Stephen Hill

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

Helmet: Left

Forget Rage Against The Machine and Faith No More: Helmet are nu metal's unsung architects and Left is the best record they've done in nearly 20 years

By Stephen Hill published

After some patchy albums in recent years, Helmet's Left is the best the band have done since their 2004 comeback

Various metal albums from 2023

The best metal albums of 2023 so far

By Rich Hobson published

From Metallica to Babymetal, Cattle Decapitation to Sleep Token, these are the best metal albums of the year to date

Various Download Festival sets

The 20 greatest Download festival sets ever

By Stephen Hill published

For two decades, Download has been the premiere rock and metal festival in the UK. These are its finest moments

Various Iron Maiden Eddies across the years

Metal Hammer's writers battle it out to decide which is Iron Maiden's best album

By Merlin Alderslade published

Iron Maiden have made some absolute classics across their near-five decade career, so we got the Maiden megafans in our ranks to argue over which is the greatest album of them all

Empire State Bastard

Biffy Clyro, blast-beats and Brexit: how Simon Neil and Mike Vennart made one of the extreme metal albums of the year with Empire State Bastard

By Stephen Hill published

Far-right trolls and a shared love for experimental, extreme music helped unite Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil and Mike Vennart in Empire State Bastard

The album art of Machine Head's Through The Ashes Of Empires

“We had 35 labels pass!” Through The Ashes Of Empires at 20: The groove metal monster that saved Machine Head’s career

By Stephen Hill published

After the debacle of Supercharger, Machine Head couldn’t even find a record label. Then Through The Ashes Of Empires reversed all their fortunes.

Beartooth Krakow 2023

"I did not save your life, but I can be an avenue that helps you": Beartooth's Caleb Shomo is a reluctant rock star, but the one metal desperately needs

By Stephen Hill published

Beartooth's Caleb Shomo has never shied away from talking mental health, but new album The Surface is all about embracing positivity

Albums by Sleep, Judas Priest and Iron Monkey

10 amazing heavy metal albums that you can’t find on Spotify

By Stephen Hill published

Spotify isn’t the be all and end all of heavy music, as these 10 classics prove

Sebastian Bach, Evan Seinfeld and Scott Ian posing together

Five rock stars, three songs and only one concert: The story of Damnocracy – the most bizarre and disappointing supergroup of all time

By Stephen Hill published

Putting members of Skid Row, Anthrax and Biohazard in the same room was a weird idea. When the resulting supergroup only released three demos then broke up, it also proved to be a waste of time.

Code Orange's Jami and Reba

"Sure, we missed a few boats, but if you are willing to push yourself to the bone, you’ll get the next one.” How Code Orange's refusal to stand still helped them craft masterful - and catchy as hell - new album The Above

By Stephen Hill published

Code Orange looked set for huge things before the pandemic struck. Luckily, they're not ones for feeling sorry for themselves

New noise bands

Essex deathcore, Mumbai post-metal and an underground noise supergroup: these are the best new metal bands you need in your life this month

By Merlin Alderslade published

Looking for something new and heavy to listen to? We've got you covered

Album art by Guns N Roses, Black Sabbath, Possessed and Coven

10 heavy metal bands that took incredibly long to release a new album

By Stephen Hill published

Sometimes waiting three years for a new album is torturous enough – so imagine how fans of Guns ’N’ Roses, Black Sabbath and At The Gates have felt

Photos of Manowar, Deep Purple, Motörhead and Kiss playing live

According to records, these are officially the 10 loudest concerts of all time

By Stephen Hill published

Motörhead, Deep Purple and Manowar have all broken records – and people’s eardrums, probably

Coldplay, Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Florence & The Machine

A beginner’s guide to '00s British indie in five essential albums

By Stephen Hill published

Skinny jeans and hair-straighteners at the ready! Your guide to the best of British indie in the ‘00s

Blood Command: World Domination

Blood Command's World Domination: 20 tracks, almost half being a minute long or less, yet one of the most exciting, unique, genre-bending metal albums you'll hear this year

By Stephen Hill published

Norway's Blood Command might be reliably brilliant, but new album World Domination is as unpredictably genre-smashing as ever

“Band members complained of a loss of feeling in their hands after only one song”: When Tesseract set a world record by playing on a stage built from ice

By Stephen Hill published

Lapland show at minus 20 degrees presented unique problems - and they weren’t even sure anyone would be there to watch

Photos of Bring Me The Horizon, Metallica, Slipknot and Iron Maiden performing live

10 times massive metal bands played ridiculously intimate concerts

By Stephen Hill published

Metallica, Iron Maiden and Slipknot have all performed to the tiniest of crowds after making it big

Photos of Damnocracy, Prophets Of Rage and Methods Of Mayhem

10 heavy metal supergroups who weren’t so super

By Stephen Hill published

Damnocracy, Tapeworm and Device might have seemed like dream team-ups, but they couldn’t amount to the sum of their parts

Crypta, Allfather Ottto and Wallowing pose for different promo shots

Grizzly death metal, electrifying hardcore, sludgy thrash and extreme weirdness...here are the best new bands you need to hear this month

By Matt Mills published

Gagging for some brilliant new metal to wrap your ears around? We have you covered

Feeder, essential albums

A beginner's guide to Feeder in five essential albums

By Stephen Hill published

The story of Feeder, one of Britain's most under-rated and consistently brilliant alt. rock bands, in five essential records

Skindred's Benji Webbe 2023

"All I’ve ever wanted to do is spread positivity through music": How Skindred's Benji Webbe went from ska-loving orphan to reggae-metal innovator and the "unofficial mayor" of Newport

By Stephen Hill published

After 25 years Skindred have gone from reggae-metal innovators to playing arenas, Glastonbury Festival and a UK top 10 with new album Smile

Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold and Bring Me The Horizon album covers

10 metal bands who completely changed and immediately made a masterpiece

By Stephen Hill published

Bands need to evolve to survive, and these classic albums by Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold and Sepultura are masterclasses in switching everything up

Sonic Youth essential albums

A beginner's guide to Sonic Youth in five essential albums

By Stephen Hill published

Where to start with New York's most influential 'underground' guitar band since The Velvet Underground

The changing face of metal and hardscore: Death Grips, Witch Fever, Backxwash, Scowl

The success of this summer's Outbreak and Supersonic festivals mean a line has now been drawn in the sand: no longer can heavy music festival bookers utter the lie "We would book more women/people of colour, but there aren’t any”

By Stephen Hill published

There was much more to Outbreak and Supersonic than white men with guitars, and the UK festival scene now feels vital and vibrant again

Sylosis in 2023

With any justice, A Sign Of Things To Come is the album that will finally take Sylosis out of the British metal underground and into the big time

By Stephen Hill published

Sylosis have been at the forefront of the underground British metal scene for over a decade. A Sign Of Things To Come is proof they're ready for bigger things