CAN YOU FEEL MY CATHARSIS?

WHEN MACHINE HEAD released their ninth album, Catharsis,

GOODNIGHT KISS

FLAMES. FIREWORKS. EGOS. It seldom comes bigger in

OCEANS OF SLUMBER

SPIRIT OF ECSTASY

SHUDDER SO GOOD IT'S SCARY

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SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE

Starring a bunch of your favourite rockstars and lashings of blood, The Retaliators is the most metal horror flick you’ll see this year

10 THINGS WELEARNED THIS MONTH

What’s been blowing our tiny brains

WHO ARE THE KING AND QUEEN OF THE GOTHS?

Cristina Scabbia’s been at the forefront of gothic metal for 25 years. But can she handle her acolytes’ questions on ‘female-fronted metal’ and band bust-ups?

JAYANT BHADULA

Bloodywood’s screamer-in-chief tips his cap to the excellent metal he grew up on, from Linkin Park to All Shall Perish

A.A.WILLIAMS

Death gospel’s high priestess promises a devastating experience with her second album

LARS FREDERIKSEN

He’s Rancid’s guitarist (and about a dozen bands’ besides) and counts Gene Simmons and Rob Halford among his fans. These are the lessons he values above all others

FREAK ON A LEASH KORN

Jonathan Davis reveals how a blizzard of drugs, tension with their record and occasional bouts of physical violence inspired his band to write one of nu metal’s greatest anthems

MORE LIKE FIVE FINGER METH-PUNCH

…and other bizarre appellations, proclamations and musings you had on Five Finger Death Punch, Jinjer, Amon Amarth and more popping up in the pages of last month’s issue

BIG DEBATE

Pantera’s two surviving members, Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown, announced their intention to tour as Pantera in 2023 – but not everyone is excited…

HAMMER STEREO

What’s been blowing our office speakers

THE HALO EFFECT

Meet the melodeath supergroup bringing the Gothenburg sound back into arenas

INHUMAN CONDITION

Death metal veterans team up to breathe fresh horror into the classic DM sound

GRAYWAVE

Meet the one-woman project escaping reality with shoegaze and dream-pop

ANIIMALIA

Alt rockers looking to conquer the world, one radio at a time

INFANTERIA

The South African hopefuls taking 80s thrash and sprinkling in modern prog and metalcore

IN THE KNOW

What your favourite bands are listening to

ALMIGHTY

Box sets, underground oddities and all the essential merch you need this month

“IT’S A DARK RECORD. IT’S FUCKING BLACK”

The press condemned Machine Head’s last album, Catharsis, and then half the band quit. Robb Flynn would have been forgiven for giving up. Instead, he’s made his finest statement in 15 years

BREAKING POINT

Plague. Death. Floods. The last few years have taken their toll on Parkway Drive and put them in group therapy. Is there any light in the darkness?

GOTTA HAUG FAITH

Back in 1997, Limp Bizkit were just wannabes with big dreams. Then they released Three Dollar Bill, Y’All and that George Michael cover, breaking down the door to mainstream stardom

The New Southern Gothic

Inspired by the darkness of their childhoods in the American South and the work of Stephen King, Oceans Of Slumber have reinvented themselves. Welcome to…

Damage ink

Headed up by Slayer and Pantera, Tattoo The Planet should have been the most exciting UK tour in years. Then 9/11 happened, and it all went to shit

MUSICIAN TATTOOIST SHAAN

How do you grow up an evangelical Christian, but end up fronting a band like Heilung? According to Kai Uwe Faust, the answer involves Viking markets, mummified warriors and… a shaman?

❝ The is a new Beginning ❞

Following the death of Hansi’s mother and a seven-year gap since their last record proper, Blind Guardian have ditched the orchestras, dialled down the prog, and made their heaviest album in years

MACHINE HEAD

Of Kingdom And Crown NUCLEAR BLAST

OZZY OSBOURNE

Patient Number 9 EPIC

BLIND GUARDIAN

The God Machine NUCLEAR BLAST

BLOODBATH

Survival Of The Sickest NAPALM

SMALL MERCIES

Where EP is short for ‘Epic Potential’

THE CALLOUS DAOBOYS

Celebrity Therapist MNRK HEAVY

EPICA

We Still Take You With Us NUCLEAR BLAST

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH

AfterLife BETTER NOISE

WORLD SERVICE

Heavy metal uprisings from around the globe

HEILUNG

Drif SEASON OF MIST

THE HU

Rumble Of Thunder BETTER NOISE

NORMA JEAN

Deathrattle Sing For Me SOLID STATE

PARKWAY DRIVE

Darker Still EPITAPH

SOILWORK

Övergivenheten NUCLEAR BLAST

PEARL JAM

PIXIES HYDE PARK, LONDON

VULVODYNIA

PINTGLASS / POSTMORTEM PROMISES BOSTON MUSIC ROOM, LONDON

OLD MAN GLOOM DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE / PETBRICK

THE UNDERWORLD, LONDON

VLTIMAS

THEKLA, BRISTOL

THE PRODIGY

BRIXTON ACADEMY, LONDON

JOSEPH QUINN EDDIE MUNSON STRANGER THINGS

Stranger Things’ resident metalhead on playing Eddie Munson, guitar heroes and why Dave Grohl should write Corroded Coffin’s music