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BlueRidge Rock Festival 2022: Review

Ron

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Another year has passed along with another BlueRidge Rock Festival. Most  of the media and personal accounts of this festival are going to on how horrible it was and all the missteps of the promoter, management and the festival as a whole. Do some things need to be changed for next year: absolutely yes? Do us Photographers and media need to be treated a little better: once again yes.

 Remember we are the eyes and ears of the people who are on the outside looking in and the sounding board for those who were there. We are essentially a part of your staff and your promotional machine. that are not getting paid and control the media world, with our voices we can make or break things very easily)

That’s enough of all the negative vibes, except one last thing: Fuck that Hill (aka Kate Bush). That hill of death put a huge damper on how many bands I was going to cover this year because I myself am not an Olympic walker/hiker/mountain explorer

Instead of going into all details about each day and every band I saw and all that normal blah blah blahs. I figured I would do something a little different. They say a picture is better than a 1,000 words: I took well over 4,000 photos and covered 44 bands in 4 days and walked about 30 miles in those 4 days. I’m sure you get that picture.  

Some of the highlights for me were 100000% the following: Kittie, Shadows Fall, Ice Cube, Tenacious D, Alice Cooper and getting to see Mushroomhead during the daylight, althought it rained on us during their set.  There were so many bands from different genres and all kinds of different strokes for all those folks. That is one of the main reasons I love this festival. It offers such diversity with the selection of artists. It did kinda suck not being able to photograph STP or Slipknot (this years Five Finger Death Punch) but “What you gonna do brother?” (sorry a little Hulk Hogan came out of me) 

I’ll would like say this now and hold myself to it. I would love to and keep supporting this festival and cover it every time they need me to (with some tweaks, hopefully). Despite the weather change from too much sun, to too much rain, long walks, not enough water/food provided for us, I had an amazing time. I got to see some killer bands and watch a few sets of some old friends, and made some new ones too.  That’s one of the most endearing qualities of the metal community. It’s all about taking adversity and making it work for them, however I’m just one guy who’s opinion will most likely ge lost in the echoes of “woke” culture. I’ll end with a poetic quote from a modern day renaissance poet, Mr Corey Taylor.

PEOPLE=SHIT.

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Concert Reviews

The Nothing That Is Tour

George Archibald

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Another fall evening in the Burgh, the air was crisp and cool, setting the mood for a great night for metal. The Roxian in McKees Rock, PA, hosted The Nothing That Is Tour tonight, featuring Fit For An Autopsy. Bodysnatcher, Distant, Sylosisand, and Judiciary. Fit For An Autopsy brought some of the heaviest and nastiest together to throw down for all of you. An eclectic banding of hardcore and deathcore acts that are making waves in the metal community. 

Judiciary kicked things off, their music a blend of hardcore, thrash, and punk. Their songs had thrash riffs with hardcore rhythms and breakdowns, with an occasional solo thrown in. With horns raised in the air, the crowd gave these Texas natives a well-received welcome. This band was a great start to the night, bringing the energy in the room up quickly. 

Sylosis came out to a fury. Their vocalist ripped at the crowd from the start, asking for a circle pit as they kicked off. This band had moshers and crowd surfers amped up as waves of bodies started coming over the front barricade. Throughout the set, the energy never let up, as this band kept pushing the crowd. This energy came to a high when their newest single, “The Path,” was performed. High-paced hardcore mayhem throughout the set, this band had a vast amount of tricks in their bag, from solos to even groove to bring to the party.

At the midpoint of the show, Distant took the stage. This band is over-the-top heavy, riding low-tuned grooves into devastating breakdowns. The vocalist has a wide range, from high-pitched screams and growls to bottom-of-the-barrel gutturals. Distant announced their newest album, Tsukuyomi: The Origin, is a week away from coming out. Which kicked off the single “Torturous Symphony.” At this point, no one was standing still on the floor as moshers were on the move. Bodies colliding into each other until the band finally stopped, at this point the crowd was completely warmed up.

Deathcore veterans Bodysnatcher took the stage next to show Pittsburgh how to throw down. This band rides a low groove while keeping the energy high, accompanied by the unrelenting low growls of vocalist Kyle Medina. The band kicked off with “King of Rats” and went right into “Dead Rabbit.” The floor was swimming with bodies as the band raged on. Other standout songs were “Take Me to Hell” and “Black of My Eyes” before closing out on “Murder8.”

Headliners Fit For An Autopsy took the stage with a fury, kicking off with “Lower Purpose” into “A Higher Level of Hate” for a nasty one-two punch out of the gate. Seasoned veterans now in their careers, the band looked very polished and primed. FFAA just released their newest album, The Nothing That Is. The band played through several hits, “Black Mammoth”, “The Sea of Tragic Beasts”, and “Hellions”, before diving back into their latest album with “Hostage”. The crowd stayed up and moving through the set as Fit For an Autopsy is a Pittsburgh favorite, having visited the city several times during their tenure. 

The Nothing That Is tour showcases some of the heaviest bands touring right now. Fit For An Autopsy have updated their live show and look ready to take the world fresh off the new album. If you are looking to release some steam or to hear some new music, The Nothing That Is tour will not disappoint.

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Concert Reviews

STRYPER ON A SUNDAY. YES PLEASE

Ron

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STRYPER was just in Baltimore the other day on the 40 years of Stryper tour. Playing 2 sets spanning those 40 years. I’ve only ever seen Stryper play at M3 so it was amazing to get to see a full on set then another full on set right after. 

For the 1st set we got the 1984-1990 set which included songs like “Loud N Clear”, “Soldiers under Command” and “To Hell with the Devil”. 

The second set we got 1986, 2004-2024 with songs like “No More Hell to Pay”, “This i Pray” and ending the night with “Sing along Song”. 

It was a great night for Music and sadly more then likely the last show at RamsHead Live I’ll be ever to attend as the are closing their doors (hopefully will be open again with a new venture) but the show was amazing to see Stryper play on the stage. Such great guys and a great band. I love that Stryper is fully engaged with the fans and the show is always amazing. I love that they put their religious beliefs 100% on display but the show never feels preachy or judgmental. If you get a chance to see Stryper play in your city I fully recommend it such a great time and a great band to see play live.    

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Concert Reviews

King Diamond brought the Halloween party to Silver Spring MD

Ron

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King Diamond who’s on tour now with Overkill and Night Demon.

Overkill always puts on a great show and shows that face pace thrash metal is still kick ass. Led by NJ’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth Overkill has that distinctive sound with Bobby’s high pitched and raspy vocals. With songs like “Scorched”, “ Rotten to the Core” and “Hello From the Gutter”, Overkill got the crowd into a frenzy and warmed up the stage before the king. 

You know it’s gonna be a good night when it’s 3 days before Halloween and you get to see a kick ass set from King Diamond. King Diamond who’s 68 right now still commands that stage and sounds amazing with his insanely falsettos. The stage show at a King Diamond show is always such a great sight to see. With a multilayer setup of stairs and little pieces of elaborate set all over it’s such a great view and perfect setting to watch a King Diamond set. 

The set list was amazing too we got to hear songs from such a great career like “A Mansion in the Darkness”, “Halloween “, “Spider Lilly”, “Welcome Home”, and “Eye of the Witch” and of course ending the night with “Abagail”. 

If you’re a fan of King Diamond or just a fan of great music that adds that Halloween haunted asylum themed stage performances then you need to go out and check this tour now. King Diamond never disappoints and always puts on one hell of a show. 

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