New album, “Combat Zone”, out now!
Massachusetts metal outfit turns the streets, memories, and overlooked stories of Greater Boston into a ten-track musical documentary
Released July 30, 2026, Combat Zone is far more than a conventional heavy metal record. Recorded at The Record Co. in Boston with engineer Jamie Rowe, the album serves as an audio documentary about growing up and living in and around Boston, combining the band’s distinctly heavy sound with stories rooted in real places, people, memories, and experiences.
“Combat Zone is more than a collection of songs—it’s an audio documentary about growing up and living in Boston. Every track is rooted in a real place, person, memory or hard-earned experience, delivered through the heaviest and most diverse music B.F. Raid has ever recorded.”
B.F. Raid features Bill Kotowski on vocals, Bruce Owens on guitar and keyboards, Matt “Moose” Howard on bass, and Jamie Forbes on drums. Kotowski, Owens, and Forbes are originally from Malden, Massachusetts, while Howard hails from Dallas, Texas.
The band’s sound draws from the classic heavy metal tradition while refusing to remain confined by it. Progressive arrangements, punk attitude, unconventional harmonic ideas, dissonance, atmospheric textures, and strong melodic writing all play a role in B.F. Raid’s music, making Combat Zone a natural fit for fans of Motörhead, Iron Maiden, and Pantera .
The songwriting process is equally collaborative. While an individual member may introduce the initial idea for a song, every composition is developed collectively, with all four musicians contributing to the final arrangement.
Guitarist and keyboardist Bruce Owens frequently incorporates atonal ideas, unexpected intervals, dissonance, and unresolved movement into his compositions. Bassist Matt “Moose” Howard often establishes the tonal center of a song while stepping forward as a featured or solo instrument. Vocalist Bill Kotowski provides the emotional and narrative direction, while drummer Jamie Forbes drives the movement, dynamics, and structure. That collective approach is particularly important to Combat Zone.
“No song reached the finish line exactly the way it started,” the band explains. “Once all four of us began working on it, the structure, mood, and direction could change completely. Every member helped shape what the listener ultimately hears.”
The album follows B.F. Raid’s 2024 full-length Raided Again , which introduced the current lineup to a wider audience. Tracks including “Becky,” “Hollywood With Snakes,” and “Angel” received independent radio airplay and helped establish the band with listeners and broadcasters in the United States and abroad.
With Combat Zone , B.F. Raid takes that foundation considerably further.
While the title Combat Zone may suggest violence, the album contains no violent themes. Its heaviness comes from emotional tension, personal struggle, difficult circumstances, and the realities of the environments described throughout the record.
B.F. Raid does not attempt to romanticize Boston’s past, pass judgment on its present, or offer easy answers to complicated problems. Instead, the band documents what it has seen, experienced, remembered, and lived through.
The result is an album that is unmistakably heavy metal and unmistakably connected to Greater Boston.
