Articles by 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

Beast mode: how Beast In Black, Diablo IV and Berserk have created 2025's ultimate metal-gaming-manga team-up

By Stephen Hill published 28 April 25

As the universes of Diablo and Berserk cross over, Blizzard have partnered with Beast In Black to reveal brand new song Enter The Behelit

Discharge posing for a photograph in 1981

“They sounded like screams of anguish, screams of war, screams of where humanity is headed – they were perfect”: The feral story of Discharge’s Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, the punk album that changed metal

By Stephen Hill published 19 April 25

How D-beat pioneers Discharge took punk and metal to extreme new realms

We got rock and metal's best bands to pick the greatest Ozzy Osbourne (and Black Sabbath) songs ever

By Rich Hobson published 11 April 25

Members of Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Halestorm and more choose the best songs featuring the Prince Of Darkness

"Ozzy and I were like a couple of naughty schoolkids." Zakk Wylde shares his favourite (not so) wholesome memory of hanging out with The Prince Of Darkness

By Rich Hobson published 9 April 25

Sneaking beers on tour in Japan? Heaven forbid

Grima/Melancolia/Church Tongue/Catch Your Breath

4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month

By Rich Hobson published 1 April 25

Meet Knocked Loose spin-off spinkickers Church Tongue, Siberian black metallers Grima, Texan metalcore mob Catch Your Breath and Melbourne deathcore brutes Mélancolia

Mixing Sepultura groove with Gojira stomp, Alien Weaponry step up into the metal A-league with Te Rā

By Stephen Hill published 1 April 25

New Zealand's Alien Weaponry step up to the big leagues on stunning third album

"My dad smashed the tape of Number Of The Beast: ‘I’m forbidding Devil’s music in my house!’ That only made it more appealing.” How Jesse Leach went from "Flanders kid" to future metalcore icon

By Stephen Hill published 14 March 25

How Jesse Leach went from preacher's son to metalcore icon with Killswitch Engage

"A lot of people think it’s about Vikings, but it never was." We took Wardruna's Einar Selvik foraging in one of London's oldest graveyards

By Stephen Hill published 13 March 25

We took Wardruna's Einar Selvik foraging in one of London's oldest graveyards

"I get a kick out of pissing off the purists." From winding up death metal legend Glen Benton to chaotic live shows in their underpants, Chat Pile are one of metal's wildest new bands

By Stephen Hill published 6 March 25

From winding up death metal legend Glen Benton to chaotic live shows in their underpants, Chat Pile are one of metal's wildest new bands

"The vocals make David Vincent sound like Sabrina Carpenter." This Consequence is the heaviest Killswitch Engage album in over a decade. And it absolutely slaps

By Stephen Hill published 19 February 25

Killswitch Engage go rawer and heavier than they have in some time, led by an impassioned Jesse Leach

"People characterised both of our bands as being arrogant and cocky." How Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium helped revitalise metal in 2005

By Stephen Hill published 5 February 25

How Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine ushered in metal's next generation

“Some of the people I thought were good were actually bad. I felt a lot of betrayal and uncertainty”: Killswitch Engage’s Jesse Leach explains the trauma and anger behind new album This Consequence

By Stephen Hill published 25 January 25

Jesse Leach tried to write “words of wisdom” for Killswitch Engage’s next album, but it ended up containing the angriest songs of their career

"When I heard her sing that for the first time, I had tears streaming down my face." Jinjer on their emotional new album - and why it's taken so long to get here

By Stephen Hill published 20 January 25

We catch up with Ukrainian metallers Jinjer ahead of new album Duél

4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month

By Rich Hobson published 15 January 25

From the post-hardcore squall of Hidden Mothers to Lutharo's invigorating mix of power metal and melodeath, to one-woman black metaller Hulder and Saudi Arabian tech-prog-metallers Ana.n7n, these are the bands you need to hear in January 2025

“Something we did do was throw out the rulebook”: Arch Enemy discuss “chaotic” new album Blood Dynasty

By Stephen Hill published 15 January 25

Band founder Michael Amott spills the secrets of Arch Enemy’s highly anticipated new album

Albums by Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, Gojira and Opeth

Feel old yet? These classic metal albums turn 20 in 2025

By Stephen Hill published 13 January 25

Trivium’s Ascendancy, Bullet For My Valentine’s The Poison and Avenged Sevenfold’s City Of Evil are 20 years old now, and your knees aren’t what they used to be

Talking Heads: Remain In Light cover art

"After a lifetime listening to hard rock and heavy metal I discovered Talking Heads and realised how good music could really be": Talking Heads open up new worlds on Remain In Light

By Classic Rock Magazine published 13 January 25

In which Talking Heads seamlessly merged funk, afrobeat and early hip-hop rhythms with their more abrasive art-rock ideas

Linkin Park/Slipknot/Evanescence/Korn/Kittie

"It’s actually Sid Wilson’s favourite Slipknot song." Inside nu metal's greatest deep cuts

By Metal Hammer published 1 January 25

From a Slipknot buried treasure to the long-overlooked Korn rarity, these are the overlooked classics in the nu metal canon

Metal Hammer's 50 best albums of 2024

By Metal Hammer published 31 December 24

From Judas Priest's Invincible Shield to Nightwish's Yesterwynde and Opeth's return to extremity, these are the metal albums that ruled 2024

"People said, 'You're going to be a one hit wonder.'" How Higher cemented Creed as rock's new superstars

By Stephen Hill published 26 December 24

Inspired in part by recurring nightmares and visions of heaven, Higher cemented Creed as one of the most successul rock bands of the new millennium

The 10 best hip-hop albums of 2024

By Stephen Hill published 12 December 24

From Los Angeles to London, Belfast to Tampa, the hip-hop world has thrown up some of 2024's most thrilling, imaginative and essential releases

"Sometimes a gig is more than just a gig." Friends of the late, great Mark Lanegan - including Josh Homme, Dave Gahan, Chrissie Hynde and Bobby Gillespie - assemble in London for an emotional, once-in-a-lifetime celebration of a truly singular talent

By Stephen Hill published 6 December 24

On what would have been Mark Lanegan's 60th birthday, friends and peers salute a much-missed musical maverick

"Trevor would've loved the new album." How The Black Dahlia Murder triumphed over tragedy with Servitude

By Stephen Hill published 20 November 24

The 2022 passing of Trevor Strnad could easily have spelled the end for The Black Dahlia Murder. Instead, they rallied to create an album worthy of his legacy

Derrick Green onstage with Sepultura in 2024

“They may be calling it a day, but these masters will always have a devout tribe”: Armed with 40 years of anthems and some stellar support acts, Sepultura’s final UK show is an unmitigated triumph

By Stephen Hill published 15 November 24

Celebrating their seminal classics and modern material alike, Sepultura bow out in impeccable form at London’s Hammersmith Apollo

"Our decision-making process has completely failed." The Battle Of Los Angeles at 25: how Rage Against The Machine just about kept it together to create one final masterpiece before imploding

By Stephen Hill published 1 November 24

The wheels were already beginning to come off Rage Against The Machine by 1998. Luckily, they managed to get into the studio together and prove they had one last statement to give the world

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Stephen Hill

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