Milwaukee Metal Fest 2025 & Brief Travel Log
By Theron Moore
I. Gotta Make It To The Gig
Monday, May 12:
T-minus three days before we leave New Mexico for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’m watching local Milwaukee TV station, ‘Fox 6 News Local,’ on my Amazon Fire Stick to see what the weather looks like in beer city. There’s already a weather alert for Thursday, May 15. This is the day we leave for Milwaukee. The forecast? Severe thunderstorms and a tornado watch. God hates me.
Tuesday, May 13:
Today is the last day at work for me and my wife. We’re off at 4PM and we’re on track to make it from Los Alamos, NM to Albuquerque in 90 minutes. I’m feeling good about this. We get 40 minutes down the road and my wife says, “Um, I forgot my phones back at the office. We have to go back and get them.” I didn’t see that coming.
By the time we get back on the road our ETA for home is 7:30PM, we’ll have been on the road for 3 ½ hours to drive 102 miles. Immediately I know what this means: The “Moore Curse” has been activated – five days of bad luck. And now that weather situation in Milwaukee really has me worried.
Wednesday, May 14:
I’ve got eyes on ‘Fox 6 News Local’ in Milwaukee. The weather situation has everyone worried there, it’s all they’re talking about. Not good. When you live in the Midwest you deal with all kinds of weather – good and bad – but tornadoes are that special kind of bastard everyone takes seriously. Day two of the “Moore Curse.”
Thursday, May 15:
After a reasonably good night of sleep, we get up, shower, pack, we’re on time and good to go, not even I-25 construction can stop us right now. Has the curse lifted? C’mon now…,
We get to the Albuquerque International Sunport, find a great parking place, get checked in quick, make it through the TSA security checkpoint the fastest I’ve ever made it through in my life, and make it to our departure location which is surprisingly close by. We’re scheduled to leave at 10AM and with any luck we’ll arrive in Milwaukee before the storm hits, and then…IT happened, “The Moore Curse” kicked in. Sneaky bastard.
We’re delayed, it’s mechanical issues with the plane. After an hour wait, we’re told that the jet won’t leave till 12PM, a tire needs to be replaced which means we’ll miss our connecting flight and must reschedule. Thankfully my wife is an organizational beast when it comes to things like this. We grabbed the last two seats on the next outgoing flight to Chicago and we’re back in business again.
We should’ve been in Milwaukee by 4PM but now we’re landing at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. We flew through some gnarly weather outside Chi-Town but land safely and make our taxi down the runway and then we stop.
I look outside and the sky looks truly apocalyptic. Dammit, I know what’s going down and it’s not good. The weather gods are taking a Clydesdale sized dump on everyone in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin, and we’re stuck in the middle of it.
The captain comes across the intercom and informs us that O’Hare Airport has been shutdown due to inclement weather which means ALL flights are grounded, everything’s at a standstill. After a lengthy “time out” on the runway due to nearby lightning in the area, we finally leave the plane and race to our next departure point. To our chagrin it’s been delayed to 11PM. The time? 8:30PM, give or take.
We board the plane a little after 10:30PM, all nine of us, en route to the city Pabst made famous. By the time we get to Milwaukee, secure our rental car, we leave for the hotel which is about five minutes away. We stayed at this place last year and it was nice, thankfully it didn’t disappoint this time around. By the time we unpacked it was close to 1:30AM. I missed the Milwaukee Metal Fest pre-party by many, many hours but that’s fine, I’ve seen Flotsam And Jetsam before, no worries. The way I see it – at least I’m here, right?
II. Day One
Friday, May 16:
We’re up and ready to go at 8AM, destination: Wisconsin Dells. Leaving Milwaukee there were downed trees and snapped limbs up and down the street we were on. The storm that hit the area/region was a severe thunderstorm. I think I heard that five tornadoes hit parts of Wisconsin, two were F2 motherfuckers that nailed the city of Mayville doing extensive damage to the town. Mayville is about 60 miles northeast of Madison. The city has a population close to 5,200 people.
We made it to the Dells and had breakfast at Paul Bunyan’s restaurant. If heaven is a real place, Paul Bunyan’s is it. Did a little “touristy” driving around the city and left for Milwaukee, it’s all the time we had available. The mecca of all that is metal awaited me. Horns up Milwaukee!
We made a slight detour on the way back to our hotel to stop at a Walmart to get a few items. It’s a busy place so my wife dropped me off at the front entrance. “I’ll find a parking place and meet you near the restrooms.” Cool, what could go wrong? Oh, the “Moore Curse,” that’s what.
Here’s the rub, there were two sets of bathrooms in this store. I went to one and my wife went to the other one. I waited nearly half an hour before I got paged to report to customer service at the front of Wal-Hell. I was told to meet my wife outside who had been waiting to pick me up. I was heated when I got in the car but minutes later, we were laughing about it. Time check: 90 minutes until I leave for Milwaukee Metal Fest.
I made it to The Rave / Eagles Club a little before 4PM. When you’re not a young man any longer an event like this becomes a marathon, not a sprint. You gotta plan out who you want to see, and time manage the hell out of it. The area around the venue was jammed with people and cars extending for blocks and blocks in just about every direction you can think of. Getting to the entrance was like playing a real-life game of Frogger.
I got dropped off, did the security check, the ticket zap, and caught the last 20 minutes (or so) of Avernus absolutely crushing it on the Blue Grape stage on the first floor. The doom this band is churning out is mind boggling and brutally heavy. The angst, the gloom, the sheer weight of sorrow in their music, rolls over you like an avalanche you won’t outrun. But I need to find a place that’s going to accommodate some physical limitations I have if I’m going to enjoy the rest of my evening.
I broke my right leg back in August, had to have surgery to repair it, and although I’m walking OK, I’ve lost mobility and have lower back pain because of it. The good news is, I know The Rave well enough to find certain places I can occupy up front (first and third floor) which allow me to lean against the guard rail near the stage taking pressure of my leg and back. I look behind me at the stairs going up to the balcony, but that section is closed off. I’m right up front, maybe 20 feet away from Avernus killing it. Good enough for me.
Texas metal machine Fugitive is up next. In case you’re not familiar with them, Fugitive features guitarists Blake Ibanez (Power Trip) and Victor Gutierrez (Impalers), vocalist Seth Gilmore (Skourge / Power Trip), bassist Andy Messer (ANS, Stymie), and drummer Lincoln Mullins (Creeping Death). Sporting two members from Power Trip and Creeping Death, the bar is set high for this band to get over and trust me they did! They were aggression personified and sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel. Just a great, great set.
Fugitive’s set is 1000% pure thrash, pure speed, and pure metal. Watching them was like watching a young Metallica again, their energy level is off the charts. Even if there was a way to accurately measure it, I doubt it’d be possible. Fugitive’s set me made me an instant fan. I’m listening to their music as I write this review.
Up next is one of several bucket list bands I’ve come to see, someone I’ve been into for decades but never got around to seeing them live – Pentagram, featuring the one and only Bobby Liebling. For me this was a true nerd out moment because their song “Forever My Queen” was featured in one of my all-time favorite horror movies, ‘Late Night With The Devil.’
Last summer I caught the ‘Happy Together’ tour with The Turtles whom Flo & Eddie were part of, who also had a couple of songs on that film soundtrack as well. Plus, I also had a lot of Tequila and Whiskey flowing through me which certainly didn’t hurt. God bless Tequila and Seagram’s Seven.
Pentagram were amazing, Bobby looked and sounded fantastic, and the band for me defined what old school rock N roll should look and sound like; their guitarist was taking swigs from a Jägermeister bottle throughout the show. Their brand of stoner / doom was off the charts fantastic.
I thoroughly enjoyed Pentagram’s set and yep, they played “Forever My Queen” which sounded incredibly good, hell, the whole band was firing on all cylinders for that gig. Bobby Liebling: ROCK STAR. Seeing Pentagram completed the “dream” of having seen Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, and Blue Cheer previously, now adding Pentagram to this winner’s circle as well.
I decided to make my way out to the Rave bar and caught parts of No/Mas and Bongzilla’s set off and on. Prior to seeing them I wasn’t really into their music but fuck it, they’re here, so why not check them out? I won’t slag on them, but neither band connected with me.
Wolves In The Throne Room took the stage after Pentagram but again, not a fan and not into their music. I figured now would be a good time to rest my leg and lower back and made it upstairs to level two where I sat at the bar for a while.
Props to the Rave bartenders, great people with outstanding people skills which you kind of need if you’re going to work an event like Milwaukee Metal Fest. I ordered a shot of Jim Beam but the bartender, a super cool older gentlemen, suggested I try something new and less expensive called ‘American Metal’ whiskey. I did and now I’m hooked. That’s the whiskey I turned to when I needed a break from Tequila. While talking to this man, the girl immediately to my right projectile vomited all over a bar stool and the floor in front of her. It didn’t faze me, I just thought, “that’s rock N roll.”
Did I catch the S.O.D. tribute in the ballroom upstairs? Nope, I had no intention to, I’m not into seeing tribute acts. Still glad I passed, no regrets.
Returning to the first floor, I noticed the upstairs balcony had opened and quickly made it up those stairs in slow but awkward fashion and found a great seat overlooking the stage. Paradise Lost was setting up their gear to play next, Enslaved would close out the night, both are bucket list bands I came to see.
Paradise Lost churned out a brand of super heavy, atmospheric, goth-inspired doom metal that floored me. I even heard bits and pieces that reminded me of classic era Trouble which made it that much better and more meaningful to me. There’s a reason why this band is a trailblazer since their inception in 1988 and tonight’s performance solidified it.
Enslaved capped off the evening with a set of show stopping music which reminded me why I was a fan of theirs in the first place. Great energy, inhumanly heavy, and almost more metal than anyone in the room should be allowed to experience per Wisconsin state law. Their sound was laden with massive amounts of “chunk and crunch,” a veritable wall of total destruction that was part prog, part thrashy-death, and metal as fuck. I saw who I came to see, got overdosed with metal, and was primed and ready to do it again Saturday.
III. Day Two
Saturday, May 17:
What do Oppressor, Demolition Hammer, Necrot, 3 Inches Of Blood, Death Angel, and Exodus have in common? SATURDAY. It’s time to get a bottle of wine, pre-game it, and hit MMF for the second and final day.
We stopped and got a bottle of burgundy, but the cheap shit is hard to put down. It was a screw top wine, not a corked bottle which makes a difference. ‘Grumpier Old Men’ is on TV. We leave at 3:30PM for The Rave. Tomorrow, we get up early and leave for home. Ugh. I’m having too good a time being here. It’s not just Metal Fest, it’s being back in Wisconsin again, traveling around and seeing the sights. Plus, it’s back to navigating airports which is always a nightmare for me. The wine is hard to get down but it’s getting me there, and this is coming from a guy who used to drink Mad Dog 20/20 and Night Train.
There’s something special about seeing a rock concert at The Rave / Eagle’s Club. As a kid my parents would drive by this iconic joint and I’d see the famous sign out front: ‘Tonight: Lizzy Borden, Murderous Metal Road Show’ or ‘Tonight: Combat Tour featuring Venom, Slayer, Exodus.’ The history inside this building is astounding and goes back decades and decades and well you guessed it, more decades. I know the guy who started Metal Fest back in the mid 80’s – Jack Koshick, a great, great dude. He’s the man who put all this in motion that Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta is continuing now.
I arrive at The Rave and catch the back end of Necrot’s gig. They’re crushing it live, but I only catch a song or two before trekking it up to the third-floor ballroom to watch Oppressor. What I did catch of Necrot was damn good. Every band today is must see, so I manage my time like it’s money.
Oppressor is a band I nearly saw in 1996 (with Malevolent Creation) at their Albuquerque tour stop but alas, I never made it to the gig. 29 years later I’m finally gonna see ‘em live. Oppressor’s set is a true assault on the senses, their damage path extends at least a mile wide through the ballroom. The huge crowd they’ve drawn is clearly digging their vicious brand of death metal.
A year earlier I saw Embryonic Autopsy at MMF ’24. I didn’t realize it until I dug a little deeper into Oppressor that not only did their lineup feature the original 3: Tim King , Adam Zadel, and Jim Stopper but King, along with members Marco Fimbres and Kenxi Dupey, are also in Embryonic Autopsy. So that’s why I dug E.A. so much, explains everything.
From what I understand this is one of two reunion shows they’ve done after having been broken up for the last 25 years. Their set is amazing, you’d never know they’ve been absent from the scene as long as they have. Punishing. I’m hoping this isn’t a “one off,” I’d really like to hear new music from them. On stage their chemistry was great, and it really looked like they were having fun doing what they were doing.
Next up is Demolition Hammer, a band it EVERYONE has shown up to see. They’re kicking ass and taking names. The pop from the audience is huge. The pit for Demolition Hammer is insane. I’m into their gig but I leave after three songs. I’m anticipating the balcony on the first floor will fill up quickly with 3 Inches of Blood, Death Angel, and headliners Exodus set to play later tonight, and I was right. I get the feeling there was more anticipation for these three bands than headliners Down scheduled to play later.
Fugitive set the bar high for speed/thrash but the newly reactivated 3 Inches Of Blood went above and beyond that – they raised the bar even higher if that was possible. In terms of intensity, stage presence, and brutality, 3 Inches Of Blood went above and beyond, and trust me, that’s saying a lot.
They looked and sounded metal; you’d never know they had recently reunited. Their set was super tight, and they played with blood thirsty vengeance, the sheer carnage happening in the pit was testament to that. 3 Inches Of Blood are a true denim and leather, battle vested band who put on a master class of NWOTHM tinged thrash.
Death Angel was up next. Truth be told, I’ve been an on again, off again, casual fan of this band so I wasn’t expecting much from their performance but I’ve never, ever seen a band take the stage and rip into a song/start a show the way Death Angel did. Hell, in all honesty, I wasn’t prepared for it. My jaw hit the floor; I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. This was TRUE METAL. Death Angel were TRUE LEGENDS. All hail this band!! This was by far the best performance of the fest.
Their command of not just the stage, but the fans on the floor, the music they were delivering, Death Angel was the total package. Every member of that band was invested in the gig, and it showed. This wasn’t amateur night at the Rave, this was a master class in the heaviest of metal.
Death Angel’s set never let up; they reminded me of Possessed at the ’24 edition of Milwaukee Metal Fest who got faster and more brutal the longer they played. The same for Death Angel. I was thoroughly impressed and now I’m a fan. Death Angel’s set ranks as one of the best live performances I’ve seen in my life.
I don’t normally talk about the intermission between sets, but I found the music played over the PA while the Exodus stage was being built intriguing: happy, upbeat, 80’s pop. I wonder if there was concern about the crowd having been worked up into a frenzy from the last two bands that played, especially Death Angel? Who knows, it might’ve been somebody’s subtle attempt at humor, either way it was entertaining.
When Exodus hit the stage, I’m sure blood was spilled in the pit! Good Christ, Exodus was brutal. Their set was an ass whooping with a leather belt, buckle first. Exodus lived up to their reputation, they never let up, never took a breather. Every song became faster, more aggressive, and more violent than the last one. Imagine hand to hand combat on some battlefield with bombs dropping all around you and tanks rolling over dead bodies stacked three feet high. This still doesn’t adequately describe the experience of an Exodus gig, not the one I saw!
Exodus didn’t disappoint. They had to be the loudest metal show I’ve been to and the scariest pit I’ve seen. Exodus exceeded their “violent” reputation.
And new vocalist Rob Dukes? He’s the perfect frontman for this band, no one else, could pull it off. He commanded the stage and directed the audience to “fuck this place up!!!!” which it looked like everyone was trying to do. Dukes is an intimidating figure and stalked the stage like a bear circling its kill.
After Exodus left the stage, I remained on the balcony for a few minutes letting everyone leave since I had to “gimp” it down the stairs. I also needed a few moments to let the sights and sounds of Milwaukee Metal Fest soak in, and the fact I’ve been fortunate enough to make it here two years in a row. It’s not lost on me that today is to be enjoyed and tomorrow never promised. I keep that in the forefront of my mind every day.
I end my evening with my wife and a Rocky Rococo pizza. How does it get better than this? Well, doing it again next year if I’m healthy and able to make the trip again. Word on the street is that Metal Fest ’26 is scheduled for June 18-21. Will I see you there?
