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Summer Slaughter 2012 Philadelphia Photo Review

By Blow The Scene Staff

Posted on August 24, 2012

Annually touring extreme metal festival, Summer Slaughter, recently ripped through Philadelphia’s Trocadero Theatre with its 2012 edition featuring dense cast of electric participants including Cannibal Corpse, Between The Buried And Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya, Job For A Cowboy, Goatwhore, Exhumed, The Contortionist, and Cerebral Bore.

Scottish death metal shredders and Earache Records recording artists, Cerebral Bore had the honors of kicking off the opening ceremonies and were a quite a pleasant surprise. These long fests can tend to have some “filler” bands during the early hours, so it was nice to have a band with potency kick off the day. Led by vocalist Simone “Som” Pluijmers and her other-worldly range of guttural vocal deliveries, Cerebral Bore executed a pummeling set that quickly got the crowd into the game. E1 & Good Fight Music recording artists, The Contortionist, followed up and set forth the first progressive metal set of the day, as they continue to support new record Intrinsic, which just hit streets on July 17th.

Goatwhore and Exhumed followed up with two great sets that saw crowd interaction pick up a notch. Goregrind roadhounds and Relapse Records recording artists, Exhumed continue to tour in support of their acclaimed fifth full-length, All Guts, No Glory, which is still streaming in its entirety at the band’s bandcamp profile. New Orleans’ own blackened death metallers, Goatwhore, are also supporting a new full-length on Metal Blade Records, entitled Blood For The Master, which can be sampled here. Fellow Metal Blade Recording artists, Job For A Cowboy have been joined temporarily by The Red Chord guitarist Mike “Gunface” McKenzie in absence of bassist Nick Schendzielos who was forced to sit out part of the tour run due his girlfriend being hospitalized following a serious car accident. We like to wish Nick and girlfriend the best and a speedy recovery. On a positive note, Job For A Cowboy‘s latest album, Demonocracy, has seen wide critical admiration and made an impressive #87 debut on the Billboard 200. Decibel stated, “…a very strong exercise in slickly-produced, technically sound death metal…”.

Chicago metal band and Sumerian Records recording artists, Veil Of Maya hit the stage next supporting new album, Eclipse, which hit streets earlier this year. The album was co-written and produced by Misha “Bulb” Mansoor, who is the guitarist of the Maryland-based metal band Periphery. Speaking of Periphery, we were glad to catch this rising progressive act before their departure from the tour due to a “family emergency.” We would also like to wish the band the best during this trying time. We’re sure they’ll be back on the road soon supporting the recent release of their second full-length, Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal. Sumerian Records wrapped up a trifecta of metal showcases with a performance by The Faceless, who have the freshest album off the presses with Autotheism, which just hit streets August 14th. Fans were treated to healthy mix of new and older selections from these Summer Slaughter mainstays.

Co-headliner’s, Between The Buried And Me have been generating a lot of buzz in recent weeks with the announcement of new album The Parallax II: Future Sequence to be released on Metal Blade Records arrives on Oct. 9th. Regarded as the band’s most ambitious effort to date, the the first single from the release, “Telos,” can be streamed here. BTBAM put in a performance that has become routine in their 12-year career, sharp and intense with an outpouring of technical skill that becomes more relevant with each new release.

Last and certainly not least, the mighty Cannibal Corpse hit the stage and immediately displayed the sheer devastating aura of brutality that envelopes one of death metal’s most notorious figures. With a 24-year career that has seen an unprecedented 1.5 million records sold through battles with censorship, lineup changes, and more trials and tribulations than you can shake a stick at, Cannibal Corpse are still unmistakably at the top of their game and commanded the attention and excitement of a packed theater audience. Cannibal Corpse continue to support their most recent and 12th full-length overall, the ceaselessly hostile, Torture, which hit streets via Metal Blade Records earlier this year.

Our ever-talented Senior Staff Photographer Dante Torrieri (Useless Rebel Imaging) was on hand to deliver another set of radical photos for your viewing pleasure.

Cerebral Bore