Feature Articles

Death For Life Fest II

Death For Life Fest II
By: Jeremy

414 miles. Eleven bands. Three states. One awesome festival. Death for Life Fest II, presented by Hope Prevails Productions and Death for Life Productions, brought myriad extreme music styles and fans together at Champion Ship Records in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania.

Tucked into the corner of a strip mall, Champion Ship's outer blandness belies its inner performing arts power. The first thing one encounters when entering Champion Ship is not racks of CDs and records; it's the space. A large and open floor spreads out from wall to wall, leading up to a long stage that gives performers a few extra feet of visibility. Colossal subs on the floor flank the stage and cabinets of speakers are suspended from the ceiling. Lighting racks hang above the stage between the speakers and illuminate the area with a rainbow of colors. The store actually exists in another room past the stage, but this is not like a record store in a mall. No major label releases in sight, Champion Ship's meager fixtures display a surprising and diverse selection of small label and independently released CDs and vinyl. This independent performing arts atmosphere makes the place special, but the charm of Champion Ship is the employees — volunteers, to be accurate. No one takes home a paycheck. The staff dedicate their time and energy simply for a love of the arts. Not enough? They also have an in-house digital recording studio. This philanthropically arts-focused venue is the perfect setting for a diverse festival like Death for Life II.

Arriving fashionably late, I missed the first three bands: Fleshbane, Defleshuary, and Israfel; however, Death Enthroned made a decent kick-off for my perspective of the fest. This grinding, blackened death metal band from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania started out a little weak, but picked up serious momentum mid-set when a cloud of blackness descended upon the band before things calmed down again. They didn't radiate much energy to the crowd, but their performance was loud and tight and therefore pleasing to the less discerning death metal ears in the room.

Up next were Pittsburgh's Demise of Eros, a new signing for Strike First Records, who unleashed an energetic set of metal-meets-core sound. It may be a sound we've heard way too often in the past few years, but these guys present it in a tightly wrapped and thoughtful package. Unfortunately, 5:30 must have been dinner time because most of the crowd seemed to clear out for a while. As mundane as the sound has become in the past few years, it's a shame so many people missed it being done so well.

The crowd filed back in and then Umbra Within, another Pennsylvania band, dominated the stage. For those who sleep through gothic metal, this band will challenge that perception by opting to focus on wild guitar leads and stunning energy instead of ethereal droning. Even the perfunctory keyboard is deployed with a real mind to taste and augmenting the songs. Umbra Within captivated the audience with a blazing combination of stellar musicianship and infectious energy. In fact, people may have actually had too much fun for such dark music.

Inclusive of many extreme music styles, Death for Life didn't overlook the spazzier side of loud rock. Baltimore's Lilu Dallas bewildered the crowd with a Converge and Love Lost But Not Forgotten type of chaos. They immediately set themselves apart from the other bands by asking to have the lights left on during their set. After several minutes of layered feedback, the band finally erupted into a wild mishmash of sounds. As passionate as their performance was, the bright fluorescent lighting dampened the potential effect of the sonic mania. Combine madness with darkness and you have a compelling show; shine light on it and you have a crowd who may feel like they're just watching band practice.

The Divining from Philadelphia should have been better. I had such high hopes when a man with rather large hair and Testament shirt took the stage — total disappointment. The Divining fall pretty perfectly into the modern melodic metal movement currently mastered by the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder, but their live show was an extreme underrepresentation of their recorded sound. What you'll hear if you listen to their demo is high-energy metal despite the fact that it's something countless other bands have driven into the ground. What I heard at the fest was something totally different. In fact, I spent half of this band's set eating a delicious cheese steak sub. With all of their potential, I hope The Divining were just having a bad night.

Blasting from the heart of Amish Country, Lancaster, Pennsylvania's The Tenth Circle attacked the crowd like an onslaught of rapid-fire razors. The quintet specialize in brutal death metal that falls somewhere between Morbid Angel and Deicide with a viable and impressive undercurrent of hardcore attitude. Their set pleased the headbangers and the pit equally while not coming within 200 lightyears of metalcore. After a two-year hiatus from performing, The Tenth Circle's Death for Life set was a killer comeback; it was also the release of their self-funded full-length CD Of War and Reflection. The Tenth Circle were the brutal gem of the fest and, with such an intense show and the incredible new CD, we should be hearing a lot more from this band.

Boston's Screams of Erida had the dubious honor of following The Tenth Circle, but their massive triple-guitar onslaught, impassioned songs, and thunderous breakdowns kept the crowd in constant motion. Fans of Cataract or Unearth should love this band's melodic warfare. With three guitarists and a bassist set to kill, their live sound was the epitome of a wall of guitars. The guitar sound swirled around a solid rhythmic foundation that energized the crowd throughout the interplay of breakdowns and faster riffs. Every person in this band played with unrestrained fervor and the crowd responded in kind. The energy exchange was infectious even for us metal purists. They're currently not signed, but some record label would do well by adding Screams of Erida to the roster.

After concurrent excellent sets by The Tenth Circle and Screams of Erida, only Aletheian could possibly have commanded the stage. To my knowledge, Aletheian have never put on a bad show and their set to close Death for Life II was no exception. Lebanon, Pennsylvania's progressive death metal experts blistered the crowd with incessant musical acrobatics, stretching the limits of technique and composition. They have been performing live without a bass player for a long time now and their sound is still complete. With such blissfully complex guitar work to hear, one doesn't notice the lack of bass. From the cursive guitar layers in the opening "Break in the Clouds" to the pummeling rage of the closing "Illumination", Aletheian's colossal live sound allowed little time for the brains to catch up with the ears. Their shred was brain-liquefying, the drumming was complex and flowing, and vocalist Joel Thorpe unyieldingly delivered their unique message of hope with the obvious conviction of a man convulsing from stage to floor, from standing to falling. Aletheian embraced the occasion and put the perfect finish on an amazing festival.

It's encouraging to experience eleven bands of such different styles getting together in one place, bringing their fans out, and creating a positive musical atmosphere. The efforts of Hope Prevails and Death for Life resulted in a thoroughly thrilling combination of some of the region's best unsigned and underpromoted artists. There were no fights, no bad attitudes, and no drunks — just a room packed with music lovers loving music. I am already looking forward to Death for Life Fest III.