The real beauty of the new album, The House Always Wins, lies in the fact that every single note and drumbeat sounds equally as good live as it does recorded in the studio. This was made apparent at the album launch show at The Old Library, where a packed house witnessed Neuronspoiler tearing up the stage with nine tracks from the new album.
Neuronspoiler – Death Valley Knights
The Old Library, New Cross Gate – 28 February 2026
Words: Steve Kenton
Photography: Steve Ritchie
Tonight was not without a mishap or two, as Adam Breyer managed to damage the ring finger on his left hand while lifting and shifting some of the equipment. Then the backdrop took on a life of its own, refusing to behave and allow itself to be spread across the stage.
At one point, guitarist David Del Cid was perched up a ladder, over-reaching, trying to get the offending piece of fabric to do as it was told.
Thankfully, the axeman didn’t slip down the ladder, otherwise Neuronspoiler would have had the very definition of a “slide-guitarist”. The backdrop just was not playing ball and was consigned to Room 101. The moral of this story? Get a roadie. But this did not stop the real fun beginning.
The boys kicked off with Take To The Stage, a track from their 2013 album Emergence. This was quickly followed by a new track, the anthemic Spoils Of War, a number where JR Vox proved beyond any doubt that he can perform equally as well live as he can in the studio.
Crimson Tales then followed, with the twin guitars blasting through the venue. The packed house was suitably warmed up before JR Vox then spoke about Hilldrop Crescent in Camden. This was the cue for the rather mysterious Witness to be fired up.
I had been desperate to know the story behind Witness, and guitarist Adam Breyer earlier explained that the Witness story centres around Hawley Harvey Crippen. “Dr Crippen was in the news in the early 1900s about a murder, and there’s a really amazing story about him trying to escape and the first use of a telegram to capture an alleged criminal.
“There’s stuff about affairs with women in his life and so on, and he was hanged in Pentonville Prison, just a bit of London history. It came to me in a dream. We put it down in music form, and these guys really stepped up and helped with everything else to write the song. It’s a great track lyrically.”
Just A Fool and Hiding then followed, with some rather nice backing vocals from Breyer. Barren Soil slowed the pace down a touch before Let The Sun tore the roof off of The Old Library. The drumming and bass playing had been incredibly tight all night, but this track really showcased how good that engine room really is. Not spectacular, not fussy, but incredibly well locked in.
Then came the ridiculously catchy New Thing, with David Del Cid rocking out like a 16-year-old at a Black Sabbath gig. The guitarist cut more shapes than a well-used hacksaw, and the flying hair, my goodness. Del Cid and Breyer should be known as the Timotei Twins. JR’s vocals were again absolutely fantastic. His voice is, quite frankly, extraordinary.
JR and the band dedicated the next number, Lost Brother to their friend Colin. In what was a strange twist of fate, the singer explained that Colin passed away on a street just behind the venue. The track comes from an early EP and really showcases Del Cid’s ability as a guitarist. With a superfast solo and an abundance of fret-tapping, it was like watching Edward Van Halen in his prime.
A slightly Middle Eastern riff announced the arrival of Ascend To Death, which was the seventh track from new album The House Always Wins. Again, JR Vox reaches notes that no man has any right to reach. The packed house was going wild, joining in, feeling every note and scream coming out of the vocalist’s mouth before the next track, Self Afflicted, blasted out of the speakers.
Apparently, this track took nearly a quarter of a century to write, which predated almost half of the audience. Adam Breyer’s pedal board was going into overdrive as he worked the wah-wah to within an inch of its life.
You could see that he was having difficulty with his injured finger, and yet he produced a blistering performance. It truly was professionalism personified. Of course, at some point, Breyer and Del Cid were going to perform that most traditional of Metal manoeuvres and play back to back. But they were having fun and that fed through to the crowd.
“OK, guys, you sing Dial 666, for Crazy Love”. JR had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand as soon as the opening to their second single fired up. The “hairy scream” was like a ringmaster, controlling and manipulating the audience like a tub of Play-Doh.
This was a real crowd-pleaser, and it was very apparent that the band and the thronging masses were feeding off of each other and having a ruddy good time. In fact, one audience member had a bit too much of a good time and was lying flat out at the foot of the stage, after imbibing in one shandy too many.
Neuronspoiler’s final track of the night was Angel Of Britannia, from their 2020 album Spoiled For Choice. It was a fitting end to proceedings. A rousing, Maidenesque number that had the partisan crowd bouncing off the walls.
Neuronspoiler erupt like Mount Hekla in full flow. The bass and drums are like a highly tuned sports car, the engine does not just purr….it roars. The fretwork between Breyer and Del Cid is up there with the early days of Murray and Smith or Downing and Tipton. It really doesn’t get any better.
As for the vocals? Well, as said before, there is a new hairy scream in town, and his name is JR Vox. Praise does not come much higher than that.
Ultimately, you need to have The House Always Wins in your record collection, as though your very existence depends upon it. If this album is not a hit, I will personally hire Declan Rice to nutmeg a mermaid at the Emirates Stadium.
Death Valley Knights
In support were Death Valley Knights, who performed an excellent set of a dozen fantastic numbers. Featuring Jake Thorsen on guitar and vocals, Voytek Golbiak also on guitar, Hugo Terva on drums and Radek Koval standing in on bass, Death Valley Knights opened with Fenris Endures.
This set the stage for a number of fast and furious tracks, including Heresy, Skinwalker and The Grizzly.
The standout track of their set was Wisdom Of Death, which had everything that you could possibly want in a great Heavy Metal song. Thorsen’s vocals were excellent, always on point, and credit has to be given to Golbiak for some fabulous guitar work.
The drum and bass dynamic was interesting, given that Koval, who seems to be one of the busiest bass players in rock, had to stand in for the night. They were surprisingly tight, which is a testament to how good they are at what they do.
These guys really are to be recommended. They are fun, they have a great catalogue of songs, and they are fabulous musicians. We need more Death Valley Knights.
