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Milwaukee Metal Fest (May 16 to May 18, 2025)
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Here is a report of Milwaukee Metal Fest. The event took place over the weekend, May 16 to May 18 (with a pre-party kickoff on Thursday night) at The Rave/Eagles Ballroom, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This is the tale of threes.
Day 1. Friday in the frame of the family of bears, we'll call them Ms Bear, Mr Bear and the yet-to-be an adult bear. The youngest, arguably the focus of the story if you take a certain blonde human out of the mix, since that bear will grow to be the strongest. We caught 6FIVE6 on the Copycat Media / Reigning Phoenix Music Stage urging the crowd to check them out anywhere they can be found, iTunes, Spotify, HeySpace and even MySpace. Also fitting that we saw Nest there, a Finnish band that draws their inspiration from folklore.
The Raves/Eagles Ballroom was a bit of a maze, having received several different directions on how to get from the stairs, outside to the porridge, otherwise known as the food trucks and back to the second stage, where the Blue Grape was. I see this one as the mama bear since there are balconies where the old and young alike can rest their weary feet and, in fact, I even saw a baby with ear muffs there. This is where we watched Surefire, Pentagram, Enslaved and Wolves in the Throne Room, which I thought their music could definitely be on the soundtrack to a fairy tale horror movie.
On the main stage, Sumerian Records, let’s call that one the papa bear, we caught Ruin Dwellers, Bury My Demons, Legions of Doom, Rotting Christ, the S.O.D. Tribute (making their debut appearance at the Milwaukee Metal Fest… and featuring two original S.O.D. band members Scott Ian and Danny Lilker), Chimaira, and finally Down. Most have new music out and new albums coming soon if not already out. All bands on all three days are now on my radar to go to if they ever make it to my side of town.
Legendary heavy metal supergroup DOWN’s only midwest appearance was at the Milwaukee Metal Fest. It is unlikely that they will be touring again until 2026, after they release their long-awaited new album on Nuclear Blast Records.
Day 2. Saturday I will refer to as my three little piggies day since there was so much in excess. This is not a negative, just the most popular day by far. All stages were packed, no room for wolves. Regardless, the first stage was lovingly referred to by the photographer as the Murder room. There we tried to see Evil Dead, EYEHATEGOD and Nekrogoblikon. I say tried because, alas, that day and that stage will have to live in my imagination as my ear was pressed against the back of the tall dude in front of me. If I were a storyteller, I could spin webs of the day I tried to watch a band whose music I enjoy and could play much bigger stages.
On the second stage on the second day, we were able to see Necrot and TesseracT. There were some great light shows from that stage. Also seen were generations built from the community of metal, grandmothers, wicked or not, that could have been from a certain other Grimm fairy tale. There was a VIP section where presumably families of the bands could sit and watch their loved ones rock, just past that were doors where they could sit and eat their meals.
The third little piggy that ran all the way home was where we watched Macabre, Between the Buried and Me, Devin Townsend and Black Label Society (led by Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist Zakk Wylde). What amazed me was where everyone called home, just the bands listed for this day on this stage you have Macabre from Chicago, IL, then Between the Buried and Me from North Carolina, Devin Townsend from Canada and BLS from Los Angeles, CA. But of the bands listed previously, there are international acts from Greece (Rotting Christ) and England (TessaracT).
Day 3. Sunday, I likened to the literary concept of the three witches. On the maiden stage, we saw the Gates to Hell, and once you make it to the gate, what else can you do but be full of it, so we also saw Full of Hell there, as well as Jarhead Fertilizer and End (photos not available).
On the mother stage, we watched Amigo the Devil, Scour and the Dillinger Escape Plan. Amigo, my new friend the devil, had much to say about a parent, his a$$ of a dad, who took him to a baseball game just so that he could watch his father get hammered. Amazingly the audience on the floor could sing his songs back to him, he said at the beginning that it would wear off but it didn't, who knew a metal crowd would be so accepting of this acoustic performer? He wanted the takeaway to be that he had two banjos though.
The Crone is the most powerful of the archetypes. Under the Horizon, who had a female vocalist although the drummer did belt out some great tunes. We watched Honey Trap as well on this third stage on the third and final day. GWAR, celebrating their 40th Anniversary, ended the festival as GWAR does, with a not to be missed show that soaked the crowd with green slime and awesomeness. Happily, watched as puppets that may or may not have been Putin, Taylor Swift and the POTUS get gutted, all in good fun. So many that I’ve talked to as well I now have a personal declaration of vowing to be at every show from this point forward if I should hear it, so to speak.
Expanded Milwaukee Metal Fest Photos links below. All photos courtesy of Kris.
This is the tale of threes.
Day 1. Friday in the frame of the family of bears, we'll call them Ms Bear, Mr Bear and the yet-to-be an adult bear. The youngest, arguably the focus of the story if you take a certain blonde human out of the mix, since that bear will grow to be the strongest. We caught 6FIVE6 on the Copycat Media / Reigning Phoenix Music Stage urging the crowd to check them out anywhere they can be found, iTunes, Spotify, HeySpace and even MySpace. Also fitting that we saw Nest there, a Finnish band that draws their inspiration from folklore.
The Raves/Eagles Ballroom was a bit of a maze, having received several different directions on how to get from the stairs, outside to the porridge, otherwise known as the food trucks and back to the second stage, where the Blue Grape was. I see this one as the mama bear since there are balconies where the old and young alike can rest their weary feet and, in fact, I even saw a baby with ear muffs there. This is where we watched Surefire, Pentagram, Enslaved and Wolves in the Throne Room, which I thought their music could definitely be on the soundtrack to a fairy tale horror movie.
On the main stage, Sumerian Records, let’s call that one the papa bear, we caught Ruin Dwellers, Bury My Demons, Legions of Doom, Rotting Christ, the S.O.D. Tribute (making their debut appearance at the Milwaukee Metal Fest… and featuring two original S.O.D. band members Scott Ian and Danny Lilker), Chimaira, and finally Down. Most have new music out and new albums coming soon if not already out. All bands on all three days are now on my radar to go to if they ever make it to my side of town.
Legendary heavy metal supergroup DOWN’s only midwest appearance was at the Milwaukee Metal Fest. It is unlikely that they will be touring again until 2026, after they release their long-awaited new album on Nuclear Blast Records.
Day 2. Saturday I will refer to as my three little piggies day since there was so much in excess. This is not a negative, just the most popular day by far. All stages were packed, no room for wolves. Regardless, the first stage was lovingly referred to by the photographer as the Murder room. There we tried to see Evil Dead, EYEHATEGOD and Nekrogoblikon. I say tried because, alas, that day and that stage will have to live in my imagination as my ear was pressed against the back of the tall dude in front of me. If I were a storyteller, I could spin webs of the day I tried to watch a band whose music I enjoy and could play much bigger stages.
On the second stage on the second day, we were able to see Necrot and TesseracT. There were some great light shows from that stage. Also seen were generations built from the community of metal, grandmothers, wicked or not, that could have been from a certain other Grimm fairy tale. There was a VIP section where presumably families of the bands could sit and watch their loved ones rock, just past that were doors where they could sit and eat their meals.
The third little piggy that ran all the way home was where we watched Macabre, Between the Buried and Me, Devin Townsend and Black Label Society (led by Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist Zakk Wylde). What amazed me was where everyone called home, just the bands listed for this day on this stage you have Macabre from Chicago, IL, then Between the Buried and Me from North Carolina, Devin Townsend from Canada and BLS from Los Angeles, CA. But of the bands listed previously, there are international acts from Greece (Rotting Christ) and England (TessaracT).
Day 3. Sunday, I likened to the literary concept of the three witches. On the maiden stage, we saw the Gates to Hell, and once you make it to the gate, what else can you do but be full of it, so we also saw Full of Hell there, as well as Jarhead Fertilizer and End (photos not available).
On the mother stage, we watched Amigo the Devil, Scour and the Dillinger Escape Plan. Amigo, my new friend the devil, had much to say about a parent, his a$$ of a dad, who took him to a baseball game just so that he could watch his father get hammered. Amazingly the audience on the floor could sing his songs back to him, he said at the beginning that it would wear off but it didn't, who knew a metal crowd would be so accepting of this acoustic performer? He wanted the takeaway to be that he had two banjos though.
The Crone is the most powerful of the archetypes. Under the Horizon, who had a female vocalist although the drummer did belt out some great tunes. We watched Honey Trap as well on this third stage on the third and final day. GWAR, celebrating their 40th Anniversary, ended the festival as GWAR does, with a not to be missed show that soaked the crowd with green slime and awesomeness. Happily, watched as puppets that may or may not have been Putin, Taylor Swift and the POTUS get gutted, all in good fun. So many that I’ve talked to as well I now have a personal declaration of vowing to be at every show from this point forward if I should hear it, so to speak.
Expanded Milwaukee Metal Fest Photos links below. All photos courtesy of Kris.
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