Features

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

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

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

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

The only music you'll need this Christmas Day is this brilliant, ludicrous playlist from The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins

It may well be Chreeeeesssstttmaaaaaaasssssss, but Slade, like puppies, are an all-year proposition

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

Quitting? That’s not Max Cavalera’s style

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

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

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

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

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

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

Including Black Spiders, Nate Bergman, Ally Venable and five other bearers of festive rock'n'roll gifts

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

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

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

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