SPEEDCLAW is a Croatian band that has been playing their style of Speed/Heavy Metal since 2015. In those ten years they produced two EP’s (“Iron Speed” in 2016 and “Beast In The Mist” in 2017). That was their history in the short and sweet version. Now for the current and future; on 21 November 2025 they gave us a musical addition in the form of their debut studio album “Stardust”, which is filled with 32:19 minutes of fast and furious Metal. And before you ask; this is proper Speed Metal from start to finish, but the band have not hesitated to add other influences in there as well. There is one major one that comes through more often than others, but I will come back to that later on.

What I can say now is that SPEEDCLAW never sounds dull, never gets boring, doesn’t have a lazy moment hidden anywhere on “Stardust”. This is upbeat, this is exhilarating, this is energetic. If this doesn’t pick you up when you are feeling a bit under the weather, you’re listening to the wrong musical genre for you. Because these guys might not write the most groundbreaking songs, be the best musicians on the planet, but they have been able to make a solid and decent record that does what music is supposed to do: transport you to another world. And even though “Stardust” will never be my favourite album of all time, it is one that I will treasure and enjoy when I hear it passing me by. It just confirms to me that SPEEDCLAW have done good in choosing this as their musical direction.

Getting back to other influence that is on “Stardust”, there is no escaping the fact that SPEEDCLAW has a lot to answer for when it comes to IRON MAIDEN. The singer and bass player Silvano Cosic definitely has learned a lot from the way Steve Harris plays his parts, while sounding like a NWOBHM singer while using his voice. What that does is give “Stardust” a proper old school and analogue feel. On top of that the two Luka’s who play guitar must be big fans of the first two Paul Di’Anno era IRON MAIDEN albums. Just listen to the guitar parts on “Fly High” and “Crystal Night”, and you’ll know what I mean. They do that more often, but those in these songs it’s very clear. And you know, what, to me the combination of those parts with pure Speed Metal works. At least, it does for SPEEDCLAW on “Stardust”.