Article By: Leanne Ridgeway
For this year’s Maryland Doom Fest, we have been a primary sponsor for the event, sharing updates and info for a few months. Pat got a jump on some of his ‘must see’ bands for the weekend’s festivities, check his last one [here]. Pat effectively stole a couple of my own ‘must sees’, so I only have one to share. It’s a doozy, though – SWITCHBLADE JESUS.
Our now-tradition of an ongoing occasional series of ‘Must-See’ bands is fun to do, but I usually have a difficult time narrowing the field, as ALL of the bands at the Maryland Doom Fest will be a glory to witness. However, I have had the honor of already seeing most of the bands live at least once, and (per usual) I’ve run out of time before I need to pack and scoot my tardy behind on the road to Maryland tonight.
Switchblade Jesus was the first name to immediately spark my brain when I tried to think of a ‘must see’ band for MDDF. From Corpus Christi, Texas, the band has been around a lil’ while, with their most recent release out through Ripple Music, in Chapter 7 of their ‘Second Coming of Heavy‘ series of split releases. The split is with Fuzz Evil and it basically blew my doors off.
You can stream it in full below and find it here via Bandcamp: Switchblade Jesus – The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter 7.
No offense to Fuzz Evil, as their side of the split is highly recommended, but I’ve barely managed to flip the record more than a couple of times, I keep wanting to spin the Switchblade Jesus side again. The record itself is a gorgeous pressing and sounds stellar and it’s become mandatory listening on my road trips and will be heard again tonight.
The band is Eric Calvert, Chris Black, and Jon Elizondo, and I’m likely not fully ready for the ass-whomping that they will dole out this weekend. That whomp will be delivered via a massive boot full of gritty, riff ripping, southern-distilled heavy rock. It’s threatening, really. Eric’s vocals give the impression of being reamed out by a just-woken Frost Giant for disturbing his peace.
Okay, that was an inside joke – Mr. Calvert is also the proprietor of Frost Giant Electronics – he makes guitar pedals and designs various t-shirt apparel that I have scooped up in the past (and more than likely will again). Yes, that was an unsolicited and shameless plug for a well-deserving small business. I like his schematics prints, what can I say?
I’m not going to delve into the inner workings of what this band sounds like, because you really should have clicked ‘play’ on the above Bandcamp stream by now and found out for yourself, lazy ass! If you’ve paid any attention at all to my earlier ramblings on Riff Relevant, you have an idea where my listening leans. Switchblade Jesus is indeed rifftastically heavy listening, with a blend of wind-torn Texas dust to blind your sense of direction. Once lost, they then hurl you off a cliff into the depths of hell. My kind of noise, for sure.
Switchblade Jesus is performing at MD Doom Fest on Saturday night, June 23rd. Bring your ass to Maryland and share the doom with us. Come hang and wave hello, since none of us will be able to hear.
For all the latest info and details on THE MARYLAND DOOM Fest 2018, as well as last-minute tickets, check HERE.
