The queen of these events is, of course, the Out of the Darkness Fest happening Friday to Sunday, May 13 to 15, at Olympia's Manium Warehouse (421 Fourth Ave E). The lineup is almost 20 bands strong, and it features Wormwood, Hammers of Misfortune, and Doomsday 1999. A full schedule can be found at www.myspace.com/outofthedarknessfestival.
Closer to home, the Vera Project is hosting their own metal fright night starring Book of Black Earth, BlöödHag, Wolves in the Throne Room, and Sindios.
Book of Black Earth comprises members of Wormwood, Skarp, Splatterhouse, the Fitness, and the defunct Teen Cthulhu, and they're absolutely terrifying--thick and heavy black metal with vocals that sound like demons who steal the souls of little children.
BlöödHag are more speed-metal with pissed-off Cookie Monster vocals. Their tagline is "The faster you go deaf, the more time you have to read," and fittingly enough, all their songs (generally two minutes or less) are loud explosions based on sci-fi writers and books. I haven't been to a BlöödHag show for quite awhile now, but the last time I saw them I almost got pelted in the head with a flying novel, so watch out for assault by paperback.
Over at Redmond's Old Fire House, the Eastside kids are getting in on the Friday the 13th fun too with a show featuring the Fall of Troy (fresh back from a successful West Coast tour), Claymore, A Kiss Farewell, and Heavy Heavy Low Low.
Now technically only two of the four bands could be considered metal (A Kiss Farewell and Claymore), which hardly makes this any sort of a genre showcase, but I just couldn't go without shining some light on Claymore, a Kitsap County band who are much more technical than your typical hardcore outfit, but far too inventive to be restricted to being just another metal band (though their guitars certainly are face-melting).
A three-song seven-inch is going to be released on Malapropism (a small Portland label) in June, and they (like everyone else in the world) also have a few songs posted on Myspace.
And oh, what the hell, since we're talking about all that is metaltastic, I'll leave you with my personal favorite metal song of all time--"My Spirit Will Go On" by London's DragonForce. This epic song is the epitome of fantasy metal. Watch out for the nearly two-minute-long guitar solo, it will make your flesh bubble. A free MP3 is available on their website, www.dragonforce.com. MEGAN SELING
