F.K.Ü., sketch/outline.

F.K.Ü.

ACTIVE: 1997- F.K.Ü. is a thrash metal band from Sweden – and they’re absolutely brilliant! The band was formed in the late ninieties, but they sound as if they traveled here in a time machine straight from the early eighties. Seriously: they capture the best of early thrash, but with modern production. The humor, the …

Distant Horizons, sketch/outline.

Distant Horizons

DREAMS OF LANDS UNSEEN (NAPALM RECORDS, 2023) “Далекі Обрії” (Distant Horizons), is a song by Ignea, featured on their 2023 album Dreams of Lands Unseen. The title is inspired by a Ukrainian book of the same name, written by Sofia Yablonska. The book recounts Yablonska’s travels from 1934 to 1935, and the entire album is …

DevilDriver, sketch/outline.

DevilDriver

ACTIVE: 2002- DevilDriver is a heavy metal band formed in 2002 in California, USA, by vocalist Dez Fafara and his friends. At the time, Dez was the frontman for Coal Chamber, but the band essentially broke up around the same time DevilDriver took shape. While Coal Chamber leaned more toward nu metal, DevilDriver is all …

Abominate, sketch/outline.

Abominate

ABOMINATE (CENTURY MEDIA, 2019) This is by far one of the catchiest songs by Firespawn, the Swedish death metal supergroup. Firespawn happens to be one of the best bands representing the genre, in my opinion. The song comes from their latest album, Abominate, which so far remains their most recent release. But who knows? They’ve …

Eggvn, sketch/outlines.

Eggvn

ACTIVE: 2016- Now, this is an interesting band — or duo, or whatever you’d call them. I first came across them in 2022, when they were about to play here in Helsinki. At the time, I’d never heard about them before. But the bizarre description in a local newspaper — something about ‘satanic Mexican industrial …

You Will Never See Heaven, sketch/outlines.

You’ll Never See…

YOU’LL NEVER SEE… (CENTURY MEDIA, 1992) A killer song from a killer album by a killer band. You’ll Never See… is the second album by the legendary Swedish death metal band Grave. Eight tracks of catchy, in-your-face, no-frills death metal. As was typical of the era, there’s a slight anti-Christian edge to the lyrics. Even …

Versvs Christvs, sketch/outlines.

Versvs Christvs

OPVS CONTRA NATVRAM (NUCLEAR BLAST, 2022) Vrsvs Christvs (yes, with u’s as v’s) is an absolutely stunning song by Behemoth. It’s from their twelfth studio album and stands out from the album’s faster tracks — making its impact as the closing song even more powerful. The song also has a music video, and let me …

Brooklyn Baby, sketch/outlines.

Brooklyn Baby

ULTRAVIOLENCE (INTERSCOPE, 2014) Brooklyn Baby is a song by Lana Del Rey from her third studio album. While the album is packed with memorable songs, this one is my favorite. The lyrics offer Del Rey’s sharp, satirical take on New York’s hipster subculture — a world that, admittedly, isn’t all that familiar to me. But …

Riding Shotgun, sketch/outlines.

Riding Shotgun

STOMP 442 (ELEKTRA, 1995) This track is truly kick-ass and it’s one of my favorite tracks by Anthrax. It’s from their Stomp 442 album, which I don’t think is one of their most well-known releases — or at least it didn’t get great reviews when it first came out. For a while, it was also …