About a second after descending into this garden-level haunt in the south ’Burg, you’ll realize you’re in metal country. If the red lights lining the ceiling don’t give this away, the crunchy power chords blaring from the speakers and the tattoo-covered clientele downing PBRs (a mere $1 a pop before 9pm) will. (Those crucifixes, shrunken heads and skulls should tip you off too.) Metal celebs like Anthrax ax man Scott Ian have been known to drop by. And the joint’s jukebox is pretty impressive, leaning heavily toward hard-hitting, ghoulish stuff, of course (think Cannibal Corpse, Mastodon, Cro-Mags), but also with some nonheadbanging tracks by the likes of frat-rock ’60s groups and primitive rockers the Cramps. (Psst…on Sundays, you can play whatever seedy songs you fancy for free.)
As part of our package on the city’s thriving, diverse metal scene, we’ve hunted down the top places for metalheads to grab a drink. We’re not talking about punk holdovers or rock dives that occasionally spin the genre’s cuts, but bona fide metal bars, the kind of institutions that always blast the hard stuff and act as a sort of home away from home for touring headbangers. Not that you need to be a devotee of dark tunes to enjoy yourself. “We get people here who aren’t wearing the uniform—all-black tight pants, black vest, long hair, tattoos—but they’re having a great time,” Saint Vitus co-owner Arthur Shepherd told us back in the fall. And he’s right: In our experience, each one of these spots has been friendly and welcoming—even when we left our Slayer jacket at home.
RECOMMENDED: Metal music in NYC