If you have ever wondered what 200 people compressed into a bar-sized room with a live deathcore band feels like — Monday, July 20 is your answer. Heavy//Hitter, the Orlando quartet building a serious name in the underground metal world, rolls into The Song & Dance on East Jefferson Street for a show that kicks off at 6:30 PM sharp.
Get there by 6. Doors open at 6:00 PM, the show starts at 6:30, and the support lineup gives you every reason to arrive early. Chain Gang, Torn Open, and When Skies Decide are all on the bill — that is a full evening of metalcore and death metal before the headliner even hits the stage.
Heavy//Hitter has been doing the work since 2019. Vocalist Austin Hayes, guitarist Dane Loeprich, bassist Chris Perez, and drummer Josh Archeval came up out of Orlando playing what their label Blue Grape Music calls “caustic, controlled, and catchy deathcore” — and that description holds. They signed with Blue Grape in the fall of 2024, dropped the Moments of Misery EP that November, and followed it with Coming To Terms in October 2025. The label also handles Code Orange and GEL, which tells you something about the company they keep.
Hayes has a way of describing the band’s origin that sticks with you: “Before I started this band, I quit music for five years. Nothing was fulfilling, so I got back into music and started HEAVY//HITTER with Dane.” That gap shows up in the intensity — this is a band that came back with something to prove.
The Song & Dance is a 200-capacity bar and music venue in downtown Syracuse. At this size, there is no back row. Tickets start at $23.38. Note the age restriction: 16+ with ID, under 16 with a parent or legal guardian, no one under 12 admitted.
Tickets are available through After Dark Presents and will be delivered digitally two days before the show. Get your tickets here — and get there by doors.