And the hits continue! I am in my own little nirvana right now, getting to listen to so much amazing music coming from these shores. The latest track I have been gifted is Black Smoke Trigger‘s absolute beast of a single, The Way Down.

A guttural roar of a rhythm section courtesy of bassist Dan Fulton and drummer Josh Te Maro anchor the monster riffing and tactically played lead shreds of guitar man – and maniac Sky Tower diver (I’ll get to that shortly) – Charlie Wallace. All are driven by the klaxon that is vocalist Baldrick. Initially I got a Fallout Boy vibe from him, but quickly – and aided by the awesomely “classic” Brit-metal sound – I was in full Rob Halford mode.

Yes, I got Priest, I got Maiden, I got some of the finest of Saxon. D*vilskin certainly opened the door to this genre, but there are bands like Black Smoke Trigger now leading the way in taking Kiwi Rock ’23 to the world. Did you know legendary Motley Crue (why does my keypad hate umlauts?) guitarist Mick Mars has featured on a previous single?

Produced in Nashville, Tennessee and here in little old EnZed by legendary twiddler Nick Raskulinecz, I cannot speak highly enough of this song. It’s 2023’s take on classic 70s and early 80s metal. The punky edge that we got from that sound is there, and it just keeps giving. I was punching the horns in the air to this!

The video is hilarious and insane. The guys ham it up at Auckland’s Sky Tower – the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere – and we have shots of them causing carnage in the restaurant, bar and hotel, as well as hijacking the stage. The highlight – in more ways than one – for me are the shots of the band playing the song outside the spinning restaurant, on the disc. This culminates with Kamikaze Charlie jumping off the building mid-solo, taking his gat with him and staying in solo mode all the way down. It’s on YouTube.

This is for the rock shows, for the pub, for when you’re going to mow the lawns and it’s 40 degrees. In other words anywhere you’ll find a metalhead. It’s done well, and it’s full of life and full of in your face rock rebel attitude. Twenty three out of ten.