extreme metal – The Cosmic Clash

Live music review: inaugural Mayhem Fest at new Crow Bar ended on blistering note

August 2, 2026 Case Cockrell 96 Views Acid Bath, Cheese Grater Masturbation, concert, crust punk, death grind, death metal, doom metal, extreme metal, hardcore, Imminent End, live music, Mayhem Fest, metal music, Mortar Siege, music festival, noise rock, Review, sludge metal, Stabbing, Swans, Throat Piss, Tortures, Whores

Austin metal venue, The Crow Bar hosted Raven Mayhem Fest 2026 ended on a blistering note on Saturday, July 25 featuring bands from all across the Austin heavy spectrum and beyond for the inaugural three-day long extreme metal music festival at the newly reopened Crow Bar in far East Austin off Highway 183 at 523 Thompson Lane. Since reopening for SXSW 2025, co-owner Aryn Jonathan Black and booker Jay McDowell have been curating some of the heaviest-hitting bills in the Austin area. After the first Crow Bar location was lost to arson, owners Black and Steve Gee are back with a vengeance, and there’s been hell to pay since getting the underground-leaning establishment back up and running.

Case Cockrell Live Music Review

Live music review: Acid Bath headlined killer extreme metal bill in Houston

April 2, 2026 Case Cockrell 2382 Views Acid Bath, concert, concert review, Dax Riggs, extreme metal, Goatwhore, hardcore metal, High On Fire, live music, metal music, Necrofier, obituary, Review, Sammy Duet, Stabbing, White Oak Music Hall

The 2025 reunion of Louisiana hardcore metal legends Acid Bath has been triumphant, as it heads into its second year of gigs featuring stacked lineups and fans showing up by the thousands to experience it. At White Oak Music Hall near the Houston Heights area, a diehard crowd showed up ready to experience the short-lived yet massively influential out-of-the-swamp sludge kings. Acid Bath’s reunion tour is going on a year strong. Each show features extreme metal legacy acts and rising underground metal hardliners. For the March 28 stop, Acid Bath brought Houston brutal death metal outfit Stabbing, H-Town black metal institutions Necrofier, legendary Oakland power trio High on Fire, and Tampa death metal legends Obituary. A bone-crushing lineup of all proportions, this gig didn’t lose its hell-raising spark until the last note.