Tracks of the week: new music from Royal Republic, The Struts and more
Eight new releases specifically provided to free your ears from the dreadful tyranny of pop music
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Do we really miss music festivals? (Spoiler alert: yes we do)
As a festival-free summer draws to a close, we look at why British fests are so close to our hearts – sh*tty weather, warts n' all
ASMR for metalheads is a thing, and it’s brilliant
Sit back, relax and let the weird and wonderful world of metal ASMR soothe your weary mind
How Iron Maiden’s The Book Of Souls became an epic triumph over adversity
In this classic 2015 interview, Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris reveal the secrets behind Iron Maiden’s most ambitious album ever – and the cancer diagnosis that changed everything
Cannibal Corpse’s Gallery Of Suicide: the symphony of cruelty that kept death metal alive
Death metal looked to have exhaled its last by 1997. And then Cannibal Corpse released Gallery Of Suicide and the monster rose up again
Watch System Of A Down destroy a festival with Chop Suey days before Toxicity came out
VIDEO! An on-the-verge-of-superstardom System Of A Down own the 2001 Reading Festival
The Story Behind The Song: Rammstein’s Du Hast
How Du Hast introduced Rammstein and their exploding dildos to the world
How Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater turned a new generation onto punk and metal
From Bad Religion to Rage Against The Machine, here’s how a video game franchise took gamers from the sofa to the mosh pit
So it looks like women still aren't allowed to headline Reading and Leeds
Reading and Leeds have announced six headliners, and there's not a female artist among them. Is there really still no room for women at the top of our festival bills?
Why Judas Priest’s Painkiller is the ultimate heavy metal song
Heavy metal doesn’t come any more perfect that Judas Priest’s career saving anthem Painkiller
Watch Iron Maiden gatecrash a Polish wedding on the Powerslave tour
That time Iron Maiden became the world’s most unlikely wedding band
How Led Zeppelin plundered music's past to create a blueprint for its future
From the ashes of 60s blues rock, Led Zeppelin took off and wrote the template for all hard rock that followed. But it was all just an extension of the blues tradition itself
Biff Byford: the soundtrack of my life
Saxon frontman Biff Byford on the special records, artists and gigs of lasting significance
Layla and The Man Who Sold The World: the classic albums no one saw coming
It was the dawn of the 70s, a period that delivered some now iconic albums – although some could easily have gone straight to the bargain bins. So why were they dismissed at the time?
Drums, death and destruction: the story of Mountain's Corky Laing
Like most young budding rock musicians, Corky Laing had a dream. Unlike most, his came true, as he steadily scaled the rock’n’roll mountain and made it to the very top
Lacuna Coil were the first metal band caught up in the pandemic. This is how they made it through
When COVID-19 forced Lacuna Coil to cancel shows in March, little did they know what was coming next. Singer Cristina Scabbia looks back on the most disorientating year of her life
How David Bowie returned to orbit and made Scary Monsters
After the minimalism of his ‘Berlin trilogy’, David Bowie went all out for a kitchen-sink art-rock album on Scary Monsters
Clown suits and chaos: What happened when Jello Biafra ran for Mayor of San Francisco
From forcing businessmen to wear clown suits, to introducing a Board Of Bribery, Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra's vision for San Francisco was both “a great prank” and barbed social commentary
Thundermother: "I’m gonna be that crazy guitar player!"
A new approach (and a new line-up) has taken Swedish rockers Thundermother to the next level
