Holy Diver: How Ronnie James Dio made the album that defined his legacy
After his tenures in Rainbow and Sabbath ended in disarray, Ronnie James Dio was determined to create his own legacy. With Holy Diver, that's exactly what he did
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The story of Toxicity: How System Of A Down’s chart-smashing juggernaut came to life
Toxicity was supposed to be System Of A Down’s greatest triumph. Yet its release was also dogged by riots, media attacks and a daft association with the 9/11 attacks that’d change everything
The harsh reality of being a metal band from India
Demonstealer, frontman of Indian metal band Demonic Resurrection, reveals the reality of trying to make it in a country where heavy music struggles to be heard
Coven, blood oaths and the real story of how heavy metal was born
Devil horns, hailing Satan, a song called Black Sabbath. No, it’s not a metal highlight reel: they were all found on Coven's unsung classic from 1969
Here's what happens when you stick 5,000 metalheads on a ship in the Bahamas
We set sail on the 70,000 Tonnes Of Metal Cruise
Finland's melodic metallers Oceanhoarse get up close to the endtimes
Premiere Watch Oceanhoarse's new video for the epic new track, Death Row Center
The story behind the song: Black Gives Way To Blue by Alice In Chains
The Seattle legends’ emotional tribute to Layne Staley would require them to dig deeper than ever – and get some unexpected help from Sir Elton John
The Top 10 most underrated Judas Priest songs
The British band have written some of the great heavy metal anthems. But these are the connoisseur’s choices
This is what it’s like getting to shoot Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne
We talk to Herring & Herring, the photography company who have shot some of music’s biggest names
Opeth’s Blackwater Park: inside a 21st century prog-metal masterpiece
The album that turned a bunch of gnarly Swedes into flag-bearers for prog-metal in the new millennium
The Story Behind The Song: Death To All But Metal by Steel Panther
Michael Starr and Satchel on the track that made Steel Panther superstars
We got Melvins’ Buzz Osbourne to pick the 9 greatest Melvins albums
The Melvins records you really need to hear – straight from the horse’s mouth
Enter the deliriously dread-inducing realm of 11Paranoias
Premiere Doom-laden psychonauts 11Paranoias stream their impending new album, Asterismal, in full
Overkill’s Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth: My Life Story
Thrash metal icon. Party monster. Cancer survivor. Overkill frontman Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth has done it all and lived to tell the tale
How to buy the very best of Manowar
Heavy metal doesn’t come more gloriously over-the-top than the self-proclaimed kings and defenders of ‘True Metal’ – here we round-up the albums essential to any record collection
Type O Negative’s Peter Steele: ‘I’m an old man having his last fucking tantrum.’
In March 2007, Metal Hammer talked to Peter Steele about Type O Negative’s new album Dead Again. No one knew it would be his swansong
Why there’s way more to Anthrax’s Fistful Of Metal than just a terrible sleeve
A year after Metallica’s Kill ’Em, Anthrax joined the thrash metal party with Fistful Of Metal – and took their first steps towards immortality
How British metal almost ruled the 90s
British metal should have reigned supreme in the 90s, but nu metal stole its crown. We track down the era’s forgotten bands and the survivors who live on today
