Bay Area Represents at Milwaukee Metal Fest
- Bleeding Priest
- May 25
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 7
Land of Jeffrey D. here we come! I’ve never performed at a Milwaukee Metal Fest and haven’t attended one since the late 90’s. Death Angel actually performed at the very first one in 1987 and again in 1990 (maybe 91).
Not much has changed with the fest except for one very important factor, the lack of racist/nazi/white power propaganda. Both times I attended the fest in the mid/late nineties there was a total racist energy in the air. There was this fucking asshole (who will remain nameless because he’s rumored to be a total fucking psycho) who had a hand in the festival back then. To what capacity I’m not entirely sure but his presence was all over the place. He had a booth that sold real death videos a la Faces/Traces Of Death and the like. And lots of gore flix BUT in addition to that his booth also sold Hitler paraphernalia. Videos of speeches. Videos and books about the holocaust. Merch with nazi symbolism all over it. You get the idea.
What’s worse, when you first arrived at the fest they gave you a grab bag that had a bunch of cool promo stuff like demos and label samplers and Metal magazines but even that had to be soured by a copy of RESISTANCE Magazine. A white power music magazine. I felt dirty just holding it. I was also heartbroken to see Unleashed were a featured band in it. Both times I went it was like this. I felt uncomfortable the entire time I was there, BOTH TIMES! Shame on the organizers of the original MMF for allowing this trash to make its way in. Fuck them and the piece of shit peddling his hate propaganda.
Fortunately Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta (who rebooted the fest a year or two ago) has weeded out all of that nonsense and organized a really fun, quality festival. I had an amazing time.
We arrived Friday late afternoon/early evening and as much as I wanted to see Enslaved and the tribute to S.O.D., I was spent from traveling all day. We got to SFO at 4:30 am. We had dinner and just chilled at the hotel (which wasn’t close to the venue either).
Speaking of the venue, The Rave, this place is one of the creepiest venues I’ve ever played. It’s supposedly one the most haunted live spots in the country. The place is HUGE and cavernous. It was once a YMCA and the basement, where the dressing rooms are, has an empty Olympic sized pool that just exudes bad vibes. Rumor has it Jeffrey Dahmer used to cruise the pool area seeking potential victims. I believe it being that his apartment was walking distance away. And the Ambassador Hotel (a spot where he did some of his handiwork) is right across the street.
They give ghost hunter type tours of the bowels of the building. In fact, someone who works there once told me Frank Bello from Anthrax got into a fist fight with someone on one of those tours. Whether that’s true or not who knows but it makes for a good story. Death Angel has played this building many times yet I still get lost trying to navigate it.
So, Death Angel played on Saturday in the mid sized room right before our extended family Exodus. I got there early enough to catch some other bands. The first being Macabre who SHOCKED me how good their set was. I’ve seen them a few times before and always liked them in a novelty kind of way but this time around they put on probably my favorite set of the fest.
Their drummer Dennis The Menace absolutely rips and always has. I’ve heard about his skills since the late 80’s and seen him play a few times throughout the years but this time around I was on the side stage and really got a chance to watch him closely. He’s one of a kind and that’s a HUGE compliment in this day and age of blast beat obsessed, cookie cutter, typewriter sounding drummers out there. His drumming is human and fantastic.
Ed Gein & the Zodiac Killer during the Macabre set, Milwaukee Metal Fest, May 17, 2025.
Macabre’s live presentation was entertaining as all hell. For each song they had a different serial killer (The Night Stalker, Ed Gein, Jeffrey D., The Zodiac Killer etc.) parade the stage for the song that represented them. Funny thing, I was taking pictures side stage when the Zodiac turned to me and pointed his gun right at me for the shot and I actually felt fear for a split second. Now that’s entertainment!
Demolition Hammer at Milwaukee Metal Fest, May 17, 2025.
I also caught one of the OG’s of Death/Thrash Demolition Hammer and they SLAYED! They played a new song (FINALLY!) titled “Execution Style” that could’ve easily been on one of their first two releases. Meaning it RULED! Great triplet double bass by drummer Angel Cotte.
During their first song singer Steve Reynolds came up to me saying he needed more of something in his monitor thinking I worked there which is funny being that I know the guy and have hung out with him MANY times. I thought it was funny but I get it, when you’re on stage and in the heat of the moment you’re just focused on putting on the best show you can and not thinking about trivial things like who’s standing on the side stage. We had a good laugh about it afterwards.
Necrot at Milwaukee Metal Fest, May 17, 2025.
I was also able to catch my Oakland brothers in Necrot who never disappoint. Just watch the latest edition of BLEEDING PRIEST’S BAY AREA METAL SPOTLIGHT to get an idea of how I feel about this band. I was able to catch a little bit of 3 Inches Of Blood but being that they went on right before us I had to get to warming up.
Death Angel had a great set and the crowd was INSANE! Bodies were flying over the barricade throughout the entire 40 min. set and the pit never let up. Yeah, 40 minutes. That’s 6 songs. Aye, you ain’t hearing me complaining about it.
Exodus at Milwaukee Metal Fest, May 17, 2025.
Exodus played right after us and they were great as usual. It’s funny, they started their tour 3 weeks earlier playing two shows with us in Berkeley and Anaheim and ended their tour with us at the festival. It’s almost like we did the tour with them but just showed up for the good gigs . Joking of course. I hear their tour went awesome.
The after party was like a Metal class reunion with so many friends in one place. Good, no GREAT times were had by all. If the Milwaukee Metal Fest ever asks Death Angel or even Nefarious for that matter to do it again I would be there in a heartbeat.
--Bleeding Priest
