Author Archives: Mary Spiro
Völur, 1476 and Jerome Deppe set to slay The Depot March 6.
Coming up Tuesday, March 6 at The Depot, 1728 N. Charles St. Baltimore. Doors at 7pm; music at 8pm. $10.
1476: New England’s +1476+ creates dark, atmospheric, album-oriented music that draws upon elements of many genres including metal, punk, neofolk, and ambient. They harbor an energy & mood that reflects the environment of the old, haunting landscapes of New England’s coastal regions as well as their spiritual/philosophical interests and practices. As a two-piece, they are completely self-contained — writing, recording and releasing their albums & EPs through their own imprint and studio, Seraphim House. As of 2016, +1476+ has the honor of working with Germany’s Prophecy Productions.
Völur: Drawing from folk melodies, heathen spirituality, and trance-inducing doom, Völur weaves a hypnotic web of chthonic noise on the yawning gap of silence. A deep sound that moves through melodies, riffs, and timbres slowly as a seeress chants rites for souls long past.
Jerome Deppe/Miss Elizabeth’s All-Girl Band: Performing intense, melancholic acoustic based neo-rock, Deppe and his band are one of Baltimore’s hidden musical treasures that Shadow Woods Productions is pleased to present once again to the extreme musical landscape. It’s not metal, but it will still shred your soul.
Facebook Event page.
Godthrymm: A Grand Reclamation
When a band calls itself "epic doom metal" that kind of sets the listener up for what might come. Musically the UK’s Godthrymm is pretty epic and has a lot of great "invisible orange" moments. Heavy riffs, building tension in the rhythm section, aggressive melodies that simultaneously remind me of Bolt Thrower AND Candlemass But man, those vocals threw me off and were a real buzz kill. Is it James Hetfield? Was this guy in a Creed tribute band? Just not my cup of tea. According to the press release, this debut EP includes current and former members of MY DYING BRIDE, VALLENFYRE, SOLSTICE, MALEDICTION and ANATHEMA and will be out March 16. I hate having to pay attention to pedigrees, but I know people like those bands.This kind of stuff is generally not my favorite subgenre of metal, so consider that in this evaluation.
#doom #clawhammerpr #hottakes #reviews
Arbitrary rating 5.4/10.0
Affasia: Adrift in Remose
Vast, melodic and slightly gothic, Affasia’s album "Adrift in Remorse" grabbed me right away, it has elements that might appeal to folks who dig epic death doom, but the blend of growling and clean vocals moves it away from more depressive bands like Evoken.The music itself is more on the post-metal side of things. Some elements remind me of Tool. The bass line chugs along nicely, while a keyboard twinkles above and even some blues tinged riffs flow through the middle. The music is emotional and driven but not sappy or overly sentimental. The band is from Richmond and I wish I’d heard of them before now. Look them up on Facebook. The record comes out on their label Transcending.
Arbitrary Rating: 7.5/10.0
Keeping up with music reviews
I receive dozens of records to review very week. And for a while I tried to pick a few to do a thorough review. But I got so far behind. So no more. From now on, it’s gonna be hot take reviews from me. I can’t guarantee how many I will get to but it will be more than in the past. In the meantime, don’t forget to….
Shadow Woods returns; moves to Virginia

The 2017 Shadow Woods crew. Photo by Alix Vallecillo
OUT OF THE ASHES.
Shadow Woods Metal Fest enjoyed three wonderful years on our property at Camp Hidden Valley in Harford County Maryland. But as we all know, the only thing constant in this world is change. The property owner decided to retire and sell. So we decided to just call it a day and say three was good and move on.
But the community that has arisen around the fest is strong and would not let the fest die. Before the end of 2017, more than $5,000 was raised in a quiet campaign to keep the fest going. A search was launched to find a new venue and after many emails, phone calls, boarding meetings, presentations and site visits a new home for the fest was found.
We are moving to Virginia.
Our dates for 2018 are Thursday Sept 20 through Saturday Sept 22 at the Harpers Ferry Adventure Center. So mark the days on your calendar and ask off from work, Shadow Woods is back, and it’s going to be weirder than ever.
An updated Shadow Woods Metal Fest website is in the works: http://www.shadowwoodsmetalfest.com/
Follow announcements on our Facebook page.
And we have Instagram.
We have a Twitter
Set times for Shadow Woods Metal Fest!
Now that single day tickets are available to Shadow Woods Metal Fest, It makes since to post the set times. Check out these lovely charts detailing all the activities designed by Brian Sheehan. Come out to probably the only edition of this fest ever, just 30 minutes north of Baltimore. It would be dumb if you missed it. Really, it would.
You can get tickets here and the event page on Facebook is here. Tickets are only available in advance, no gate sales. There are weekend and day passes. Food vendors on site to keep your tummy full. BYOB for the drinks. This event is 21+.
Shadow Woods Metal Fest: because nothing goes better with metal than camping
This September marks the first (and hopefully not the last) occurrence of Shadow Woods Metal Fest, a first-of-its-kind in the US mini-version of the Euro style open-air fests. The fest will be held in White Hall, MD about 30 minutes north of Baltimore. Thirty-six bands will perform over two days beginning September 25 and attendees can camp through September 27.

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/shadowwoodsmetalfest
We, that is the makers of Metallomusikum, have been working on this fest for more than a year with the help of a crack team that includes Lokvlt Productions from Philadelphia, Leftover Pizza Productions in Frederick, MD and WinterForge Promotions in Pittsburgh PA. Our sponsors are Grimoire Records, the hybrid recording studio and record label based in Baltimore, MD, and Music For The Dead, an independent label also from Baltimore that specializes as they say, “in music no one living would want to hear.” In addition, another dozen more friends and colleagues were recruited to help with things like security, food & beverage, vendors and sound/stage/lights.
While every band selected for this curated list is outstanding, there are a few performances that should prove especially memorable. Headliners for Friday include Falls of Rauros, Occultation, Velnias and Immortal Bird. Headliners for Saturday include Midnight, Iron Man, Dweller in the Valley and Wormreich. Regarding Wormreich, this fest will be their first live performance since their fatal van accident on April 6, where they lost two band members.
We have 12 arts vendors, including Poison Apple Printshop and Runk the Skunk Jewelry, along with several record distros/labels, such as Crucial Blast, Salvation Distro and of course, Grimoire Records.
This fest will also have some workshops, which is pretty different from what you might encounter at other open air fests. Old Town Lutherie will teach a workshop in guitar maintenance, an expert in Scandinavian history and culture will present a workshop on Runes. And each morning different yoga instructors will hold sessions for those interested. Bring a mat and comfortable clothes if you want to try it out. There will probably be some other last minute surprises.
Along with all this, we have two exclusive t-shirt designs and one beautiful art poster created especially for this inaugural fest. Only 350 tickets will be sold to Shadow Woods and no tickets will be sold at the gate. Repeat: everything is pre-sale. Don’t wait. When the fest is sold out, it’s sold out. And we fully expect it to.
Our location is Camp Hidden Valley, a children’s camp on private property managed by the Harford County Boys & Girls Club. The landscape is beautiful and heavily wooded. There is plenty of room for tent camping, a huge dining hall where our vendors and one stage will be located, and men’s and women’s bathhouses with flush toilets, showers and running water. There are even outlets to charge your phone.
Shadow Woods Metal Fest is 21+ and BYOB. You can read all about it on the fest website. See all the related links below. We will be featuring short write ups on the bands in this space and on the fest website. See you in September!
Related Links:
Second Grimscape defies odds and slays anyway
Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t give up on things I care about that easily. This year’s Grimscape show was a trial by fire. First we had to move venues. Twice. And we lost our original headliner. But, that said, we found a home and regrouped and the results were nothing short of amazing. Thanks go out to The Depot in Baltimore and their sound guy Greg Serio as well as DJ Neska for keeping everything running smoothly and on time.
Rest assured that there will be more shows of this caliber in the months to come. We look forward to Grimscape #3 in summer of 2016.
I suggest that you keep these bands in constant rotation on your playlists:
Below is a link to some photos I took at the show, even the crappy blurry ones. Whatever. Enjoy and be sad if you missed it. Next shows coming up are Aug 16 and 17. More on that later.