November to Dismember
November to Dismember was a two day metal festival in San Bernardino,CA on Nov 10th and 11th. There was a large variety of metal bands from around the world playing different styles from early days to most recent. There wasn't any pop metal hair bands from the 80s which was a plus. Most played a short set, but on the other hand lots and lots of bands in a short period of time to see. I have learned a lot about metal from this.

There were three stages, a main room with venders, wrestling (which I didn't watch much of), lots of free promo CDs from labels and bands. Some bands were promoting themselves with a booth like DEAD BY DAY. I would have liked to see them live with their stage show. There was an autograph signing area were bands signed photos and posters like WITCHERY, ENSLAVED, TRISTANIA, and others.

WITCHERY	DEAD BY DAY

The beginning of the day was mostly local bands and some bands from out of the area who payed a lot to play like a band from Brazil did. During this time NOKTURNE, a local black metal band with a singer who cut himself and bled got a large audience and a good response. As many people watched them as some of the well known bands. ENRAGED from San Diego reminded me of a thrash band from the 80s. Some of the other bands I saw during this time are played on college radio like BENUMB, DR. KNOW, DRI. The later the time the better known the band. Party mood PROMISQES a female band like to have fun, ask the audience to take off their shirts and show their titties and a lot of guys took off their shirts to get a T-shirt thrown to them. They are some wild beer drinking hell raisers from Utah.

DEADBODIESEVERYWHERE	NOKTURNE

DARK FUNERAL a corps paint black metal band from Sweden sounded extremely good live, and they had lots of stage presence to go with it. SADISTIC INTENT played some new songs along with the old with a strong clear live sound. JAG PANZER surprised me with an extremely good sound and a Judas Priest type stage show with a singer dressed in leather who can really hit the high notes, much better live than their recordings. STEEL PROPHET and AGENT STEEL reminded me of 80s Judas Priest era bands. If you thought that all Japanese women quiet and polite then you will find the unexpected. YELLOW MACHINE GUN are some Japanese females can really express their feelings and made much use of the F-words to get their point across, and very good musicians who played with lots of feeling, and got a very good response. Hispanic bands got a good slam pit moving and played with lots of skill like PROFECIA. MAKINA who had interesting guitar leads that sounds like Flamingo played electric. I talked to the band and they said that is what they were doing. TRANSMETAL were a denim jacket with lots of studs band. They were very nice to meet and like to have fun on stage.

ENSLAVED	NOKTURNE

IN THE WOODS are a Norwegian progressive metal band using some folk melodies, and appeared as a band that was so much not into stage presence, but that seam to make them more interesting to watch. IN AETERNUM from Sweden were fast with lots of body movement and play songs like "When the Vultures Have Left" which I liked. Venom could not play because they were stuck in the airport in Poland, because of a six foot flood. AMBER ASYLUM played a very intense wicked version of "Black Sabbath" that was worth going to the whole fest to see. Everyone was amazed how well the girls played this on violins and cellos. They had a large crowd around to see them way before they started. VESPERIAN SORROW are a melodic black metal band from Texas with a big future played with a foggy atmosphere and very original. ANAL BLAST were the ugly guys who had a sick sex song for everyone, and each song very funny. My favorite was about the Pussy Dreads which is when pubic hairs on a girl get matted and form dreadlocks. Comedy band CHAOTIC ART CIRCUS were not original sounding but they had jugglers, dancing girls, and magicians on stage. DREAMS OF DAMNATION are the new band formed by guitarist JIMMY DURKIN who used to be in Dark Angel. They look like body builders with shaved heads with lots of shine like if they put chrome polish on top and moved the rag back and forth. I liked their sound, and afterwards they were friendly to me and gave me a CD. QUIET ROOM sounded like a radio friendly female band, and some of the members were in other girl bands from the LA area. COFFIN TEXTS are death metal with Egyptain topics. The RAVENOUS is led by a very big body guy KILLJOY, and I liked them better than his other band. I used to write to him a long time ago when he lived in Ohio. CEPHALIC CARNAGE played very fast, loud, and aggressive. IMPALED had fog, blood, and skulls.

PROMISQUES	PROMISQUES

TRISTANIA from Norway was the band that impressed me the most. I have never heard them before, and I left thinking they were the best new band. They have an interesting sound with metal mixed with classical, gothic, electronic, and other things. They use the variety in a way to put together a good sound with feeling and meaning in their song writing. Vibeke Stene has the most beautiful opera style voice that matches her beauty and dances around so sensuous to go with the music. The males sing in a black metal growl to contrast. I met the band and they said their label Napalm Records financed the tour, they were here for one day. Vibeke writes the female vocals and choir, and the guys like Morten Veland-vocals and guitar, Einar Moen-synth and programming write the music. They have toured four times in Europe and once in Mexico. They like to joke around. I asked about their audiences, and they said they were the same except Mexico where they are wilder. I ask if they jump from the ceiling. Together they said "almost". What song from the CD cannot be played on the radio due to bad words? They said "Simbelmyne" because it is a 59 second piano instrumental.

TRISTANIA	TRISTANIA

ONWARD played very well live, and they said that they just got signed to Century Media label, a goal many bands playing have. If you like thrash like Slayer, then you should look forward to THE DEEP from Texas. It ended at about 2:00am, and it seams like many people left way before the end, so being the last bands was not good. ENSLAVED played their faster songs and didn't play anything with slower parts in it, but were good. TESTAMENT played 5 songs with lots of energy and they were rushed because of curfew, but they had a good sound and very professional. MORTICIAN was the last to play the second night, and they surprised me of sounding very good.

ONWARD	DARK FUNERAL

I liked the Necropolis stage the best because the sound was better than the others and had more bands I liked. But there were bands on all stages that had good sound, so think it is basically their live playing ability. The atmosphere was loose and friendly and no bad security, and they allowed cameras which helps the bands get good publicity from real people. Some of the reporters with big cameras from bigger companies were asking stupid questions that had nothing to do with metal like about doing drugs, or if I have kids. I know others who were asked these questions also. These reporters seamed to know nothing about metal. The first night it rained buckets toward the end, and it was cold both nights. Being a Midwest girl I was able to survive the weather and 10 straight hours of music without much break. It was good to check out so many bands and see which ones you would like to see again where they can play a longer set or buy their music.