Browsing Tag

Hard Rock

Cody Hyde – Final Ending: a Metalcore Juggernaut with Stadium-Sized Survival Scorched Through It

Posted on 31 May 2026

Stadiums should be scrambling to prepare themselves to host Cody Hyde, a revolutionary of metalcore and hard rock fusionism whose ability to augment overdriven amplification feels seemingly infinite. His latest release, Final Ending, featuring Marko Duplisak, is a harbinger of melodically juggernautical visceralism, reinforced with the kind of raw emotion that hits hard enough to leave you with a concussion.

Resonating as a refusal to sink into the clutches of absolute nihilism, Final Ending becomes an exposition of how we will meet final endings in our lifetimes, but none except the final ending deserves apathy. Cody Hyde turns that premise into a full-throttle statement of defiance, placing melodic hooks beside blast beats, serrated guitars, and Lamb of God-esque screamo vocals that tear through the verses with razor-sharp teeth.

For fans of Bullet For My Valentine, Metallica, and Five Finger Death Punch, the single carries the scale, muscle, and melodic instinct of arena-ready metal. Hyde, a guitarist and composer from Milaca, Minnesota, has been building towards his second studio album, Songs For the Broken, with tracks rooted in personal struggle, toxic relationships, and a broken world. Here, the soaring hard rock choruses hook themselves inside your throat while riffs strut as salacious guitar porn, making ambivalence impossible.

Final Ending is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hard Rock Heavy Hitters, Forever Vendetta, Fired Smoking Gun Resilience into ‘Not Dead Yet’

Posted on 4 May 2026

The South Wales quartet, Forever Vendetta, is a diamond in the hard rock rough, taking after the hardest substance known to man, glinting as an unreckonable spectacle in the UK alternative circuit. In their latest single and music video, Not Dead Yet, the riff-propulsed masters of visceralism laid down percussion that would give you whiplash if you attempted to follow; the juggernaut of a salaciously serpentine anthem is a dizzying rabbit hole of hypersonic adrenaline, cut through by the searing synthesis of spite and fortitude the lyrics are forged from.

If you’ve ever been counted as down and out, Not Dead Yet is a reckoning worth partaking in; it’s a fresh wave of resilience shot from a smoking gun; a Velvet Revolver, if you will. The instrumentals are tighter than a straitjacket under the helm of the vocals; you can almost hear the airwaves tremble under their command.

There is a loud, no-frills ferocity to the track that speaks volumes of a band that knows exactly how to make impact feel physical, while the hook-driven charge keeps the single surging forward with bruised knuckle determination.

Since forming in 2008, Forever Vendetta have built their reputation in South Wales and beyond by sharing stages with established heavyweights and doing things on their own terms. Following their self-produced debut album New Day Rising, Not Dead Yet lands in 2026 as an uncompromising return fired by attitude, energy, and a refusal to be written off.

Not Dead Yet is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, watch the official video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Justin Spring’s ‘Not the End’ is a shot of adrenaline to the heart of hard rock

Posted on 3 May 2026

Justin Spring brought back the fervour of emotion-driven hard rock with his latest single, Not the End. Think along the lines of Ozzy’s Mama, I’m Coming Home, and Guns N Roses’ November Rain and you’ll arrive exactly where the stalwart of the US alt-rock scene has rooted his sound. His vocal stretches share the same tensile, overdriven power as the guitars in the single that amalgamates the elements of the rock ballad and rock anthem.

It carries some serious kinetic momentum, but it’s the sincerity within the fortified-with -ortitude vocals that will bear down on you with the most weight. Projected as an outpour of pure resilience to anyone uncertain about how to move into their next chapter, struggling to shake off the ennui or find their balance after life pulled the rug and pushed them into obscurity, Not the End is an act of visceral commiseration that will undoubtedly earn Justin Spring a few more stripes in the LA rock scene and beyond.

There is a seasoned conviction in the songwriting that gives the release a sense that these wounds have been lived through rather than sketched from a distance. Born in Los Angeles and now based in Arkansas, Justin Spring carries the legacy of the LA scene into this release, with his 2025 signing to Splinter Collective and work with the legendary in all the right circles producer, Mikernan Arrell.

Not the End is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

 Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kerr Lordygan blazed between the borderlands of hard rock and metal in the romantic theatre of ‘Just Gonna Be There’

Posted on 30 April 2026

Kerr Lordygan wrote a new chapter of traditional hard rock history with his LP, True Grime; an installation of 16 singles that swagger across the borderlands of hard rock and metal. Balancing melody with ferocity, each single fired up to the thematic core, including the lead single, Just Gonna Be There, which exhibits the theatricality of hard rock icons, effortlessly carried by Lordygan as he uses his chops as an actor and narrator to make the proclamations in the single slam into your senses with maximal impact. Ozzy would be proud.

Romance can’t be dead if juggernauts of rock are out here with their hearts on their sleeve, lending their experimentalism with sonic intensity to add feral fuel to the fire of passion. If we lived in a parallel universe where metal motifs blazed during the climaxes of rom-coms instead of plastic pop eagworms, blockbusters would be lining up to sign sync deals with Kerr Lordygan.

There are shades of Dio in the grand-scale delivery, Alice Cooper in the performative bite, and Ozzy Osbourne in the full-throated commitment to drama, danger, and the hell-raised romanticism from the LA-based artist who has spent a lifetime in metal, stretching back to high school bands in Phoenix. Clearly, he’s still got plenty more to add to the lineage of rock; reminders of what it means to curate carnage without artifice or AI.

Just Gonna Be There is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vampyria: Fang Bang – A Motorhead-Esque Feeding Frenzy of Horror Rock Disturbia

Posted on 9 April 2026

New York State’s premier horror rock attraction, Vampyria, spearheaded by the visionary Steve Noir, has unleashed a theatrical assault on the alternative underground with their standout hit, Fang Bang. By combining modern hard rock appeal with the ancient musical runes of the heavier ancestors, the project creates an immersive experience of vampyric overtones.

Horror punk nostalgia hit me hard when Vampyria sank their teeth into my synapses through this ferocious release. Instead of attempting to keep pace with iconic acts in the vein of Murderdolls and Wednesday 13, the entity set their tempo to a Motorhead-esque rampage.

The juggernaut of a track can only be described as a vampiric feeding frenzy fuelled by storming instrumentals and snarled, absinthe-soaked vocals which scour their way across the intense production. During a particularly melodic interlude, Vampyria exhibit their ability to create an atmosphere as intense as Metallica with their sound, proving their other-worldly skill sets are no mere gimmick. This is a darkly told tale of disturbia straight from the depths of New York, intended to satisfy the heaviest listeners and those seeking a non-existent horror-driven flavour. It is a dead-set rager for fans of theatrical music that belongs on the loudest rock radio channels.

Fang Bang is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ian MacDonald – Fault Lines & Fire (Broken But Breathing: Sticky, Sweet and Storming Classic Rock, Reimagined for the Modern Day

Posted on 5 April 2026

Classic hard rock goes supersonic in the emotively fierce album Fault Lines & Fire (Broken But Breathing) by the UK-based prodigal son, Ian MacDonald. The voltage of his sonic signature sends sparks of electricity through you as you succumb to the anthemic force of the hard-hitting tracks, which kick off with the opening single, I Never Loved You.

The LP materialised after a long hiatus from MacDonald, who channelled lived experience, survival, resilience, emotional conflict and reflection into songs that carry real weight. That grounding gives the record its bite from the off. With some of the fiercest vindication you could prise from a rock release in 2026, MacDonald is set to leave a serious impression on critics and fans alike.

The way he has modernised rock by filtering the traditional motifs of sticky-sweet and storming hard-hitters through polished, adrenaline-fuelled production opens this album up to both classic rock diehards and listeners after something more immediate. Atmospheric guitar work meets direct, uncompromising lyricism, and the cinematic scope of the record keeps the emotional stakes high throughout. From The Night That Nearly Killed Me to Where Madness Reigns and What Would You Do If I Told You I Loved You, MacDonald built a body of work that will ensure rock n roll never dies on his watch.

The official video for the lead single, I Never Loved You, is now available to watch on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

ARCHAEA scorched the proverbial leeches in their standout hard-rock hit, Parasite,

Posted on 14 February 2026

When ARCHAEA unleashed Parasite, the hit from their Burn EP, it felt like being dropped into a live wire. The hooks are overdriven to the nines, throwing off the kind of heat that leaves you wondering if you’re feeling electricity or volatility. The way they blur the lines between hard rock, grunge and pop punk feels like they’ve found a pressure point in the genre and pressed until it throbbed with something timeless for anyone who has knelt at the rock altar and grown tired of tending to leeches.

The full band flex comes through in the way each instrumental steals its moment, whether it’s the swagger in the riffs, the rhythm that feels strangely aphrodisiacal, or the intricately breath-stealing bursts that hit without telegraphing themselves. Their technical chops cut exactly where they mean to, and the centre of it all sits a voice that feels ready to tear its way out of the underground entirely. The vocals tease the eruption of the choruses in a way that feels oddly intimate, far more charged than most Tinder dates.

ARCHAEA formed in Liverpool in 2021 when the world felt like it was grinding its teeth, and they channelled that collective tension into a heavy, volatile sound shaped by the influence of Metallica, the alt leanings of Stone Sour, and the melodic intoxication of Avenged Sevenfold. Fronted by Dave Morgan, with Lewis Crosby and Alex Harris on guitars, Peter Mansfield holding down the low end, and Cal Deaves behind the kit, they’ve already turned heads across the Northwest with their live shows. They’ve got a sound strong enough to dissolve the Manchester vs Liverpool rivalry; can I pay them more of a compliment than that?

Parasite is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Turvey set infernic fervour alight in ‘The Phoenix’

Posted on 27 January 2026

Hard rock rarely lands with the kind of voltage that jolts straight through your ribs, but Turvey channelled that rare force of kinetic energy into The Phoenix, a single built to resurrect even the most battle-worn spirits. It’s any hard rock fan’s equivalent to an adrenaline shot to the heart, propelled by a high-octane blaze of pure riff savantry.

There’s no space for complacency here, only infernic fervour, hotter-than-the-7th-ring-of-hell licks and a fortitude that fights through every flame of the mix. If Eddie had cranked this up in the Upside Down, he may well have lived to shred another day. It’s a hypersonic blast, and one that makes its intentions known before you’ve even braced for impact.

Behind the sonic wildfire is 20-year-old lead guitarist and songwriter Paddy Turvey, whose fixation with rock guitar locked in at 15 after discovering Van Halen. Years of graft, gigging and honing his sound through Liverpool’s club circuit shaped the force you hear in The Phoenix.

With a band finally built around him, Turvey channels a lifetime of idols, from Gary Moore to Dokken, into riff-driven releases that prioritise attitude, assertiveness and unfiltered passion. His new project captures the fusion he’s always chased: melody meeting heaviness, subtlety welded to aggression, and pop-leaning hooks roaring through a wall of amps. The Phoenix opens the gate to a new era for Turvey, and he stormed through without hesitation.

The Phoenix is now available on all major streaming platforms. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

With Memory Relapse, Saved By Skarlet rips open alt-metal with raw emotive friction

Posted on 7 December 2025

Saved By Skarlet didn’t follow the trend of opening their latest track, Memory Relapse, with an instant hook. They went straight for the jugular with an instant power riff before bringing the hammer down through the rampaging carnage that constructs their alt-metal instrumentals. As masters of melodic breaks and deliverers of more breakdowns than you’d see during a full moon at a mental institute, Saved By Skarlet proved themselves once again as savants of unhinged precision with Memory Relapse. By playing with post-hardcore aesthetics during the middle-eight and constantly running progressive volition through the veins of their release, they orchestrated something beyond catharsis.

Formed in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Christian metal four-piece has spent the last decade making their mark on stages across the US, performing alongside the likes of Skillet, Life of Agony, Wolves at the Gate, and Convictions. Their latest release, mastered by Brandon Wolfe of New Year’s Day, continues their evolution in sonic intensity, emotion, and production. With Memory Relapse hitting #10 on Billboard’s CMW Rock Charts, they’ve cemented their ability to bring healing and wreckage in equal measure.

We may never be able to fully trust our memories due to the way our minds distort them, but after this release, it’s safe to say we can always depend on Saved By Skarlet to deliver tracks that triumph by putting emotive friction at the epicentre of their sound—one that’s so raw it’s practically carnal.

Memory Relapse is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link.
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Review by Amelia Vandergast

Black Sunday drove existential dread through the Seattle vein of grunge in When I Die

Posted on 18 November 2025

Black Sunday pierced themselves into the sombre vein of the 90s Seattle sound in When I Die, a reflectively remorseful single that refuses to romanticise mortality, but claws at it with raw existential unease. It imagines the hollowed-out moments before death with harrowing sincerity, questioning what will remain—loneliness or tenderness. Tension bleeds through every inch of the track, rising into a hard rock deathroll that drags the weight of a life measured against the inevitability of vanishing.

The instrumental arrangement is tighter than a straitjacket, pushing and pulling against the atmosphere of classic grunge while driving a rhythm that doesn’t force urgency; it makes you dwell in it. That pacing is where When I Die gains its bite. It mourns what is not yet lost but lingers like a shadow, hanging just close enough to haunt. The guitar tones bruise like Soundgarden’s rawest refrains, and the vocal performance wears the fatigue of someone bracing for their final breath.

San Diego-based Black Sunday is keeping rock loud, raw, and loaded with meaning. They’ve built their sound on crushing riffs, thunderous drums, and a reverence for the foreboding introspection of bands like Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, while pushing their own sonic clarity through the noise. As they gear up to release their debut full-length album in 2025, When I Die sets a high-water mark for what they’re capable of when they let grief, dread, and reflection run the show.

When I Die is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link.

– Review by Amelia Vandergast