The guitarists of the year

SLASH WAS THERE when, in the aftermath of Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction, the band suddenly exploded onto a chaotic arc from Sunset Strip hopefuls to one of the biggest, mos

AFTER SLASH AND Duff McKagan exited Guns N’ Roses in the mid-Nineties, things went kinda sideways for a bit. The band kept rolling, but it was host to a cavalcade of guitar players, from Buckethead to

DON’T LET THE finality of The End fool you. Despite the connotations of the title of Wolfgang Van Halen’s third and latest album as Mammoth, the hard rocker’s thrilling new era has only just begun. Wh

IN THE LAST 25 years, Joe Bonamassa has dropped 16 studio records. That’s a lot of music, meaning it’s hard to keep things fresh — and his latest, Breakthrough, despite its title, doesn’t even try to

“MY WIFE HAS enrolled me in a gym, and I have to go lift weights for an hour after this,” chuckles blues guitarist extraordinaire Walter Trout, the 74-year-old survivor of a drug habit and subsequent

2025 IS SHAPING up to be a banner year for Cardinal Black. After dropping their highly anticipated sophomore album, Midnight at the Valencia, the Welsh trio are gearing up for their first-ever U.S. to