Articles by Emily Swingle

Full-time freelancer, part-time music festival gremlin, Emily first cut her journalistic teeth when she co-founded Bittersweet Press in 2019. After asserting herself as a home-grown, emo-loving, nu-metal apologist, Clash Magazine would eventually invite Emily to join their Editorial team in 2022. In the following year, she would pen her first piece for Metal Hammer - unfortunately for the team, Emily has since become a regular fixture. When she’s not blasting metal for Hammer, she also scribbles for Rock Sound, Why Now and Guitar and more.

Articles by: Emily Swingle

"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

By Emily Swingle published 8 April 25

How Bambie Thug went from ballet and Catholic school to witchcraft, Eurovision and touring with Babymetal

Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"

By Emily Swingle published 27 March 25

The Horrors promote new album Night Life by painting Manchester's Night & Day Cafe several shades of black

Every Jinjer album ranked from worst to best

By Emily Swingle published 12 March 25

We’ve put the five studio records by Ukraine’s sonic wrecking machine in reverse-order of magnificence

"Andrew Lloyd Webber said 'Be yourself - you're a rock star.'" How Vukovi's Janine Shilstone turned trauma into liberation

By Emily Swingle published 7 March 25

How Vukovi traded West End aspirations for joyous, liberating pop metal

"People are baffled if I say I love Taylor Swift." Modern metalcore icon Chris Motionless on being a Swiftie, ice hockey and why Motionless In White are taking their time on a new album

By Emily Swingle published 27 February 25

Chris Motionless on ice hockey, being a Swiftie and why Motionless In White are taking their time on the new album

"The perfect soundtrack for moshers who like to party...this feels like the beginning of something special." Alt Blk Era's Rave Immortal has officially announced one of the most exciting new bands in alternative music

By Emily Swingle published 29 January 25

Formed of sisters Nyrobi and Chaya Beckett-Messam, Alt Blk Era are spinning metal, hip hop and EDM into irresistibly fun new shapes

"This album wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t toured with Cult of Luna." How avant-metal maverick Julie Christmas made the weird and wonderful Ridiculous and Full Of Blood

By Emily Swingle published 24 January 25

Julie Christmas explains the weird and wonderful processes behind Ridiculous And Full Of Blood

"Hopefully Babymetal can teach me their dance routines, and I’ll teach them mine." How Eurovision helped Bambie Thug became Ireland's next breakout star

By Emily Swingle published 22 January 25

From wowing audiences at Eurovision to selling out dates of her headline tour, 2024 was a massive year for Bambie Thug - and they're just getting started

"Every night I was living out my teenage fantasy." Lzzy Hale talks joining childhood heroes Skid Row

By Emily Swingle published 19 January 25

Lzzy Hale grew up watching 80s rock stars on TV. In 2024, she got to be one, playing with a beloved childhood band

"It's interesting that metalheads resonate with us.” Kalandra mix ethereal prog, Nordic folk and, er, bird songs. So why can't metal fans get enough of them?

By Emily Swingle published 13 January 25

Kalandra are not a heavy metal band, and yet they've bewitched the underground metal scene all the same

Ethel Cain nosedives into the haunting depths of a sexually tormented and guilt-ridden mind on the dark, disquieting Perverts

By Emily Swingle published 9 January 25

"Perverts might be the twisted sonic exorcism you’ve been waiting for"

"I went to an award show with my **** out, just wearing chains. Lordi thought I looked cool.” Five minutes with nu gen provocateur Mimi Barks

By Emily Swingle published 8 January 25

Mimi Barks on her recent UK tour, the strangest shows she's played and serving "super-rich" people coffee in fetish gear

“This record is about unapologetically accepting that you are the sum of all of your parts”: Halestorm discuss their next album, inspired by Motörhead, country and Skid Row

By Emily Swingle published 7 January 25

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

Metal Hammer's 50 best albums of 2024

By Metal Hammer published 31 December 24

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

"The whole thing is still as sick as ever." Slipknot put on 2024's biggest heavy metal nostalgia party in Manchester

By Emily Swingle published 18 December 24

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

Vessel from Sleep Token with a snake on his head

A guide to every Sleep Token song (and the theories behind them)

By Metal Hammer published 12 November 24

We dive deep into the discography and lore behind masked metal entities Sleep Token

The Gloom In The Corner/Sgáile/Black Satelite/Divided

4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month

By Rich Hobson published 8 November 24

From The Gloom In The Corner's cinematic metalcore to Sgáile's mountain-inspired doom, industrial goth of Black Satellite and brutal Belgian post-metallers Divided, these are the brilliant new bands you need to hear in November 2024

"The bondage video was overwhelming. You’re tied up, you can’t free yourself." Oceans Of Slumber singer Cammie Beverly on horror movies, her 'Roman Empire' and THAT music video

By Emily Swingle published 5 November 24

We sit down with the Oceans Of Slumber frontwoman for a quick but entertaining catch-up

"A Stockholm syndrome love-letter to Hollywood." Halsey's The Great Impersonator is ambitious, vulnerable and utterly, utterly Halsey

By Emily Swingle published 25 October 24

Halsey's fifth studio album embodies the women who have been eaten up and spat out by Hollywood - and does so marvellously

“The whole movie totally disturbs me!” Oceans Of Slumber’s Cammie Beverly names her favourite horror film – and it’s a controversial one

By Matt Mills published 16 October 24

“I think about it constantly – that movie is my ‘Roman Empire’”

"I want people to have sex in the moshpit." How Mimi Barks went from Berlin fetish clubs to leading her own nu gen revolution

By Emily Swingle published 28 September 24

This Is Doom Trap represents a moment of realisation for nu gen star Mimi Barks

"Slipknot used to have taser fights." Morgan Lander talks nu metal, pranks and the wildest tours Kittie have been on

By Emily Swingle published 20 September 24

Almost 30 years since Kittie were formed, Morgan Lander and co. are still as fired up and fierce as ever

“Fidlar have come a long way from their 'Wake! Bake! Skate!' years.” Clean and sober LA party punks face up to life's stark realities on Surviving The Dream

By Emily Swingle published 19 September 24

LA punks Fidlar grow up gracefully on fourth album Surviving The Dream

“Do you like... beer?” What happened when we accompanied sugar-sweet Japanese ‘Harajuku-core’ metallers Hanabie to the UK's biggest rock festival, Download

By Emily Swingle published 29 August 24

Could Hanabie win over a crowd of muddy, drunk British rock fans? You bet

"Unravels the horrors and joys of the world through a rouge-tinted pair of spectacles. The results are epic." Simone Simons soars on solo debut Vermillion

By Emily Swingle published 22 August 24

After 22 years and eight studio albums with Epica, vocalist Simone Simons is spreading her wings as a solo artist

Emily Swingle

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