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In honor of their eighth album, “Baptize,” Atreyu embarked on a 29-city tour across the United States.

Considering this was the band’s first album since the departure of lead singer Alex Varkatzas last year, it’s safe to say that some trepidation existed in the world of hard rock. A band fans had known and loved for more than 20 years was making a radical change, with drummer Brandon Saller becoming the new vocalist. Would they still have that same trademark Atreyu sound?

Emphatically, the answer is yes. Both on the album and in person, Atreyu still delivers everything you know and love about them — particular on this random weeknight in November, when they crushed a 17-song set that absolutely proved the newest configuration of the band still delivers. And they definitely still know how to have a good time.

On this night, upon learning that a fan was celebrating her birthday by attending their show, Saller asked her to pull a random song title out of a bowl. Birthday girl Brandy selected “Broken Again,” the seldom-played fifth song off of the album, giving Baltimore a rare performance of the high-energy track.

When Crown The Empire first formed, their stated goal was to be heavier than other bands from the area. Considering Dallas, Texas is known for many things and hard rock isn’t necessarily one of them, it’s safe to say the high schoolers had modest ambitions in the beginning.

Over the last decade, the boys from Crown The Empire have bucked conventional wisdom of what Texas music sounds like and have proven they absolutely deserve the respect they’ve earned. These days, lead vocalist Andy Leo and Hayden Tree, who plays bass guitar and provides extreme vocals, along with lead guitarist Brandon Hoover and drummer Brent Taddie, have fine tuned their sound and continue to strike a balance between earworm-inducing melodies and metalcore madness.

When they visited Baltimore in November, it began readily apparent that Crown The Empire have fun wherever, whenever. In fact, halfway through their set, Leo informed the crowd that, just before taking the stage, Tree had gotten a new tattoo and a shop right around the corner from the venue. He then encouraged those in attendance to buy the bassist a beverage to celebrate (and possibly numb the pain). So many fans complied that, less than a song later, Tree had to kindly ask folks to stop.

The highlight of the night was when the band broke out their newest single “In Another Life.” While Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante was not in the building to provide her vocals, the new track had the building rocking.

Who doesn’t love an inspirational story? Well, gather round boys and girls, because you’re going to dig this one.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (Atlanta, Georgia), two middle school kids decided they wanted to form a band. That, in and of itself isn’t particularly noteworthy, but the self-described outcasts showed a level of discipline and determination that enabled this dynamic duo to actually achieve their adorable childhood goal.

Meet Josh Fore and Diamond Rowe, the lead singer and lead guitarist of Tetrarch. Along with bassist Ryan Lerner and drummer Ruben Limas, the Los Angeles-based band has become a staple of SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal and Octane stations, with their hit single “I’m Not Right” becoming a soundtrack for countless hard rock and metal fans who couldn’t go anywhere or do anything during 2020 (a.k.a. – the year of the pandemic).

If their performance in Baltimore is any indication, things are only getting better and better for Tetrarch. That’s clearly great news for the band and even better for their fans.

During the loneliest times of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the world was stuck at home with no idea when we might see some semblance of normalcy, the saints at SiriusXM had a novel notion. Since music lovers could no longer go to concerts, why not bring concerts to the music lovers? From that simple concept, the Octane Accelerator Virtual Concert series was born. The inaugural event featuring three new hard rock bands: Saul, Any Given Sin and AVOID.

That performance was my official introduction to Saul. While I was familiar with a song or two of theirs beforehand, that was the night I officially became a fan. Less than a year later, I was scheduled to see them in concert, along with Any Given Sin and Nonpoint … until Nonpoint was forced to postpone the show — along with several others — after their vehicle and trailer were involved in an accident.

Finally, two months after that show was postponed and nearly a year after their virtual concert, the stars aligned and I was able to see Saul live. And they did not disappoint. While they only had time to play an abbreviated set, they made the most out of what they were given and set the tone for the rest of the night.

They simply don’t make bands like Rival Sons anymore. The music created by this Long Beach, California-based band seems like it should be played in heavy rotation with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, as opposed to whatever passes for today’s rock music.

And since Rival Sons has always had a throwback vibe, it’s only fitting that they’re currently touring in celebration of the tenth anniversary of their album Pressure & Time. Starting in September, lead singer Jay Buchanan and friends hit the road on a six-week, 30-stop trek as they played their critically acclaimed, second studio album cover to cover.

Considering the album has amassed more than 40 million streams over the last decade, the Pressure and Time Anniversary Tour is clearly designed to give fans what they want. And anyone who has seen Rival Sons in concert can attest, for as good as they are on vinyl, they’re even better live.