Matthew Berlyant

Bronx, New York

Music Contributor at Under the Radar

Husband, dad, writer, music lover/record collector

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Articles

Rivers of Nihil @ The Meadows, Brooklyn, US, June 20, 2025

6 days ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive After the somewhat muted reception to their last album, 2021’s The Work, it’s nice to see Reading, PA’s leading progressive death metal lights Rivers of Nihil come back to Brooklyn and just wreak havoc on the venue with massive riffs and fans singing along to every word, particularly on material from 2018’s Where Owls Know My Name, long considered their masterpiece and one which even landed them in the Billboard 200 for a brief amount of time, a relative rarity for underground...
Khanate @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York, US, June 3, 2025

1 week ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive The doom/drone/experimental metal band Khanate’s first hometown show in twenty years promised to be an event, and that it most certainly was.
Deafheaven @ Irving Plaza, New York, US, May 14, 2025

1 month ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive Back in March, Deafheaven released their sixth album, the incredible Lonely People with Power, which marked a return to George Clarke’s anguished, screaming vocals, blast beats, and a more intense disposition than anything they’d released since perhaps 2015’s New Bermuda or even 2013’s much-lauded Sunbather.
TV Smith's Adverts @ TV Eye, Ridgewood, New York, US, May 12, 2025

1 month ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive WHAT. A. SHOW! Those were my first thoughts after TV Smith’s incredible set here a few days at TV Eye. In his first visit to the U.S. since 2009, he assembled a band to play 1977-1979 era Adverts songs, many of which have rarely been played live since their original late ‘70s run. While Smith remains the only original member, the show was a marvelous success for a number of reasons. First and foremost was Smith himself.
The Damned @ White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, New Jersey, US, May 1, 2025

1 month ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive Less than a year after their triumphant shows at Hammerstein Ballroom and Norwalk’s District Music Hall (see my review HERE), The Damned returned to the NYC metro area with their ‘79-’83 line-up (finally including bassist Paul Gray and drummer Rat Scabies) fully intact, this time hitting Jersey City’s more intimate White Eagle Hall for a jam-packed, sold-out show that saw them play with the energy of many bands half of their age.
Slide Away Festival, Brooklyn Paramount, Brooklyn, US, April 26, 2025

1 month ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive Back in March 2024, Nothing’s Dominic “Nicky” Palermo created the Slide Away Festival. In its inaugural edition, the lineup featured performances in both Nothing’s native Philadelphia and Los Angeles as well, with Nothing themselves performing their 2014 album Guilty of Everything alongside newer and more established U.S. and shoegaze acts ranging from nineties Boston legends Swirlies to Mexico’s Mint Field.
Decibel Metal and Beer Festival @ Fillmore, Philadelphia, April 5, 2025

2 months ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive Since its inception in 2017, the long-running extreme metal publication Decibel Magazine has hosted its annual Metal and Beer Festival at the Fillmore in Philadelphia, where the magazine is also based, with a Denver-based festival held every year since 2022 as well. However, despite the amazing line-ups and my proximity to its location, I had never been able to attend before this year.
The Zeros @ TV Eye, Ridgewood, New York, March 29, 2025

2 months ago | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive File this one under things I thought I’d never be able to see, even if this wasn’t technically the same Zeros line-up that last came here in 2009 to play the much-missed Brooklyn club Southpaw. Let me explain.
Cavalera @ Warsaw, Brooklyn, NYC, US, March 13, 2025

Mar 26, 2025 | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive Following up on their 2023 tour when they focused on playing selections from their two best (and some of their most loved) albums, 1989’s Beneath the Remains and 1991’s Arise, guitarist/vocalist Max Cavalera and his younger brother and drummer Igor Cavalera (both formerly of Sepultura, the mighty Brazilian metal titans that released both of those masterpieces), Cavalera (also known as Cavalera Conspiracy) are back now, this time focusing on their earliest material from before...
The Avengers @ Gold Sounds, Brooklyn, New York, US, 7th March, 2025

Mar 10, 2025 | undertheradarmag.com | Matthew Berlyant

Web Exclusive If you’d told me back in the early nineties when I was a wide-eyed teenager obsessed with The Pink Album and late seventies CA punk in general that I would get to see The Avengers once every few years (or more) in this century, I would’ve told you that you were optimistic, but crazy. At that point, they’d been LONG broken up (since 1979).