Maryland Deathfest 2026 - Day 1 (5/20 Pre-Fest)
All Videos Credited to Original Creators
As many times as I’d been to Maryland Deathfest, I’d never previously attended the Wednesday night pre-party. In past years it’d either sell out super quickly or was hosted miles away from the Power Plant compound where the rest of the festival was situated. But this year’s pre-fest lineup was as good as anything the rest of the festival was going to offer, so I made it a point to scoop up a ticket early.
Napalm Death/Repulsion/Monstrosity/Primitive Man/Organ Dealer. That's a solid Wednesday night right there.
I’d landed in Baltimore a few hours before the show, checked into my hotel, and made a quick trip to Streets Market up the block to pick up some groceries for the week. Back in the day, “groceries” would’ve translated to a case of beer and some microwave burritos. Being the old fart that I currently am now, “groceries” translates to kombucha, vegan lasagna, and maybe a slice of gluten free cake. ROCK N’ ROLL, DUDE!
It’s been a beautiful 90-something degrees all afternoon, which wasn’t unusual for Baltimore this time of year. Presiding over a long Memorial Day weekend, Deathfest was notorious for being unreasonably hot and for claiming casualties among the poor souls who thought drinking another Miller Light qualified as hydrating. Remember this, it’ll be important later…
The moment I entered Nevermore Hall, I was immediately hit with the feels. It felt like a sort of homecoming. The energy was good, the crowd was still fresh faced and optimistic for the week to come, and the bar was selling Pellegrino and hot pretzels. Let's boogie!
First up was New Jersey’s Organ Dealer. Charged with the daunting task of being the first band to christen the festival stage, they definitely rose to the occasion. I’d seen them at MDF years ago, and their brand of traditional American grindcore was as still as good as it ever was. Delivering 20 minutes of tightly wound, rapid fire bursts of adrenaline, the crowd welcomed Organ Dealer like they were conquering heroes returning from battle. The perfect band to kick off the week.
Primitive Man quickly followed, and man – talk about a sonic left turn. The industrial sludge titans were a last minute replacement for Dutch legends Sinister, whose frontman Aad is unfortunately still dealing was some serious health issues. This was a double bummer, as Sinister was also supposed to play a set at the festival proper a few days later.
Primitive Man are really more of an artistic experience than they are a traditional metal band. With the lights dimmed and a video screen displaying scrambled news segments outlining all kinds of atrocities, the trio created an atmosphere of dread and drone that was insanely loud. As frenzied as the crowd was for Organ Dealer, the crowd was equally stoic and entranced by Primitive Man’s sonic mass.
South Florida’s Monstrosity held the middle slot on the bill. Truth be told, I’ve never fully clicked with anything Monstrosity did beyond their Imperial Doom debut. I’ve made attempts to listen to their new stuff over the years, but it’s always come off too busy and somehow still one dimensional. At this point in the evening, you could’ve put a Teddy Ruxpin doll reciting bedtime stories on the stage and the crowd would’ve still ate it up. Band co-founder Lee Harrison’s drums were obnoxiously loud in the mix and overshadowed pretty much everything else coming out of the PA, but watching returning original bass player Mark Van Erp make a complete meal of the stage made up for it. I used this opportunity to buy some merch before the lines got long again.
With roots dating back to 1984, Repulsion is arguably the original American grindcore band, inspiring everyone from Death to Carcass along the way with their sole Slaughter of the Innocent demo (later to be known as Horrified). And despite having been playing the same tunes for 40 years, it never gets old watching Repulsion play. Vocalist/bassist Scott Carlson had a touch of a cold, but he’s still one of the most likeable and charismatic front men in the underground scene. And I don’t understand how guitarist Matt Olivo doesn’t have crippling carpel tunnel syndrome at this point. Watching the way he contorts his picking hand is painful to see, but the guy’s chops are still incredible. As the clock started ticking closer to their scheduled end time and realizing there were still several “must play” songs left in the setlist, the band kicked an already accelerated set into overdrive and plowed through 3 or 4 additional tunes at breakneck speeds. Amazing.
Napalm Death needs no introduction. The first time I saw ND was 1992’s Campaign for Musical Destruction. The most recent time I saw ND was a couple of years ago at the Social in Orlando (a criminally small venue for such an legendary band) with Brujeria in tow. In the 30-something years I’ve been following Napalm Death live, I’ve yet to be disappointed. This Wednesday night in Baltimore would be no exception, and I dare say may have been one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from the band. Longtime bassist Shane Embury has been off the road for some time now, but live bassist/road tech Matt Sheridan held his own on stage right.
But let’s talk about Barney Greenway for a minute. The dude is 56, is in the best shape of his life, and is the consummate showman with a conscience. He’s like a grindcore Benjamin Button, he looks (and more importantly, sounds) better now than he did in the 90s. And despite belting out a parade of hits and deep cuts (I love them for bringing Greed Killing out of mothballs) for an hour-plus, he never stopped moving and never looked like he wasn’t truly enjoying every minute of his time on stage.
Additional kudos to longtime guitarist John Cooke and drummer Danny Herrera. Despite Danny having been in the band almost as long as Barney, I still think of him as the new guy. His composure behind the drum kit is something to behold, as is Cooke’s guitar work. They each make tremendously physical music look absolutely effortless.
Sufficed to say, Napalm Death owned the night. If the festival had ended at the conclusion of their set, I would’ve been more than satisfied – they were seriously that good. It was close to 1am by the time things wrapped at Nevermore Hall and I began trudging back to the hotel, and almost 3am by the time I showered, threw some food in my face, and crawled into bed. Physically and mentally exhausted from a full day of travel and 6 hours on my feet rockin’ out, I only then realized – “Good Grief, I still have 4 more days of this to survive.”
