I WAS always wary of metal music as a kid. I was put off at a young age by a group of long-haired bikers who gathered at one of their houses just around the corner from me and played their music, and screamed and shouted, as loud as they could. There wer

I WAS always wary of metal music as a kid.

I was put off at a young age by a group of long-haired bikers who gathered at one of their houses just around the corner from me and played their music, and screamed and shouted, as loud as they could.

There were also rumours that these bikers sacrificed virgins and drank their blood in rituals, but that was never proved.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I used to despise metal music and everything that was associated with it.

But as I grew older I came to embrace it and tried to rid myself of stereotyping big hairy bikers.

The reason for my rambling is that I'm happy to say that a night of screamo metal has been organised by Death in Disguise promotions, aka Theo Foster, for this Friday at Club 85 in Hitchin.

The night kicks off with Many Things Untold (replacing Organsasblack) and This is Colour, both of which successfully combine overwhelming vocals and screaming guitars.

Following on after these are hardcore metal collective The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine, whose name I love because it raises the word count of this article quite a bit.

"The local scene in Hitchin is thriving. We've been there to play a few shows now and we love it every time," the Artilleryman said.

Last up are six-piece metal band Khalo. Although the name is somewhat shorter, their heavy drums, guitars and vocals, combined with smart keyboard melodies, more than make up for it.

"It should pretty a pretty good night, it's looking like we'll have quite a few people there," Theo Foster said.

As with most Club 85 gigs, the doors open at 7.45pm. Admission is £4.50.