Latest articles by Joe Daly
Judas Priest’s Rob Halford unknowingly gatecrashed AC/DC’s compound at Power Trip festival: “I look around and there’s Brian, sitting on a couch having a cigarette.”
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford learned there are some spots even a Metal God isn’t allowed in at last year’s Power Trip festival
“Lääz Rockit were headliners, and the band in the middle was Metallica.” The story of Lääz Rockit: the unsung thrash heroes who changed the future of metal’s biggest band
With a pioneering sound, packed-out San Francisco shows and a kinship with Metallica, Lääz Rockit could have been the fifth part of the Big Four. So why did they call it quits as early as 1992?
18 all-star singers, two cult albums and one personalised gravestone: The story of This Is Menace, the most underrated metal supergroup of the 2000s
In 2004, two members of Pitchshifter started a supergroup with the frontmen of Killing Joke, Carcass, Napalm Death and many, many more. It only lasted four years. Here’s what happened.
The 10 best Led Zeppelin songs that aren’t by Led Zeppelin
Soundalikes, homages and bare-faced rip-offs – these are the 10 best Led Zeppelin songs not actually by Led Zeppelin
Every Anthrax album ranked from worst to best
From thrash innovators to rap metal collaborators, Anthrax have repeatedly changed the heavy music game. But which of their 11 albums stands tallest?
The 10 greatest slide guitar moments in rock
From Johnny Winter to Led Zeppelin, here’s how a hit of slide guitar can lift a song to the heavens
“As a band you can be just awful and still have lots of success. But they were truly great.” The tragic story of Snot, the best lost band in nu metal history
Snot were set to be the next Faith No More. But then the death of magnetic frontman Lynn Strait cut their ascent heartbreakingly short.
10 classic metal albums celebrating major anniversaries in 2024
From Judas Priest's seminal debut to nu metal and metalcore landmarks, these iconic records all changed the game
The 10 best Jimmy Page riffs
To mark Jimmy Page’s 80th birthday on January 9, here are the former Led Zeppelin guitarist’s 10 all-time greatest riffs
“I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but we had the goods. We knew what we were doing”: how Bad Company conquered in America in the ’70s
Bad Company played their first US gig in July 1974. Within 12 months, they were one of the biggest rock bands on the planet
10 times bands made masterpieces late in their career
Some bands run out of juice towards the ends of their career. These bands and artists are the exception
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
The guide to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records in 10 essential songs
Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, The Pretty Things, Maggie Bell – Swan Song Records was one of the great maverick labels of the 1970s
Metal Hammer writers name their best gigs of 2023
From the monolithic Metallica to rising stars like Green Lung, these are the greatest shows that Team Hammer saw this year
“Everybody thought they were gonna get blown to bits!” The track-by-track guide to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid
From War Pigs to Fairies Wear Boots, this is everything you need to know about each song on Black Sabbath’s chart-topper
The 50 best metal albums of 2023 - as voted by the readers of Metal Hammer
From Metallica to Sleep Token, Avenged Sevenfold to Babymetal, these are the best metal albums of 2023 - as voted by you!
“The blueprint for the beginning of death metal.” How Slayer dragged metal to new depths of evil with Show No Mercy
From the otherwise hair metal backdrop of Los Angeles, Slayer began a campaign of pure, satanic thrash with Show No Mercy
The tragic life and unavoidable death of Scott Weiland
Former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland's death was the sad culmination of a long downward spiral of drug abuse – one which he had little chance of escaping.
"I really didn’t know what I was doing": Watch horror icon Stephen King's awkward fanboy interview with AC/DC
In 1986, a coked-up Stephen King directed his first feature film, Maximum Overdrive - then engaged in a goofy trans-Atlantic interview with AC/DC, who provided the soundtrack
“It’s the end of Sabbath, believe me”: The story of Black Sabbath’s abandoned 20th album
After the release of 13, Black Sabbath promised one more album before their farewell tour. Schedule conflicts and health scares meant it never came to be.
“I tried to write the heaviest thing I could think of”: The track-by-track guide to Metallica’s Black Album
The Black Album catapulted Metallica to number one worldwide and to immortality. Here’s the story behind its every song, from Enter Sandman to The Struggle Within.
"Between burn-out and a looming crisis, Sabbath somehow hit their greatest high." Which is Black Sabbath's best album? Metal Hammer's writers argue it out
Paranoid? Sabbath Bloody Sabbath? Heaven And Hell? Hammer's top writers duel it out to declare Sabbath's best album ever
"Lambasting it as 'selling out' directly contradicts its musical integrity and emotional vulnerability. It's all killer, no filler." Metal Hammer's writers battle it out over which is Metallica's best album
They are the band that have defined and redefined heavy metal. But which album is their greatest? Our writers get in the ring
