JET JAGUAR – Severance (2025) *HQ*
JET JAGUAR pleased us with their 80s hard rock / classic metal flavored debut album five years ago. Now they are back with “Severance“. This is more than a sophomore album—it’s a battle cry. Emerging from lineup shifts, pandemic setbacks and even a serious tour accident, the four-piece channels resilience into a blazing tribute to traditional metal.
Building on the promise of 2020’s ‘Endless Nights’, ”Severance” delivers shred-heavy riffs, technical precision and a renewed sense of purpose. The band members calls it a leap forward in composition and cohesion and it shows: each track pulses with urgency and grit. With their fighting spirit intact and their sound sharper than ever, Jet Jaguar prove they’re not just survivors — they’re contenders. “Severance” is a testament to perseverance, passion and the enduring power of classic metal in a modern age.
The precise riffing next to Shrapnel roster level shredding that occurs on most of the lead breaks will be an immediate element in the favor of this record – guitarists Ariyuki Arce and Raiden Løzenthäll knowledgeable on where to emphasize melodic bends next to frenzied passages of virtuosity.
The new songs revel in a heavier, darker context – although the speedy, uplifting spirit within “Mach 10” will remind many of classic Thundersteel-period Riot meets Rust In Peace-era Megadeth in terms of riveting high speed tempo atmosphere, guitar battles, and supreme melodies with eagle-like screams.
Reflective acoustic guitars plus background keyboard orchestration set “Disposable Minds” into adventurous lands – the main rhythms unfold into an anthem with numerous twists between the whispers, throaty passages, and thunderstorm sound effects.
“Anthropocene” at almost eight minutes possesses that epic Judas Priest / Iron Maiden-esque nature to the arrangement – starting off at a slower pace, increasing heaviness midway through as the crunchy guitars and Savatage-like soundscape resonates, drummer Jimmy Lozano and bassist Jorge Ramirez adept to all the diverse softer to louder textures present.
The band is also throwing in a couple of early songs reinterpreted with better tones / production / mix qualities in this current incarnation.
Two bonus tracks “Call of the Fight” and “Hunter” refer back to the earliest demo period of the band when they started in 2014. The bluesy nature to the opening guitar run of the former resembles a lot of what you would hear in the late 70s / early 80s from Randy Rhoads or Eddie Van Halen before taking over into a fairly traditional metal song with plenty of gang-like togetherness in the key vocal support.
“Hunter” has a lot of stop/start qualities that should get audiences overjoyed, headbanging or air guitaring to the metal action, fleet drum fills, or upper echelon, note-holding melodies that come at the end. And for those who love an interesting, funky metal instrumental where the best of Racer X and Cacophony licks and breaks collide, “Hollow Drive (remix)” takes that space smoothly.
Now over a decade as players and performers, Jet Jaguar intensify their sound while keeping the supreme musicianship top of mind for ”Severance”. It’s never easy to balance the past to modern styles – especially in such a vast genre as heavy metal – well, these musicians pour their hearts, passions, and efforts into a record that should sound just as engaging ten to thirty years down the line as it currently stands today.
Highly Recommended
01 – Eternal Light
02 – Mach 10
03 – Hollow Drive (Remix)
04 – Fool’s Paradise
05 – Severance
06 – Disposable Minds
07 – Anthropocene
08 – Evil Within (Remix)
09 – Call of The Fight (Bonus Track)
10 – Hunter (Bonus Track)
Raiden (vocals, guitar)
Ariyuki (guitar)
Bori (bass)
Jorge Ramirez (drums)
BUY
amazon.com/Severance-Jet-Jaguar/dp/B0FJFZ5ZJ9
