I'm feeling really grateful for Richmond and the way it allows me to feel spoiled for choice with outstanding metal shows every few days. That said, a few of the best sets I've seen so far in 2018 have not even a tangential relationship to metal, and some took place not in RVA, but at Maryland Deathfest (unsurprising given the particularly kickass lineup, with expected-to-cancel Satyricon showing up and showing the fuck out, Frost in tow). Here, the best sets I've seen so far this year:
Pissed Jeans at the Broadberry. Thank god for frontmen like Matt Korvette who turn legitimately weird spectacles, making aging hardcore dorks stew uncomfortably in their own toxic masculinity, if only for a little while.
Maria Chavez at University of Richmond
Satyricon at Maryland Deathfest. I put a note in my phone after this show titled "feelings about Satyricon" that I'll probably keep adding to forever. In brief, I love how this felt at once grimy/"real" and like a legit arena rock show (I'm convinced Satyr could tell the kvltest audience in the world to clap over their heads and they'd do it. Everyone is on this dude's side). I'll write more about this someday, but fandom of Satyricon was feminized (and therefore devalued) in the late 90s, and they get a lot of undeserved flack for being the first BM band that really "made it," but what other black metal band at that level had such consistent output that never sagged in the middle? Not Mayhem. When other bands were already resting on being legendary, Satyricon were working their asses off, and it shows.
Prisoner at Strange Matter. This band has always kicked ass, but I'm more stoked now than ever on them. They've managed to slowly transform from a powerful lil crusty metal band into some kind of aurally overwhelming, industrial-tinged Neurosis-type thing without anyone seeming to notice.
The Quebe Sisters at the Broadberry
Test at Maryland Deathfest. I don't know any other grindcore band that plays with dynamics like this. A bewildering set; the best thing at MDF this year.
Jafar Flowers at Soft Web Studio Collective. Just an amazing DJ. For a minute, with "I can get dick any time I want" ricocheting around the room at what felt like a zillion BPM, it seemed like that previously sleepy little room might explode with energy.
Incantation at Champion Brewery
Coven at Maryland Deathfest
Honorable mentions: Essex Muro, VV, Listless, Deerhoof, Earthling, Gonkulator, Viscera Infest (high speed!!!), Antichrist Siege Machine.