Psycho Fest Sunday-8.21.22

Wow, I can't believe it is the last day of the festival. Time really flies. I wake up, and really need coffee. The small coffee stand at the hotel, is already closed. I can't believe how much I'm dragging each day. Again, another Uber ride, and 5 minutes or so later, we get to the entrance of Resort World. Arrival time today is about 12:40 pm. First stop is the Redtail bar, to see Crematory Stench. Pretty good old school death metal. A 3-piece band, not amazing but solid, and good way to start the day. I notice a couple standing on the side of the stage. I had met them the day before. They are Canadian, and we had a good chat about Trudeau and some of the crap going on there. I asked a lot of questions, because I recently got dual citizenship there. My dream was always to live in Vancouver, BC. But things are not the same now. They advised me to just stay in America. From the Redtail, we head down to the Event Center. Amenra from Belgium is playing. I had never heard them before. They fall somewhere in the post/meta/sludge category. Not my fav style, more so for sludge. I hate most of this genre. Sludge is to metal what Taco Bell is to mexican food. On the surface it might seem similar, but has nothing to do with the original. Anyway, they were not bad. I like the more emotional, instrumental sections. There was a mix of growl/shouts and clean vocals. The singer had a unique singing voice, very gentle and soft. Almost female sounding. Still not sure if I liked it or not. After their set I decided to stay at the Event Center. The next few bands I was interested in were playing there, and I also was getting tired of walking around. Samael was next. I really enjoyed their set. A good mix of songs from the entire catalog. Mostly avoiding any of the mid period softer stuff. Highlights were "Baphomet's Throne" and a big surprise, "Into the Pentagram"! Awesome to hear something off Worship Him. Katatonia was next. Something was not right, and there was a hug delay before they got to the stage. To their credit, they ended their set-on time. That was a really respectful move, to not bump any of the following bands, but the set was maybe 30 minutes long. They were good, but the sound was a bit muffled. Guitars and vocals buried in the mix. I saw them about 6 years ago with Watain. They were much better at that gig. While waiting for Paradise Lost to hit the stage, I took a much-needed break, and sat down on the floor against the wall. I was wearing a Candlemass-Epicus shirt. Sure enough, a hipster dude wearing his own Candlemass shirt, came up to me to discuss every detail of the band. Sure enough he was from Seattle! Second only to Portland for hipster population. Paradise Lost were really boring. The only bright spot was when they played "Eternal" off the first album. Wonderful surprise. Loved it. Time was about 7:30, and Cirith Ungol set was starting at 7:45 at the Dawg House. I made my way there and made sure I got a spot at the front of the stage. After the intro, the first song"Legions Arise" began. It was apparent very quickly that Tim Baker's voice was buried in the mix. So tragic. He is the highlight of the band. Like Dio gargling on broken glass...lol. He still sounds close to his 80's form. Two things caught my eye. First was the security guard policing the front of the stage. He was really tripping with people just leaning over the guard rail. The dude was ancient. Like old school Vegas, Tom Jones at the Sahara era. At least he was pulled away in the middle of the set. The other distraction, in a good way, was this awesome latina woman, just head banging a storm! Dressed in a leather jacket with the frills, and a cowboy hat on her back. Tribute to Ace of Spades? Hell yeah. Pure charisma. I really wanted to talk to her, but I am too shy. It was about a quarter to nine when the set was over. Had a small break before Mercyful Fate at 10pm, so I headed to the food court. Tried some wonton soup. Not bad, but the Hokkien noodles from the day before were way better. I got back to the Event Center pretty quickly. Maybe 25 minutes before start time. I wanted to get to the stage, but damn, it was already really crowded. I managed to nudge my way to about 4 persons back. Left side. I will probably do a full write up of the show in a separate post. This is just my overall experience. Incredible! I lost my mind singing all the lyrics. They played one new song, and the rest were from the first 3 albums. It was cool to have them do a few off the Nuns Have no Fun ep. Henk Shermann was on my side of the stage, so I had a perfect view. I'm really glad I guessed right, about what side of the stage to get to. King and Shermann are the only original members left. So I wanted to see Henk. Everyone was going wild during the set. This woman in front of me was headbanging so hard, and her hair was whipping me in the face. I didn't care, and her hair smelled great..haha..At one point she turned around to sing lyrics with me, and it was the latina from Cirith Ungol! She had a wonderful vibe, and charisma. It really made the night that more special, singing Fate songs. The set ended, and I was emotionally spent. One of the best shows ever. I think more so, because Fate are part of my childhood. The first albums are some of the greatest Metal records of all time. Legendary. I checked my phone and saw a message from Mac. Kerry King just walked by him! I wish he would have gotten a photo. After, we had plenty of time to kill before Rotting Christ was going on. We headed to the bar in the food court. I decided to finally drink some beer. It was my last night, good way to say farewell. The bar had this cool system. You start a tab, they give you a card. All along the side of the bar are taps. So you just scan the card and fill up your pint. Have to be careful because beer here is not cheap, adds up fast. Made it to the Ayu Dayclub after 1:30am. We probably missed 5 songs drinking at the bar. They sounded awesome. Ended the set with "Non Servium". It was about 3 am. Said goodbye to my friends and wished everyone a safe trip. Aaron had an early flight leaving 5am. So he went straight to the airport. Me and mac had flights leaving around 11am so not so bad. Called Uber. Got lost for a minute, trying to find the pick up spot. Booked a room at the Sahara hotel for the night. Got there at about 3:45 am. Room was a suite. With a separate living room, and bedroom. Nicer than the Trump Tower room! Got about 4 hours of sleep. Made it to the Airport just fine. While waiting in the security check line, I see a Bathory-Return shirt. It's my buddy Mac! Damn. Funny stuff. End of a great weekend. Will be back next year.