Listening To...

Since I haven't had time lately to write anything interesting, I thought I'd share a few photos of what I have been listening to recently, amongst other albums. (Summer always seems to present so many opportunities for activities other than writing and listening to music). If some of the covers look off-color, they picked up the reflection of the band flags on my wall.

Farmageddon Open Air 2014 - Review

Farmageddon Open Air 2014: with the festival now over, it’s time to catch up on sleep, nurse sunburns and reflect on a great experience. One thing is for-sure; all of the volunteers and festival organizers deserve some massive accolades. This festival was definitely a labour of love of metal and I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of work that went into organizing and running three fantastic days of metal. (Four if you count the kick-off party/show that I did not attend). 

Friday, June 13th started out with some unstable weather, catching arriving festival-goers in the process of setting up tents in a short-lived rain shower. The metal-gods must have been smiling though because the sky cleared up by the time the bands actually got underway. Although not the first band of the evening, Mongol created the atmosphere for the rest of the weekend, playing a solid, fun set. Being between costumes, the Star Wars themed outfits seemed to fit in with a weekend of friends, beer, barbecues and as much metal as anyone could ask for. I was looking forward to seeing Ides of Winter, but they were a last-minute cancellation on Friday. Scythia ended the evening with a well-executed show, playing several fan favorites and putting listeners in the mood to continue the party through the night and into the early hours of the next morning. 

Mongol

Saturday morning seemed to start earlier than scheduled, which may have been a bit questionable considering several people seemed to be nursing some pretty wicked hangovers from the night before. I was one of those people and was disappointed that I missed Skymir, Kryosphere and Eye Of Horus. There were other bands interspersed between those few that would have been interesting to see, but it wasn’t in the cards on that particular day. While I could hear the sets from the sauna-like atmosphere of my tent, it would have been nice if they had played at the scheduled times as that would have given those of us who partied a little too hard that much more recovery time. That being said, Saturday continued to be a day of heavy partying for many festival goers with antics happening left, right and center, including a very entertaining wizard-staff jousting match. Wandering over to the merchandise area was impressive considering the sheer amount of shirts, hoodies, patches, stickers and other merchandise that each band brought to a still-growing, fairly intimate festival. There were a few vendors present as well, including Ragnar the Trader, who always has some unique and finely crafted Viking themed goods. (I couldn’t resist buying a beautiful dragon bracelet for myself). 

Idolatry

Idolatry, a newly formed band, was one that I certainly was not going to miss. They played an excellent set, with vocalist Lörd Matzigkeitus’ stage presence invoking a feeling of true, old-school, Norwegian black metal. Death Toll Rising was another band not to miss and like each and every time I have witnessed their live show, they delivered a solid set of thrashy death metal. 

Sunday’s first big highlight came in the form of Scimitar, a melodic death metal/folk metal blend from Victoria, British Columbia. Even the wind storm that ripped through the camping area out of the blue couldn’t stop fans from enjoying this band, although many came back to find destroyed tents and belongings scattered throughout the festival grounds. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was BLËED, a band which I had previously heard nothing about. With well-planned costume changes, fake blood and dead babies spewing Jagermeister to eager fans backing up a great musical performance, they are a band that I will be checking out again. Female-fronted Ironstorm was another pleasant surprise with festival organizer Tyson Travnik on drums.  Closing the festival were well known bands Wretched and Havok. While both were good, Havok seemed a little too intent on apologizing for (complaining) about technical issues that weren’t actually that apparent to the majority of the audience. I suppose it was a bit of a surprise for them to play ‘in the middle of nowhere’, but they could have been a little bit more gracious about it considering several people bought day passes and made the drive just to see them play. Plus, I thought those in charge of sound and other technical aspects did a great job, definitely making it appear as though everything went off with very few issues the entire weekend. At least to the majority of the crowd without sound or tech experience. 

Scimitar, with Lylia Chorosive 

BLËED

Overall, I was very impressed with Farmageddon. I fully intended to watch a few more sets than what I actually did, but it was difficult to fully pay attention to each and every band with so many other things happening and the opportunity to visit with old friends and make new ones. I was planning on taking notes during the weekend as well, but that didn’t happen when the beers started being cracked and the conversations and music began. 

A food truck was on hand for those who came without, but with small barbecues and camp stoves allowed in the camping area, festival goers had plenty of options. The kegs may or may not have been dry by the end of the night on Saturday, but this created very few issues as I could find a great view of the stage while drinking my own supply of beer. Having a fire pit with a good vantage point was another nice touch, amongst a few other small touches that made the experience run smoothly. While I sometimes found it difficult to move out of my lawn chair and quit socializing long enough to catch full sets, that seemed to be a large part of what the weekend was about: bands, friends and metal heads all mingling and having a good time. Despite near-freezing temperatures Saturday night, the weather held, making for one great weekend of music. This is one festival that I (and I’m sure many others in attendance) would love to see grow. I fully plan on being back next year, if at all possible. 

Band photos used taken by myself; not nearly as good as the professional ones, but they work.

Links

Lylia Chorosive - Performer & Model

Mongol (Facebook)

Scythia (Facebook)

Idolatry (Facebook)

Death Toll Rising (Facebook)

Scimitar (Facebook)

BLËED (Facebook)

Ironstorm (Facebook)

Eye Of Horus (Facebook)

Skymir (Facebook)

Kryosphere (Facebook)

Fens

I haven't found much inspiration to write lately, so I thought I'd share a few (not great) phone photos from one of the fens near to my home. It was a big of a spontaneous trip, so I didn't have a camera and wasn't exactly prepared for the bombardment of mosquitos. Hence the hasty pictures.
It's not difficult see how natural areas tend to inspire a lot of folk/pagan metal.

'Sold Out' - The Words You Don't Want To Hear

'Sold Out': Those are words I hate seeing when I find a piece of merch that catches my eye. This was the case today, as it appears as though I was a few hours too late. I would have loved one of these as I have been searching for a Vampire patch to add to my vest for some time now. I couldn't justify the price of a vinyl when the album was released in order to get a patch either. (If I'm not mistaken, patches were released with the vinyl editions of the self-titled album). I have my fingers crossed that at some point in the near future I'll be able to find a Vampire patch, along with a few other death metal ones I've been scouring the web for. It would be nice to find them all in one place, but I've concluded that's nearly impossible.

These shoes also caught my eye online today after finding a similar pair in one of my favourite (non-metal related) stores last week. Of course they didn't have my size, but I'll be on the lookout for a similar pair in the fall as something like these look comfortable and fairly versatile in terms of potentially wearing to work and yet still being able to wear out or match the clothing I already have.  I love heels, even though I don't wear them often. I still have my eye on a pair of women's New Rock heels in the future,  but something a little more affordable would definitely suffice. 

Metal (and Megadeth) Linked To Another Murder

After my previous annoyance at the dubious linking of metal music as motivation for murder, it has happened in this country yet again. Most of the time it seems as if the media is grasping at straws, throwing in a line or two regarding a killer listening to, or supposedly being inspired by, heavy metal. So often this ‘link’ appears to be made as an afterthought, as mainstream media outlets know that a sensational story will inevitably draw in more readers or more viewers. Truth in journalism is rare, unless you  dig to find it. Most people either do not care enough to find it, or simply accept as fact what is put out by media. It’s human nature, which often follows reasonably predictable patterns. When someone breaks the pattern and becomes an outlier at the fringes of society, as is the case with murder cases such as this, most people search for answers. Sometimes there isn’t really an answer, or it takes time to find a satisfactory answer. I’m not immune to cognitive dissonance and bias, but I have a difficult time recalling instances of other genres of music being linked to murders and mental disorders with the same frequency as heavy metal. Metal often seems to be a quick and easy answer, plausible enough to those not involved in the metal scene. 

Three RCMP officers were recently murdered in Moncton, New Brunswick, leading to a manhunt for, and ultimately, the arrest of Justin Bourque. It took mere hours (maybe less) from the time this senseless violence occurred for the media to point out that the suspect loved Megadeth and other metal. This came from postings on one of his social media accounts, which is a little questionable in itself. Many people who have no intention of committing any violent acts post song lyrics or references on their social media pages, amongst other (mostly trivial) things. 

Without delving any deeper into this case, and not discounting how shocking and upsetting it has been to many Canadians, there is a comment that has come to light that I’m personally glad has been published. One of the suspect’s friends has stated to the media that the music Bourque listened to (specifically Megadeth) had nothing to do with the murders. Those close to the suspect do not yet seem to have an idea regarding the true motives, other than suggesting that Bourque has always had problems with authority. Take what you want from the rumor mill and what has been published by the media, but I think it’s good that someone who knew the suspect actually stated that music had nothing to do with this and this was subsequently published in articles regarding this horrific development. 

Links:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/suspected-cop-killers-love-of-heavy-metal-had-nothing-to-do-with-his-alleged-crimes-says-friend/

http://o.canada.com/news/alert-suspect-arrested-in-fatal-shooting-of-rcmp-officers-in-moncton-n-b

On The Radar

This is one of those festivals that can be added to the category of "wishful thinking".
The line-up this year already looks pretty decent and sometimes those smaller festivals are quite enjoyable. As a bonus, the location for this one looks beautiful. It may be added to that list of festivals that I'd like to see if I ever find the funds to do a festival tour of Europe during the summer. (Again, this is probably more wishful thinking as the cost would be astronomical and any job I might find probably wouldn't be willing to grant a two or three month leave).

On an interesting note: Wolfszeit Festival actually has a list of banned music on their website.
Banned From the Festival
This is an interesting concept, and the reasoning behind it is understandable. While I'm not familiar with various laws in Germany, this seems quite different to the law here, as I'm sure someone would complain that their freedom is being infringed upon. But again, I would consider a festival as somewhat of a private event in which the organizers can implement a few rules to make the atmosphere safer. This is the first festival website where I have noticed this, and I have no issues with the concept. I just find it very intriguing and perhaps a good point for discussion.