This edition delivers a packed mix of heavy hitters and underground discoveries, from the intensity of Infected Rain to the classic Thrash of Exodus to the majesty of the undisputed Finnish Queen of Symphonic Metal Herself, Tarja Turunen. Collaborations add extra weight, with Stitched-Up Heart joining forces with Butcher Babies and Okkultist featuring Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell on new tracks making an appearance in this show.

There’s also plenty of bombast and fresh blood, from Skindred to rising acts like Mallavora and Turbowitch—making this a no-frills, all-riffs edition packed with plenty of new music to discover.

As always, the focus remains on the music and the push to get diverse voices heard.

The centrepiece of this show is an interview I did at SOS 2025 with young Manchester-based band, Dacara. Huge thanks to them for the chat. As is the tradition here, I handed them the keys to the playlist for a bit afterward. You’ll be hearing Nice Try and Rot, plus a guest appearance from Dinosaur Pile-Up on Thrash Metal Cassette.

The rest of the set is a mix of new tracks that have caught my attention lately, including new stuff from Rob Zombie and Ruoska, medieval Doom from Castle Rat, and more new releases from Butcher Babies, Venus Grrrls, and the reformed Sister Sin. We’ve also got some Blackened material from Necrofier and Yoth Iria, alongside music from Carla Harvey and Charlie Benante's The Violent Hour and a little something from returning favourites, Toranaga UK.

We’re closing the show with a tribute. As you’ve likely heard, Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell passed away a few days ago. Phil was a core part of the band for over three decades and a legend in his own right. It felt only right to end this show with Born To Raise Hell in his honour.

As always, I’m looking to amplify the voices of the people who make the Metal scene work, especially the marginalised, such as women, POC, the LGBTQIA+ community, and sex workers. This scene belongs to the outsiders, and we need to stick together and help each other where we can. If you're making music or art (that includes dance, clothing, jewellery, equipment... anything, really), get in touch via the Contact Page or Instagram.

Anyway... As usual, The Wyrd Ways Rock Show is about new music and forcing a woke agenda down your throats.  So a lot of the bands have women in them.  With today, as I type this, being International Women's Day, I think that's kind of appropriate.  So is the final track - the debut of Arch Enemy's new singer, Lauren Hart.  By the way, before any knuckle-draggers demand to know, it's 23rd November, OK?  If you know how to write or count, you can put it in your diaries.

We've also got an interview I did a few weeks ago with Dr Kate Quinn, dyed-in-the-wool Metalhead and one of the founders of Heavy Metal Therapy, an online resource and community of people who find Metal music helpful for mental well being (myself included). It is a place to find and share experiences of how Metal has helped us, the meaning we take from songs or lyrics, and play lists that we have found useful. It is for everyone, so we don’t judge each others metal preferences.

Here's the link: Heavy Metal Therapy.

As always, except for the three post-interview tracks, every song in this edition of The Wyrd Ways Rock Show is personally chosen by my good self and played because of all the music I get sent by various record companies and pluggers, these are the ones that caught my attention the most.  Your choice or your band could be on a future show.  If you want anything played, message me via the Contact Page or on Instagram.  That includes if you want to tip me off about a band you've discovered.

I'm also trying to raise up marginalized voices in the Metal community, so if any women, POCs, sex workers or members of the LGBTQIA+ community fancy a chat about what they do (which also includes musicians, performers, artists and literally anything else), what got them into Rock and Metal and the music they love, get in touch and we'll figure something out either in person or via Zoom.

So I had a little bit of a fanboy moment when recording this week's show.  I've been listening to Porcelain Victoria's podcast, Behind The Paddle for a while and have learned a lot from it.  I was somewhat shocked when she agreed to talk to me over Zoom about her love of Metal.  I needn't have worried, Victoria was fantastic.  I would love to have her on the show again sometime.  Massive thanks to her for agreeing to the interview.

You might be wondering why I've been interviewing non-musicians on The Wyrd Ways Rock Show.  It's a music show, right?  There's a very good reason.  This music we call Metal unites a lot of people from across the world.  Metal is for everyone.  We are a community and we should be looking after our own.  Some of our siblings are being silenced, legislated against (or threatened with it) or being "othered" by society at large, and it's past time we all stepped up and helped.  I'm doing that by listening to them and magnifying their voices by getting them on the show to talk about the thing that unites us all - Metal.  It's a lot harder to "other" someone who shares your tastes.  It also helps us to be reminded that people in marginalized communites like women, POCs, queer people, trans people and sex workers of all types are just as human as we are and deserve to be treated in the same way.

I'm using my cis het white guy privilege and my platform, such as it is, to stand up for any of my siblings (as a human being and a dyed-in-the-wool Metalhead) who are being downtrodden by bigots, right wing politicians, TERFs and SWERFs.

The rest of the show is the usual mix of high quality brand new Rock and Metal, served just the way you like it with a bit of a chat about the Sexplicit event, run by PDSM I went to last weekend.

Shall we...?