After resting Thursday night, the five of us (Josh, Nicole, Jason, Matt and I) ventured to the Edison Lot. We arrived an hour before the first band to look at merch.

At the Season of Mist tent I finally met Enrique, the labels PR in person (who thanks to my connections I’ve been able to conduct several interviews for the label’s artists). Before we knew it, 2pm started to roll around and it was time for the first band.

Artificial Brain 

Friday started with Long Island tech-death metal in the form of Artificial Brain. At the time I’d heard a lot of hype about this band but sadly, I didn’t get the hype. Artificial Brain was very technical but not in a fun way.

Funebrarum

After being bored by those damn Long Islanders, it was time for a slice of New Jersey  to take stage. I had seen these guys once before at MDF 2011. Like at that year’s fest, they killed.

Cianide

Old-school death metal dudes, Cianide where next. The band sounded decent but nothing too amazing.

Vallenfyre

These British death/doom greats were the first band on my Friday “must-see” list. I’ve loved their music ever since their 2011 debut “A Fragile King;” most likely due to the fact that they are an offshoot of Paradise Lost and sound similar as well.

The bands live performance was very impressive and they sounded great. I was extremely happy to hear my favorite Vallenfyre tracks “Splinters” and “Savages Arise” performed so well. After their set Jason and I rushed to Soundstage to catch another of my must-sees for the day.

Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in The Dilapitation

Jason and I got to the venue just as these adorable Japanese ladies were setting up.

Cute pictures and image aside, they are one of heaviest bands from Japan. The energy these girls brought on was intense. I caught up with my friend Nick and his girlfriend Cheyenne as we watched them put on one of the best performances of the whole fest.

Nekrofilth

We stayed at the Soundstage to see Nekrofilth. When they were added to the bill, I checked out some of their material and though it sounded decent. After watching them for about half an hour, I was kinda bored. Something about their set just felt off so Jason and I decided to leave for Edison.

Aura Noir

When we got to Edison Lot, Aura Noir still had about 20 minutes left in their set. I had seen these Norwegian blackened thrash greats once before at MDF 2011. Again, like last time they put on a fun live show. The day would only get better from here on.

Suffocation

Suffocation has always been one of my favorite death metal bands. Their 1995 album “Pierced from Within” is one of my top 10 albums of all time. Before this, it had also been five years since I’d last seen them so they were way over due for another encounter. Suffocation blew me away just like they did five years ago. Between their perfect performance and vocalist Frank Mullen’s jokes, this set blew teveryone in attendance away.

Obituary

These death metal pioneers had been on my “to see” list for quiet some time.When I finally did, I was not disappointed.

While not as energetic as Suffocation, Obituary still delivered with their signature dirty Florida Everglades sound. While they didn’t play “Chopped in Half” (the song that first got me into them), I still greatly enjoyed them.

Bloodbath

The last band of the Edison Lot classic death metal triple feature was Sweden’s Bloodbath.

Many fans worried about this set because Bloodbath’s new vocalist, Nick Holmes had turned off many fans, causing the new album to get mixed reactions. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with that album and the band played a good mixture of songs from their entire career.

Holmes told some pretty funny jokes including asking “if we were sick of death metal yet” (as if).

Bloodbath encored with their two most well known songs, “Eaten” and “Cry My Name” as well as a short cover of the Phantasm theme. After Bloodbath, Jason and I rushed over to sound stage.

Napalm Death

This was the last band Jason, Matt and I watched that night. I had seen Napalm Death earlier that year with Voivod, Exhumed and Iron Regan (That show was killer and I got to interview Barney Greenway in person! ).

The British grind giants opened with “The Silence is Deafening,” which was the first hint that this set list was going to be very different from last time.The band had tons of energy and I enjoyed this performance a lot more due to the venue having better sound.

After Napalm Death was done, Jason, Matt and I left for our hotels while Josh and Nicole watched Aeternus at Rams Head. After stopping at 7-11 for some snacks and running into a homeless, schizophrenic version of Bill Cosby we made it back to the hotel and called it a night.

Click here for part 3 (Saturday).