The Kilowatt San Francisco, CA March 19, 2026 Hippie Death Cult  and Glowing Brain , two bands I’ve been hearing about for a while but seeing for the first time. They did not disappoint. The Kilowatt was well attended this sweltering Thursday eve. It was a good mix of different folks from different scenes. I met the couple who put on the Punk Rock Record Swap in Alameda. Good people. Glowing Brain  was first. Their music wasn’t quite what I was expecting. With the name I was

March 12, 2026 Neck of the Woods San Francisco, CA Second show of the night and what a DRASTIC change of audience from one show to the other. At Vicious Rumors  I was arguably the youngest male there. I would say I was the youngest person across the board but I knew a girl there who is definitely younger than me.  And at Trencher  I was one of the oldest….one of. There were multiple bandmates of mine there who are at least 10 years older than me. But enough of this nonsense,

March 12, 2026 DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA San Francisco was jumping on this Thursday night. We had two Metal shows happening on either end of town. On one side we had Vicious Rumors  and on the other there was Solicitor/Trencher/Phantasmal Abyss and others. Did I dare go to both? I dared! I hit the Vicious Rumors  show first at the DNA (upstairs) being that it was an early show.  I knew it was going to be a long night of loud music so I decided to show up just late enough t

March 7, 2026 DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA It seems like it’s been a minute since I did the DJ thing at The DNA. It felt good to be back behind the tables. And it was a hell of a night of blasphemous Metal for sure. The DNA was packed this Saturday eve and for good reason: Belphegor , Incantation , Hate  and Narcotic Wasteland  were in town. Let’s jump right in. Starting off the proceedings was Narcotic Wasteland . This band boasts the extraordinary talents of former Nile  ax

March 3, 2026 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA Tuesday night and The Bottom Of The Hill was sold the fuck out! The lineup was Swedish occult rockers Witchcraft , L.A.’s Candlemass  worshipping doomsters Early Moods  and returning locals Psychic Hit . A solid show any day of the week. Starting things off were Oakland’s Psychic Hit . This band was quite popular in the SF/Oakland scene pre-pandemic. They played frequently and every time I saw them the place was packed no mat

Bay Area thrashers Frolic  have partnered with Hectic Records / Bleeding Priest Records to release their second full-length studio album this summer. Hectic Records / Bleeding Priest records specializes in putting out San Francisco Bay Area metal bands on vinyl, and Dave and Will are excited to welcome Frolic  to the label as one of the best of a new generation of Bay Area thrash bands. The intergenerational nature of the Bay Area’s thrash scene is pretty special, with shows

Hey boys and girls and undecided. This is Will Carroll and welcome to another edition of Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight. Today I am covering one of my favorite bands to emerge from our wretched scene in the last few years, Vorlust  with their debut full-length album, Lick the Flesh . Great stuff. Killer, nasty, dirty death metal. The guitarist is Sonny, who is also in Necrot . These bands do not sound anything alike, which is really impressive. The fact that he ca

February 14, 2026 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA Hey, if Will can write about Weird Al Yankovic on this heavy metal website, I can write about weird psychedelic punk rock – NYC’s Alice Donut . At least Alice Donut  wrote a song about Metallica . And weird is definitely the vibe with this band, kinda Frank Zappa  meets the Butthole Surfers  or the Melvins . I was a big fan in the early 90s, and saw them a few times over the years, but it had been quite a while. I’

February 13, 2026 Local Tap San Francisco, CA What else are you gonna do at happy hour on a Friday? See a KISS  tribute band at a tiny watering hole near the ballpark of course. Destroyer  are SF’s longest running and currently only KISS  tribute band. There’s been three others in The Bay that I can remember, Detroit Rock City  who predate Destroyer . Heroes , who if memory serves only played one gig. And Kisser , an all female tribute that I never got the chance to see. And

February 9, 2026 The Ritz San Jose, CA February 10, 2026 The Cornerstone Berkeley, CA November 15, 1991. That’s the last time Coroner  played the Bay Area. It was at The Omni in Oakland for the Shadows Of The Dark Side (Mental Vortex)  tour. The last time I saw them live.  THIRTY FOUR (and change) FUCKING YEARS AGO!!! Needless to say I was pretty goddamn excited to see one of my favorite bands of all time once again. I saw them two nights in a row, sort of. Let’s get into it…

February 9, 2026 DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA Question: How do you get a metal show to be over by 8:45?  Answer: Announce that it is going to start really early, and then start it 30 minutes earlier than that. Even as I write this, the DNA’s website clearly says doors @ 6pm; show @ 6:30pm - 9:30pm., but apparently the show started at 6 PM. I love the DNA Lounge, but they really need to stop messing with the start times, especially for shows that are already starting early. Th

January 26, 2026 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA This may have been the very first time I’ve DJ’d a Metal show (or any show for that matter) on a Monday night but HEY!! Thrash Metal doesn’t give a shit about your job in the morning!! All things considered (Monday night and first night after NAMM) it was a somewhat respectable turnout for this gig. Up first was the revamped, revitalized Phantom Witch . I enjoy this incarnation of the band. Their new vocalist fits t

Laaz Rockit Know Your Enemy 1987 Roadrunner Records/Enigma Records Holy shit. It’s Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight . Who’s this fresh-faced pup talking to you right here? Yeah, new year, new face, or new old face. I shave my beard off every January. It’s just a thing I do. But anyway, I’m not here to talk about my face. I’m here to talk about Lȧȧz Rockit  and Know Your Enemy . This is a ripping Bay Area metal album. This is the first album where they really started

January 23, 2026 The Knockout San Francisco, CA I like the Knockout, but it isn’t really a metal club, more of a punk rock club. Meaning that is kind of an “unserious” venue – it tends to be behind schedule, the sound isn’t often very good, and the stage is very small. The club itself certainly doesn’t have space for the equipment of 4 metal bands – especially when they aren’t sharing drum sets. This particular Friday night was no different, with a bartender who could seldom

Yes, it is true, in the city that is the dictionary definition of expensive, San Francisco, you can see great shows for less than $5 per concert. Bands like Raven, Eyehategod, Crowbar, Exhumed and more can be seen for around a buck and a quarter a band (depending on your commitment to going out, and whether you see all the openers or are lame and just show up for the headliner). What kind of scam is this, you ask? There’s no scam, and no catch. You just have to do three thing

San Fran666cco launched in February 2025, and in the first 11 months or so we listed 143 heavy metal concerts in the Bay Area on the website! Which clubs had the most metal shows in 2025? Well, here’s our top 13: Venue Number of Metal Shows in 2025 City 1 DNA Lounge 17 San Francisco 2 Eli's Mile High Club 14 Oakland 3 Neck of the Woods 10 San Francisco 4 UC Theatre 10 Berkeley 5 Great American Music Hall 8 San Francisco 6 Thee Stork Club 8 Oakland 7 Thee Parkside 7 San Franci

January 10, 2026 The Cornerstone Berkeley, CA ‘Twas a brisk night in Berkeley this January eve. The show on the menu is Cartilage , Frolic , Beheader  and Vestige  at The Cornerstone. I guess I should check this site more often because clearly I had no idea what time the show started. By the time I got there I had missed Vestige  and Beheader  were already on. Oh well. I did hear Vestige  had a really good set. There will be other opportunities to see them I’m sure. Beheader

January 2, 2026 Winters Tavern Pacifica, CA So at the last minute on a rainy Friday night I decided to go out to Winters in Pacifica to check out some “death metal” bands I had never seen or heard before. I was pretty shocked on how well attended the gig was honestly. Winters is always a gamble plus with the storm in full effect I was expecting crickets but folks came out. The first and best band of the night, Astral Flesh  were already on when I got there. These guys weren’t

December 30 & 31, 2025 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA Having just come home from tour I didn’t really make plans for NYE and was possibly going to stay home and watch the Twilight Zone marathon. Then these shows fell into my lap. I’ve DJ’d at The Great American Music Hall several times before and it’s always a lot of fun. So I was stoked when asked to spin the tunes at these two High On Fire  gigs. There may have been some variation between the sets each night fo

January 3, 2026 DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA What a lineup for the first metal show of 2026! Billed as a “Post New Year’s Beating”, we had three great Bay Area thrash bands, plus two visiting from other parts of California, tearing up the DNA Lounge on a rainy Saturday night. A lotta metal for your money. I got to the DNA early to catch the opener, and there was already a good crowd on hand when doors opened, ready to ring in the new year with riffs. First up was Parabellum ,

SanFran666co Show Listings If you wanna know about Metal shows in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, SanFran666co.com is your place. We launched the site in February 2025, and in our first 11 months posted the flyers for 143 San Francisco metal concerts! Instagram gives you whatever they feel like in whatever order the algorithm decides, so often you see metal concerts that have already happened, or you might miss announcements from your favorite bands if they don’t show i

Performing Act III in its entirety December 18 & 19, 2025 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA Two sold out nights at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco just before the holidays, wow. This annual tradition, now in its 10th year, is a Bay Area Thrash Metal community can’t miss event.  I was a little bummed at first that the Xmas shows were changed from 2 nights at the Great American Music Hall, its traditional location (at least since Slim’s closed in 2020). Love the GAMH. But

Hey all, I’m back from Death Angel’s  tour and ready to get busy with the site again. Speaking of tour, let me give you a brief summary of the four weeks on the road. Death Angel Act III US Tour, Nov-Dec 2025 The tour started off with a party of sorts in Seal Beach, CA at the Affliction Clothing headquarters. Hosted by Jose “Metal Ambassador” Mangin from Sirius’s Liquid Metal. It was a birthday party for his wife as well as a tour warm-up for the band. It was an intimate sett

Hey, what’s up everybody. Will Carroll here with another episode of Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight. It’s been a minute. I haven’t done one in a while, so I’m stoked to be getting back at it. Today’s band is a very important thrash metal band in the Bay Area scene. They put out two records on Metal Blade and are great friends of mine to this day, at least some of them. The band is Epidemic . I’m going to be talking about their first Metal Blade release, Decameron .

Trencher "Skullcrusher": Bleeding Priest's Bay Area Metal Spotlight 19 on YouTube What's up people and welcome back to another edition of Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight . Today I will be covering Hectic Records / Bleeding Priest Records ’ latest release, Trencher   Skullcrusher . This album is actually two EPs on one vinyl LP. It has the Skullcrusher  EP from this year and it also has last year's Trench Metal  EP. This is great stuff from Oakland. I have known the

DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA November 15, 2025 It was a rainy Saturday night in San Francisco and it showed with the dreadful turnout at the DNA. I felt bad for all the bands on the bill. Bands on the road rely on Saturday nights to be a big success with attendance, crowd enthusiasm and income. Despite the small size of the crowd they gave it their all and made the bands feel appreciated. There was great energy in the room.  Openers Gorgatron  had it the worst. When they star

Toot’s Tavern Crockett, CA November 7, 2025 Toot’s Tavern in Crockett is a spot I’ve been to only a couple of times. Crockett is a neat little semi-secluded pocket of the East Bay. I was told Toot’s is the oldest bar in Contra Costa County, but then someone else told me a place called The Warehouse in Port Costa is the oldest. In any case Toots is fucking old. It definitely has a local vibe with its own built in crowd. I had Death Angel  rehearsal earlier so I got a bit of a

Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA October 30, 2025 Oh Tenderloin, you are such a guilty pleasure. Making my way to the Great American Music Hall I witnessed a guy having a full on argument with his (or somebody’s) dog. Now I don’t mean he was scolding or reprimanding the mutt but a full on argument. The dog would bark and he would shout back “Well what the fuck do you want me to do about it?” I watched this go on for about 3 minutes. It continued on while I walked a

What’s up everybody, and welcome to another edition of Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight. Today, I’m going to be talking about a band that was quite popular in the Bay Area thrash scene from around 1990 to 1992 — right up until they broke up. They were playing all the big shows, often sharing the stage with local bands like Epidemic  and Wrecking Machine , and getting plenty of gigs with Epidemic  in particular. But they also opened for heavyweights like Vio-Lence  a

DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA October 24, 2025 This four band bill turned out to be one of the DNA Lounge’s early shows, there was some club night happening afterwards going late. When I showed up around 7:30 I had missed the opener Mæntra  without realizing their bass player was Paul Ryan of Origin  (and DNA Lounge bartending) fame. Bummer. Early bird gets all the death metal. Cretin, DNA Lounge, San Francisco, CA, October 24, 2025. Photo by r31nh4rd I managed to just catch t

The Knockout San Francisco, CA October 17, 2025 The final show in a week full of shows brought me to a place in SF I don’t frequent very often, The Knockout. Why do I not frequent this place? Bad experiences and worse sound.  In the past it almost seemed like The Knockout prided itself on having the biggest asshole bartenders in The Mission. The last time I DJ’d there (which was a Blind Illusion  show oddly enough) I almost came to blows with the dickhead behind the bar. Add

UC Theatre Berkeley, CA October 15, 2025 Mega Metal show at The UC Theatre with 6 fucking bands. I’m sorry but that’s 3 bands too many for this old Metalhead. The three bands I missed were Interceptor , Midnight  and Hirax . I actually really wanted to catch Interceptor . I’ve never seen them but checked out their music online and liked what I heard. But they went on at 5 pm and there’s no way in hell I’m spending 7 hours at The UC Theatre. So let’s talk about the bands I did

Shoreline Amphitheatre Mountain View, CA October 14, 2025 I can’t believe I saw The Priest and The Coop together at The Shoreline Amphitheatre for the second time in 34 years. The first time was in ‘91 for the Operation Rock And Roll tour. A tour that was promoting the support of our troops in Iraq during The Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm specifically.  The full lineup was phenomenal from start to finish. Opening was Metal Church  touring in support of their seriously unde

DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA October 12, 2025 Death Metal blowout at The DNA Lounge on a Sunday night. The following day was a holiday (for some) being Indigenous Peoples Day or Columbus Day (for some) so that certainly helped with the turnout. And the turnout was pretty good. They kept the upstairs open which is always a good sign. First up was Skeletal Remains . This was the second time in a row seeing them (both times at the DNA) without a live bassist. Instead they had a

The Ritz San Jose, CA September 30, 2025 San Jose ain’t where I normally spend my Tuesday nights but when High On Fire  are in town I’ll...

Pussy Palace Oakland, CA September 28, 2025 The Richmond BART line was shut down for creating chaos, there was a light rain, and I was...

Kilowatt San Francisco, CA September 25, 2025 Thursday night at the Kilowatt down on 16th street in the Mission, and a good turnout for 3...

Greetings everybody and welcome to another edition of Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight . For this edition, I’m going to be...

Plaza de Cesar Chavez San Jose, CA September 19, 2025 You know how The Grateful Dead have “Deadheads”? Well, I guess I could be...

Neck of the Woods San Francisco, CA September 20, 2025 My second time out to Neck of the Woods in just over a month, after not seeing a...

Thee Stork Club Oakland, CA September 11, 2025 I don’t think I’d seen a show at Thee Stork Club  in Oakland since the 1990s. Though it...

DNA Lounge San Francisco, CA September 10, 2025 POWER METAL!!! That’s what was on the menu at The DNA Lounge Wednesday night. But to say...

Stanyan Stage Haight Street Fair September 7, 2025 It was a hot Sunday in San Francisco, by which I mean it was in the 70s, instead of...

Memorial Park Amphitheater Hayward, CA September 6, 2025 I gotta tell ya, the amount of Saturday afternoons I’ve spent in Hayward are far...

Editor’s note: Special tribute in German to San Francisco Bay Area Heavy Metal this week, from our very own German San Franciscan...

Hey, what’s up boys and girls and welcome to Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight. You know, I’ve been putting it off for as long...

Green Music Center @ Sonoma State Rohnert Park, CA August 27, 2025 Ok, I know this is a Metal site but my feeling is…if you’re too Metal...

August 17, 2025 Pussy Palace Oakland, CA This was my first visit to the Pussy Palace, a punk house on 34th Street in West Oakland, just a...