Cynic, Origin off Maryland Death Fest bill
Actual cynics validated
Try to organize a three-day fest with bands from all over the world and you’re almost guaranteed some last-minute headaches as bands drop off and need to be replaced. Still, the first major lineup change for this year’s Maryland Death Fest was kind of a bummer: Reunited tech-death legends and intended headliners Cynic are out. MDF’s organizers cited a lack of communication from Cynic’s management and stated, “We were given a definite green light to announce Cynic on the MDF website in November and all parties involved have known about the scheduled appearance of CYNIC at the festival for four months.” Cynic, for their part, issued a statement and apology that they essentially double-booked themselves with Aeon Spoke, a project with Cynic members Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert. Oops! “We're committed to giving Focus back in full force for you and for us. Due to logistics involving our upcoming Aeon Spoke release and tour, we are needing to 'fill our crystal goblet one step at a time.' We do plan on the summer Euro festivals and some U.S. dates may happen later in the year.” Cynic were replaced on the bill by CA death-metallers Odious Mortem (though not in the headlining spot).
Origin’s reason for their cancellation is more prosaic: “After our last tour, we can't take more time off work.” The Kansas crew were replaced by local-to-MDF Misery Index. Finally (for now), Australia’s Psycroptic are out of what would have been their first US show due to “circumstances beyond both the band's and the MDF promoters’ control.” Malevolent Creation will take their place. Still on the bill are headliners Brutal Truth, Zyklon and Extreme Noise Terror and rare US appearances from Dead Infection (Poland), Flagitous Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation (Japan). This year’s MDF takes place May 26th and 27th at Sonar in Baltimore Maryland, with a pre-fest show on the 25th featuring Pig Destroyer, Insect Warfare, Putrid Pile, Pisschrist and Defeatist, with one more band still TBA.
