P.O.D.

Metal

Dirty Dog Bar

Open Hand‘s union of grunge dynamics, prog riffs, emo intensity, and soaring melody had few analogs when it debuted on 2005’s You and Me. Now, the Hollywood quartet preps comeback Weirdo, produced by Bill Gaal of Nothingface. Playing synth pop with a rock & roll attitude, Them Guns makes electronica you can play air guitar to. They’ve conquered the L.A. club scene with a Queens of the Daft Punk sound. P.O.D., aka Payable on Death (reference to their Christian outlook), struck platinum at the turn of the millennium with posi-metal anthems “Alive” and “Youth of the Nation.” 2015’s The Awakening fodders the San Diegans set list here.

This article appears in March 11 • 2016.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.