Latest articles by Stephen Hill
Biffy Clyro, blast-beats and Brexit: how Simon Neil and Mike Vennart made one of the extreme metal albums of the year with Empire State Bastard
Far-right trolls and a shared love for experimental, extreme music helped unite Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil and Mike Vennart in Empire State Bastard
“We had 35 labels pass!” Through The Ashes Of Empires at 20: The groove metal monster that saved Machine Head’s career
After the debacle of Supercharger, Machine Head couldn’t even find a record label. Then Through The Ashes Of Empires reversed all their fortunes.
"I did not save your life, but I can be an avenue that helps you": Beartooth's Caleb Shomo is a reluctant rock star, but the one metal desperately needs
Beartooth's Caleb Shomo has never shied away from talking mental health, but new album The Surface is all about embracing positivity
10 amazing heavy metal albums that you can’t find on Spotify
Spotify isn’t the be all and end all of heavy music, as these 10 classics prove
Five rock stars, three songs and only one concert: The story of Damnocracy – the most bizarre and disappointing supergroup of all time
Putting members of Skid Row, Anthrax and Biohazard in the same room was a weird idea. When the resulting supergroup only released three demos then broke up, it also proved to be a waste of time.
"Sure, we missed a few boats, but if you are willing to push yourself to the bone, you’ll get the next one.” How Code Orange's refusal to stand still helped them craft masterful - and catchy as hell - new album The Above
Code Orange looked set for huge things before the pandemic struck. Luckily, they're not ones for feeling sorry for themselves
Essex deathcore, Mumbai post-metal and an underground noise supergroup: these are the best new metal bands you need in your life this month
Looking for something new and heavy to listen to? We've got you covered
10 heavy metal bands that took incredibly long to release a new album
Sometimes waiting three years for a new album is torturous enough – so imagine how fans of Guns ’N’ Roses, Black Sabbath and At The Gates have felt
According to records, these are officially the 10 loudest concerts of all time
Motörhead, Deep Purple and Manowar have all broken records – and people’s eardrums, probably
A beginner’s guide to '00s British indie in five essential albums
Skinny jeans and hair-straighteners at the ready! Your guide to the best of British indie in the ‘00s
Blood Command's World Domination: 20 tracks, almost half being a minute long or less, yet one of the most exciting, unique, genre-bending metal albums you'll hear this year
Norway's Blood Command might be reliably brilliant, but new album World Domination is as unpredictably genre-smashing as ever
“Band members complained of a loss of feeling in their hands after only one song”: When Tesseract set a world record by playing on a stage built from ice
Lapland show at minus 20 degrees presented unique problems - and they weren’t even sure anyone would be there to watch
10 times massive metal bands played ridiculously intimate concerts
Metallica, Iron Maiden and Slipknot have all performed to the tiniest of crowds after making it big
10 heavy metal supergroups who weren’t so super
Damnocracy, Tapeworm and Device might have seemed like dream team-ups, but they couldn’t amount to the sum of their parts
Grizzly death metal, electrifying hardcore, sludgy thrash and extreme weirdness...here are the best new bands you need to hear this month
Gagging for some brilliant new metal to wrap your ears around? We have you covered
A beginner's guide to Feeder in five essential albums
The story of Feeder, one of Britain's most under-rated and consistently brilliant alt. rock bands, in five essential records
"All I’ve ever wanted to do is spread positivity through music": How Skindred's Benji Webbe went from ska-loving orphan to reggae-metal innovator and the "unofficial mayor" of Newport
After 25 years Skindred have gone from reggae-metal innovators to playing arenas, Glastonbury Festival and a UK top 10 with new album Smile
10 metal bands who completely changed and immediately made a masterpiece
Bands need to evolve to survive, and these classic albums by Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold and Sepultura are masterclasses in switching everything up
A beginner's guide to Sonic Youth in five essential albums
Where to start with New York's most influential 'underground' guitar band since The Velvet Underground
The success of this summer's Outbreak and Supersonic festivals mean a line has now been drawn in the sand: no longer can heavy music festival bookers utter the lie "We would book more women/people of colour, but there aren’t any”
There was much more to Outbreak and Supersonic than white men with guitars, and the UK festival scene now feels vital and vibrant again
With any justice, A Sign Of Things To Come is the album that will finally take Sylosis out of the British metal underground and into the big time
Sylosis have been at the forefront of the underground British metal scene for over a decade. A Sign Of Things To Come is proof they're ready for bigger things
“As soon as I heard it, I just started laughing!” How Alien Ant Farm’s bizarre cover of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal turned them from D-listers to nu metal giants (at least, for a short while)
In 2000, Alien Ant Farm were nu metal also-rans struggling to find their place. Then an endorsement from Papa Roach and one hard-rocking Michael Jackson cover thrust them up the charts
10 iconic metal bands with one bad album
Metallica, Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold are all hugely reliable bands – apart from on one painful occasion
“It’s like our Ace Of Spades. I’ll have to play it forever!” How Roots Bloody Roots made Sepultura nu metal superstars – before the band tore themselves apart
Roots Bloody Roots made Sepultura one of metal’s biggest bands in 1996. Not even a year later, the lineup that made it imploded.
“I don’t want to equal people’s expectations – I want to exceed them.” How Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to Iron Maiden and saved the band's career
In the late ’90s, Iron Maiden were creatively flagging and unable to fill venues. Then two of their most adored members, Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, returned to make them megastars again.
