KILLJOY
Killjoy is a blistering French duo from Brussels forging a bold path through the modern rock landscape. Combining ferocious guitar riffs, intricate drumming, and electronic textures, their sound is a genre-defying mix of heavy rock, screamo, electro, and psychedelia. It’s intense, cinematic, and unafraid to be both aggressive and atmospheric — a collision of dream and violence, fittingly captured in the title of their debut album.
Made up of guitarist Kilian Naofs and drummer Joachim Poitevin, Killjoy thrives on tension and release. Their compositions unfold with precision, refusing predictability while channeling raw energy into complex structures that still punch hard. Whether live or in the studio, the duo crafts a visceral experience — uncompromising, experimental, and always evolving. In a world of noise, Killjoy cuts through with intent.
What sets Killjoy apart isn’t just their technical skill, but their fearless commitment to emotional depth. There’s a haunting undercurrent to their music — moments of fragile calm buried beneath waves of distortion and rage. It’s this balance of beauty and brutality that gives their sound such staying power. With each track, Killjoy invites the listener into a world that’s equal parts catharsis and confrontation — a sonic landscape shaped by duality, defiance, and an unmistakable pulse.
Website: instagram.com/killjoy__official
MY DILIGENCE
My Diligence is a Belgian power trio carving seismic grooves through the sludge, stoner, and progressive rock landscape with unapologetic force. Their sound is a high-octane blend of thunderous riffs, hypnotic rhythms, and angular dynamics — equal parts brute strength and sharp precision. From the underground clubs of Brussels to European festival stages, they’ve earned a reputation for crafting massive, muscular compositions that flirt with psychedelia while keeping their boots firmly planted in the fuzz.
What makes My Diligence stand out isn’t just volume — it’s intent. Every track pulses with purpose, building cathedrals of sound only to tear them down moments later. It’s music that breathes, fights, and evolves — driven by instinct but never reckless. The band thrives on tension: clean tones swell into crushing distortion, while complex time shifts give way to primal groove.
Their latest work pushes deeper into uncharted territory, balancing chaos and control with newfound clarity. It’s ambitious without being pretentious — progressive rock for people who hate the term. With a sound that keeps expanding without losing its punch, My Diligence isn’t just riding the heavy wave — they’re reshaping it in real time.
Website: instagram.com/mydiligence
ROMANO NERVOSO
Romano Nervoso is Belgium’s flamboyant high priest of “spaghetti rock” — a genre-bending, hip-thrusting explosion of glam, punk, garage, and unfiltered charisma served with a twist of Italian swagger and a devilish grin. Led by the ever-theatrical frontman Romano, the band isn’t here to whisper or blend in — they crash through the scene like a rhinestone-studded battering ram, equal parts razor and rhinestone. Their sound is feral but precise, catchy but chaotic, a glorious mess of power chords, pounding rhythms, and swaggering vocals that belong equally on a dive bar stage or a Roman coliseum.
Romano Nervoso doesn’t perform so much as detonate — delivering high-octane sets packed with glitter, grit, and guitar solos that punch through the smoke like a boot to the chest. It’s rock 'n' roll as spectacle, but with serious chops behind the sequins — tight, relentless musicianship powering songs that oscillate between raw aggression and absurd theatrical joy.
Whether opening for punk legends or headlining their own glitter-soaked riot, Romano Nervoso reminds you that rock should be fun, dangerous, and a little bit ridiculous. They’re not just a band — they’re a fever dream in leopard print, and they’re coming for your dance floor.
Website: romanonervosoband.com
MADÉ J.
Madé J. is Bali’s unrelenting voice of rock 'n' roll — a renegade singer-songwriter whose sound is soaked in grit, soul, and the spirit of rebellion. Blending blues-drenched vocals, punk attitude, and raw rock energy, his music is a no-frills punch to the gut — think desert-road Americana colliding headfirst with surf-soaked Southeast Asian heat. It’s visceral, untamed, and unapologetically real — like a bar fight between Tom Waits, The Stooges, and a gamelan orchestra at midnight.
Born and raised on the island but seasoned by years on the road across Europe, Australia, and the U.S., Madé J. isn’t just a musician — he’s a scene-builder. The founder of Gimme Shelter, Bali’s only true dive for rock misfits and music junkies, he’s carved out a home for the loud, the lost, and the loyal. His label extends that mission: a place for real music, played loud, lived harder.
What defines Madé J.’s sound is its honesty. It’s got scars, swagger, and soul. His songs burn slow and fast — lurching blues grooves, barbed hooks, and lyrics that hit like confessions shouted into the wind. He doesn't chase trends; he lives in the groove, whether that’s on stage, sweating it out in a packed club, or cutting straight-to-tape tracks that bleed analog grit.
Website: instagram.com/madejmusic
LA MUERTE
La Muerte is Belgium’s most dangerous export since TNT — a cult rock outfit detonating eardrums and expectations since 1983. Born in Brussels and baptized in distortion, they fuse swamp-soaked blues, punk nihilism, and industrial grime into a sound that’s both brutal and cinematic. It’s raw meat music — primal, searing, and wrapped in shadow. Think The Stooges in a knife fight with early Swans, filmed by David Lynch on expired Super 8.
Founded by vocalist Marc du Marais and guitarist Dee-J, La Muerte built their legend in the '80s with records that sounded like exorcisms and live shows that felt like rituals. Disbanded, resurrected, and now even more venomous, they’ve evolved without ever sanding off the edge.
La Muerte doesn’t traffic in nostalgia or polish. Their music is an assault — guitar tones that growl and shriek, rhythms that stomp like heavy boots on wet concrete, vocals that sound like they were summoned from the abyss. It’s all tension and release, chaos and control, beauty writhing under layers of decay.
Decades in, they remain one of Europe’s most defiant and electrifying forces in underground rock. No compromise. No mercy. Just La Muerte.
Website: instagram.com/la_muerte_belgium
JOHNNY TRASH
Johnny Trash puts the punchline where the heartbreak usually goes. The Flemish singer and comedian mixes bluegrass, rockabilly and doo-wop with songs about women, overfilled plates and one drink too many. It’s roots music with a raised eyebrow and absolutely no intention of behaving itself.
Behind the grin is a musician with decades in Belgium’s rock ’n’ roll trenches, including stints with Sin Alley, Runnin’ Wild and Donkey Diesel. His comedy took him to third place on Belgium’s Got Talent, but the television spotlight only tells half the story: Johnny’s guitar isn’t there for decoration.
His 2016 debut album, Niet Enkel Schoonheid, brings those worlds together. Released through Mottow Soundz, its thirteen tracks were recorded live with his band, putting flesh and rhythm behind the punchlines. Even the packaging gets the personal treatment, with a twenty-page booklet drawn by Johnny himself. Handmade comedy, right down to the ink.
For listeners who like their roots music with a little less reverence and a lot more cheek, Johnny Trash is excellent company—and terrible encouragement. There’s room for a tune, a laugh and another round. Leave your straight face at the door.
SLOVENIANS
Slovenians make a racket for anyone who has ever laughed because the alternative looked worse. Formed in Brussels in 2012, the quartet mix punk’s short fuse with stoner heft and dirty blues, keeping the melodies sharp amid the commotion. The humour is black; the delivery comes with teeth.
Their story runs from debut album Al Dente to the Sinners EP, dedicated to founding guitarist Sinkesh Krištofik following his death in 2017. Behind the band’s defiance is the very real experience of losing a friend and choosing to carry on together.
Latest album Birds of Disgrace, released on 4 September 2026 through Mottow Soundz, packs thirteen tracks into roughly twenty-eight minutes. Addiction, grief and alienation crowd the room, but resignation never gets comfortable. There’s sarcasm here, certainly, but also an outstretched hand: an acknowledgement that life can get ugly without that being the end of the conversation.
For listeners who like their punk abrasive but never emotionally vacant, Slovenians have plenty to get their teeth into. Blues grit roughens the edges; melody gives the anger somewhere to go. Put Birds of Disgrace on loud: there’s more going on here than a glorious bloody racket.
Website: instagram.com/slovenians.bxl
ALEX ROBERTS
To say that Alex has many strings to his bow would be a metaphor forgiven for the fact that it helps to conjure his presence as a musical magician, in which any number of guitars seamlessly pop into set, beautifully played and adored. Almost totemic, each wood and strings take their part, whether it’s the finger-style acoustic guitar, lap-steel playing, or the Bouzouki, Alex plays with a sincerity borne of years of graft, craft, and a man who seems to straddle multiple time boundaries.
His lyrics offer a fusion of cultural and intercultural pertinence, generated by an acute appreciation for our earth and its ancestry, and a raw gift for storytelling. His musical oeuvre is enriched by his travels and immersive living experiences, the result is an oasis of mini ‘odysseys’ in which each song feels like it has been specially harvested for our appreciation. Through years of musical study together with an inimitable, intuitive flair for rhythm and the written word, Alex not only turns life into music, but enables us to see that music provides life with its heartbeat. He urges us to listen. With titles bestowed upon him such as ‘the Bard of Dorset’ and ‘Hollowneck Troubadour’ (after his award winning use of the lap-steel guitar), nine studio albums released and clocking up to 150 shows a year, Alex continues to respond to his calling as a troubadour.
Website: alexrobertsmusic.com