CAROLINA CHAINSAW MASSACRE ~ MAY 5, 2023 ~ CHAPEL HILL, NC

Carolina Chainsaw Massacre Festival had their 2nd annual festival on May 5 & 6, 2023 and we were absolutely stoked to get the chance to be a part of it again! This festival was created by Incantation’s John McEntee as well as his wife, Yoyo McEntee, and takes place in North Carolina. It focuses on all things horror and metal, which actually makes it a little unique and definitely the only one of it’s kind anywhere nearby. Not only are there celebrity horror guests invited each year to sign autographs and do meet & greets with fans, it then turns into a full metal show every night with an incredible line up.

Day 1 took place at The Kraken in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Kraken is actually a small roadside bar. The inside of the venue is pretty tiny and holds much smaller and intimate shows. But they also come with an absolute kick ass outside stage that faces the road. Fans can gather on the gravel and grass hill surrounding the stage and despite the fairly small stage, there’s not even in a bad spot in that crowd. Everywhere has a great view. This year drew an even bigger crowd and absolutely no one was disappointed in it.

The celebrity horror guests on day 1 included Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly, and Hal Delrich from “The Evil Dead.” In between sets, fans could walk around the venue visiting several incredible artists & vendors selling both horror & metal merchandise. The entire event was also sponsored by Woods of Terror, which is a local haunted house in North Carolina. So that meant there was an array of costumed villains walking around wreaking havoc, greeting any passersby, and if you’re brave enough, they may even stop for a photo. Did I mention the chainsaws? Yes. There’s also chainsaws. Plus Chainsaw Girls!

While I do love horror, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t 99.9% there for the metal. And there was lots of metal. Not just on the stage either. Have you met a metal fan? These are the most loyal group of people you could ever meet, and the bands? Yeah. They’re all fans too. Mix that up and you get one hell of a party. Most of the bands came in for the whole weekend. So day 1, you’re wandering around in between sets and guess what? You might get to meet Posessed’s Jeff Becerra, who will be headlining the next night. Also, another guest just there to hang out. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher spent the night wandering around watching bands, plus meeting fans, signing tons of autographs, and taking tons of photos.

Let’s get to the stage though! The festival not only brought tons of metal bands, but specifically a bunch of bands that fans in this area rarely if ever get the chance to even see live. Check out some highlights below of all the bands that played this year on Day 1 of Carolina Chainsaw Massacre Festival.

I’m Music Magazine Photographer Daphne McKinney

Morta Skuld is a death metal band out of Milwaukee, WI. Morta Skuld are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album Dying Remains and have just released a 2 CD/LP via Peaceville Records at https://mortaskuld.lnk.to/DyingRemains30.

Castrator is an all female death metal band which originally formed in 2013. They released their first full length album in July 2022 via Dark Descent Records. They surprised everyone at the end of their set by bringing Matt Harvey (Exhumed, Gruesome) on stage for a cover of Venom’s “Countess Bathory.”

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Druid Lord is a doom/death metal band out of Orlando, FL. They released their 3rd album Relics of the Dead on January 21, 2022. You can grab a copy at http://www.druidlord.com/.

BAT is a 3-piece speed metal band out of Richmond, VA. The band features Municipal Waste’s Ryan Waste and Nick Poulos. Their most recent release as BAT was way back in 2019 with their Axestacy EP. So it was pretty exciting to get the chance to catch them live.

At War is an old school thrash metal band out of Virginia Beach, VA. Their debut Ordered To Kill was released back in 1986 and the guys have only released 3 full length albums to date. But they’re still out there actively playing shows and have an incredible following. It was great getting to catch them still killing it on stage live!