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“Getting excited is somewhat premature”: King Crimson manager counters Jakko Jakszyk’s claims that the band are recording a new album
Following comments made by Jakko Jakszyk about a new King Crimson record, the band’s manager has released a statement warning that we shouldn’t get our hopes up just yet.
Jakszyk, who joined Crimson in 2013 following Adrian Belew, recently gave an interview in which he said a record was in the making. It was also rumoured that the supposed album would feature the most recent Crimson lineup: Jakszyk, Robert Fripp, Mel Collins, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, and Jeremy Stacey.
Though unsure of any finer details regarding release date or what final form the material would actually take, the guitarist and singer said he’d been recording “with a view to it coming out in some format at some point”.
The band’s manager, David Singleton, has since suggested that to get excited about a new record is a little premature, however, and though he confirms there are recordings happening, there’s no set vision for them to be released.
In a statement shared via DMG Live, Singleton says, “Addressing the idea of some form of studio recording by the last incarnation of King Crimson, Bill Rieflin posed the excellent question ‘why make a studio album? There are excellent live recordings of all the songs out there already.’
“One possible answer would be an album the very sound of which no-one has ever heard before. A sound driven by the three drummers. And those drummers have now recorded studio versions of their parts – separately, so that there is perfect separation.”
He adds, “So there is the seed of a new recording. Whether it is an album, whether it sees the light of day, whether it is something else is unknown. As is the outcome of any creative process. So yes, recordings have taken place. Getting excited about the possibility of a new album, as has apparently been happening, is somewhat premature. Carts before horses.”
In other King Crimson news, the spinoff BEAT supergroup will be heading to Japan in September, and will put out a special live release that same month. Titled BEAT LIVE, the album was captured during their performance at the United Theater in LA.
To find out more about the BEAT band, you can head to the BEAT tour website.
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“I take these supplements to stay razor-sharp, night after night”: Yngwie Malmsteen has launched a range of supplement pills and powders
Last year, Swedish virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen launched his own multivitamin gummies, claiming that vitamins were the true “secret to [his] force”. Now, he’s entered the supplement powders market.
Malmsteen’s new range of supplements ranges from whey isolate protein powder to probiotic pills. There’s also collagen peptides, electrolyte supplements, and watermelon-flavoured pre-workout packed with B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, folic acid, calcium, and a whole host of other ingredients to get you pumped up.
The guitarist shared the news on his Instagram, paired with a short, flashing clip of the supplements that isn’t very epilepsy friendly. “When I’m on stage, there’s no compromise only precision, power, and passion,” Malmsteen writes. “I take these supplements to stay razor-sharp, night after night. This isn’t hype. It’s fuel!”
It’s a similar sentiment to Malmsteen’s initial announcement of his Force gummies: “I am a very busy man that travels the world while playing six shows in a row, up on stage every single night. This works for me so I wanted to make it available for my followers.”
Back in March, Malmsteen explained his decision to dive into the supplements market. “In order for you to be in good health, you need to take supplements,” he explained whilst on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk. “I’ve always done that. And so the reason I put my line out is because I want other people to do it too. I highly recommend it.”
“I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs,” he continued. “I don’t believe in it… if you wanna do that, go ahead! Be my guest! But I prefer not to do it. And also I think it’s great to let people know: take your vitamins, and it really works.”
As a result of Malmsteen’s health-conscious attitude, his merch website even has its own ‘Supplements Power & Performance’ section. That’s where you can find all of the guitarist’s various supplements – as well as a yoga matt. Fancy holding a downward dog pose to the tune of Rising Force, anyone?
To find out more about the supplements, check out Malmsteen’s merch store.
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Steve Vai says this guitarist’s cover of And We Are One is “truly outstanding”
Steve Vai has stumbled across an unsung guitar hero who has “nailed” the guitar solo in a cover of his song, And We Are One.
Sharing a clip of the cover to his own Instagram page, Vai has praised the musician – who posts under the name of Tub Guitar – as doing a “truly outstanding” job. Vai feels the solo is one of the best he’s ever composed, so for Tub to receive such high praise from the creator himself is a pretty big deal.
At the time of writing, Tub Guitar has just over 500 followers on his Instagram page (which has been tagged by Vai), and over 1,000 on his YouTube account; numbers which are likely to skyrocket thanks to support from Vai.
The song was released in 2016, and comes from his Modern Primitive album. Tub plays through the song with a Steve Vai signature model no less, and even wears a Steve Vai inspired get-up.
Under the footage of Tub’s cover, Vai writes: “Hey folks, I came across this extraordinary cover of And We Are One by Tub Guitar. I never thought I would ever see anything like this. Frankly, this is one of my favourite solos that I’ve ever done and he just nailed it with all my quirky maneuvers. Seeing someone take the time, patience and passion to recreate something like this put a huge smile on my face and in my heart. Truly outstanding, my deepest appreciation to you ‘TUB’.”
You can check it out below:
In other Vai news, he’s currently still on tour with The SATCHVAI Band. The group, which launched in December last year, marks the first time in their nearly 50-year careers that Joe Satriani and Vai have formed a band of their own.
The project brings together their shared history, as Satriani served as Vai’s guitar teacher when they were teenagers. They remain on their Surfing With The Hydra tour, with shows continuing into early August.
You can find out more about The SATCHVAI Band via their official website, or check out more from the Tub Guitar YouTube channel.
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“This is a compliment and a diss at the same time from f**king Kirk Hammett!”: Tim Henson reacts to Kirk Hammett’s ‘boomer bends’ response
Tim Henson is rather excited that Kirk Hammett has responded to his ‘boomer bends’ comment that he made in 2021.
For those out of the loop this may all sound a little bit perplexing, but in 2021, Henson made a remark during a discussion alongside Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor for Rick Beato’s YouTube channel, when he said he avoids “guitar hero” techniques, including big bends that have a “boomer-ish” sound.
Three years on, that comment was then brought up to Hammett in an interview with Rolling Stone Music Now, in which he both praised Henson for his technical ability, but also questioned his opinion on said ‘boomer bend’.
In the interview, which was published in March this year, Hammett said, “I love that, but you know, is he gonna call Eddie Van Halen a boomer guitar player? I really like [Henson’s] style. It’s really unique, and in terms of technique, it’s amazing. But then, it’s the age-old question, how relatable is it? It’s good to listen to like three or four times. Can you really relate? Sometimes people just wanna listen to music and not feel challenged.”
Now, in his own interview with Rolling Stone, Henson is asked if he’s seen Hammett’s thoughts on the remark, and despite the Metallica guitarist’s mixed opinions, he’s pretty stoked to have been acknowledged by him, and even invites him for a beer and a chin wag about guitar.
“I got a Google alert for Polyphia, and I was like, ‘Oh, what’s this with Kirk Hammett?’ I click on it and I started reading and I’m just like, ‘Oh my God. This is a compliment and a diss at the same time from fucking Kirk Hammett!’” Says Henson.
“[Fellow Polyphia guitarist] Scott [LePage] is a Metallica head. Scott’s father is the singer in Kill ‘Em All, which is a Metallica cover band… So Scott got sad. But I was happy because in an interview that Kirk Hammett was doing about Hammett activities and the world of Kirk Hammett, my name was brought up!
“I appreciate that he even has thoughts about it. Kirk, if you are reading this one, thank you for the acknowledgement. You’re a fucking legend. Take us on tour, dude. Please. Seriously, man. Let’s talk about it over a beer, maybe!”
Both Polyphia and Metallica are touring this year – find out more via their respective websites.
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“A tribute to the spirit of creativity that defines this city”: Gibson marks 50 years in Nashville with the Les Paul Music City Special
Nashville has been the home of the Gibson guitar for half a century. To celebrate 50 years of its Tennessee guitars, the guitar giant is marking the occasion with the new 50th Anniversary Les Paul Music City Special.
The limited-edition Les Paul Music City Special serves as a sign of how far the company has come over the past five decades. Not only does it honour the company’s time at Music City, it’s also a meeting point of nostalgia and innovation, with a design inspired by Gibson’s 1970s Marauder.
That’s right – despite being classed as a Les Paul, anyone with eyes can spot that its a revival of the Marauder, a guitar beloved by Tool’s Adam Jones and Kiss’’ Paul Stanley.
While the dual humbucker set-up is certainly more in-line with the Les Paul, but there’s no denying its a re-vamped Marauder. The pair boast similar bodies, but the Marauder’s panel covers more of the body and has a Flying V-style headstock – the same markings of the Les Paul Music City Special. You could also argue it bares similarities to the S1.
Credit: Gibson
Available in Tobacco Burst, Wine Red and a classy black Ebony, the Les Paul Music City Special is made up of a poplar body, maple neck with a SlimTaper profile, and a striped ebony fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets. There’s also chrome hardware, Grover Mini Rotomatic tuners, and a nod to the past with its 70s Tribute humbucker pickups.
Credit: Gibson
“Marking 50 years of Gibson in Nashville, the limited-edition Music City Special model is a tribute to the spirit of creativity and individuality that defines this city,” Mat Koehler, Vice President of Product at Gibson, explains. “It draws on everything we’ve learned since opening our Gibson USA Craftory and channels it into something new and inspiring to play.”
Credit: Gibson
“We’re very proud to introduce the Music City Special,” Gibson Master Luthier Jim DeCola chimes in. “It pays homage to the Gibson Marauder of the ’70s as well as the city it is named after. It has been reimagined as a straightforward, yet versatile and functional instrument relevant for today’s working musician.”
Empire Music’s Justin Gentile has already had a hands-on experience with the guitar. A video run-down shows the guitar in action, and it showcases some bright and pleasingly snappy playing.
The Les Paul Music City Special is available now for £1,599, with a limited run of 650 models.
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Slash admits that he became “disillusioned” with the sound of his Marshall amps and the consistency of his sound
Slash has revealed why he made the switch to Magnatone amplifiers for the making of his 2024 blues record, Orgy Of The Damned.
The Guns N’ Roses guitarist had been working with Marshall for 30 years when news broke that he’d entered a partnership with the Magnatone brand in 2023. Slash also announced that a signature amp was in the works, which was later released as the SL-100, though he clarified he’d still continue his relationship with Marshall alongside his Magnatone work.
In a new video with the Magnatone brand, he now explains why he made the switch for Orgy Of The Damned, and how he first came to own one thanks to fellow GN’R guitarist, Richard Fortus.
“I sort of gradually made my way to Marshalls. [I] did a lot of trial and error with the different amps, and then I pretty much made my home with Marshall for a lot of years,” he begins [via Ultimate Guitar].
“Over time, I started to get… I don’t know what’s the best word for it, disillusioned, with maybe the consistency of my sound with the Marshall, or whatever it was. There were things I wanted to achieve that I wasn’t really getting out of those amps.
“And then I played a Magnatone one time, just by chance, really. I had one. I think Richard Fortus [GNR guitarist] gave it to me. I went to go do this blues record a couple of years ago, [and] I wasn’t looking for a wall of sound for the blues record. I wanted something that was more like a combo, 50-watt or less type of deal. So, I pulled out all these old combos that I had, and I saw the Magnatone.”
He continues, “I was familiar with them because [ZZ Top’s] Billy Gibbons was using them. So I pulled that in there, and I ended up using it for the whole pre-production process. Out of everything I had, I kept going back to that amp. When we went into the studio, I did the whole record with that amp.”
You can find out more about Slash’s SL-100 and his Purple Python series via the Magnatone website. Slash is still listed as a Marshall endorser on its website, where you can also find out what Marshall gear he’s used across his career.
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“Oh it was great, I’m going to do it again”: Folk guitar legend Martin Carthy reveals what happened the first time Davey Graham used heroin
![[L-R] Davey Graham and Martin Carthy](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Davey-Graham-and-Martin-Carthy@2000x1500.jpg)
Guitar legend Martin Carthy has revealed what his fellow folk guitarist and collaborator Davey Graham said the first time he tried heroin.
In a feature in the new issue of Record Collector, interviewer Rob Hughes points out a photo on the wall of Carthy’s house depicting him and Graham during a recording session in the ‘60s for Nadia Cattouse. Carthy recalls thinking the session went well during, but hearing his takes afterward and being less-than-impressed.
“I’ve still got a copy of the recording that we made that day, a version of Port Mahon [1965], written by Sydney Carter,” he explains.
“I thought I’d done a really good job, but when I put the record on, I went: ‘What the fuck is that?!’ It was absolutely terrible. I was playing this solo that was nonsense.”
He goes on: “On the way home from that session, Davey told me that he’d had his first fix the night before: ‘Oh, it was great, I’m going to do it again.’
“A week or so later, I saw [blues musician] Alexis Korner at a party near Cecil Sharp House. He shouted across the room to me: You know what the stupid bastard’s gone and done now, don’t you? He’s gone and registered himself.’
“In those days, you could get heroin free from the NHS if you were a registered addict.”
Davey Graham’s addiction to heroin was partly the result of him imitating his jazz hero contemporaries, according to an 2008 obituary by The Telegraph. He once described himself as a “casualty of too much self-indulgence”.
Despite his addiction, Graham’s influence on the guitar world is far-reaching, with many crediting him with inventing DADGAD tuning. DADGAD is popular among folk and fingerstyle guitarists for its open-string harmony, and arguably allows for more successful experimentation the length of the neck.
“I used to play in this place called the Witch’s Cauldron, which was on [London’s] Belsize Lane,” Martin Carthy continues in the Record Collector interview.
“Davey just came down one night, took out his guitar and started to play. He had incredible presence. Then he started to talk about what he was into, the particular kind of chord sequences and substitutions. This was big news for me.
“And he proceeded to show me all this stuff. As I was playing it, he was correcting me and showing me everything he knew. He didn’t keep secrets, he just wanted to share the whole time. He played Anji and laughed about it.
“He was just incredibly adventurous for the time, always way ahead of anything I’d ever done, because he was that imaginative. I just kind of gobbled up all that he gave me. Everybody who played the guitar in that particular circle really looked up to Davey.”
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“He had very specific-looking hands – they looked different to other people’s”: Dweezil Zappa recalls the time Eddie Van Halen visited his family home and taught him guitar
![Dweezil Zappa with Eddie Van Halen [inset]](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Dweezil-Zappa-EVH@2000x1500.jpg)
It’s not every day that Eddie Van Halen comes to your house and shows you how to play Eruption. But this is exactly what happened to Dweezil Zappa – son of Frank Zappa – one fateful day as a 12-year-old.
As he reveals in a new interview with Marshall, Van Halen had just called up his dad and Frank Zappa invited him round. The anticipation was immense for the fledgling guitarist – who was already obsessed with Van Halen – and as soon as the legend walked through the door, Dweezil thought: “OK you’ve got to play Mean Street, you’ve got to play Eruption.”
Dweezil eventually did get to hear him play those songs, but “as soon as [Van Halen] plugged in” he performed a short lick – and for Zappa’s son this was a profound glimpse into his unique style. Van Halen showed Dweezil that “you can use open strings” and “saw how his fingers moved”.
The next thing he immediately picked up on was how Van Halen “had very specific looking hands”. “His hands looked different to other people’s,” Zappa says. “The way his pinkie operated – I was fascinated with seeing it up close.
“But when I saw him play Eruption or Mean Street, I at least knew the area on the neck to start looking for when I wanted to try and figure stuff out. And that opened up the whole world of guitar playing for me.”
This would not be the last time that Zappa would hang out with Van Halen – the two would become lifelong friends with a mutual respect for each other’s playing. Eventually, “in a complete role reversal” it would be Dweezil who would teach Van Halen how to play a Zappa riff he couldn’t wrap his head around.
Earlier this year, Dweezil shared the moment with 100 FM The Pike: “He came to one of my shows back in 2010 and we were playing the song St. Alphonzo’s Pancake Breakfast… After the show, he came up. He said, ‘What’s that ‘pancake song’? What are you playing there?’ And I had to play this really difficult part and show it to him on the guitar.”
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One of 500 guitars recently donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was actually stolen from the Rolling Stones by drug dealers in 1972
Back in May, it was revealed that over 500 of the “finest guitars from the golden age of American guitar making” had been donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including Leo Fender’s first guitar to pre-war Martin acoustics.
But it’s now come about that one of those 500 instruments was a 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul, which was stolen from The Rolling Stones as they recorded their 1972 album, Exile on Main St.
As the story goes, the guitar – which was played by Keith Richards during the band’s 1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearance, as well as by Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in its lifetime – was one of nine guitars burgled from Villa Nellcôte, the mansion on the French Riviera where the Stones were recording Exile.
A saxophone belonging to Bobby Keys and bass belonging to Bill Wyman were also taken.
According to Louder, the robbery was reportedly committed by local drug dealers to whom Keith Richards owed money.
Credit: Kent Gavin/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
But the 1959 sunburst Les Paul actually belonged to Mick Taylor, according to Taylor’s business manager Marlies Damming. She explains that Taylor bought the guitar from Richards in 1967 prior to joining John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers after the departure of Peter Green.
“There are numerous photos of Mick Taylor playing this Les Paul, as it was his main guitar until it disappeared,” she says. “The interesting thing about these vintage Les Pauls is that they are renowned for their flaming, which is unique, like a fingerprint.”
According to Messy Nessy, Villa Nellcôte provided the Stones privacy from the press as they were recording the album. “But with Richards’ ever-present entourage of hanger-ons and drug dealers, nearly half of the furniture was missing from the house by the time their stay was over,” the publication goes on.
“Villa Nellcôte was such an open house that, one day in September 1971, burglars walked out of the front gate with nine of Richards’s guitars, Bobby Keys saxophone and Bill Wyman’s bass in broad daylight while the occupants were watching television in the living room,” says Stones researcher Jack Vanderwyk.
Now, a source tells pagesix.com that Mick Taylor “never received compensation for the theft and is mystified as to how his property found its way into the Met’s collection”.
Guitar.com has reached out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for comment.
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Metallica lawyers take down US government drone video featuring Enter Sandman
The US government was recently forced to delete a video it had posted on X promoting military drone technology, set to Metallica’s Enter Sandman as a backing track.
The original video – posted on Friday (11 July) – saw Metallica’s 1991 mega-hit playing in the background as defense secretary Pete Hegseth spoke about the drone-building capabilities of the US military.
But Metallica’s lawyers quickly got in touch with the government to have the video taken down, after Enter Sandman was apparently used without permission.
The video was quickly taken down and re-uploaded otherwise identically, but this time without Enter Sandman.
“This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD [Department of Defense] regarding a video posted to our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song Enter Sandman by Metallica,” a spokesperson for the DoD said [via Louder]. “The video has been taken down, corrected, and re-uploaded to our page.”
Metallica’s representatives also confirmed to Rolling Stone that the track had been used without the band’s permission.
Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance @DOGE pic.twitter.com/esaQtswwDb
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) July 11, 2025
After a string of shows in the US for their ongoing M72 World Tour, Metallica recently paid tribute to their musical heroes Black Sabbath at the band’s monumental farewell show at Birmingham’s Villa Park.
Metallica were one of many metal juggernauts to appear on the day – also including Slayer, Pantera, Mastodon, Lamb of God and others – and all were granted relatively short set times.
Metallica’s set comprised six tracks in total, four of their own – Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Battery and Master of Puppets – and two Sabbath covers: Johnny Blade and Hole in the Sky.
For the latter – which happened to be the band’s opening track – guitarist Kirk Hammett wielded the CEO4, a one-of-a-kind SG guitar made by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian. The axe is set to be auctioned for charity, and we expect it to command a pretty high sale price given its short history…
View a full list of Metallica’s upcoming tour dates at their official website.
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Fractal Audio VP4 Virtual Pedalboard review: “you could sell your pedal collection and replace it with this”
$699/£749, fractalaudio.com
Back in 2015, partly in response to those players reluctant to give up their tube amps but who wanted access to the vaunted suite of top quality effects available on their flagship product – the hugely popular Axe-Fx 2 – Fractal Audio developed the FX8: a multi-effects pedal that contained all their effects, but none of their amps and cabs.
Prior to this, the only way to access Fractal’s effects alone was to run the Axe-FX 2 through the effects loop of your amp – something that the likes of Steve Vai, Satriani and Mike Keneally were doing at the time – so it made sense to create a standalone product.
The FX8 was another hit for the brand, offering a plethora of all the usual delays, reverbs, modulations and drives in a comfortably compact package – no less than Guthrie Govan was a fan.
But that was a decade ago now, and in the ever-evolving world of high-end DSP effects, that’s an awful long time. Fractal has updated most of its line-up in the intervening 10 years, and now it’s the turn of the FX8, which is being replaced in the lineup by a unit that arrived at the tail end of last year, dubbed the VP4.
Fractal Audio VP4 – what is it?
Like its predecessor, the VP4 is a high-end multi-effects unit that is derived from the flagship Fractal product of the time – in this case that means the Axe-Fx 3. Now, the Axe-Fx 3 is no spring-chicken itself – it’s been around since 2018 – but as with all modern modelling tech, the brand has been regularly supporting the product with new firmware updates, tones and tweaks ever since, so it’s bang up to date in that regard.
As people seem less and less inclined to make use of football pitch-sized pedalboards, it seems that modern manufacturers and users place footprint above a lot of things. So the VP4 is considerably smaller than the FX8 – it’s tiny in comparison really – but that does mean you’re now working with half the number of footswitches.
Just four footswitches here also means that you can only run four effects simultaneously, but as with the FX, you do get the full suite of pre- and post-amp effects including drives, delays, modulators, reverbs, and everything in between.
We also have a myriad of connection possibilities covering buffered analogue bypass, SPDIF digital I/O, MIDI I/O, and USB audio/MIDI capabilities. All the fun of the fair that you’d expect from a premium effects unit here in 2025.
Fractal Audio VP4 – do I place it in my effects loop or in front of the amp?
All the connectivity, plus the various pre- and post-amp effects on offer does present an interesting question out of the door… where does it live?
The easiest option is to run VP4 effects through the front of the amp, but what if you just want your drives up the front and your effects loop is the preferred destination for modulation and echo/reverb pedals?
The VP4’s various ins and outs allow you to do this courtesy of what’s known as the ‘four cable method’. This – surprise, surprise – uses four cables to connect the VP4 to the front of the amp and its effects. This enables us to run some effects before the amp (generally drives, pitch shifters, and wahs) and others through the amp’s effects loop – most commonly delay and modulation effects.
Unfortunately, this method is notorious for generating ground loop noise, which is a nightmare to eliminate. Some manage it using a hum-eliminator, but in my experience this slightly affects the tone in specific frequency ranges. We’ll see if the VP4 is similarly afflicted.
Image: Press
Fractal Audio VP4 – usability
The most important thing with any deep and involved multi-effects unit is the ease of navigation. The unit’s colour screen makes this a pretty straightforward process, but if you prefer to do your preset-sculpting on a desktop editor, the Fractal one is both easy to use, stable and in-depth – though you’ll have to connect it to your laptop via USB-C.
There are 50 presets loaded on board, all named to give some sort of indication of the sonic services they provide i.e. ‘Austin Stevie’. Loading up the default patch gives us four effects or ‘blocks’: a drive, chorus, delay, and reverb. Navigating to the routing menu we can select how we’d like to run each of these effects: ‘pre’ (front of amp) or ‘post’ (effects loop). We select the ‘1 pre’, ‘3 post’ option as we want to run the overdrive in front of the amp and the rest through the effects loop.
Once you’ve set up the preset, you can determine how you want the footswitches to behave. Currently I’m in ‘preset’ mode which means I’m able to use them to select different presets (banks of four pedals). There are a total of 104 presets available in 26 banks, which can be navigated by holding down one of the footswitches. Each preset has its own noise gate, EQ and volume levels, meaning that you can set each differently.
There is also the ‘scenes’ option which allows us four different configurations of each block. For example, in my current Scene A I have a TS808 in the drive block, a small hall in the reverb block, and a tape delay in the delay block.
Switching to Scene B (there’s also C and D) can utilise a different overdrive in the drive block and change to a plate reverb in the reverb block. Each scene can be configured differently and assigned to one of the four footswitches.
My preference, however, is to use the ‘pedal’ view whereby you can engage each effect using the corresponding footswitch.
Fractal Audio VP4 – sounds
To get things started, I set the VP4 up in four-cable mode and upon releasing the amp from standby mode, the first big surprise is, well… silence. As alluded to above, interference and ground loop hum is the bane of this kind of setup, but not so here. I can’t emphasise what a big deal this is for touring and gigging guitarists, and it’s certainly a first for me.
One of the biggest bugbears of multi-effects units is often the drive sounds – going all the way back to the first Line 6 POD, people have always complained that digital recreations don’t get the feel and response of a drive pedal right, and despite huge strides in technology in the last 20-plus years, that perception often holds.
The VP4 clearly wants to change that perception as it’s stocked with emulations of pretty much every classic pedal imaginable, from the Boss DS-1 to modern boutique stunners like the Vemuram Jan Ray.
Now, as something of a drive obsessive, I am fortunate enough to own a great many of these modelled pedals, so why not A/B them to see if this thing really does have the juice in the dirt stakes?
First up is the venerable Boss SD-1 – a bona-fide classic that pairs well with my EL34-powered Suhr Badger – and first impressions are impressive. It’s driving the amp in the same manner of an SD-1 – boosting the mids, smoothing out some of the harsher high-end frequencies and focussing the low end.
Engaging my own SD-1 with the same settings, the VP4 sounds very slightly brighter; however by turning its tone down a touch and adding a tiny fraction more gain the sound is near-identical.
Next up is the DOD Overdrive/Preamp 250, and it’s the same result – the tiniest of adjustments on the VP4 once again leads to a sound that’s almost impossible to differentiate. Another surprise is the notable lack of hiss when engaging the VP4 drive compared to its analogue counterpart.
It really is an impressive feat to accurately model analogue gear, retain its qualities but eliminate or diminish the more extraneous noise that none of us want – and it does it with so many classic pedals here. But enough about overdrives! What are the other effects like?
Delays and reverbs are our next stop and there’s a huge selection of both with the VP4. The tape delays are particularly rewarding, and I can see it in real-time replacing my new UA Orion tape delay pedal, with the ‘worn tape’ preset proving especially inspiring.
There are over 70 different reverbs with multiple parameters that allow you to dial in preferred pre-delay, decay, mix, etc. There are some hidden delights on board too such as the mysteriously named ‘Recording studio C’, which is a tight shimmery reverb ostensibly based on some very expensive analogue studio gear.
Fractal Audio VP4 – should I buy one?
Although Fractal will forever be synonymous with its incredible digital amp modelling capabilities, those in the know have been equally as desirous of their effects suite. The VP4 represents their most compact and inexpensive method of providing them for use with tube amps.
Onboard are literally thousands of pounds worth of unerringly accurate models of the greatest overdrive pedals ever created, along with studio quality modulation, pitch shifting, compressors and other effects.
The VP4 offers more than that though – it provides this accuracy without the addition of unwanted noise. And I’m not talking of the analogue noise that many of us have affection for – no, it’s the hiss from a drive pedal or the hum from the four-cable method.
While it’s obviously not a cheap thing, it starts to feel generous when you calculate what you’re getting for your money – you could easily sell a handful of pedals and take a dive with this, even if you’re wary of multi-effects in general.
And if you are apprehensive about taking the plunge into a modeller, my advice is simple – try one of these, you won’t be disappointed. It’s the best digital multi-effects unit I’ve ever used.
Fractal VP4 – alternatives
Much like the VP4, Line 6’s HX Effects ($549.99/£499) was designed to usurp your pedal collection and integrate with your favourite amp. Slightly larger than the VP4 but featuring eight footswitches and the ability to run nine effects simultaneously, its 213 different effect models make it vast in scope.
Not quite as guitar-centric is the Eventide H90 ($899/£799) a company who have led the way for decades with studio quality reverb, pitch shifting, and delays. The H90 packages many of these classics in a very petite unit including reverb and delays galore with some superb modulation and industry-defining pitch shift capabilities.
It would be remiss not to mention one of the first manufactures of multi-effects pedals, Boss, who still provide a huge range, one of which is their flagship GT-1000CORE ($659.99/£599) which features the full suite of their famous effects and access to virtual amps and cabs too, allowing up to 24 simultaneous effects blocks.
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Greta Van Fleet guitarist Jake Kiszka says his bandmates are “very critical of guitar things” and have rejected some of his best riffs for the band
Greta Van Fleet are certainly doing their part to keep guitar music alive – but surprisingly, Jake Kiszka says his bandmates are “very critical of guitar things”.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Kiszka dives deep on Mirador, his other band he formed in 2024 with Chris Turpin of Ida Mae.
The band are set to release their debut album – which has been heard by Guitar World – and Kiszka explains how some of the riffs that ended up Mirador riffs were rejected by GVF.
One track, for example, on the new Mirador record is called Blood and Custard, named after an old nickname for Vox AC amps.
“I think that song is a perfect example of what type of things don’t necessarily translate in the world of Greta,” Kiszka explains.
“That was a riff I had for a long, long time. It’s just been sitting on the shelf. I would say I was influenced by the Eric Clapton and Duane Allman song Mean Old World, that kind of acoustic interpretation of a traditional blues song.
“So I had this thing hanging on the wall, and I wanted something with slide guitar on the record. Obviously, Chris is a great and very unique slide player, and I’m also known to play some slide, which I love doing. I put that riff to Chris and he loved it. He suggested Blood and Custard, which was an old nickname for the original Vox [AC] amplifiers – they had this cream-and-red binding. That’s a good [example of] guitar nerdism.”
As Kiszka reveals, his Greta Van Fleet bandmates passed on the riff.
“I think Josh [Kiszka, GVF singer and Jake’s brother] is very critical of guitar things,” he adds, “and it wasn’t something that he was particularly interested in. I don’t think it ever made it to the final stages.”
While Greta Van Fleet have now flourished into an arena band very much deserving of its place, they had to battle – and continue to do so, to a lesser degree – with those who accuse them of being derivative.
But they’ve always stuck to their guns. “I think people have realised we are sticking around and this is who we are,” Jake Kiszka said in 2023.
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Black Sabbath are done, but Tony Iommi is making another solo album: “I’m trying to finish what I started”
Black Sabbath might have finally thrown in the towel, but guitarist Tony Iommi hasn’t just yet. In fact, the Godfather of Heavy Metal has hinted at plans he has to finish a new solo album, his first in 20 years.
In a new conversation with Eddie Trunk of Trunk Nation, he reveals that he’s turning his attention back to the album, after it was diverted heavily by Back to the Beginning, Sabbath’s last-ever show and one of the largest heavy metal events ever put on.
“I was doing my own album until [Back To The Beginning] came up, and then, of course, I had to stop and concentrate on [preparing for] the Sabbath [performance],” Iommi tells Trunk [via Blabbermouth].
He goes on: “But I’m continuing next week on trying to finish off what I started with this album. And then who knows what I’m gonna do then? It’s great, really, ’cause if something pops up, I’ll do it, if I want to do it. So it’s a good thing.”
The album will be Iommi’s third solo outing, after the self-titled Iommi in 2000 and Fused in 2005. While Iommi featured a plethora of guest vocalists, his upcoming effort looks to be similar to Fused, in that only one singer is set to appear. Glenn Hughes sang on Fused, but the identity of the singer on this album has yet to be revealed.
“I’ve got one singer on it at the moment, which I originally thought of different singers,” Iommi continues. “But it started off as, ‘It’s gonna be an instrumental album,’ and it’s gone from, ‘I’ve got some instrumental stuff,’ but then I thought, ‘Oh, I wanna try it with a singer.’ And so that’s what I’ve been doing.”
As it stands, that’s the only information we have on the status of Iommi’s next solo outing. But we can forgive him for taking his time, given the magnitude of his commitment to Back to the Beginning.
The event – hosted at Villa Park in Black Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England – so thousands of metal fans turn out to watch the genre’s A-listers, including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera and many more, pay tribute to the band who spawned their entire genre.
Sabbath performed a set at the end of the night with their original lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.
The event also reportedly raised a staggering £140 million for charities chosen by Ozzy and Sabbath: Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
It also saw plenty of killer guitar moments – as you’d expect, being metal, and all – including Kirk Hammett wielding the CEO4, a guitar built by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian, during Metallica’s cover of Sabbath’s Hole in the Sky.
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Cory Wong explains his “steady motor” method to keep his picking hand in time
When you first start learning guitar, it’s probably true that you give more attention to what your fingering hand is doing than your picking hand. But the latter is in charge of timing, so it mustn’t be overlooked.
Given the importance of rhythm and timing, many guitarists devise methods to make sure their right hand remains steady and to the beat, like Cory Wong, who in a new column for Guitar World, explains his “steady motor” method.
“I’d like to talk about the paramount importance of the right, or pick, hand,” he explains. “How it’s the keeper of time and the thing that gives us the groove while we play.”
“When it comes to strumming,” he continues, “I subscribe to the ‘steady motor’ method, keeping my hand in perpetual motion, in an unbroken down-up ‘pendulum pattern, most often in a 16th-note rhythm, even when I’m not hitting every 16th note…
“…This way, I never have to think about my strokes, as the continuous motion will make those decisions for me.”
Indeed, you’ll notice what Cory Wong’s talking about if you watch any video of him performing live; his right hand remains in steady motion, regardless of the rhythmic intervals between the actual notes he’s playing.
Like anything, though, a method that works for one situation won’t necessarily work for every situation.
“Are there times when I’ll change my strumming approach for a unique musical situation? Absolutely – this is just a general guideline.
Cory Wong kicked up some dirt in the guitar world lately when he made his opinion clear that guitarists should know every note on their fretboard.
His comments sparked heated debate online – which he wasn’t opposed to, by any stretch. “Didn’t know this would trigger so many folks,” he said. “I’m here for it.”
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Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 review – the do-it-all high-fidelity delay pedal gets glitchy
$399/£379, walrusaudio.com
Being on top of the world is great, but then the world moves and you fall off. Walrus Audio knows this. It’s been half a decade since its Mako Series D1 was crowned Guitar.com’s pedal of the year, and a lot has changed in that time – notably the rise of weird, glitchy, low-fidelity delay pedals. So where does that leave the king of non-weird, non-glitchy, high-fidelity delay pedals?
- READ MORE: Walrus Audio Fundamental Ambient review – is this the best budget reverb pedal on the market?
Of the four stompboxes in the Mako Series, the D1 was perhaps the one that needed a MkII version most. And here it is, with a new interface built around an LED screen… and a new emphasis on lo-fi soundscaping adventures.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 – what is it?
First up, Walrus Audio is an Oklahoma City pedal company with an expansive product range and a cute logo. The original Mako Series was its first leap into high-end multi-mode stereo effects using SHARC digital processors, with the D1 delay leading the line – followed soon after by the R1 (reverb), M1 (modulation) and ACS1 (amp and cab simulation). The D1 had an upgrade in 2022, but don’t confuse v2 with MkII – this is a much more significant evolution of the whole line.
This new Mako generation is mostly about the interface, with the three toggle switches across the middle replaced by that two-inch LED display, which is controlled by a row of digital encoders (basically knobs without pointers) above it. This allows for a much deeper level of control, with all the advanced parameters accessible via a couple of prods and tweaks.
But there are also new models – and in the case of the D1 that means ‘grain’, an algorithm that chops up your signal and spits it out in all directions with the option of an octave up, an octave down or both. If you’ve got an itch for the glitch, here’s where you’ll find your sonic scratching stick.
The rest is as before: the top row of knobs covers delay time, repeats and mix, the right-hand footswitch is for tap tempo, and you can hit both footswitches together to move through three presets. Again there are three banks of those (now accessed from the screen), so you can store and recall nine different sounds in total – or 128 if you connect a suitable MIDI device. And one more important feature is unchanged: the little walrus logo at the bottom.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 – in use
This was never going to be an ultra-simple device… but the display has added a layer of versatility without adding a layer of complexity, and that’s quite a feat in itself. The whole interface is clear, logical and easy to get your head around – as long as you’re not the sort of person who panics at the sight of a third knob on a fuzz box.
Here’s the key: while the Mako Series is all about presets, navigation of the main controls is no harder than it would be with a fully manual pedal. Turn the central encoder to pick a delay mode, adjust the three top knobs to get the basics how you want them, and you’re never going to be far from where you want to be.
On the default screen, the two outer encoders are also ready to be deployed right off the bat: the left one for adjusting modulation rate, the right one for BPM. Yes, this is the same as delay time, but presented in a way that allows you to sync it to a backing track. That’s smart, that is.
And to get to the other variables? Simply push down on the left encoder to cycle through the six options: modulation depth, rate and wave shape, plus age (signal degradation), tone (progressive filtering) and stereo spread. You get a few more by pushing the right encoder; these vary according to the delay mode.
Pressing the middle and left encoders together takes you to the preset banks, and the only other thing you need to know is that there are master settings – bypass mode, screen brightness and so on – accessed by pressing middle and right. And when I say “need to know”, I mean “don’t really need to know”.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 – sounds
In terms of conventional delay sounds, there wasn’t a lot wrong with the old D1, especially after the v2 update, so it could be argued that the MkII model doesn’t have a great deal of work to do here. Sure enough, there’s nothing noticeably new about the core tones in digital, modulated, vintage, dual and reverse modes. They’re big on clarity, low on background hiss, and superbly convincing at pretty much everything they do. The reverse effect in particular is as good as I’ve heard.
But what’s really striking is how much of a difference that enhanced interface has made. Having independent control over modulation rate and depth allows this pedal to get closer to the sound of a real Deluxe Memory Man than the old one did – like, uncannily close – while those extra fine-tuning powers open up interesting new possibilities in the dual and reverse modes. It’s a shame the attack knob has been sacrificed – this was a nice way to give repeats a softer edge without making them dull – but I’ll be honest, with so many other factors to mess about with I almost didn’t notice it was gone.
And so we come to the granular delay. Your extra variables on the right encoder here are grain size, mix (between normal and messed-up repeats) and pitch, and this latter includes five options: standard, octave up, octave down, reverse (with no pitch-shift) and random (bouncing between up and down octaves). It might have been nice to see one or two other intervals on offer – fifths are always a giggle – but what really matters is that the sounds are all good, and all usable.
The obvious reference point here is Walrus’s own Fable ‘granular soundscape generator’ – but while that pedal’s all-mono algorithms have a tendency to get somewhat mushy, there’s none of that going on with the MkII D1. Just try the octave up effect running into two amps with stereo spread at maximum – it’s fluttery, skittery, ear-bewitching magic.
Image: Adam Gasson
Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 – should I buy one?
It’s hard to see how this pedal could be any better in terms of the quality and tweakability of its effects – most notably the faux-analogue and reverse delays, and most rewardingly when used in stereo – but you could argue that what really sets it apart from most rivals is that it packs all of those sounds into a genuinely compact enclosure.
And while it can’t match a dedicated glitch machine when it comes to the eccentric stuff, the new grain mode adds an extra dimension of real substance. I’d love to hear that taken further with more manipulation options – something for a future firmware update?
Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 alternatives
If you’re after a multi-mode all-rounder, the D1’s main rivals include the Strymon TimeLine ($449/£399), Source Audio Nemesis ($329/£299) and Boss DD-500 ($406.99/£379). But if you just want the strange and unearthly stuff, a better starting point might be the Pladask Elektrisk Baklengs ($255), Red Panda Particle 2 ($329) or Chase Bliss Audio Habit ($399).
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Kirk Hammett used a guitar made by Gibson’s CEO for Metallica’s Black Sabbath farewell performance – and it’s heading to auction
Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning was a triumphant success, with a pantheon of metal legends gathering at Villa Park to pay one last tribute to the Brummie legends who spawned the genre to which they owe everything.
The day saw performances from the likes of Alice In Chains, Gojira, Mastodon and Lamb of God, with sets from heavy metal A-listers later on including Metallica, Pantera and Slayer.
And for those of us guitar nerds out there – which you may very well be, reading this website – the day saw the guitar legends present showcasing a number of six-string gems, including Kirk Hammett, who among his usual rotating lineup of electric guitars, played a guitar built by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian.
We’ve known about the Metallica guitarist’s close relationship with Gibson’s head honcho for some time – the two have worked together on several signature releases, including the “Greeny” 1959 Les Paul Standard.
So it’s perhaps no surprise that the CEO4 – the one of a kind Gibson SG built by Cesar Gueikian himself – found its way into Hammett’s hands during Back to the Beginning.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming though, given Gueikian’s Instagram post on 24 May, in which he wrote: “CEO4 is finished! It’s now with one of my Hermanos who will be playing it on stage in July at a special show!”
The silver SG only made an appearance for one of Metallica’s six songs on the night – a cover of Sabbath’s Hole in the Sky, from 1975’s Sabotage. The thrash legends’ set was rounded out by Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, a cover of Sabbath’s Johnny Blade, Battery and Master of Puppets.
And the CEO4 is set to land in the hands of one lucky guitarist out there, as it’s headed to auction some time later this year, according to Gibson.
Given its provenance – and the elite hands and events through which it has passed – we expect it to command a pretty high sale price. Proceeds from the sale will go to charity via Gibson Gives, though, so this is certainly a good thing.
The exact date of said auction is yet to be determined, but we’ll endeavour to keep you in the loop as we know more.
Back to the Beginning also highlighted Gibson’s commitment to charitable causes, as two Gibson SGs – one in Ebony and another in Cherry Red – signed by Tony Iommi also went up for auction.
The Ebony model ended up with 51 bids and sold for £14,750, while the Cherry Red one had 29 bids and sold for £20,666. We’re sure the final bidder on that one placed those final three numbers on purpose.
All proceeds from both sales went to three charities chosen by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath for the event: Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
According to Tom Morello – who served as the events musical director – Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning raised a staggering £140 million for charity. Not bad stats at all for a band who gave birth to an entire genre, too…
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Jack White has gone 50 years without ever owning a cell phone – until now
In what might have been the biggest breaking news to us of the year so far, 50-year-old Jack White has never owned a cell phone – until now.
How an American can go five decades without owning a cell phone – particularly in the digital-, internet-first landscape of the last couple of decades – beggars belief, quite frankly.
- READ MORE: “I got away with murder!”: Is Mark Knopfler a ‘guitar hero’? He certainly doesn’t think so
But we’re all so glued to our phones that the White Stripes man was probably doing himself a favour.
In a new post on Instagram, White reveals that his shiny new iPhone was a present from his wife Olivia Jean.
“Well, y’all, it’s either all over for me now or just the beginning,” he writes. “I am now the reluctant owner of a cellular telephone for the first time in my life! A lovely 50th birthday present courtesy of my gorgeous and thoughtful wife Mrs. Olivia Jean.
“I’ve been saying that my days were numbered for years: can’t listen to my music in my car, can’t park at a parking lot by myself because of QR codes, etc.
“And I guess Olivia decided to be kind and put me (and all my loved ones) out of my misery! I thought if I could make it to 50 years old at least without ever having one that I could be proud of myself, and I am. Can’t wait to talk to you all soon. My phone number is the square root of all of our combined social interaction x Pi.”
So there you have it – get ready to hear from Jack White on social media a lot more now that he’ll have phone-ready access to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and wherever else artists share their daily musings. We can’t wait to see what he has in store…
Elsewhere, Jack White recently shared that he was looking for the Gibson ES-120T he sold as a teenager.
Sharing the news on Instagram – how he posted that without a phone raises more questions than it answers, but let’s gloss over that – the guitarist shared his regret at selling the six-string many years ago, launching an appeal for anyone with information regarding its whereabouts to come forward.
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The essential guitar albums of 2025 that you (probably) missed
It’s only July, but 2025 has already been a banner year for guitar music. The likes of Black Country New Road, Spiritbox, Sleep Token, Lambrini Girls and more have put out hit releases in the last six months and thrust themselves to new levels of popularity. But, for every album that’s received its righteous goodwill, there have been 10 to unjustly fly under the radar.
So, with this year now just over 50 per cent done with (I know), now seemed like an opportune time to take stock and give a leg up to some of the artists who haven’t received their deserved flowers yet. From all-out metal attacks to absorbing blues outings, these are the essential guitar albums of 2025 that you probably missed.
Spellling – Portrait of My Heart
Spelling ‘Portrait of My Heart’ album artwork. Image: Press
A restless genre-hopper, Christia “Spellling” Cabral’s back-catalogue includes experiments with synth music, psychedelia, soul and more. On album number four, the Oakland singer/songwriter zeroes in on rock but explores plenty of the style’s different corners, especially with the guitar work. Where the title track invokes such alt-rockers as The Smashing Pumpkins with its emotional melodies and arpeggios, Satisfaction unloads some boisterous hardcore riffs. Cabral’s always-beautiful vocals keeps everything tied together, however, cementing her status as one of the most underrated solo acts in the modern music industry.
Pothamus – Abur
Pothamus ‘Abur’ album artwork. Image: Press
The second album by Belgian post-rockers Pothamus is dense with guitars, but don’t expect riffs in the conventional sense. Comparable to such pioneers as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and labelmates Year of No Light, the three-piece pile texture after texture of string-based noise on top of each other, until their songs feel apocalyptically oppressive. The thudding bass and ominous drums only cement Abur as a potential soundtrack to the end times, while the fleeting, distant, choral vocals make this band sound like a cult actively chanting for a cataclysm.
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
Imperial Triumphant ‘Goldstar’ album artwork. Image: Press
“We’re the sound of New York,” Imperial Triumphant singer/guitarist Zachary Ezrin told Guitar.com earlier this year, and Goldstar is the most direct embodiment of that spirit to date. Through their ferocious metal riffs, spasming jazz rhythms and rusted Art Deco imagery, the trio capture the essence of 1920s decadence rotting under the weight of hideous noise and confusion – a perfect metaphor for the modern-day Big Apple. With more episodic songs than they’d written for previous efforts, the band’s symbolism shines through more powerfully here than ever before.
Mdou Moctar – Tears of Injustice
Mdou Moctar ‘Tears of Injustice’ album artwork. Image: Press
Tears of Injustice is the companion piece to Mdou Moctar’s album, 2024’s Funeral for Justice, rearranging the Nigerian guitarist’s tracks into acoustic forms. As the man himself says, “If Funeral for Justice was the sound of outrage, Tears of Injustice is the sound of grief,” as the tracks retain the same political focus yet inherently sound more downtrodden and defeated over the state of the world. The reworks also highlight Moctar’s adaptability as a player, going from twirling and bluesy to quiet and folky, but no less dextrous.
Avkrvst – Waving at the Sky
Avkrvst ‘Waving at the Sky’ album artwork. Image: Press
Fans of dark prog luminaries Steven Wilson and Opeth will be spoiled by Avkrvst. Pronounced “aw-crust”, the Norwegian unit were formed by two lifelong friends when they started jamming together in a remote cabin. Waving at the Sky, their second album, brings the despondent edges of their 2023 debut The Approbation front and centre, accompanying a narrative about abuse with lashings of sullen melody. With Ross Jennings of Haken getting a guest spot and Sony imprint Inside Out behind them, this outfit already seem destined for big things.
Art d’Ecco – Serene Demon
Art d’Ecco ‘Serene Demon’ album artwork. Image: Press
The guitar isn’t the defining instrument on Canadian solo act Art D’Ecco’s fourth album, with the instrument instead being used as part of a bigger, wonderful tapestry. This is a 10-song goth/glam winner with hallmarks of lounge, jazz, funk and ’40s film noir, with everything coalescing into a bouncy and seductive whole. The riffier moments include acoustic folk stomper Honeycomb and post-punk anthem The Traveller, the latter of which has been longlisted for a Polaris Music Prize. But, truthfully, if you skip even one track across this uber-catchy platter, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Havukruunu – Tavastland
Havukruunu ‘Tavastland’ album artwork. Image: Press
It’s black metal with Iron Maiden riffs. Do you really need to read more than that? Havukruunu have been broadcasting sophisticated extremity from the wilds of Finland for 20 years now, yet it still seems that only the most devout metalheads know of their existence. Tavastland reiterates how great an injustice that is, combining stampeding percussion and twirling guitar leads to offer 50 minutes of unfettered adrenaline. Add in a fascinating lyrical concept about generational trauma and you get one of the most essential metal releases of 2025 altogether.
Waldo’s Gift – Malcolm’s Law
Waldo’s Gift ‘Malcolm’s Law’ album artwork. Image: Press
Calling an artist ‘avant-garde’ feels like a cop-out half the time, but when it comes to Waldo’s Gift… what the hell else can anyone say?! Equal parts jazz, rock and prog, the Bristol instrumentalists are pure technicality, from the callus-shredding guitar athletics to the breakneck drum performances. Yet, there’s a constant sense of bounce and playfulness that stops debut album Malcolm’s Law from feeling like a soulless collection of exercises. The improvisations and bittersweet finale Last on the Plane only add further heart, cementing this band as ones to watch.
Slung – In Ways
Slung ‘In Ways’ album artwork. Image: Press
From Loathe to Bleed, it seems that every young metal band nowadays has to have at least some hallmark of Deftones influence in their music. Though Brighton up-and-comers Slung are no exception, debut album In Ways shakes up the formula. For all the waves of dreamy nu metal heard on the songs Come Apart and Collider, there are vicious extreme metal and hardcore punk deviations. Opener Laughter kickstarts the record with a venomous snarl and a thrashing riff, before Class A Cherry channels some of the sludge metal density of Mastodon.
Danefae – Trøst
Danefae ‘Trøst’ album artwork. Image: Press
From Heilung to Kalandra, Nordic folk is back in vogue, and Denmark’s Danefae proved themselves worthy of a seat at the table with their second album. The rockers mixed hypnotic, lullaby-like vocal harmonies with an array of instrumentation, from bold, hard chords to serene arpeggios. The highlight of Trøst, though, is midpoint P.S. Far Er Død: a 12-minute, progressive giant that rose from gentleness and spoken-word to pulse-pounding metal. With more of that kind of unpredictability, this four-piece could become big names in one of the trendiest subgenres right now.
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“You couldn’t be in a rock band unless you looked a certain way”: Why Tim Pierce didn’t join Bon Jovi – despite playing guitar on their first hit
As Bon Jovi were forming in 1983, glam metal was reaching its peak, and the way a band looked was almost as crucial to success as the music they played.
It was for this reason that Tim Pierce – credited as a guitarist on Runaway from Bon Jovi’s self-titled debut – didn’t end up joining the band as a full-time member… at least according to him.
- READ MORE: “I got away with murder!”: Is Mark Knopfler a ‘guitar hero’? He certainly doesn’t think so
In a new interview with Guitar World, Pierce recalls how he ended up recording “all the guitars” on Runaway, and why Richie Sambora ended up joining the band instead of him.
“That happened kind of by accident, as many great opportunities do,” he says of Runaway. “I was 23 and recording in New York. Jon Bon Jovi was living upstairs at the Power Station [recording studio]. Basically, his job was the janitor for his uncle, Tony Bongiovi.
“They put together a master demo and he asked me to play on it. I said, ‘Of course!’ I ended up doing all the guitars on Runaway, and Jon credited me on the back of the record. That was his first Top 40 hit, and I got full credit. It was great.”
Though his collaboration with Jon Bon Jovi saw them do “six or eight” master demos leading to Bon Jovi’s record deal with Mercury Records, he wasn’t asked to become a permanent member of the band Bon Jovi was putting together.
“Jon and I became friends,” Pierce recalls. “He came to LA when he was looking for musicians to join his band, but a couple of things happened. First, I didn’t have the image to be in the band. People forget that you couldn’t be in a rock band unless you looked a certain way. I didn’t have that image, so Jon never came out and asked.”
On whether he has any regrets about not joining Bon Jovi, the guitarist continues, “I missed out on being in one of the biggest rock bands in the world – but I don’t think I had the image!
“Richie was the perfect choice. The way he plays, looks and sings is great. They wrote some of the most amazing songs ever. Jon didn’t ask, and it probably had to do with the fact that I had another gig – and didn’t look like a rock star.”
After his work with Jon Bon Jovi, Pierce went on to join Rick Springfield’s band as Jessie’s Girl was picking up traction.
“It was a wonderful thing to jump into. I became Rick’s guitar player for five albums, and we’re friends to this day,” he remembers.
Tim Pierce also runs a comprehensive masterclass teaching guitarists of all skill levels, with over 1,800 videos and more than 150 hours of educational content.
Learn more at timpierce.com.
The post “You couldn’t be in a rock band unless you looked a certain way”: Why Tim Pierce didn’t join Bon Jovi – despite playing guitar on their first hit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Eric Gales nearly played a 16-bar solo on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album
![[L-R] Eric Gales and Beyoncé](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Eric-Gales-Beyonce@2000x1500.jpg)
Self-proclaimed via his website as the “best blues guitarist in the world” – hey, we’re not exactly arguing that – Eric Gales has indisputably top-tier guitar chops. And the fact he does it all with an upside-down guitar is something else, but we digress…
As producer Raphael Saadiq reveals in a new interview with Tonya Mosley of NPR, Gales’ skills nearly got him the opportunity to play a solo on Beyonce’s 2024 album Cowboy Carter, but touring commitments meant he wasn’t able.
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One of the guitar highlights of the album comes at the end of eighth track Bodyguard, where Saadiq lays down a bluesy solo underneath Beyonce’s outro vocals.
“Bey wanted a solo. And I did a solo,” Saadiq reflects. “And she was like, ‘Can we make it longer?’ But she knows her audience, and she knows that is rare. And she’s like, ‘I think we could do that. We can have a 16-bar solo on this record.’
“So that was a little bit of pressure, to go back in there and play, like, a 16-bar solo.”
While Saadiq played the solo himself, he originally intended to tap up Eric Gales for the job.
“I would’ve called my boy. I would’ve called Eric Gales,” he continues. “Eric Gales is one of the most amazing guitar players in the world today. He’s from Memphis, Delta blues. He was the guy that’s playing – he played a lot of guitar in [2025 film] Sinners. But I would’ve called him to play, but he was on tour, so I had to play it. And it came out good.”
Cowboy Carter saw Beyonce – like many other artists as of late – foray into country, leading to something of a country revival in recent years.
If you need proof of Eric Gales formidable guitar skills, he recently traded licks with blues legend Buddy Guy on an album dedicated to his late brother Little Jimmy King.
Listen to Somebody below:
The post Eric Gales nearly played a 16-bar solo on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.