Decibel Magazine’s Metal & Beer Fest in Philadelphia announced their new 2021 lineup, for the rescheduled festival dates on September 25-26, 2021. The three headliners originally planned for the postponed 2020/2021 events will still be playing special full-album sets, including Converge performing Jane Doe (2001), Napalm Death performing Harmony Corruption (1990) & Utopia Banished (1992) and Pig Destroyer performing Prowler in the Yard (2001).
Although Mayhem, Satan, Night Demon, Un, Magic Circle and Haunt had to be replaced, their replacements include Deadguy’s first show with their Fixation on a Co-Worker lineup in about 25 years, Municipal Waste, Immolation, Midnight, Imperial Triumphant, Blood Incantation, Warhorse, Eternal Champion, Crypt Sermon, Die Choking and Teeth.
Two-day and single-day passes for the festival are on sale now through Ticketmaster. As the ‘Metal & Beer Fest’ name implies, they’ll also serve beer from independent breweries from all across the eastern United States.
Jane Doe is one of the most influential metalcore records of all time, and at least one of the most popular. It wasn’t one of the first albums in the genre, but it’s well-known for its technically complex performances, uncommon time signatures and wild energy all tightly pulled together with an impressive and cathartic execution. Although every LP Converge has released since has been similarly well-loved, Jane Doe was their breakout album and is arguably still the fan favorite. This festival appearance will also double as a 20th anniversary performance.
Although Scum is likely the most popular Napalm Death record since it was their debut, and super important to the creation of the grindcore style, Harmony Corruption and Utopia Banished are the records where Napalm Death transitioned to death metal. While still quite extreme metal albums, many fans find those two to be their most approachable and list either as their favorite.
Prowler in the Yard was Pig Destroyer’s breakout album, and is still widely loved among grindcore fans. It’s a pretty comparable release to their most popular album, 2004’s Terrifyer, and established Pig Destroyer as the vulgar act they’re known to be, with disturbing spoken word sections and a generally scary atmosphere. It’s Prowler in the Yard’s 20th anniversary as well.
Deadguy were a short-lived band that formed in 1994 in New Brunswick, NJ and disbanded in 1997 after releasing three EPs and one full-length record called Fixation on a Coworker in 2005. The 1994-1996 lineup has only recently announced plans to reunite, including vocalist Tim “Trim” Singer, guitarist Keith Huckins, guitarist Chris “Crispy” Corvino, bassist Tim “Pops” Naumann and drummer Dave Rosenberg.
Imperial Triumphant has been around since 2005, but they have been gaining more and more traction in recent years. Their 2020 record, Alphaville, is arguably their most experimental and technically complex release to date, as evidenced by cuts like “Excelsior.”
Municipal Waste is best known as a 2000s crossover thrash band, but they’ve released a couple of albums in the 2010s as well and have a new album in the works, as of late 2020. Their vocalist Tony Foresta recently joined the surviving members of California hardcore band RKL on performance of their song, “Sargasm.”
Photo credit: Sharon Alagna
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