A Night At The Shredder: Deathfest 2021

By Connor Adamy

To all fans of everything heavy and headbangable in Boise, the Shredder is your Mecca. The venue has been home to countless outstanding metal and hardcore shows over the year, and the night of October second, 2021 was no different.

Images Courtesy of Connor Adamy

Deathfest hosted an outstanding and quite large roster of death metal bands both local and traveling. While I was unable to go when it started, the last 5 hours of the show did not disappoint. The venue had already been broken in by the opening bands which included local legends Texas Ketamine. The night continued to ramp up with an absolutely killer set from local group Grave Titan. Performing their usual set of songs off their amazing 2019 EP as well as some of their new record In Perpetuum which they put out on Life After Death Records this past July. If you want to catch Grave Titan in the future, they will be performing with Frozen Soul at The Shredder on November 22nd. After this, they plan to take a break from performing to put out their first LP which should be coming out soon. When asked about his thoughts on the event, Alex, who plays guitar and does vocals for Grave Titan said, “There’s a lot of support for this almost all local bill, and there is a ton of people here.” The band was super stoked to be playing in front of audiences again after the pandemic.

Immediately following Grave Titan, local black metal group Weald & Woe took the stage. With their absolutely menacing chord progressions, it didn’t take them long to get the crowd going. Playing songs off their 2020 album The Fate Of Kings and Men, they had the crowd headbanging from the beginning of their set to the end. Their performance of their song A Herald of Woe was a definite highlight of the set for me. While talking to guitarist and vocalist Jeff of Weald & Woe after their set he said they have an album in the works slated to come out early next year which will be on all major streaming platforms. When asked about the lineup and his impressions on Deathfest Jeff said, “Really stellar lineup, lots of great bands. Boise has a thriving metal scene that I don’t think a lot of people know about.” And the members of Weald & Woe were all enjoying the event as they joined the rest of the event-goers in the pit for the rest of the night.

Weald & Woe was followed by the Seattle-based group Born Without Blood, a five-man death metal outfit that showed up to destroy. Their set was one of the loudest of the night and the band had some great crowd interaction. Playing songs off their 2019 EP, they blew me away. When talking with Born Without Blood vocalist Taylor, I learned that they have two new songs in the editing process right now which are hopefully coming out as soon as possible on most major streaming platforms. Born Without Blood loves coming to Boise and the whole band was having a great time. The night was finished with Boise death metal legends Barn taking the stage. While the crowd was on fire the whole night, it was apparent that a lot of people showed up to see Barn. Performing songs off their self-titled album and some unreleased songs that are coming out later this year, Barn made an amazing conclusion to the night. Their new album Habitat is in the works right now and will hopefully be coming out by winter this year. Overall Deathfest was an amazing experience. The crowd interaction was top tier and everyone was having a great time. I couldn’t think of a better venue or a better lineup. If you’re in Boise and you’re looking for a good time and a good mosh pit, The Shredder is the place to be!