They came. They saw. They destroyed. Metal bands from all over, some nationals, some locals took the stage yesterday at Club Infinity for one of Buffalo, NY's most historic metal fests ever, A Day of Death. This was the first time in over 20 years that the fest had been held and I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous. Would it live up to the hype? Would it be well-attended? Are Buffalonians as crazy about metal as they once were? I'm proud to say that the show not only satisfied my urges for the dark and macabre but left me feeling hopeful about the future of our local scene.

When me and my friend first arrived around 5ish there was already a decent sized crowd milling around the merch area. The scene was exactly as you'd expect it...black shirts, black hair, some corpse paint, and a whole helluvalot of noise. We talked to a few friends who said that Seplophile had killed it earlier as well as a few other's (Apologies to the bands we didn't see). Sam Biles was just hitting the stage when we got there so we went to check them out. Brutal death metal. Pummeling. I was impressed by their level of technical consistency. To play death like they played it is no easy task, especially as tightly locked as they were.

Shortly thereafter, Buffalonians Avulsion sandblasted the stage with their lethal mix of grind and death metal, and a ripping cover at the end of their set (I think it was Carcass?). This is a great local especially if you like ridiculous mid-song banter and eccentric front-dudes.
(It should be noted that while we were watching this show we were downing Jamison shots by the barrel, as I feel it's only appropriate for a metal show.)

The next artist was interesting. Goatcraft. I wasn't too familiar with his sound or style, but became an instant fan after his set. Picture a guy, face covered in blood, alone on the stage with only a keyboard, no vocals. Yup. I had no expectations and was a bit confused as to whether he this was his thing or if he was setting up the keyboards for the next act. When he started playing though I couldn't help but be in awe of his strange dark aura. It was still black, but with a focus more on the majesty of melodies, harmonies and tones, than to crushing riff's. Needless to say, I checked out his catalog as soon as I got back home.

A bit of intermission. More drinking. Feeling pretty toxy at this point in time. As great as Goatcraft was, I was looking to fill that void for heavy again. I got my fill and more with the next band, Druid Lord, my personal faves for the evening (pictured above). Druid Lord is not death metal. They are doom and for those not in the know, that is a slower more grinding style of metal. More influenced by Sabbath than Slayer. Druid Lord had me under a spell from the get-go (although some of that can be contributed to the drinks). Their dark, thunderous riffs were ear-splitting in the best way possible.

After Druid Lord, Derketa, an all-female death metal act from Pittsburgh went on and holy hell that singer could give any guy a run for his money! Extremely deep gutteral vocals, she sounded like a damn gorilla and I mean that in the best way possible. The rhythm section was extremely tight as well. This is a band to watch out for. For the mean, heavy and black.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the rest of the bands, as a family emergency came up, however I heard from my buddies there that the show got even wilder, and the headliners lived up to all the hype. It was a great show and I have to thank Glorious Times again. Hopefully this will become an annual thing. If there's one thing I know about Buffalonians. We love the metal.