SMALL MERCIES

WE CAN ALL DO BETTER

AS WE WENT to press on this issue, the world

FEVER PITCH

FEVER 333 HAVE always called their gigs ‘demonstrations’, but this

THE PATH TO CHANGE

It was the video that provoked one of the single

10 THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH

Let #BlackoutTuesday be the start of real change across the

DUCKS OR DINOSAURS?

WITH LAST YEAR’S excellent Resist album still fresh in our

NICK HOLMES

“I SURRENDER BY RAINBOW could be the song that got

MATT HEAFY

2020 WAS SET to be a banner year for Trivium

BLOOD YOUTH

IT MAY HAVE taken Blood Youth a few years to

CAPTAIN MORGAN’S REVENGE BY ALESTORM

TRADITIONALLY SPEAKING, THE UK has proven to be barren ground

DON’T FORGET AUSTRALIA!

Every time I see the foo fighters I swear they’ve

BLOODBATHER

“IT MAKES NO sense to me that when people think

156/SILENCE

AFTER YEARS OF metalcore becoming more and more watered down

KINGSMEN

KINGSMEN’S TANNER GUIMOND is in sombre mood as he tells

VREDEHAMMER

DISILLUSIONMENT ALMOST DESTROYED Norwegian death metal juggernaut Vredehammer on the

SUGAR HORSE

“THIS MIGHT SOUND depressing and grumpy,” shrugs Ash Tubb, vocalist

IN THE KNOW

“An instrumental proggy sludge band from London, their debut is

HOARD ALMIGHTY

REQUIEM (LIVE AT ROADBURN 2019): DELUXE ARTBOOK EDITION CENTURY MEDIA/PROWLING

a wild ride

an unbearable, sharp pain in the head. A horrible realisation

HOMF INVASION

Vacaville High School, California. 1993. Jacoby Shaddix and his bandmates

limpbizkit VS THE WORLD

If Korn’s self-titled 1994 debut represented nu metal at its

America’s morst NIGHTMARE

To put it in a completely cynical light, the Columbine

HYBRID THEORY CHANGED EVERYTHING

They seemed to appear out of nowhere. Fronted by the

THE NEW FACE OF DEATH

As metal’s ‘nu’ millennium dawned, a certain breed of headbanger

THE BEST OF THE REST

The first proper album Maynard James Keenan sang on outside

SUFFER NO FOOLS

Perth is one of the most isolated major cities on

VILE CREATURE

SINCE THEIR MEETING IN Toronto in 2014, the past six

(16)

-(16)- were nasty back in 1993 and they’re still nasty

ACxDC

This California grind/ powerviolence powerhouse is known as Antichrist Demoncore

AHAB

Not only have Ahab grown in strength and versatility over

THE ACACIA STRAIN

THE ACACIA STRAIN have morphed into non-stop material-churning juggernauts of

AL-NAMROOD

‘Saudi Arabian’ and ‘black metal’ isn’t a juxtaposition you often

AVERSIO HUMANITATIS

Dense and multi-layered, Aversio Humanitatis’s second album unleashes a roaring

AVERSIONS CROWN

Over 11 years, Aversions Crown have masterfully conjured harmonies of

BEHOLD THE VOID

Deathcore is bound by very tight rules. It’s a realm

BELL WITCH AND AERIAL RUIN

Seattle doom trio Bell Witch have always found space on

CORPSING

With a title that tells you everything you need to

DESTRUCTION

Captured the day after the release of their 15th album

ALEAH

AT A TIME when many of us are contemplating the

ATAVIST

MANCHESTER’S ATAVIST EMERGED at a time when the UK sludge

EMMURE

Hindsight is the savage End Of Level Boss to Emmure’s

EXOCRINE

While Beneath The Massacre’s long-awaited return has been the tech-death

EYE OF NIX

In Joy Von Spain, Seattle’s Eye Of Nix have a

FELLWARDEN

Fen members turn their attention from the marshes to the

THE GHOST INSIDE

By now you’ll doubtless be aware of the story of

HANK VON HELL

Hank von Hell sounds slimy. Stinky. He’s a bin with

INEXORUM

Inexorum’s approach to melodic black metal might best be characterised

BEYOND THE BLACK

BEYOND THE BLACK’S 2015 debut album, Songs Of Love And

KALL

Post-black metallers Kall continue the legacy of the cult act,

LIGHTWORKER

These SanFran noisemakers’ debut album picks up where their 2017

LONG DISTANCE CALLING

Germany’s Long Distance Calling have never been afraid to challenge

MAGGOT HEART

The second full-length from former The Oath/ Grave Pleasures guitarist

MAGICK TOUCH

Magick Touch are clearly laying out their stall with a

MAUD THE MOTH

The third album from talented vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Amaya López-Carromero

MIKE LEPOND’S SILENT ASSASSINS

For more than two decades Mike LePond has provided a

ENSIFERUM

IT’S BEEN 20 years since Ensiferum went into the studio

OHHMS

OVER THE LAST five years Kent-based ethereal post-metallers OHHMS have

THE MOON AND THE NIGHTSPIRIT

This Hungarian folk duo have returned reinvigorated with the inclusion

MORA PROKAZA

By Chance is 2020’s oddest extreme album. With two excellent,

MUSHROOMHEAD

We could argue all day whether Slipknot or Mushroomhead donned

WORLD SERVICE

Although this South African post-BM crew stick largely to the

ORGÖNE

As their name (taken from the orgasmic lifeforce ‘discovered’ by

ORMSKRIK

Nordic blackened thrashers claw their way out of the kvlt

PAYSAGE D’HIVER

Although sole member - and one third of Swiss cosmic

PHOXJAW

The music scene in and around Bristol in the UK

RANNOCH

RANNOCH ARE POSSIBLY the oldest ‘new’ band in metal. Their

A.A. WILLIAMS

IN THE PAST 15 months, A.A. Williams has secured support

STYGIAN CROWN

With a glowering, abyssal undertow that proclaims sincere contempt for

THEM MOOSE RUSH

This whimsical Croatian three-piece inhabit a realm where prog’s familiar

THROWING BRICKS

This Dutch outfit have evolved their post-hardcore sound into something

VAMPIRE

There’s always been a huge misunderstanding behind Vampire’s ‘next big

VITSKÄR SÜDEN

Purveyors of “desert-spacestoner-psych rock with a taste for weird literature/

WINO

Robert Scott Weinrich, aka Wino, remains one of doom’s foremost

WITHERING SURFACE

If there’s one thing Scandic melodeath is great at, it’s

RESURRECTIONS

Austin sideburn-farmers THE SWORD went on a well-deserved hiatus two

LIVE EVIL

DEVIN TOWNSEND, JUDAS PRIEST, SAXON, PARADISE LOST, SKINDRED, BURY TOMORROW,

CRYSTAL LAKE

How have things been with you guys since we last

VICKY HUNGERFORD

“I cried. I don’t mind saying it. It’s like the

EINAR SELVIK

FOLLOWING A PHENOMENAL rendition of Warduna’s Völuspá, accompanied by the

CLUTCH CROWBAR/BLACKTOP MOJO/SAUL

IT DOESN’T MATTER how much this world acclimatises to the

KATATONIA

Katatonia should be touring their 11th album, City Burials, right

ORANSSI PAZUZU

ANYONE WONDERING WHETHER a streamed performance can capture the magic

FIVE MINUTES WITHJAKE LUHRS AUGUST BURNS RED

“The time away from family and friends - missing birthdays,