Alex Bent’s drumming on Trivium’s Struck Dead EP is the best metal drumming performance of 2025 When a band as seasoned as Trivium drops a new release, expectations are high. Yet with Struck Dead, released October 31, 2025, they didn’t just meet them — they soared. At the heart of…
Read MoreMikkey Dee has carved out a legacy that shaped the evolution of progressive and metal drumming in ways few fully recognize. When conversations turn to influential drummers in the metal world, names like Neil Peart, Mike Portnoy, and Tomas Haake often dominate the spotlight. Yet quietly—and powerfully—Mikkey Dee has carved…
Read MoreThe “Prog Four”: How Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, and Crimson Glory Shaped American Progressive Metal Music Progressive metal, specifically “american progressive metal” as a genre, didn’t appear overnight. It grew from the technical brilliance of progressive rock and the power of heavy metal, fusing the best of both worlds…
Read MoreAmerican progressive metal progenitors Queensryche firing on all cylinders with “Digital Noise Alliance“, delivering one of the best releases in the bands history and possibly one of this years most notable metal recordings. Once again full disclosure, I’m a life long fan of Queensryche going back to 1984 when The…
Read MoreUnleash the Archers Abyss, a conceptual sequel to 2017’s “Apex”, establishes the band as an elite powerhouse with a release that will be recognized in time as of one the most brilliantly crafted and executed collections of aural storytelling ever created. I’ll state it ahead of time for full disclosure…
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