The Concert Reader Reviews:

Tour Title: Milwaukee Metalfest XIII
July 30-31, 1999

There are currently 2 Reader Reviews of this tour.
Average Rating: 5
Go to Judgment Committee Reviews of this tour

Submitted by Cyn:
Let’s just say that this is the furthest I’ve schlepped for metal, and I’m damn proud of it! I can tell you that, at these big shows, it’s nice to have a photo pass, and it’s nice to be female. Walking around with a $3000 camera outfit, people respect you a whole lot more! I was enthralled with the whole scene and the set up was, by far, 1000 times better then the March Metal Meltdown. Plus it was warm out! I got a chance to get up close and personal with some amazing bands, some of whom I had never heard before and some of whom I knew and was psyched to see. 2 days of metal: a myriad of amazing bands, 4 different stages, my good friends, and a nice tie-in with some label friends gained us access to vip rooms and free shit. What fun! I was running around like a mad woman with a camera all weekend long and I loved it! My favorite parts of the weekend were hanging out with the Relapse folks and meeting some of the bands in person, seeing Cradle of Filth and In Flames, not to mention The Gathering and Flotsam & Jetsam! Downers: garbage! Kids were sitting on the dirty floors asking people for money to buy food and picking through the trash. By the end of the weekend, the place was trashed and gross but hey, it’s a metal show. I got some great photos too!

Submitted by Ganley:
My Metalfest virginity was gladly given up by yours truly this year as I and a friend made the holy trek from Baltimore to Milwuakee for the first time. Unfortunately, we missed the first the first day of the fest due to the pathetic scheduling and poor management of Greyhound busses. I won't go into detail about that because I've vented enough on that issue already. Therefore, my review of the 2nd day will be more detailed! OK, after we made it there, we caught some z's. Next morning, I threw my Dark Angel shirt on and we went to Mecca and FINALLY set foot in the Auditorium (after trying to find it). Even though I was a little pissed at the fact many main bands cancelled, like Marduk, Satyricon, Morbid Angel, etc.... I was in all my glory there. Metalheads were all over the place and we were all there for the same purpose: METAL!!!! Once inside, Vendorville nabbed some of my attention. We then hunted down all the stages and saw the schedule and plotted our day. Of the first several bands we saw we didn't really get names. Scrape was on our agenda to see first, as we had seen them before with Pessimist. We went upstairs into A MOVIE THEATRE! Yep, the Relapse stage was a movie theatre-like room. Dark Days was finishing up a set of killer metal. Scrape ruled and managed to get the crowd out of the seats against security wishes. (This was later prevalent when Exhumed played.)
Afterwards we ate and saw plenty more bands like Rotting and Vore. Next on our agenda was the 4 way set of Anal Blast, Lividity, Withered Earth, and Pessimist! Some band named Pentagayia was finishing up and I was left befuddled after watching the vocalist mock-jerk-off with his mic. OK. Anal Blast put on a killer set of grindcore mayhem. Even more entertaining were the strippers on stage playing with the microphones and such. It was also fun to hear a bunch of people chanting for songs like "Menstrual Pancake." They definitely ruled the room when they played, it was packed! Lividity was next and having seen them before, I knew what to expect from the vocalist in-between songs. He was doing his usual pornographic humor monologues with some brutal death metal songs thrown in the middle. I was content. Next, Withered Earth. They kicked major ass and played a great blend of deathcore metal. Now comes the moment we were waiting for: PESSIMIST! They get better every time I see them, and they crushed all life out of anyone listening with their technikill, brutal death metal. Afterwards, everyone raced upstairs to see Exhumed. The security wouldn't let people in the room, it was so packed. Never tell a metalhead in Milwaukee, he/she can't see a band! He made the mistake of turning his back and everyone stormed in the room. Exhumed ran the room with full control. They loved the crowd and the crowd did the same back. Total insanity. After that we took a break and I did my "shopping." I later saw bits of Burial, The Chasm, Internal Bleeding, Dying Fetus, Immolation, Usurper and others. Monstrosity was another band with no problem packing a room. Simply put, they gave the crowd a healthy dose of death metal and ANGEL OF DEATH!!!!!!!!! Everyone pretty much stayed to see Nile afterwards. They amazed all metalheads with how tight they were and how well they played their technical death metal. Songs like "Smashing the Antu" made their way through and whipped up the crowd. Later we waited for Cradle of Filth, who I wanted to see because, yeah, they take a bunch of shit for things, but I still like 'em. They started with the first track from Vempire (can't think of the title) and I was content from there. We left partially through to catch Sinister, who also kicked ass. Mortician was next and even though you really can't decipher songs from each other, (except for the samples) you gotta love the extreme brutality of it all. Killer! We were tired and worn out so we called it a day and left.
Well, so it "could've" been the Milwuakee DEATH Metalfest but hey, who am I to complain about that! It was definitly worth it all to get there! Next year they'd better secure a stable lineup, though. Also, heres a tip: NEVER shop until the end of the day. It sucks carrying it all around, and if one place runs out of something, someone else will have it. See you all next year.

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