Toledo Death Fest is ready to stir up the most extreme mosh pit to ever tornado Ohio and its surrounding states. This year’s event is being hosted on June 3rd in Toledo, OH at Mainstreet Bar and will feature headliners, Oceano alongside The Convalescence, VCTMS, Incite, and many more.
Since its inception in 2009 by Keith Wampler, the frontman of The Convalescence and owner of The Legend Agency, the festival has showcased the talents of some of the American Midwest’s best up-and-coming metal bands. Past editions have seen past support from well-known artists such as Jungle Rot, Malevolent Creation, The Breathing Process, and Casket Robbery among many more. The festival has been an extreme metal pilgrimage for fans living in the surrounding states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
“I am very happy to be able to bring Toledo Death Fest back in 2023 with one of the most insane lineups we’ve ever had. This festival has come from being local bands at small venues to a two-stage festival featuring bands from around the country thanks to the incredible support of everyone who attends each year. Thank you to everyone who has supported Toledo Deathfest and I look forward to seeing everyone again on June 3rd!” adds festival organizer Keith Wampler.
Highlights of the confirmed bands include headliners Oceano with their blast beats, sonic double bass, slow heavy breakdowns, low death metal growls, and shrieking metalcore vocals ready to annihilate the pit with their discography since 2009. The Convalescence is one of the USA’s unstoppable tour de force, touring Europe in 2022 with Chelsea Grin, and Carnifex plus an upcoming tour in Japan in 2023 with Exhumed and Defiled along with their latest single “No Survivors” ft. Scott Ian Lewis of Carnifex, that has fans demanding more and more.
A versatile metalcore group based out of Illinois, VCTMS employs an ambitious blend of punishing breakdowns, catchy melodies, and crushing riffs that draw from post-hardcore, hip-hop, industrial and alternative metal. They have released three full-length albums to date. Their third album Vol. III Halfway Happy was released on August 31, 2018, and reached #25 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart during its first week of release.
Phoenix, AZ’s Incite, now close to 20 years into a career where everything was earned and nothing was taken for granted, the band bridges the gap between multiple crowds across various metal sub-genres. As renegade disciples of trailblazing architects like Pantera, Slayer, Sepultura, and Machine Head, Incite raise the torch for trend-killing and hipster-smashing metal.
Incite is as much a part of the fabric of the style championed by Lamb Of God as the surge of newer bands like Power Trip. The band’s fifth album, Built to Destroy released in 2019 (Minus Head Records), is a visceral, urgent, voracious distillation of modern metal, with reverence for the past, produced by Steve Evetts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Suicide Silence) and mastered by Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Hatebreed).
Lineup:
Oceano (Chicago, IL)
The Convalescence (Toledo, OH)
VCTMS (Streamwood, IL)
Incite (Phoenix, AZ)
Hive (Chicago, IL)
Carrion Vael (Richmond, IN)
WoR (Raleigh, NC)
Within Chaos (Fort Worth, TX)
The D.O.O.D (Sarasota, FL)
Squidhammer (Watertown, WI)
Filth Spewer (South Bend, IN)
Ignominious (Norwalk, OH)
Cephlic (Toledo, OH)
Death Hex (Toledo, OH)
Pharohound (Fort Wayne, IN)
Extinction Agenda (Ohio)
Tickets are available here.
