CASEY CHAOS

1965-2024

ON THE CREST OF A W AVE

HYPE HAD SLOWLY been building for Spiritbox, who’d

ROLL OVER, BEETHOVEN

Divide And Dissolve’s Takiaya Reed has made the leap to composing symphonies – with some help from the BBC

HAMMER STEREO

What’s been blowing our office speakers

WHAT’S YOUR GO-TO KARAOKE SONG?

Avantasia and Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet gets grilled on opera music, dinner parties and massive rats

EICCA TOPP INEN

Metallica songs alongside symphonies? It could only be the playlist of Apocalyptica and Bright & Black’s shredding cellist

CHRIS MOTIONLESS

LIFE LESSONS

VICE GRIP PARKWAY DRIVE

The song that turned the Aussies from an everyday metalcore band into skydiving, arena-baiting heroes

CHAT PILE

The US metallic noise punks storming the mainstream

DANEFAE

The prog metallers proving there’s more to Denmark than Vikings and mermaids

CANTERVICE

Concept-driven metalcore from the land of the free

PALEFACE SWISS

The Zurich crew dubbed the “deathcore Slipknot”

VOWER

From the ashes of three beloved UK cult bands rises a fiery new phoenix

HOARD ALMIGHTY

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

A Rising Tide

A viral video. Collabs with Megan Thee Stallion. Stadium shows with Korn and Bring Me The Horizon. And now, stunning new album Tsunami Sea . There’s just no stopping Spiritbox

The Dursthais sance

Epic live shows, celebrity love-ins and Dad Vibes-Limp Bizkit are officially one of metal’s biggest bands once more. This is the story of…

JESSE LEACH

THE HAMMER INTERVIEW

“THIS IS AN EXORCISM!”

Featuring murderous alter egos and sex with Greek gods, new album My God Has Got A Gun sees Vukovi driving out their demons

ROOTS BLOODY ROOTS!

Stand aside, Bear Grylls! Nature-loving Wardruna frontman Einar Selvik is taking Metal Hammer foraging in an East London cemetery. On the menu: hummingbird nectar and nettle smoothies

Seeing Red

Some bands are angry. Fit For An Autopsy are really angry. As a deathcore band writing about real-world horrors, they can’t bring themselves to look away – no matter what

LA DOLGEVITA

No band has done more than Lacuna Coil to put Italian metal on the map over the last 30 years. Along the way there have been disastrous tours, break-ups and the attention of the FBI

ABUSE YOUR ILLUSION

No-shows, bomb scares, police intervention… GN’R’s Use Your Illusion tour was one of the most volatile to have ever hit Europe, and one that remained shrouded in mystery. Hammer ’s sister mag, Classic Rock , tracked down the people who were there to get the full inside story

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

This Consequence

ALBUM REVIEWS

ABDUCTION Existentialismus CANDLELIGHT UKBM torchbearer delivers

LACUNA COIL

Sleepless Empire

DREAM THEATER

Parasomnia

JINJER

Duél

SMALL MERCIES

Where EP is short for ‘Epic Potential’

MANTAR

Post Apocalyptic Depression

SAOR

Amidst The Ruins

SICKSENSE

Cross Me Twice

SLIPKNOT BLEED FROM WITHIN

O2 ARENA, LONDON

FUTURE PALACE OUR PROMISE / SEVEN BLOOD

THE GARAGE, LONDON

MYLES KENNEDY DEVIN TOWNSEND

O2 ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM

OBITUARY

ELECTRIC BRIXTON, LONDON

WHILE SHE SLEEPS CURRENTS / THROWN / RESOLVE

THE LEADMILL, SHEFFIELD

GRAPHIC NATURE FEED THE RHINO / GROVE STREET

REBELLION, MANCHESTER

THE PRODIGY

O2 BRIXTON ACADEMY, LONDON

FIVE MINUTES WITH DJAMILA AZZOUZ

Ithaca might be calling it quits after 13 years, but their fiery frontwoman still has some words of wisdom to impart