Florida metal guitarist Marko Bojkovic has released his latest album, Venom. Musically, the album is a mixture of progressive metal, death metal, power metal, and thrash metal, with a hint of influence from anime and video game OSTs. Venom was over two years in the making, beginning in 2020 when Covid hit. “Recording was on hiatus during the final months of that year so I could finish up grad school,” explained Marko. In 2021, he continued to compose and record, with the project eventually becoming a collaboration between many of Marko’s talented friends. “I’d like to give a huge thank you to my friends Brandon Delpino of Kiss of Betrayal and the Mourning for writing lyrics, Chris Savipoulos of DeathtrucK for his killer vocal work, and my bandmate/brother in shred from Spiritual Chaos, Anthony DiFiglio, for his sick solo at the end of his song and telling me about Chris.”
The album was preceded by two lead singles, “My Strength Returning“, and the title track “Venom”. The three-and-a-half-minute instrumental track is a wild ride of riffs, blast beats, and of course, what any great metal instrumental should have, sick-ass guitar solos.“Venom is one of my favorite villains from Spider-Man, so I actually wanted to make a Venom-themed album when I bought my 8-string back in 2016,” explains Bojkovic. “Over time, I ended up making it the first song I ever wrote in an open tuning, and I think it suited Venom a lot better and made this song even more special to me!”
“Venom” was produced and mixed by James Lewis, who also provided the drum programming. The single is currently playing across all digital streaming platforms. Listen to it now on Spotify, or on YouTube below.
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On “My Strength Returning”, Bojkovic reflects on his physical journey. “When Covid hit back in 2020, I stopped going to the gym,” explains Marko. “This lead to me losing a significant amount of strength. I returned to working out in January 2021, but I couldn’t lift as heavy as I did before Covid. I don’t like to give up, so I kept training and training for several months, and eventually, I was able to lift heavier than I ever did before Covid! I almost ran out of ideas to write one more song for this album, but this story immediately came to mind, and to emphasize my strength/power coming back, I added power metal elements to it! This song also has my absolute favorite guitar solo that I ever wrote in it!” You can hear “My Strength Returning” on YouTube below:
Marko’s musical style has progressed over the years from traditional thrash metal to a style that blends all sorts of metal such as progressive, death, extreme, power, and thrash metal. This growth reflects in the album’s dark-and-then-light nature, with the goal of making an album that fans of all types of metal can enjoy, while making sure to put little treats for the anime fans and gamers! Outside of his personal music, Marko plays guitar in Spiritual Chaos. “It’s a brand new band, so we’re working on material to be released soon.” says Bojkovic
Marko’s music is perfect for fans of Trivium, Meshuggah, Allegeaon, Obscura, Dream Theater, Firewind, Sabaton, Powerwolf, Iron Maiden, Kiko Loureiro/Angra, and Leprous. Venom is currently playing across all digital streaming platforms.
