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April 2025

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April 25
- "Since you’ve been gone, it’s not the same": Listen to the song Sammy Hagar finished after being visited by Eddie Van Halen in a dream
- "Stereophonics are clearly past their best now": Kelly Jones & Co. fail to strike a chord quite like the early days on Make 'em Laugh, Make 'em Cry, Make 'em Wait
- “The unreleased material is every bit the equal of what made the final cut, confirming its brilliance”: Tangerine Dream’s 50th anniversary edition of Phaedra
- Leather lungs? Swishing hair? A one-band fight against modern trends? H.E.A.T tighten their grip on the modern melodic rock crown on Welcome To The Future
- Sleep Token invite listeners to "confront what lies beneath the mask" on exultant new single Damocles
- Hear power metal wardogs Sabaton dive into mediaeval history with new song Templars
- "Drenched in glue-sniffing, safety-pinned punk nostalgia": Billy Idol reflects on the good, the bad and the ugly sides of his life on Dream Into It
- Original Kiss drummer Peter Criss announces first solo album in 18 years
April 24
- "We had our first rehearsal on Monday. It's gonna be fantastic." The Who's Pete Townshend is excited for next month's launch of the "poignant, tender, poetic and epic" Quadrophenia ballet
- "I hope one day Electric Nebraska does make the light of day." E Street Band legend Max Weinberg on the unreleased "kick ass" album that's become the holy grail for hardcore Bruce Springsteen fans
- "It's gonna be killer. What we're doing is cool." Kerry King has picked the Black Sabbath song that Slayer will cover at Sabbath's Back To The Beginning show, and says it's an "honour' for Slayer to pay tribute to the Godfathers of Metal
- Pere Ubu frontman David Thomas dead at 71
- “People think we sing about Vikings. We don’t and we never did. We’re concerned with nature and our relationship with nature”: If other Nordic folk bands overtake Wardruna, Einar Selvik doesn’t mind
- I've never seen a catwalk open up in the middle of a moshpit before - but then I've never seen a band quite like Alt Blk Era
- "Life is beautiful!" Voyager share their first new music since singer Danny Estrin's cancer diagnosis
- Order an exclusive Slaughter To Prevail Grizzly red splatter vinyl variant from the official Metal Hammer store (it comes with cool pop-up art too!)
- Watch Korn’s Jonathan Davis sit in a ‘haunted’ chair that apparently makes him hallucinate and feel like he’s high
- Ghost’s Tobias Forge may have just revealed how Papa V Perpetua’s tenure will end: “There is nothing that is eternal, except maybe for the memory of someone”
- "An immense heart-soaring rush of exuberance": What happened when I took a Bon Jovi superfan to an intimate Bon Jovi show
- “It’s overwhelming – you wanna go on, you wanna live off the music, but maybe not everyone in the band can do that”: Katatonia ended a phase of doubt and gave shape to their Dead End King on 11th album City Burials
April 23
- Bryan Adams announces mammoth North American tour schedule with Pat Benatar and The Sheepdogs
- Days after their singer adopted two bear cubs, Slaughter To Prevail announce new album Grizzly – stream lead single Russian Grizzly In America
- Wheatus to celebrate 25th anniversary of their platinum-selling debut album with UK and Ireland tour
- Blink-182, Weezer, Green Day, Sex Pistols, Knocked Loose, The Beach Boys and more to play Riot Fest 2025
- Steve Rothery reveals details of new Bioscope album with Tangerine Dream's Thorsten Quaeschning
- "Life moves at such a pace these days that we imagine there will be plenty of time to rekindle a friendship, and then suddenly one day it's too late." Queen's Brian May pays tribute to legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker
- Babymetal’s new album, Metal Forth, has been delayed
- “They can steal pretty much everything. They haven’t figured out a way of stealing the live experience. And they still have to pay for that!” Adrian Belew on survival, orchestra music and Frank Zappa
- "A universe in which Karl Marx and Kylie Minogue happily co-exist, that accords Rush and The Clash equal favour, and where Morrissey and Marr meet Torvill and Dean." Manic Street Preachers announce "definitive history", 168 Songs Of Hatred And Failure
- Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones have recorded 11 songs for a new Faces album, and there could be an official Faces documentary with "some rude bits" in the pipeline too
- 50th anniversary reissue of Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge to be released in June
- “It’s like a Downton Abbey murder mystery!” Watch Trivium react to a music video so bad they didn’t release it for 20 years
- “It really is like starting from scratch”: Ozzy Osbourne is doing “endurance training” ahead of final Black Sabbath show
- “Only the stoner fuzz intro was played on the show. I spoke about dreamy ambient passages, a variety of tones and textures... I wasn’t invited back”: Captain Sensible tried and failed to tell the world about Egg
- This Billie Eilish song inspired one of the UK's most exciting metal bands to write one of their very best tracks
- "There were a helluva lot of drug issues and bad feeling in the air": How doomed Beach Boy Dennis Wilson made his solo masterpiece Pacific Ocean Blue
- "He knew something that I didn't know, that nobody knew: that he wouldn't live too long" How Johnny Thunders reached for the stars – then threw it all away
April 22
- Billy Idol hooks up with Avril Lavigne for driving pop-punk anthem 77
- Legendary Bohemian Rhapsody producer Roy Thomas Baker dead at 78
- Ghost fans are selling fake money dropped during the band’s Skeletour dates in exchange for real money
- Power-stances at the ready, because Ghost have dropped their most 80s-coded single to date with the fist-pumping, hope-filled Peacefield
- Rick Wakeman To Tour US with Strictly Come Dancing’s Hayley Sanderson
- "My ears are tired from music. It’s more like a job now as opposed to having youthful enthusiasm." Al Jourgensen explains why he's putting Ministry to bed after one final "amazing" album and world tour
- Stoner metal beloveds Orange Goblin announce final tour with support from Grand Magus and Urne
- Fontaines D.C. announce huge Belfast show with local heroes Kneecap
- Joey Jordison’s original Slipknot logo design revealed via social media
- "This is their best album yet and a major contender for album of the year." Employed To Serve are officially taking their seat at UK metal's big table with the brilliant Fallen Star
- "In a word, Viagr Aboys is chaos." Swedish post-punks Viagra Boys get weirder, looser and messier than ever on their fourth album
- “I’ve been going through some challenging times”: Def Leppard’s Rick Allen is still traumatised by Florida attack two years ago
- Charli XCX wants Turnstile to be one of the artists of the summer
- Hear Halestorm return with rousing single Darkness Always Wins
- "The record company should’ve offered counselling - we could've been the next Journey!" The high hopes and shattered dreams of melodic rock's nearly men, Giuffria
- "We were just hanging out on the beach and sipping cool libations; Keith Richards was totally living the rock’n’roll lifestyle": Billy Gibbons’ wild tales of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters and Ministry
- “Onstage everything had to be exaggerated. I took that to heart and overdid it… I was like Benny Hill with a flute!” Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull’s one-legged hammy past – and potential future as a stripped-down four-piece
April 21
- Watch the video for the first new music from the original Alice Cooper Band in half a century
- The Cure launch mammoth Mixes Of A Lost World album, donate royalties to charity
- "Chris Cornell was the first rock star to consume the contents of my stomach." How Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Soundgarden's Chris Cornell inspired the youth of America to drink vomit in the early '90s
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- "Why should I be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Because I’m f**king incredible!" Billy Idol thinks he deserves your vote for induction into the Rock Hall
- “Whether any illicit cigarettes were involved isn’t clear, but this is the sound of Maiden floating in space”: Four Iron Maiden songs that sound nothing like Iron Maiden
- "She’s survived it all with grace and grit": The Bonnie Raitt albums you should definitely listen to, and one to avoid
- Watch Slayer legend Kerry King make his Wrestlemania debut as he plays Damian Priest to the ring for the most metal WWE entrance ever
- "It sounds like Dream Theater doing a pastiche of Bon Jovi songs": Did Extreme over-egg the funk-rock pudding on III Sides To Every Story?
- “To keep a standard up so long is an achievement. This album crowns that. Now people can play something other than A Whiter Shade Of Pale!” Procol Harum didn’t expect 50th anniversary album Novum to be their last
- After six albums of Beelzebub-bothering, Ghost's melodic metal is more tempting than ever
- Watch Dave Grohl perform Foo Fighters classic Everlong with a choir and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra during surprise Coachella festival appearance
- "I couldn't care less about other people's opinions." M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold says they'll keeping pushing artistic boundaries
April 20
- "Metal's messiah has officially returned - and his name is Tobias Forge": Stand aside Jesus - Ghost’s devilish Skeletour show is the perfect Easter resurrection
- “I had to focus on something or I wouldn’t get through those next few months. I thought of Lennon wearing his army jacket: I went to war against the illness”: The turbulent story of The Alarm, the band who could have been the new U2
- “Everyone in our circle was listening to a lot of West Coast hip hop, and it was minor key and dark. If you could take that to the next level, you could make it heavy metal”: How hip hop changed metal forever
- “He thought that the band should be a democracy, and it was more like a brutal dictatorship as far as he was concerned”: The tangled story of Dire Straits, the million-selling band who quit at the height of their fame
- “Everything I’m doing is purposely very different. If I’d wanted to keep doing what Dream Theater do, I’d still be in Dream Theater”: How Mike Portnoy reinvented himself after the trauma of leaving two massive bands
- “It was a great antidote to American earnest rock bands who seemed to think it was all about them”: Supergrass on the making of their timeless Britpop classic I Should Coco
- Watch Love on the Spectrum star James B. Jones meet his metal heroes Disturbed
April 19
- "There have been some communication issues": Zak Starkey returns to The Who just days after being dismissed
- “Driven by a mammoth riff that could give Black Sabbath a run for their money, they never recorded anything so primitive or heavy again”: Four songs that will make you rethink everything you know about Queen
- “We blew this whole scene open, I don’t care what anybody says. We did all the work, and now all these other bands are popping up”: How Korn changed up their sound and left the copycats behind with Follow The Leader
- “They sounded like screams of anguish, screams of war, screams of where humanity is headed – they were perfect”: The feral story of Discharge’s Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, the punk album that changed metal
- “In walked this clown, dressed in silk pyjamas, huge shades on. I shouted, ‘Get out!’ and pushed him into the corridor. That was Steven Tyler”: Randy Bachman‘s wild tales of Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Little Richard and Frank Sinatra
- “I had a massive animosity towards those fans”: Soundgarden’s manager thought it would be a great idea for them to support Guns N’ Roses, the band disagreed
April 18
- Zak Starkey shares epic unreleased studio recording of Guns N' Roses, Ringo Starr and Elton John covering T. Rex's Children Of The Revolution
- “I was always hoping that I would be taken away by aliens at some point”: The strange story of Devin Townsend’s Ocean Machine: Biomech, the album which launched his solo career
- Those Damn Crows score their first UK No.1 album with God Shaped Hole
- "I grew up loving watching Roy Keane!" Linkin Park on their new football-inspired remix of Numb, their upcoming Champions League final show, Lionel Messi, Roy Keane, and America's chances of winning the next World Cup
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “I don’t think anybody can be prepared for how big the crowd was. A sea of denim and leather as far as you can see”: The epic story of Monsters Of Rock, the greatest heavy metal festival of them all
- "Expect glorious spectacles of foot-stomping, guitar-wailing and face-melting, high-octane joy. Tell your mates. Tell your mum." The Darkness announce North American tour in typically low-key fashion
- “I’ve had dreams about a meteor hitting us. It’s only a matter of time. We deserve it, to be honest”: Doom high priests Electric Wizard are the perfect band to soundtrack the end of the world
- “He was, without question, the best rock drummer in the world”: What Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward really thought of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham
- “He’s gone from being unable to do the shows to clearly being unwilling to do shows with us”: Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin doesn’t see estranged singer Mike Patton rejoining the band any time soon
- "He threw me in the lake and I had to learn to swim": Remembering Dickey Betts, southern rock pioneer
- “When my friend turned to me with a face as scrunched-up as Jim Carrey’s Grinch, I knew this band were special”: Why you need to care about Glassing
- In the age of dystopian catastrophe Hawkwind are still looking to space
- “Power and momentum allied to a vivid, panoramic sound”: Hawkwind’s late-career purple patch continues with There Is No Space For Us
- “What angle have we missed on this? Ah yeah, getting some other ****er to sing it!”: the 10 best Manics songs featuring a guest singer (and the odd bassist and guitarist)
- The big hits are nowhere to be heard as Neil Young digs deep on the unusually atmospheric Coastal
- "We were essentially a blues band with adventurous leanings": Every Free album ranked, from worst to best
April 17
- "I'm not pulling any punches for probably the first time in my life": Stevie Nicks is working on a new album and she's not holding back
- Watch UK metalcore firebrands Loathe play an apocalyptic-sounding new song live, with help from Code Orange’s Jami Morgan
- “Out of nowhere, all these frat kids are all doing this weird dance, all in lines. ‘You’re ruining my band!’ Then it was no longer ours”: From bitter experience, Maynard James Keenan conspires to keep knuckleheads away from his music
- "I have to prove myself with every album. I have to fight every time. But I like getting into the octagon." Gavin Rossdale on Bush's new album I Beat Loneliness, silencing critics, and why bands in 2025 have a duty to make "wild, interesting" records
- “We just told them to get out!” Why Iron Maiden have banned record label staff from the studio since 1982
- “I made a decision that essentially was very selfish”: Mike Portnoy admits he “hurt” Dream Theater bandmates with 2010 exit
- From ecology to the occult: the dark secrets of Led Zeppelin IV
- “He says he’s mediocre. I understand – I say the same thing. But he’s a great musician, and that has nothing to do with ability”: What Mikael Åkerfeldt’s peers really think of him
- "The guy who was in charge of the label hated us": Black Spiders' 20-year career has been littered with hurdles and drawbacks, but now they're back
April 16
- In this year's least surprising news, Fyre Festival 2 has been postponed
- Heart announce tour with special guest Todd Rundgren
- "Life became dark." Pulp's Jarvis Cocker says that fame became "difficult to handle" for him after he pretended to fart on Michael Jackson's stage
- Order your Those Damn Crows x Classic Rock bundle with hand-signed lyric sheet, art print, exclusive t-shirt and Classic Rock cover variant
- “We’d stay up all night drinking, chasing girls, partying – and our pilot was with us. The next morning he was flying the plane!” The rise, fall and rise of AOR superstars REO Speedwagon
- "You won’t want to miss the gig of the year." Fontaines D.C. and Lankum will play a one-off Dublin show together next month, and a tickets ballot is now open
- “There’s a danger we could become slaves to our own equipment – and in the past we have been”: Watch a new video clip of Pink Floyd making The Dark Side Of The Moon
- The 50 greatest Iron Maiden moments
- Ian Anderson laments Jerusalem's current plight as Jethro Tull share brand new video for Over Jerusalem
- "They'd throw shrapnel at us - coins. I collected enough to buy a beer." Burton C. Bell recalls the trials of supporting Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath in the 90s
- "At first, they thought it was a marvellous distraction, a joyous kink. Then there was a sense of, 'You can go back to the hole that you crawled out of'." Garbage's Shirley Manson on how the patriarchy seeks to crush women's voices in the music industry
- Linkin Park will headline this year's UEFA Champion's League Final
- How Lollapalooza helped lay the foundations for a cultural revolution, via alternative rock, heroin, pierced penises, stomach bile cocktails and a shotgun
- Heilung are the most captivating live act in the world – here’s why
- “The lyrics just blew my mind. That song changed the way I write. I think Steven Wilson is really poetic”: Killswitch Engage’s Jesse Leach loves Porcupine Tree
- “I needed to cleanse my soul from stupidity”: Tobias Forge “shied away” from the media when writing new Ghost album Skeletá
- "Wildhearts fans have come to my aid. And it's a two-way street": Ginger Wildheart on beautiful connections, our beautiful planet, and his beautiful new album The Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts
- ZZ Top add yet more dates to ever-expanding Elevation tour as Frank Beard continues to miss shows
April 15
- Alice Cooper and Judas Priest announce co-headline tour
- Ghost have played the first show of their Skeletour World Tour - setlist details now online
- “Clever flurries of musical activity keeping multiple balls in the air. Then it all goes, against expectations, a bit King Crimson”: A prog band won last year’s Mercury Prize. Did you notice?
- Ever wanted to go to an incredible metal festival near the home of Dracula? Rockstadt Extreme Fest is about to change your life
- "I will not just ask you for money but I will drop some merch with these lil' cutie pies and you will buy it. All money will go to them": Slaughter To Prevail frontman Alex Terrible has adopted two bear cubs and our hearts might just explode
- "There is a big difference between being funny and being ridiculous." Why Electric Callboy don’t want to be known as metal’s silliest band
- “I feel a sense of purpose to put something good into the world”: Amy Lee reveals which videogame changed her life – and that Evanescence are hard at work on their new album
- "People started to leave. I was terrified": The story of Elton John's favourite Elton John album and the calamitous stadium show that followed
- "The truly terrifying voice of a psychotic Republic": How Jimi Hendrix's iconic Woodstock performance was an expression of national nervous breakdown
- Former Judas Priest drummer Les Binks dead at 73
- “Rush fans know Alex Lifeson has moved away from soloing. You probably wouldn’t know it’s him unless you were told”: What happened when Tiles’ Chris Herin gathered Peter Frampton, Martin Barre and others for his first solo album
- Coachella crowd called out for underwhelming response to surprise Brian May performance
April 14
- "Axl wants to be in control of everything": Former Guns N' Roses manager claims Axl Rose now takes 50% of the band's income
- Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks announces 2025 tour dates
- These 2005 metal albums are so incredible that they should have been chart-toppers
- “I saw my life flash by. I found myself as an orb of energy… I was out of my mind on a couch somewhere and somebody was afraid I was dying”: Claudio Sanchez reveals the truth behind some of Coheed And Cambria’s latest songs
- Marketing move of the century? This hardcore band just released a music video that’s four minutes of cats being cute
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- Rare, recently found 1976 Van der Graaf Generator live footage hailed as "extraordinary" by Peter Hammill
- Watch Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante join Megan Thee Stallion onstage at Coachella to sing their team-up track, TYG
- "I never thought I’d make my living playing heavy metal." How Sabaton's Joakim Broden became the singer of the biggest power metal band in the world
- "So determinedly understated it's almost soporific": Eric Clapton fails to wake up the neighbours on the cathartic but glum Pilgrim
- “A strobe light mounted on a replica of the album art had this amazing psychedelic effect. Especially if you were tripping – as a lot of people were”: When Curved Air released the first rock band picture disc
April 13
- Watch Montrose play a sizzling version of Bad Motor Scooter on the Midnight Special in 1975
- “We’ve always been true to ourselves. Motörhead has never told you a lie. And that’s very important to me”: A classic audience with Lemmy, rock’n’roll’s greatest warrior
- “We opened for the New York Dolls in 1974. The crowd was excited to see them. Not so much us”: An epic interview with Rush‘s Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee about the rollercoaster career of ‘rock’s biggest cult band’
- “The record label took a million dollars from us. There was nothing we could do because it was our fault”: How Deftones helped create nu metal – then escaped it
- "It was the worst tour of my life." Nothing More's Jonny Hawkins on cursed tour with Sleep Token and In This Moment
April 12
- "I think that he was just on one that night, feeling saucy and having a good time." Blink-182's Mark Hoppus says The Cure's Robert Smith tried to make out with him at a party
- “We asked Perry: ‘Do you want to write a new record?’ ‘No, no, no.’ At that point you’re wondering, why did we even bother putting Journey back together?” How Journey found a brand new singer on YouTube and banished the ghost of Steve Perry
- Exclusive The Flower Kings LOVE bundle with limited edition t-shirt on sale now
- “We ended up getting into the punk rock scene ’cos the metal people hated us. We were this weird, crazy, slow band that played to punk crowds”: The tangled story of Saint Vitus, the US misfits who helped give birth to doom metal
- Exclusive Solstice Clann bundle with limited edition t-shirt on sale now
- “Ringo Starr set down rules for us to follow. There was to be no riding of motorbikes on the grounds – so we did that. What do you expect from a heavy metal band?” The crazy story of British Steel, the album that turned Judas Priest into superstars
- “I remember sitting on the piano next to Steven Tyler while he was learning the song. Hearing that voice was one of those moments I’ll never forget”: The epic career of Diane Warren, the songwriting genius behind some of rock’s greatest hits
- “Rather than surrender to despondency, it builds into an exultant declaration… Darkness and bleakness still lurks – but the album offers light and hope”: IQ’s Dominion
- “It deals with depression, girlfriends, substance abuse – all that stuff. We exorcised some demons”: How Lamb Of God turned from political fury to personal darkness on Sacrament
- “I tried to write songs with Paul McCartney, but it was impossible, because every idea I had sparked him off and every idea he had sparked me off”: Donovan’s transcendental tales of The Beatles, Dylan, Hendrix and David Lynch
April 11
- Exclusive IQ Dominion bundle with limited edition t-shirt on sale now
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- I went to my first ever Tallinn Music Week - here are 6 things I learned (and the best new band I discovered)
- Pink Floyd Release One Of These Days clip from restored Pompeii MCMLXXII movie
- Exclusive Big Big Train Bard bundle with limited edition t-shirt on sale now
- Killing Joke, Ministry, The Mission supergroup Sevendials deliver a deliciously warped mix of camp thrills and tense gothic drama on kaleidoscopic debut album A Crash Course In Catastrophe
- “The idea of Peter Gabriel scared the bejesus out of me!” Chimpan A premiere their cover of Here Comes The Flood
- "I just jumped on the private jet and there we were." The Libertines' Pete Doherty shares his memories of holidaying in Thailand with members of Britain's royal family
- We got rock and metal's best bands to pick the greatest Ozzy Osbourne (and Black Sabbath) songs ever
- "Skeletá is Ghost at their most confident, flamboyant and defiant." Tobias Forge's Satanic Swedes have made the biggest, most joyous and sweetest album of their career
- Celebrating 50 years of Hawkwind's Warrior On The Edge Of Time on the new issue of Prog Magazine, which is on sale now!
- "John’s always been super opinionated. It doesn’t bother me." Billy Idol laughs off John Lydon's criticism of his work with Steve Jones and Paul Cook in Generation Sex, gives a thumbs up to the new Sex Pistols line-up
- System Of A Down’s Shavo Odadjian: “I never knocked out Brent Hinds”
- No, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs don't regret choosing that name, and yes, that is El-P from Run The Jewels on their new single. Be advised: when Black Sabbath bow out this summer, this lot will officially be Britain's best stoner/doom/psych band
- Strange Fruit: The forgotten British psychedelic bands whose records might help pay off your mortgage
- Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix comments on nu metal revival: “Hair metal never had this!”
- A 16-year gestation can result in corpulent blowout, but Masters Of Reality's seventh album The Archer is lean, graceful and magnificent
- Watch the video for Ghost's triumphant new single Lachryma and get a closer look at Papa V Perpetua
- "Huge songs from a band with the potential to be huge": Those Damn Crows prepare to go international on God Shaped Hole
- “There are two sides to him – It was totally alien… I learned a lot of things about my voice and how to use it”: What happened when The Struts’ Luke Spiller worked with Mike Oldfield
- Bon Jovi are returning to the stage but you might need to sell a kidney to attend
April 10
- How to watch the Coachella 2025 livestream: Get ready to watch the second weekend of Coachella
- Marshall Emberton III review
- Biff Byford on Lemmy, inspiring thrash metal and the greatest heavy metal riff ever written
- "I hated everybody. I had no friends." The wild, unapologetic life of punk rock's forgotten hellraiser, Casey Chaos
- "No A.I. was involved. This is the best we can do." Pulp announce More, their first new album in 24 years. Listen to opening track Spike Island
- "Is this the ultimate Epica record?" Simone Simons et al show they can do grandiose metal with their eyes closed on Aspiral
- “Don’t be afraid. Realise it’s a learning process – nothing will ever be perfect. Be stubborn. Demand respect”: Kate Bush’s advice for forging a career
- "I know that sooner or later I won’t be able to do this any more": Driven by desperation and enthusiasm, Ian Anderson is leading Jethro Tull through a late career productivity burst
- Weezer bassist's wife shot by police and charged with attempted murder after hit-and-run incident
- If you watch just one blistering version of Deep Purple's Highway Star performed by a band of children from the Philippines today, make sure it's this one
- If you'd like to hear Gene Simmons and Rick Rubin talking for three and a half hours, we have you covered
April 9
- "It took a decade to write this book, grappling with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime." Patti Smith announces new memoir Bread of Angels
- "They still call it Sepultura, but everybody knows that it's not the same." Max Cavalera isn't getting sentimental over the end of Sepultura, says fans feel that he and his brother Iggor carry the true spirit of the band
- "Ozzy and I were like a couple of naughty schoolkids." Zakk Wylde shares his favourite (not so) wholesome memory of hanging out with The Prince Of Darkness
- "Five were f***ing horrible." Skunk Anansie icon Skin shares what it was like being buddies with David Bowie and Lemmy, and run-ins with 90s boybands
- "I’m uncontrollable when I drink, so I don’t know what happens next." How Jinjer's Tatiana Shmayluk found peace after years of unrest and turmoil
- “He was riding a bicycle on stage. I had my camera on a tripod and, gee, what a coincidence – almost every night he’d knock it over!” Tony Levin on the differences between Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp
- "Eventually you run out of steam because you have no money and you’re eating Pot Noodles on Christmas Day." Dr Who and The Thick Of It star Peter Capaldi shares his memories of his David Bowie and Cramps-influenced punk band, The Dreamboys
- "It is the commission of my life!" Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman announces new choral work based on the teachings of The Wickedest Man in the World
- “We’d all seen The Wall; we knew there were good rock movies out there”: Inspired by Pink Floyd, Marillion made a film out of their 1994 concept album Brave. It didn’t go well
- "This band has always been out of sync with whatever is going on": The Black Crowes albums you should definitely listen to, and one to avoid
- "Ozzy jumped from one subject to another with astonishing rapidity, like some frantic pigeon": A mind-mincing encounter with Black Sabbath on the Sabotage tour
- "They're incredibly good-looking, just like me": You can buy an Alice Cooper-branded reel-to-reel recorder for just €27,000
April 8
- Watch trailer for new documentary Metallica Saved My Life, directed by Lords Of Chaos’ Jonas Åkerlund
- Blink-182 announce Missionary Impossible tour dates, with a former member's band in support
- “I’ve gone from having the greatest time of my life, to wanting to kill myself.” An audience with a tired, homesick, and somewhat irritable Red Hot Chili Peppers on the final night of their One Hot Minute world tour
- Hardcore sensations Turnstile announce first album in four years, Never Enough
- “It was so inspiring to see them put animosity to one side and just go on stage to play”: Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser explains his love for Yes and Steve Howe
- “They’re outlaw bad boys who’ve got no business with fanciness or politeness!” Amon Amarth, Grand Magus, Wardruna and more explain why metal loves Vikings so much
- New-look Katatonia announce 13th album Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State – watch their video for Lilac
- Exclusive Employed To Serve bundle with limited edition t-shirt on sale now
- "I got taken in by a group of older witches." How Bambie Thug went from ballet and Catholic school to witchcraft, Eurovision and touring with Babymetal
- "We are the haven for the outcasts and the downtrodden – bring us your losers, because we’re all in this together." Blink 182's Mark Hoppus explains why being in a punk rock band is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, and off
- Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs hone their dream to be as potent a live band as Download festival favourites Vengaboys
- "Siouxsie Sioux gone Black Sabbath." Messa mix jazz, doom, goth and so much more - and are the coolest band you'll hear this week
- This was the one “beneficial” thing from the Norwegian black metal church burnings, according to Wardruna’s Einar Selvik
- “I was begging for tickets, now I turn out to be hosting”: Jason Momoa reveals how he got the job compering Black Sabbath’s final show
- "We were always badass, if by that you mean sex, drugs and rock'n'roll... we were very bad": The wild story of Canned Heat, the badass blues band that death couldn’t kill
- “Satanized is a song about love”: Ghost’s Tobias Forge breaks down every track on new album Skeletá
- "What I learned from Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy is that they're real people, and they'll be like that until they die": Ice-T on his heroes and the music he loves most
April 7
- Richie Kotzen says he almost joined Nine Inch Nails but his glam metal past got in the way
- Paul Stanley, Billy Idol and Gwen Stefani are the stars of a series of ads for a corporate AI platform
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- "It seemed to sum up the existential crisis I was having." Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan on the Metallica song that saved his life
- Slayer announce only North American headline show of 2025, with Knocked Loose and a host of thrash metal legends supporting
- "Clem was not just a drummer; he was the heartbeat of Blondie." Blondie drummer Clem Burke dead at 70
- Watch Slipknot's Corey Taylor perform a cover of Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club at a horror convention in Florida
- "Abba were in matching white fur coats, looking like polar bears. Sid went running over. ‘Abba!’ Then he vomited. They were horrified." John Lydon on the day Abba met the Sex Pistols
- Here are the famously ‘terrible’ metal albums we can’t get enough of
- Ghost’s Tobias Forge comments on recently leaked solo album Passiflora: “If you write a love letter and that just disappears into the void, you would try to distance yourself from it as soon as possible”
- An introduction to John Lee Hooker in nine essential albums
- “Certain things force you to progress… I’m free to do other things, but how much of a leap do I take?” Matt Berry on whether he prefers making music to comedy
- "We haven’t adjusted it for the taste of modern kids. This is how it's meant to be heard": An interview with the makers of Becoming Led Zeppelin
- "Their music is as aggressively and pretentiously dull as their choice of band name": The Band's second album is an acknowledged classic, but there are some dissenters
April 6
- Watch video for new Babymetal track 'from me to u' featuring Poppy
- "We've been so very lucky to have had the Ace of Bass in our lives": Former Gang of Four and Shriekback bassist Dave Allen dead at 69
- “We started performing rituals to conjure entities. From that point on it was all about making music that would please these gods”: The unholy story of Morbid Angel and the birth of death metal
- “If somebody offered me something I’d take it first and ask afterwards what it was. I’d swallow a pill and have to be carried back to my room”: The life and death of Jimmy Bain, the bassist who brought the rock’n’roll to Rainbow and Dio
- "There will be no event called 'Fyre 2' in Playa del Carmen." Grand plans to revive disastrous event come as a surprise to the resort city supposed to be hosting it
- “I saw right away that he wrote a lot about urban culture, youth culture and violence. That inspired me to create moodier songs”: The story of Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith’s forgotten 2010s side project
- “People condemned us, attacked us because we weren’t the hip of the hip. But we held our course”: The epic story of Journey‘s Escape, the early 80s masterpiece that changed the course of rock
- The 10 best grunge album openers: a definitive list that is irrefutably correct so you're not allowed to argue with it
April 5
- “What did I know at the ripe old age of 22? I knew comics, horror and sci-fi. I couldn’t really write about heartbreak or a horrible upbringing”: How an iconic comic book character inspired Anthrax to write a thrash metal classic
- “It’s obvious that one day this’ll all die out, just like every sort of music does. There is no point in worrying about it”: How Bring Me The Horizon made their mark from the start with Count Your Blessings
- “I don’t want to sound pro-drug or anything, but there is something about being high that makes you look at things differently”: How Aerosmith made their first great chemically-fuelled masterpiece Toys In The Attic
- The best metal albums of 2025 (so far)
- “I told Jimmy Page: ‘Come on! People want to see Zeppelin back together!’ I won’t say I was responsible, but after that they did play that reunion gig”: Mick Fleetwood’s wild tales of Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Arnold Schwarzenegger and more
- “Once James Hetfield said he liked the album, that was it. He said that it kicked his ass”: How Machine Head’s The Blackening became their own Master Of Puppets
- “It’s such an interesting life he led”: The Waterboys’ Mike Scott on why he’s written a whole album about Easy Rider star Dennis Hopper
- "It's out there. I don't have to hide behind it anymore": Judas Priest's Richie Faulkner reveals he suffered a stroke and it's affected his playing
April 4
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- I asked a death metal supergroup to name the most brutal death metal albums of all time – this is what they came up with
- "Ramones perfectly represent and encapsulate the essence of the underground." Napalm Death, Thurston Moore, Wayne Kramer, Ihsahn and members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rammstein, Gogol Bordello and more to appear on two forthcoming Ramones tribute albums
- More is all you need! Metallica’s Master Of Puppets has been streamed one billion times on Spotify
- How power couple Paula and Dave Lombardo traded thrash metal for sultry alternative: "Venamoris is a rebirth."
- Ghost fans! Get this world-exclusive bundle featuring Skeletá on vinyl, Metal Hammer’s new issue with a cover you can’t buy anywhere else, and more
- “Bob Geldof said, No, Queen have peaked. I don’t think they should play.” Queen would never have performed their iconic set at Live Aid if Band Aid mastermind Bob Geldof had his way, and Freddie Mercury initially wasn't that keen either
- Every Bleed From Within album ranked from worst to best
- “Despite having settled into an MOR-leaning sound, highlights cut through of-their-time instrumental traits”: Camel’s Nude and Pressure Points remixed
- "This is the best day of my life!" Watch Kelly Clarkson cover Foo Fighters, then help Jack Black make a dream come true in the most joyous and pure TV segment of the week
- Sleep Token drop another new single Caramel – listen here
- "Classic late-period sleaze rock, all chugging guitar and tomcat howl": L.A. Guns appear impervious to age on Leopard Skin
- These 9 metal bands paved the way for Sleep Token
- Lynyrd Skynyrd announce live album recorded at Gary Rossington's star-studded final show
April 3
- “How could it possibly hang together? But it does, brilliantly”: Steven Wilson has remixed Chicago II in Dolby ATMOS
- "I've seen people younger than him in wheelchairs on stage, he probably doesn't want people to see him that way." Ritchie Blackmore's wife Candice Night says the guitarist had a heart attack 18 months ago, won't be onstage in Europe any time soon
- “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now.” Bruce Springsteen is almost ready to share Tracks II: The Lost Albums, featuring seven records and 82 previously unreleased songs, 74 never-before-heard
- "Our manager gave us each $1000 and put us on the plane, economy class. We later found out we had received $250,000 for the show: he kept it all." The true story behind Black Sabbath's biggest show ever
- Bruce Soord details 10th anniversary edition of debut solo album
- “Many names are familiar; a lot of material isn’t. An evening in with the lava lamp beckons”: Middle Earth: The Soundtrack Of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club 1967–1969
- "Quitting alcohol cost me friends, but quitting nicotine was much harder": Bob Mould on addiction, reconnecting with his audience and social media confusion
- “I thought, ‘This is boring. I play these songs all the time! Where’s the audience to cheer me up?’” Richard Thompson’s battle against barking dogs, overhead planes and leaf blowers to make Acoustic Classics
- This is the Metallica song that makes Kirk Hammett cry – and it’s really not the one you’d expect
April 2
- "Lots of my records melted in the blaze": John Lydon lost part of his vinyl collection after his kitchen was accidentally set on fire - right after his insurance was cancelled
- Tobias Forge says most Ghost songs aren’t about the Devil: “They’ve always been about mankind’s relationship with the concept of life and death”
- "I am the Pistols, and they’re not.” John Lydon is getting ever more salty about the success and acclaim currently being enjoyed by his revitalised former Sex Pistols bandmates
- The Hives announce new Josh Homme/Mike D-assisted album The Hives Forever Forever The Hives, and share punchy new single Enough Is Enough, plus UK and European tour dates
- This WWE icon once invited a fake Sammy Hagar backstage and watched him snort so much cocaine his nose bled
- More than a shredbot: The Joe Satriani albums you should definitely listen to
- Machine Head toured America six days after 9/11: “Everybody in the front row was like, ‘Why am I here? Tell me it’s gonna be OK’”
- A new trailer for "the Citizen Kane of British pop movies" has been released
- "I'm not a dictator. I'm a good king": Tobias Sammet on the democracy of Avantasia, the late Tony Clarkin, and whispering Bruce Dickinson
- “I didn’t just walk away from Nightwish. I walked away from everything, so I could figure out what the problem was”: Marko Hietala had to adjust to a new normal, and the result is Roses From The Deep
- “All these men were like, ‘Lose your brother, lose the band, lose your buddies – you should be in pop’”: Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale reveals industry pressure to start a solo career
- Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox promised fans a new version of a King Crimson classic but gave them bunny rabbits
April 1
- "How anyone can be 'deeply disturbed and hurt' by this is beyond me": REO Speedwagon charity show bickering continues as Bruce Hall fires back at Kevin Cronin
- “If I talk about Donald J. Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor” Neil Young thinks Donald Trump is the worst president in US history, but fears that saying so could have consequences
- “Contains love songs of every stripe: stressed-out, gooey-eyed, gratuitously horny, blissed out, obsessive and mysterious.” Wet Leg announce second album Moisturizer, share new single Catch These Fists
- Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan lines up shows to celebrate the anniversaries of three classic Smashing Pumpkins albums, but he'll be performing with his new solo band, not Smashing Pumpkins
- The new issue of Metal Hammer features Ghost on the cover – and comes with three exclusive gifts!
- "Touring Australia with the Sex Pistols was horrendous. Seeing the audience doing Nazi salutes really wore me down, and Johnny Rotten didn’t say anything." Skunk Anansie's Skin recalls "violent" 1996 tour with the Sex Pistols
- “It’s getting ridiculous. We’re the last men standing, unless some new wave of rock comes along…” The rise, fall and resurrection of The Darkness, the band on a mission to save rock
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce unique UK and European tour, split between 'rave sets' and orchestral shows
- 4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month
- Mixing Sepultura groove with Gojira stomp, Alien Weaponry step up into the metal A-league with Te Rā
- "So much happened during those 12 months that it's hard to pack the impact into mere words": The greatest year in heavy metal history, revisited
- “If it wasn’t for those four guys, we might still be wandering around in the dark”: While Kirk Hammett hails Black Sabbath as metal’s founders, Ghost’s Tobias Forge names the “neglected” aspect of their sound
- A beginner's guide to Sweet in 10 brilliant songs, from chart hits to deep cuts
- “With deference to everybody in Beat, my function is to amuse myself and hopefully you. I can’t do music from 45 years ago”: Why Bill Bruford demoted himself from the King Crimson, Yes and Genesis league
- "The thing about rock, if it’s real, is that it will always be relevant": Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills on mass psychosis and the best way to solve writer's block
- "There's not a doubt in my mind that when I'm gone that song will live on forever": Dee Snider on the Twisted Sister song that transcended its era