As chameleonic, genre-splicing innovator Poppy prepares to release her sixth album, Negative Spaces, we go inside her mysterious world as she makes her first ever appearance on the cover of Metal Hammer.
Breaking onto the scene a decade ago, Poppy has continued to evolve, flirting with hyperpop, alt rock, industrial, metalcore and nu metal in the process. This year, she’s also become metal’s go-to guest star, collaborating with hardcore heavyweights Knocked Loose and metalcore buzz-band Bad Omens.
New album Negative Spaces, featuring ex-Bring Me The Horizon man Jordan Fish on production, sees her songs swing from the “saccharine” to the “heaviest” she’s ever done. At this stage of her career, Poppy describes herself as “post genre”.
“I get bored rather quickly, so I have to cater to my own attention span,” she says. "I think there’s always going to be resistance from other sides when a big movement happens, but somebody has to be there to do it first and push all those people out of the way,” she says. “The ones that are like the ‘squeaky wheels’.”
The new issue also includes a massive feature celebrating 40 years of Iron Maiden’s legendary Powerslave album – if you buy this issue at Tesco, you’ll get an exclusive anniversary cover featuring the iconic 'mummy Eddie'.
Elsewhere, we decode the meanings behind every Sleep Token song, and go AAA with The Black Dahlia Murder to find out how they’re continuing the legacy of the much-missed Trevor Strnad. We take also Opeth for afternoon tea in Mayfair, where they, er, spill the tea on the family feuds behind latest epic The Last Will And Testament – and eat a load of fondant fancies.
Meanwhile, Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel reunites with Tarja Turunen to remember the creation of epic anthem Paradise (What About Us?), Kerry King answers your questions on venomous snakes and giant rodents, and Nile’s Karl Sanders dishes out his life lessons on Ancient Egypt and Taekwondo.
We hit the studio with Bloodywood, meet the goth royalty behind new band High Parasite, and fly to the Netherlands to see how Belgian progressive metal label Pelagic has birthed a festival and a scene.
All this, along with Delain, Blood Incantation, Cosmic Void festival, Soulfly, Oceans Of Slumber, Devin Townsend and much, much more.
Only in the new issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
