Concert Reviews

PGH Pride in the Pit: A Celebration of Community, Music, and Alt-Queer Culture

Published

4 months ago

June 27, 2026

This Saturday, Mr. Smalls transformed into a haven for the punk, goth, and metal LGBTQ+ scene as PGH Pride in the Pit celebrated its second year. The genesis of Pride in the Pit came from a simple but vital idea of J.J. Ulizio: “I originally came up with the idea of having a pride event for the punk, metal, goth, and alternative [music] community, for those who feel out of place at mainstream pride events.”

Last year’s event proved there was a hunger for exactly this kind of space, generating over $1,300 for Allies for Health and Well-being and demonstrating that the concept works. The organizers described the aftermath as a moment of collective realization: “I immediately decided that I wanted to do it again,” explained Ulizo. Committee member Aaron Pepe added, “That was the moment for me too… sitting in the office looking at the number going, ‘Oh, damn. We did this. This is the start of something much, much bigger.”

This year’s proceeds will benefit the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation, an organization founded in 2017 that focuses on improving the health of LGBTQ+ and HIV-impacted Pennsylvanians through services including youth mentoring, food and hygiene supplies, support groups, and mental health coordination.

Building a Movement, Not Just a Show: P3s, as it is affectionately called by insiders, ambitions extend far beyond a single annual event. The organizers are actively working on some smaller events to help generate income to fund the… big event next year.” They already have a Halloween party booked at Poetry Lounge. The organizer’s vision is long-term, as they hope to become a premier production company that touring queer and allied bands can trust when they come to the Pittsburgh area. “We want Pride in the Pit to be more than just the event,” said Ulizo. Community building remains at the heart of everything they do. Already, last year’s event created lasting connections: “There were bands that didn’t know each other, who have since played shows together. ” Dysphoric Void and Millie Dread, who met at Pride in the Pit, are now playing a show together the night before this year’s event.

The Lineup: A Guide to the Performers

Rory Watters – Solo death-core
Rory Watters brought a high-energy solo performance to Pride in the Pit. His deathcore screams filled the Funhouse at Mr. Smalls as he was accompanied on stage by only a laptop and microphone. His short set built the foundation of what the rest of the evening would hold.

Bad Spirits – Stoner/doom metal

Clad in all black, the four members of Bad Spirits took the stage with confidence, as they plowed through their brand of sludgy stoner metal. They oozed doom and Sabbath riffs all wrapped in blues. At one point the guitarist broke out a box guitar that he reportedly pulled from the dumpster behind the venue. His masterful playing brought out some southern swag as he caressed it with a slide on his fretting hand. It’s worth noting that three of the four members are part of the local Krampus band Sleigher.

LibCor – Punk/post-punk indie rock from Cleveland

Libcor performed a subdued set led by Olivia Lee on vocals and electric guitar while Corey Kurtz filled the sound with an acoustic guitar. The band had an interesting sound primarily due to the intentional mix/levels of their instruments. The lead electric guitar was buried low in the mix, leaving room for the bass lines and vocals to come to the forefront of the sound. I could hear hints of Sonic Youth, Hüsker Dü, and even Bob Mould

Disease of the Mind – Performance art/noisecore

Disease of the Mind is Mike Fischer, who defies an easy description or any description, for that matter. Rumor has it that the stage plot for this year’s performance was reportedly just a drawing reading “Mic, table, spaghetti, and a thousand wasps” followed by a question mark. With that glimpse into his mind, it was certain to be a spectacle

What transpired is quite difficult to capture with mere words. There was make-up, sheer stockings over one’s head, broken glass, bare feet, a bed of nails, a sledgehammer, candlelight, and Chef Boyardee spaghetti. All existing in the same space as a feedback-driven noise palette, and maybe there were bees; maybe not.

Psych Ward Grips – Queer, loud, dance punk

If there was a band that embodied the unapologetic, sweaty spirit of PGH Pride in the Pit, it was Psych Ward Grips. Describing themselves as “dance punk,” the Pittsburgh four-piece tore through of noisy punk rock set. Front and center was vocalist PINK, a blur of energy beneath a pink-colored mohawk that seemed to glow under the Funhouse lights. PINK commanded the stage with a presence that was equal parts punk rock preacher and underground club ringleader, channeling the raw, confrontational energy of queercore.

The band—rounded out by guitarist Jude, drummer Ashely, and keyboardist Cory—delivered a wall of noise that was as chaotic yet danceable. Their sound sits at the intersection of experimental rock and psych-infused punk, with jagged riffs and synth textures that refuse to stay in their lane . It’s the kind of music that makes you want to dance whether you know the steps or not.

Lyrically, Psych Ward Grips wear their identity proudly. Their songs are unapologetically LGBTQ-focused, tackling themes of queer resilience. This was band making a statement, and a reminder that punk has always been queer, and that the alternative scene belongs to everyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.

Sarah Halter – Solo metal artist Guitar & Vocals

Sarah was the second solo performer of the night. The sound blended progressive symphonic metal with vocals that transitioned from traditional metal to modern screams, reminiscent of Jinjer, and included screeches that briefly evoked Cradle of Filth. The ability to perform an entire set alone on stage, accompanied only by backing tracks, is a feat that only the bravest and most confident musicians can manage.

Terminal Intensity – Mathcore/grindcore

Terminal Intensity isn’t a band; they’re a sonic car crash at breakneck speed. One of the most intense bands to crawl out of the Pittsburgh area in many years. This four-piece are a lit fuse that wear their influences like battle scars—Dillinger Escape Plan’s chaos, Converge’s emotional brutality, and Napalm Death’s sheer velocity, but they twist it all into something uniquely unhinged.

Onstage, they don’t perform; they absolutely pillage. Their 20-minute set packs over a dozen songs, most barely surviving past the 60-second mark. Each song is a miniature apocalypse of squealing harmonics, guttural roars, and drum blasts that hit like artillery fire. The sole breather, a cover of a Weezer song. Yes, that Weezer.

Every song is a lesson in complete auditory destruction, bent on exploding your mind and heart at the same time. The guitar is bombastic, insane, jagged, and unhinged. The vocals: deep growls, piercing shrieks, and manic squeals that will make any death-metal fan smile. The bass lines drive the songs down your throat while the drums shatter what is left of your eardrums.

Keep your eyes on Terminal Intensity. This is only the beginning; when they turn up the heat, Pittsburgh might not survive.

Normal Creatures – Rock and metal with catchy hooks, dual vocalists, and hip-hop inspirations

Normal Creatures was the most polished act of the evening. Lead by vocalists Brian Sikes Howe the band performed a series of songs that transcended several genres. They tickled the audience with songs that touched on alt-rock and weirdness with an underlying hip-hop feel. Sike’s strained vocals were accompanied by the warm vocals of Mandy Montgomery who undoubtedly filled the gaps. Bassist Justin Campbell, lead guitarist Evan Thorsen, and drummer Leo Rogers produced a simple yet enigmatic sound that drove the energy of the performance upward. Most notable was Evan’s guitar tone.

Emcees and Special Guests

The hosting throne got a double dose of dazzle this year. Zelda Kollins was back for a second stint as co-host, and when the organizers came calling, her response landed like a mic drop: “Absolute fucking yes.” She was joined by fresh blood Bri Griffith, and together these two queens introduced bands and filled the spaces between them with multiple drag performances and banter that kept the energy crackling.

Beyond the stage, a vibrant bazaar buzzes with creativity and heart. Punk Rock Saves Lives returned with their signature mission-driven merch, while Octopus Designs tempted with their hand-stitched patches and keychains, and Dipped by Design lured folks with handcrafted sweets that are almost too pretty to eat. Over in the courtyard, Providence 12 sets up his easel for live painting sessions. Last year, he generously donated half his earnings to the cause, and this year he was back to create custom works on the spot as the music raged around him. Some luck raffle participants walked away with a gift certificate from Crayons Professional Custom Tattoos or some killer band merch.

Pride in the Pit is proof that there’s a place for everyone who’s ever felt too punk for a parade or too queer for a mosh pit. This is just the beginning—and the future sounds gloriously, defiantly loud. Until next year, keep your horns up and your flags high.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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Concert Reviews

Revocation Brings “20 Years of Torment” to Preserving Underground

Published

1 week ago

October 6, 2026

J. Scott Holland

A Twenty-Year Assault in the Basement

There’s something almost cruel about scheduling a show this heavy on a Sunday night. But when Boston’s Revocation rolled into New Kensington for their “20 Years of Torment” tour, the Preserving Underground faithful didn’t seem to care about Monday morning. They came to worship at the altar of technical death metal, and the four-band bill delivered a sermon in pure brutality.

Preserving Underground is a record shop and venue housed in a former church which has become a vital hub for Pittsburgh’s heavy music scene. With its intimate main stage, a record store on the first floor, and the basement venue there’s an undeniable charm in seeing a band as technically demanding as Revocation in a room this size. The lack of distance between band and crowd makes the musicianship hit differently. You’re not watching from the nosebleeds; you’re standing close enough to see every fretboard contortion, every stick hit, every bead of sweat.

Weeping: A Suffocating Start
New Jersey’s Weeping opened the night with a set that lived up to their name, suffocatingly heavy sludge and death-doom that felt like standing in a tar pit. The band’s crushing tempos and sudden bursts of chaotic blast beats set the tone for what was to come: no filler, no crowd-pleasing banter, just pure sonic weight. For a band tasked with warming up a room on a Sunday, they did the opposite. They made it feel like the walls were closing in.

Fuming Mouth: Buzzsaw Death Metal
Massachusetts’ Fuming Mouth followed with an entirely different kind of assault. Their HM-2 fueled nasty, grinding, buzzsaw guitar tone is the kind of thing that makes the hairs on your arm stand up, and live, those riffs hit like a freight train. The band’s blend of death metal and metallic hardcore brought the energy, but the band’s frontman was all punk attitude. The pit was off and running (or two-stepping), from the first song and frontman Mark Whelan, threatened the crowd to keep it up all set. Fuming Mouth is one of those bands that sounds massive on record but somehow even bigger live. A testament to the sheer force of their delivery.

Defeated Sanity: Technical Devastation
Germany’s Defeated Sanity were the night’s wild card for anyone unfamiliar with their catalog, but by the end of their set, it was clear why they were on this bill. Technical brutal death metal is a niche within a niche, and Defeated Sanity occupies a space in that niche all their own. Mind-bending time signatures? Yes. Slam riffs that land with the impact of a demolition ball? Absolutely. The band’s precision was staggering—the kind of performance that makes you wonder how four humans can lock into patterns this complex without derailing entirely. For fans of extreme technicality, this was a masterclass.

Revocation: Twenty Years of Torment, Zero Signs of Fatigue
And then came the main event.

Revocation has been at this for two decades now. Empire of the Obscene dropped in 2008, and since then, Dave Davidson and company have released seven more albums of increasingly intricate, aggressive, and gloriously heavy music . The “20 Years of Torment” tour is a celebration of that legacy, and the band treated the Preserving crowd to a set that spanned their entire discography.

From the moment the band took the stage, the energy in the room was relentless. Davidson’s guitar work remains a thing of wonder. The way he shifts between technical precision, thrash riffing, death metal groove, and wild, almost jazzy solos without ever losing the thread is why he’s one of the most respected guitarists in modern extreme metal . His signature red guitar, with matching Nikes cut through the mix with razor clarity.

But if there’s one member of Revocation who deserves more recognition coming out of this show, it’s Ash Pearson. The drummer is criminally underrated. Watching him live makes it obvious how much he contributes to the band’s sound. His speed and precision are impressive, sure, but it’s the control and feel that stand out even with a photographer hassling him at the kit (not me)… He can unleash absolute hell when the song demands it, yet everything stays locked in and musical. The double-kick work was ridiculous. The transitions were razor sharp. Pearson has been behind the kit for years, and he deserves to be mentioned alongside the more celebrated drummers in modern extreme metal.

The newer additions to the lineup: rhythm guitarist Harry Lannon and bassist Alex Weber have clearly gelled with Davidson and Pearson. Lannon’s rhythm work provides a rock-solid foundation that allows Davidson to soar, while Weber’s bass lines were thick and propulsive throughout the set. The current iteration of Revocation is firing on all cylinders.

The set-list drew from across the band’s catalog, with a healthy dose of material from the new album, New Gods, New Masters. That record that was released in 2025 and finds the band exploring themes of AI and its detrimental effect on us, along with the technological dystopia, and the human tendency to worship new gods of our own creation. This came with the exception of bassist Alex Weber’s use of it. Which got called out on stage by singer Dave Davidson. Songs like “Confines of Infinity” and “Dystopian Vermin” translated live with crushing intensity, their lyrical paranoia matched by the music’s unrelenting aggression.

Revocation’s music is extreme for extreme times, as Davidson has said. Tonight, in a converted church basement in New Kensington, that mission statement felt more relevant than ever.

The Verdict
Four bands. Four distinct approaches to heaviness. One unforgettable Sunday night.

Revocation’s “20 Years of Torment” tour is a victory lap for a band that has spent two decades refining their craft without ever compromising their intensity. If you have the chance to catch this tour, don’t hesitate. And if you haven’t been to Preserving Underground yet, you’re missing out on one of the most vital venues Pittsburgh has to offer.

SETLIST
– Nihilistic Violence
– Scorched Earth Policy
– Fracked
– Confines of Infinity
– The All Seeing
– Data Corpse
– Of Unworldly Origin
– Dismantle the Dictator
– Chaos of Forms
– Summon the Spawn
– Only the Spineless Survive
– Bound by Desire

About Author

J. Scott Holland

Scott is one of the newest additions to the Empire Extreme team of misfits. He is a printer by trade, who moves to the beat of his very own drum. He is also an avid cyclist and seeker of new music and bands,

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Concert Reviews

IGORRR NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2026

Published

2 weeks ago

September 29, 2026

George Archibald

It’s another crowd-packed night at the Roxian as Igorrr takes over the Burgh with The North AMENican Tour. This experimental music act has been making waves across the world as they have been expanding into more areas, and they are here to tackle North America. Igorrr, the brainchild of Gautier Serre, takes elements from black metal, EDM, and baroque music and melds these genres in experimental soundscapes. Also taking the stage in support of Igorr are Secret Chiefs 3 and VOM – Violent Magic Orchestra.

The first act was Violent Magic Orchestra (VOM). Violent Magic Orchestra members hail from France and Japan. VOM’s music is a blend of EDM, techno, noise metal and black metal. From the moment things kicked off, I knew tonight was going to be interesting. VOM turned the Roxian Theatre into a black metal rave; members of the band would jump the barricade into the crowd and encourage crowd members to dance and clap. Strobe lights and heavy trip-hop beats kept the bodies moving as the vocalists growled and screamed. The band was high energy and a lot of fun to watch, along with the video screen in the background.

The next act was Secret Chiefs 3, an experimental rock band founded by Faith No More guitarist Trey Spruance. The band incorporates Middle Eastern, rock, and fusion to create music that is intertwined in mysticism and the occult. Odd time signatures paired with exotic scales and microtonal guitars; this is the thinking musician’s band. The set felt like a big jam session amongst friends, riffs drifting off and coming in. The rock instrumentals kept the crowd bobbing as the band played on.

Igorrr was up next with the stage barely lit; Gautier started the track to “Daemoni”. Hidden in the darkness, dressed in black and adorned in gold accents, vocalist JB began the almost tribal vocals to kick in the track. Onstage joining on vocals was Gerda Iguchi, a German-Japanese opera singer who joined the band in April, after vocalist Marthe Alexandre stepped away from the band. The crowd came to life as soon as the guitars kicked in, jumping and bouncing in the pit to the music. Igorrr audibly had everyone in the venue moving while visually entertaining with lights and their onstage performances. The band played through familiar singles such as “Headbutt”, “ieuD”, and “Viande”, among many others, before wrapping with “Opus Brain”.

If you are looking for a fun tour that veers from what is traditional music, The Igorr North American Tour should be considered. From a rave party to a zone-out session to a full-out audio assault, there is also a lot of fun involved with this tour. If you are looking to experience music that breaks social norms, this is the place to be.

About Author

George Archibald

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Concert Reviews

EIHWAR: NORDIC RITUAL NIGHTS TOUR; BALTIMORE

Published

1 month ago

September 2, 2026

Ron

EIHWAR MADE THEIR WAY INTO BALTIMORE BRINGING WITH THEM FRAYLE

Frayle opened up and I’ve heard of the band before but this was my first time getting to see them live. The stage was set up with a creepy gothic vibe as the band made its way on stage. The sound of Frayle is called Heavy Witch Doom which was exactly how they did sound, very doomy and gloomy and very theatrical. Singer Gwyn Strang brings an element of scary/seductive/sadness to her vocals and performance. She also has a wears a really killer chain face mask. Frayle played songs like Heretic, Demons and did a killer cover of Lana Del Rey of Summertime Sadness.

The stage was now set up for EIHWAR to make there Maryland debut. With just 2 members Asrunn and Mark, EIHWAR brings the chaos and fun of Viking War Trance. Armed with her traditional Nordic and neo pagan outfit , war paint and barefoot, she also had her shamanic frame drum. The whole set and vibe was great energy and the fans from beginning to end had so much fun, you could see them dancing and howling and having a blast.

I really enjoyed watching the band perform it was high energy and chaotic at times and then very tender and spiritual at times too. Asrunn vocals were just amazing and I loved Mark (mortal combat) style when he talked and sung as well. I’ve seen a few bands before that were similar styles before but there’s something about the sound of EIHWAR that brings you in differently. Asrunn also came out after to show to meet the fans and that was a very long line. Such a great experience and I was happy to see them on their US tour debut, when I met Asrunn at the merch table we talked about the interview I recently did with them and she really enjoyed the questions I had and was very sweet.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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