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Listen to the best in new, heavy music every week with HEAVY‘s new weekly HEAVY AUDIO MAG, featuring music from our weekly cover artist plus new premieres, hit predictions, and killer tracks we just know you want to listen to from bands featured over both digimags and some just because we want to put them […]

In this interview, Kitty A. Austen, Jon James Tufnell, and Andy Head of the band Saint Agnes discuss their musical evolution and upcoming album. They describe their sound as a blend of industrial rock, punk, and metal, focusing on emotional honesty and intense live performances. The conversation covers their DIY approach to music videos, their songwriting process, and how personal experiences with grief and world events influenced their new music.

The post Video Interview: Kitty A. Austen, Jon James Tufnell & Andy Head from Saint Agnes first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.

You know The Beatles were only together for six years or something, so we did pretty well to last that long before we had a change.

— Buck Dharma, “Interview with Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom (Blue Öyster Cult)”

The Revölution by Night (1983) is where it all fell apart for Blue Öyster Cult. 

Or is it? The errant historical position of The Revölution by Night in the band’s catalog reflects its debated quality. The narrative around the Cult’s first post-Albert Bouchard album has never stabilized. Structural changes in the band’s lineup and exhaustion from the one-two blow that was the prior Fire of Unknown Origin (1981), as well as a well-received live companion Extraterrestrial Live (1982), put pressure on The Revölution by Night to define the inflection point in the superstructure of Blue Öyster Cult’s weltanschauung. There is a sundering here which left one half of fans pleased and the other half wanting. The album had something in it of both the whip and the dope. A true consensus has never cohered on The Revölution by Night even several decades on from the 1980s, but one gets the same ageless impression: “It feels different.”

Does it though? Upon analysis, The Revölution by Night is not too different from the prior Fire of Unknown Origin, the aesthetic pinnacle of Blue Öyster Cult in the radio mainstream. The Revölution by Night and Fire of Unknown Origin share the same skin and bones of the Cult’s transitory period, which weighed heavily on the band throughout the early 1980s. One need look at the writing credits on the album to scan familiar names: Richard Meltzer, Helen Wheels, Sandy Pearlman, and queen of the New York scene Patti Smith. Smith’s poetry was once again key for the album by contributing the lyrics for the album’s mystical centerpiece: the sensually illusive ballad “Shooting Shark.” The album’s overall subject matter is all well-trod at this point too with (if anything) a more pronounced interest in extraterrestrials, motorcycles, and psycho-murderers. The skin of the album is familiar as well. Artist Gregg Scott returns after his work on the legendarily eerie Offering cover for Fire of Unknown Origin with a mythic highway exchange of speed, lightning, and hieroglyphics for The Revölution by Night. All this is the Cult’s established philosophy and aesthetics. 

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So, what was the difference? The most immediate and tangible was Albert Bouchard’s absence on drums after the blowout in England in August 1981. Bouchard had, ultimately, been voted out of the band in a unanimous group decision (including his own brother Joe Bouchard) as, after a tense confrontation backstage at the Monsters of Rock music festival, Bouchard’s intense creativity could no longer justify increasing unreliability. The rift with Albert was much more consequential than originally intended. Months of separation turned into years. The Cult’s handy fixit Rick Downey was then gang-pressed into filling the open seat. Downey was not intended to stay in the drummer’s seat for long, but necessity, alongside the band’s general dissatisfaction in the search for a long-term replacement, turned into Downey featuring fully on The Revölution by Night—it would be his only feature on a Cult studio album. This change in the lineup was exacerbated by the departure of producer Martin Birch, who had provided a needed steady hand on Cultösaurus Erectus (1980) and helped the band secure an undeniable second wind with Fire of Unknown Origin. Birch had to heed the call of the Commonwealth when he returned to merry old England (technically the Bahamas) to help a little-known band produce an album titled Powerslave (1984). His transition to Iron Maiden’s technical man necessitated his replacement by Kasim Sulton, and later Bon Jovi-producer Bruce Fairbairn. Most of the pre-production with Fairbairn, according to Eric Bloom, ended up being done in an apartment loft in Brooklyn, next to the Brooklyn Bridge, where the Cult had to pay off the rest of the apartment lodgers so as to not be inundated with noise complaints. None of these changes were concessions, perhaps the all-consuming terror of disco did place certain necessities on the band, but it was undeniably different. 

There was doubtless a decay in the monolithic autarchy of the concept of Blue Öyster Cult, but The Revölution by Night’s opening track shows the band did not feel themselves in alien territory: “Take Me Away.” This surprise collaboration between Eric Bloom and guitarist Aldo Nova shows no awkwardness. Though technically not a Blue Öyster Cult song by inception, “Take Me Away” was originally a psychotic tune by Nova titled “Psycho Ward” which Bloom re-conceived with an appropriate Cult-ish fantasy: his legitimate desire to be abducted by aliens. The result was a strange twist on the “I wanna be a rockstar” power ballad that is instead dedicated to the Men in Black, close encounters of the third kind, and a lust for the foreign rather than flesh. A majority of the work on the song was apparently laid out by Nova, who slipped into the studio with Bloom’s help to cut the track with the band’s consent. The insane origins of the tune remain in the breakdown in the latter half, which heavily features Nova’s guitar prowess. The entire piece is celestial, rather bright for a Blue Öyster Cult song, which makes ample use of sci-fi synthesizers (also played by Nova) and hooks. There’s a different edge here that is refreshing for being a little less cynical than Fire of Unknown Origin. “Take Me Away” is an incredibly strong opening, so why not go along for the ride?

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“Eyes on Fire” is the first odd note on The Revölution by Night. The subject matter is perfectly Blue Öyster Cult, a ballad of obsession from the perspective of a man who finds himself always second-best in the eyes of the woman he desires, but the demo was by outsider Gregg Winter (no connection to artist Gregg Scott). The Cult ended up buying the song outright from Winter because Bloom enjoyed it. There are a couple turns of phrase that make “Eyes on Fire” a fun little tune: “Eyes on fire / glowing like coals in the night,” and “I’m the wildcard / She’s got up her sleeve / But she doesn’t look at me.” The issue is the song never goes beyond implications and inferences, so there is not a bloody (or outlandish) twist that pulls it together at the conclusion. Catharsis is absent. One gets the sense this was another attempt by the Cult at swinging for a hit, but the song lacks “frisson” (as Sandy Pearlman would put it). Bloom’s bellowing vocals are also unable to cover up the main issue most point to with the album: the very 1980s electronic drums. They were the Simmons drums Downey used for the majority of the material, which always sounded slightly muted. Is Downey at fault here? Not at all, but “Eyes on Fire” does make it obvious that Blue Öyster Cult were falling victim to the technological attrition of the era. 

Patti Smith’s “Shooting Shark” luckily swoops in and puts the album back on a proper footing equal to Fire of Unknown Origin, though it was not originally for The Revölution by Night. While not an active face-to-face collaboration, Smith had unofficially pseudo-retired from the music industry by 1979. Buck Dharma was able to take a cut of Smith’s leftover words and turn them into a lush ballad of mystical frustration. In untruncated form, “Shooting Shark” is one of the longer Cult songs (around seven minutes), but not exactly a conceptual epic like “Nosferatu” or “Black Blade.” What exactly the song represents is forever hotly debated, but the star-crossed narrative is a fever fugue which slides between billiards metaphors, the harsh obligations of love, and infinite distance that not even intimate closeness can overcome. The actual composition is rather romantic in soft rock fashion, synthesizer-heavy, where Buck on guitar and American Idol’s Randy Jackson, of all people, on bass lay down sweet licks and sweeping sequences. Joe Bouchard stated he lacked the slap bass skills Buck wanted for the song, so Jackson was brought in like a mercenary for the session. The saxophone solo was then provided by Marc Baum! Ultimately, the song is smooth as hell but feels rather isolated being based so heavily on outside musicians, drum machines, and adult contemporary-oriented mutations to the BÖCDNA. Any hope for the song to be the album’s shooting star ended up beached as the rise in rigid hit-fishing on AM and FM terrestrial radio meant the era of experimentation with longer rock and metal tracks on air was done. The high quality of “Shooting Shark” did little to prop it up in mainstream culture besides some minor airtime in rotation after release. 

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“Veins” is a patented Cult pseudo-murder ballad with lyricist Richard Meltzer’s only credit on the album. The song puts ice in the veins. It also puts the 1980s in the veins with a lot of synthesizer and radio-friendly energy, a reoccurring theme. Another Buck song, “Veins” is a hard shift from the sleek “Shooting Shark” towards the album’s core section of teeth-clenched rock and metal. “Veins” bridges this gap to a satisfactory degree. Dharma’s vocals here are unique enough to make the listener wonder if there has been a verifiable murder. The word “overproduced” is thrown around about “Veins,” but that sensation could be the result of the Prophet 5 synthesizer used on the track. This is another Cult offering bogged down by the mechanical traits of the 1980s, though Downey and Lanier provide subtler accompaniment in the background which give the song a fullness rather than totally ringing hollow. “Veins” slots in as another example of fever dream bloodshed in the Cult’s catalog, but few will directly name “Veins” as their favorite case of blue bloodshed. 

Victims of circumstance “Shadow of California” and “Feel the Thunder” compose the cyclical core of The Revölution by Night. The album’s greatest failure is in placing these much too similar tracks back-to-back. “Shadow of California” is a bombastic biker metal track, penned by Sandy Pearlman, that puts the sterling studs in the leather of The Revölution by Night. An intentional pseudo-sequel to the earlier “Golden Age of Leather,” Pearlman’s lyrics of motorcycle madness provide ample space for electronic booms and studio choruses. The issue becomes that the unapologetic loudness of “Shadow of California” is followed up by the spooky, also unapologetically loud, biker rock of Bloom’s “Feel the Thunder.” Originally a Michael Moorcock-penned song by the name of “Sleep of a Thousand Tears,” Bloom shifted the track towards a more urban legend style story in the folkloric lineage of the country-western classic “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky,” about a group of Gothic ghost-riders on motorcycles. “Feel the Thunder” is another instance of the Cult penning a modernized Hammer Horror soundtrack. Both songs ultimately step on the other’s toes thus causing the whole middle of the album to awkwardly misfire. The Cult’s modern American folklore unfortunately withers all the same at the cold in-creep of the 1980s. Summer of love, winters of discontent, all were giving way to the spring of unabashed Reaganomics. 

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“Let Go” is another go at a band anthem for Blue Öyster Cult, though different from the first attempt off Spectres with “R U Ready 2 Rock.” It’s also another Bloom and Ian Hunter (of Mott the Hoople fame) collaboration with some additional input from Dharma. It is not too dissimilar in style from Bloom and Hunter’s earlier collaboration off Spectres: “Goin’ Through the Motions.” “Let Go” resembles a salon-style riff redux on those earlier collaborative attempts to distill the band identity down to one track. The song, in all, was the self-reflection of the band who were, perhaps, becoming too self-aware about the whole situation: more successful, more self-referential, but more cheesy. It, of course, included a vibrant chorus to encourage audience participation in live performances, but the function here is much more rock ‘n roll stagecraft rather than the Cult’s earlier interest in mass psychology. The composition is reflective of the early 1980s period which the Cult spent touring with groups like Triumph and Journey. The result is a wild rock anthem that functions better in concert rather than sealed away, hypostatic, on an album. Additionally, the song opened the band to the accusation that all their new material was too much fat and too little muscle. 

A lean collaboration between Dharma and Broadway Blotto (real name: Bill Polchinski) then bursts out in flames with “Dragon Lady,” one of those rock-metal songs that should be painted across the side of a van in a full-on fantasy mural. Fighting, cavorting, and almost parodic, “Dragon Lady” is a blazing guitar-centric track about an unattainable warrior lady in-command of a mythical beast and the attention of all men. The fun here is all in the testosterone, leather, and ozone destruction from the fire and hairspray. Structurally, the song is brash due to the influence of Polchinski, a mainstay member of the upstate New York oddball band Blotto. They legitimately originated as a comedy jug band and were friends with Dharma, who occasionally cameo’d in their satirical music videos. Polchinski’s and Blotto’s general blunt ethos can be felt throughout “Dragon Lady,” which put even some Cult diehards off. The rest of the Cult unfortunately get pushed into the background here as Dharma’s guitar chops cut it up. Nothing feels ignored, but still, something smells off. “Dragon Lady” was never going to be a hit, but it is an unappreciated scorcher of a song that makes no apologies for being so indulgent. 

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“Light Years of Love” is a somber crooner ballad that closes off The Revölution by Night. Written by Joe Bouchard and hardcore rocker Helen Wheels, it reflects both the great strengths and great weaknesses of the whole album. Bouchard often names “Light Years of Love” as having some of his favorite original lyrics, and he is not misguided in his affection. The song presents sincere love lyrics and carries them well for a band that, on the surface, seemed to be so cutting with every topic. Bouchard went from the anonymous metropolitan torture of “Screams” off Blue Öyster Cult (1972) to, in 1983, crooning, “Our love is like the shining sea / In salty foam we can feel so free.” Living or dead, mustachioed men in leather can love too. The entire affair is an electric pastoral in the unabashed sci-fi language of 1980s neon. “Light Years of Love,” though, confirms the serious breach that the succeeding album Club Ninja would go on to consummate: Blue Öyster Cult’s dis-frequency (though not exactly break) with the wider American rock-metal tradition. “Light Years of Love” straggles into the no man’s land of surplus studio production and is shot down with little flourish. Outside Bouchard’s voice, “Light Years of Love” is so flattened that all personality has been squeezed and salted out of it. There’s nothing loud, nothing experimental, nothing so alien here that any audience will return to this track with addicted ears and fresh eyes. The shadow that has been haunting the Cult since Cultösaurus Erectus is coalescing in light as The Revölution by Night disperses.

The Revölution by Night failed to stabilize the centrifugal forces that had delivered the band their second wind with Cultösaurus Erectus. These forces were self-negating as the band’s identity continued to disperse and dissolve with only a vague thrust of commercialism as a guiding light through the late 1980s. The title, then, as with every unplanned revolution, failed to establish a solid alternative for what Blue Öyster Cult could be for the next decade. The miss came at an unfortunately critical time when such a vanguard failure for Blue Öyster Cult created a self-reinforcing collapse of the band’s identity and, essentially, exile from mass culture until the 2000s. The exact causes for error, as with any historical collapse, varied depending on the source. Bloom blamed the prolonged period on how out-of-step the Cult had become with the zeitgeist after punk, which the Cult were friendly to, lost the grand market campaign to disco. Bouchard’s answer is similar: the culture hegemony of 1980s studio production, derived from disco philosophy, created a cascade effect that caused the band to always be playing catch-up. The most incisive anecdote about the album, though perhaps an apocryphal rumor, is that both Sandy Pearlman and Dharma went behind producer Bruce Fairbairn’s back to remix multiple tracks on the album. No one knew what to make out of The Revölution by Night, which, to this day, still sounds out of place yet oddly listenable. 

The ultimate result of The Revölution by Night is a lot of bitter and a lot of sweet. It was Blue Öyster Cult’s rearguard action against inevitable market forces banging at the door. The band had been buoyed for a decade on connections and hot luck: a sweetheart deal with Columbia, a love affair with the New York milieu, and an immortal mega hit that still lives on after fifty years. The Revölution by Night proved the band was still a functioning unit with comprehensive talent, maintained a voice, but also that the functional braintrust behind the music was under strain. The inevitable chips of bad fortune were being delivered to the band as they trudged on with the knowledge that those stable givens could soon collapse, economic concerns were replacing philosophical unity, and that there were only two more studio albums until the decade-long deal with Columbia was up. It all foreboded the long, axial crisis of Blue Öyster Cult throughout the unstable 1980s, culminating with a long 1990s in the wilderness. They were now at the threshold, but the man bound for the wilderness becomes either a beast, a philosopher, or a prophet with each step.

What would Blue Öyster Cult become? A shadow warrior, of course. 

–William Pauper

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Special thanks on this retrospective to Martin Popoff for his Agents of Fortune: The Blue Oyster Cult Story, the administrators at Hot Rails, and the disparate BÖC archivists across the Internet keeping alive more than fifty years of band history.

Read previous retrospectives here:

Blue Öyster Cult (1972) | Tyranny and Mutation (1973) | Secret Treaties (1974) | Agents of Fortune (1976) | Spectres (1977) | Mirrors (1979) | Cultösaurus Erectus (1980) | Fire of Unknown Origin (1981)

After years of rumors and fan demand, Slipknot are finally releasing Look Outside Your Window, a collection of previously unreleased songs recorded during the All Hope Is Gone era. The set was made by four members, Corey Taylor, Jim Root, Sid Wilson, and Shawn “Clown” Crahan, and it is now set for a vinyl release on Record Store Day (04/18). Find more details here.

The music was first discussed publicly in 2018, when Shawn “Clown” Crahan said those sessions happened at a separate studio during a stalled moment in recording All Hope Is Gone. The material reportedly leaned more psychedelic than what fans expected from Slipknot at the time.

In the newly shared statement, the band explained exactly how the project came together: “We knew we were heading down a different creative path, entirely apart from Slipknot, and we followed it eagerly. We called the project Look Outside Your Window as a tribute to this experimental spirit.”

“Created during a chaotic time in our shared history, the songs were born late at night, in a house on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Peering out through a big picture window, we wondered about what, or who, might be lurking outside. That sense of the unknown seeped into the music itself. There were no rules; ideas could come from anywhere: subtle drum loops, bits of organ or abstract guitar noise, even samples of frogs or crickets. Guided by emotion and instinct, we let the sounds themselves point the way,” he added.

Look Outside Your Window is Corey Taylor, Jim Root, Sid Wilson and Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, who, in the downtime during recording sessions for Slipknot‘s 2008 album All Hope Is Gone, began to freely create songs for themselves, exploring new directions with no outside expectations.

“Over the years, the existence of this project has seen coverage in outlets including Vice, Revolver, NME, Kerrang!, and countless others, and the fans have only grown louder in their demand to hear this album. Now, over 15 years later, the fans will finally get to experience it for themselves. Splatter vinyl with a die-cut jacket, purple foil on the front of the jacket, purple flood inside the jacket, and embossed text on the back of the jacket.” – the release page reads.

For longtime listeners, this is one of the most talked-about side chapters in the Slipknot timeline, finally getting an official release.

The post SLIPKNOT’s “Look Outside You Window” Will Finally Arrive In April, And Not Under The SLIPKNOT Moniker appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Rhino presents Breaking Out Of Heaven 2007-2009, a new collection focusing on the final chapter of Ronnie James Dio‘s celebrated tenure with members of Black Sabbath. Reuniting with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice under the name Heaven & Hell, the band returned to the stage and studio decades after their original run for an unexpected second act.

Breaking Out Of Heaven 2007-2009 will be available March 27 as 7LP and 4CD/Blu-ray boxed sets. Both editions include an illustrated book with new liner notes by Hugh Gilmour, along with a replica tour book and poster. Order it now here.

The collection marks the first time the complete Live From Radio City Music Hall performance appears on vinyl, and features eight tracks making their vinyl debut, including studio recordings from The Dio Years and select live performances. The Blu-ray expands the set with video from Live From Radio City Music Hall and Neon Nights: 30 Years Of Heaven & Hell – Live At Wacken, plus band interviews.

An HD-upscaled video of “Bible Black” is out today, and can be watched below.

The set follows the band’s reunion run, beginning with their triumphant 2007 New York performance, Live From Radio City Music Hall, followed by the Top 10 studio album The Devil You Know in 2009, and the live album Neon Nights: 30 Years Of Heaven & Hell – Live at Wacken, recorded later that year on tour in Germany.

The post HEAVEN & HELL’s 4CD/Blu-Ray And 7LP Box Sets, “Breaking Out Of Heaven 2007-2009”, Are Arriving In March appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Rock artist AUSTEN STARR will release her debut album, I Am The Enemy, on February 13, 2026, via Frontiers Music Srl. The album blends contemporary rock with classic hard rock influences and features songs written by STARR in collaboration with guitarist Joel Hoekstra, who also performs all guitar parts on the record.

Ahead of the album’s release, STARR has shared several music videos from the record. The latest video is for “Read Your Mind,” following earlier releases for “Medusa,” “I Am The Enemy,” and “Remain Unseen.” The album also features Chris Collier on bass and drums, Steve Ferlazzo on keyboards, and Chloe Lowery on background vocals.

Tracklist:

1. Remain Unseen
2. Medusa
3. I Am The Enemy
4. Read Your Mind
5. Get Out Alive
6. Effigy
7. Running Out Of Time
8. All Alone
9. Not This Life
10. The Light
11. Until I See You Again

Band Line-up

• Austen Starr – Vocals
• Joel Hoekstra – Guitars
• Chris Collier – Bass / Drums
• Steve Ferlazzo – Keyboards
• Chloe Lowery – Background Vocals

The post Austen Starr releasing debut album “I AM THE ENEMY” this month first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.

As he continues to lay down tracks for his upcoming sixth solo album, Stephen Pearcy — the voice of Ratt — has announced his initial tour dates for 2026.

Billed as “The Undercover Tour,” the itinerary will be highlighted by performances with guitarist extraordinaire Warren DeMartini — his longtime bandmate in Ratt and current touring partner — under the Pearcy/DeMartini moniker. The first date of 2026 is a Pearcy/DeMartini show on February 26 at the Yaamava’ Theater in Highland, CA. The dates are below and listed here.

Pearcy recently performed with DeMartini on January 26 at The Roxy in Los Angeles at the Metal Hall of Fame event honoring DeMartini where he was saluted as a Sunset Strip Inductee, an award Pearcy himself received in 2020.

At the upcoming shows, Pearcy is offering a highly personalized post-show VIP Meet N Greet experience where fans can interact with him, get their personal collectibles signed, and take home exclusive memorabilia. Fans are encouraged to pre-purchase because limited tickets are available. For all the details, go here.

Pearcy is also inviting fans who sign up for his Patreon to his life at home and on tour. “This is real life, Rock & Roll, and Raw access, moments that don’t make it on social media, and I’m opening the door wide,” he says. “It’s where the real story lives.” And starting next week, special guest artists will be joining Pearcy in the studio, and subscribers can see it all in real time, exclusively on Patreon.

Pearcy, the vocal powerhouse, prolific songwriter, seasoned entrepreneur, and indefatigable force of nature, remains hyper-focused on the recording of a new album, which is set for release later this year and will include a long list of guest stars.

The upcoming tour dates are as follows:

02/26 – Highland, CA – Rockageddon at Yaamava’ Theater ^
05/09 – Tulare, CA – Adventist Health Amphitheater +
05/29 – Davenport, IA – River City Casino +
05/31 – Lake Charles, LA – L’Auberge Casino Resort +
06/13 – West Salem, WI – Maple Grove Venue +
08/21 – Gatlinburg, TN – Gatlinburg ^
08/23 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Café ^

^ Pearcy/DeMartini
+ Stephen Pearcy solo

The post STEPHEN PEARCY Announces Initial Dates For 2026 ‘”The Undercover Tour” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

German heavy metal titans Cruel Force are back with their fourth album, “Haneda”. It is no secret that “Dawn of the Axe“, their previous record, was a firm favourite in recent years for me. Once again, Shadow Kingdom Records releases this opus, conveniently on my birthday, 27th March.

Soaring guitars summon a potent sense of adventure with a warmth to the mix and massive, spacious drums; telling us that what is about to kick off is something special. Sure enough, lead single “Whips-A-Swinging”, which I have been playing a lot since its release, fires in on all cylinders. Crushing speed metal riffing and monstrous drums with sweeping fills lay waste to all with rabid vocals punching through the leather thanks to their powerful delivery and superb pacing. Cruel Force have cemented themselves as a timeless and classic metal band in my view, and the strength of this record’s opening moments perfectly illustrates my point. The guitars are powerful in the writing and the delivery, not to mention the sublime production. The bass adds that thick, stabbing low end, and the drums, as I mentioned before, sound huge. From the rototoms and reversed snare hits to the majestic soloing, these maniacs ride in on a storm of killer riffs but with the embellishments to elevate their music to something classic and defining. With all of the meanness of German speed metal pioneers, the atmosphere of classic USPM, and the monolithic overall execution of timeless rock bands like Rainbow, Scorpions, and Dio; Cruel Force embodies everything that one should as a heavy metal band. This extends to their artwork, recording methods, live shows, logos, photos, the works.

There is notably more emphasis on the storytelling side of this record without feeling like some pretentious affair. The vocals and lyrics are delivered with a menacing snarl and hold a commanding presence backed up by the artillery of truly magnificent instrumental work. Cruel Force are an unbreakable unit; those who have seen them live can attest to that. I adore the ancient imagery and theme on this record, which feels like “Powerslave” on amphetamines topped up by some Uli Jon Roth guitar wizardry and Iron Angel-esque battery. Whilst harnessing the classic and essential elements of the genre’s finest moments, Cruel Force are not afraid to increase the bombastic, cinematic, and adventurous elements of their music, which have bloomed into an unwieldy force of total domination.

Effortlessly going from the magnificence of early Manowar into pure high-speed venomous carnage, these four fellas cannot be held back since they were unleashed. Slaughter’s guitar work, especially in the solos, feels more inspired than ever, and the drumming, bass, and vocals of GG Alex, Spider, and Carnivore are no less ferocious. It feels like lightning has been captured by the spears of the gods and flows with an electrifying current into the heart of some archaic temple to reanimate the ancient ways— both thematically and musically. The blistering work on “Sword of Iron” or the more melodically ambitious “Warlords” (seriously, how much more ripping can a song get?) can be compared as a testament to Cruel Force’s ever-growing abilities to craft interesting and exciting songs.

Today (the 5th of February 2026) marks 16 years since the band’s ravenous debut album “The Rise of Satanic Might” was released, a firm favourite in the black thrash genre and a scathing first effort. No matter how much I love that record though, I feel the rebirth of the band with their third album “Dawn of the Axe” was their entrance into a whole new league and “Haneda” continues to live up to this insane level of quality. I can say with total conviction that I will be blasting this record for many years to come and talking about it in the same breath as legends from 40 years prior. It just cannot be denied this has that timeless, grandiose quality and furthermore all of the elements sonically, visually and lyrically sit in perfect harmony.

As much as I don’t like to get into the “objective” diatribes of some self-appointed critic; I couldn’t find something to tear apart even if I wanted to. The music feels authentic on a songwriting and production level and all of the elements within this record complement each other beautifully. To back this up, the band’s conviction in what they do is unbreakable. I’ve met them a handful of times and seen them live, I have no doubts they are the real article. Nothing but total passion, dedication and adoration for heavy metal, playing your instrument and creatively pursuing the creation of a wonderful record could yield these results. No nepotism, industry or financial backing could conjure as convincing an effort as this one. Perfidious bands infect the scene with their “old-school revivalist” cosplay, which is absurd because metal never went anywhere. Instead it grew in strength in the underground for albums such as this to smite posers off the face of the earth with total power.

The savage gods have been invoked once more. Cruel Force follow their career-defining “Dawn of the Axe” with a masterpiece of just as much potency and skill. Ever since the titan’s reawakening after their hiatus, this band has been putting the power back into metal and showing no remorse or mercy to those who have forgotten the true metallic ways. When real die-hard maniacs passionately and creatively unleash records like this, it shows the genre is as strong as it ever was, especially in the underground. “Haneda” is a record like few others in this day and age. A heavy metal album of many facets, directions and sounds that work in unison to deliver an unforgettable strike! One that can definitely become a classic to many people who value the traditions of ancient metal magick. 

For further reading, check out my Cruel Force interview’s part one here and part two here!

Good Day Noir Family,
Listening to Will Camos and his single What a Ride! is like rolling the windows down and letting a wide American highway do the talking.

What a Ride! is Will Camos’ Single Out Now

The song opens with a bright, guitar-driven energy rooted in country rock.

That opening riff carries hints of ZZ Top and sun-burned landscapes, and it sets a sense of movement. Right away, the track suggests freedom, distance, and momentum.

Soon after, the rhythm locks in with confidence. The tempo feels steady yet restless, which keeps the song pushing forward. At the same time, the production stays clean and open, giving each instrument room to breathe. Because of that clarity, the guitar lines feel sharp and present without becoming aggressive. Moreover, the groove invites you to imagine long drives, roadside stops, and moments of reflection between destinations.

Will Camos’ vocal delivery plays a central role. His voice does not try to overpower the arrangement. It guides the listener through the story with a direct and honest tone. The lyrics remain easy to follow and emotionally grounded. He sings with the kind of simplicity that feels intentional, and that choice allows the narrative to shine. Additionally, the phrasing reinforces the feeling of lived experience rather than fiction.

The structure reveals smart dynamic choices. Verses stay lean, while the chorus opens up just enough to lift the mood without losing momentum. Furthermore, the chord progression supports the feeling of motion, never settling too long in one place. This balance keeps the track engaging from start to finish. Even so, nothing feels rushed or forced.

The rhythm section provides a solid backbone that keeps everything grounded. Together, these elements create a song that feels accessible but thoughtfully arranged.

What a Ride! works because it understands its own identity. It celebrates travel, freedom, and personal stories without unnecessary complexity. In doing so, Will Camos delivers a track that feels genuine and easy to connect with. It is the kind of song that fits both a road trip playlist and a quiet moment of reflection.

What a Ride! is Will Camos’ Single Out Now!

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Freewheeling!

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Find Will Camos Here:

Spotify
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