There were a lot of familiar faces at Maryland Deathfest (MDF) 2013, both on the stage and off. I wasn't able to take off work to make it to the first night of Deathfest so I started the weekend festivities on Friday afternoon with Repulsion. Repulsion didn't sound much different from when they were in town last September for The Power of the Riff East festival but, this time out, the band played as a three-piece as guitarist Marissa Martinez was notably absent.

The set list included twelve of the eighteen tracks from Horrified, along with a cover of Venom's "Schizo".

Repulsion - Maryland Deathfest, Baltimore, MD 5/24/13
The Stench of Burning Death
Bodily Dismemberment
Decomposed
Splattered Cadavers
Slaughter of the Innocent
Festering Boils
Schizo(Venom cover)
Driven to Insanity
Radiation Sickness
Black Breath
Acid Bath
Maggots in Your Coffin
Horrified



I broke down and bought one of the "limited edition MDF Gray version of 'Horrified' - limited to 100 copies and available only at the fest!" but imagine that this is going to sit unopened on the shelf as Relapse's 2CD edition of Horrified has long been on my iPhone. I respect the band wanting to preserve their legacy but I keep wishing they would put out something new. In an interview last year with BrooklynVegan, Scott Carlson said "If the material and motivation ever come together I think we could do something that would not tarnish our name. So yes, we have weakened our stance on the subject a little bit. However, we have nothing planned. One never knows....".



I love the diversity at MDF as there was a fresh-faced lad beside me during Repulsion's set, right outside of the pit who seemed to alternate between pumping his fist in the air and making out with his girlfriend. I don't think I've ever seen anyone make out to Repulsion (...and most of the women that I've known would probably have hit me if I tried using grindcore as 'mood music'.) Ah well - different strokes....






Links:
Repulsion