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For decades, Kurt Baker has been a staple of the power pop and rock ‘n’ roll scene, with

If you happened to be in Tokyo this past weekend and like Iron Maiden, there was a rare opportunity to see an astonishing collection of Maiden memorabilia accumulated by Yu Shimada. Shimada is widely acknowledged, even by the band, as Iron Maiden’s No.1 fan, so MetalTalk Japan popped along for a visit and a chat.

Yu Shimada – Iron Maiden Exhibition 2026 – Sugamo, Tokyo

Yu has seen the band so many times in so many different countries that he has difficulty remembering them all. But the gigs run well into the hundreds, and he has seen them multiple times in almost every country they have played in.

Every concert he goes to, he buys every piece of merch and scours the local shops for anything else he can get his hands on. His collection is so big that he has to store it in two houses, his and his mum’s.

He graciously took the time to show me around. Quite by chance, Gil Weston, Girlschool’s bass player from 1982 to 1987, happened to be in town, so we took her along as well.

Almost everything at the exhibition belongs to Yu Shimada. “Only a few things like a guitar and a few empty bottles over there are not mine,” Yu told MetalTalk Japan.

Yu does not spend much time on the internet sourcing items for his collection. He collects mainly when travelling. “I’ve been to many countries,” he said, “so I visit a lot of shops, record stores where I found these point-of-purchase displays. Lots from the merchandise tents as well.”

All these programmes and all the records are all from around the world.

“I keep each country from A, Argentina, Australia, and Brazil, Bolivia, then Canada, Croatia, all the way to Yugoslavia. Of course, I don’t have all the countries, but I try. “

The rarest in his collection is the famous Soundhouse Tapes, and he has three copies. “Two are bootlegs,” he says. “The original has the opening at the top, but the others open at the side.”

The jackets are official merchandise and the football was used in an Iron Maiden football match. “It was in Oslo, Norway,” Yu says. “2006 or maybe 2008. There were not so many fans there, only our friends and maybe 20 people watching.

“Iron Maiden lost, I think. The ball was played for 90 minutes, and then when the game ended, I saw this ball coming to me. Nobody cared about this ball. So I took it, and then I asked Steve to sign it.”

If the football is one of the rarest, or unique things in the exhibition, the most unusual is the Eddie. “This was from the No Prayer On The Road Tour,” Yu says. “Only used in Europe. They played in Japan but didn’t take him, and neither in America.”

This really is an amazing collection. “About half is stored at my original house where my mum is living,” Yu says, “and the rest are from my present house with my wife.”

The scale of this project is extraordinary and for any Iron Maiden fan, this collection will keep you engrossed for hours.

The post Iron Maiden / Inside Yu Shimada’s Astonishing Collection In Tokyo first appeared on MetalTalk – Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.

As couture symphonic metal band ANA storms across the United States on tour with Danzig, Twin Temple and Burning Witches, they drop this electrifying new music video for ‘Following the Wind‘. Directed by Aaron Mak and filmed during their recent Japan Tour, this music video captures the visceral energy of a band hitting their stride […]

The post Symphonic Metal Band ANA Release ‘Following the Wind’ Music Video appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

The Enid have announced they will no longer perform as a live band, and that Robert John Godfrey and fellow Enid musician Jason Ducker are currently working on a farewell album from the band

In a statement on the band’s social media pages, Robert John Godfrey stated, “The Enid cannot continue as a functioning live band, and there are no plans for any future events/concerts.

As such, we cannot, in good conscience, continue to take money from our fans via a subscription. We have decided to close the Enidi bank and PayPal accounts.

For my part, I continue to compose. This morning, Jason and I have committed ourselves to creating a final Enid recording.

Many thanks for giving me the life I hope I have deserved and the one which has suited me best.

My love to you all.

Robert et al at The Enid.”

The band’s last studio album, U, was released in 2019, and the band have only performed sporadically in recent years, performing their last live show at The Stables in Milton Keyens last May.

Robert John Godfrey was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2012, and announced he was retiring from touring with the band in 2016, saying, “The time has come for me to cross the footlights and devote myself to building our wonderful fan club, The Enidi, into a force to be reckoned with. I still have a few things up my sleeve before the sun sets upon my life’s work.”

In 2018, he announced that a brain scan had shown no presence of Alzheimer’s and he subsequently returned to performing with the band.

We spoke with DaN McKee, author, educator, contributor to Earth Island Books’ Hardcore Horror anthology, and creator of

Why Must the Future Sound Futuristic? Oasis have long been attacked for looking backwards. But why is borrowing from The Beatles considered retro while borrowing from Kraftwerk, Can or Neu! can signify the future? Perhaps the real question is who gets to decide what the future sounds like. The argument about the disappearance of the […]

The post Why Must the Future Sound Futuristic? appeared first on Louder Than War.

Swedish hard-rock risers Velveteen Queen’s ‘Talk or Walk’ is the fourth single from their eagerly anticipated sophomore album, ‘The Greater Good‘, due for release this Friday, September 18th via Silver Lining Music. Pre-orders are available – here. ‘Talk or Walk’ is a snarling rock ‘n’ roll track packed with attitude, grit and zero interest in […]

The post Velveteen Queen Release New Single & Video ‘Talk or Walk’ appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

DEVIL’S ISLAND featuring Eternal

Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil’s Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It’s not your average desert island and we’ll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.

This week when we arrived at Devil’s Island we find Eternal sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil’s Island?

Find out now…

Welcome to The Razors’e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don’t worry about it’s name I’m sure it’s not as bad as that would suggest.

You’re marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn’t live without. Which album did you each chose and why?

We chose Master of Puppets by Metallica. It’s an all time classic, and with that album alone you can learn everything you need to know about tasteful metal. It really is the epitome of thrash metal. With its blistering riffs and forward thinking approach, it was ahead of its time and helped redefine the whole genre.

Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to sleep in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose and why?

Spyros Pexos, lead guitarist: Rust in Peace by Megadeth.

Nick Pogas, singer and guitarist: Dio’s The Last in Line.

Alex Archaniotis, drums: Basically any Pantera poster.

Nick Tsaousis, bass: Any Dimebag Darrell poster.

There’s also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What’s your tipple of choice?

Spyros: Beer.

Nick P: Paloma.

Alex: Gin and lemon juice.

Nick T: Beer.

Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?

Spyros: Guilt Trip hoodie.

Nick P: Malevolence bucket hat.

Alex: Anthrax long sleeve shirt.

Nick T: Mono Thrash T shirt.

You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?

We can all agree that the correct and only answer to that question is James Hetfield.

There’s a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?

Metallica, Toronto, 1986.

You’re getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?

That someone is Spyros, for sure. He’s just got the skills.

You’ve been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There’s only one thing for it… which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?

Definitely the bassist. Nick is getting eaten.

Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?

Spyros: Ronnie James Dio.

Nick P: Eddie Van Halen.

Alex: Nicko McBrain.

Nick T: Cliff Burton.

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

The post DEVIL’S ISLAND featuring Eternal appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

Album Review: MC16 – We’re Gonna Need a Milkman

Reviewed by Dan Barnes

Our good friends, MC16, popped out their second album, We’re Gonna Need a Milkman, at the end of August, a mere eighteen months after debut, Machine Code, hit the racks. This sophomore release sees the punk trio picking up where Machine Code ended, with the band sharpening their trenchant and insightful views of modernity against a now-fifty-year-old musical genre.

Running at about twenty-seven minutes, MC16 spend the first eleven-and-a-half – or the record’s first five tracks – warming the listener up with some classic MC16 tunes and caustic observations. Standard Class acts like a sibling to No Blood No Guilt’s United States of Generica, only this time the homogenised town centres are replaced by artists and dreamers, who yearn to push the boundaries, only for their creativity to be sacrificed on the altars of commercialism. The rhythm section of bassist Quinn and drummer, Duffy, lay a solid platform upon which guitarist/ vocalist, Carson, can spit raw proclamations, conjuring those old-school punk vibes of yester-year.

Cheerful addresses the idea of mental health and depression in particular, a jolly drum pattern reflecting the less-than-useless advice to cheer up or, in the context of this song, to pull your socks up. The band turn up the Oi! feel to this and to great effect. Addiction and substance abuse are the subject under Trooper’s discussion, arriving with a fat, stomping progression and crunching guitars; the alternative-sounding mid-section plays on the idea of becoming a Jekyll and Hyde character while under the influence, and the dangers of what happens when it takes hold.

The theme of mental health rear its head on Help Deak, through stabbing guitars and a snotty punk attitude, and Rubble Walker takes the earliest sound of the punk genre and paints a picture of its protagonist making their way through war ravaged streets.

At this point we’re five songs in and it feels like there’s been barely time to breathe. The reggae rhythms of Last Card arrive like a cold water shock, the easy, laid-back grooves acting like a complete one-hundred-and-eighty turn following the rampant opening to We’re Gonna Need a Milkman; I think Carson may have made a rod for his own back with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, its tongue-twister title is going to be a nightmare to deliver live, but the Stiff Little Finger’s adjacent riff and classic punk working class ire probably means it’s something he’s going to have to get used to.

The only song on the record to break the three-minute mark is the album highlight, Descended from Our Victims, from the heavy opening and pumping rhythms to the classic sixties-era pre-chorus, it’s driving and dangerous, introducing ideas of environmental responsibility in the most ambitious of …Milkman’s dozen. That’s Progress clocks in at less than a minute, arriving with the kind of Rock & Roll vibes you’d expect from Elvis; if The King had ever decided to try his hand at punk, that is.

The environment is considered again on Mars, a savage attack on the consumerist model that has strip-mined the Earth and is ready to do the same to the Red Planet; blending aggressive classic punk with a more poppy version, this is sure to become another live favourite. My Mind is Obsolete comes in with fuzzy bass and a rambunctious rhythm, and closing tune, End on a High, is part torch-song confessional and part upbeat, bouncing So Cal anthem.

We’re Gonna Need a Milkman is short but it’s an absolute blast of an album. It embodies the spirit of punk by three fellas who are probably old enough to know better but just don’t care. What’s more punk rock that that?

And I bet you’re wondering about that title? Well, funny you should ask… when humans do eventually colonise Mars, and houses are built, there’s going to have to be some way to get fresh milk on your cereals and in your tea. Urban planners will have come up with a fantastic solution: We’re Gonna Need a Milkman!

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

The post Album Review: MC16 – We’re Gonna Need a Milkman appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

Def Leppard, one of Britain’s greatest arena rock bands, release ‘Volume 4‘, the fourth of six volumes showcasing the band’s complete recorded output. Available on both 180g vinyl and limited-edition CD box sets via UMR, it features all studio recordings from 2015 to 2023, including ‘Def Leppard‘, ‘Diamond Star Halos‘, and ‘Drastic Symphonies‘, presented in […]

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