Once upon a time, the big, bad Lazer/Wulf was tougher than a fairy-tale villain. Then one day it huffed and it puffed and it blew all preconceived notions about metal music down.

“We’re the only unbridled instrumental metal beast in Athens,” Matt Karaglou said with confidence. “We try to make it dramatic as possible while having as much fun as possible.”

The 24-year old drummer from Atlanta is a recent addition to the band, having played his first show with Lazer/Wulf in January.

“Our singer had some health issues and had to leave,” said Bryan Aiken, guitarist, of how the metal troupe became a hybrid sensation on the local music scene. High and dry with no singer in sight, Lazer/Wülf carried on like champions and finished the tour without words.

“The crowd response for those shows was incredible,” Aiken said. “People were like, ‘Holy crap! Instrumental metal? Are you serious?’ and we thought ‘Well, I guess so.’”

And so, in true fairy-tale fashion, Lazer/Wulf did nothing but prosper from the loss of its frontman – a tragedy that sends most bands to rock ‘n’ roll heaven, never to be seen or heard from again.

“It seems to work for us because we don’t have to worry about all that screaming and whatnot,” Aiken said. “None of us are really into that.”

Despite a long and loving relationship with the metal music genre, guitarist Sean Peiffer prefers to keep it simple as well.

“Everybody feels like they need a vocalist,” Peiffer said. “I think the cool thing about Lazer/Wulf is that the music speaks for itself. We don’t need a front man.”

Guitarist Aiken attributes much of the band’s success to the musical atmosphere and down-for-whatever fan base Lazer/Wulf has enjoyed in Athens.

“It’s so freeing that our fans are so open-minded,” he said. “Our fans are so energetic and happy. We just played at Tasty World the other night and three guys came up to me and said, ‘We have never heard music like yours before. We could not stop smiling the entire time.’ And they were big metal dudes with beards and tattoos and like three beers in their hands. That’s exactly what we wanted.”

It may be silly, but this heavy metal trio has existed quite successfully under one simple philosophy, coined by Bryan Aiken: “F*ck it! Guitar solo.”