Back in December, Maryland Deathfest promised a "thorough update" about the status of the festival this month, having previously said it was "too early to make a definitive decision about which path to take." As promised, that update is now here, and they've rescheduled the festival for the second time; the new dates are May 26-29, 2022.

"At this point, we don't think it's necessary to go into great detail about why we had to reschedule the festival again," organizers write. "We've been updating you about this possibility for months, so we assume that most of you were expecting this news to be dropped. There is simply no chance that the festival can be staged in its proper form with the majority of the bands (or fans, for that matter) being able to even show up in a short 4 months. It is pretty clear that most, if not all of 2021, is needed for the world to sort itself out to the point that we can enjoy live events again."

The majority of the bands scheduled for 2021 (and 2020) are still onboard for 2022, organizers say, with the following possible exceptions:

Bands that need more time to know if they can play in 2022:
Bloodbath – We expect a final answer any day now, as soon as next week.
Negative Approach – We expect a final answer within a month.
Vio-lence – We expect a final answer in 4-6 months.
Coffins – We expect a final answer in 4-6 months.

Bands we haven't received a reply from, so we don't know what their status is:
Phlebotomized
Napalm Raid

Bands that definitely cannot play in 2022 and will need to be replaced:
Grave Desecrator
Panzerfaust
Blaze of Perdition

Venues for 2022 are still in the works, but organizers say that 2022 "could potentially turn into our largest format ever," with Edison Lot confirmed, and Rams Head and Soundstage looking promising. They will also have usage of the Power Plant complex, outdoor stages included, and say that "options are plentiful."

Wtih Dr. Fauci predicting that concerts could return in the fall, Maryland Deathfest are also considering a related event at Rams Head and Soundstage in the fall, if that timeline holds true. More information on that is still to come.

Read Maryland Deathfest's full statement, and see the current lineup poster, below.

January 27 Statement from Maryland Deathfest:

MDF XVIII has been rescheduled again until 2022! The new dates are May 26-29, 2022.

There is an overload of information in this post, so please take a few minutes to read it all, as it will likely address most of the questions and concerns you may have.

At this point, we don't think it's necessary to go into great detail about why we had to reschedule the festival again. We've been updating you about this possibility for months, so we assume that most of you were expecting this news to be dropped. There is simply no chance that the festival can be staged in its proper form with the majority of the bands (or fans, for that matter) being able to even show up in a short 4 months. It is pretty clear that most, if not all of 2021, is needed for the world to sort itself out to the point that we can enjoy live events again.

The venue situation for 2022 is an ongoing project, but it's starting to look like this could potentially turn into our largest format ever. As of yesterday, we can confirm that we are bringing back Edison Lot, both Rams Head and Soundstage feel like they'll still be open in 2022, and we also have full use of the Power Plant complex, including the outdoor stage there. As of now, the options are plentiful and we plan to utilize all of the venues/stages mentioned above.

As for the bands that we booked in 2019 to play in 2020/2021, the majority of them have once again reconfirmed to play in 2022. Those who have not reconfirmed already and aren't on the flyer shown here fall into one of the categories below.

Bands that need more time to know if they can play in 2022:
Bloodbath – We expect a final answer any day now, as soon as next week.
Negative Approach – We expect a final answer within a month.
Vio-lence – We expect a final answer in 4-6 months.
Coffins – We expect a final answer in 4-6 months.

Bands we haven't received a reply from, so we don't know what their status is:
Phlebotomized
Napalm Raid

Bands that definitely cannot play in 2022 and will need to be replaced:
Grave Desecrator
Panzerfaust
Blaze of Perdition

On the subject of bands, considering the outlook of a larger footprint and the inclusion of outdoor stages in 2022, we will have the space to book more bands on top of the few that need to be replaced. However, we can't immediately dive into booking more bands, as we can't already start throwing around offers to more bands after being completely kicked in the teeth financially by the pandemic over the last year. Eventually, about 20 additional bands will be booked.

The day of show for all originally confirmed bands remains the same.

We expect the lineup for the pre-fest at the Ottobar to remain the same, but we'll follow up shortly to confirm that.

Important info regarding tickets:

– All tickets for 2020/2021 remain valid for the new dates in 2022. No further action is needed.

– If you can't attend the new dates, tickets are transferable to others. If there is someone that you would like to transfer the ticket to, we can assist with that and email them a new PDF ticket.

– As another option for anyone that can't attend the new dates, we can also issue a voucher valid for any future event of ours. These vouchers will have no expiration date and are also transferable to others.

Anyone that needs our assistance with the above options can send us a message here on Facebook or email [email protected]

– For those of you who cannot attend the new dates and aren't content with any of the above options, we will notify you in the coming months (most likely sometime in April) when it's possible to request a refund for a certain period of time. Please keep in mind that we already issued refunds for a several month stretch between March-June. On top of that, we've been financially ravaged and lost a lot of unrecoverable money over the last year. There's only so much we can do until we have some form of traction under our feet again, so we appreciate your patience until that time comes.

If you have a single day ticket or a 3-day pass for specific bands at Rams Head and any of those bands end up playing at Edison Lot instead, your ticket will be valid for both venues. In other words, you will still be able to access whichever venue is staging the band(s) that you bought tickets for.
All of the bands that were originally scheduled to play at Soundstage will remain at Soundstage.
This will become far less confusing as we move forward in the coming months and have the lineup finished and completely under control.

As we move forward, we need to get some tickets sold. Many people have been commenting that they will return to MDF if Edison Lot (or at least an outdoor element) is brought back, so here is your opportunity to return! Do note that once we reach the point of booking more bands, we will need to increase the cost of the 4-day pass by about $25-30. You can lock in a 4-day pass at the current price now until the price needs to be increased.

For now, only the 4-day pass is available. Once we patch up the lineup and finish booking bands, we'll make all other ticket options available, including single day and 3-day pass options for Edison Lot, Rams Head and Soundstage.

Get a 4-day pass for MDF XVIII here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/…/maryland-deathfest-xviii…

We feel like there's a pretty good chance that live shows will resume by fall 2021. If things start to loosen open and the live music industry shows a pulse in the second half of 2021, we will look at producing a MDF-related event in the fall at Rams Head and Soundstage to help hold you over until 2022. More info on this will come later if/when the possibility exists.

2022 will mark the 20th year of our existence, but no thanks to covid, it'll only be the 18th edition. We will still be treating 2022 as a proper 20th anniversary and will do everything in our power to make it worth the wait. When all is said and done, it's going to be one for the books.

We'll follow up again soon once we hear back from a few of the originally scheduled bands that we're waiting on a reply from. Shortly after that, you can expect approximately 20 more bands to be added to the lineup.

—

See the full list of 30 here.