Emily Swingle

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

Zulu

"Without Black culture, hardcore wouldn’t even exist": Zulu are calling for unity and cultural recognition in the modern alternative scene

By Emily Swingle published

Zulu's debut A New Tomorrow mixed hardcore with the likes of Nina Simone, Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield, but the band are planning even bigger things in future

Asinhell/Body Void/Creak/Celestial Sanctuary

4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month

By Rich Hobson published

From Newcastle nu-metalcore bruisers Creak to Asinhell, the death metal project from Volbeat's frontman, Cavalera-endorsed death metallers Celestial Sanctuary and New England industrial doomsters Body Void, these are the bands you need to hear in January 2024

Sophie Lloyd holdimg a guitar over her shoulder

Sophie Lloyd: 10 records that changed my life

By Emily Swingle published

From Van Halen and Iron Maiden to Disturbed and Bring Me The Horizon, these are the bands that helped Sophie Lloyd become a shred goddess

2023 end of year

Metal Hammer's 50 best albums of 2023 (and the stories behind them)

By Rich Hobson published

Sleep Token, Creeper, Within Temptation: 2023 has been a massive year for metal, and these 50 records represent the very best the year has had to offer

Photos of Metallica, Green Lung, Ghost, Limp Bizkit, Sabaton and Code Orange performing live onstage

Metal Hammer writers name their best gigs of 2023

By Matt Mills published

From the monolithic Metallica to rising stars like Green Lung, these are the greatest shows that Team Hammer saw this year

Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon onstage with Ed Sheeran

10 pop stars who’ve championed heavy metal bands

By Emily Swingle published

Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish and Megan Thee Stallion have proven that metal and pop needn’t be polar opposites

Album of the year artists

The 50 best metal albums of 2023 - as voted by the readers of Metal Hammer

By Rich Hobson published

From Metallica to Sleep Token, Avenged Sevenfold to Babymetal, these are the best metal albums of 2023 - as voted by you!

Scene Queen crowdsurfing

“People would say, ‘Oh, you don’t look like you should be doing metal.'" We went on tour with Scene Queen, the bimbocore leader who's turning metal stereotypes on their heads (and infuriating gatekeepers with "twerkle pits")

By Emily Swingle published

Hannah 'Scene Queen' Collins is becoming one of the most talked-about artists in modern metal. We followed her on tour to find out why

Scene Queen crowdsurfing

“People would say, ‘Oh, you don’t look like you should be doing metal.'" We went on tour with Scene Queen, the bimbocore leader who's turning metal stereotypes on their heads (and infuriating gatekeepers with "twerkle pits")

By Emily Swingle published

Hannah 'Scene Queen' Collins is becoming one of the most talked-about artists in modern metal. We followed her on tour to find out why

Kadeem from Loathe on stage

"Loathe’s sound captures something timeless; it’s clear that The Warehouse was blessed tonight." Loathe put on an intimate, powerful and emotional show in Leeds - and for a vitally important cause

By Emily Swingle published

Loathe remind Leeds why they're one of the UK's most unique young metal bands

Svalbard's Serena Cherry at Thorpe Park

"They’re both extreme, and they can be intimidating to an outsider." Svalbard made one of 2023's most personal and emotional metal albums. It was at least partly inspired by rollercoasters

By Emily Swingle published

Hammer spent the day riding the rails at Thorpe Park with self-confessed rollercoaster fanatic Serena Cherry to uncover the truth behind Svalbard's new album Weight Of The Mask

The Used Live 2003

"People said we ruined music": How The Used's The Taste Of Ink helped emo kick nu metal to the curb

By Emily Swingle published

Fresh out of rehab and living in his guitarist's basement, Bert McCracken wrote The Taste Of Ink - the song that would put The Used on the map and turn them into rising stars of emo

Creeper in 2023

"It’s certain that they aren’t going to be contained in venues this small for much longer." Creeper soak Manchester's Academy in buckets of blood, brilliant songs and one hell of a stage show

By Emily Swingle published

Creeper descended onto Manchester last night for some vampy, campy fun

Photos of Cradle Of Filth, Ghost, Slipknot and Chelsea Wolfe

The 10 spookiest heavy metal songs of all time

By Emily Swingle published

These songs by Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Ghost could make for the perfect Halloween playlist

Metal For Good Charity

Metal For Good: the Rob Halford-approved metal charity looking to make positive change

By Emily Swingle published

Ever wished Christmas Jumper Day was more metal? Charity Metal For Good have you covered with Metal Merch Day on October 20

Oni

Oni's The Silver Line is an ambitiously frantic patchwork of ideas that pays off - and it's packing one hell of a dinner party guestlist

By Emily Swingle published

Featuring some stellar guest appearances, Oni's new album is ambitious and delicious

Photos of Blaze Bayley, Tim Owens and Kim Dylla

10 heavy metal replacement singers that just couldn’t live up to their predecessors

By Emily Swingle published

The likes of Blaze Bayley, Tim Owens and Gary Cherone are great singers in their own right, but following the beloved frontperson before them proved an impossible task

Beartooth in 2023

Beartooth's The Surface is a sharp, poignant and blazingly cathartic celebration of life, warts and all

By Emily Swingle published

Beartooth leader Caleb Shomo has produced a burst of glowing metalcore grappling with his turbulent journey to self-love

Matt Bellamy live on stage

Muse's Manchester AO Arena show proves that whatever route their music may take, they'll always be one of the greatest live bands in all of music

By Emily Swingle published

Muse bring the hits, charm and a ton of showmanship to Manchester

Album art by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Avenged Sevenfold and Megadeth

10 classic heavy metal albums that didn't sell nearly as well as they should have

By Emily Swingle published

These masterpieces by Avenged Sevenfold, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest deserved to rocket up the charts, but fell insultingly short

Lord Of The Lost 2023

"I Believe In A Thing Called Love inspired me to start my own glam rock band": Lord Of The Lost frontman Chris Harms picks the 10 songs that changed his life

By Emily Swingle published

From Roxette and David Bowie to Iron Maiden and Slipknot, these are the records that made Lord Of The Lost frontman Chris Harms

Vexed 2023

"Negative Energy destroyed me in the best way": How Vexed turned tragedy and trauma into one of 2023's most emotionally explosive albums

By Emily Swingle published

Vexed were rising stars after 2021's Culling Culture. But the loss of a parental figure saw them bin a follow-up EP and dig deep to write the emotionally powerful Negative Energy

Artworks for Metallica, Guns N Roses, Megadeth and Trivium albums

10 terrible heavy metal albums that sold shockingly well

By Emily Swingle published

Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Morbid Angel have all scored chart success with sub-par music – somehow

Photos of Fred Durst and Scott Stapp in 2000

“Scott Stapp is an egomaniac, he’s a punk and he thinks he’s Michael Jackson!” Limp Bizkit and Creed once feuded and didn’t stop until Scott Stapp challenged Fred Durst to a boxing match

By Emily Swingle published

When Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst took a potshot at Creed singer Scott Stapp live onstage, it ignited a spat between the two biggest bands of the nu metal era

Wolfgang Van Halen

"My dad put on the song Big Balls by AC/DC. It made me laugh so hard." From System Of A Down to Peter Gabriel, these are the songs that have soundtracked Wolfgang Van Halen's life

By Emily Swingle published

It turns out Wolfgang Van Halen has one hell of an eclectic sonic palette.