusetts I am constantly reminded of the stark differences between club shows and festivals; the harsh sun, tailgaters, the midway of vendors, the pasty-faced, fish netted adolescents. There is after all a reason to be here so early in the afternoon right? Well, Poland's Behemoth will be playing shortly on the Hot Topic stage! Said stage being situated smack dab in the middle of the asphalt...

As I make my way over I can see a band playing on the aforementioned Jägermeister Stage to the left although I can barely hear them over the sounds of breaking plastic emanating from a tent in which half a dozen kids are playing Guitar Hero. Continuing on I make my way through a growing crowd of bare-chested sweaties to the cramped photo pit. The stage is modest, adorned with the artwork from Behemoth's latest album, Evangelion, depicting the whore of Babylon. Without warning, the quartet makes their way into the midday sun looking like demonic superheroes. They are dressed in armor with spiked shin guards, their faces painted white and black. For a moment I can imagine the exhilaration of watching Gene Simmons and Kiss brutalize the disco era with pure Rock and Roll.

Nergal and co. are in fine form right out of the gate. Amidst all the bullshit I have endured so far I daresay they are glorious. Wasting no time they hammer out premium cuts from their discography including "At the Left Hand ov God," "Conquer All," and "Slaves Shall Serve." Guitarist Seth grabs a Rockstar Energy drink, impales it on his mighty shin guards and then spits blood (fake) all over a hapless security guard. Clearly wanting to make the most of their short set the band spend little time talking and more time playing as they launch into a new track, "Ov Fire and the Void," a crushing yet atmospheric piece that owes more to black metal than the death metal offerings they have become known for. Bass player Orion agrees as he shares some insight into the creative process of the new album after the show.

"It's our ninth album and well, whenever we do one there's always the question, can we do more? What we should do next?" he begins. "Then the time comes where we sit down to write the music and come up with ideas for the album and we just came up with this one. It turned out to be I would say the most varied thing we have ever done. We just explored all of these things that we were all about years ago again. It's a bit different from what we've done on the last two albums. On Demigod and The Apostasy, these two were more about rhythmics, this one's all about music I would say. It's called Evangelion because we're just using so many biblical themes in it. But Behemoth has always been about the same thing, about finding strength within the human being and just believing that humans are God himself, and just using these biblical themes. This time we say pretty much the same thing. I would say there is a lot of black metal at least in atmosphere on this album. We used a lot of samples on it in the mid-tempo songs. It's a bit less death metal than the last two."

Deathspell Omega of France's inner black metal circle had a particularly strong influence on Evangelion admits Orion,

"Their entire thing is just amazing," he says. "They are one of the only, how do you say, religious black metal bands nowadays and that's what attracts us so much. There is something within this music. It is music with a spirit and you're not only listening to it, you can feel it."

Orion is clearly enjoying every minute on stage as the band blasts into the anthemic "Chant for Eschaton 2000." On a lighter note they decide to end with a hilarious cover of Turbonegro's "I Got Erection." For a moment amidst the cheers of the crowd Orion's stern expression gives way to a grin as the band exits the stage.

"Well I always wanted to do this for a living but I never expected things to be as they are now," he says. "I was I don't know 12 or something when I started listening to metal. Slayer was one of the very first bands I heard obviously. Yeah then I started my own band and went in this direction and somehow I'm here and I'm still happy."

Behemoth's performance places me in a state of exhilaration that all too rapidly declines after the triple threat of God Forbid, All That Remains, and Trivium. All three bands are talented in their own right but the pseudo heavy riffing and melodic soloing coupled with angsty and the beast vocals is just not my bag. I try to snap some shots during the sets to occupy myself only to receive a nice wad of spit on my camera lens courtesy of guitar diva Matt Heafy.

The Black Dahlia Murder are entertaining as usual combining proficient melodic death metal with a spirited stage show. Relatively new guitarist and ex-Arsis member Ryan Knight handles the chops and solos quite nicely as vocalist Trevor Strnad stomps around on stage proudly exposing his "Heartburn" belly tattoo. Job For a Cowboy follows with some proficient yet hardly groundbreaking death metal. Their delivery is solid however, proving that their perplexing rise to stardom is not entirely owed to MySpace hype.

The headliners per se of this parking lot extravaganza are none other than Florida's Cannibal Corpse, the dinosaur of death metal that has not only survived extinction but adapted to a modern metal scene with a sense of groove and musicianship that has become an increasing rarity. Vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher can be seen wetting his hair in the backstage area and snapping his neck a bit to warm up. A bit of "windmill" prep you could say.

The fan base of Cannibal Corpse has historically matched the dedication of the band they so ravenously follow and today is no different. The title track from Cannibal's latest, Evisceration Plague works nicely as an opener, presenting a stripped-down yet undeniably groovy foray into the classic gore-soaked brand of death metal. While this dynamic has been a constant throughout Cannibal's discography, 2006's Kill was hailed by many as a return to form and Evisceration Plague has built upon that momentum. Drummer and founding member Paul Mazurkiewicz talks about the writing process.

"It's kind of a tough thing," he begins. "You don't go in saying ok we're going to make our best album and this is going to be the album, you know that's for the fans to decide. Every time we go into writing at that moment in time you're trying to do the best that you can at that point. Why now instead of 8 years ago? Why was Kill more well received than Gore-Obsessed [2002]? You just gotta sit back and look and be like well we didn't really try anything specific or like I said trying to make the best album that's going to go down as the best. Yeah, you want to do your best but it's kind of hard to say. I think the songs really flow on Kill and the reasoning is almost unknown. It just comes out of us, it's what we do. I think every album you're going to have a couple of songs at least hopefully that stand out that end up in the live set or whatever. But for some reason Kill was kind of like The Bleeding [1994] album in some sense where every song just flowed and every song was catchy enough so that they just stand out. And like I said you don't just go into those things really consciously thinking about that but if it happens it's a good thing. We're just luckily riding the wave..."

Corpsegrinder pauses between songs to address the crowd. He proudly wears a Dethklok t-shirt. Hidden behind soaked slick hair his wild eyes glare through.

"I don't want to see anyone standing around playin' with themselves," he begins. "If you want to play with your tits that's fine but if you see anyone out there playin' with their dicks you know what to do, MAKE THEM SUFFER!"

The crowd continues to feed off of bloody odes from Cannibal's extensive discography. The band plays together in a way that only a 20-year+ relationship can cultivate. Bassist Alex Webster's fingers fly in a machine-like fashion while Mazurkiewicz holds down the beat with an occasional bout of blasting. Lead Guitarist Pat O'Brian adds a tasteful yet scorching solo from time to time propelling the intensity especially of new song "Priests of Sodom." Guitarist Rob Barret never gets much spotlight but his impeccable rhythm playing completes the chugging performance. Audience participation culminates in a furious moshpit for the quintessential "Hammer Smashed Face" and sustains through closer, "Stripped, Raped and Strangled."

"I think we've retained a lot of stuff from when we grew up," says Mazurkiewicz.  "And our influences were the early 80s metal bands and the thrash bands of the mid 80s like Slayer for instance and that's why we don't want to say we're copying or anything but they were a big influence and why are they still around? They write great songs that have got some groove to them and they're brutal, and that's what we always tried to do.

"You know we are straightforward for the most part but we try to write good songs and they've gotta be catchy and we do have some groove to us and I think there's nothing wrong with that. I think that's why we've been around as long as we have. We're not just focused on oh we gotta be the fastest band in the world or the most technical band. No, let's just write good songs albeit if it's a slower easier song that anyone can play. It doesn't matter. We're just trying to write a great song and luckily for us the fans have been there to support and I think we have somewhat succeeded in that way."

After Cannibal Corpse exits the stage to resounding cheers the despicable Hot Topic logo is finally brought down. I am delighted that the organizers of the Mayhem Festival worked a small measure of mercy into the lineup by timing the performances of Cannibal Corpse and Bullet for My Valentine simultaneously. There is still however, the matter of Killswitch Engage. Being from Massachusetts some may find it odd that I no longer hold the band in high esteem. I will admit that during my initial exploration of metal, Killswitch introduced me to a foreign sonic world. They had just enough clean/pretty parts to get me through those nasty bits of growling and heavy guitars. As I watch the band perform on a television monitor in the press tent, decked out in t-shirt tuxedos however, I find it hard to regard them as anything but completely ridiculous.

A loud cry emits from behind me. I glance over to see what the commotion is about and I see a band of teenagers sitting at a table; Bullet For My Valentine T-shirts, plastic Viking helmets, obesity. The youth who yelped is grasping his nose and muttering something about an intense mosh pit and trying to snap his nose back into place, each attempt yielding another piercing scream. I watch in tired disbelief as the youth refuses several offers to call for appropriate medical treatment. Please Slayer, I beg of thee, redeem this festival.

Night has now fallen as I make my way to some surprisingly good seats in the main stage area. Said stage is roughly twice the size of the parking lot odeum. As just about 20,000 eyes dry out with anticipation, the lights dim and a collection of ghostly pentagrams shine through the darkness. The curtain drops and three men bathed in red light appear. The familiar faces of Tom Araya, Jeff Hanneman, and Kerry King are visible, headbanging their way through "Darkness of Christ" and straight on through "Disciple." An Iron Eagle resides coldly over drummer Dave Lombardo as he pummels his way through "War Ensemble." Forget the clichés of a rock concert; forget your annoyance when some kid yells Slayer at any given venue for any given band, this is metal, this is a sonic bloodbath. If there was a live act that could right the many wrongs of this day it would have to be the one, the only, Slayer.

The set slows down momentarily as the band decide to play some new material with Christ Illusion's [2006] "Jihad" followed by World Painted Blood's [2009] "Psycopathy Red." I just happen to be viewing the stage from an angle that creates a peculiar illusion. The smoke billowing outwards from the right side of the stage near Mr. Kerry King appears to be originating from the man's ass; a poignant visual metaphor perhaps? My snarky musings are violently halted by the one-two-punch of "Mandatory Suicide" and "Chemical Warfare." Did I mention "Hell Awaits," "Angel of Death," and "South of Heaven" back-to-back followed by the essential closer "Raining Blood" replete with pyro-fucking-technics?

All of my bitterness has vanished. My neck is stiff and my eyes are wide. This is what it's all about people. Reflecting on the day however, The Mayhem Festival still remains an anomaly to me. Will it be instrumental in showing a larger audience the power of metal? Will this package slowly but surely blossom into a pure metal festival some fateful day? Will the money spent on parent's credit cards to download exclusive Guitar Hero tracks from this tour somehow get back to the bands? Will the plastic Viking helmet fad ever end? I just don't have those answers. So I'm guessing you would like to hear how Mr. Manson figured into all this? I wouldn't know. I left.

Slayer photos courtesy of www.returntothepit.com

All other photos by Patrick Rennick