Hubert Smith took to the stage for the second time in two nights. The night before, he was playing drums for Necrocunt, something of a supergroup within Connecticut’s death metal scene. Now, he was laying down distorted guitar grooves for brutal death five-piece Roots of Deception. Photographers — myself included — wormed between audience members, who stood so close to the stage that their hair lashed its surface with each headbang. Behind us, the crowd was arranged in a circle of potential energy, the center of the Beeracks’ cavernous garage, waiting for the next mosh pit to break out.
Sixteen New England extreme metal bands descended on the Beeracks in East Haven for two evenings of unrestrained, eardrum-blasting noise. The Connecticut Death Fest, now in its third year, took things up a notch this year: With the support of New England Obscura, it brought together hundreds of fans, a variety of vendors, and sideshow acts, including a magician-cum-comedian and a no-ring hardcore wrestling deathmatch.
