Latest articles by Chris Chantler
Inside Cover Your Ears, the thoughtful new documentary on music censorship starring Dee Snider, Chuck D, Jello Biafra and more
Cover Your Ears attempts to take a fair and balanced look at the phenomenon of music censorship
New Battlesnake album The Rise And Demise Of The Motorsteeple is proof that you can be metal, silly and excellent
Battlesnake's mix of Aussie daftness and big, memorable tunes is a winner
How Jason Newsted escaped the shadow of Metallica to forge his own solo career
In 2013, Jason Newsted released Heavy Metal Music, the debut album by his band Newsted – proof that he was at ease with his own past
Accept have found a new career peak with Humanoid
Accept have put together an absolute banger with their brilliant new album, Humanoid
Every Bathory album ranked from worst to best
They remain one of the most innovative and influential bands in extreme metal, but there can only be one Bathory magnum opus…
"We've got maybe another 10, 15 years? Playing a Dragonforce set is not easy": Guitar hero Herman Li talks technique, helping popularise power metal and the next generation of shredders
We put your questions to Herman Li on everything from teaming up with Polyphia and Animals As Leaders to video-games, power metal and how long the band can continue
We reviewed every film Iron Maiden have ever written a song about
From Charge Of The Light Brigade to Children Of The Damned, we’ve watched and critiqued every movie The Beast have taken a track from
"Wacky avalanches of overripe gorgonzola delivered with the band’s trademark OTT exuberance and virtuosic flair": Dragonforce's Warp Speed Warriors might be more meme than music, but it still delivers the goods
Dragonforce prove they are still guitar heroes through and through
"The Mandrake Project flies by but still feels like an epic journey": Bruce Dickinson's first solo album in almost 20 years is a resounding triumph
The Mandrake Project sees Bruce Dickinson return to solo output almost 20 years after A Tyranny Of Souls
10 metal bands with obscenely long gaps between albums
Guns N' Roses and Tool can take a back seat: here are some metal bands who took literal generations to produce follow-ups to their early albums
The 50 greatest metal EPs of all time
From the early days of Def Leppard and Iron Maiden to modern classics via the likes of Sleep Token and Spiritbox, these are the best metal EPs in history
Metal Hammer's 50 best albums of 2023 (and the stories behind them)
Sleep Token, Creeper, Within Temptation: 2023 has been a massive year for metal, and these 50 records represent the very best the year has had to offer
Here are the best new metal bands you need to hear this month
From Skyrim-inspired nu-industrial noise to happy-go-lucky black metal (wait, what?!), here are some of the best new metal bands we've found for you this month
"I’m not so lonely now, there are other girls to talk with and exchange tips and tricks on how to survive a tour!" Heavy metal Queen Doro on a career in rock, near-death experiences and, erm, fighting ducks
We interviewed living metal legend Doro Pesch using questions from her biggest fans
Green Lung's This Heathen Land: London's stoner-doom heroes have brewed up a beguiling, surprisingly diverse concoction of killer riffs, bewitching folklore and knockout songs
Green Lung are one of the most hyped young metal bands in the UK right now, and on This Heathen Land, they show exactly why
Metal Hammer's writers battle it out to decide which is Iron Maiden's best album
Iron Maiden have made some absolute classics across their near-five decade career, so we got the Maiden megafans in our ranks to argue over which is the greatest album of them all
New KK's Priest album The Sinner Rides Again isn't reinventing any wheels, but when you have K.K. Downing and Tim 'Ripper' Owens together on this kind of form, who cares?
You know exactly what you're getting with K.K. Luckily, what you're getting is top-tier, classic heavy metal
"There’s no reason why Judas Priest and KK's Priest can’t coexist happily": K.K. Downing on reuniting with Tim 'Ripper' Owens, nu metal and why he won't ever rejoin Judas Priest
Legendary former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing answers your questions on everything from nu metal and Judas Priest to which buscuit is best
“She's got a fire raging in between her thighs, I got a hose to put it out, try this for size”: a deep dive into terrible heavy metal lyrics about sex
Metal might nail it when it comes to lyrics about death, war, Satan and existential terror...but sex? Um, not so much
A beginner's guide to folk metal in five essential albums
Think folk metal is all just a bit of hey nonny-nonny with a riff or two? Have we got some albums to show you
A beginner's guide to speed metal in five essential albums
From its 80s heyday to its 2000s rejuvenation, here are the five albums that have defined speed metal through the years
"Playing our songs in t-shirts and jeans is not the way." Brothers Of Metal look like vikings, play power metal and are annoying elitists - and they're loving every second of it
Could Brothers Of Metal make viking metal bigger than ever?
A beginner's guide to death-doom in five essential albums
From its murky, understated beginnings to spectacular, three-disc concept albums, this is the story of death-doom through five classic records
