Dallas Show Demonstrates How Women Are Reshaping Metal

The line for the show at Three Links in Deep Ellum on Dec. 6 was out the door and down the street. People bundled in black hoodies and shirts featuring the names of metal bands like Gojira, Sabaton and Dying Wish huddled together in the chilly night air. Despite the temperature, the venue’s garage-door-style front wall was open, allowing the first band’s sounds to reach the queue while the staff checked everyone in. 

The venue was packed full of metalheads of all ages, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, evidence that female-fronted acts aren’t niche anymore, but part of the mainstream modern metal.

Dallas natives Viridescent were first, and they established the tone for the evening, showing how being authentically themselves is shaping the modern metalcore scene, a genre that often resists change. Lead vocalist Mira Divina and supporting vocalist Dylan Ory worked well together. We’re old enough to remember hecklers at shows shouting “shut the f*ck up” to discourage and marginalize women-fronted metal acts, but this time, Mira Divina led the crowd in this same chant as an act of empowerment. 

Alexander Van Templin on guitar and Jake Stevens on drums added solid metal backing throughout the set. Side note: Y’all go nominate them by Dec. 31 for Best Metal Act, Best New Artist and more for the Dallas Entertainment Awards.

Stitched Up Heart, formed in 2010 in Los Angeles by singer Alecia “Mixi” Demner, was next. Out of the four bands in the lineup, they stand apart in demonstrating how women in metal embody both ferocity and emotional openness, challenging stereotypes. 

Mixi has said that she founded the band at a time when she “was depressed and going through heartbreak. The name is supposed to give people strength and courage.” 

Stitched Up Heart’s persistence through many band lineup changes has been key to developing their sound while staying true to the hopeful message in their lyrics. After belting out the song “My Demon,” a technical difficulty arose with the onstage computer and tracks, so Mixi decided to cut their new song “Sick Sick Sick” from the set list. It’s a catchy collaboration with Lauren Babic, Eyes Set To Kill and Judge & Jury, released Nov. 21. Instead, Stitched Up Heart dug deep and closed with “Frankenstein,” a track from their 2014 Skeleton Key EP.

Out of the Gate

The careers of women in metal exemplify resilience, as evidenced by Stitched Up Heart’s adjustment, and the next artist is no exception. Lauren Babic’s journey demonstrates how digital platforms have democratized access to a genre once gatekept by labels and scenes. Her YouTube channel boasts 700,000 subscribers, many of whom discovered her through her covers of popular songs. Not many people can give Britney Spears’s “Toxic” a metal treatment and pull it off, but Babic performed it with such a powerful “TOXXIICCCKK” that the packed house became believers. Indeed, it gave us the sense that Lauren Babic does what she wants, and we’re just along for the fascinating ride. 

She also debuted new original songs such as “Blood Bath” and closed with her version of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club,” which had everyone (including the awesome bartenders) singing along. While it is a big deal that this is Lauren Babic’s first solo tour effort, the fun cover songs were a playful reminder that metal doesn’t have to take itself so seriously all the time.

Finally, headliners Eyes Set To Kill took the stage. They are dismantling the genre’s old archetype of aggressive masculinity, replacing it with a broader emotional and stylistic spectrum. Vocalist and guitarist Alexia Rodriguez, a force as a frontwoman, stated that they were celebrating their 2010 album, Broken Frames, but had some older songs in store as well. 

Dynamic bassist Anissa Rodriguez, her sister and co-founder of the band, drummer Caleb Clifton and guitarist Jeremy Anderson combined with Alexia’s energy so well that it’s no wonder Eyes Set to Kill has received critical acclaim. Broken Frames was ranked fifth on the list of Phoenix’s “Locals Only: The Best Albums and EPs in 2010.”

Interestingly, any heavy metal screaming of lyrics was done by Anderson, but it didn’t overpower Alexia’s melodic style. Closing their set with “Liar in the Glass” and “Darling,” Eyes Set To Kill put an exclamation point on the conclusion of the night.

Overall, the stacked lineup was a testament to how women in metal are reshaping the genre, not by fitting into its old molds, but by breaking them open and building new ones. They’re building communities where fans see themselves reflected on stage. Viridescent’s beautiful brutality, Stitched Up Heart’s power in vulnerability, Lauren Babic’s versatility and Eyes Set To Kill’s melodic expansion of metal all contributed to a sense that we’re witnessing a bigger cultural shift.