One of the best things to come out of Venezuelan Metal Season for me was befriending Joad Manuel Jiménez. For those of you who don’t know: Joad was the singer of Venezuelan heavy metal pioneers Arkangel from 1994 to 2002, and then again from 2015 to 2016. After leaving Arkangel for the first time, he recorded a really cool progressive thrash metal album – think a slightly more aggressive and less complex Watchtower – with Centurion, after which he played with the absolutely incredible progressive metal band Sexto Sonar for just over five years.

Since moving to Buenos Aires around ten years ago, Joad hasn’t joined any new metal bands, though he did contribute to a number of releases as a guest singer since, and he recorded a full version of the ‘Master of Reality’ album with Argentinian Black Sabbath tribute band War Pigs. Last Friday, he released a compilation album containing tracks from all of his bands under the title of ‘Retrospective’. Only digitally at the moment, but if you’re curious about his awesome voice and the music he has graced it with, make sure to check it out.

While the songs are generally those that people familiar with Joad’s work know, some of the recordings are previously unreleased. He recorded this version of Arkangel classic ‘Castillo Sobre el Mar’ with Gillman guitarist Luis Loyo specifically for this release, and I had not heard the hyper-aggressive live version of ‘Asesino’ before either. If you are curious about the backgrounds behind most of these recordings, my extensive interview with Joad from a couple of months ago will likely answer most of the questions you may have.

Oh, by the way, Joad has no idea that I’m publishing this article. Well, he does now, because he has subscribed to my newsletter, and he receives everything I publish on this site, but this isn’t a promotional article he has requested. I just want more people to know about his work. Also, he’s a great guy, and he’s been a massive help in making Venezuelan Metal Season what it is. At least five of the interviews would likely not have happened without him. Six if you include his own. So please, take the time to listen to ‘Retrospective’ right here: