Girlschool's Vault Tape, Down's Long Silence, and Why Ohio's NWOTHM Scene Should Be Paying Attention

Every few months the national metal press hands us a stack of headlines that, on the surface, have nothing to do with Ohio. A NWOBHM band digging up a cassette from 1981. A sludge supergroup ending a 19-year album drought. A Norwegian prog outfit resurfacing after more than a decade of silence. But if you squint — and honestly, you don't even have to squint that hard — every one of these stories is a mirror held up to what's happening right now in basements, VFW halls, and DIY venues across Columbus, Cleveland, Akron, and Cincinnati.