Jon Wiederhorn

Metallica changed the rules with their second album, Ride The Lightning. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the world would play along

Forty years on from their formation, Dave Mustaine looks back at the volatile early days of Megadeth

With Pantera in pieces and their legacy tarnished, Dimebag found himself desperately needing a new outlet for his talents. With brother Vinnie Paul beside him, he found one

Jeff Hanneman was the architect behind some of Slayer's biggest - and most infamous - songs but his 2011 passing was a tragedy that shook thrash metal

In 1983, Victoria Calandra was the only person brave enough to give Metallica a home: "I was their housemother, cook and hairdresser, and made sure they followed all the rules"

Metallica’s iconic second album Ride The Lightning did more than turn the band into stars – it forced the world to take thrash metal seriously

Prison Sex was the song that made Tool famous – and even an MTV ban couldn’t stop them

Ice T doesn’t do house parties. So when the Body Count frontman offered to show us around his New Jersey mega-pad, we weren’t going to say no

EXCLUSIVE Body Count frontman Ice-T reveals the stories behind the songs in this track-by-track guide to new album Carnivore

Darkness, perversity and the shadow of Charles Manson – how Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral turned Trent Reznor into America’s poster boy for nihilism

1994 was the year when metal came of age, bands twisting heavy music into new forms that would echo through the ages. We take a look back at the year's essential releases

Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and a whole lot of mud – this is the story of the US festival that defined the 1990s

One of the most formidable characters in heavy music, Ministry's Al Jourgensen has done it all in every sense of the word. This is his story.

Ben Weinman has spent the last 20 years kicking and screaming with The Dillinger Escape Plan, and now he’s channelling his energy into Party Smasher Inc – a new venture he hopes will transform

In 2010, 20 years after its original release, Phil Anselmo, Vinnie Paul and Rex Brown tell Metal Hammer the story behind Pantera’s classic breakthrough album.