Ghost fans! Get this world-exclusive bundle featuring Skeletá on vinyl, Metal Hammer’s new issue with a cover you can’t buy anywhere else, and more

Metal Hammer bundle featuring Skeletá by Ghost on vinyl, plus an art print and stickers — (Image credit: Future)

Metal Hammer is celebrating the forthcoming release of Ghost’s new album, Skeletá, with a bundle you can’t buy in the shops.

Only through the Louder webstore, you can get your hands on a package that includes an exclusive vinyl variant of Skeletá. It also comes with the new issue of Metal Hammer, featuring an overhauled cover, plus a numbered art print and a sticker set. Pre-order your bundle now while stocks last!

Ghost are the cover stars of the new Hammer and, inside, mastermind Tobias Forge talks all about Skeletá, as well as the band’s enigmatic new frontman Papa V Perpetua.

“I’ve always felt that it was a scary thing,” Forge says of introducing a new iteration of Ghost’s papal frontman. “On one hand, I’m trying to make the ‘product’ that is Ghost an entertaining thing for our fans. On the other, I try to do that as pleasantly as is possible for myself as well.

Metal Hammer Ghost bundle — (Image credit: Future)

“When I decided to introduce Cardinal Copia into the mix [for 2018 album Prequelle], it felt very uncomfortable because he was going to be thrown out there as someone who hadn’t become [a Papa Emeritus] yet: ‘Wow, this is going to be a little different.’ But what I did know was that I didn’t have to go through the process of introducing a new character for the next album. Now, I do!”

In addition, we talk to Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe about his new memoir, Just Beyond The Light. We also share an exclusive excerpt of the book, where Randy reflects on his life before kicking alcohol.

“It’s been over a decade since my last drink,” the singer writes, “and looking back on that period of my life through sober eyes is like watching a horror movie starring my mentally ill doppelgänger as the main character. He stumbles drunkenly through a nonsensical plot, doing all sorts of bizarre and distasteful things as he wreaks havoc on everything and everyone around him. Obviously, I know that person was me, but at times I struggle to understand my old self.”

Elsewhere, Cradle Of Filth’s gremlin-in-chief Dani Filth discusses new album The Screaming Of The Valkyries and the British black metallers’ sordid story so far. We review blockbuster new albums from Ghost, Machine Head, Employed To Serve, Bleed From Within, Deafheaven and more, and report back from gigs by Spiritbox, Opeth and Motionless In White, among others.

With Acid Bath, Rivers Of Nihil, Skunk Anansie and many, many more also inside, order the new Hammer in this stunning Skeletá ensemble now!

Ghost Metal Hammer bundle — (Image credit: Future)

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.