John Petrucci’s Terminal Velocity: prog metal defiance in the face of COVID By Matt Mills John Petrucci reunites with ex-Dream Theatre bandmate Mike Portnoy on pandemic-busting new album Terminal Velocity
Svalbard’s When I Die, Will I Get Better? is the most important British metal record of 2020 By Matt Mills Post-hardcore dissidents Svalbard cement themselves as an essential voice with new album When I Die, Will I Get Better?
The Ocean’s Phanerozoic II: the conclusion to an epic journey four billion years in the making By Matt Mills Prog metal doesn’t get any more ambitious than the final part of The Ocean’s history of the Earth
If Limp Bizkit and Carpenter Brut had a baby, it would sound like Mimi Barks By Matt Mills Genre-mashing star-in-waiting Mimi Barks is kicking trap-metal to the next level
Beggar: the blackened sludge ragers whose riffs were forged in a war zone By Matt Mills Beggar are what Black Sabbath would sound like if they hung out in some of the world’s harshest war zones
Zakk Sabbath’s Vertigo: Zakk Wylde recreates Sabbath’s debut album. But why? By Matt Mills Zakk Wylde goes full fanboy on fun but pointless rerun of Black Sabbath’s debut album
Watch Iron Maiden gatecrash a Polish wedding on the Powerslave tour By Matt Mills That time Iron Maiden became the world’s most unlikely wedding band
Watch Bruce Dickinson being ‘killed’ onstage at his last gig before leaving Iron Maiden By Matt Mills On August 28, 1993, Iron Maiden and singer Bruce Dickinson parted company in spectacular style
The Top 10 best orchestral metal albums By Matt Mills When metal and symphony orchestras come together, this is what happens
2020’s essential upcoming metal albums By Matt Mills 2020 has been a crazy year, but these upcoming albums prove there are some bright spots on the horizon
This is the alt-metal band for people who like Mastodon AND the Arctic Monkeys (and Star Wars) By Matt Mills Alt-metal boundary-smashers Phoxjaw don’t give a f**k where they get their influences from. And neither should you
This metal guitarist made an Overwatch medley and it actually rules By Matt Mills YouTube shredder Sophie Lloyd reinvents the Overwatch soundtrack metal style
Amorphis’ Tomi Joutsen: “I’ve seen a lot of people on drugs and there’s no glory in that” By Matt Mills Amorphis frontman Tomi Joutsen has lived it all, from high-class limos to shitty toilet venues. Sometimes in the same hour
Every In Flames album ranked from worst to best By Matt Mills From game-changing melodeath to modern arena metal, here are In Flames’ 13 albums arranged from worst to best
Loathe: the future of British metal has arrived By Matt Mills Loathe have transformed from Slipknot wannabes into genre-mashing visionaries. Their misson? To take UK metal back to the top
11 metal bands with no bad albums By Matt Mills 11 of the greatest metal bands with turkey-free back catalogues
Bleed From Within’s Fracture album is what metalcore should sound like in 2020 By Matt Mills Returning Scottish metalcore heroes Bleed From Within push back their own boundaries on new album Fracture
The 10 heaviest breakdowns in metal By Matt Mills Few things in life are as satisfying as a perfectly executed breakdown in a metal song. And here are the 10 best
Slipknot vs Mushroomhead: revisiting nu metal’s most ridiculous feud By Matt Mills Two masked bands, one almighty bust-up – this is how the Mushroomhead/Slipknot feud kicked off
The 10 best songs by the 10 worst nu metal bands By Matt Mills For every Korn and Limp Bizkit, there was an Crazy Town. But even nu metal's D-list had their moments
Slayer's The Repentless Killogy movie review: A fitting swan song or giant flop? By Matt Mills Slayer's The Repentless Killogy flick graced cinemas for one night only – Hammer was there to find out if it lives up to the hype
Zakk Wylde, Lzzy Hale, Zoltan Bathory and Ben Bruce: Four guitar heroes, one interview By Merlin Alderslade, Rich Hobson, Matt Mills We united four of the scene’s most prominent modern guitarists for a look at the current state of guitar music, the evolution of the guitar hero, and what it takes to be a true rock star in the modern era. Here’s what they had to say…
1994: The albums that changed the world By Chris Chantler, Alex Chillingworth, Ali Cooper, Connie Gordon, Stephen Hill, Dom Lawson, Dannii Leivers, Matt Mills, Dayal Paterson, Jonathan Selzer, Jon Wiederhorn 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
Abbath's new album is an expansive journey through black metal's icy tundras By Matt Mills Black metal overlord Abbath broadens his own snowy horizons in new album Outstrider
The 10 best Max Cavalera albums By Matt Mills Incite frontman Richie Cavalera ranks his legendary step-dad’s greatest triumphs
