At present, things are going very, very well for Behemoth, the Polish-bred band of extreme-metal demigods. Not so long ago, a cloud of uncertainty loomed over these titans when mastermind and frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski was sidelined by leukemia. However, not only did Nergal recover, the band returned with its…
It’s a ridiculously exciting time for music in South Florida. And it feels so great to be able to state that honestly and not have to feign enthusiasm for the region’s scene just because the job of a music writer depends on it. The artists creeping up out of the…
Game of Thrones is a huge, huge deal. You know that, though. The fantasy drama is HBO’s most popular series ever, and reached the event horizon where novelty craft beers are now brewed in its honor, and T-shirts emblazoned with slogans and images that only viewers understand abound. And let’s…
John McHale is quite possibly the busiest independent promoter in South Florida. For about 11 years, McHale has tirelessly booked the best in national and local hardcore, punk, metal, and indie acts under the moniker Breakeven Booking. He also fronts the bands Guilty Conscience and Street Judge and is considered…
There are two distinct types of heavy-metal fans that have developed over the past decade. There are those who continue to ask, “What’s next?” And then there are those who live in a leather-clad past with a vehement disdain for all that threatens to sully the genre by straying too…
One of the things that makes South Florida’s music community an actual community in function and not just in concept is that it is incestuous in the best way. Bands down here swap and share members constantly and, whether or not you’re into our musically polyamorous reality, it really does…
Thomas Warren, guitarist and lead singer of the Sweet Chariots, arguably South Florida’s best (and undoubtedly its hardest-working) rockabilly band, has passed away. Warren was on his way home from a gig when he was involved in a car accident, Friday, November 28, around 12:45 a.m. in Indian River County…
We’ve said it before, and we’re sure we will say it again: John Wylie is almost without peer when it comes to the sort of tangible contributions he’s made over the years to South Florida’s music community. Between the man’s early days playing guitar for a laundry list of seminal,…
John Oates truly enjoys one of the most charmed careers in the entirety of music. He’s successfully weathered 40 years of changing trends, industry fallouts, and the inherent turbulence that comes with a life in the spotlight. He’s still one-half of the damned-near universally loved songwriting duo Hall & Oates…
Halloween really is the most special time of the year for many, but for most metal fans, the holiday takes on a uniquely special glow. There’s an indelible connection between heavy metal’s cartoonish nature and shock values and Halloween that can be difficult to pin down, but exists as a…
Make no mistake that Judas Priest forever changed the development of heavy metal, helping it progress in a way that few other bands ever will. Though we know few fans of the genre are ignorant enough to fail to make that distinction, it’s important to remind everyone now and again…
When people talk about “heavy metal,” they’re really just talking about Steel Panther — a band so imbued in the form, it may as well have invented it. The band that once crept from the Sunset Strip’s gutters like some sort of mutant, spewing sequins, Aqua Net, and glitter with…
When it comes to a romanticized backstory, few have one as remarkable as French musician and actress Soko. Between bullet points that include wringing a hit single in Denmark from the keys of bedroom laptop and scoring starring roles in art house feature films, Soko’s history could very well be…
Peter Frampton was once a proper heartthrob who made women absolutely melt when encountering his golden locks, tender love songs, and winning smile — just ask my mom. However, Frampton has always been a champion of the guitar beyond anything else, as is evident by the fretboard histrionics that have…
With the way the current generation of garage rockers ape and fetishize the new wave of punk, the fact that a band like South Florida’s the Front never really made it seems just a bit more heartbreaking in 2014. There are currently labels that fill their rosters with new artists…
We are of the belief that no one can truly pick up where a proper maverick like Jimi Hendrix left off. It’s as if there’s an unspoken understanding amongst guitarists that Hendrix’s playing style is a language unto itself. One really can’t be faulted for chasing such a unique dragon,…
Long before the internet changed the way we do everything, guitar stores were mystical places. While some of them still operate in the tradition of the past, providing as much social hub as a house to facilitate the sale and maintenance of our beloved instruments, the guitar shop of yore…
It’s certainly a cliche to say rock ‘n’ roll will never die, but these oft repeated truisms exist for a reason — they ain’t all wrong. Rock might morph, the aesthetic applied may forever be in a state of glorious flux, but it will always survive. More importantly, it will…
Holly Hunt’s Gavin Perry is quite the antithesis of the archetypal “guitar hero.” But Perry’s approach to the instrument, as a coconspirator in creating the crushing sonic monolith that is Holly Hunt’s sound, undoubtedly qualifies him as an hero of sorts. With the unchecked proliferation of sludge, stoner, and doom-metal…
Last week, WLRN ran a positively ludicrous piece suggesting that fans of rock ‘n’ roll “might have to leave Miami” to enjoy a good bit of organically made sonic piss and vinegar. While we know all too well the area’s reputation through our own efforts to extol and defend South…
Who would have ever predicted that Trent Reznor would be the artist of his generation to age most gracefully? Absolutely no one, that’s who. Of course, the Reznor of yore was famously driven by his demons, fueled by addiction, and virtually burning to make artistic statements on a level that…
South Florida’s troupe of fearlessly experimental extremists, Orbweaver released its debut extended player Strange Transmissions From the Neuralnomicon last year to a chorus of critical interest. The media and audience were seemingly as enthralled as perplexed by the ambitious group’s Lovecraftian take on heavy metal. The limited-edition cassette of the…
