Stephen Hill

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.

Articles by: Stephen Hill

Saluting Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher, the unsung hero who held Depeche Mode together

By Stephen Hill published 27 May 22

A tribute to Depeche Mode's Andy Fletcher, who passed away yesterday, May 26, at the age of 60

The Story Behind The Song: Nine Inch Nails' Head Like A Hole

By Stephen Hill published 27 May 22

How Nine Inch Nails' Head Like A Hole turned Trent Reznor into the dark prince of 90s alt-metal

Coheed And Cambria: Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind

Coheed And Cambria’s Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind: the alt-prog empire strikes back

By Stephen Hill published 26 May 22

Album review: Coheed And Cambria return to The Amory Wars on new album Vaxis II – now with added disco handclaps

Every Slipknot album ranked from worst to best

By Stephen Hill published 25 May 22

Slipknot released their third album, Vol. 3, The Subliminal Verses, on this day in 2004. This is how it ranks next to their other records

Every Manic Street Preachers album ranked from worst to best

By Stephen Hill published 24 May 22

Few would have imagined South Wales' cockiest generation terrorists becoming national treasures, but here we are. This is Manic Street Preachers' catalogue ranked

Feeder's Polythene at 25: How 'The British Smashing Pumpkins' made Metal Hammer's album of 1997

By Stephen Hill published 19 May 22

As Feeder's Polythene turns 25, we reveal the story behind one of the greatest debut albums of the 1990s

Judgment Night OST: the story of the greatest rap-rock soundtrack album of the 90s

By Stephen Hill published 16 May 22

The Judgment Night movie may have flopped, but its soundtrack was a game-changer for rap and rock colliding

Watch a pre-fame Rage Against The Machine lay waste to a tiny California record store

By Stephen Hill published 15 May 22

In March 1992, Rage Against The Machine played a full set at Zed’s record store in Long Beach – and there’s footage to prove it

Every Depeche Mode album ranked from worst to best

By Stephen Hill published 10 May 22

From synth-pop to industrial-noir, Depeche Mode have one hell of a catalogue. But which album is your Personal Jesus? Here's our guide to every studio album, worst to best

Cage Fight: “We have a T-shirt with Boris Johnson getting punched in the face”

By Stephen Hill published 10 May 22

TesseracT guitarist and former The Voice contestant team up in politically charged thrashcore ragers Cage Fight

Watch Slipknot bring the carnage in their first ever UK TV appearance

By Stephen Hill published 9 May 22

In March 2000, Slipknot made their British TV debut on early evening show TFI Friday. Cue the mayhem…

Every R.E.M. album ranked from worst to best

By Stephen Hill published 4 May 22

Cult underground heroes turned national treasures, R.E.M. negotiated their career with their integrity and core values intact. But which album is their finest hour?

The 12 most metal comedians ever

By Stephen Hill published 1 May 22

The links between comedy and metal go deep

“Tool is a machine": an exclusive interview with Adam Jones

By Stephen Hill published 30 April 22

The Tool guitarist talks banning phones at gigs, turning down stadiums and life in Tool in 2022

The Story Behind The Song: Insane In The Brain by Cypress Hill

By Stephen Hill published 29 April 22

How a weed-loving hip hop outfit delivered one of the greatest rock club floor-fillers of the 1990s

Rammstein Zeit review: album number eight peels back emotional new layers

By Stephen Hill published 25 April 22

Rammstein's new album is equal parts candid and explosive

These are the 20 greatest Download Festival sets ever

By Stephen Hill, Rich Hobson published 21 April 22

Hundreds of bands have played at the UK’s Download festival since its launch in 2003. These are the 20 best sets

Cancer Bats Psychic Jailbreak album cover

Cancer Bats’ Psychic Jailbreak: hardcore kingpins as reliably awesome as ever

By Stephen Hill published 10 April 22

Not yet rated

Album review: they may be down a member, but Cancer Bats haven’t let up the pace on new album Psychic Jailbreak

Metal Lords review: Hollywood finally gets heavy metal right

By Stephen Hill published 7 April 22

Netflix's new heavy metal film, produced by Game Of Thrones' D.B. Weiss, is a true love letter to the genre

M. Shadows reveals his favourite Avenged Sevenfold album, talks Kanye, NFTs

By Stephen Hill published 30 March 22

Avenged Sevenfold's new album is "inspired by Kanye West", features a 70-piece orchestra and is full of "wacky ideas"

Carpenter Brut Leather Terror album cover

Carpenter Brut’s Leather Terror: murder on the dancefloor

By Stephen Hill published 28 March 22

Album review: Synthwave’s shadowy maestro Carpenter Brut goes dancing in the dark on new album Leather Terror

Architects: For Those That Wish To Exist At Abbey Road album cover

Architects’ For Those That Wish To Exist At Abbey Road is the perfect live album for 2022

By Stephen Hill published 24 March 22

Album review: UK metalcore kings Architects revive last year’s magisterial livestream at legendary London studio

Soul Glo's Diaspora Problems: "like Animal from The Muppets getting p***ed up and finding a snare drum at a funeral"

By Stephen Hill published 23 March 22

Soul Glo's Diaspora Problems mixes hardcore punk, metal and rap in the best crossover record since Turnstile's Time & Space

Every Radiohead album ranked from worst to best

By Stephen Hill published 22 March 22

Few artists possess a body of work to rival Radiohead's audacious catalogue. Here it is, ranked from the solid to the sublime

10 obscure but brilliant 2000s bands who should have been massive

By Rich Hobson, Dave Everley, Kevin Stewart-Panko, Stephen Hill, Adam Rees, Eleanor Goodman published 15 March 22

For every Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage, there were hundreds of 2000s bands the world has forgotten. Here are 10 who should have been massive

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