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By Adel Souto | 5.5.2016

I'm not sure how I originally came up with the idea of taking pictures of battle jackets at Maryland's biggest metal festival. I hate being packed tight in a crowd, so I must have been bored carrying a camera, and only taking photos of bands from a hundred yards away. In 2013, I uploaded my favorite 50 to my website, with No Echo releasing the "Top 50" of 2014, and another 100 last year, yet I still had plenty of unseen pics. With each visit, I came back with more photographs than I knew what to do with. "Put together a book," many said, and while I laughed it off, it looks like there's another who stepped up to a concept I had already declined.

With the 2016 Maryland Deathfest coming up this month, I thought it would be an interesting experiment in nostalgia to go through the three years' worth of backpatch photos I took there, deciding it would be cool if many who went unnoticed got their due for the amazing art they carried on their backs. While I said in my last batch of photos that I would not return this time around, I only recently saw this year's lineup: Venom, Discharge, Infest, Earth, Nuclear Assault, Goblin, Doom, Excel, Tragedy, Paradise Lost, Weedeater, Buzzov•en, Despise You, Ringworm, and Negative Approach! I then recalled all the great people I came into contact with the last few times, the new friends I made and the old friends I bumped into, and the breaks I took walking Baltimore or visiting Maryland state parks.

What the hell did I weasel my way out of!?

Last night, I tallied the cost of driving, crunched the numbers for food and tolls, cataloged possible hotel stays, and almost cried myself to sleep.

With that, I still present to you an engaging 100 previously unposted pics of the fun I had taking shots of folks who turned their backs on me. Again, I thank you all!

Now, before I get to it... anyone want to give me a ride?