ZRockR Goes to Hell’s Heroes: Day Two

March 21, 2025 – Good morning, metalheads and rocker freaks. Throw on your band shirts, ripped jeans, fishnets, battle jackets, aviator sunglasses, and plenty of leather and chains, because it’s time to return to Houston’s very own White Oak Music Hall for day two of Hell’s Heroes.

With my backup camera holstered on my hip, and my main body camera wrapped around my neck, I took on the day with excitement. Knight and Gallow performed as one of the openers for day two, and I’ve never loved a group of people simply for being such sweet nerds. The first song on the setlist was about the Battle of Gondor from the Lord of the Rings. The third song was dedicated to Dark Souls 3. Beneath all of the nerdy fantasy references and the love of media, K&G played some of the catchiest songs of the whole festival, and I have to give them props for that. I have the opening lyrics to “Men of the West” stuck in my head, and I’ve been singing it to myself and my cat for the past week.

Now, this is important: If any bands are reading this, please note that if I’m ever hired to go on tour with a performing artist, my requested roles are as follows in order:

1. Media

2. Merch

3. Gammacide Hazmat Guy

Samples of horror movies, actors running around in hazmat suits just causing chaos, prop toxic waste barrels that smoked and made weird smells, Gammacide’s reunion show was something I hadn’t expected too much from, but was blown away by. It wasn’t only the stage presence and the theatrics, but it was the sheer blistering aggression of that sticky, gritty flavor of thrash. Gammacide sounded amazing live, and I even heralded it as the top performance of the weekend for a while. Seriously, Gammacide, I’d love to play in plastic barrels and run around causing mischief. Call me.

About an hour later I shot the first two songs of a hair metal band that sounded slick, wicked, and absolutely addictive. I returned after their performance to find one of the security guards covered in blood. “You missed it,” he said to me.

“Yo, what happened to you!?” I responded.

“You know those girls who were hanging out side stage?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, dude, they were dominatrixes, and right after all of you photographers left, the girls came out and started going nuts. One loaded a water gun with tequila and started firing it off into the crowd. Another poured fake blood into the guitarists mouth while he was still playing and he spat it into the crowd. He hit me with it.” That band was called Sabire, and boy oh boy, do they put on a performance. After the performance, the dominatrixes (their names being Tala, and Brit, respectively) took pics with fans afterwards, chaining them up in front of the Hell’s Heroes banner and stepping on them in their stiletto heels. I can’t guarantee you’ll get such an theatrical performance at every show they play, but even without the tequila squirt-guns, hearing the the riff to “Black Widow” will rewire your brain.

Speaking of rewiring, I may need to see a chiropractor to put all of my joints back together, because after Sabire, it was violence the rest of the evening. Blackened death metal gods, Sadistic Intent, played their set of music to stab people to. At a metal festival that largely lacked death metal, this was the closest the crowd got to being given music to throw hands to; trust me, both security and the media teams were comparing sets to Sadistic Intent’s frenzy the entire next day. “Hey, is this band going to be crazy?” “Yeah, but it’s no Sadistic Intent.” Sadistic Intent’s first few songs must have seen a good couple dozen crowd surfers piling in over the barricade. I got stepped on and pushed a good few times, and I thought that Sadistic’s set was the most violent of the evening. I was entirely wrong.

Even the venue itself knew to be scared of what Cavalera Conspiracy would do to the crowd. Extra security were brought in, a medic was put on the barricade, waiting on standby to do his thing, and the nerves were high as the lights went down. The crowd gave an enthusiastic cheer, like a child’s greedy giggle as he’s given a serving of sugar that he knows he’ll later throw up. I pressed my body against the stage, standing right next to Sam James from Street Teeth. Every photographer was as far from the actual barricade as we could be, for we knew what was going to come. And then the intro to Sepultura’s Schizophrenia album started playing. I’ve never been kicked as hard as I was during that set. We photographers hugged the stage as the security battled what must have been a hundred crowd surfers, only moving from our little pockets of space to find another pocket of space that we could use to shoot from. Trash can surfers, spinkickers, we got the whole lot. But aside from getting stepped and accidentally swung on my flailing crowd surfers, Cavalera Conspiracy was one of the best sets of the entire weekend. I’d see them again in a heartbeat. They’re on tour right now, and fellow ZRockR staff member, Courtney Ware, got to see them as they swung through Vegas. Check out her article, coming soon.

I was lucky enough to see Departure Chandelier play their second ever show – and their first North American show, always a special moment. Departure Chandelier is self-described as “Napoleonic War Black Metal,” and while many bands take themes and gimmicks that end up smothering them in the end, Departure’s vision is fresh and beautiful. They played gorgeous metal full of synths, fuzzy harmonics, and songs with lacey, delicate lyrics about committing violent acts on behalf of the Emperor Bonaparte, and alluding to the works of Marquis de Sade. For the black metal fans in attendance, that was largely considered to be one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend.

The characteristic of day two was hairspray and leather jackets. Despite the glaring Texas sun, the crowd was full of leather-clad fans of hair metal act, Crimson Glory. For them, the wait was worth it. Crimson Glory’s return to the stage was glorious and dripping in dramatic synth scores and twinkling guitar solos. Playing a list of favorites and classics, Crimson Glory calmed the post-Cavalera Conspiracy crowd down for the final moments of day two. They played the song “Lost Reflection” and I about lost my mind as I heard the opening melody get shot out over the crowd like a blanket of soft glam rock splendor. It was honestly a breathtaking performance.

I stayed late to see Hulder play the after party. The one-woman black metal project doesn’t often play shows, so to finally see her perform was a special moment for me. Her and her band walked out to “An Offering,” and as she began performing the second half of the song by harmonizing to the backing track, it filled the room with an ambient unease that I found blissful and truly gorgeous. It was a good day for black metal fans. Day three would prove to be even better, so be sure to come back for the final act of Hell’s Heroes VII.