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Album of the Week 48-2025: Struck a Nerve – Struck a Nerve
If you get the chorus to the Bad Religion song stuck in your head when reading that band name, rest assured: you are not the only one. There isn’t any melodic hardcore on Struck a Nerve’s debut album, however. In fact, there isn’t much punk at all. Instead, the British…
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Tools for Discovery: Turbo Albums Ranked
Along with Kat and TSA, Turbo was among the first heavy metal bands to come out of Poland around 1980, though one could argue that Turbo’s early work has as much in common with seventies hard rock as it has with heavy metal. As with many veteran bands, their history…
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Interview Javier Valdi: Trying to Create Something Different
Modern instrumental metal often is a vehicle for virtuosity. But while Spanish guitarist Javier Valdi is a highly skilled player – and not afraid to show it – the main focus on his five-song EP ‘Serendipia’ is on memorable riffs and strong melodies. “You have to keep it interesting”, Valdi…
Latest Interviews
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Interview Joanne Shaw Taylor: Different Sides of the Same Artist
Few artists manage to combine the spontaneity of blues guitar playing with strong, memorable roots and soul songwriting as well as British singer and guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor. Her strong new offering ‘Black & Gold’ was released one day shy of a year after its equally strong predecessor ‘Heavy Soul’,…
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Interview Julek Warszawski: “Classical Music Was a Key to Open New Doors”
Some jazz guitarists are specialized in certain aspects of the genre. Young Polish guitarist Julek Warszawski appears to be one of those rare masters of all trades. He plays jazzy R&B with the band Roseye, and explores the possibilities of combining classical guitar music with electronic music in fonoduo. And…
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Interview Laurens Houvast (Cryptosis): “We Wanted to Create Our Own Blend of Styles”
With their fantastic 2021 debut ‘Bionic Swarm’, Cryptosis presented itself as a surprisingly accomplished progressive thrash metal band. On the recently released ‘Celestial Death’, the Dutch trio explores the boundaries of their sound a little more, openly flirting with black metal influences. Vocalist and guitarist Laurens Houvast evaluates the evolution…
Latest Reviews
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Album of the Week 09-2025: Sacrosanct – Kidron
German guitarist Randy Meinhard already immortalized himself as a hero of the Dutch metal scene as a founding member of Pestilence, as well as for releasing the progressive thrash masterpiece that is ‘Recesses for the Depraved’ with his own Sacrosanct in 1991. When he revived Sacrosanct with ‘Necropolis’ in 2018,…
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Album of the Week 08-2025: Chemicide – Violence Prevails
In case you’re wondering where all the vicious, speedy aggression of your favorite classic thrash metal bands has gone: it sounds like Costa Rica’s Chemicide has absorbed all of it and put it into ‘Violence Prevails’. And yet, the dynamic songwriting of ‘Violence Prevails’ shows more depth than the average…
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Album of the Week 07-2025: Ereb Altor – Hälsingemörker
Most bands strongly influenced by Bathory circa ‘Hammerheart’ or ‘Twilight of the Gods’ don’t get around to developing their own style. Some might tweak things a bit – better vocals, either more or fewer extreme metal passages – but very few manage to actually turn the influence into something completely…
Kevy Metal 