Photo Gallery: Singers, Part 3

April 15, 2023March 27, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAccept, Alice Cooper, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Casket Robbery, Death Metal, Doyle, Eric Martin, ghost, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Michigan Metal Fest, Moru, Muddy Roots Festival, Piere's Entertainment Center, Tennessee Metal Devastation, The Convalescence, The King Of Clubs, Thrash Metal

**Casket Robbery at Tennessee Metal Devastation**

**Alice Cooper at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Accept at The King of Clubs, Columbus**

**Eric Martin at Piere’s Entertainment Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana**

**The Convalescence at Michigan Metal Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Drummers, Part 5

March 25, 2023March 9, 2023 Wayne EdwardsBlue Ridge Rock Festival, Buckcherry, Cannibal Corpse, Carnivore AD, Casket Robbery, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Higher Ground, Live Music, Mortiferum, Pop Evil, Primitive Man, Pure Filth Festival, Sevendust, Tennessee Metal Devastation, The Monkey House, The Native Howl, The Vogue Theatre

**The Native Howl, Higher Ground, Burlington**

**Primitive Man, The Monkey House, Winooski, Vermont**

**Mortiferum, The Monkey House, Winooski, Vermont**

**Casket Robbery, Tennessee Metal Devastation**

**Cannibal Corpse, The Vogue Theatre, Indianapolis**

**Buckcherry, Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 4

March 5, 2023March 2, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAnthrax, Atilla, Black Veil Brides, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, BMI Event Center, Casket Robbery, Death Metal, Exodus, Gravehuffer, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Newport Music Hall, Pure Filth Festival, Tennessee Metal Devastation, The Vogue Theatre, Voivod, W.A.S.P., Warbringer

**Exodus at the Newport Music Hall, Columbus**

**Black Veil Brides at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Gravehuffer at Tennessee Metal Devastation**

**W.A.S.P. at BMI Event Center, Versailles, Ohio**

**Warbringer at The Vogue Theatre, Indianapolis**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Casket Robbery, Rituals Of Death (Bloodblast 2022)

November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlood Blast Distribution, Casket Robbery, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Madison, Rituals Of Death, Wisconsin

Casket Robbery lays waste to the notion of surety on Rituals Of Death.

From the mysterious northern region of Madison, Wisconsin comes Casket Robbery, a death metal band with no interest in the calm or the quiet. Since about 2010 they have been playing brutal death metal, releasing a number of EPs and their inaugural long-player, Evolution of Evil (2016). Their music is characterized, especially on the new record, by speed and ordered destruction. The band is Megan Orvold-Scheider (vocals), Cory Scheider (guitars), Troy Powell (guitars), Bryan Bykowski (bass), and Erik Schultek (drums).

It all begins with “Worm Food,” a pulsing rampage that has menacingly stable through lines. The death metal is brutal and crushing, but there is also detectible groove in there, and surprising kernels of rational reference in the swirling chaos. “Don’t Forget The Eyes” has an extremely creepy half-melody that peeks in and out, the music otherwise being propelled all the while by the relentless rhythm section. “Death’s Dance” has the persistence of a mechanical meat tenderizer operated in the hearing of a 1920s silent horror movie soundtrack. It is an inventive amalgam.

This music is different than anything else I have heard this year. It has the brutal beat and the killer vocals, and what it does more than that is a patient construction and further detailing that enhance the compositions. You won’t find this in other bands. “Beautiful Death” might be my favorite song on the album because it does all the things I have been talking about with an extra kick and a tight pinch. Fantastic. “The Hidden…The Hideous” is the most disturbing (to me, anyway, for some reason), and the closer, “Return To The Sky,” leaves a crater where it lands. Highly recommended.

Rituals Of Death is out through Blood Blast Distribution on Friday, November 11^th. Head to the Bandcamp page for the digital.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://casketrobbery.bandcamp.com/album/rituals-of-death

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/casketrobbery

Blood Blast Distribution, https://www.bloodblast.com/

Casket Robbery Photo Gallery, Tennessee Metal Devastation 2022

October 30, 2022October 21, 2022 Wayne EdwardsCasket Robbery, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Tennessee Metal Devastation

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Casket Robbery website, https://casketrobbery.com/

Tennessee Metal Devastation, https://metaldevastationradio.com/Metal-Devastation-Music-Fest

FFMB article on Tennessee Metal Devastation 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/11/tennessee-metal-devastation-lexington-tennessee-october-8-2022/

Tennessee Metal Devastation, Lexington, Tennessee, October 8, 2022

October 11, 2022November 19, 2022 Wayne EdwardsCasket Robbery, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Metal Devastation Radio, Music Festivals, Summoner's Circle, Tennessee Metal Devastation, Thrash Metal

The inaugural Tennessee Metal Devastation Festival took place at Beech Lake in Lexington, Tennessee last weekend, featuring Summoner’s Circle and Casket Robbery.

It is always good news when a new heavy metal festival is started. Metal Devastation Radio branched out to created Tennessee Metal Devastation Music Fest, a one-day heavy metal festival held at Beech Lake in Lexington, Tennessee. It was such an immediate success that founders Zach and Raven announced toward the end of the night that they were planning to do it again next year.

The venue was the beautiful and cozy Beech Lake. The sun shined all day and the weather couldn’t have been better, even with the Fall chill that descended in the evening when the full moon rose.

Thirteen bands were scheduled to play at the event, and the start time was early. I misjudged how long a drive it was for me so I missed the first couple of acts. I got there in time to see the Louisville foursome Devil By My Judge. The response from the plentiful crowd made me think that these metal fans had been fired up by the earlier acts and were ready for more.

The Crypt and Skully from Metal-M-Mania hosted the festival and introduced the acts. They made a huge difference because you got to hear a few words about bands you might never have seen before just ahead of their set. I wish every festival did this.

I had heard Summoner’s Circle before and I was fast becoming a fan of Casket Robbery but I had never seen them perform. The other bands were new to me. All the performances were solid, and the ones that stuck with me the most other than the two I knew of were Gravehuffer, The Red Mountain, Spillage, and Deocculted. It never ceases to amaze me how many great bands there are out there in the wild. Discovering bands you didn’t know about is one the best things about going to festivals.

By the time Casket Robbery took the stage, the temperature had dipped to what felt like the forties. It didn’t seem to bother the fans who crowded down by the front of the stage, and Casket Robbery tore the place up. This show was the first stop on their tour with Summoner’s Circle – what a great way to kick off a tour. To make absolutely certain the portents were good, Summoner’s Circle offered a (symbolic) blood sacrifice during the first song of their set and the evening spiraled on from there.

I had an excellent time at the festival. Everything went so smoothly it is hard to believe this was the first year. I’m sure there were plenty of behind-the-scenes challenges and an enormous amount of work that fans were not even aware, but the experience itself was fantastic – great food, vendors, and superb metal music the entire time.

We will be posting photo galleries for the nine bands we caught live and links will be added to this article as they go up. Meanwhile, check out the links below to the bands’ pages and the festival page. And get ready for next year, because Tennessee Metal Devastation is coming back.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Tennessee Metal Devastation, https://metaldevastationradio.com/Metal-Devastation-Music-Fest

Summoner’s Circle, https://www.summonerscircle.com/

Casket Robbery, https://casketrobbery.com/

Deocculted, https://deocculted.net/

Spillage, https://spillage-online.com/

Eyes Of The Living, https://eyesoftheliving.com/home

Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf, https://tommystewartsdyerwulf.bandcamp.com/album/doomsday-deferred

Gravehuffer, https://gravehuffer.bandcamp.com/album/necroeclosion

The Red Mountain, https://www.facebook.com/THEREDMOUNTAIN/

Devil Be My Judge, https://www.ftdmusic.com/p/devil-be-my-judge.html