Ridglea Metal/Hardcore Fest - 10.15.05
One man's review of a dozen or so bands - FreakOfNature aka Troy

Daimonion started things off on the main stage at 1pm. I must admit, I'm not a big fan of Black Metal and never have been really which is why in general, no one's ever heard me say much about this band. The guys and gals that make up this band are class acts though as they've always been nothing but cool towards me. On this day though, they opened my eyes. This was the first time that I had seen the band since they picked up Matt, the second guitar player and I'm not sure if that's the reason, but I definitely noticed allot more breakdowns in the newer stuff instead the more straight forward approach that Black Metal usually takes. Gerad's drums sounded excellent and I thought the sound was quite good for an opening band (Usually the guinea pigs).

Opening the second stage was Neverdead. Boy, has this band been through allot of changes in the past few years or what? There were allot of rumors flying around about Spiritual beliefs of the band, and other crap like that and people were talking that all the changes was going to make Neverdead a different band and that the name might even change. Allow me to dispel all the rumors right now. Neverdead is still the same band that they've always been, they just needed a fresh start. Despite some obvious sound problems at the start (First band guinea pig type of thing I mentioned earlier) like Charlie's guitar being to loud and the Kick Drum being overbearing, the band played a great set. Charlie's vox were the shocker for me. Sounded great.

Imagine my surprise when I looked over to see Kaliya setting up to play there set. I had NO idea who they were. No pre-conceived notions nor had I heard anything about them before the set. But when I looked up and saw Jacob (You may remember him from Dustborn) on Vox, I KNEW this band was going to be good. I've long thought he and Joe (Jacknife) were the kings of showmanship on stage and friendships offstage. Both genuinly GREAT guys and a pleasure to be around, but get them on stage and they're madmen. Needless to say, I wasn't dissapointed in the slightest bit. Same aggressive style with killer breakdowns you came to expect from the Dustborn days still find their place here. One of the guitar players who from what I gather is one of the main riff writers JUST turned 18 (He looks like he's 12!). I can only imagine how good he'll get if he keeps it up. Mark my words, these guys will go places.

Another band I hadn't heard from before this show was A Dying Faith. Looks like they're having some lineup problems at the moment having to get When Life Has Ceased's bass player to fill in. If you're a GOOD bass player, you need to get in touch with these guys. GREAT hooks, Nice and heavy breakdowns (Everyone knows how I LOVE those) and I'm always a stickler for good guitar tone, and these guys have that! The Singer/Guitarist seemed to have a good connection with the audience and worked them pretty good. I like these guys allot.

The next band I caught was When Life Has Ceased. Now, I've known Ryan (Singer) for a long time and we're friends, but he knows I've never really been a fan of the band. Much like Daimonion, their style just never really appealed to me.... Until now. this was the first time I'd seen them since they picked up Dylan as their second guitar player and MAN what a difference. I'm a sucker for cool guitar harmonies and man they had some good ones! One thing's for sure, Ryan's a hell of a showman and it shows on stage. I may just have to pick up the next CD that they release. I also think this must be a record for the longest time Ryan's been with a band! :) Stick with it Ryan, you guys have something going.

This next one's going to be a long one and it's not going to be so much about the band but about the bullshit that went on during their set. The set I'm referring to is Wichita Falls Ten Cent Pistol's. First, I'd like to say that I LOVED the band. My love for break downs often has me listening to allot of Hardcore/Metalcore bands just because they use them so much, and Ten Cent Pistol tossed them in with reckless abondon like no other! Now for the bad because it's times like this that I'm ashamed to be associated with Metal. This goes out to all the idiot Metal guys starting shit in the Ten Cent Pistol's pit. Lucky for me, I had a SAFE birds eye view of the entire thing. I saw a few Metal folks get in there and PURPOSELY try to disrupt the hardcore kids dancing (It was OBVIOUS that it was intentional by the way they were sticking together and talking about strategy like fools). I even saw some sucker punches thrown in there. You know who you are and I know who you are. I'm not going to call you out because I'm hoping you see the logic in what I'm typing now that you're sober and will restrain yourself next time around. At one point Ten Cent Pistol's singer took notice of what was going on and in a VERY classy gesture, said something to the effect of "I don't care if you're Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore or whatever, you're welcome to mix it up, just have fun, don't be an asshole and hurt people". Anyways, great aggressive hardcore band with killer breakdowns. I enjoyed there set and appologize for the drama from those few metal guys. If Hardcore and Metal is ever going to get along, we have to learn to simply respect each others space. One thing's for sure, the hardcore kids sure bring a large crowd as this one was HUGE!

I had a tough choice after that as there were 2 bands at 5:30 I wanted to see, one on the Second Stage and one on the Third. Statues Cry Bleeding got the first 15 mins. I was sad to see that they had just recently lost their drummer. But considerin g the short time they had to prepare, the drum machine sounded fine and they put on a killer set. I'd been wanting to see them for a while and they didn't dissapoint. Good stuff though a little claustriphobic up there. They should've been a 2nd stage band in my honest opinion.

The 5:45 mark was dedicated to my boys in Uberschall errr... I mean Weaken the Adversary (Yes, I love Mike's Uberschall!). Allot of people may know them as Deviant. New name, same killer band. Sucked that I missed half the show but what I saw was killer. Thanks for the CD!!!!!!!!!!

The Suicide Hook was another shocker for me. I was actually outside hanging out when they were playing and I heard a voice singing that I clearly recognized. Jason from Plastic Tongue / Crankfish has a new band! I still think he's got one of the top five voices in the Dallas Metal Scene. The band didn't really apeall to me though unfortunately. Not a bad band by any means, just not my cup of tea. I MISS CRANKFISH!!!!!!!!!

The highlight of the night right here for me. I'm not one to pigeonhole bands before I know anything about them, but I've got to admit that I had just assumed for whatever reason that Necrogazm was a typical Death Metal band so I never payed much attention to them. I was so far off it's not even funny. Necrogazm isn't even Death Metal. They've just Metal. Plain and simple and I LOVE that! GREAT band with GREAT showmanship. I'll be keeping an eye on them as they're probably in my top ten list already. Amazing Dual Guitar stuff too I might add.

After some much needed time off to go eat and relax for a bit, we got back in time to catch Dryline. I've known these guys from pretty much the beginning and I claimed they were destined for good things back then. It's nice to know I still know how to pick them. Quality band with killer stage pressence. Loved the show as per usual.

I love The Destro. Always have and always will. Great show as per usual with HUGE guitar tone and killer drumming. I have a complaint though... BRING BACK THE CLEAN VOCALS!!!!!!! I miss them. :( It seems everyone is going away from the whole clean/dirty vox to Dirty/Screamo type vox (I always associate this with Ryan from WLHC just because that was the first time I was exposed to it).

Jacknife's next up. I'm so proud of these guys. They do Dallas proud, not only with the KILLER music, but also with the connection they have with the fans. And these guys are the real deal. I've always plugged them to people I meet every chance I get and hope they achieve the success they so deserve. Chris had some BIG shoes to fill replacing Joseph on Bass. I think he does a commendable job. Also, I'd just like to say that I jammed with Tommy before he became a rock star with Jacknife in Lesser Known God and you're ALL jealous! ;)

At this point Lisa and I had to bail so my sincere appologies to (in theory) to whome I REALLY wanted to see.

This fest was incredible. Lisa and I had an amazing time and although we very seldom get out to see shows, I hope to catch more shows like this in the future. We had a great time meeting all the cool new people that frequent XtremeDFW.com now.