Arguably Baltimore’s biggest musical happening exists far off most of the city’s radar. Three stages, 60-plus bands (most from out of town, all vital), four days, several thousand black-clad acolytes of extreme metal. This is the ninth year of the Maryland Deathfest, which returns to Sonar for four days/nights of various unholy sounds that make up the largest event of its sort in North America. MDF comes courtesy of a pair of metalhead friends, Evan Harting and Ryan Taylor, who decided in 2003 to just do the damn thing and make it huge, and have done so since with scarcely any outside support—municipal, corporate, or otherwise. Just lots of fans. (Michael Byrne)
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