New Orleans sludge metal pioneers Eyehategod are heading back to Winter Park, set to headline a four-band bill at Conduit on September 16, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show starting at 8 p.m. The 18-and-over concert also features Atlanta noise-rock trio Whores., Washington, D.C. grindcore act No/Más, and Orlando's own doom outfit Skeletizer, with tickets priced at $25.
Endoxa Booking is presenting the show, according to Conduit. The venue itself has quietly become one of Central Florida's key rooms for heavy music since it opened in January 2023 at 6700 Aloma Avenue, taking over the space long occupied by the beloved metal bar The Haven Lounge, as reported by Orlando Weekly. That same report notes Conduit is run by a partnership of regional promoters and club owners, including Endoxa Booking's Pete Olen, Will's Pub owner Will Walker, and Tampa Orpheum owner Jerry Dufrain — a lineup of industry veterans that helps explain why the venue keeps landing heavyweight touring metal acts.
A Four-Decade Sludge Legacy Rolls Through Florida
Eyehategod formed in New Orleans in 1988, with guitarist Jimmy Bower and vocalist Michael “IX” Williams at the helm, and the band released its sixth full-length album, A History of Nomadic Behavior, in March 2021 via Century Media Records, according to First Avenue. The band is widely credited with helping pioneer the Southern sludge metal subgenre, blending downtuned, Black Sabbath-inspired riffs with punk rock speed and dense walls of guitar feedback, per the same source. That combination, forged in the late 1980s Gulf Coast underground, still defines the band's sound nearly four decades later.
The Winter Park stop is part of a broader mid-September Florida run for the band, which includes dates in Tallahassee on Sept. 15, Miami on Sept. 17, and Tampa on Sept. 18, according to Eyehategod's official website. The routing puts Conduit alongside several of the state's larger markets, underscoring the venue's standing within the regional touring circuit.
National Support Acts Bring Noise Rock and Grindcore
Opening the bill is Whores., an Atlanta noise-rock trio fronted by vocalist and guitarist Christian Lembach. The band released its second full-length album, War., in 2024, following up its 2016 debut LP Gold, according to Equipboard. Also on the bill is No/Más, a Washington, D.C. grindcore and death metal group that put out its 15-track debut full-length, Consume / Deny / Repent, through Closed Casket Activities in April 2022, as detailed by IDIOTEQ.
Orlando's Skeletizer Rounds Out the Local Lineup
Opening the night is Skeletizer, an Orlando doom metal act that released its debut seven-track mini-album, Sounds from the Doomshed, on February 20, 2026, as reported by Orlando Weekly. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Nikki Sorenson, formerly of local acts Six Dead Horses and Country Slashers, alongside guitarist Tyler Rosenberg, bassist Steve Jonker, and drummer Garrett Ward, per the same outlet's coverage. Their inclusion on the bill reflects Conduit's pattern of pairing touring national acts with homegrown Central Florida talent.
News of the show first surfaced in Orlando Weekly's This Little Underground column, written by Bao Le-Huu and appearing in the outlet's Sept. 9-15, 2026 issue. Conduit has been a steady presence on Hoodline's radar this year, having hosted death metal act Malignancy in a show last month, and the drag-punk mashup R!ot Dykes just last week. For fans tracking the wider sludge and doom scene rooted in New Orleans, Eyehategod's history intersects with acts like Pantera, Down, and Crowbar, a lineage recently spotlighted in coverage of Pantera's return to New Orleans.
