Mass Destruction Festival 2021 Review

Mass Destruction Metal Festival 2021 was a success. It was actually my first time at the festival. I was supposed to go in 2020, but I shouldn’t have to explain why the festival was canceled. So I’m not only glad the festival was awesome but it’s apparently getting even bigger.

Before discussing the individual bands, let’s focus on Mass Destruction Metal Festival itself. The festival was held at one venue: the Loft at Center Stage. Center Stage is one of those really nice arena venues but they have three different rooms. The Loft was overall very nice. The room itself was pretty big. There was a separate merch area in the back. As a photographer, I especially loved the lighting.

I was able to find a schedule posted on the festival’s Facebook page and the bands for pretty much on time the whole weekend. Some bands may have played a bit late, but it didn’t change the schedule too drastically.

There was a great mix of bands on the bill! From heavy metal legends Cirith Ungol to death metal icons Suffocation, Mass Destruction Metal Festival had a band for all metal fans. The promoters did a great job at booking diverse and quality bands, especially ones who don’t play often such as Repulsion.

The location was also excellent. Center Stage is in downtown Atlanta. There are numerous hotels nearby; I actually stayed at a hotel nearly across the street. There are a variety of restaurants, bars, and more within walking distance. I personally hate the festivals where I have to camp and gravitate to these city festivals, so this is the perfect choice if you’re like me in this way.

If you haven’t realized it, I highly recommend this festival and I will be back for future years. And no, the promoters never asked me to say this. This is my 100% honest opinion and review. Even though my boyfriend/videographer and I were on the guest list, I still bought a shirt to continue promoting the festival and show my support.

Without further ado, here’s a review of each night!

Friday

The first night of any festival is always exciting! But what makes Mass Destruction Metal Festival stand out are the quality openers. I absolutely loved Vimur. Their sound is very Dissectiony, that melodic black metal that’s very dark.

Maiestas was next. They had a lot of energy and put on an impressive show. They had an old-school death/black sound, which is what I always like to hear. After them was Akhlys, who also had a black metal sound; however, their sound was more evil sounding. They wore very cool costumes and just looked awesome on stage. Definitely for fans of Belphegor.

While the openers were great, I was pumped for MONSTROSITY! I’m literally from Tampa, have been listening to Monstrosity for years, and never saw them live. Their set was absolutely solid. I don’t even remember them having a soundcheck and yet they were one of the best bands of the night. Most of their setlist consisted of newer material. That usually bothers me, but this time was an exception. First off, I absolutely love The Passage of Existence. It’s by far one of the Monstrosity’s most killer albums ever and they played a ton of songs off that album.

Now, I did notice Ed Webb was doing vocals for this show. On their Encyclopedia Metallum page, Mike Hrubovcak is still credited as their vocalist. I can’t even see Ed under live musicians. Unless he is their official vocalist and EM hasn’t updated their page, I think Ed may have been filling in. However, his vocals sounded exactly like Mike’s. It was unbelievable.

Next up was Vio-Lence, another band I was highly anticipating. They’re actually one of my boyfriend’s favorite bands and has traveled to see them perform before. I’ve also never seen Vio-Lence, so I was excited to check them out. Their set by far had the most energy of the night. Hell, I would even argue their set had the most energy of the whole weekend. There was tons of moshing, crowd-surfing, and everyone was singing and chanting the lyrics.

Suffocation was the last band of Mass Destruction Metal Festival’s Friday night. I’ve seen Suffocation numerous times and I don’t think they ever played a bad set. They annihilated the fest with some of their best songs, such as “Breeding the Spawn,” “Thrones of Blood,” “Jesus Wept,” “Pierced From Within,” and “Funeral Inception.”

Saturday

Saturday was our busy day at Mass Destruction Metal Festival. Eight bands played this day! Fortunately, we had no interviews scheduled, so we mainly recorded the bands and got pictures.

ASM started the show. They’re a two-person band where the drummer also does vocals. I always respect drummers who can do vocals. How can one person have that much coordination? It always fascinated me. They had more of a black/thrash sound, very heavy and aggressive. I overall enjoyed their set.

I have to say, Estuary stole the show on Mass Destruction Metal Festival’s Saturday! My boyfriend and I never heard of them. I guess he met someone at the festival who told him to check out Estuary. We were both impressed! I would best describe their sound as classic death metal. They had a lot of energy and their vocalist, Zdenka Prado, has killer growls. I actually found their music online and still listen to them regularly.

Up next was Thantithaxath. This was actually a band that Rob knew but I never heard of them. They have a cool sound. It was very black metaly yet even darker. The band members are all anonymous and they wear hooded robes on stage, so I enjoyed the mystery aspect.

At this point, Rob and I were starving and had to get some food. We, unfortunately, missed Thornspawn.

Up next was Evoken. I heard a lot of great things about them, but I thought they were overhyped. They had a cool doomy yet heavy sound. Overall, I wasn’t as impressed as I expected.

I had seen Massacre before, but this was by far the best I had seen them live. They mainly played material off of the From Beyond album, which is by far my favorite Massacre album.

This was also the best I’ve ever seen Nuclear Assault. They’re just a lot of fun to see live; the band has excellent stage presence and the crowd went absolutely nuts.

At this point in the night, we were exhausted. This was the longest day of the festival and we worked all day. Rob and I were pooped and wanted to rest, so we didn’t watch all of Repulsion’s set. However, what we saw was solid. It was awesome seeing them live (neither of us saw them before) and they had a ton of energy.

Sunday

Today was the last day of Mass Destruction Metal Festival. I was exhausted but it’s always sad to say goodbye to a festival. Especially an awesome one like this! I had my Goatwhore interview planned for this day and the entire day was stacked with amazing bands.

Impure started off the show and they played one hell of a set. They also have a drummer as a vocalist, and he definitely impressed the hell out of me. The playing was overall very tight and the band was super heavy, reminded me of Celtic Frost.

I was really shocked that Goatwhore was only the second band up. I figured they would be one of the headliners. Either way, they always kill it. I’ve seen Goatwhore live multiple times and they never play a bad set. Already, the crowd was completely hyped when they took the stage. People packed around the stage and there was plenty of moshing and stage diving.

Malignancy was next up. I never saw them live so I had no idea what to expect. Their vocalist is an absolute beast and he generally has great stage presence. That and they devoted a song to sharks. I love sharks, so I’m fully supportive of all shark-inspired songs.

I saw Malevolent Creation a few years ago, and this was the absolute best I’ve ever seen them. I think the new lineup has something to do with it. I was familiar with guitarist/vocalist Ryan Taylor because he’s also in Solstice. His vocals sound so much like Brett Hoffmann’s. Even others around me were commenting on that similarity. Ron Parmer has been in every single amazing Florida death metal band. Perdition Temple, Brutality, Angelcorpse, Amon, Insatanity. You name it, I’m sure Ron Parmer’s has played in that band. So if that tells you anything. Overall, the band sounded tight. They played some of my favorite songs off of Ten Commandments and Retribution.

During Malevolent’s set, I had to walk out and do my Goatwhore interview. But right after the interview, I hurried back inside to watch Exciter. They’re one of the bands I was most excited to see. And trust me, I wasn’t disappointed. Exciter by far played the best set at the festival. Absolutely incredible energy. While I love drummers who also do vocals, the energy usually lacks since the frontperson isn’t center stage. But not with Exciter. Guitarist Daniel Dekay and bassist Allan Johnson were jumping and running around all over the place, making crazy faces and overall looked like they were having a ton of fun on stage. The crowd went absolutely nuts the entire performance.

Finally, we reached the end of the festival with Cirith Ungol. I feel bad because I only stayed for a little bit of their set. I was just so exhausted and was honestly ready for bed. They had a calmer performance compared to Exciter, but they still put on a great set. It more so felt humbling to watch such an iconic and influential band live.

Well, it was a great one, Mass Destruction Metal Festival. See you next year!