The VeeBees are an Australian punk rock band that has been playing for about 25 years and has five albums and a whole series of EPs, split EPs and singles. This EP contains two songs, Third in Line for the Throne and Yeah Orright and is limited to 150 copies on silver vinyl. Take Toy Dolls, give them a bit of a rougher sound and more booze and you have roughly the sound of The Vee Bees (which is an Australian beer brand, by the way). Try to check them on YouTube and you will see that they are great bunch of lads who don´t spoil any joke. The first song has a great drive, a super boosted guitar and bass sound and is about how you stand in front of a public toilet and what you don't learn from the walls where great wisdom is written. The second track Yeah Orright is a slower song, both lyrically and musically, in the style of classic rock. Otherwise, the band plays in a standard four-piece line-up. Inside you will find a paper with lyrics, a promo photo of the band, where the singer is sitting on a porcelain throne :) and a beer coaster, a patch and a badge. A great music for letting off steam.

A three-piece band from Holland, where people from LBTS, Razorblade and God Dethroned meet, is preparing a new album at the end of March 2026. This is a taster single, which will be released both digitally (for example on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVYDWeyJEEQ), but will also be released on a limited flexi disc, where there will be one more song besides it, which will not be available on the full album (but we don't know anything about it yet). The song is less than three minutes long and it starts with a really perfect black metal riff that lasts about a minute and a quarter. Then there's a change of rhythm with a perfect guitar solo. This instrumental passage lasts about a minute and then it falls back into that black metal slaughterhouse. Lyrically, the song contains 36 names of Germanic tribes from the dark times of pre-Christian Europe. The first Heathen Peace album was definitely not for everyone, because not everyone likes such hard and heavy stuff. After listening to this single, I can say that the second album will be similar and this taster single will only confirm it. But for me, it's great. I won't rate it yet and I'll wait for the second song, which won't be on the album, and for the whole album.

The split CD of two experienced bands (this is the seventh album for Heroes and the eighth for True Aggression) is released as a CD on OPOS Records. Each band is represented here with six songs, with each band also playing one cover of the other. In the case of Heroes it is Heretics and Barbarians (Ketzer und Barbaren) and in the case of True Agreesion it is Geistiger Terror (originally Andlig Terrorism). In one song from each band there is also a guest singer from the other, so in Heroes Miesl sings in We Fight to Win and in the case of True Aggression it is Johan in We Are Still Here. Heroes have all their songs in English, while TA have them all in German (but in the last We Are Still Here there is a Swedish and English passage). Both bands also play in the same line-up – four members and two guitars. The songs from Heroes are more rock and the singer's voice is higher. There is even an acoustic song Freedom. Lyrically, it's a classic - lying media (Fake Information), illusion of freedom (Freedom), position in society where the family wants you, but you don't (When We Unite), etc... Musically, for me, it's definitely Fake Information, where there are really great solos and the singer shows his range. At first listen, the style of Heroes didn't really suit me, but as I listen to it again and again, I start to like it. TA play faster, harder and it has more punk verve and drive, and right from the first Stolz und Stark they pour it into you (it's not a cover of Ultima Thule) with a great rhythm and guitar, the second track Get Woke is about the phenomenon of today - are you a man, a woman or an animal... who knows? 1000 Volt is about the god of thunder who rages over Europe, Total Egal 2 (with a ska rhythm in the chorus but a nice fast tempo in the verse) is about how we don't care where someone ranks us and what they think of us. In the last thing Johan from Heroes shows again the great range of his voice. The booklet is a classic – lyrics, photos, thank you note. Great.

The sixth EP of this German band, which plays in a three-piece line-up, is released as a ten-inch (145 yellow versions and 396 black) in cooperation between the German (Try and Stop Me) and the American label (Oi!tism Records). Previous releases were released by Rebellion or Oi! the Nische Records, for example. The album contains four songs in English - Wild Boar Rock'n'Roll, Bad Dream, Min Fru Har En Katt and Fatherland. The band has three members and, unlike the first releases, only singer and guitarist Lenz remained. The band has a totally Chiswick sound – a metal-sounding guitar with a light booster that plays nice leads, plus singalong refrain – for example in Fatherland or Min Fru Har En Katt, where the guys from Sabotage help out in the chorus (basic words like beer, coffee, short hair and that my wife has a cat :)) and the whole song is about how they were invited to Sweden for a joint event (where Östra Aros also played). Lyrically, it's about a hunter who wants to hunt wild boars (like the band :)) should be damn careful, because the cards can turn pretty quickly (opening Wild Boar Rock´n´Roll), then about the hometown that turned gray (Bad Dream) or about how the band still has something to say after five years of playing (Fatherland), which is probably the slowest and in a way the saddest song on the album. The entire album has a playing time of around 11 and a half minutes and you can listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IW0HDRA16A. Inside you will find a paper with lyrics, a thank you note and a bunch of photos. Still Defiant have been playing a straightforward style since the beginning of their career, which has balls and will make you sway to the rhythm.

This album was recorded in 2024 and released this year by Dim Records on CD and LP (500 copies in many color versions). The title could be translated as Ancient Times in the Present and there are 11 songs on the album in total. Except for one song, they are all older songs from various compilations, splits, anniversary albums, etc... - Den Vise Vet, Irrvisa and God Morgen Väldren (from Glömda Barnen), Mitt Barn (from Carolus Rex 6), Grakappan (Carolus Rex 3), Atertag (Carolus Rex 2), Hör Du Mig (Carolus Rex 5), Den svarta Döden (split with Hel Genom Eld Och Aska) and Klocksång (25 Years Anniversary) and Nu Släcks Alla Ijusen (Folkets Röst). As a bonus there is the song Wasa, which has not been released anywhere before. Musically it's in a medium tempo with a mellow start, nice solos and tempo changes and a recitative at the end. The song probably refers to a Swedish warship that was sunk in 1628 and raised in 1961. The whole album is on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr5ZGmGzQ5Q) or on spotify. According to the booklet, which is a poster with photos, this album was recorded in five, so Bruno Hansen is also here, so let's expect two guitars. There are a lot of photos from a festival in Spain, where the band played in the summer. The whole thing is very nicely done, but I'll leave it without a rating and I'll look forward to new songs (maybe on EP Nog är nog, Europa, Kalle Teodor or Hey Ho).