Holly Royle

Background

About Holly Royle

I am a musician, writer, music journalist, & PR agent specialising in the heavier music genres. I am currently studying for a PhD researching intersectional inequality in heavy metal at the University of Chester (Institute of Gender Studies and Department of Popular Music). I’m trained in classical and popular music theory, I play the guitar (6/7/8 string), keyboard/piano, perform clean vocals and I have some basic production skills. I am currently a member of the cinematic metal band Disconnected Souls and the darkwave/ gothic act Sensory Enigma. I also collaborate with artists internationally. I began writing music reviews at the Soundboard Reviews just over four years ago. Other publications I have written for include AntiHero Magazine, Scholastic Perspectives (US)(formerly Madness to Creation), The Metal Lab (UK), On The House (UK), Musipedia of Metal (UK), and more recently, Epic Metal Blog (Germany). I offer freelance writing services. Recent projects include family history work, writing and editing a newsletter, along with research for David Pickering’s Biography which was published early in 2022. I am currently involved in a project that aims to combine historical events and family history into a fictional work. I began studying at the University of Chester in 2015. I graduated with a first in English Language and Literature in 2018, with my dissertation researching the representation of women in novels of the Brontë sisters. I began a Master’s degree in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture the following year, with my dissertation focusing on male hysteria in gothic novels of the late nineteenth century. After much thought and internal debate, I (successfully) applied to study for a PhD in 2021 researching gender in heavy metal music. I’m thoroughly enjoying the process so far! I began my own PR company, Deviate PR, in 2019, setting up during my MA degree and launching soon after completing the course. In April 2021, I began working with the newly formed C Squared Music founded by Curtis Dewar (formerly Dewar PR), and Corinne Westbrook (Metal Injection, Knotfest).