Get the kettle on, clear the coffee table and move that suspicious pile of festival wristbands out of the way, because Classic Rock Magazine Issue 355 has landed — and it’s absolutely rammed with legends.
Leading the charge are the mighty Deep Purple, who are back at work and once again proving that retirement is apparently just something other bands talk about.
One quote featured alongside the issue sums up the magic perfectly:
“The magic of what these guys do. It’s just so identifiable. It speaks. It’s musical, powerful!”
And honestly, that’s Deep Purple in a nutshell.
The riffs speak. The Hammond organ growls. The rhythm section hits like an overloaded festival generator. And somehow, after all these years, the band still sound unmistakably like themselves.
That’s no small achievement, mun.
🔥 DEEP PURPLE ARE STILL VERY MUCH IN BUSINESS
Few bands have left a mark on hard rock quite like Deep Purple.
From the immortal opening notes of Smoke On The Water to the full-throttle chaos of Highway Star, their music helped build the foundations that generations of rock and metal bands have been stomping across ever since.
But this isn’t simply another misty-eyed nostalgia piece.
Deep Purple are still working, still creating and still finding ways to keep that legendary sound alive without turning themselves into a museum exhibit.
That’s the real story here.
They don’t need holograms, virtual avatars or some bloke in a motion-capture suit pretending to be Ritchie Blackmore in 1972. The music still has blood in its veins, and the band still have something to say.
Proper job.
📖 CLASSIC ROCK ISSUE 355 IS STACKED WITH LEGENDS
Deep Purple may be the main attraction, but the rest of the issue reads like the greatest backstage guest list ever scribbled on a clipboard.
Also featured are:
🎸 Peter Frampton
🎤 Peter Gabriel
🎷 Van Morrison
🔥 Sevendust
🤠 Ashley McBryde
🎻 Fairport Convention
🎸 Rachel Bolan
🚂 George Thorogood
🤘 A
🎸 Eric Johnson
🦓 Def Leppard
💥 Extreme
😈 Cronos
And that’s before you even reach the “and more” section.
It’s a proper genre-spanning buffet of rock history, blues grit, metal fury, progressive brilliance and musicians who have probably destroyed more amplifiers than most of us have owned pairs of shoes.
🎸 PETER FRAMPTON, PETER GABRIEL AND VAN MORRISON
The issue brings together three artists with completely different musical identities, but one thing in common: staying power.
Peter Frampton remains one of rock’s most recognisable guitar players, forever tied to the huge success of Frampton Comes Alive! and that unmistakable talk-box sound.
Peter Gabriel, meanwhile, has spent decades blending progressive rock, art, technology and theatre into something entirely his own.
Then there’s Van Morrison, an artist whose catalogue has wandered through soul, jazz, folk, blues and rock with the confidence of a man who definitely isn’t checking Google Maps.
Putting those names together in one issue shows just how broad the classic rock world really is.
It isn’t one sound.
It’s a whole universe of strange voices, battered guitars, massive choruses and musicians who refused to sit neatly inside one box.
🔥 SEVENDUST BRING THE HEAVY STUFF
For readers who like their riffs lower, louder and capable of rattling the Greggs sausage roll off the dashboard, Sevendust are also part of the line-up.
The band have built a fiercely loyal following thanks to their mix of alternative metal, groove, melody and emotional weight.
They’ve always had that rare ability to sound crushing without losing the human side of the music.
One minute it’s an enormous riff.
The next, Lajon Witherspoon’s voice is reaching into your chest and rearranging the furniture.
That combination is why Sevendust have lasted while so many of their peers vanished into the great nu-metal bargain bin of history.
🦓 DEF LEPPARD KEEP FLYING THE FLAG
You can’t have a proper classic rock celebration without Def Leppard turning up somewhere, looking suspiciously glamorous and armed with enough choruses to fill three stadium tours.
The Sheffield legends remain one of Britain’s biggest rock exports, with a catalogue built for arenas, festivals and people dramatically pointing at the sky during the final chorus.
From Pour Some Sugar On Me to Photograph, Def Leppard understand the science of the massive hook.
They make songs that don’t just stay in your head.
They move in, order takeaway and refuse to leave.
💥 EXTREME, ERIC JOHNSON AND THE GUITAR HEROES
Guitar fans are well catered for too.
Extreme remain a band capable of switching from jaw-dropping funk-metal musicianship to enormous ballads without so much as spilling their drink.
Nuno Bettencourt continues to be one of those guitarists who makes other players stare at their instruments and quietly reconsider their life choices.
Then there’s Eric Johnson, whose tone and technical precision have made him a hero among players who know exactly how expensive guitar pedals can become once you “just try one more”.
This is the kind of issue that’ll have guitarists digging old instruments out of the cupboard, plugging in and immediately annoying the neighbours with the same three riffs they’ve played since 1997.
Beautiful stuff.
😈 CRONOS BRINGS THE VENOM
At the darker end of the spectrum, Cronos adds a blast of pure heavy metal history.
As the frontman of Venom, Cronos helped shape the sound, image and attitude that would influence thrash, death metal and black metal.
The band’s raw aggression and devilish imagery caused absolute havoc in the early ’80s, setting the stage for generations of extreme musicians.
Without Venom, heavy metal history would look very different.
Probably cleaner.
Possibly safer.
Definitely less fun.
🤠 ASHLEY McBRYDE, FAIRPORT CONVENTION AND THE WIDER ROCK WORLD
Classic rock has never existed in isolation, and Issue 355 reflects that.
Ashley McBryde brings country storytelling, grit and big-hearted songwriting into the mix.
Fairport Convention represent the deep roots of British folk rock, helping prove that fiddles, traditional songs and electric guitars can cause just as much glorious chaos as a wall of Marshall stacks.
Then you’ve got George Thorogood, whose blues-rock swagger has powered bars, clubs and questionable late-night decisions for decades.
That variety is exactly what keeps a magazine like Classic Rock interesting.
One page can take you into a smoky blues bar.
The next can dump you in the middle of an arena with fireworks going off and someone charging £8.50 for a warm lager.
🎤 RACHEL BOLAN AND THE SPIRIT OF HARD ROCK
Rachel Bolan also appears in the issue, representing the harder, sleazier, louder side of rock ’n’ roll.
As a founding member of Skid Row, Bolan helped drive one of the most explosive hard rock bands of the late ’80s and early ’90s.
The bass lines, the attitude and the sheer force of those early records still hit hard today.
Songs like Youth Gone Wild and Monkey Business remain built for sweaty venues, raised fists and choruses shouted by people who may no longer be quite as youthful as the lyrics suggest.
Still counts, though.
🤘 THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
Classic Rock Issue 355 looks like an absolute belter.
Deep Purple returning to work would be enough to get our attention on its own, but add Peter Frampton, Peter Gabriel, Sevendust, Def Leppard, Extreme, Cronos, Eric Johnson and the rest of this stacked line-up, and you’ve got a magazine that could keep rock fans busy for hours.
It’s a reminder that classic rock isn’t just about looking backwards.
It’s about celebrating the artists who built the foundations, the musicians still creating today and the songs that continue to shake walls decades after they were recorded.
Deep Purple remain a perfect example.
Still identifiable.
Still musical.
Still powerful.
Still working.
And still proving that some bands don’t quietly fade away.
They simply plug back in and turn the bloody thing up. 🤘🔥
Will you be picking up Classic Rock Issue 355? Which feature are you most excited to read? Let us know, butt — and keep those riffs loud!
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies. 🐉🎸🔥
