Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Summer Slaughter at Irving Plaza

Five reasons why Summer Slaughter is the best metal festival of the summer.



1. It's not really a festival.

You're not getting baked by the sun all day, paying $6 for water or waiting 15 minutes to use the porta-loo. The bands that you want to see are all playing on the same stage, at separate times, all under a club roof for less than $40. You can see everyone you came to see and leave without heatstroke, dehydration and/or a hole in your wallet.

2. An embarrassment of riches.

Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil Of Maya and Goatwhore may not be the kind of names you'd usually get at Mayhem Fest, but band-for-band this is a more consistent lineup and more bang for your buck than any tour that would impose Avenged Sevenfold or Asking Alexandria.

3. Periphery, the Faceless and Between the Buried and Me are playing new songs.

Don't pretend that you'll get a preview of Periphery II, Autotheism or The Parallax II: Future Sequence via some guy's cell phone footage on YouTube. It's the equivalent of downloading The Dark Knight Rises opening weekend and watching it on your laptop. You'll have to catch the tour or wait for the release date to tell if the new songs are better than those album titles.

4. Goatwhore.

See above.

5. You can leave any time.

Want to get back in time for dinner? Leave after Between the Buried and Me. Don't want to miss happy hour? Show up in time for Periphery. Even if you're sick of Cannibal Corpse, bored with tech-death or believe that death metal died with Chuck Schuldiner, you'll find something to enjoy here.

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