Pulp Summer Slam @14 features the maniacs of heavy metal

It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy. It’s also summertime when Pulp Summer Slam gets going and it’s one of those annual events where the tough come face to face with their musical challenges, or something like that.

On its 14th year, Pulp Summer Slam, happening on April 26 at the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City, will bring together 14 heavy metal bands, 7 from the Philippines and 7 legends and newbies from Europe, USA and Japan.

We break down where these foreign metal extremists stand in the long history of heavy music.

KREATOR

Aka: Grandpa Thrash

Who they are: An essential influence to early Metallica, thrash metal pioneers Kreator flirted with alt rock in the 90s, then reinvented themselves back to their original fighting form to seduce the current generation of punk-informed, industrial metal savvy kids.

What to expect: The band members may be pushing into their forties but recent reports from the frontlines describe the reinvigorated Krauts to deliver performances that are full of energy and a killer sound that belies their veteran status.

Verdict: Watch the moshpit explode when Kreator hits their stride.

ASKING ALEXANDRIA

Aka: Angsty Daredevils

Who they are: Their roots firmly planted in screamo/metalcore crossover, this British quintet dared to add techno flourishes to their metallic noise and for the second time, changed gears to reach out beyond the niche market of grouchy metal fans.

What to expect: They now get even the girls screaming invectives and dancing (not slamming, okay?) wildly at the same time. It’s been a nice change of scenery for the band and if their sudden accessibility insults your inner caveman, don’t sulk.

Verdict: Just go with the flow.

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE

Aka: Serial Heartbreakers

Who they are: The quartet from Wales started out at a time when emo was all over the map so their initial launch saw them wax emotive within the bounds of 80s-era heavy metal.

What to expect: Today, they keep their emotional ABCs tucked inside a melodic wall of sound that regularly breaks down to a blistering pace. Songs of betrayal and bittersweet memories can be very powerful coming from these guys, cos they send them out with a bullet.

Verdict: Love hurts, really.

HATEBREED

Aka: Straightedge Deathcore

Who they are: Born in Connecticut in 1994.

What to expect: The band’s motto says it all: “All pit, no shit!” To elaborate, these tattooed love boys deliver a steady diet of unadulterated hardcore punk with healthy helpings of death metal guttural vocals. Like, Slayer with Cookie Monster out front leading the charge. It’s hardly original but you can guess what it’ll do to mosh-addicted boneheads.

Verdict: Forewarned already!

CROSSFAITH

Aka: Osaka Mindbenders

Who they are: This latest musical export from Japan mixes metalcore with electronica to bring back the heyday of the likes of the Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy in the mix.

What to expect: The vocals however retool Linkin' Park’s Chester Bennington’s to harsher ends, with Crossfaith treading the middle between dance-friendly new wave music and hate-mongering hardcore punk. Odds are, it will do everyone in the audience a favor: the silent majority will sway to the music and the loud minority will mosh themselves to exhaustion.

Verdict: Everybody happy!

DEATH ANGEL

Aka: Fil-Am Thrashers

Who they are: Composed mostly of Fil-Americans, Death Angel returns to this year’s Pulp Summer Slam on the heels of their most recent album “The Dream Calls for Blood.” Critics have described the new album as a compendium of the innovative thrash of their first two albums and the creative leaps of their melody-oriented later releases.

What to expect: In short, the hunger of their beginnings folds into the visceral beauty of later compositions as the band matures to their third decade.

Verdict: Welcome back home, our brothers in arms.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

Aka: Iron Maidens

Who they are: Since 2002, the Michigan, USA-based quintet has produced five albums that resurrected the rotting corpse of death metal into something melodic and accessible in spite of its continuing allegiance to darkness and mayhem.

What to expect: These death metal merchants are just freaking brutal. Their latest album features either the confession of an underachiever celebrating his failures, or the desperate screams of someone about to put an end to everything, all to the sound of unrelenting, unforgiving Slayer-style death metal. You know, a barrage of complex time changes, heavy riffing and precise grooves that’s unlikely to come from a human being. They’ve been that way on record and in concert since the members realized hate is a form of energy.

Verdict: Go on, see them, I dare you.

Pulp Summer Slam 14: Children of the Damned happens on April 26, 2014,Saturday, beginning at 12 noon atAmoranto Stadium in Quezon City. Tickets at P400 (general admission) and P5,500 (royalty) are available at SM Tickets, Astroplus, Merriam Webster Bookstores, Book One and PULP HQ.