Articles by Emily Swingle

Full-time freelancer, part-time music festival gremlin, Emily first cut her journalistic teeth when she

co-founded Bittersweet Press in 2019. After asserting herself as a home-grown, emo-loving, nu-metal

apologist, Clash Magazine would eventually invite Emily to join their Editorial team in 2022. In the

following year, she would pen her first piece for Metal Hammer - unfortunately for the team, Emily

has since become a regular fixture. When she’s not blasting metal for Hammer, she also scribbles for

Rock Sound, Why Now and Guitar and more.

Articles by: Emily Swingle

"I honestly can’t find the inspiration to write": Don't hold your breath if you're hoping for a new Jinjer album in 2024

By Rich Hobson published 16 April 24

Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk says she has "99 problems I have to solve" before she can think of working on the band's next album

“I was just lying in my own self-pity for months”: How an unlikely collaboration with Post Malone helped revive Ozzy Osbourne’s career

By Emily Swingle published 12 April 24

Ozzy Osbourne had no idea who Post Malone was at the start of 2019. By the end of the year, the rap superstar had thrust the Prince Of Darkness into the US top 10.

"Half Living Things is a record that satisfies that mosh-hungry hardcore itch." Alpha Wolf mix rampaging heaviness with injections of vulnerability on album number three

By Emily Swingle published 5 April 24

This is textbook Alpha Wolf, and we are here for it

Every Jinjer album ranked from worst to best

By Emily Swingle published 29 March 24

We’ve put the four studio records by Ukraine’s sonic wrecking machine in reverse-order of magnificence

Linkin Park performing at Grand Central Station in 2017

"Everything we're doing right now is way different." What happened the day Linkin Park played a set at Grand Central Station

By Emily Swingle published 20 March 24

On what would have been Chester Bennington's 48th birthday, watch him and his fellow nu metal stars entertain a bustling terminal at America's most famous train station

Maynard James Keenan singing onstage with Tool in 1991

“I needed to destroy”: Watch video footage of the first-ever Tool concert in 1991

By Emily Swingle published 13 March 24

On October 7, 1991, Tool played their primal debut gig, and so began three decades of prog metal trailblazing

“We want to be a voice for those who don’t dare speak up." Dogma are a bunch of sexually-charged, corpsepainted, metal-playing nuns. And they're here to spread liberation and queer love in the rock scene.

By Emily Swingle published 4 March 24

Dogma aren't quite like anything you've seen in metal before. You might want to watch their videos away from the office, though

"Formidable hard rock confidence, yet would benefit from that fearless unpredictability of their youth": New Years Day don't quite find their way on Half Black Heart

By Emily Swingle published 29 February 24

Five albums in and New Years Day are maturing - but losing of the charm of their youth on new album Half Black Heart

"Gothic, brooding poignancy offset by a sense of wonder and grace": why Depeche Mode are at the top of their game in 2024

By Emily Swingle published 30 January 24

Depeche Mode weave darkness and light into a mesmerising, magical soundtrack to life, love and loss at Manchester's AO Arena

"I wanted to be Aaliyah so bad": Escuela Grind's Katerina Economou picks the ten records that changed their life

By Emily Swingle published 29 January 24

From Aaliyah and Minnie Riperton to Gorguts and Trapped Under Ice, Escuela Grind vocalist Katerina Economou shares the songs that put them on the path to music

Chester Bennington of Linkin Park onstage with Jay-Z

“We were all saying, ‘We’re gonna make this something they can never follow up.’” How Linkin Park and Jay-Z united for the ultimate metal and hip hop crossover, Collision Course

By Emily Swingle published 24 January 24

Nu metal’s leading lights were supposed to collaborate with the world’s biggest rapper for just one episode of TV. In the end, they made a blockbuster EP and dazzled an entire generation of hard rock and hip-hop fans.

Tool, Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Spiritbox performing onstage

10 metal bands’ first-ever concerts caught on film

By Emily Swingle published 15 January 24

Want to see Ghost, Rage Against The Machine and Spiritbox’s first times on a stage? These clips have got you covered!

"Change is good - and bold transformation is exactly what has allowed the metalcore collective to stay relevant over the years." Bring Me The Horizon show Manchester AO Arena why they're this metal generation's top dogs

By Emily Swingle published 15 January 24

If Jordan Fish's exit has shaken the band, they show no signs of it with an immense, retina-singeing headline show in Manchester

"Without Black culture, hardcore wouldn’t even exist": Zulu are calling for unity and cultural recognition in the modern alternative scene

By Emily Swingle published 7 January 24

Zulu's debut A New Tomorrow mixed hardcore with the likes of Nina Simone, Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield, but the band are planning even bigger things in future

Asinhell/Body Void/Creak/Celestial Sanctuary

4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month

By Rich Hobson published 3 January 24

From Newcastle nu-metalcore bruisers Creak to Asinhell, the death metal project from Volbeat's frontman, Cavalera-endorsed death metallers Celestial Sanctuary and New England industrial doomsters Body Void, these are the bands you need to hear in January 2024

Sophie Lloyd holdimg a guitar over her shoulder

Sophie Lloyd: 10 records that changed my life

By Emily Swingle published 3 January 24

From Van Halen and Iron Maiden to Disturbed and Bring Me The Horizon, these are the bands that helped Sophie Lloyd become a shred goddess

Metal Hammer's 50 best albums of 2023 (and the stories behind them)

By Rich Hobson published 27 December 23

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

Photos of Metallica, Green Lung, Ghost, Limp Bizkit, Sabaton and Code Orange performing live onstage

Metal Hammer writers name their best gigs of 2023

By Matt Mills published 21 December 23

From the monolithic Metallica to rising stars like Green Lung, these are the greatest shows that Team Hammer saw this year

Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon onstage with Ed Sheeran

10 pop stars who’ve championed heavy metal bands

By Emily Swingle published 13 December 23

Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish and Megan Thee Stallion have proven that metal and pop needn’t be polar opposites

The 50 best metal albums of 2023 - as voted by the readers of Metal Hammer

By Rich Hobson published 13 December 23

From Metallica to Sleep Token, Avenged Sevenfold to Babymetal, these are the best metal albums of 2023 - as voted by you!

“People would say, ‘Oh, you don’t look like you should be doing metal.'" We went on tour with Scene Queen, the bimbocore leader who's turning metal stereotypes on their heads (and infuriating gatekeepers with "twerkle pits")

By Emily Swingle published 12 December 23

Hannah 'Scene Queen' Collins is becoming one of the most talked-about artists in modern metal. We followed her on tour to find out why

“People would say, ‘Oh, you don’t look like you should be doing metal.'" We went on tour with Scene Queen, the bimbocore leader who's turning metal stereotypes on their heads (and infuriating gatekeepers with "twerkle pits")

By Emily Swingle published 12 December 23

Hannah 'Scene Queen' Collins is becoming one of the most talked-about artists in modern metal. We followed her on tour to find out why

"Loathe’s sound captures something timeless; it’s clear that The Warehouse was blessed tonight." Loathe put on an intimate, powerful and emotional show in Leeds - and for a vitally important cause

By Emily Swingle published 5 December 23

Loathe remind Leeds why they're one of the UK's most unique young metal bands

"They’re both extreme, and they can be intimidating to an outsider." Svalbard made one of 2023's most personal and emotional metal albums. It was at least partly inspired by rollercoasters

By Emily Swingle published 22 November 23

Hammer spent the day riding the rails at Thorpe Park with self-confessed rollercoaster fanatic Serena Cherry to uncover the truth behind Svalbard's new album Weight Of The Mask

"People said we ruined music": How The Used's The Taste Of Ink helped emo kick nu metal to the curb

By Emily Swingle published 14 November 23

Fresh out of rehab and living in his guitarist's basement, Bert McCracken wrote The Taste Of Ink - the song that would put The Used on the map and turn them into rising stars of emo