CONJURING THE DARK BLACK METAL FEST

Minneapolis is quite a town of metal. On Saturday May 17th they showcased some of America’s best Black Metal bands during its first CONJURING THE DARK BLACK METAL FEST. Held downtown at a tiny club called 7th Street Entry, the place was packed with diehard black metal fans.

As we arrived the first band of the night :: WRAITHIAN :: was well into their set. I was lucky enough to witness at least 3 or 4 songs. The band seemed quite young under their corpse paint, though their sound was older than their looks. A four piece hailing from Minneapolis, the band prepared the crowd for the night to come.

EMK

Next up was :: EXEKUTION MASSAKRE KOMMANDO :: also known as EMK. A three piece band hailing from Carol Stream, Illinois. Their brand of black metal was a bit different than the other bands. They were also the only band of the night not to wear corpse paint. Nonetheless they put on a power hate fueled performance; however the crowd wasn’t sure what to make of them. The band seemed very tight, and the bass player had a tendency to crack an evil smile quite a bit.

Teratism

After their set came another Minneapolis band :: TERATISM :: who had quite a local following. Suddenly the small club seemed packed to capacity. TERATISM took the stage in full black metal garb, complete with hooded robes. As meat hooks dangled from the stage the band took control and threw everyone into a black metal frenzy. The band seemed to draw on this energy. With 4 of its five members up front their stage presence was very atmospheric. They commanded your attention. Their music and performance could rival any Black Metal band from Norway. As I stood in back on a platform, taking pictures, I couldn’t help but get up front to feel the energy of this band.

Teratism

[...]

To cap off the night :: INQUISITION :: took the stage. Not knowing much about them going into this, I was surprised to find that they are a two piece. Coming all the way from Seattle, Washington. Talk about amazing. For having just 2 members their sound is so strong it’s as if they had 4. The vocalist/guitarist Dagon does a hell of a job with just his Jackson guitar. He has some of the longest hair in metal. The crowd seemed in awe of them. He would pause between songs to speak a bit to the audience and its funny the contrast between his talking voice which is so friendly and soft to his vocals which are so gravely and evil. This band was one of America’s most sincere black metal acts. As the show wound down and merchandise was snatched up I couldn’t help hoping that there will be a Conjuring The Dark 2 in the works for next year.