Metal Hammer UK

For over three decades, Metal Hammer has brought the biggest and the best in the world of metal each and every single month. From exclusive interviews with the biggest bands in our game to celebrating the rise of the new artists taking our genre into its next chapter, we represent heavy music in all its many forms, offering world class features, unbiased reviews and special looks inside the scenes no one else will talk about. Be it heavy metal, punk, hardcore, grunge, alternative, goth, industrial, djent or the stuff so bizarre it defies classification, you'll find it all here and backed by the best writers and photographers in our game. If you like heavy music on any level, welcome to your new favourite magazine.

Metal Hammer UK

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EXCELSIS!

PAYING THE PRICE • Metalcore upstarts Vexed ended up more than £30,000 in debt after a recent tour – so they’re getting creative to make the money back

HAMMER STEREO • What’s been blowing our office speakers

WHY ARE YOU A COMMIE? • System Of A Down bassist and Seven Hours After Violet linchpin Shavo Odadjian faces your questions (and far-fetched allegations)

DANI WINTER-BATES • From his idols Papa Roach to protest singer Tracy Chapman, these are the songs that influenced Bury Tomorrow’s vocalist

NIKAN KHOSRAVI • Imprisoned in Iran for his metal band before fleeing to Norway, the Confess singer/guitarist reflects on what he’s learned

GHOST OF PERDITION OPETH • It might be the Swedes’ crowning achievement, but the recording was marred by personal conflict

KUUNATIC • Japan’s modern-day shamans weave together past, present and future, via a healthy dose of folky doom

AMIRA ELFEKY • Gothic alt metal with swoon-worthy lyrics

SYLVAINE • The Norwegian songstress combining Nordic folk and ethereal metal

UNCURED • Former prog metal prodigies turn rising stars of nu metalcore

HARPY • Pulsing industrial with a psychology kink

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

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MAY THE FORTH BE WITH YOU • From Poppy to Spiritbox, new album Metal Forth features seven collab songs with modern metal royalty. Welcome to Babymetal’s next chapter of world domination

“RATATATA IS JUST A FUN SOUND!” • Discoballs! Foxes! Monsters! Babymetal, their guests, and a Harvard music lecturer break down every track on new album Metal Forth

“I DON’T SIT AROUND LISTENING TO METALLICA!” • So says Kirk Hammett, guitarist with, er, Metallica. What does he do instead? Well, there’s a new book about guitars on the shelves and a solo album on the horizon

MICHAEL POULSEN • The Volbeat frontman is a death metal kid at heart, who’s best pals with King Diamond, loves 50s rock’n’roll and is fascinated by… goats? This is his story so far

A CLASS ACT • The Conjuring actor Vera Farmiga only had a casual interest in metal – until her kids joined a rock school. Taking classes herself, she found her voice and formed The Yagas

THE YAGAS MATHS • The records that inspired the band

“IT WAS COMING FROM SOMEWHERE SO RAW” • Featuring smashed guitars, mental breakdowns, and the appearance of David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails’Self Destruct touring cycle has passed into legend. Photographer Jonathan Rach was there to capture the carnage

SONGS OF PRAISE • There are gig venues, and then there’s York Minster, where symphonic metal band Plague Of Angels are playing a show backed by an enormous pipe organ. Unless a bunch of irate Christians get their way

THE KNOWLEDGE LINKIN PARK • From unexpected triumph to unimaginable tragedy and an unlikely resurrection, this is the...