Auburn Washington welcomes Rockstar energy drink's Mayhem Festival and the Morgue Radio Show sent Monster and Violet to cover this destructive event...the problem is, we haven't seen them since. We have gotten some e-mails from somewhere along the Oregon coast, complete with pictures. The following are some excerpts:
July 14th:
MAYHEM! Violet and I made it to the motel and it is crawling with metalheads! We load the shit we need and get ready to head out with Ninja and CS when we bump into a kid in a Behemoth shirt that needs a ride to the show. Kid can't be all bad, he has a Behemoth shirt on, so we throw him in the truck and haul ass, reading the dirty parts of the latest Bizarre magazine on the way. A short ride to the VIP parking lot and a long walk along the highway (don't ask), we arrive at the gates of HELL! Thank Satan for the fast passes!
We burst through the gates and the Mayhem automatically kicks off with great gear from a slew of vendors including a Cannibal Corpse comic book! Oh hell yes! The vendor for the great local band, Northwest Royale, even hooked me up with a shirt and the band's latest two CDs for a mere twenty bones! Not only did they sound awesome, but they are great promoters as well.
(NOTE: Skinlab and Mushroomhead were not here...I believe Skinlab was the Sacremento band and Mushroomhead plans to join up later in the tour.)
Whitechapel kicked this shitstorm into gear on the Hot Topic stage and immediately began assaulting the crowd with their brutality! Incredible presence. Northwest Royale pounded through their set and Black Dahlia followed up with one of their own. By this time, Violet and I were out of the pit and hitting the booths to meet the bands. The first of which was Monster's primary reason for attending, Behemoth! Sans corpse paint. This was an incredibly smart and polite bunch of guys that....wait. What the hell.....I meant to say, it is fucking Behemoth! They were evil, Evil, EVIL! I shook hands with EVIL!
God Forbid did their thing and then Job For A Cowboy took the Hot Topic stage and annihilated! This being a huge band for Violet, I found myself being dragged by the wrist into the pile of bodies pressing against the barrier once more. Once the moshing was through, we left the feeding pens of the stages and wandered back to the booths where we found Cannibal fucking Corpse hanging out! YES! Now that comic book of mine has every band member's signature on it! Damn right!
This is where the day ceased to be a straight-forward metal festival. Further into the crowd, Byron Davis, pipes for God Forbid, was found meandering through the same people he was performing for earlier. Violet and I just got back in time for the end of the All That Remains set and placement well to the front of the HT stage again for BEHEMOTH!!! The band storms the stage in full Hell gear, instruments pulsating and immediately explode into the EVIL that they are! EVIL!
The crowd is slamming into one another as hard as the drum skins getting abused on stage. Violet and I were so close, we could almost grab spiked boots. Half way through the set, they Polish metallers continue to entertain by bleeding from the mouth profusely and Nergal has since donned a wicked mask. Then the blood! Erupting from the mouths of all but the drummer, spraying the thousands of screaming and slamming fans! Blood! Did I mention that these guys are evil? EVIL! Violet is drenched in the plasma and loving every second of it! This has been, by far the best performance of the day!
Trivium finishes off the Jagermeister (while I meet Job For A Cowboy and thank them for rocking our balls off). And then, the unstoppable happens...Cannibal Corpse come to tear down the HT stage, which they do with great enthusiasm. Cannibal classics like Fucked With A Knife get pounded into our bodies (as a special dedication to all the ladies) and the pit is somehow excessively brutal, yet immeasurably polite at the same....what....seriously? Okay, the pit was a fucking madhouse!!! Oh, the carnage! Oh, the putrefication! Oh rapture!
With the second and third stages used, abused, recycled, and abused again; those bitches are worn out and done, leaving people no where to roam but toward the main stage of death (with a side stop for nine dollar nachos or beers...seems like the only rape and murder is happening at the concession stand). Famished and needing to piss, Violet and I avoided the main (while Bullet For My Valentine committed audio torture on thousands of unsuspecting victims) to get a bite and then drain the vein at the world's filthiest toilet...one that the golgothan would have to put paper on the seat to sit.
We finally made our way down into the pit just as Killswitch Engage were taking the stage. A clarification, I never have really liked KSE and was not looking forward to the next set, especially when each member took the stage in a tuxedo tank top. I was surprised. Amazed! Their music was good (not astounding, but still good) and their stage presence was top notch! By the end of their set, I forgot that I didn't like them and was in full swing, pumped and ready for Slayer...or so I thought.
Again, Violet and I made our way to the front of the pack and when the thrashers took the stage, we held our own against the wave of hate that rolled in and crashed upon our backs! Within seconds, we were slamming and smashing our neighbors and destroying posers with full force, giving what is being given to us. Unfortunately, a bit over half way through the flaming, thrashing, Slayer set; between fan administered body blows, Tama drum blasts, and full fire from the Marshall stacks, my body needed to release...and I was no Golgothan! Dammit! I would rather lie down in the pit than head to the porcelain parking lot!
I made it back quickly (and probably with passengers) and jumped right back into the thick of things, finishing off the set like a maniac!
Slayer finished and the crowd thinned a little but filled back up as Marilyn Manson took the stage (and tried to smoke out the audience). I haven't been a Manson fan since Holy Wood and haven't even wasted the time or money on his last two albums (in fact, his was one of the only shirts I didn't drop cash on). I will say this- He started hard! He thundered through a track from his latest album and then went back "old town" for the fans, pulling out Tourniquette and a few other great Manson tracks! My astonishment level continued to rise with each sound wracked minute and before long, I found myself yelling, jumping, rocking, and singing along to this androgynous goth-rocker!
When this Mayhem was finished at eleven o'clock, I was physically torn, yet emotionally ready for another nine hours of demolition! We walked away with a ton of gear (including a Manson shirt, even though I didn't plan to buy one), great memories, some new friends, and even a large respect for bands we either never cared for or quit caring about in the past. Manson proved that he can still blast with the best of them, Slayer kept the rudest and most hateful pit (but so wrongfully fun), KSE held their own professionally and energetically, and Behemoth still proved to be the hardest fuckers to ever violate my ears!
Even though the Mayhem Fest has migrated south, we aren't ready to let it go just yet, so Violet and I are headed out o find more fucking adventure! Until we see you again (IF), enjoy some of our photos in case you missed the Mayhem!!!
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