Tour Title: March Metal Meltdown
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Tour Title: March Metal Meltdown |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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Abyss's Review (3/10/00-3/11/00, South Jersey Expo Center, NJ):
Marshmallow Meltdown: Please Sir, Can I Have S'more?
Those of us who were there last year couldn't forget the bitter cold of the venue, and the lack of a liquor license to warm us up. It was quite a spectacle: mosh pits frozen in mid-thrash, herds of huddled, little imps begging for money for a long sleeve T-shirt, fat metal chicks forced to cover up their obesity challenged spandex outfits, and me, shaking from head to toe (and I wasn't even cold) repeating just one phrase over and over. "There's no beer?"
Has it been a year already? Apparently so. So this year, we headed to the Expo-center in Jersey, to revel once again in the chaos that is a Jack Koshick event. Unfortunately, the set up of this year's festival was a step down from the first. It's hard to criticize an event that is this big, but it appears that is my lot in life. The biggest problem was the fact that the venue, while huge, was simply not designed to showcase live music. The acoustics were terrible, which made listening to a band that you haven't heard before nearly impossible. And the louder a band got, the worse the muddled effect became. Another travesty of justice was the decision to have the two side stages in one room, separated only by a curtain. Basically, to make this event more successful Jack should reduce the amount of no name bands that are playing, and scope out a venue that has at least slightly better acoustics than that of the average suburban garage.
Cephalic Carnage
Photo by Cynthia PelznerEnough of the bad shit, let's center on the improvements: There was beer there both nights this time. We dipsomaniacs, however, were corralled into 21 and over "beer gardens," which seems very discriminatory to me. I remember the good old days when alcoholics were allowed to roam free in herds, with only the wild frontier to bind them. Now it seems they've been hunted to the brink of extinction, their numbers only maintained by enclosing them in wildlife preserves. Will we ever learn? But hell, at least this year you could see the bands from the beer gardens (Unless you were at the side stages).
Unfortunately getting drunk did little to clarify the music, making it near impossible to turn myself onto any new bands, so I tried mostly to stick to bands I knew, which was made more difficult by the fact that they all seemed scheduled against each other.
Immortal
Photo by Cynthia PelznerApparently, every one of my friends who saw Nocturnus believed them to be the best of the show. I missed them, so my favorite was the ever-chaotic Cephalic Carnage. I was hooked the moment they opened with the beginning of "Dr. Suess is Dead" by the late-great Acid Bath. From there they went into a set of their own turbo-thrusted grindcore that made me ache for their Relapse debut. The Aggression was paused only for brief, pot-induced intros to the songs that, more often than not, made little sense. But who cares, they're just having too much fun up there to not enjoy yourself.
S.O.D. seemed to be able to pull off a better sound than most of their peers, highlighting the "Ballad of Charlie Brown" which celebrated the passing of Charles Schultz. Normally I don't fall for such silly antics, but S.O.D. back it up with chops infused with experience to make it worthwhile.
My biggest disappointment was one of the acts I looked forward to most. Sentenced actually sounded quite good, but due to their stage running late (Supposedly due to Vital Remains playing 17 mins over their allotted time) we got to see only four songs. Vital Remains was their usual, awesome self, but I am a little bitter if the aforementioned rumor is true.
In Extremo
Photo by Cynthia PelznerImmortal, the band I was most anxious to see, was plagued with technical problems. The guitar sound was lost for roughly half of their set, taking away from what seemed an otherwise impressive performance. In Extremo was the guilty pleasure of the weekend. It's hard not to laugh at their eccentric wardrobe and insistence on making their bagpipe-like horns a metal instrument. But they sounded pretty good and were fun to watch. My favorite song of theirs was ___________ (please enter your own over-enunciated German gibberish here).
Testament, even with all of their experience, couldn't get by the poor sound. Many of my friends hadn't had the pleasure of seeing them before, and it's unfortunate that they were robbed of seeing their brilliance. And the lone band I could tolerate the side stage for was Deceased, who played a good show even though they (as all the bands in that room) had to compete with another band that was literally just meters away.
All in all, I had fun, but it wasn't the experience it could be. I hope Mr. Koshick realizes that this festival, due to its location, has the ability to surpass Milwaukee as the premier North American metalfest, all he needs to do is center on the music rather than the quantity. After all that's what we're all there for.
Death's Review (3/10/00-3/11/00, South Jersey Expo Center, NJ):
Why $2.75 a Beer is Always a Good Thing; OR Why Two Stages (in One Room) Ar en't Always Better than One
Jack Koshick strikes again with another overly ambitious yet undeniably underground metallic undertaking. Part of what has become the Metalmania series of regional Milwaukee Metalfest spinoffs, the March Metal Meltdown 2 was the kind of event which everyone could heavily criticize, but no one would have missed for the world. Forget about embracing the scene, Jack Koshick's events define the scene. And as much as they often have become organizational nightmares, we need events like this to keep our scene strong and vibrant. Plus, no matter what happens with the bands, it's still great fun to see everyone, throw back a few at $2 + change per, and get sloshed. Still, at some point, it has to be about the music, and Jack, when you can't hear a band because there is another band playing at full volume not ten feet away, somebody fucked up, and something has to change.
Vital Remains
Photo by Cynthia PelznerThese 4 pm Friday start times make it tough to get there on time, especially when you are arriving from out of town. Of course, as is always the case with the best laid departure intentions, we didn't leave New York City in our rented 4X4 until right around the time the first act took the stage (was Immoral Empire the Florida death metallers I was drinking beers with at the hotel party Saturday night who told me they had the honor of being the first act to take the stage that weekend? Anyway, I missed them.). Nevertheless, the drive through Sopranoland (northern-to-central Jersey) was pleasant enough, and we caught frequent festival updates from veteran metal radio stalwarts WSOU. After a few "jug handle" mishaps trying to find our hotel and a place to eat our pre-festival meal (bad pizza joint across the way), we descended upon the South Jersey Expo Center right about 8 pm.
We walked in, grabbed a schedule, and headed straight for the beer garden by the KNAC.com stage, in hopes we hadn't missed Shadows Fall. We hadn't. Instead we caught The Business, and the best I can say about them was that they were still playing and thus we hadn't missed Shadows Fall. The beer garden was our first stop before stepping into the pit for the mighty Shadows. This band smokes, and the first band I caught that weekend turned out to be one of the best. Watch this act in the coming months.
Of course, metalfests are just as much about the atmosphere as the individual sets. Generally, I've found the beer gardens to be where the most fun is to be had. With metal luminaries like Danny Lilker, Sharlee D'Angelo, Steev Esquivel and King Fowley leading the charge, this festival was no exception. Most of my first couple of hours Friday night was spent here, drinking, conversing, meeting folks, and kind of listening to the acts. The balance of my time was spent wandering through the crowd and checking out the booths set up by various labels, fanzines, web sites, merchandisers, etc. Much fun.
Jacob's Dream
Photo by Cynthia PelznerThe Nightfall stage was probably the area I spent the most time at over the course of the weekend. Many of the most exciting performances of the festival took place here. The first, for me, was Incantation. Sick, brutal death metal that had my head bobbing incessantly for thirty minutes. I can't wait for their new record.
Way too early for my tastes, I realized the end of the evening was drawing n ear. I ran over to check out Skinlab, a favorite of mine, at the KNAC stage, arriving midway through their set. They kicked major ass, sounding particularly awesome in spite of the horridly muddy sound in the vast warehouse-type room with the concrete floors. The fans came out strong, and they delivered. No surprise there.
Then it was almost time for S.O.D. I love S.O.D., but had only seen the band once, in, I believe, early 1999 at Coney Island High in NYC. Anyway, I stayed for the first couple of songs from their set, and, of course, they ruled. I was pretty drunk at this point, but I clearly remember hearing the first half of "Raining Blood" in the middle of one of the songs. The other piece of advice I garnered from the mighty S.O.D. was Billy Milano's admonition not to eat the hot dogs. Woodstock had brown acid, MMM2 had the dogs of death. I ate one anyway. Billy was right.
I was yanked out of my S.O.D.-induced daze by the realization that Vital Remains was about to take the stage in the Nightfall room. As much as I love S.O.D., I had to hear the new/old VR singer and check out the new material live. So away I scurried.
Dying Fetus
Photo by Cynthia PelznerVital Remains ruled, as expected. Overall, I must admit, the "Thorns" guy had a more theatrical stage presence which definitely added to the presentation. Still, the new material is so strong, and the new singer is more than competent. The band's set shredded, and even went on a bit longer than expected, causing a myriad of problems down the line . . .
'Cause next on the Nightfall stage was Sentenced, who many fans had high on their list of MMM2 attractions. Guess what, if you haven't heard by now, they played like three, maybe four songs before the curfew time came, the event turned into a pumpkin, and the proverbial plug was literally pulled. People were, shall I say, more than a bit pissed. Oh well, show over, said the authorities. Nothing to be done but come back tomorrow for more.
So we set out in search of late night food options, only to end up eating at the Wawa deli. Back to the hotel, where drunken metalheads raged and the nomadic wandered the halls until sunup and beyond. Time for some rest, for Saturday was another day .
I slept a long time. Then I hit the diner. We didn't get back to the Meltdown until god knows when. I do know I caught Cephalic Carnage, who made a great impression. Another upcoming release which I'll need to be sure not to miss.
About this time, I made my first extended sojourn into the most awful of rooms which held both the Relapse and Meltdown stages. Trust me, the thin, black curtain between them does nothing to change the fact that you cannot listen to two live acts playing right next to each other at the exact same time. I do not think this is that controversial of a principle. How on earth anyone ever thought that was a good idea is beyond me, but let's just leave it at this: it wasn't.
Nevertheless, I did manage to enjoy Luddite Clone, a sort of Dillinger Escape Plan -type band of technical metallic hardcore kids from New Jersey. Cool. Deceased kicked ass on the same stage, sending out hails to Metal Maniacs/ Lapland web board heroes like "Blizzard Beast and the rest of the Internet crazies" (rumor has it occasional Metal Judgment contributor Ganley was also raging up front). Sick.
I tried to check out Jacob's Dream on the horrid Meltdown stage, but they were so absolutely impossible to hear that they literally packed it in after only a couple of numbers. They must be pissed. These events need more power metal, for sure, but let's put it in a setting where one can appreciate the complexities of the music. I felt bad for Jacob's Dream.
From there, kick-ass acts appeared in rapid succession. Dying Fetus, of course, ruled, and had a huge crowd. These guys are getting big, and deservedly so. Back on the Relapse stage, one of the most impressive acts of the entire festival was Nocturnus. These guys ruled! I cannot wait to hear their forthcoming record. Sick, riffy death metal accented by keyboards in all the right ways. It was a combination prog-metal and American death. Nocturnus was very, very good. A festival highlight for sure.
Testament
Photo by Cynthia PelznerI had to see a little In Extremo. I still don't get it (but MTV was there filming them, for some reason.) Mortician and Angel Corpse stirred up the Nightfall stage for sure, each sounding great. Somehow, I ended up just partying at the Nightfall stage for a while, missing Hades, Anvil, and the other power metallers on the Meltdown stage, as well as bands like Whiplash and Doro on the headliner stage (I met Doro at a party in New York the week before and wanted to see her act ¯ I heard it sucked, but that's second-hand info so it doesn't mean much.) Instead, Immolation and Hate Eternal provided the sickest of soundtracks to my rapid-fire beer ingestion.
I left the Nightfall area after Hate Eternal to see the weekend headliners, and one of my favorite bands, Testament. I watched basically the whole set. People say the sound sucked, and it did, but they ruled, and if you were up close you could find a spot that sounded OK, I guess. Louie Clemente must live in New Jersey or something, 'cause, like the summertime show at the Birch Hill, he was in attendance. Only this time, he jammed with them, on "Practice What You Preach," at least partially addressing Abyss' criticism in his review of the Birch Hill show (that certain albums had gone completely unrep resented.)
Back over to the Nightfall stage for Immortal (I guess I missed Witchery. Ooops.) Immortal had sound issues as well for sure, with the guitar cutting in and out, but they were cooler than I'd thought they'd be. They had a nice stage presence, and looked like a seasoned live act. I was into it.
With the Immortal's finish, MMM2 came to a close. Of course, there was the requisite late-night Dunkin' Donuts run before the hotel party attended by many band members, label and radio folk, and even Koshick himself (thanks for the t-shirt, Jack). Jack seems to realize the organizational issues with the event and genuinely seems to want to find ways to improve it. I hope that as the Metalmania series grows, it grows gracefully. I know for now that I had a great weekend and wouldn't have missed it for the world. Sorry Overkill decided to cancel (really, the only major cancellation that I noticed), but overall, I had a great time. A metal weekend was had by all. In the end, how can you really ask for anything more than that?
Hel's Review (3/10/00-3/11/00, South Jersey Expo Center, NJ):
What a long, strange weekend it was. It started crazy, we left hours late, got totally lost in the bizzareness that is NJ’s road system, and then got lost a little more. When we finally made it to the venue, it was all good. The liquor license, a worry many of my travel-mates were sweating in fear of a repeat of last year, was intact and beer was immediately available. Additionally, we were desperately trying to get there in time for Shadows Fall and were convinced we blew it. But that was not the case since the stage they were on was running behind schedule.
The first thing explored was, of course, the beer area. There were 2, one at either end of the venue where the 2 main stages were located. Both areas were situated at some distance away from the stages, so the sound and the view were both terrible. Additionally, you were required to keep the beer inside the pen they set up. Worst of all, you had to show your ID each time you wanted to go in. Not only was it a pain in the ass, I don’t drink beer and I was at this place to see METAL, which you couldn’t do well penned up. So I fidgeted until Shadows Fall took the stage.
Shadows Fall
Photo by Cynthia PelznerI’ve heard great things about Shadows Fall, and had not managed to see them yet. At last, I got their fantastically energetic show. The sound was pretty bad, but that was something else that was prevalent last year and I was prepared for that. Throughout the set, we were unable to hear the backing vocals, but if the guy could tell, he wasn’t letting on. As I stood there watching them, I decided that Century Media was so smart to have signed them. This was an incredible performance and I would encourage everyone to check out their show.
Then it was back to the beer, this time we went to the other side. On the way past the Nightfall stage, I checked out what I think was Chasm for a moment, but we had not yet nailed down the logistics of who was where when since some stages were behind and some were on time. I wasn’t sure who it was and quickly was distracted by the activity of getting my ID out of my overflowing pockets. Once inside, I was able to hang calmly for awhile, I had not seen some good friends we were with in a long time and was distracted with talking metal. Plus, the next band I was determined to see was Skinlab, and I had some time.
I did break free to explore for a bit. There was too much to see to be locked in a place that holds no interest for me. I checked out the layout and took stock of the tables of merch. I was appalled to see the room that the Meltdown and Relapse stage were in. Side by side, separated by just a curtain! A travesty. If you didn’t already know the band you were watching, you would have no idea which band you were actually hearing. Clearly evidence of Jack Koshick just trying to make a little more money. It doesn’t take a lot of brain power to reason out that sound waves can’t be stopped by black cotton cloth. He obviously didn’t even consider it. I would strongly recommend to Jack that he not do this ever again. I immediately left the area and went back to try to rally the troops from beer to Skinlab. Eventually, I grew desperate and practically dragged a couple of my friends with me over to the other stage. As we were passing through the room, Bloodstorm was onstage, and for a millisecond it pierced my Skinlab-panicked daze. I liked that moment enough to remember later.
Skinlab
Photo by Cynthia PelznerI was horrified to finally reach the other side of the venue to find Skinlab well into their set. Remember, until the headline act, each band only has 30 minutes to play, so missing 2 songs is a pretty substantial portion of the set. I’ve seen Skinlab live several times, and they always put on a great show. I have also missed the beginning of their set the last couple of times, so I was pretty irked that I hadn’t just run off by myself. But I set it all aside when they started into "Second Skin" and just enjoyed. Once again, they blew me away, and on virtue of their always being able to do so, they’ve risen to my short list of favorite live bands.
Back again to the Nightfall stage, to see part of Impaled Nazarene. Again, a band I’d heard of, but had never had the privilege. I was very glad I made the effort, but by this time, things were such that I needed to run back over to see S.O.D. on the mainstage. I liked what I saw and will have to check out more. However, scheduling issues being as they were, I needed to catch the beginning of S.O.D., so I could come back and watch Vital Remains.
I saw S.O.D. last year, before Bigger Than The Devil was released. This was much like that, except I had more room to breathe and I could actually see the band. Nice. I liked the little bit of Slayer they tossed in during "Speak English or Die." Billy Milano could not stop chatting up the crowd and, all in all, it was a fun show. But I had to go. Vital Remains had probably already started playing.
So I logged another quarter mile sprint, and I reached the Nightfall to find Vital Remains playing to a pitifully small crowd. They got screwed. Everyone was watching S.O.D. and few people even knew who Vital Remains was. But for those that did, Vital Joe and Co. put on an evil show. One kid, wearing a Vital Remains shirt, wanted to mosh to this most excellent band but the crowd was so small, there were no takers. Their new vocalist has a great high-pitched squeal/growl. They were so good, in fact, that I began to question my wisdom in not awarding Dawn of the Apocalypse 5 skulls. I particularly enjoyed the extra touch of the skull taped to the mic stand. But once the set was over, I was off like a shot to catch the end of S.O.D.
S.O.D. wrapped up moments after I arrived. I lingered around, knowing that eventually one of my friends would stumble out of the pit. After I collected my buddy, we were on our way out when S.O.D. came back out for an encore. They didn’t get out half the song before they were unplugged, though. But that was fine by me, I needed to get back for Sentenced anyway. We hurried back to the Nightfall.
S.O.D.
Photo by Cynthia PelznerSentenced came out moments after we arrived and found the rest of our crew. Another band I’d heard good things about and never had the pleasure. Well, I didn’t really have the pleasure at the March Metal Meltdown. In the biggest injustice of the Meltdown, Sentenced was cut off after just three songs. There were a lot of extremely indignant metalheads, but they received nothing. It certainly wasn’t enough for me to make a decision about Sentenced.
And that was it. The first day was over abruptly. We made our way out into the cold night and proceeded to go the wrong way home. Fortunately, a WaWa met both our food and direction needs. Eventually we returned to the hotel and discovered it full of rowdy metalheads.
After a fitful night of sleep (the metalheads next door never did go to sleep), we rose and hurried to the diner down the street. In true Jersey style, we had to make no less than six U-turns between the hotel, the diner, and the venue. Fortunately, it was day and we now knew our way, so we finally made it back to the land of metal.
The first band of day that I really sat up and noticed, was Cephalic Carnage on the Relapse stage. Relapse has a gem here. They delivered an energetic pummeling and had some fun banter with the crowd, which was a pretty good size. They played at least one new song, and the one that I recall was enormously heavy. I left thinking I really need to check out their new album.
Sentenced
Photo by Cynthia PelznerI spent some additional time wandering from stage to stage, beer area to beer area, and chatting with people. On my way past the Nightfall, I was struck by the sound from the stage. It was Withered Earth, and they provided a dark and melodic moment that lingered after I left the area.
The next band I was psyched for was Deceased. King was awesome, and watching him skillfully bash his kit to smithereens while delivering violent vocals was a wonderful thing. They were stuck on the Relapse stage, but powerful enough to be heard over the band on the other side of the curtain. The wrapped up their set with a killer Iron Maiden cover.
Poor Jacob's Dream ended up on the Meltdown stage. The band up against them on the Relapse stage was a death metal outfit, and the power metallers never stood a chance. The more they turned up, the more feedback they got. They walked off the stage in disgust after a song and a half. I was basically standing in front of the speaker and I couldn’t hear them for a second. Second biggest injustice of the MMM.
In Extremo was the next band I took in. I had been interested in seeing them live, as I mentioned last week in my album review. Well, I saw what I thought I would. Kilts and costumes. Also as I expected, I was taken in and it was impressive despite my misgivings. The 3 bagpipe players thrashed around while they weren’t playing, with pipes slung over their shoulders, stepping in time with a bit of choreography. The crowd was sparse but provided In Extremo with big feedback. It struck me that the fans they have love them. It was all very convincing. I’m not sure how I would have felt about it if I’d seen their whole set, but I had to run off to see Dying Fetus.
In Extremo never had a chance against these American death metallers. The crowd that wasn’t watching them was here. All of them. No one draws a metalfest crowd like Dying Fetus. And they cranked out their usual metal-festival-pleasing pummeling. It’s a sin these guys aren’t signed to a bigger label.
Deceased
Photo by Cynthia PelznerWe stayed put for the time being, again at the beer, and waited for the set to be changed from Mortician. Most of the crowd seems to have followed suit, since the majority of the crowd at the Nightfall for Dying Fetus was still here for Mortician. And they were well pleased by the band’s brand of fast paced brutality and lightening quick songs.
Nocturnus was next on the agenda, playing on the Relapse side of the room from hell. At the press conference earlier in the day, keys banger Louis, referred to themselves as "Sci-Fi death metal". And, as you may know, as a general rule, I like metal bands that sing about aliens. So I was psyched for this show. Nocturnus is a awesome brand of technical death metal. A truly enthralling experience.
The stamina-fest continued with me dashing over to catch at least a song of Dillinger Escape Plan. Having seen them many times, I was not shocked to find that they were just as I remembered. The displayed their usual huge energy to a good sized crowd.
Yet another quarter-mile (I’m making the distance up, but it seems about right) later, I arrive for Angel Corpse. Here’s a band I hadn’t even heard much about. But I was impressed by Pete’s intelligence in the press conference and happy to hear him say that he thinks extreme metal is on the rise. I didn’t see much, but I loved what I saw. Their set ended shortly after my arrival. Another band added to the list of music I need to hear more of.
Virgin Steele was just next door on the awful Meltdown stage. Another power metal band (very possibly the only that were there) sacrificed to that stage. They held their own admirably. Good crowd, bad sound.
Back next door for Hate Eternal, another band I wished to increase my knowledge of. During that press conference, he was realistic about the place of his band in the music world. He said, "A million people waking up in the morning and listening to Hate Eternal? I don’t see it. It’s obscure music for obscure listeners." They were KILLER. Hate Eternal blew me away like In Flames blew me away at Milwaukee last year. Eric’s hair was blown up from below in that cool, theatrical way. This frantic 3 piece was fantastic.
Doro, however, was a study in contrast. I truly admire her, I always am happy to see women in metal and she is a legend. I think that her choice of young buff boys for her backup band was great, a little eye candy for the ladies for a change. She drew a decent crowd of both men and women. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the songs. I thought they were weak and the mix was terrible. Sorry Doro, I’ve got to go see Immolation.
Believe it or not, I’ve never actually seen this NYC band live. I was glad to remedy that and finally see Immolation. This powerful death metal 3 piece almost made my list of top ten albums of 1999. I can hold my head a little higher now that I’ve finally had their live experience.
Hate Eternal
Photo by Cynthia PelznerThen came the most horrible part of the evening. There wasn’t a band playing on either of the two largest stages for the longest time. My legs are still sore from the beating they took from my impatient pacing from one end of the building to the other hoping that one or the other would start because I needed to see both.
Finally, I entered Nightfall to see Witchery finally begin to play. I stood there is blissful happiness for 4 wonderful songs before I decided that I had to see Testament, one of my favorite bands of all time. But this was not a difficult decision. I actually had intended to only see two songs, but it was so wonderful, I keep saying, "just one more". I did that twice before I finally ran out.
When I reached the other side, Testament was in full swing. I started in front of the speakers with a wonderful view, but I thought I should probably find the friends I ditched earlier in the day for dragging me down with their beer drinking. A couple of them were standing dead center in the back. Sure, for guys that are a foot taller than me, that’s great, but it sucked for me. Turned out everyone else was standing at the edge of the pit, and tossing a few people is a small price to pay for such a nice view. It was over all too soon, I think Testament started the second after I walked out the last time, so I felt gypped. They also tried to play longer and were cut off. So the only thing left to do was go watch the mighty Immortal.
Witchery just left the stage. I once again felt terribly ripped off. I spent my entire day missing parts of bands I wanted to see because there were so many scheduling conflicts. I was exhausted and my feet were killing me, but Immortal was still to come.
Finally, the grand finale, Immortal. The sound sucked. That was true of the sound on all of the stages, but Nightfall, where Immortal was about to play, was the worst of the 2 main stages. And unfortunately, it was the worst of the entire weekend. Immortal’s guitar cut in and out (mostly out) throughout the entire set. Considering how impatient he was at the press conference in the afternoon, he asked at one point if he could leave, I almost expected him to storm off. But, apparently, Immortal was not going to do that his first time playing in America. They powered through their set regardless of all the obstacles placed in their way, they crowd couldn’t hear them, they couldn’t hear themselves, but they were true metal warriors and thundered on. Surprisingly they did not get cut off, and Immortal played nearly 45 minutes. Personally, I suspect Jack was afraid of him. Despite everything, they turned in a great performance.
Sharlee D'Angelo of Witchery
Photo by Cynthia PelznerIn summation, this Meltdown in many ways rivaled last year’s fiasco. In some ways it was even worse. In some ways it was even better. But the truth is, metalheads are a hardy bunch and as long as the music is heavy, and the beer is plenty, they will have fun. Regardless, Jack’s going to have to get his head out of his ass and start doing these events right. Organize and they will continue to come. Prestige and history are one thing. Quality is another and can crush prestige and history. Let’s hope Milwaukee can earn 5 skulls overall. MMM earns 5 for the bands, but the poor organization brings it down.
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