A portrait of a member of the Arkansas band Zashed. The person stands indoors against a weathered wall with a string of white fairy lights hanging vertically. They wear a dark grey t-shirt featuring a 'Spy vs. Spy' graphic under the word 'SURFACED' in a heavy metal font, paired with black pants and a dark baseball cap. The image has a grainy, film-like texture with muted, earthy tones. — Zashed Credit: zashed / Bandcamp

Evanescence isn’t the only hard-rock band to make Arkansas proud. Little Rock’s Terminal Nation, plus the late-’90s outfits Burned Up Bled Dry and Kill Order come to mind—and now so does Zashed.

A 2023 debut, Pride. Progress. Potential., is an ode to the South that does not pull punches about the region’s ugly history, and the quartet built on that foundation last year with the release of Hue and Cry.

The eight-track outing is a love letter to The Natural State and an exemplar of what metallic hardcore from this corner of the country can sound like.

Tickets to see Zashed play Skatepark of Tampa on Tuesday, March 24 are still available for $20–$25.

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