A metal friend of mine from Denmark e-mailed me recently that “Reading your MDF travelogues were a joy because they were so non jaded, they kinda read like the experience of a child in a candy store :).”  I think that pretty accurately nailed the way I felt about attending Maryland Deathfest XII. It was not only my first MDF experience, it was my first-ever metal festival of any kind, and it could hardly have been more perfect.

How do you improve on perfection? I guess, by definition, you can’t. But you can achieve something equally wonderful, but also different. And so I’m already excited about the 13th edition of this festival, the dates of which have now been announced: May 21-24, 2015. And the first round of bands, plus info about early-bird ticket sales, will be announced by August 1.

I’m well aware that for a great many people this festival is out of reach — too far away, too expensive to attend, falling on dates that don’t work. I’m not even sure I can go again. But I’m already fantasizing about it.

Part of the fantasizing involves wishful thinking about the bands who might attend next year. There’s an event page for the festival on Facebook that’s filled with people’s wish lists. Reading them (at least the serious ones) makes me salivate — in part because it really does seem possible that anything you wish for could actually come to pass.  Given MDF’s track record, you don’t even have to limit yourself to bands who are still active; even bands who’ve been dead for decades could come back to life for one last hurrah in Baltimore. Continue reading »