Joe Daly

From Johnny Winter to Led Zeppelin, here’s how a hit of slide guitar can lift a song to the heavens

Snot were set to be the next Faith No More. But then the death of magnetic frontman Lynn Strait cut their ascent heartbreakingly short.

From Judas Priest's seminal debut to nu metal and metalcore landmarks, these iconic records all changed the game

To mark Jimmy Page’s 80th birthday on January 9, here are the former Led Zeppelin guitarist’s 10 all-time greatest riffs

Bad Company played their first US gig in July 1974. Within 12 months, they were one of the biggest rock bands on the planet

Some bands run out of juice towards the ends of their career. These bands and artists are the exception

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

Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, The Pretty Things, Maggie Bell – Swan Song Records was one of the great maverick labels of the 1970s

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

From War Pigs to Fairies Wear Boots, this is everything you need to know about each song on Black Sabbath’s chart-topper

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

From the otherwise hair metal backdrop of Los Angeles, Slayer began a campaign of pure, satanic thrash with Show No Mercy

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.

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

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.

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.

Paranoid? Sabbath Bloody Sabbath? Heaven And Hell? Hammer's top writers duel it out to declare Sabbath's best album ever

They are the band that have defined and redefined heavy metal. But which album is their greatest? Our writers get in the ring

From Black Sabbath to Metallica’s Cliff Burton, these excellent gigs also proved to be bittersweet goodbyes

From Bruce Dickinson teaming with Rob Halford to Dave Grohl’s Probot album, here are the times big names made great metal songs even greater

Not every band can be as huge as The Beatles or Led Zeppelin in America – just ask Slade, The Small Faces and Status Quo

From Night Of The Living Dead to Rec, these are the times the undead scared the life out of us

Since co-founding Tenacious D in 1994, Jack Black has enjoyed celebrated film and music careers – and he’s been a champion for heavy metal at every chance along the way