Category: Music

Amyl And The Sniffers have really started something. And thank f*** for that (LouderSound)

Sarcasm and actual tunes as one of rock’s true one-offs resurfaces (LouderSound)

The End Will Show Us How is the sixth album from Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti’s side-project (LouderSound)

David Bowie didn’t get a huge amount of respect from Johnny Rotten when the two musical icons first met (LouderSound)

The Italian goth metal maestros release new album Sleepless Empire next month (LouderSound)

Ride guitarist Andy Bell will release his third solo album pinball wanderer in February (LouderSound)

The Slayer guitarist reveals he’ll spend 20 minutes with Dave Mustaine but then “bolt just before anything gets uncomfortable” (LouderSound)

Get the newest Metal Hammer with an exclusive cover and brand-new t-shirt, just in time for Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine’s mammoth Poisoned Ascendancy world tour (LouderSound)

Israeli prog metallers Orphaned Land honour friends they have sadly lost in the war with re-recording of their very first song, The Beloved’s Cry (LouderSound)

Jim Steinman wrote Bonnie Tyler’s smash power ballad Total Eclipse Of The Heart – once titled Vampires In Love – for an abandoned Nosferatu musical, before it once again found its home in another fang-toothed Broadway show (LouderSound)

Ice-T reflects on the rage behind Cop Killer, the best rap and metal albums and dream collabs as he answers your questions (LouderSound)

Steve Hackett will release his latest live album, Live Magic At Trading Boundaries, in January (LouderSound)

“It was the 1960s, man.” (LouderSound)

“I honestly think it is the best song Jinjer have ever written,” adds bassist Eugene Abdukhanov (LouderSound)

The mini-Slayer reunion is taken from To Cross Or To Burn, the second album by the Lombardos’ project Venamoris (LouderSound)

Steven Wilson will release The Overview, a concept album featuring two long-form pieces of music, on March 14 (LouderSound)

Squid share second taste of forthcoming third album Cowards (LouderSound)

“Perverts might be the twisted sonic exorcism you’ve been waiting for” (LouderSound)

From Judas Priest to Opeth, Poppy to Bring Me The Horizon, these are the metal albums you said defined metal in 2024 (LouderSound)

It was all going right until it went very, very wrong (LouderSound)

He’s worked with Steve Howe, Wire and Gandalf’s Fist, and even on a metal magazine – but it’s the quirkiness and curiosity of his own band that makes the singer and percussionist most proud (LouderSound)

Praised by Brian May, feted by Eric Clapton and Dolly Parton, Grace Bowers is on the road to stardom – and she’s still only 18 (LouderSound)

Touring with Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine will be “throwing the kitchen sink at making the show look fantastic” (LouderSound)

“We were scandalised, and we walked away.” (LouderSound)

Legendary rock photographer Neal Preston tells stories of his time with Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, the Allman Brothers and more (LouderSound)

Liam Gallagher: quite partial to a bit of Bollocks (LouderSound)

Actor Jeremy Strong plays Bruce Springsteen’s long-time manager Jon Landau in Deliver Me From Nowhere, and says “It’s been one of the greatest working experiences I’ve ever had” (LouderSound)

Big Big Train recently announced US tour dates for April 2025 (LouderSound)

Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks extend their Yes Epics, Classics and More tour throughout Spring (LouderSound)

“That period had a lot of people cavorting around using their manhood as the main weapon to sell records” (LouderSound)

Watch the video for Here We Go Crazy, the title track of Bob Mould’s first new album for four years (LouderSound)

Former Nightwish bassist and singer Marko Hietala will release new album Roses From The Deep in February (LouderSound)

The former Mushroomhead man’s daughter has started a fundraiser, saying treatment may force him to stop working (LouderSound)

The It, Saturday Night Live and Superbad actor also reveals he grew up listening to hair metal in a new interview with Amoeba Music (LouderSound)

Mantra Of The Cosmos and Noel Gallagher team up for new single described as “Free Bird for Mods” (LouderSound)

Unable to decide on who should leave, the band of friends broke up in 2016. To their own surprise and delight, they’re back with new album Songs For Beating Hearts – and loving their work more than ever (LouderSound)

Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, Dani Filth reveals the name of Cradle Of Filth’s next studio album and when it’s due out. He also says that their long-anticipated Ed Sheeran team-up won’t be on it. (LouderSound)

Mimi Barks on her recent UK tour, the strangest shows she’s played and serving “super-rich” people coffee in fetish gear (LouderSound)

Former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür to release new album Times in March (LouderSound)

Fit For A King and Boundaries will support the New England heavyweights during their four dates together in May (LouderSound)

Prompted by a disagreement that spilled into the public domain, co-founders Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson once visited the Prog office to set things straight (LouderSound)

Van Halen albums have it all: One of the most innovative guitarists of all time, your choice of rock star frontmen, and great tunes (LouderSound)

A late-career starburst in his drugs-hastened twilight years, formerOnly Ones frontman Peter Perrett’s latest solo album is the best he’s ever made (LouderSound)

A quiet word with Body Count’s Ice-T (LouderSound)

Country rockers Brothers Osborne play UK and Ireland shows in January (LouderSound)

Watch Justin Hawkins as you’ve never seen him before (LouderSound)

What a way to start 2025 (LouderSound)

Public Service Announcement: don’t get caught stealing from Public Enemy (LouderSound)

Matt Berry will release his California psych-inspired new album Heard Noises in January (LouderSound)

With a Chris Isaak track acting as an ode to Type O Negative, the Texans found inspiration for new concept album Where Gods Fear To Speak in America’s current environment of uncertainty (LouderSound)

Polish prog rock quartet Riverside will release new live album, Live ID., in January (LouderSound)

Skolnick played one concert with The Prince Of Darkness in June 1995 before being ushered out the door by management (LouderSound)

Scottish post-rock quartet Mogwai will release their brand new studio album The Bad Fire in January (LouderSound)

The now-five-day Czech rock fest will be headlined by Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Linkin Park and new additions Sex Pistols and Guns ’N’ Roses in June (LouderSound)

After seeing Ramones play in New Jersey in 1979, Bruce Springsteen wrote a song for the New York punks, but was advised not to give it away (LouderSound)

Onstage at the Golden Globes, it was jokingly stated that the legendary actress once manned the stool for one of nu metal’s biggest bands (LouderSound)

Produced by country connoisseur Dave Cobb, Halestorm’s sixth album will be sometimes eclectic, always energetic (LouderSound)

Prog veteran recalls connecting with Sandy Denny, his band’s attempt to fire him, being loved by Led Zeppelin, why they’ve never had a Steven Wilson remix, the “albatross” of Part Of The Union and the unreleased, more political version (LouderSound)

Whoops! (LouderSound)

A personal look back at the music, life and times of Neil Peart, the Rush drummer/lyricist and cornerstone who died on January 7, 2020 (LouderSound)

Never mind the width, feel the quality: With five albums in 46 years, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour isn’t the most prolific of solo acts, but the standard is high (LouderSound)

Brighton duo Lambrini Girls deliver 2025’s first essential album with their debut Who Let The Dogs Out (LouderSound)

Life is tough on drummers (LouderSound)

SAS Rogue Heroes is back with a bang. Hundreds and thousands of bangs, actually (LouderSound)

Watch the trailer for a new documentary charting Brian Warner’s rise to stardom, as well as the abuse allegations against the singer (LouderSound)

Tremonti’s latest album mixes his well documented love of metal with the post-grunge and balladry he made his name with (LouderSound)

US prog rock quartet Pattern-Seeking Animals will release their fifth album, Friend Of All Creatures, in February (LouderSound)

Former In Flames men unite once more to create another blistering set of classic-sounding melodeath anthems (LouderSound)

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper by The Waterboys is due in April, with a star-studded cast (LouderSound)

NIN duo scoop yet another industry award for their work on Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers (LouderSound)

Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell has discussed the possibility of collaborating with James Hetfield (LouderSound)

UK prog duo Amplifier will release their brand new album, Gargantuan on April 4 (LouderSound)

The ultra-talented metal guitarist says her addictions became “insidious” (LouderSound)

Featuring members of Yes, ELP and King Crimson, Asia were billed as a prog rock supergroup but kept it concise, to enormous success (LouderSound)

The folk icon – who never planned on being one – recalls hilarious haircuts, playing musical bedrooms, boxing clever with label execs and becoming a heavy metal fan (LouderSound)

Including Bonnie Tyler, Thundermother, Mary Spender and five other resolute New Year rockers (LouderSound)

Fans have claimed the statue looks like several different female musicians, and criticised it for showing Gallagher playing a Telecaster instead of his trademark Strat (LouderSound)

News of Oceanside Countryside’s release arrives in the wake of Neil Young’s off-on Glastonbury confusion (LouderSound)

The BMW R1200GS comes with a pair of used Neil Peart drumsticks (LouderSound)

The U2 frontman received the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House (LouderSound)

Exclusive: Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are interviewed in the new issue of Classic Rock, out now (LouderSound)

The tale of how the Welsh trio’s last Number One single, which was released 25 years ago next week, came together. (LouderSound)

Spectacular live disaster hasn’t killed guitarist Jim Morris’ passion for Pictures At An Exhibition (LouderSound)

Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill says the band need to remain relevant –because their OG fans won’t be around forever (LouderSound)

Jane’s Addiction bassist says he’s working with band’s drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Dave Navarro (LouderSound)

Joe Satriani knows a thing or two about great guitarists –and he says the Nirvana frontman was one of them (LouderSound)

No band did more than Saxon to put the NWOBHM on the map (LouderSound)

Living with Hendrix? Jamming with Dylan? Giving Axl relationship advice? Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has done it all (LouderSound)

Thirty years ago, Eddie Vedder & co. aired a live radio show and delivered a cult classic featuring guest slots from their heavyweight grunge pals (LouderSound)

From Six. By Seven to Clinic and The Delgados to …Trail Of Dead, here’s ten albums released in 2000 worthy of a revisit 25 years later (LouderSound)

Surrounded by genre-breakers from an early age, the Mahivshnu Orchestra mastermind learned quickly about ignoring critics – but never stops reminding himself of his own incapabilities and ignorance (LouderSound)

A Slipknot fan account on Instagram posts rare footage of The Nine unmasked on New Year’s Day 2000 (LouderSound)

Swap that hot dog-flavoured water for something a bit more palatable (LouderSound)

Bassist Tony Levin has played with John Lennon, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and more, but one studio session was more significant than the others (LouderSound)

Returning members Jeff Loomis and Van Williams are also defending the comeback following criticism from founding bassist Jim Sheppard (LouderSound)

We speak to Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium about 20 years of The Poison and Ascendency (LouderSound)

Having learned of “an error in the information received”, Neil Young has reversed his decision to pull out of Glastonbury 2025 (LouderSound)

The UK metalcore bruisers have pulled influence from Gothenburg metal for their hotly anticipated fifth album (LouderSound)

The Cure’s new album Songs Of A Lost World took 16 years to come out. Their next one may take just a few months. (LouderSound)

The idiosyncratic English art-rockers’ history is detailed in a pleasingly DIY limited-edition chunky read. (LouderSound)

“That’s not a great ballad. We’ve had much better ballads.” (LouderSound)

A Multitude Of One, aka Nova Cascade guitarist Colin Powell, will release new concept album A Templars Tale in February (LouderSound)

Mainman Jacob Holm-Lupo took his band in a new direction with 2004 release, but the material shows its age in latest update (LouderSound)

Also in this issue: Styx, Joe Satriani, The Doors, DeWolff, Sweet, Mark Tremonti, Metallica, Andy Fairweather Low, Tom Morello, Brothers Osborne, The Struts and more (LouderSound)

Nearly 100 years ago, Jimmie Rodgers wired a connection between the blues and country music with a guitar, some jokes and a yodel (LouderSound)

Former Take That star Robbie Williams has confirmed the unlikely collaboration (LouderSound)

Bruce Dickinson wants us to expect big things from Iron Maiden’s Run For Your Lives tour this year (LouderSound)

The Scorpions/ex-Motörhead man is at home recovering after a series of surgeries, but is expected to appear at all of his current band’s planned live dates (LouderSound)

This is what happens when one of rock’s greatest drummers hears a nu metal standard for the first time (LouderSound)

One-time Iron Maiden and Cutting Crew keyboard player Tony Moore will tour his recent Awake album in January (LouderSound)

That time Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Run DMC’s Daryl McDaniels fronted the ultimate rock supergroup (LouderSound)

Often called ‘the man who shot the 70s,’ the photographer experienced unforgettable moments with Pink Floyd, Kevin Ayers, Arthur Brown, Genesis and more (LouderSound)

Tinyfish/Shineback man Simon Godfrey plans to reissue his entire back catalogue through his new record label (LouderSound)

The now-Suicidal Tendencies member says he’s been working on his own music since his early 20s (LouderSound)

The end of the world? That was just inspiration for In Flames’ ninth album, A Sense Of Purpose (LouderSound)

UK prog sextet Ghost Of The Machine will release second album Empires Must Fall in March (LouderSound)

One of the 80s hitmaker’s early bands covered two of their songs – but it took him years to realise their genius, and he still doesn’t truly understand it (LouderSound)

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and we’re feeling good – and here’s 25 reasons why (LouderSound)

Tabloid fascination with the romance between Pete Doherty and Kate Moss put added pressure on their mid-2000s relationship (LouderSound)

The 80s also saw the blues transform like never before, with Stevie Ray Vaughan drawing in hard rockers and purists alike and Robert Cray taking it to the masses (LouderSound)

Smashing Pumpkins provided the entertainment at this year’s hockey Winter Classic (LouderSound)

Neil Young headlined Glastonbury in 2009, but it looks like he won’t be back anytime soon (LouderSound)

The story of the exhilarating early ’60s birth of the Rolling Stones (LouderSound)

Let’s hope 2025 continues as it started (LouderSound)

Evan Dando was already using hard drugs before The Lemonheads ever existed, but his appetite for self-destruction went into overdrive when his band were tipped to become ‘The Next Nirvana’ (LouderSound)

Forced to rebuild from scratch, Jason Aalon Butler is finding ways to harness the storm – and find his peace – on Fever 333’s Darker White (LouderSound)

From its historic and unique location to its incredible lineup, Mystic needs to be on your festival shortlist for 2025 (LouderSound)

After a long illness and the admission that his promise of writing an album about each State of the US had been a gimmick, he wobbled then reset with 2010 album that’s a prog-tinged curio (LouderSound)

Michael Jackson wanted the pair to team up on a huge hit but the Purple One wasn’t having it (LouderSound)

From a Slipknot buried treasure to the long-overlooked Korn rarity, these are the overlooked classics in the nu metal canon (LouderSound)

The Blur frontman and Oasis leader spent the 90s at loggerheads but a chance meeting paved the way to a blossoming friendship (LouderSound)

After abandoning a fully-written solo album in 2021, former frontman looks forward to a life without a leather jacket – and possibly without a guitar – with his debut EP We Ascend leading the way (LouderSound)

Cult movie The Blues Brothers exposed a generation to the brilliance of blues and soul legends like John Lee Hooker and Aretha Franklin (LouderSound)

Jimmy Page talks absent friends, superstar fans, bad reviews and the next best thing to playing with Led Zeppelin (LouderSound)

Welcome to 1984: it was the album that would see Van Halen straddle theplanet like a rock colossus, but it would also mark the end of the originalline-up (LouderSound)

The death of Johnnie Walker has been announced by his BBC Radio colleague Bob Harris (LouderSound)

Bruce Dickinson ends the year with a special message for fans (LouderSound)

AC/DC played their very first gig on New Year’s Eve 1973 – 51 years ago today (LouderSound)

From Judas Priest’s Invincible Shield to Nightwish’s Yesterwynde and Opeth’s return to extremity, these are the metal albums that ruled 2024 (LouderSound)

From defecating in Steve Vai‘s guitar case to puppet-based concept albums, Devin Townsend is out there on his own (LouderSound)

Plus Marillion, Clannad, Pavlov’s Dog, Klone, Swallow The Sun, Dilemma and more (LouderSound)

The pair roped in the Scottish rockers for some football-style chanting when they found themselves working in the studio next door (LouderSound)

There was more to Bradfield’s searing guitar part on this classic Manics cut than flashy playing, the singer and guitarist explains (LouderSound)

The self-described “Chief Audience Abuser” with Tinyfish and Shineback explored the idea that he might be a musician on 2017 release – but also expounded his theories on the nature of reality (LouderSound)

Happy New Year! (LouderSound)

Jack Moore’s In My Shoes is inspired by the relationship between parents and their sons (LouderSound)

Musicians who died in 2024 include Paul Di’Anno, Wayne Kramer, Dickey Betts, Steve Harley, Duane Eddy, Steve Albini and more (LouderSound)

When Ronnie Wood, the Stones and some A-list mates holed up at his house to help with his solo album, it sparked a days-long party and a Rolling Stones hit (LouderSound)

Did the world miss out on a Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin supergroup? (LouderSound)

Amon Amarth’s 2008 album Twilight Of The Thunder God transformed them from death metal hopefuls into all-conquering Viking metal chieftains (LouderSound)

The bassist has co-written only a handful of Metallica tracks since joining the metal titans in 2003 (LouderSound)

The Slayer man makes the claim while listing his five favourite players of all time (LouderSound)

80s outfit never had a record deal or management – instead they“got good at being poor” to avoid compromising their musical values, and it’s kept them going through the decades (LouderSound)

UK dark proggers Antimatter celebrate their 25th anniversary next year with the release of Parallel Matter (LouderSound)

The American band’s ranks have included Jeff Loomis (ex-Arch Enemy), Chris Broderick (In Flames/ex-Megadeth), Pat O’Brien (ex-Cannibal Corpse) and late singer Warrel Dane (LouderSound)

A Deeper Cut was the last album The Temperance Movement made before parting ways with now-returned frontman Phil Campbell (LouderSound)

Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Jeffrey Hammond, Peter John Vettese and Tony Iommi recall what they learned from – or what they did to – band leader Ian Anderson (LouderSound)

Former US President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100 (LouderSound)

The fire at the Morrison Hotel in downtown Los Angeles was attended by firefighters from 17 different companies (LouderSound)

“We were pot-smoking hippies and Rick Wakeman was a pub guy. The angle twisted and we went off in a new direction”: The epic story of Yes and the three albums that changed the course of music (LouderSound)

With help from an ex Yes member and a new engineer, 1981 release marked a significant update without a loss of their musical values. But is it a concept album? (LouderSound)

The Offspring’s Noodles says Rock Hall should be inclusive – but he doesn’t think his band will ever be inducted (LouderSound)

The inside track on Appetite For Destruction from one of the men who played on it (LouderSound)

Lamb of God guitarist is loving life without booze or drugs – and he wants everyone to know recovery is possible (LouderSound)

Porcupine Tree’s 2010 album The Incident capped their rise from cult psychedelicists to prog metal giants (LouderSound)

Cannibal Corpse kept the deathly flag flying during the nu metal era (LouderSound)

From Johnny Cash and John Denver to Manowar and Henry Kissinger, former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider has mixed with them all (LouderSound)

The recently-released live record from 2023 shows how much has changed in 50 years, as John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest look forward to the “progtastic” double album they’ve nearly finished (LouderSound)

Plucked from obscurity in 1975 to be in David Bowie’s band, then unceremoniously dumped five years later, bassist George Murray looks back on his time with the Thin White Duke (LouderSound)

The trip-hop pioneers have been sitting on new songs for four years due to a “dispute at the label” (LouderSound)

Didn’t see much of Anthrax on MTV during the mid-1980s? Their founding guitarist explains why (LouderSound)

Could Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett and The Mamas & The Papa’s Cass Elliot be getting the big screen treatment? (LouderSound)

Gentle Giant will release Playing The Fool: The Complete Live Experience in the Spring (LouderSound)

Hot off releasing blues album Orgy Of The Damned this year, Slash is diving back into his work with Alter Bridge man Myles Kennedy (LouderSound)

How Sepultura made their most important album – and how it tore them apart (LouderSound)

Sounds like Dave Mustaine’s thrash icons won’t take another six years to release their next album… (LouderSound)

Charting a different course from their Scandinavian contemporaries, new version of their debut album confirms they were right to record without a click track – or indeed brakes (LouderSound)

Triple-disc set captures the space rock veterans’ sonic destruction at celebratory event, which shows how well their latest music sits with their early work – and inspires thoughts of music yet to come (LouderSound)

When ABBA-mad Opeth leader Mikael Åkerfeldt met one of their singers, he “lost it”. She didn’t sing on their new concept album, but some other, perhaps unlikely, big names did (LouderSound)

After being let go by Anthrax in 1992, Joey Belladonna made a living working at a horse barn (LouderSound)

Icons and a-listers, retro bangers and psychedelic party-starters, firebrands, punks and alt.rockers – they’re all here (LouderSound)

Kirk Hammett knows his horror – and these are his ultimate movie villains (LouderSound)

It paid off by giving Mötley Crüe their biggest ever single (LouderSound)

Vended feature two spawns of Slipknot, but they’re attempting to build their own legacy through their own terms. We head to LA to find out more (LouderSound)

Leader Jem Godfrey, who took a financial hit to spend five months focusing on the band’s double-length concept album, explains why doing something connected with their past equals doing something entirely new (LouderSound)

Inspired in part by recurring nightmares and visions of heaven, Higher cemented Creed as one of the most successul rock bands of the new millennium (LouderSound)

Thirty years after being blindsided by fame, Pearl Jam were still doing things on their own terms (LouderSound)

Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson regret that people focus so much on one element of their sound, when there’s so much more to The Last Will And Testament (LouderSound)

Lamb Of God’s New American Gospel ushered in the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal a couple of years early (LouderSound)

From touring with Korn and meeting pop stars to barely selling 200 tickets and almost getting dropped from their label, Papa Roach endured to prove themselves the ultimate rock survivors (LouderSound)

Kate Bush has something to say (LouderSound)

An unexpected festive gift arrives as David Lee Roth releases a standalone version of a song he originally attached to some Taylor Swift audio (LouderSound)

Jinjer’s Tatiana and Eugene dig into their discography (LouderSound)

The countdown, the comeback, the controversy – Linkin Park’s return was one of the biggest stories of 2024 (LouderSound)

Inside the biggest (and most over the top) power metal tour of 2024 (LouderSound)

“We had a clunky old vinyl player and people would bring in odd records…” Minds open to limitless music helped build a legacy leading up to Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (LouderSound)

Sir Brian May talks us through a series of previously unseen photographs from Queen’s early days as featured in the new Queen I Collector’s Edition (LouderSound)

John Corabi says being let go by Motley Crue was a bummer – but it also came with huge relief (LouderSound)

L7 have always walked the line between metal, punk and grunge (LouderSound)

Along with Sabbath and Zeppelin, Deep Purple helped craft the primordial goop that spawned metal (LouderSound)

The seasonal theme was unintentional, and so was their focus on rock operas, but that didn’t stop “the world’s most famous unknown band” starting out with a 10-date, one-truck tour before selling a million tickets per road trip 15 years later (LouderSound)

Young UK prog rocker Dominic Sanderson will release his second album, Blazing Revelations, in February (LouderSound)

Ivan Jurić – a fan of Napalm Death, Carcass and Obituary – says he’ll bring an “aggressive” style of football comparable to death metal music (LouderSound)

How Cat Stevens became one of music’s biggest stars – then walked away from it (LouderSound)

After making an unlikely connection, three interviews with a punk magazine editor – which she said felt like psychiatrist talks – illustrate her rapid development from Never For Ever to Hounds Of Love (LouderSound)

Dread Zeppelin: A Song of Hope is out now (LouderSound)

The Grateful Dead and Bonnie Raitt were among the Class of 2024 at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors (LouderSound)

The only music you’ll need this Christmas Day is this brilliant, ludicrous playlist from The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins (LouderSound)

With their ninth studio album In Murmuration, Finnish rockers Von Hertzen Brothers have replaced their erstwhile prog epics for a more honest approach to songwriting reflecting their personal lives (LouderSound)

Billy Gibbons’ home town of Las Vegas, Nevada, rolls out the red carpet with City Hall ceremony for ZZ Top star (LouderSound)

There’s nothing new about popular bands attracting a lot of hate – and Creed are just fine with that (LouderSound)

Quitting? That’s not Max Cavalera’s style (LouderSound)

1981’s High ’N’ Dry was the record that introduced Def Leppard to America – and changed things for ever (LouderSound)

Gary Holt says his thrash aggressors used to hack hair metal tops to pieces – despite secretly admiring Ratt and Dokken (LouderSound)

After writing a memoir, the guitarist has done the musical equivalent with an 11-disc box set exploring his five-decade career. He explains how he landed his dream gig, how Robert Fripp beat him to a tonal ambition, and why, in a way, Roxy is still active (LouderSound)

Who had the vision to let metal’s eco-warriors decimate the Paris Olympics opening ceremony? Joe Duplantier gives Metal Hammer the answer (LouderSound)

Want to know what our writers and staffers have been spinning in 2024? Here’s the breakdown of every Metal Hammer contributors’ album of the year lists (LouderSound)

When Adrian Belew failed to persuade the 80s line-up to reunite, he had to come up with another way of bringing that decade’s three albums back to life – and he did it (LouderSound)

From the cosmic death exploration of Blood Incantation to the welcome return of Nails and Job For A Cowboy, these are the 10 albums that defined death metal in 2024 (LouderSound)

There’s a raft of Yuletide tunes by the Seattle titans to see you through the festive period (LouderSound)

With Gene Simmons in the production chair, Keel conjure up a small batch of decent headbangers and not much else (LouderSound)

Including Black Spiders, Nate Bergman, Ally Venable and five other bearers of festive rock’n’roll gifts (LouderSound)

Watch Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew and Tony Levin unleash the King Crimson beast (LouderSound)

Slayer guitarist says metal scene does a good job of not alienating potential fans (LouderSound)

Watch Kevin Cronin pay tribute as REO Speedwagon officially step away from the stage (LouderSound)

After an initial run at IMAX theatres, Becoming Led Zeppelin will go on general release in the US, UK and more (LouderSound)

Bow down before Manowar’s false metal-slaying third album, 1984’s Hail To England (LouderSound)

Fame, death and resurrection – X Japan’s Yoshiki looks back on his band’s unique journey (LouderSound)

“People have slammed Bohemian Rhapsody but who can you compare it to? Tell me one group that’s done an operatic single?”: The epic story of A Night At The Opera, the album that turned Queen into superstars (LouderSound)

How a song about the “hardscrabble lives” of the fledgling rockers became a timeless rock anthem (LouderSound)

Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda recalls the wild shoe-related choreography tips the band wisely rejected (LouderSound)

Amen’s Casey Chaos – aka Karim Chmielnski – also worked with Christian Death and a string of other projects (LouderSound)

The drugs really were working for Aerosmith on 1976’s classic Rocks album (LouderSound)

It’s Zakk Wylde’s world – we just live in it (LouderSound)

Modern prog supergroup O.R.k, will release their new album in 2025 (LouderSound)

Drugs, denim and 12 bar boogie – the story of one of the UK’s most successful rock bands (LouderSound)

The ex-White Stripes man and guitar magus on the essential ingredients he thinks it takes to become a six-string master (LouderSound)

Metal’s all-time greatest concept album? Operation: Mindcrime could be it (LouderSound)

Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Mike Keneally and Don Preston discuss dealing with the filthy freak’s genius up close – and what you’re missing if you haven’t investigated his catalogue (LouderSound)

Jamming with Hendrix, partying with The Who, getting hit on by David Bowie’s wife – The God Of Hellfire has done it all and more (LouderSound)

The Fleetwood Mac icon has a contemporary pop favourite but isn’t happy about all the cussing (LouderSound)

Nightwish release 45-minute film exploring the creation of their 10th album (LouderSound)

Biohazard man called Metallica drummer out after nightclub incident and landed a coveted tour support slot (LouderSound)

London punk legends The Clash and and magical Minneapolis maverick Prince to be recognised for their “outstanding artistic significance” (LouderSound)

Coheed And Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez’s new EP features covers of songs by Taylor Swift, The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins and more (LouderSound)

Nu metal veterans Kittie pick out their most underrated song and tell us a little bit about it (LouderSound)

Punk-pop: they’re still making it and Liquid Mike is single-handedly saving it (LouderSound)

The story of Kangaroo, the sleazeball song reimagined to capture “the beauty of despair” (LouderSound)

Brant Bjork explains why he had no real interest in seeing pioneering stoner rockers Kyuss become the new Metallica (LouderSound)

Ignore the syrupy ballads. Connections to Alan Parsons, Supertramp and Sky suggest a valid case – and his 1979 album Crusader proves it beyond doubt (LouderSound)

Juuso Laatio talks directing Babymetal, ‘playing’ Wacken and whether we’ll ever get that Impaled Rektum album (LouderSound)

Steven Wilson’s The Overview, a concept album featuring two long-form pieces of music, will be released on March 14 (LouderSound)

Kerry King picks what might just be Sabbath’s heaviest record. Should we be surprised? (LouderSound)

A weighty celebration of Monty Python-preceding trad/psych satirists (LouderSound)

In May 1967, the band’s debut single changed the musical world. Nearly six decades later it’s developed a long and protracted legacy (LouderSound)

Next year, Joe Bonamassa plays the music of the late, great Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher at three special shows in Cork. (LouderSound)

Metallica release video of entire charity show – including acoustic and electric performance by thrash giants (LouderSound)

“We’re only getting more and more dangerous,” says Clown as he reflects on band’s all-conquering anniversary tour (LouderSound)

Life in Deep Purple has never been dull (LouderSound)

Fans are encouraged to visit Lemmy’s ashes at London club Stringfellows (LouderSound)

Proceeds from My Christmas List will benefit Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers (LouderSound)

“Paramore made a huge impression on me and my style.” (LouderSound)

A hit album, a box office-smashing biopic, Oscar nominations, a court victory over the British government, causing a split between Liam and Noel: Kneecap look back on 2024 (LouderSound)

Study reveals the top 10 rock bands inspiring tattoos globally (LouderSound)

Marshall slash prices on a number of their speakers and headphones in both the US and UK, including money off the Emberton II & Woburn III speakers and Monitor II A.N.C. headphones (LouderSound)

Popular UK prog rockers Nova Cascade will release their final album Boxman in April (LouderSound)

Two of metal’s best Matts answer questions from their biggest fans (and no, we still don’t know who the next Metallica is) (LouderSound)

Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy loved Jimi Hendrix, but The Pogues were never going to sound like Seattle’s legendary guitar hero (LouderSound)

Bassist Jon Camp was a member of UK prog rockers Renaissance’s classic 1970s line-up (LouderSound)

With elements of Deftones and Soundgarden in their experimental approach, Newcastle quartet want to preach their prog news at the heavier festivals (LouderSound)

The model and actress does her best Rocket Man impression in a new video for Step Into Christmas (LouderSound)

Arch Enemy will hit the states with three killer support bands in tow (LouderSound)

One legendary heavy metal drummer pays tribute to another (LouderSound)

Profits from the Dublin quintet’s latest single will be donated to the charity set up to help Palestinians in need of aid (LouderSound)

Violet Grohl is working on music with producer Justin Raisen (Kim Gordon/Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Viagra Boys) according to The Hollywood Reporter (LouderSound)

The Gallagher brothers celebrate their 1994 anthem’s 30th birthday with a special vinyl remaster (LouderSound)

With close harmonies and a full orchestral suite on Human. :||: Nature. the band proved it was capable of endless expansion. But the experience of being mobbed and drowned out in South America offered pause for thought (LouderSound)

A sequel to the classic Spinal Tap movie will hit theatres in 2025 (LouderSound)

Andrew Eldritch on the meaning of life, jazz-funk and beetroot (LouderSound)

The death of Slim Dunlap, who joined The Replacements in 1987, has been confirmed by his family (LouderSound)

Sum 41 will call it a day in a little over a month –and the reality of the looming end is starting to hit home (LouderSound)

We all chuckled at The Cure frontman’s typically British reaction to excitable red carpet interviewer (LouderSound)

“We both wanted to do the Keith part, but I won!” – Susanna Hoffs (LouderSound)

Pink Floyd man David Gilmour is not ready to quit (LouderSound)

Spiritbox might be one of the fastest-rising bands in metal today, but even they’re overawed at the sheer size of Linkin Park (LouderSound)

Slipknot celebrating their iconic debut album with a visceral – if sometimes slightly too clean – show at the Co Op Live (LouderSound)

Celtic folk harpist Joy Shannon has just released her most recent album An Chailleach (LouderSound)

From rock icons like Guns N’ Roses and Queens Of The Stone Age to metal behemoths Gojira, it’s safe to say Myles Kennedy knows his way around a riff (LouderSound)

The avant-rockers released debut album Here Comes A Man From The Council With A Flamethrower in 2019, when their guitarist-vocalist told Prog how they took their time and finally got there (LouderSound)

Frank Skinner on the “inspirational” Judas Priest, playing in a cult Birmingham band and the heavy metal sitcom that never was (LouderSound)

Mixing death metal, prog, krautrock and a dozen other ingredients besides, Blood Incantation made one of 2024’s most essential records with Absolute Elsewhere (LouderSound)

Doc Martin and DCI Banks star’s record collection also features krautrock, space rock, acid folk, Canterbury and metal music (LouderSound)

Spider Lilly comes from Saint Lucifer‘s Hospital 1920, the first part of an upcoming horror trilogy (LouderSound)

Every song on Frank Stallone’s self-titled debut album is an AOR throatpunch with a credit roll (LouderSound)

Post-hardcore heroes Fugazi have been on indefinite hiatus for more than 20 years (LouderSound)

Eric Clapton’s best albums, the cream of his decades-stradling crop (LouderSound)

Kid Rock says he’ll work with incoming US President Donald Trump’s administration to protect live music fans (LouderSound)

Hanoi Rocks frontman turned solo star Michael Monroe on living with Stiv Bators and Johnny Thunders, and the possibility that he might never die (LouderSound)

The album compiles material previously only released in physical formats and sold at live shows across the last few years (LouderSound)

Tom Morello heaped praise and love on another guitar legend yesterday (LouderSound)

It’s that time of year again! So then, Prog readers, who was top of your progs in 2024? (LouderSound)

A US tour without enough dates, a move away from the sound that got them signed, frequent line-up changes and never any money – just some of the things that went wrong for the band who once stood alongside The Nice and Van der Graaf Generator (LouderSound)

Genre-hopping singer-songwriter Yungblud gives props to some British metal heavyweights and a music icon (LouderSound)

Although System Of A Down haven’t released a new album in almost 20 years, that hasn’t stopped frontman Serj Tankian from remaining a prolific force (LouderSound)

UK prog trio Circu5 will release their new album Clockwork Tulpa in March (LouderSound)

No Nightwish shows? No problem! Singer Floor Jansen will still be productive during the symphonic metal titans’ downtime (LouderSound)

Late guitar innovator Jeff Beck lived rock’n’roll history – but was much more interested in the future (LouderSound)

Keyboard icon looks back on his classical albums, recently assembled in a box set, recalls being knocked off the No. 1 spot by gardener Alan Titchmarsh – and remembers offering Peter Gabriel a new gig (LouderSound)

Creators of Hulu documentary series vow to go “beyond the mystique” of stars who helped shape metal (LouderSound)

Slipknot percussionist Shawn Crahan talks new music, debut album anniversary tour and backstage donkeys (LouderSound)

Singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading talks about inspirations, what her famous key was about, her popularity with freedom fighters and more (LouderSound)

Co-founder of Sisters Of Mercy and Ghost Dance, influential goth guitarist Gary Marx has returned to his glam roots (LouderSound)

Welsh rockers Those Damn Crows will join W.A.S.P, The Wildhearts, Lita Ford and more at the ‘festival up a mountain’ (LouderSound)

Lady Gaga reveals she was once an extra in an AC/DC video as she joins AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson for Carpool Karaoke special (LouderSound)

The nu-metal-but-not-really favourites will trek across South America in May (LouderSound)

British rapper Slowthai, aka Tyron Frampton, is cleared of two charges of rape by a jury at Oxford crown court (LouderSound)

Whether you’ve loved Judas Priest or Linkin Park, Poppy or Kerry King, we want to know what albums have excited you most in 2024 (LouderSound)

Big Big Train re-record Brew & Burgh, originally recorded with late singer David Longdon, for the 2020 reissue of The Underfall Yard (LouderSound)

Iron Maiden’s 90s singer pays tribute to his fallen predecessor, who died in October at the age of 66 (LouderSound)

The biggest symphonic metal band of them all have had a glittering career so far. Here is every Nightwish studio full-length ranked (LouderSound)

Scottish neo proggers Pallas announce intention to record more but it’s all over as far as playing live goes (LouderSound)

Jarvis Cocker’s pop-rock stars haven’t released a studio album since 2001, but have started debuting new songs live (LouderSound)

Released between two major metal milestones, Somewhere In Time is something of an underrated fan favourite (LouderSound)

Watch it quick, before it’s gone (LouderSound)

Progressive in word and deed, the German group have never achieved the acclaim they deserve – but that’s never stopped them (LouderSound)

Including The Darkness, Black Eyes Sons, Those Damn Crows and five other bohemian rock’n’roll rhapsodists (LouderSound)

In which Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s sons conjure up their inner Simon & Garfunkel (LouderSound)

It’s not just Taylor Swift making money out there (LouderSound)

Billed as Nudedragons, the Soundgarden trio were joined onstage by singer Shaina Shepherd and Duff McKagan (LouderSound)

Little Sidney Wilson joins Slipknot’s backstage bonding ritual – and it’s the cutest thing you’ll see today (LouderSound)

How David Gilmour ended up playing with Body Count (LouderSound)

When it comes to horror Metallica’s Kirk Hammett is the man (LouderSound)

The superstar shares her guide for living so you too can get your Brat on (LouderSound)

You may have been wondering why this beardy indie veteran popped up in a Marvel film last year, and now you can find out (LouderSound)

Spoiler: it’s not Bohemian Rhapsody! (LouderSound)

Their sixth album, released in 2009, was their first with singer David Longdon and drummer Nick D’Virgilio – and it nearly broke the band (LouderSound)

If there’s a thrash metal Big Five, Bay Area bangers Testament ares strong contenders (LouderSound)

The 4th edition of Metallica’s Helping Hands charity show featured guest appearance from Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament (LouderSound)

How Bob Dylan changed the course of music forever with Bringing It Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde (LouderSound)

High praise indeed from the late Slipknot drummer (LouderSound)

Krautrock Eruption has been written by former Eruption member Wolfgang Seidel (LouderSound)

David Gilmour’s new live video for The Piper’s Call was recorded from performances in Brighton, Rome, London, Los Angeles and New York (LouderSound)

David Coverdale looks back on the making of Whitesnake’s hair metal-era classic 1987 (LouderSound)

Jamming with Keith Richards, laughing at Bob Dylan’s gags, buying Rod Stewart’s drinks – former Faces keyboard player Ian McLagan did it all and more (LouderSound)

An ex-housesitter spills the beans on the “nerve-wracking” experience of lodging at Elton’s pad (LouderSound)

The Radiohead bassist has just completed a stint in Nick Cave’s band and opens up on “the best time with the loveliest people” (LouderSound)

The “Dada version of Bryan Ferry” – who says he uses bandmate Boris Blank’s audio imagery to find structure then leap off into chaos – admits he was never a tortured artist (LouderSound)

Iamthemorning pianist Gleb Kolyadin will release his new solo album Mobula in February (LouderSound)

German prog rockers Everon will release their new album Shells in February (LouderSound)

Friedman claims an insultingly low salary offer prevented Megadeth’s most legendary lineup from regrouping 10 years ago (LouderSound)

Robert Smith claims he’s written a “really catchy” pop song, and it could be the next Christmas chart-topper (LouderSound)

UK prog pop trio Exploring Birdsong are currently working on debut full-length album, expected next year (LouderSound)

Sick of waiting for Slipknot’s atmospheric rock album to come out? So is guitarist Jim Root! (LouderSound)

Ex-Be Bop Deluxe leader’s 1981 solo release is greatly expanded to impressive effect (LouderSound)

A-listers, established artists, up-and-comers, previously unknowns and more (LouderSound)

17 CDs and three DVDs provide everything you need to know about a counterculture band many have heard of, but fewer have listened to (LouderSound)

Neil Young knows who’s been naughty and nice (LouderSound)

Elton John muses on his life, streaming now (LouderSound)

Shakey gets the blues on this limited edition 50th anniversary vinyl reissue (LouderSound)

Live – Perpetual Change will be released in March (LouderSound)

“Music feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background” (LouderSound)

From Los Angeles to London, Belfast to Tampa, the hip-hop world has thrown up some of 2024’s most thrilling, imaginative and essential releases (LouderSound)

Marshall take a serious shot at rival premium noise cancelling headphones with the company’s third generation Monitor III A.N.C. over-ears (LouderSound)

Hale will probably never join Skid Row full-time, but she says she’ll be there if the glam veterans ever find themselves in dire straits (LouderSound)

“She’ll be dead by then, so we can change the tracklisting” (LouderSound)

The SatchVai band will embark on a UK and European tour next summer (LouderSound)

Scottish rocker discovered Jethro Tull fan, Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream as a teenager – but Rush really stood out to him as he learned to play (LouderSound)

All roads lead to Geneva (LouderSound)

Only got half an hour to spare? These mighty producers of musical brevity are here to answer your prayers (LouderSound)

From Oceanside, California, Sacri Monti met in high school in the early 2000s and have been jamming (and other things) ever since (LouderSound)

Boardwalk Rock will take place in Ocean City, Maryland, next May (LouderSound)

After 81 shows in 25 countries, Iron Maiden’s latest globe-straddling tour has come to an end (LouderSound)

Art rock quartet Envy Of None plan to release their second album in Spring 2025 (LouderSound)

Lowen’s Nina Saedi is reclaiming a cultural heritage she is exiled from through a stunning mix of doom and prog metal (LouderSound)

Canadian post-rocker Alex Henry Foster has just released the A Whispering Moment EP (LouderSound)

Paradise Lost, Angel Witch and Unto Others will support King Diamond at select headline shows in 2025 (LouderSound)

UK prog boffins Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate will release new album The Uncertainty Principle in May (LouderSound)

Metalcore heroes Bring Me The Horizon may be taking a break soon, frontman Oli Sykes says he’s “so fried” (LouderSound)

French metal heavyweights Gojira have released the official music video for their Grammy-nominated single Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!) (LouderSound)

Kerry King reaffirms that Slayer won’t be making a full-scale comeback (LouderSound)

Box set edition of 2003 release proves that, even though it was viewed as a curio, it’s in line with Ian Anderson’s regular musical explorations (LouderSound)

They’re unmistakably American, but their lead visionary names Henry Cow, Soft Machine, Gentle Giant and Van der Graaf Generator among his motivators, and explains why his band is definitely not punk (LouderSound)

When The Late Show celebrated its 10th anniversary they organised the starriest of all-star bands to back Bob Dylan. It did not work out (LouderSound)

King Crimson guitarist and singer Jakko Jakszyk picks his 10 favourite tracks by his favourite band (LouderSound)

Welcome to Alice Cooper guitarist Tommy Henriksen’s Mutt Lange-produced 80s-rock-leaning project (LouderSound)

Back from the brink: Thunder vocalist Danny Bowes returns after major medical trauma (LouderSound)

Still comes from Those Damn Crows’ upcoming album God-Shaped Hole (LouderSound)

I Hate Myself comes from The Darkness’s upcoming eighth album Dreams On Toast (LouderSound)

Tesseract will release an expanded edition of latest album War Of Being, featuring new live tracks, in January (LouderSound)

The outspoken Body Count frontman also names his favourite rap and metal albums in the new issue of Metal Hammer (LouderSound)

Lauded concept album from Oklahoma City’s finest has lost nothing in 22 years, while gaining new nuance in Dolby Atmos (LouderSound)

After announcing his intention to retire from the live stage, McBrain played his last show with Iron Maiden over the weekend (LouderSound)

Korn have a lot written for the followup to 2022’s Requiem – but they aren’t quite sure when it’s coming out (LouderSound)

Another uniquely mesmerising metal band from Iceland has entered the chat (LouderSound)

Finding My Way by Jump bassist Andy Faulkner tells his story as a Rush fan from hearing 2112 to the band’s farewell show (LouderSound)

Didn’t get tickets to Deftones’ blockbuster London date? The quasi-nu metal beloveds have just announced extra stops in Yorkshire and Cornwall (LouderSound)

Xavier Dphrepaulezz on Sion Of A Broken Man, the concept album inspired by his tumultuous relationship with his late father (LouderSound)

He may not always have been life and soul of the party, but he’s been the heartbeat behind songs across a huge range of genres – to his lasting pride (LouderSound)

Pop-leaning rock band Cats In Space and multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer and producer Willie Dowling have four dates together this month (LouderSound)

Welsh rockers Those Damn Crows are going from strength to strength – we check in ahead of the biggest show of their lives (LouderSound)

The Phil Collins documentary Drummer First will premiere later this month (LouderSound)

More chances to hear monster tunes from From Hell I Rise played live by some of metal’s finest musicians (LouderSound)

The No Name tour will include four British gigs (LouderSound)

We told you it was the best film of the year back in June (LouderSound)

Big Big Train will also play their very first live shows in Canada and Portugal in 2025 (LouderSound)

Hellfest has announced another heavyweight lineup for next year! (LouderSound)

American and Canadian metal fans will be spoiled next year, thanks to these three blockbuster events (LouderSound)

The beloved bassist also reveals how Black Sabbath’s lyrics have been “misinterpreted” over the years (LouderSound)

New Unitopia live release Alive And Kicking was recorded at the band’s 2023 show at Boerderij (LouderSound)

Whores unveil 2025 World War Tour schedule (LouderSound)

From UK greats Bring Me The Horizon and While She Sleeps to young innovators like Heriot and Scene Queen, metalcore has had a hell of a year (LouderSound)

With long-time presenter/judge Gregg Wallace stepping down from MasterChef amid allegations about inappropriate behaviour, Snoop Dogg is sensing an opportunity (LouderSound)

The Metal Gods will be joined by the master of shock rock when they play their biggest-ever London show in July (LouderSound)

Apparently the Prince Of Darkness enjoyed wandering off when he was supposed to be recording music… (LouderSound)

You may as well rename Ihsahn, Zeal & Ardor and Witch Club Satan “Spinal Tap”, because there was none more black in 2024 (LouderSound)

Guns N’ Roses will play 24 shows across the Middle East and Europe next summer (LouderSound)

in 1978 Kate Bush appeared on Saturday Night Live, impressing a budding musician and inspiring a future cinema star (LouderSound)

The Bonzo Dog and Rutles man discusses his career and recent studio album Nearly Really… (LouderSound)

Michael Des Barres leads Detective through an album that sounds a little like their Led Zeppelin paymasters (LouderSound)

Including The Wildhearts, Larkin Poe, Dorothy and five other guardians at the rock’n’roll gates (LouderSound)

It’s all kicking off in Toronto (LouderSound)

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has retired from touring after 42 years (LouderSound)

The story behind Paul McCartney’s 1974 vision of making a sci-fi musical film about music-loving aliens (LouderSound)

The epic story of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers’ 1966 blues rock milestone Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (LouderSound)

Les Penning and Robert Reed’s new five-track EP Fairytale Of New York is out now (LouderSound)

A day after the sad news that Nicko McBrain will be retiring as Iron Maiden’s full-time drummer, his replacement has been revealed (LouderSound)

The Oppenheimer director worked with Bowie on 2006’s The Prestige, but the rock’n’roll icon needed some convincing first (LouderSound)

Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell died 20 years ago today, on December 8, 2004. In 2007, his brother Vinnie Paul paid tribute to a giant of metal (LouderSound)

The greatest ever songwriter to stand on one leg! (LouderSound)

In short: the singer-songwriter is very lucky to have a publisher who doesn’t pay any attention to his instructions (LouderSound)

He hails their punk ethic, their experiments with electronica, and their way of writing songs about real people (LouderSound)

Watch Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell wow the Strictly judges with Viennese Waltz set to Metallica classic (LouderSound)

Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne smoked a joint with Beatles icon –and was fascinated by Sir Paul’s “crusty” ear (LouderSound)

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s other band Brad should have been as big as Pearl Jam themselves (LouderSound)

The story of Fear Factory’s Demanufacture, the album that rewired metal forever (LouderSound)

While She Sleeps’ second of two nights at O2 Forum Kentish Town may not have the scale of their Ally Pally concert last year, but what’s lacking in size is made up for in killer songs and blinding lights (LouderSound)

With his red cap and hip hop swagger, Fred Durst was the biggest and most divisive star of the nu metal era. But that’s only half the story (LouderSound)

Beloved Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain is officially stepping away from the band (LouderSound)

Playing with The Who, jamming with Hendrix, partying with Bowie, Jagger and Lennon -late Mountain man Leslie West did it all and more (LouderSound)

Expansive 10-disc collection is the first of three charting decades of his onstage work (LouderSound)

Confidence Man are a dazzling, ludicrous triumph in Brixton. Surely arenas beckon? (LouderSound)

US prog metal legends Savatage will play their first live shows in over a decade with singer Zak Stevens throughout Europe next year (LouderSound)

Drink, drugs, urinating up unsuspecting keyboard players’ legs – fellow hellraisers Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy were partners in crime for decades (LouderSound)

A famous frontman looks back on a childhood surrounded by rock stars, actors and welders that his dad had brought home from the pub. (LouderSound)

Hanoi Rocks were the cult Finnish livewires who accidentally helped invent the glam metal scene – and 1983’s Back To Mystery City album was their crowning glory (LouderSound)

It was the Metallica man’s birthday and an iconic rock veteran wanted to make sure it was properly celebrated (LouderSound)

From King Crimson to ELP and beyond, he left a catalogue of impressive creations from an extraordinary musical journey which included that Christmas song (LouderSound)

He welcomed Slipknot, Lamb Of God and more onto The Tonight Show – now, Conan O’Brien has followed in their footsteps and played with a metal band (LouderSound)

UK prog sextet Ghost Of The Machine will release second album Empires Must Fall in March (LouderSound)

Leprous, Opeth, Slift and others have presented some truly forward-thinking excellence this year (LouderSound)

The biggest metal bands in India and Japan have joined forces to make an absolute anthem (LouderSound)

A 20-disc, career-spanning Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band box set Still Barking is released in December (LouderSound)

German electronic music legends Kraftwerk promise “Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art” for 2025 multi-media tour (LouderSound)

Band members past and present, plus collaborators and peers, choose the greatest Sisters of Mercy songs (LouderSound)

On what would have been Mark Lanegan’s 60th birthday, friends and peers salute a much-missed musical maverick (LouderSound)

Norse folk shamen Wardruna will release new album Birna in January (LouderSound)

My Dying Bride are back! There’s just one enormous caveat… (LouderSound)

The groove metal behemoths previously teased a new album for April, and now they’ve offered a glimpse inside the studio (LouderSound)

The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal beloveds were twice Grammy-nominated before going on hiatus in 2012 (LouderSound)

Tomorrow singer Keith West found himself at No. 2 in the Top 40 in 1967 with a song he’d never been meant to sing (LouderSound)

The Black Crowes’ comeback album Happiness Bastards has been voted the album of the year in Classic Rock magazine’s annual end-of-year writer’s poll (LouderSound)

Also in this issue: AC/DC, David Gilmour, Foreigner, Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Ghost Bruce Dickinson, Hawkwind, the Black Crowes and more – and three exclusive gifts (LouderSound)

Be-bop, beat and ballads (LouderSound)

That Led Zeppelin film everyone’s been waiting for finally has a release date, but there’s a catch (LouderSound)

Soul power: Dutch rockersDeWolff tap into the musical ley lines on tenth studio album (LouderSound)

Seattle legends Pearl Jam have scheduled another run of dates in support of their Dark Matter album (LouderSound)

Travis Scott, Enter Shikari, Amyl & The Sniffers, Chappell Roan, Hozier, among other main attractions for the twin town festival, to be held on August 21-24, 2025 (LouderSound)

Inspired by hold music, movie scenes, Sarah Bernhardt, Carry On Wayward Son and more, the Northumberland-based proggers have a new line-up and a new energy to go with their new music (LouderSound)

Cillian Murphy’s music taste is every bit as low-key cool as the man himself (LouderSound)

“I think a lot of us can relate to frustration, anger, betrayal, all those things, and that’s kind of what I highlighted lyrically with this album” (LouderSound)

Profits from the Fontaines D.C. x Boheman F.C. shirt will go to Medical Aid for Palestinians for their emergency response action for what is most needed in Gaza (LouderSound)

The song will be on the Swiss outfit’s next album, expected in 2025, and they’ll probably play it on their impending European tour with Arch Enemy, too (LouderSound)

Blood Incantation’s progressive death metal opus tops the Metal Hammer 2024 album of the year list. See the other 49 entries here. (LouderSound)

“Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me.” The love-in between Bob Dylan and Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet, who’s playing Dylan in the forthcoming biopic A Complete Unknown, is a pure and precious thing (LouderSound)

“All of the elements of my album are in this video. Mourning of the growing distance between family, homeland, mortality awareness, and the inevitability of death” (LouderSound)

The new issue of Metal Hammer is our biggest of the year and it’s on sale now! (LouderSound)

The Greek trio’s musical take on the apocalyptic Gospel of John returns 52 years on with far less controversy and unbroken artistic impact (LouderSound)

An exclusive extract from Kris Needs’ biography Make My Day: The Rock n Roll Story of Eddie Clarke (LouderSound)

Rock, and indeed, roll (LouderSound)

Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron will reunite onstage at a benefit for Seattle Children’s Hospital (LouderSound)

The hard rock/heavy metal titans will play arenas and festivals across the continent in June (LouderSound)

Grateful Dead spin-off Dead & Company will be the first band to play a second residency at the revolutionary Las Vegas venue (LouderSound)

80-minute work from 2009 – of which just a fraction was used in a movie soundtrack – was rescued from his vault following his 2022 death (LouderSound)

Nine Inch Nails might be back with us sooner than we had imagined (LouderSound)

The stomping track is taken from the Arch Enemy album of the same name, out next year (LouderSound)

Adam Ant’s rescheduled Antmusic tour will kick off at Bournemouth Pavilion on October 23, 2025 (LouderSound)

Marking an and and a beginning for the band, this extended version of the 1997 original states its case as an elegant outlier in their catalogue (LouderSound)

UK prog rockers Stuckfish released their latest album IV earlier this year (LouderSound)

From Judas Priest to Poppy, Spiritbox, Ghost and beyond, 2024 has offered some great new metal tunes. But now we need your help deciding the best of the best (LouderSound)

“A new chapter in Wildhearts history – new music, new line-up, new label, new focus…” (LouderSound)

The beverage was served with a side of legitimately chocolate starfish, because how could it not be? (LouderSound)

Native James and Hak Baker complete the nominations in the Best Alternative Music Act category at the 2025 MOBO Awards, to be staged in Newcastle on February 18 (LouderSound)

The former metalcore cohorts have been hard at work on their first album together since 2009 (LouderSound)

The mysterious masked metallers put on a dazzling second show at a packed-out London O2 (LouderSound)

The Scottish metal aggressors have released In Place Of Your Halo following its live debut last week, and the bagpipe-backed track will appear on new album Zenith next year (LouderSound)

One of this country’s best up-and-coming metal bands will hit the road in April (LouderSound)

From breaking out of local clubs to touring with Jethro Tull and attracting guest spots from David Bowie and Peter Sellers, the leading light of British folk looks back – and forward (LouderSound)

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose was accused of assaulting former Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy in 1989 (LouderSound)

Bill Wyman’s time in The Greatest Rock’N’Roll Band In The World was storied, but there’s been much, much more to his life than that (LouderSound)

It’s exactly why the internet was invented (LouderSound)