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Four Bands, Two Countries: The Hub's August 18 Trad-Metal Bill
Space Vacation, Tower Hill, Adamantis and Hands of Goro brought four different interpretations of old-school heavy metal to an unlikely Peninsula stronghold on Tuesday, August 18. That night ,in downtown Redwood City, the distance between the Bay Area, the Canadian Prairies and Boston suddenly became very small...

Randall Wilburn
4 days ago13 min read


Doing Time, Drinking Well at Slowburn Co-Op Brewery
How does an American spend the Fourth of July in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the country's founding? Not with the usual hollow celebration via flag-waving, dog terrorizing explosions, and gluttonous consumption of food, but with the freedom to ignore it completely and go drink some damn good beer inside a decommissioned prison. That was the plan on Saturday, July 4th, one day after I'd spent a night working through The Zeppelin Bar and Left Hand Path downstairs, where I

Randall Wilburn
Aug 1813 min read


Camden Town: Metal, Punk and Independent Beer in London’s Loudest Neighborhood
The Black Heart, The Devonshire Arms, Werewolf Beer, and The Underground form a compact Camden circuit where visitors can move from locally brewed beer to a metal pub, an upstairs gig room and, finally, a full-volume Sunday-night show.

Randall Wilburn
Aug 136 min read


Beer, Metal and a Little Balance: MetalYoga at the Cart & Horses
On Tuesday, July 7, 2026, those who had signed up and made the trek to London’s legendary Cart & Horses were presented with a combination that, on paper, sounds almost deliberately contradictory: yoga, heavy metal and beer. In this context, it made considerable sense.

Randall Wilburn
Aug 105 min read


Up and Down in Copenhagen: The Zeppelin Bar and The Left Hand Path
Copenhagen has no shortage of great beer or heavy music—but sometimes the best stories only appear when you walk through the right door.

Randall Wilburn
Jul 296 min read


Eddie Takes Over Paris: Inside Iron Maiden's 2026 Eddie's Dive Bar
And, for one weekend in Paris, Eddie didn't just rule the stage.
He had his own bar.

Randall Wilburn
Jul 287 min read


Discovering Malmö: A Journey Through the City’s Unique Stops
A walking tour of Södra Förstadsgatan in Malmö: the Disgusting Food Museum, Science Fiction Bokhandeln, and Arsenik Bistro, in order down the same street.

Randall Wilburn
Jul 256 min read


Phrenetix: Forged by Loss, Driven by Thrash, and Still Moving Forward
Lina Vaštakaitė of Phrenetix playing at Kilkim Zaibu 2026

Randall Wilburn
Jul 248 min read


Down the Stairs and Into the Labeerynt: Gdańsk's Underground Haven for Craft Beer and Heavy Music
Hidden beneath the streets of Gdańsk's historic center, Labeerynt combines Polish craft beer, shadowy cellar-bar atmosphere and a rock-and-metal sensibility that feels refreshingly unpolished.

Randall Wilburn
Jul 198 min read


Out of the Mists: Ūkanose on Folklore, Folk Metal, and Fourteen Years of Kilkim Žaibu
A late-night interview with Ūkanose guitarist Linas Petrauskas in Kaunas — the band's formation in Vilnius, the folk-metal balance behind Šiaurum Vėjum, the record heat of Kilkim Žaibu 2026, and the mead he brings on tour.

Randall Wilburn
Jul 913 min read


Deliver Us From Ordinary Wine: Inside Italy’s Heavy Metal Winery
Daniele Santori — metalhead, vocalist, and winemaker — has built a winery in Marche, Italy that screams Heavy Metal. From his band The Dogma to his family's Collemara estate, the story of Heavy Metal Winery runs deeper than the label.

Randall Wilburn
Jul 48 min read


Iron Maiden's Epic Return to Paris
Iron Maiden's June 22, 2026 filmed concert at La Défense Arena was upended by a city-wide power outage mid-set. A full recap of the night — including the blackout, the recovery, the setlist, and what was being poured at Eddie's Dive Bar and venue concessions.

Randall Wilburn
Jun 235 min read


Overkill Birreria: Florence's Metal Sanctuary Hidden in Plain Sight
Florence isn't the first city that comes to mind for heavy metal, but Overkill Birreria — seven years running, madonnara murals on the walls, German lager on tap — is making a genuine case.

Randall Wilburn
Jun 197 min read


The Trooper Lands in Petaluma: My Day at the Lagunitas x Iron Maiden Release Party
A first-person Fermented Metal field report from Lagunitas Brewing Company's June 6, 2026 Trooper West Coast IPA release party in Petaluma, featuring Iron Maiden fandom, brewery-tour details, Maiden United, and an air-guitar contest.

Randall Wilburn
Jun 810 min read


Forbidden Comes Home: A Generational Bay Area Bill at the Great American Music Hall
Forbidden Comes Home: A Generational Bay Area Bill at the Great American Music Hall

Tim McShane
Jun 38 min read


May 28th: Sepultura's Celebration of Life Through Death Tour
Sepultura's Celebrating Life Through Death farewell tour rolls into Berkeley with Exodus, Biohazard, and Tribal Gaze. A first-person live report from the UC Theatre, May 28, 2026.

Tim McShane
May 299 min read


Blue Ruin: Where Hell's Kitchen Serves up Cold Drinks and Heavy Music
The door at 538 Ninth Avenue does not advertise. This is Blue Ruin — Hell's Kitchen's dark, loud, cash-only dive that has outlasted the boutique hotels and glass towers colonizing the surrounding blocks since 2009.

Tim McShane
May 237 min read


Inside Doom, Philadelphia's Metal Bar
Eighteen months in, Doom — the black-brick metal bar on the same Callowhill block as Franklin Music Hall — has become the closest thing Philadelphia has to a permanent address for its metal community. Inside the cathedral on 7th Street: founders Justin Holden and Will Yip, Chef Ian Hunter's mapo chili dog, the Doom Me cocktail, the revived Split Thy Skull barleywine fest, the Miss American Vampire pageant, and the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest 2026 home-base partnership.

Randall Wilburn
May 128 min read
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