As a teenager growing up in Hammond, Louisiana, I spent a lot of my free time at local metal concerts.
Most of these were Christian metal bands, or at least marketed themselves as such, because in Hammond the only venues that would allow somewhat competent teenage musicians to play were churches.
Over time, I started to get into all sorts of different music, not just metal, and I didn’t really keep up with what was going on in the metal world.
Recently though, it’s come to my attention just how big and diverse southern Louisiana’s metal music scene really is.
All over the state, but especially from Baton Rouge to the southeastern tip of Louisiana, guys in black shirts with butt-length hair and beards (and all types of different people) gather in garages and hole-in-the-wall clubs to scream, and play distorted guitars, and bang on drum sets.
But here more than most other places, excluding Scandinavia, metal bands in Louisiana play at pretty big bars to increasingly large crowds.
Baton Rouge bands Christworm, Arcane Burial, Axes of Evil and Barghest play regularly at bars like Culture Bar, Mud and Water, and Hound Dogs.
There are even quite a few bands from Baton Rouge whose members are current University students, like the band Dropkik.
These bands and more also play often in New Orleans at Checkpoint Charley’s, the Babylon, and Twisted Lime and in Houma at The Boxer and the Barrel.
One cool thing about metal music in Louisiana is that it has a history of being very distinct from metal elsewhere.
For instance, Houma-based outfit Diab has lyrics in Cajun French. That’s definitely something you won’t find anywhere else.
And in the 90s, a little band from Houma called Acid Bath famously founded a genre called sludge metal.
Sludge metal and Acid Bath in particular have influenced countless musician of across many genres today.
To me, one of the coolest things about metal shows has always been the moshing.
In mosh pits, kids with tension in their systems are given a space to express themselves physically but amicably. I think that’s pretty cool. It can be especially important for people who often feel alienated or unable to otherwise express themselves.
So keep listening, metalheads, and get out to a local show near you. You may just find it to be the best thing you could do with your night.