Yeah sure, any dumb-ass who runs a restaurant can come up with a few gimmicky names for their menu items, write some pithy descriptions and sit back in smug self-satisfaction at their own cleverness. Luckily, the serious metalheads behind Kuma’s Corner don’t think that way. When they name a burger the Slayer, it’s because they want that first bite to kick in with the same feral intensity as the opening riff from “Angel of Death.” (Granted, they do serve something called the Goblin Cock, but I’m willing to cut them some slack on that bit of cheap humor.)
So when it came time for the folks at Kuma’s to plan their first-ever live show, it’s no surprise that they approached it with the same crazy-ass level of fanaticism and fervor. While it would have been easy enough to just slap the restaurant’s logo on a banner and throw a few bucks behind some no-name band, they had much bigger aspirations—a weekend-long festival combining the cream of the local Chicago-area metal crop with a hand-picked selection of national and international acts. (Spend a few hours knocking back beers while the Kuma’s staff man the stereo and you’ll start to understand just how friggin’ good their taste in music is.) And while I salivate when I think about what their fantasy line-up might have looked like, the reality of the Kuma’s Doom Fest roster kicks an impressive amount of ass.
On the local tip, acts range from the swirling headspace-rock of Minsk (featuring local production guru Sanford Parker on bass) to the battlefield thrash of Lair of the Minotaur to the massive, lumbering sludge of Indian. Best of all, they’ve selected local heroes Yakuza to close out the whole affair on Sunday night. To witness saxophone-wielding vocalist Bruce Lamont on stage is to experience a man possessed by the wild-eyed spirit of rock and roll. If there's a band in Chicago that puts on a better live show, I've yet to see it.
Saturday’s headliner (and one of the weekend’s biggest booking coups) hails from a much different corner of the globe—Kongh are a brutal Swedish trio that’ll be making their first US appearance. Their debut, last year’s Counting Heartbeats, flew under a lot of radars, but its sprawling songs and ugly intensity will rip you to shreds while its quietest moments will all but tuck you in and put you to bed. And if that's not enough for you, immediately before them is Samothrace from Lawrence, KS. Their whirling and doomy (and Sanford Parker–produced) debut Life’s Trade took a few spins to really grab me, but as my friend Trevor said in a moment of sober lucidity, “It really is an album you have to just live in and breathe along with to let it really do its damage….” Hell yeah. I’m a convert.
And man, I’m just scratching the surface here. I haven’t even mentioned the grinding blowouts of Plague Bringer or the windswept vistas of Across Tundras. Any one of these acts would be worth braving the elements for on their own; to witness all of them over the course of a single weekend will (in the words of some drunken goofball I tripped over at a show a few months back) blow a hole in your bladder. Many deep thanks to the crew at Kuma’s Corner for kickin’ out the jams and having the balls, heart and passion to do this thing right.
