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May 2025

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364 articles

May 31
- "We found the sweet spot in the middle of our Venn diagram of Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Smashing Pumpkins." How Thornhill are bringing 90s cool to a new generation
- “If you don’t get it, you’re all idiots!” He went to no.1, ruled at Back To The Beginning, and – with a double concept album in two parts – he wants to compete with the greats. Is Yungblud the rock star we need right now?
- "I'd never experienced heartbreak before." How Coheed And Cambria's The Suffering helped Claudio Sanchez translate personal turmoil into a pop metal banger (via space operas and Ray Harryhausen)
- Grab your exclusive Louder x Yungblud T-shirt featuring handwritten lyrics by Dominic Harrison
- "I said Never Take Me Alive should be the single and the record company looked at me like, ‘That's commercial suicide!’ Luckily, it was a hit…” Spear Of Destiny's Kirk Brandon on hits, heart attacks and Theatre Of Hate
- Why the Adore tour was the messiest, most all-over-the-shop moment in Smashing Pumpkins’ history (and it’s not just because some bloke wee’d on my foot at one of the gigs)
- “I became a punk – I hid my Pink Floyd records and I now had an uneasy relationship with the music”: Siobhan Fahey’s lifelong passion for prog is only hinted at in Bananarama’s name
May 30
- "What the **** are you saying, bro?!" System Of A Down's Shavo Odadjian on the Serj Tankian lyrics that confused him the most
- "Those solos wrote themselves!" Kirk Hammett picks the Metallica album where he got his playing "spot on"
- "You’ve been doing this for 15 years without giving up." Babymetal's Moametal reveals the touching message she'd give her younger self
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- Great new prog from Nad Sylvan, Ihlo, Jonathan Hultén and more in Prog's new Tracks Of The Week!
- Jean-Michel Jarre to release Live In Bratislava in September
- “His carefree aesthetic is wonderfully captured – yet for the highs come genuinely frustrating and irritating lows”: Kevin Ayers And The Whole World’s Shooting At The Moon
- "Lookin' For Trouble hits its mark as often as it misses": Supergroup the Dead Daisies kick back down south with uneven blues covers album
- "We're all going to lose somebody, and it hurts. How do you move on?": How Alice In Chains came back from the brink
- “Is this a feel-bad experience? There’s something freeing about giving voice to these emotions”: Bruce Soord’s 10th anniversary edition of his self-titled debut solo album
May 29
- "We’re putting together something real special for you." Yungblud announces Up Close And Personal club tour, with additional shows already added due to demand
- “Bad moods, sickness, the lot… we weren’t enjoying the show like we normally do”: Toto finally released a live DVD after two previous attempts had failed for Spinal Tap style reasons
- "Prime Minister, what will you choose? Complicity in war crimes, or the courage to act?" Wolf Alice, Massive Attack, Primal Scream join actors, artists, directors, doctors and TV personalities urging Keir Starmer to take action to ease suffering in Gaza
- "I'm working on a power metal record." Svalbard's Serena Cherry on videogames, picking up the guitar and dream projects
- "It's the least metal thing I've ever heard. You could put this in your hand luggage and it'd go through the scanners." TV presenter Richard Osman of Pointless and House of Games fame has discovered Sleep Token, and he's more than a little confused
- “Our goal is to help lead the next generation!” Babymetal are on the cover of the new Metal Hammer as they prepare to unleash star-studded new album Metal Forth
- Six bands that defined Slam Dunk 2025
- Styx share first new music from upcoming new album Circling From Above
- "It’s the sound of four men who feel like their lives depend on it." Bono gives update on U2's next album
- CMAT, Black Country, New Road, Katy J Pearson and more join the bill for The Maccabees' All Points East show
- “A lot of dreams that came to fruition in the 70s were born in the 60s. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was just one. Shakti was another”: John McLaughlin doesn’t know why his music sold so well. In fact, he knows he knows nothing
- “One of the most aggressive forces to ever scratch its way out of thrash metal’s womb – but not always”: The essential slow Slayer songs
- "Shirley Manson takes aim at cruel ideologies and bigots of all shapes and sizes": The electro-goth revival continues on Garbage's Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
- "It was the day I'd been waiting for my whole life, but I was dismayed": How Skid Row and Sebastian Bach Went To War
- John Fogerty does a Taylor Swift and remakes his Creedence Clearwater Revival classics
- Ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer avoids jail after entering plea in vehicular manslaughter case
May 28
- "He was very grumpy, ignoring people." Why teenage guitar prodigy John Frusciante walked away from an audition to join Frank Zappa's band before hooking up with Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Babymetal get skull-smashingly heavy with Slaughter To Prevail on new single Song 3, postpone album release yet again
- Download festival comments after artists speak out over “unsafe” toilets for trans people: “We stand with all members of our community and want everyone to feel safe”
- “We want to finish on a decisive high, having released four albums that we are 100 percent proud of”: UK post-metal dynamos Svalbard to break up in 2026, announce farewell tour
- Watch John McLaughlin wow the Montreux Jazz Festival with an emotive version of Abbaji
- "It’s been a minute, and I thank you immensely for your patience." A.A. Williams announces UK and European tour
- "An Iron Maiden gig quite unlike any other we've seen." The first night of Iron Maiden's Run For Your Lives tour packs big surprises, lashings of nostalgia and a state-of-the-art new show
- “Genuinely, I listen to the early stuff and I shudder when I hear my vocals”: How IQ singer Peter Nicholls learned to stop hating his voice, love songwriting and keep albums shorter
- Queens of the Stone Age announce international screenings for Alive in the Catacombs film
- "I'm physically lifted from the seat and violently spun around by a pissed-off John Paul Jones": Led Zeppelin - Out of Control in the USA
- Watch Ghost's Tobias Forge sing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody as Brian May and Roger Taylor look on
- The mysterious woman on the cover of Black Sabbath's debut album is raffling her autograph to raise funds for a cat rescue project
May 27
- Iron Maiden have played a surprise-stuffed first show of their 50th Anniversary tour - watch videos now
- Legendary guitarist and singer Rick Derringer dies at 77
- The nine bands that defined Wide Awake festival 2025
- “I had no inkling Tom would go so early. I always wondered who would go first. I’m still grieving”: Mike Campbell on life as Tom Petty’s right hand man and the highs and lows of being a Heartbreaker
- “London’s must-attend event for fans of all things ‘post-’”: The six bands that defined the final Portals festival
- ”Three highly gifted men with the capacity to behave like spoilt brats in each others’ company”: Emerson, Lake & Palmer often didn’t work. But then, neither did projects that featured just two of the trio
May 26
- Watch metalcore pioneers Converge play chaotic new song WWNTS live
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- “I thank God every day, and Metallica, for saving us”: Virginia family say taking their daughter to see Metallica saved them from deadly truck crash
- Former Hawkwind and David Bowie violinist and keyboardist Simon House has died, aged 76
- Watch Metallica rip through Enter Sandman on tour in Virginia, USA
- “In the studio I was freaking out and bawling. I had no idea Ross Robinson was getting it all on tape until I came back a couple of days later and he said, ‘Listen to this...’”: Korn break down their iconic debut album track by track
- “We solemnly pledge to get to the bottom of this horrific headline-making crime against Redditors”: Ice Nine Kills issue sarcastic apology for using AI-generated promo picture
- “It remained in the domain of teenyboppers, but prog elements are within its grooves”: What if I told you A-ha’s Hunting High And Low is really a prog album?
- Jim Root wants Slipknot’s new album to be made like the debut and Iowa: “I would like to revisit the raw energy of how those first two records were recorded”
- “We showed up and Dire Straits were opening for us. The press slaughtered us, accusing us of being dinosaurs”: The epic story of Styx’s Pieces Of Eight, the pomp rock masterpiece that began to tear them apart
- “We were in New York on 9/11 – it felt like the whole world was falling down”: Incubus reflect on playing two NYC shows days after the World Trade Center attacks
- “It’s a strange thing to look back on – they were such difficult, miserable times”: Big Big Train once hated 2002 album Bard. But the dark secret has become a rare gem
- "Different; not necessarily better or worse but definitely less interesting": The Tubes bring in the big producer on The Completion Backwards Principle, with mixed results
- Rare brain condition leads Billy Joel to cancel string of tour dates
May 25
- “A lot of nu metal was made for a drunken frat party, slutty dudes feeding off their own testosterone. There wasn’t a lot of room for emotion”: How Linkin Park defied the haters to make Hybrid Theory, the album that changed metal
- “These are perilous times. We are staring down a dark channel that could lead to totalitarianism”: Even yacht rock icon Michael McDonald is criticising Donald Trump and the US government
- “The most dangerous tour I ever did was the one with Mötley Crüe in the 80s. It was nuts. I said to my tour manager, ‘One of us is gonna die’”: This is what happened when Avenged Sevenfold’s M Shadows interviewed Ozzy Osbourne for Metal Hammer
- “Most celebrities are dullards. I met a lot of these clowns and you assume they’re smart. They are not!” Why the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde is one of the last rock stars unafraid of saying what’s on her mind
- “I was a budding arsonist – I tried to recreate the cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here by setting fire to my mate’s back”: The prog world of Nightwish’s Troy Donockley
- "I fear for the world": Bonnie Raitt on winning Grammys, working with Prince, and why we need to work together
- “The idea is that one night like that it worth 1,000 hours of drudgery”: the meaning behind The Cure’s classic 1987 hit Just Like Heaven
- "I'm scared for my life and career at this point." Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy jokes he's worried about his job after spate of drummer firings
- Queen icon Freddie Mercury had a secret daughter, according to a new biography
May 24
- Fifty-two years after it was first released, Lynyrd Skynyrd have finally made a video for Free Bird
- “I didn’t really get the music, to be honest. It was a bit too prog for me”: The prog superstars who tried to steal drummer Roger Taylor from Queen
- “The time was right. Metal had died a horrible death, grunge had killed the mainstream off, so it felt like a revolution”: The unholy story of Cacophonous Records, the underground 90s label that changed black metal
- “It was one of the most vibrant and exciting live albums of its day. The new version raises the bar”: Gentle Giant’s Playing The Fool – The Complete Live Experience is an exceptional work
- “David Coverdale’s had to become a pop singer to get success. There’s your glamour bands and your denim-clad groups. And your denim-clad groups survive”: How AC/DC swam against the 80s hair metal tide and made an underrated gem in Blow Up Your Video
- “I’d have been in the corner with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a mound of coke. I was out of my tree. I needed help”: How Judas Priest rose above darkness and death to make Turbo, their most divisive album
- “That day was probably the most important day of our lives”: the story of the first ever gig by the Appetite For Destruction-era Guns N’Roses
May 23
- All 20 Ronnie James Dio album ranked, from worst to best
- "I was afraid something inside of me was dying. Leaving was an act of survival": Life in the fast lane and the turbulent tale of the Eagles
- "The rock gods gave me gifts": Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl on new album Punk Rock Fiesta and rock'n'roll's magic carpet ride
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “Nothing Else Matters exposed the vulnerability behind what previously seemed to be a bulletproof heavy metal machine”: The five least metal Metallica songs
- "In a recent moment when I was really struggling, I picked up my guitar and wrote a song": Sheryl Crow releases new single in support of Mental Health Awareness Month
- Tekkno no more! See Electric Callboy get “darker” and “more serious” with twisted new song/video Revery
- Cool new proggy sounds from Jakko M. Jakszyk, Phase Transition, Barrens and more in Prog's new Tracks Of The Week!
- Music agent Dave Shapiro and ex-Devil Wears Prada drummer Daniel Williams die in San Diego plane crash
- Giles, Giles & Fripp remastered reissues coming on vinyl and CD in July
- Black Sabbath - The Farewell Interview: Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill, only in the new issue of Classic Rock
- "Skunk Anansie's most musically ambitious album yet": Skin & Co's The Painful Truth is their best work in decades
- "Bands who should probably never have made it out of the garage, let alone onto a major label": It's not just the familiar names on the Young & Wild glam metal compilation
- "That scene really embraced me, but I never really felt I fitted into that box": Chantel McGregor may have been welcomed by the blues scene, but her next step may surprise them
May 22
- "The surgeon said I actually died on the operating table": Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham opens up about recent health scare
- Derided by critics as nothing more than a circus act, Kiss didn’t sell 100 million records by fluke: Every Kiss album ranked, from worst to best
- Kneecap rapper Mo Chara charged with terror offence
- "We build dreams." How Tobias Forge and Beyonce's lighting designer Tobias Rylander joined forces to make Ghost's spectacular Skeletour the greatest show on earth
- "Intense. Beautiful. Devastating." Seven bands who defined Desertfest London 2025
- Jethro Tull announce six-disc Living In The Past reissue
- “The mix was outrageous… the bass was so high they couldn’t play it on the radio”: Ian Gillan is really, really glad Tony Iommi wants to remix Born Again, one of Black Sabbath’s most maligned albums
- “Our style of music has an in for a type of personality like Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp – let’s call it the ‘control freak madman’”: How Caligula’s Horse searched for a new direction and new message with Rise Radiant
- Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets release new Steven Wilson ATMOS mix of Echoes
- Metallica announce stacked UK and Europe tour with Gojira, Knocked Loose and more
- “This gig is very important. The original Sabbath will never be on stage together again”: Ozzy Osbourne confirms his upcoming farewell show will definitely be the end of the road for Black Sabbath
- "Some people say it's too personal but I owe my fans the truth": Michael Schenker and the appetite for self-destruction
- Robert Plant expresses support for Bruce Springsteen over opposition to Donald Trump as row rumbles on
- Dead & Company announce three massive San Francisco shows
May 21
- "I will be giving them every drop of my sweat and blood": The Who's new drummer is determined to live up to the billing
- A Judas Priest documentary co-directed by Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello is in the works
- “Our tracks for film and TV are purposefully minimal. On our own albums, everything needs to work as a standalone rock song”: How Mogwai reached number one with As The Love Continues
- “That’s why things were so hard for me to try and get deals”: Former Megadeth guitarist says Dave Mustaine damaged his career by calling him a “liar”
- “The only time I went out of the house was when we had a show.” Alt Blk Era have put every bit of time and energy they have into their music. The results have got rock fans raving (literally)
- Joey Jordison’s former death metal band Sinsaenum are back, will release new album in tribute to late Slipknot drummer in August
- The Painful Truth is Skunk Anansie's most vital and inventive album in years
- 10 songs we need to hear at Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's farewell gig
- "Stop thinking about what rockers are saying. Think about saving America from the mess you made." Neil Young and Pearl Jam call out Donald Trump, salute Bruce Springsteen
- “I couldn’t believe it. I walked around, around in circles. I didn’t know”: Wendy Dio remembers visiting Motörhead’s Lemmy “two hours before he died”
- "What a time to be alive!" Listen to the most surprising single of 2025, Robbie Williams' "adrenaline-filled and balls-to-the-wall" collaboration with Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi and 'The Voice Of Rock' Glenn Hughes
- "We need pets – they make us live longer." Korn's Jonathan Davis teams up with fashion designer Ashton Michael to raise money for a dog shelter with his pet brand Freak On A Leash
- Watch newly unearthed live footage of Limp Bizkit playing an unreleased song back in 1997
- “Mick told Freddie Mercury who he was. As Mick walked away, Freddie shouted: ‘We’ll be bigger than you one day’”: The epic story of Sweet, the 70s glam icons who burned bright and refused to fade away
- “I love change. That’s what one should do with music. But I know it’s cost me a lot of fans… the music business rewards repetition”: Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Blue Öyster Cult DNA lies within Mike Scott and the Waterboys
- "It's time to pass the mic": Foreigner singer Kelly Hansen announces he's leaving the band - new frontman confirmed
May 20
- "I was driving, Steven Tyler had a gun and we were on some mission": The scandalous story of Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies
- Jim Morrison's stolen gravestone bust recovered by police after nearly four decades
- “Every memory, every tear, every laugh is in here. Thank you for everything.” Listen to the final song by UK metalcore crusaders Ithaca
- “When asked about his family, Jim would often explain that his parents – still very much alive – were dead”: How The Doors’ Jim Morrison went from from drunken teen rebel to leather-clad 60s rock god
- Watch Trivium cover Steve’s Lava Chicken from the Minecraft Movie, because memes have ruined everyone’s brains
- From the stage to the living room: Marshall bring a touch of rock’n’roll style to the TV audio market with the Heston 120
- “Everyone says Vienna was an electronic track, but it’s mainly piano, violin and viola. Those strange combinations made us what we were”: You may think Ultravox were a synth-pop band. They know they were prog
- "So glad we captured it and can now relive that special evening." Enter Shikari to release Live At Wembley album and accompanying live video
- I founded Brighton's first rock and metal Pride event. Here's why it's important that rockers in the queer community feel represented
- Mogwai release soundtrack to BBC series The Bombing Of Pan Am 103
- “The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are onstage”: Iron Maiden urge fans to keep their phones in their pockets during upcoming Run For Your Lives tour
- “Gary was so talented it actually haunted him. He wasn’t really in control of what was coming through him. That sort of thing always comes at a price”: How guitar icon Gary Moore snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his early 80s solo albums
- “I even received death threats – ‘Communist Swede, you think you’re so fantastic. Come to America!’ I’ve been there; the way it’s going now is not good”: If the new Flower Kings album offends you, Roine Stolt can live with that
May 19
- LA's hottest young alt. rock/shoegaze band Rocket announce UK and European tour, release new single One Million
- "Number 6. Demanded starting every rehearsal with a 20 minute cowbell sound bath." Ex-Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese shares his 'Top 10 possible reasons Freese got booted from the Foos' list
- "They are bigger than the Ramones. Their influence is greater, their reach is greater, and certainly their success is greater." Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan on the punk band he believes has eclipsed the Ramones
- "I was doing a ton of crack. And I took pills to try and calm down": The growing pains and artistic rebirth of Billy Idol
- "When Nirvana ended, I wasn't finished. I'm still not finished": Every Foo Fighters album ranked, from worst to best
- "This is broken music for broken people." Suede announce new album Antidepressants, share video for new single Disintegrate
- "It all came to a screeching halt and forever destroyed the band’s life." Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro insists there's "no chance" that the band will ever play together again
- Guns N' Roses release video showing all the times Axl Rose has fallen over onstage
- "I saved the world from Saddam Hussein." Blink-182's Mark Hoppus reveals his role in the US military's capture of authoritarian Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
- "This is not a war zone...this is a System Of A Down concert!" Have you seen this crazy footage from System Of A Down's South American tour?!
- "It shimmers, it shakes, it grooves, and most importantly, it rocks": Mahavishnu Orchestra navigate new musical worlds on The Inner Mounting Flame
- "I love The Who and would never have quit": The Who's Zak Starkey has been fired again, just weeks after being fired then rehired
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- “The world was my oyster, but when I opened it there was a turd inside… When my wife said, ‘I want half of everything,’ I said, ‘Write me a cheque for 450 grand and you can have half the debt!’” Fish on his three-decade solo career
- We've ranked every Ghost album from worst to best
- Sleep Token's Even In Arcadia has hit number one on the US Billboard chart and set two crazy new records for rock music
- “Working with Nick Mason built my confidence. People recognised me as the guitarist I am”: How Gary Kemp came back from his post-pop wilderness to join the Pink Floyd family, and what Saucerful Of Secrets might do next
May 18
- “I have my own ways of ritual magick, but not in the typical way that most people would imagine. We’re not all Victorians, are we?”: The otherworldly story of goth mystics Fields Of The Nephilim
- “I was in a club and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon came up to me and said, ‘I hear we’re in the running for the prize for spending the most time and money in a studio!’”: The epic story of Foreigner 4, the AOR masterpiece that helped shape 80s rock
- “Bright and clear – but polite and unobtrusive almost to a fault”: Anthony Phillips’ remastered, extended Sail The World is literally yacht music
- “Explicitly Satanic and utterly primal, their ritualistic assault influenced many later groups”: These 4 obscure black metal bands deserve to be as big as Emperor and Dimmu Borgir
- “This has been far from a singular endeavour”: your guide to every player who’s ever passed through Nine Inch Nails, from Pretty Hate Machine to now
May 17
- Who had Trivium's road crew saving a litter of kittens from a diesel generator on their 2025 metal bingo card?
- American Federation of Musicians wades into Bruce Springsteen's war of words with Donald Trump
- “He does worship the Devil. It’s his religion. The rest of us are really worried about what forces he may unleash, without meaning to do so!”: My weird night sleeping on King Diamond’s floor surrounded by human skulls and a Satanic altar
- “He got up, smashed the table and said, ‘I’ve got the power and I’m never gonna give it up!’ I prayed for sales to bomb. I was happy to see the thing die”: The turbulent story of Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry, the 80s metal classic that tore the band apart
- “Their songs are empowering. They’re not afraid to write songs that are about where you have to own up to your mistakes”: Yes, Nicolas Cage the actor is a big fan of Nicolas Cage Fighter the Australian hardcore band
- "You can hear how much bigger it sounds!" How Amorphis went large with 2018's Queen Of Time
- “I’m not angry – I’m shocked and disappointed”: Foo Fighters fire drummer Josh Freese two years after he joined the band
- “The sex session did happen. What you hear on the song is real porn action”: The debauched story of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction, the album that electrified 80s rock
- “A wolf in sheep’s clothing, full of smart and deceptive songwriting… oddball dispositions lurk in every darkened corner”: You may not have realised, but Deftones’ Diamond Eyes is a cunning prog masterpiece
- “I will retire before I become a human-jukebox caricature of myself”: How American guitar icon Bonnie Raitt helped carry the blues into the 21st century
- “We exhausted ourselves trying to help Scott and be a friend. He wanted no part of that”: the story behind Stone Temple Pilots’ ill-fated sixth record, as told by the band themselves
- “The depression lasted quite a long time. At the end of it, when I felt I was coming out of a long tunnel, I wrote God Gave Rock And Roll To You”: The epic story of Argent, the forgotten early 70s band who inspired one Kiss’ biggest hits
May 16
- "I mean, we got invited to the White House. It’s like, ‘Why the **** do you want to talk to us?!'" Sharon Osbourne on how The Osbournes show grew too big and ridiculous, even for rock's first family
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "I see this lump in the bed, and I go, Oh God, who's this?" The day Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher woke up to find British light entertainment legend Alan Partridge in his hotel bed
- Sleep Token's Even In Arcadia has officially reached number one in the UK album charts
- New horror sequel Final Destination Bloodlines features music by thrash metal veterans Evile
- "I was on the floor, and he had his boot on my throat. I was like, That's great Elvis, that's great." The surreal story of the night Alice Cooper met Elvis Presley
- It's Prog's Tracks Of The Week!! Essential new proggy sounds from Peter Baumann, AVKRVST, Raphael Weinroth-Browne and more...
- "It makes me just want to die!" The Kate Bush song that makes Kate Bush cringe with embarrassment
- "It was like seeing the future." The band who took Sleep Token on their first US tour recall hearing them for the first time
- We rank every Architects album from worst to best
- Fairport Convention and The Stranglers is one of the more unlikely collaborations you'll hear this year!
- "A lot of fun making this." Listen to Ed Sheeran's guitar-heavy hard rock collaboration with Dave Grohl and John Mayer
- The legacy of Chris Squire remembered on the cover of the new issue of Prog, which is on sale now
- "Ask any Quo fan and they’ll agree. The rawness was the reason they liked it": Status Quo's classic Live! gets a deluxe, multi-disc makeover
- "We wanted to go straight to the source – into the room with people known for their songwriting": The Black Keys detail new album No Rain, No Flowers
- "Nobody has ever sung a heavy metal song better than Ronnie did": A tribute to Ronnie James Dio
- “A work of towering vitality, a raised fist and even a raised finger”: Gong’s 10th anniversary edition of I See You casts Daevid Allen’s final work in a new light
- “It was such a foundational thing. It helped me start my record collection. I’d really love to hear the original jam”: Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood hails The Edgar Winter Group’s Frankenstein
- "Pure manna for a fanbase denied any whiff of a reunion": Dire Straits' 30-million-selling Brothers In Arms celebrates its 40th birthday with energised extras
- "Driving in the middle of the night in North Ontario, someone flags us down. At that same moment, I smell smoke": Six things you didn't know about The Damn Truth
- "Getting kinda saucy already. Jeez!" Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham analysing a Charli XCX video with his daughter is the joyous, uplifting online content that the world needs right now
- "I'm going to live." Alice In Chains' Sean Kinney shares health update with fans after show cancellations, joking "The bad news is that I'm going to be fine"
May 15
- “We need him much more than he needs us. Prog as a genre owes him a huge debt of gratitude”: The lasting impact of Brian Eno, the glorious anomaly who’s a genre unto himself
- “At that point in our life the party never stopped. It usually degenerated into a drunken brawl by the end of the night”: The wild story of Goo Goo Dolls’ A Boy Named Goo, the album that turned three punk kids into A-list stars
- "It genuinely changed my brain chemistry." Turnstile's new guitarist Meg Mills explains how Freaky Friday inspired her to pick up a guitar
- Nightwish offshoot Auri to return with third album III - Candles And Beginnings in August
- "Their stage aura had me totally captivated." Genre-smashing sister duo Alt Black Era on how Trent Reznor, The Prodigy, Billie Eilish and more changed their lives
- "That's legendary status right there." Watch Zakk Wylde, Trivium, Within Temptation, Ice-T, Lacuna Coil, Jesse Leach, Hanabie and more celebrate 400 issues of Metal Hammer
- Steve Rothery and Thorsten Quaeschning share first new music as Bioscope with new single Kaleidoscope
- “It’s time to restore a dynamic vision for the future that’s not just about recycling our garbage and all that”: Disillusioned by the 21st century, Jean-Michel Jarre aims to inspire a new hope
May 14
- Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are launching a new festival celebrating and showcasing film soundtrack scores, with John Carpenter and Danny Elfman among "a stacked lineup of visionaries doing something you might not see again"
- Texan psych-Americana band Lord Buffalo forced to cancel European tour after Mexican drummer Yamal Said is "forcibly removed" from flight by US Customs and Border Protection officers
- Sleep Token are on course to score their first number one album on the UK and US charts with Even In Arcadia, out-selling Arcade Fire and Radiohead's Thom Yorke
- "I lost a daughter, the only child I ever had and I didn’t want to deal with that." Randy Blythe explains how his new book is all about making peace with trauma and strife
- “I never write about people I know. I’ve always been against the idea of betraying any kind of confidence”: Are the touching tales of Jethro Tull’s Minstrel In The Gallery really just fiction?
- “If you’ve experienced failure and rejection, how can you possibly be anything but elated?”: How Bush’s Gavin Rossdale channelled frustration and loss into epic grunge ballad Glycerine
- "We’ve even got a video of Harper screaming her ABCs." Harper is metal's youngest star - and has Download Festival's main stage in her sights
- Jean-Michel Jarre announces first European tour in nine years
- "The time is right for us to divert our full attention towards the next chapter of Bullet For My Valentine." Matt Tuck explains why the Poisoned Ascendancy tour is ending and Matt Heafy urges everyone to calm down
- One note is all it takes: The unbelievable story of B.B. King
- “I’d have been up for having Slash on the album – but I’d have insisted he played the xylophone!” Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri pushed each other hard on their first album Not the Weapon But The Hand
May 13
- "People would come backstage, take a look around and be like, This is f***ing boring." Blink-182's Mark Hoppus on how the pop-punk superstars steered clear of temptations that destroy so many lives in the music industry
- “There’s no plan for any new music.” Oasis' manager shoots down fans' hopes of a new album from the reunited Gallagher brothers, says upcoming world tour “is very much the last time” to see the band play live
- “No respect for us or our crew”: Trivium allege the Poisoned Ascendancy “world tour” is ending early due to co-headliners Bullet For My Valentine
- “People on their mobiles, getting bombarded with this information – it’s kind of like brainwashing”: Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen are waging a two-man war on the modern world with Smith/Kotzen
- “I just want to make sure that it’s the best material I’ve ever released”: King Diamond offers update on new solo album, says another single will “definitely” drop this year
- “They played us The Things We Do For Love. We thought it was beige. They said, ‘We need a weird one, a slushy one and humour.’ I said, ‘We don’t work to order’”: How Godley and Creme quit 10cc and went to play with their Gizmotron instead
- "It would be ridiculous to try to rock there." Watch the trailer for Queens of the Stone Age's Alive in the Catacombs film, documenting a unique performance underneath Paris "surrounded by several million dead people"
- Public Service Broadcasting to perform The Last Flight at the Barbican in November
- "Reminiscent of metalcore milestones such as Bring Me The Horizon’s Sempiternal and Parkway Drive’s Ire." Bury Tomorrow are better than ever on Will You Haunt Me With That Same Patience
- "Rumours of my impending uselessness are much exaggerated." Robert Fripp responds to well-wishers after heart attack news
- Olivia Rodrigo reveals bill for huge BST Hyde Park headline show in London, with hotly-tipped emerging artists Florence Road, Aziya and Flowerovlove joining The Last Dinner Party, Girl in Red and more
- Slipknot wrote “a bunch” of new music during the pandemic – and guitarist Jim Root says they’re scrapping all of it
- “He mentioned how much he admired Pol Pot and Nicolae Ceaușescu for the way they could control the populace”: Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth was pen-pals with Norwegian black metal ringleader Euronymous
- "Being thrown out of recording sessions is a badge of honour!": The wild times and true confessions of Michael Des Barres
- "We got escorted out of town the next day because the big lawnmower went into the swimming pool": Grunge may have burst the big-hair bubble, but it saved Heart
- “It’s related to Won’t Get Fooled Again – the other side of the coin. We won’t get fooled again? Yes we will! This is Cloud Cuckooland”: Roy Harper tried to retire in 2013, but returned with Man & Myth instead
- "I'm going to die happy." Man who spent $12,495 to be Kiss icon Gene Simmons' roadie for a day has zero regrets
May 12
- Punk legends the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter add dates to North American tour
- "I needed to be back on a stage. I made a few calls..." Roy Harper announces Final Tour Part Two
- Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols, The Damned, Melvins, Jack White, Gorilla Biscuits among artists confirmed for new US punk rock festival
- "Lemmy was one of us." Motörhead's legendary frontman Lemmy honoured with statue in the town where he was born
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- Pearl Jam release new limited edition 12 inch EP featuring songs from The Last Of Us, and share new video for Future Days
- “I got this call from Lars Ulrich…”: Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell reveals how he ended up on the soundtrack to horror blockbuster Sinners
- "It's not a political statement, it is a human reaction to a horrific and unimaginable situation." Watch The Murder Capital perform a free acoustic gig in a Cologne park after two German gigs are cancelled over Palestinian flag display
- "For all the madcap genius of Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan sounds like the star of the show": The Move's Looking On signposts better things further down the road
- "I love technology, but not when it takes away time from the real world": Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia on tech, Depeche Mode and new album Sleepless Empire
- “I had a white MkIII Cortina with the Warrior On The Edge Of Time poster on the back. Anyone who got in had to listen to Hawkwind”: Paul Hardcastle once used the space rockers’ titles for his own songs
May 11
- Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox reveal Fripp is recovering from a recent heart attack
- “Brent had an Iron Maiden jacket on so I went over to him to talk to him and he was like, ‘Hey you’re that crazy drummer dude’”: The chaotic birth of prog metal giants Mastodon
- Vikram Shankar’s Five Favorite Instrumental Prog Albums
- “Acts of daring support the contention that their label set them free to do whatever they pleased”: Pentangle’s exhaustive The Albums: 1968-1972 is a lavish celebration of folk’s first supergroup
- “I cherish the band, but I don’t expect anyone else to”: it’s nine years since the last Radiohead record and I accidentally got the only interview for it
- “The whole prog movement is about fairies and elves and we’re proud of that. But there are no fairies and elves on this album”: How prog metal icons Dream Theater went full nerd-mode with epic concept album The Astonishing
- Metallica fans cause small earthquake at Virginia show
May 10
- “When we came to England, all the headlines said: ‘Crash-boom-blitzkrieg, the Krauts are here!’”: The epic story of the Scorpions, the German band who smashed through the barriers to conquer America
- “I thought we were going to die every time we hit the road. There were a lot of short fuses in the band”: The rise, fall and resurrection of Armored Saint, the cult metal band who should have been as big as Metallica
- “Partly a tribute to a fallen bandmate, it’s as emotionally raw as thrash ever got”: 10 epic ballads that show thrash metal’s emotional side
- "John made himself out to be the big working-class hero: he was the least working-class in the group." In 1984, revisiting his work with The Beatles, Paul McCartney shed new light on his relationship with John Lennon in his most revealing interviews ever
- “The whole world of rap-metal is just pathetically ridiculous. It makes me wanna throw up. It’s a horrible place to be”: How Incubus fought back against nu metal with Morning View
- “Dismissed as bland, complacent and of the establishment, it was now outsider music. If you wanted to be a true rebel, you came out as a prog fan”: Five essential neo-prog albums of the 80s
- “Iggy ran from one side of the stage to the other and head-butted the wall. I was covered in blood, because he’d come up and danced around me”: The Pretty Things singer Phil May’s wild tales of Hendrix, Zeppelin, Iggy Pop and Judy Garland
- As Oasis get ready to start rehearsing for their reunion tour, here’s what the setlist needs to be
May 9
- “This gentleman was someone we looked up to before the Ramones." Watch Pearl Jam rock Nashville with one of the biggest rock stars of the '70s
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “You ride into town with your gang, stealing money, drinking as much as you can and being gone before the law catches you”: How Bon Jovi hit the jackpot with Slippery When Wet, the album that turned them into the hottest hard rock band of the 80s
- “Trent Reznor started out as a roadie for us, next thing I know he’s on the cover of Rolling Stone.” Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan interviewed Ministry legend Al Jourgensen and the results are as brilliant as you’d expect
- Photo gallery: we threw a big party for Metal Hammer's 400th issue
- "System Of A Down made me feel like I belonged in the metal scene." Lowen's Nina Saeidi: 10 records that changed my life
- "If we’d kept things together and stopped arguing, we could have all been multi-millionaires!" The story of Hawkwind's most prog-friendly album, Warrior On The Edge Of Time
- "I really hate America. If Adolf Hitler came back and said 'I won't raise taxes', he'd win in a landslide." In 1988 R.E.M. were so disgusted with the state of the US that guitarist Peter Buck said he felt like shooting people, starting with President Bush
- It's back! Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week!! Cool new proggy sounds from Katatonia, Nosound, Hedvig Mollestad Trio and more...
- If you're after some catchy as hell nu metal brimming with angst, you need the new Tetrarch album in your life
- Hear Quicksand/Rival Schools frontman Walter Schreifels cover Pink Floyd for forthcoming animal welfare benefit album featuring exclusive tracks from Killswitch Engage, Snapcase, Orange 9mm, Testament's Alex Skolnick and more
- Stars of the 80s prog scene line up for book launch live event
- Steve Hackett announces The Lamb Stands Up Live At The Royal Albert Hall double live album
- “I don’t know how anyone can be in that band for more than a couple hours”: The story of Slayer guitarist Kerry King’s short but whirlwind stint in Megadeth
- "On stage, I'd surrender to the ritual. It was like a meditation": Robby Krieger and John Densmore remember life with Jim Morrison and tell the acid-fuelled story of The Doors
- "His Midas touch is confirmed": Bernie Marsden covers the greats on posthumously released album
May 8
- "It obviously didn't work!": Ann Wilson says Paula Abdul was hired to teach Heart choreographed dance moves "like Prince and the Revolution"
- Judas Priest’s Rob Halford is “gutted” to not be playing Black Sabbath’s final show: “I had no idea it was happening!”
- "This tour will be about fond memories, love and laughter": The Who announce North American farewell tour
- "Biafra got caught with his hands in the till and wants to blame us." Despite offers, Dead Kennedys won't be reuniting with estranged vocalist Jello Biafra anytime soon says guitarist East Bay Ray
- "I had an idea for an album about people bottling Jesus's vomit." Rivers Of Nihil's Adam Biggs on concept records, working with Cannibal Corpse and not buying the hype for Metallica and Rush
- "The director was like, ‘Hey, you guys want a porn star in your video?’" How Atreyu's Right Side Of The Bed helped create modern metalcore
- Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 headphones review
- "The hype was so great that we were never going to be able to fulfil it." The "nightmare" birth of the Stones Roses' wildly-expensive and long-delayed second album Second Coming, by those who were there, and those who quit
- “By the power of music and death metal, I pronounce you husband and wife!” Watch this extreme metal band marry two of their fans onstage during a concert
- "There was a lot of rejection, because I was a skinny Black girl trying to be the singer of a rock band." How Skunk Anansie's Skin went from Bob Marley-attended basement parties to a Glastonbury-headlining Britrock icon
- "I didn't even know Elton John knew what golf was!" US Masters golf champion Rory McIllroy admits that getting a message of congratulations from Sir Elton John blew his mind
May 7
- "Even In Arcadia might divide longtime Sleep Token fans, but it will almost certainly expose metal to its biggest audience yet." Sleep Token's new album is ambitious, intense and painfully honest
- “I have pride for what I did and I want to see that come out”: Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil wants to release final recordings featuring Chris Cornell
- 7 bands that defined Incineration Festival 2025
- "We’re the last ones standing from the scene." Employed To Serve are fostering the next generation of British metal talent
- Yungblud announces world tour in support of forthcoming album Idols
- “You can see we were stoned. Dave and I were completely out of our brains”: The epic story of Pink Floyd’s Live At Pompeii, the prog classic recorded next door to a volcano
- WWE wrestler Penta has a new entrance theme featuring Tool’s Adam Jones on guitar
- “I remember wondering how many people could get into this progressive, extreme violin metal”: How Ne Obliviscaris became the first band to successfully crowdfund a world tour
- "On arrival Izzy had to be loaded into a baggage cart to be wheeled through Customs and Immigration": Behind the scenes on Guns N' Roses' first trip to Japan
May 6
- "A project with no limitations." Yungblud announces Idols, a "love letter to life in all its madness" and part one of an ambitious double album
- "I chased him down the hall with my d**k in my hand." How an epic fistfight with racist skinheads turned hip-hop superstar Ice Cube and Ministry's Al Jourgensen into unlikely allies
- "This is a monster of a line up!" Killswitch Engage announce 25-date tour of the UK and Europe, with Hatebreed, Fit For An Autopsy, and Employed To Serve among supporting cast
- "I could have done a poor imitation of Brian May, but I just figured it would be better to get the real thing": Bumblefoot on wrangling famous guitarists, his new album, and the celebrity hot sauce community
- “I’ve heard Robert Fripp say no to everybody. David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, you name it, he always has an excuse not to play… He’s a wonderful husband but professionally it’s done me no favours”: Toyah Wilcox is more than just Mrs King Crimson
- "It's the life of the artist. You never retire. You become relentless": The Pretenders albums you should listen to... and one to avoid
- "I'm very clear on what I want to do, which can be really annoying for other people": Steven Wilson on being a control freak, the wonder of space, Porcupine Tree and more
- Jimmy Page is being sued again by the man who wrote Dazed and Confused – a track made famous by The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin
May 5
- David Lee Roth announces first tour since announcing retirement from touring
- Pup's Who Will Look After The Dogs? is a mantra for the down-but-not-out generation trying to survive in this burning shitheap of a world
- Soundgarden's Kim Thayil names the rock and metal bands he believes should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the legendary prog band he can't believe hasn't been inducted already
- Meet Gore.: the metalcore group featuring a NASA space walk engineer and aiming for the stars
- “I dreamed everything went wrong on stage and we all turned to dust.” Geezer Butler is having nightmares ahead of Black Sabbath's final show
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- “All the time he was ill, he had it in his head that he was going to finish it when he got home. He never made it home. I guess we owed it to him”: Tim Smith’s Cardiacs story will end with final album LSD
- Ghost become first hard rock act in four years to top US album chart but miss out in the UK
- "As enjoyable as it is, this seems to be a footnote in the careers of everyone involved": Mixed results as Roger Glover gets his mates in on The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast
- "You might hate us, but at least you've heard of us." How Cradle Of Filth became Britain's most iconic black metal band
- “I see some of these younger guitar players and I’m like, ‘Where did I go wrong?’”: Metallica’s Kirk Hammett admits he “should be a lot better” at playing guitar
- “The biggest challenge was not to come off like Tenacious D. It could easily be interpreted as some form of parody”: How Primus made an album about goblins and rainbows while trying not to mention goblins and rainbows
- “It was my own personal hell”: the story of Pearl Jam’s most difficult record as it turns 25
- Scorpions cancel three shows as illness leaves Klaus Meine with "inability to sing"
May 4
- Video: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry reunite onstage in San Francisco
- Video: David Lee Roth returns to the stage, plays set stuffed with Van Halen classics
- Ghost's $130 Papa V Perpetua 'Ghildo' sells out in minutes
- "Metal is the most positive thing in the world". Max Cavalera tells it like it is
- “If you’re a Zep fan and really want to go see Zeppelin, you might as well go and see one of the better tribute bands”: The epic life and career of John Paul Jones, the heartbeat of Led Zeppelin and so much more
- “Metallica were still a local band. It made no sense for me to say, ‘I’m out of here, I’m going to join them”: The man who was asked to replace James Hetfield as singer in Metallica – and turned it down
- “This is my first band since Deep Purple. It’s out of this world – I’m back in a rock band, a real rock band”: How Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and a modern blues icon came together to form Black Country Communion
- From Tatooine to Mandalore, these are the Star Wars Day deals worth travelling the Outer Rim for - save big on Star Wars Lego, clothing and collectibles this May the 4th
- “A handy surrogate for anyone craving the feel of Yes’ glory days… and how did they beat Jon Anderson to the title?” The Flower Kings’ Love is a fully-achieved ambition
- “I’m super-proud of everything Rush accomplished, but it’s what I did. I’ve moved on. I’m excited to be one of the folks in Envy Of None”: Alex Lifeson loves working alone in his home studio – and he’s even brought the guitar solos back
- “It was like a renewal or a reawakening”: Dave Grohl was struggling after Kurt Cobain’s death. Then he wrote This Is A Call and everything changed
- "The universe is not fair like that." Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson tells new bands they'll get nowhere without self-belief
May 3
- “We did get very wild and crazy at points. I remember thinking, ‘Why aren’t we getting arrested?’”: The violent, bloody birth of the Bay Area thrash scene
- “Yeah! Sounds like Metallica!” Watch Donny Osmond headbanging to The Osmonds’ Crazy Horses played at 33rpm and sounding like a lost doom metal classic
- “Van Halen were a pale, washed up imitation of the band they once were”: Dave Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar? A forensic examination of who was Van Halen’s best singer
- Virtuoso blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker dead at 75
- "I said yes, but only if I could criticise the Constitution." Wardruna's Einar Selvik on nature, black metal and the importance of having a message
- “We had no commercial ambitions. This introverted Norwegian attitude is what enabled us to create something that no one else had done”: How Emperor made black metal masterpiece In The Nightside Eclipse and changed metal forever
- Primus share new single Little Lord Fentanyl, their first new music for three years
- “We were drug addicts dabbling in music, rather than musicians dabbling in drugs”: The unhinged story of Aerosmith’s Draw The Line, the album that sent them crashing off the rails
- “Most singles are about love in one way or another… and this one is beautiful”: Geoff Tate explains how Silent Lucidity became Queensrÿche’s biggest hit (second time around)
- This acoustic guitar virtuoso has turned Sleep Token’s Euclid into the most gorgeous instrumental you’ll hear this weekend
May 2
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- Hear Deftones frontman Chino Moreno’s remix of The Cure track Warsong
- “We didn’t like how metal was made in Europe or in America. It was too polished. They were talking about dragons and castles”: Iggor Cavalera explains Sepultura’s ‘Satanic’ early albums
- “The effect is overwhelming, in the best possible way”: Steven Wilson delivers a masterclass in interstellar prog at his first solo show in six years
- “I went to Genesis on Friday, bought the album on Saturday, then went to the show again on Sunday, and I knew all the words”: A glimpse into the prog world of Lifesigns’ John Young
- "I’d just want to tell Randy Rhoads how great he is and how much I love him." Zakk Wylde on shredders, movies and his favourite Ozzy Osbourne moment
- Listen to metalcore heroes Loathe’s first new song in three years, Gifted Every Strength
- Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler and Soundgarden members have been added to Black Sabbath’s farewell show, Sharon Osbourne reveals
- "As a document of four hungry musicians working in common cause, this stands as Pink Floyd's best live album": Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII shines new light on a counterculture classic
- Official Lemmy statue to be unveiled - and you can be there
- “Crisp audio complements the improved visuals, and hindsight lends the interviews extra resonance”: Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII is a stunning historical artefact
- Mammoth return with horror-themed video starring Danny Trejo, Slash, Valerie Bertinelli and multiple zombie flesh-eaters
May 1
- Former Possessed guitarist killed by police in California after gun battle outside his home
- "We were hoping to get as big as Fugazi. So it was really exciting and really frightening." Billie Joe Armstrong looks back on Green Day's "out of control" rocket ride to success, as his band celebrate getting star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- "It better not be s**t!" Producer reveals Bob Geldof's words of warning ahead of the recording of new album from the cast of Live Aid musical Just For One Day
- "I don’t want people thinking, ‘We’re getting ripped off'." Ozzy Osbourne says he will "do the best I can" at Black Sabbath's farewell show, admits that fans will only be getting a "sample" of his solo career and Sabbath's catalogue
- “I am at peace these days, give or take a fit of blinding rage”: Propagandhi are as confused about the state of the world as everyone else on vital new album
- Fancy a weekend of amazing metal and prog in one of Europe's nicest holiday destinations? You need Malta Metal Weekend 2025 in your life
- "A bunch of old guys having fun!" Jethro Tull announce The Curiosity Tour for April and May 2026
- Ozzy Osbourne will only sing five solo songs at his final show this summer, support act Sammy Hagar reports
- “I’ve been in the demo studio for the last three weeks”: Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson has 18 songs ready for new solo album, will record it “early next year”
- “Everybody said we couldn’t play like the American and English groups. We didn’t want to play like them”: Irmin Schmidt isn’t surprised that Can’s music has endured for so long
- 4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month
- "That's me, that's Ian Gillan, that's Ian Paice… Jesus, why is my name in there?!" Deep Purple guitarist Simon McBride picks the soundtrack of his life
- "We had a deal one day and it was gone the next, but we still had the money in the bank": The dashed hopes and early trauma of White Lion
- The five most metal Sleep Token songs
- “Fans were tetchy about the future. When they heard these twisting rhythms and proggy sounds, all fears were allayed”: 11 great Rush songs from the 90s and beyond
- "We have achieved what we set out to achieve": Aussie rock legends Rose Tattoo will play their final ever show next year