Maryland Deathfest XII - A Remembrance

This past weekend marked my first journey to Maryland Deathfest, and I was incredibly excited.  In fact, if you ask the Durfette just how excited I was, she'll probably roll her eyes and say something along the lines of "Oh god, he's been talking about this since September!"  Which is only a slight exaggeration, because I got excited about buying tickets in October, and then once I actually got my tickets... well, let's just say MDF was a pretty constant topic of conversation around La Casa de Durfs.  So after seven long months of anticipation, was the experience of a four day metal festival everything I had made it out to be?

Exclusive Interview - Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates)

While there were many high-points of Brutalitopia's trip to Baltimore this past weekend for Maryland Deathfest XII, one the highest of those points was getting to interview At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg. In this exclusive interview, Jack talks with Tomas about the band's connections to hardcore, how their new album is coming along, and plenty of MDF related topics.

Check out this must-watch interview after the break!

Maryland Deathfest: A Preview Part 3: Saturday May 24th

Saturday is another solid day for the fest and here, once again, is how it breaks down.

Maryland Deathfest: A Preview Part 2: Friday May 23rd

Previously I covered the small Thursday night offering which now has to be amended with the dropping out of Tom G. Fischer and Triptykon from the bill to help plan the funeral services for Swiss surrealist/artist H.R. Giger. Kudos to Tom for doing the right thing; I'm sure most would do the same thing. So without further ado let's see what each venue offers as far as Friday is concerned.

Maryland Deathfest: A Preview Part 1: Thursday May 22nd @ Rams Head Live

I know I speak for a lot of you out there when I say that I am excited for the upcoming Maryland Deathfest XII in Baltimore, MD. I also realize that some of the bands on this fight card might not be the most recognizable; I am here to help correct (most) of that. I have decided to cover each venue on each day so that everybody knows what to look for when drawing up a map of what to do night in and night out. Luckily, Thursday will be a one-stop shop at Rams Head Live. See how it all breaks down after the break.

Trioscapes and Rocket Miner at Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL

This past Sunday, the Durfette and I skipped our typical Sunday night routine of looking forward to watching Game of Thrones and then actually watching Game of Thrones to venture out to Chicago's Beat Kitchen to catch the jazz/metal/something stylings of Trioscapes.  For those unfamiliar, Trioscapes is a project consisting of bassist Dan Briggs (Between the Buried and Me), tenor saxaphonist Walter Fancourt (Casual Curious, Brand New Life), and drummer Matt Lynch (Eyns).  The band's debut album Separate Realities is one of the Durfette's favorite metal-ish records, so when I saw the band would be in our neck of the woods, getting tickets was a no-brainer.

Mitochondrion's First Official Demo Released

The Canadian death-metallers in the ever so brutal Mitochondrion released, via their Facebook page, their very first official demo from 2006, entitled Through Cosmic Gaze. According to the comments left by the band in the facebook post, the youtube clip of the demo is "original sound but will be remastered for the eventual vinyl re-issue"...certainly good news for vinyl collectors who are looking to add a savage installment to their libraries.

Anyways, go on and check out the demo after the break!

Free Russian Circles Show Announced

Let me first apologize for our recent inactivity here on Brutalitopia. Despite any excuses I could come up with, I can say we'll back to our usual "two posts or so per week" schedule very soon. Sometimes, it can just take a fun little news story to get me back in the writing groove. So check out the news after the break.