I understand December is pretty far away but hopefully you guys can arrange your travel arrangements to get to Texas. The festival will now officially take place for 3 days from December 9th to the 11th. Tickets will officially go on sale when all bands have been announced. Individual days will be announced shortly around then. Here are a few more bands set to decimate in December including ZEMIAL performing a special ritual for their first and only ever North American appearance:
ZEMIAL (First and only ever North American performance)
MORTUARY DRAPE (Italy)
MOURNFUL CONGREGATION (Australia)
INTERMENT (Sweden)
ANATOMIA (Japan)
IMPETUOUS RITUAL (Australia)
DEMONICAL (Sweden)
HOUR OF 13 (NC)
GRAVE UPHEAVAL (Australia)
DIVINE EVE (TX)
ADVERSARIAL (Canada)
ALDEBARAN (OR)
ANHEDONIST (SE)
ILSA (WA)
GRAVE RITUAL (GA)
BIRTH A.D. (TX)
The full line up is as follows:
ZEMIAL (First and only ever North American performance)
DEMIGOD (Finland)
MORTUARY DRAPE (Italy)
MOURNFUL CONGREGATION (Australia)
SARGEIST (Finland)
URFAUST (Netherlands)
IGNIVOMOUS (Australia)
INTERMENT (Sweden)
EVOKEN (NJ)
ANATOMIA (Japan)
WEAPON (Canada)
FUNEBRARUM (NJ)
CIANIDE (IL)
IMPETUOUS RITUAL (Australia)
HOUR OF 13 (NC)
MITOCHONDRION (Canada)
DEMONICAL (Sweden)
GRAVE UPHEAVAL (Australia)
DIVINE EVE (TX)
ADVERSARIAL (Canada)
ALDEBARAN (OR)
ANHEDONIST (SE)
ILSA (WA)
BIRTH A.D. (TX)
GRAVE RITUAL (GA)
P.L.F. (TX)
WARMASTER (TX)
Realizing that TX to CA might be too lofty. Still very much planning on going.
post by truequintessence at Mar 24,2011 12:24pm
Im pretty sure there are some cheap flights to texas.
post by BSV at Mar 24,2011 12:29pm
round trip tix are looking around 333 or so.
I'M DOWN FOR THIS. not sure what the hotel situation is like around there. White Rabbit is my favorite club in Texas, really good food there plus they have this open patio where everyone smokes tons of weed.
ANYONE ELSE???
post by Alx_Casket at Mar 24,2011 12:47pm edited Mar 24,2011 1:03pm
Which venue will this be at?
edit: nevermind, helps if I read.
White Rabbit
2410 North St. Mary's
San Antonio, TX, US 78212
i would really enjoy seeing sargeist and especially Demigod.
post by anonymous at Mar 26,2011 10:40am
Plutocracy + Midnight added.
post by ala at Mar 26,2011 10:26pm
incredible line up. definitely better than MDF this year.
however i've no means to make it out tx
need a mournful congregation/evoken tour with a date in boston
post by cornbread231 at Mar 28,2011 1:19am
Pre-fest announced today. So far Ondskapt, Wodensthrone, Oak, and Hellvetron are playing it. Thursday, Dec 8th.
Pre-fest announced today. So far Ondskapt, Wodensthrone, Oak, and Hellvetron are playing it. Thursday, Dec 8th.
Shit just got real.....
post by anonymous at Mar 28,2011 9:25pm
there's a pre-fest event on last.fm. main updates are at www.facebook.com/ritesofdarkness while the fest website is down for maintenance. should be a few more bands for the pre-fest + a few more for the fest itself.
I second that notion, Dank Frank. Solitude Aeternus just played the Doom in June fest in Las Vegas -- would be great to see them take one of the TBA spots.
supposedly Necros Christos is the last unannounced band.
post by AMOROK666 at Jun 17,2011 3:10pm edited Jun 17,2011 3:11pm
I'm 100% going to this. Plane tickets for december are gonna be murder on my wallet though aren't they? I'm trying to figure out how much this whole thing is gonna cost so I can start saving.
Gonna buy flights in July when my 5% cashback kicks in on my credit card. Andrew is right about the cost, Boston-SA must not be a very popular flight path. If you guys are interested in a cheap room rate, I have a connection at hilton that should be able to give me a deep discount. Let me know if you're up for that and I'll see what I can do.
Alex, I'm gonna join forces with a few other locals that are going and take you up on that. i dont have a credit card though so it's hard...
post by AMOROK666 at Jun 17,2011 3:40pm edited Jun 17,2011 3:42pm
The cheapest I've found so far is 361. I'm considering driving to my brothers place in Albany and leaving from there. It looks like it might be cheaper.
Edit: nevermind. Just checked it out. Got some bad advice.
yeah dude...could be fun...fill the van, and road trip it. I though mileage would KILL the price but I selected unlimited mileage and that was the cost.
I would love to go to this and also visit my home state. Would be good to kill two birds with one stone but I ain't got no birds and stones to kill it with.
round trip tix are looking around 333 or so.
I'M DOWN FOR THIS.
it's sounding better every day and it's 6 months away.
post by Paulina at Jun 22,2011 10:02pm
i'm seeing around $280 for flights out of nyc, it shouldn't be much to travel from chinatown (or penn station if using megabus) to get to the airport. if we could all share a discounted hotel this may be possible....? HMM.
post by anonymous at Jun 25,2011 2:31pm
Pre-fest tickets go on sale in 2nd week of July. Only 250 of them.
I'm 100% in officially...fest tix and plane tix = bought...
hotel is a different story.
post by anonymous at Jul 15,2011 12:43pm
Hahaha Pee Wee Herman.
post by Alx_Casket at Jul 15,2011 12:48pm edited Jul 15,2011 12:48pm
Show and plane tix have also been bought, going on a well deserved vacation from monday to monday. Seaworld, alamo, and laser tag will be included in our plans. As for the hotel, Super 8 is close to the show and cheap, I might do that instead of a high-end hotel this time, because it's still cheaper in comparison after my discount.
that shit looks awesome... lets go all out. its a full on work vacation for me too...
I'll have quite a bit of $$ saved for it barring any bizarre financial issues coming up suddenly which I dont expect (you never do though, do you) fingers crossed!
Anyone planning on staying at any hotels other than the sketchy Super 8ball next door? I haven't got reservations yet. Just wondering cause i work for Marriot now and will probably take their discount but maybe not if all the cool dudes stay somewhere else.
I really want to go to this fest, but it would require missing 2 days of class, on top of the day I have to miss for Saxon in October. I know "skip class" is easy to say, but when they drop you from the class because you miss too many days, it's a problem. And this is my last semester. Bahhhhhh
post by anonymous at Aug 31,2011 3:25pm
So 3 days? That's stillll doable if you're allowed to miss 3 days..
This might be a possibility for me even if I'd be staying at a friend's in Houston.
post by anonymous at Sep 9,2011 11:19pm
Venue changed to Backstage Live. Spread the word.
post by frankovhell at Sep 9,2011 11:54pm
Rites of Darkness III will officially take place at Backstage Live Music Venue. Friday and Sunday will take place in their inside stage while Saturday will take place on their outside stage. All tickets will still be honored but you may need to change your hotel reservations. Thankfully, there are 7 hotels right near the new venue that are minutes walking distance. A list of deals will be out soon. Tickets back on sale this coming week.
I may skip it too which is absurd because I love some of the bands on that day more than a lot of the bands on the rest of the fest...but once I know the schedule for each day, I may decide to skip one of the other days of the fest instead.
Urfaust have canceled their appearance this year at R.O.D. III. Their official statement is below. DISMA (NJ) will replace them and be performing on Saturday, December 10th. FUNEBRARUM have moved to Sunday.
URFAUST vs RITES OF DARKNESS III
URFAUST is very sad to announce that we have to cancel our Intoxication Ritual at Rites of Darkness III in Texas, USA.
...
Our last Alcoholic Rites on US soil where splenditory, so this is just fucked up...
Nothing more to say about this, we hope to return to the USA and Rites of Darkness in 2012!
Only a month from now. hard to believe. I am a virgin to Texas. I hope its at least mild and will feel like a warm vacation away from this fucking shit cold snow fuck land.
Root and Dead Congregation as well. Zemial will announce whether or not they're cancelling tomorrow. Apparently the dude in charge of the fest has been sorely lacking in the communication department.
Glad I didn't waste the money, even though bands such as Mournful Congregation and Aldebaran would be cool to see live. Here's to MDF and seeing Dodheimsgard, Bethlehem and Godflesh.
Bands dropping left and right because the fucktard who thought he could do a huge fest the size of MDF by himself can't communicate and get peoples hotels booked or figure out how to use paypal apparently...
Im still ranting about this. Seriously this is fucked up. Especially considering the amount of money everyone invested into this, with the economy tanking and gas prices skyrocketing. Man fuck this guy.
Also why is it that the one fucking time i dont procrastinate about something it bites me in the ass. So fucking angry, Im going to drink a bottle of Jack now.
Apparently Pagan Altar and Zemial are back on board.
Wrong. Promoter is trying to get them back on board. At any rate, all the money I've been saving for this will be quickly spent on records and fine Scotch whisky this weekend.
At this point, I'm just furious I fell for the hype and bought my ticket early on; looks like I could have waited and saved a good deal of money on what's rapidly becoming not a fest but a big(ish) gig. I'll still be there, I'll still be shooting whiskey and buying up as many records as I can carry and loving the shit out of the bands that do make it, but I do have a small (fruitless) hope that some sort of refund/ compensatio n will miraculous ly appear for those of us who bought tickets expecting one result and handed something very different.
Don't know her personally, but that whole post rubs me the wrong way. Don't expect any handouts, buying tickets early is an investment that you can lose out on, and there's no optional insurance like on airfare. Someone in her standing should know better.
i wish the thursday bands would just get spread amongst fri sat and sun
post by Bloblovesmusic at Dec 4,2011 11:14am
Hmmm still a lineup that I wish I could see
post by frankovhell at Dec 4,2011 4:56pm
It would be nice if they gave us some drink tickets for paying money for bands that never showed up.
post by Rites of Flakeness at Dec 4,2011 5:02pm
Disma, Funebrarum, And Evoken Drop Off Rites Of Darkness Festival
"After Demonical announced it will not be playing Rites of Darkness, Disma, Evoken, and Funebrarum have all checked with the following joint statement about canceling their appearances at the festival:
"We have all decided to cancel our appearances at 'The Rites of Darkness Festival' in San Antonio, Texas on December 10-11th due to the fact that the promoter has still not followed through with his promises and obligations to us (tickets, transportation, hotels etc). We apologize to our fans who have already purchased tickets but the situation is beyond our control. We have reached the end of our patience with Daniel Serna and foresee only more problems. Again we are sorry to have to make this decision but this treatment and unprofessional behavior is unacceptable!!"
Evoken also added:
"Apologies for those looking forward to seeing Evoken as well as our brothers Disma and Funebrarum. We promise to make it up to those who paid their hard earned money to see us. This wasn't a decision taken light.
"We're not here to slam anyone, but being one of the first bands announced for the festival, it should not take up until one week before a performance to receive any information. We will not re-consider, we will not compromise."
Further details on the Rites of Darkness festival and updates from the festival organizers can be found at this location."
I think Zemial may be one of the few overseas bands that are still on board.
Not 100% on that though.
Also Black Witchery are 100% playing and aren't listed up there...
Rites of Darkness
Update straight from Danny:
'At the moment, due to gracious contributions from fans, we are close to securing ZEMIAL to come to the US but we are not there yet. Anyone willing to provide $100 or anything to their flights, will be compensated immediately after the show. Please email us at:
I hope they printed a shitload of shirts with all the bands on the back
They should sell that shirt. I'd buy it. It should have the fest you wanted printed on the front with all the bands and the fest you got on the back with zero bands.
post by frankovhell at Dec 5,2011 4:37pm
The flyer is wrong mr negative nancy. Anteaus and Zemial and still playing.
Ok, my trip has already been worth it. To all the one dimensional people who canceled their plans just because their favorite band wasn't playing, sorry you feel that way.
post by frankovhell at Dec 7,2011 5:57am
We might try and visit austin for a night on Monday.. although monday isnt really a party night. I dunno. Zemial is 100% confirmed now, they were one of the main reasons i was going so I'm happy I didnt puss out.
post by AndrewBastard NLI at Dec 7,2011 7:42am
Frank, I may join you in that Austin trip. Fun town even on a Monday...
Hit me up when you get down there...I'm flying out in 2 hours.
Seaworld is only open on the weekend. Doing caves, San Antonio sights, and buying booze. 30s still but supposed to get a lot warmer as the day goes on. Hope so, because I think we're ending up in the desert tonight.
Ok, my trip has already been worth it. To all the one dimensional people who canceled their plans just because their favorite band wasn't playing, sorry you feel that way.
I dont know if I'd call that one-dimensional, paying to see something and then cancelling when you find out you won't be able to. That sounds pretty reasonable to me. Texas isn't THAT cool.
post by NuclearWinter at Dec 7,2011 2:45pm edited Dec 7,2011 5:23pm
Ok, my trip has already been worth it. To all the rational people who canceled their plans because 2/3 of the confirmed bands dropped off, glad you feel that way.
Edit: And for the record, Sodom is my favorite band.
post by chrisREX at Dec 7,2011 5:27pm
The thing that has confused me most about the fest is, when did people start giving a shit about Zemial?
post by Alx_Casket at Dec 7,2011 7:48pm edited Dec 8,2011 3:31am
No zemial at red 7 tonight in Austin, but emo's has a free show. Theyre closing at the end of the month. It's my first time in tx Ross, I'd have come here anyway even if the whole show cancelled. That's just me though, I really needed the vacation. Waiting to hear back from a friend in Greece about zemial actually being here.
Austin fuckin rules! Alex, I wish I could join you in exploring Austin and San Antonio! Spent some time in Austin a few years ago and loved it!
Also Texas BBQ is like no other!
post by frankovhell at Dec 8,2011 3:08am
Ive listened to zemial for year. didnt know they were that popular either. Maybe if Fenriz puts them on his little liste everyone will be on their nuts.
Lol@wren look-alike in the front throwing his curly locks everywhere. Wodensthrone were sick, bass is way too heavy in this venue, and in this state in general.
5 people have approached me for weed tonight and I don't even have dreds. Ares kingdom will be on Sunday show as well. 800 tickets sold for the fest, I overhead.
post by frankovehll at Dec 10,2011 10:34am
Weapon stole the show for me last night. Hail Cananda.
Vasaeleth (really crushing, dark, dark shit...ex Legions of Astaroth which was cool cause I've been friends with a couple of those guys forever so it was cool to see them again especially in such a killer new band)
Ares Kingdom...not much to say here; listen to them and imagine it in a live setting... they do it perfectly.
Anotomia - wicked stoner-y but with some fun as fuck Autopsy parts mixed in here and there. guitarist looked a little bored but i guess its just ZEN MAAANNNN Zen and WEED.
Demigod - SoSE played in its entirety...you do the math. A little slammier/chuga chug here and there but still fucking killer.
Impetuous Ritual - really over the top live presence...impossible to really decipher what you're really even listening to most of the time but still captivating to watch.
Cruciamentum - i dont even remember why, per say but I remember walking away from that set pretty stoked on them...another band I hadnt heard prior to seeing them live but will look into.
Mournful Cong...I had never heard prior to the fest and honestly, probably wouldnt listen to on CD but fuck was it BEAUTIFUL live and they sounded HUGE. I would just find myself slowly banging my head with a huge smile on my face during some of their parts because it was just so dead-on majestic.
Cianide are fucking Cianide and you can piss right off if you're not into them. they kill it live too...though I was almost black out drunk by this point and missed Antaeus AND Zemial who both played after Cianide which sucks. Seen Antaeus before so that wasnt a huge bumme but missing Zemial sucked.
Going through trip pics in case you want to see the caves we went to, Andrew. Promoter fucked up things as far as the eye can see. Hell Militia only got 2 plane tickets and they have 5 people in the band. At least those 2 guys got a free trip to TX, and they didn't even have to play. He couldn't manage equipment either, and excelled at giving people the run-around on their gear. "Your bass is at the venue." No it wasn't. "Bass is at the hotel." Nope. "Hold on, brb." Never comes back. Hope bands got paid.
Ignivomous was without bass due to one of the members getting caught smoking and had 3 joints on him. Since he was on visa, they still had him incarcerated after the fest ended, getting processed for deportation. I was generally drunk and antisocial the entire show, didn't even get a chance to meet Robin Williams.
Yeah, honestly San Antonio was a lot nicer/cleaner and I was expecting.
Its wicked touristy so there is a lot of shit to do/see and tons of shopping. I will hold fond memories.
post by frankovhell at Dec 14,2011 11:06am
I had a great time. San Antonio is really boring though after about 2 days. I'll take over Maryland though.
Highlights!
Prefest.
Dispirit killed everyone. Never heard this band before, a awesome mix of doom with some weird black metal parts mixed in. Really great riffs and perfect guitar sound in an otherwise shitty sounding venue (Bonds 007). John Gossard from Weakling's band. A really nice guy btw with excellent taste in music. Ares Kingdom was pretty good that night as well. Drawn & Quartered I thought were totally over rated. I missed Vaeseleth which i blame on my stupid plane being late.
First night of actual fest.
Ritual Necromancy. Fucking evil evil dark Incantation ritual. Great early band I've never heard of.
Weapon, holy fucking shit these guys are soooooo good. Song writing is top notch. Guitar riffs are amazing. Reminded me of classic old bands in prime. Best band of the night for me.
Inquisition - obviously is top notch, in a league of their own. I saw them in Montreal recently and they were better there because of the sound being perfect. The sound at this fest was bouncing around a lot. Still a great great set though.
Second night!
I drank a lot of fucking every king of liquor this night so i dont remember a lot...
Antaeus.. totally over rated band. Completely one trick pony. I was so dissapointed in them. Think of hte worst Marduk song with Legion being played over and over and over again on repeat.
Zemial - Fucking ruled. I wish I was more sober and remembered more..
Demigod - Fucking death metal no frills. good stuff. Singer was a little tough guy sounding but being finnish makes up for it for some reason.
Adorior! - Fucking aggressive as hell, great set. Finally seeing them live, was pretty awesome.
MIDNIGHT - wow, only band to make every one start stage diving and crowd surfing. I had the biggest fucking smile on my face the entire time. So glad to see fucking Midnight bang vaginas again. Singer sounded really coked out when he was talking between songs.
Black Witchery - Best band of second day by far. So fucking HATEFULL. I love them. Great live every single time.
Cyanide was heavy as shit, massive headbanging, I did shots and forgot a lot. I think thats all i can remember from second day.
Third day!
Hungover all day. Doom bands... I wanted to go home honestly.
Mitocondrion - fucking awesome , sounded like a massive black death metal morbid angel fuck fest of insanity. My favorite band there.
Ipetuous Ritual. Twisted as fuck. Much better than Portal in my opionion.
I missed pallbearer.... fucking assholes switched them around to start 3rd, aslo i couldnt get out of bed because I wanted to die.
Ares Kingdom. I was way more drunk for them this time around and the guitar player is soooo fucking shredtastic I got up front and stood next to him and got a boner.
Mournfull Congregation was fucking great. I was really stoked with how great they sounded. They should of played longer
I cant remember anyone else really. There was no bands there I was really unhappy with honestly. Just some that stood out.
I enjoyed staying at Comfort Suites with my hotel discount from working for Choice and only paying 50 bucks for Jacuzzi and a heated pool. GOt to meet Melissa from Adorior and chat in the hot tub with her. Shes a real kind british lady off the stage.
Stayed 1 extra day to recoup. Saw some cops and talked with them in the hotel lobby and found out ol' Danny C, hadn't payed any of the bands hotel bills and the bands were talking about getting a lawyor to sue him. The hotel was holding his red piece of shit Neon out front which had a broken window busted out. The front desk guy said he ran off and owes the hotel 5400 bucks and wont return their calls. So they decided to hold his car. What a fucking joke.
ROD 4 will not happen. Guy is a fucking piece of shit. Guys from Weapon told me they didnt get any money for traveling whatsoever. THey were fucking pissed.
post by Alx_Casket at Dec 14,2011 11:08am edited Dec 14,2011 11:12am
I've uploaded about half of my pictures so far to facebook, aril. Will get to the rest eventually. I intentionally left my camera at home on this trip, relying on my Galaxy SII phone for pictures and videos. In nearly all cases besides zoomed-in and very low light shots, it performed comparably to my camera. Psyched to not have to carry around a camera bag anymore on vacations, thank you south korea.
Eagerly awaiting Danny Serna's response to all the bullshit which he has promised will be posted in a few days. He is the Scumbag Steve of event planning.
@Frank: I took a few videos of the Midnight set, gonna edit some footage together for a trip video and will share it here when I'm done.
post by frankovhell at Dec 14,2011 11:15am
Awesome man. My camera died completely the first day. Doesn't like the south I guess. Time for a new rig anyways for xmas.
I didnt get any pictures at all.
post by arktourO‘s at Dec 14,2011 11:16am
sounds like a good time. just throwing in another LOL about the promoter.
Heard from a lot of different people that Mournful Congregation stole the show. Doesn't come as any surprise; The Book of Kings is fucking stellar. I can only imagine how their material translates in the living setting.
post by frankovhell at Dec 15,2011 12:32am
I wish they played longer.
post by MikeOv at Dec 15,2011 1:16am
How much time were they alloted, Frank?
post by frankovhell at Dec 15,2011 3:06am
Um they played 4 songs so like 55 minutes maybe? Suicide Choir was sooooo good though.