Time to dive into a country’s metal scene for an extended period of time once again! This December and January, Kevy Metal will be devoted to Venezuelan Metal Season. That means that every single interview published these two months will be with a Venezuelan metal musician – though some are foreign musicians who are or have been part of the Venezuelan metal scene. Also, every review published during this period will be about a Venezuelan metal album. The only exception will be the Best of 2025 list on the first day of the new year.

Venezuelan Metal Season can in many ways be seen as a sequel to Peruvian Metal Month, which ran throughout January 2024. This time, the special will run for two months, simply because there is more content to publish. Since Peruvian Metal Month had a bit of a rocky start, I started planning for Venezuelan Metal Season a little earlier. Before I knew it, however, I had done enough interviews to publish something fairly in-depth two or three times a week.

Honestly, I love how this came together and how the shared enthusiasm between myself and the interviewees made the project grow into what it will soon become. Some of you might have some questions about the initiative, so I will answer the ones I expect you to have right here and now.

Why Venezuela?

When Peruvian Metal Month was announced, I said I wasn’t sure whether I was going to do something like that again, and that was true at the time. It was a lot of work, especially because quite a few interviews had not taken place yet at the time the special was announced. What I did know was that if I was going to do another country-based special, it was going to be Venezuela.

The most important reason for this was that Venezuela had a heavy metal scene incredibly early. Resistencia and Power Age – the latter of which morphed into Arkangel – got their start around 1977, a few years before multiple European countries even had a single metal band. And yet, their metal scene never grew as active as those in Argentina or Brazil, not even relative to the country’s size.

At the moment, I wouldn’t confidently say that I have the definitive answer to the question how that could happen, but multiple musicians have given me some interesting perspectives on the state of Venezuela’s past and present metal scenes. I genuinely cannot wait to share these with you.

Why These Specific Venezuelan Artists?

The first steps towards approaching artists for Venezuelan Metal Season were very much informed by the influence of certain artists, as well as my personal preference. Apart from that, many of the musicians I interviewed themselves were instrumental in either getting me in touch with other musicians or giving me highly useful suggestions. It was what I hoped would happen for Peruvian Metal Month as well, but didn’t really. Or at least nowhere near as much as this time around.

Having said that, I did try to create as much of a balance between styles and eras as I possibly could. There is certainly more extreme metal in Venezuela than I will cover in the upcoming months, and that is largely a matter of preference. But I have tried to cover the most important names of any era of Venezuelan metal, as well as some underground names that I think my readers should know. Also, there were some opportunities thrown in my lap that I simply could not pass up on.

Where Can I Find the Music of These Artists?

As always on Kevy Metal, I will provide as many YouTube videos, Spotify playlists and Bandcamp links as I possibly can in the interviews. Which is a challenge sometimes, because some of these bands were active in the pre-YouTube era, or they simply did not have the means to make proper recordings. Television programs like El Garaje and Kultura Rock, as well as Venezuela Metal Fest, have made this slightly easier than with Peruvian Metal Month, but it’s not like a majority of these bands had twenty-plus professional videos to choose from.

If you are looking for physical releases instead, my suggestion would be to check out Ariah Records. Their owner has played a huge part in making Venezuelan Metal Season what it is – or technically will be, at the time of posting – and he is very knowledgeable in both the Venezuelan metal scene and the logistics of it. If Ariah can’t get you what you want, it’s likely out of print and unavailable through conventional means.

Muchas Gracias por Tu Ayuda

There are a few people without whom Venezuelan Metal Season would not have been possible, or at least not in the form it’s about to take. Once again: Ariah Records has been incredibly helpful. Not just in helping me set up a significant number of the interviews, but also in educating me on the country’s metal scene and trusting this crazy idea that I had for this special. Rebeca Flores has been a similar all-round help for me as well.

Then, there are the musicians who helped me in more ways than allowing me to take up a bit of their time with my curiosity by either suggesting to get in touch with other musicians or downright doing the work for me. Since they all helped me in extremely useful ways, I will thank them in alphabetical order: Abel Cañizales, Facundo Coral, Joad Manuel Jiménez and Marcial Meléndez, muchas gracias por tu ayuda!

Yes, that might give you a tiny glimpse of the musicians that will be covered during Venezuelan Metal Season. Honestly, when I started working on it, I didn’t expect it would lead to multiple face-to-face interviews, many more video calls, and me digitally attending a wedding.

Venezuelan Metal Season Playlist

If you are curious and want to explore some Venezuelan metal before the season starts, make sure to check out the Spotify playlist I compiled, which I will share at the end of this article. Just a quick disclaimer: not all artists interviewed for Venezuelan Metal Season is in this playlist, and vice versa. While I have tried to include as many artists I have interviewed as possible, not all of them have material available on Spotify, and not all artists I contacted have responded. This playlist should give you a pretty good impression of what Venezuela has to offer in terms of musical talent, though.