Watain will bring the fire to the Golden Gods!

Holy fuck! Black metal icons Watain will be invading this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards – and trust us, there will be blood, there will be fire, and there will be fucking carnage! Yes!

They join main stagers Anthrax, Biohazard and the mighty Ghost, who we exclusively revealed as playing in our new issue, as well as Shadows Fall, Attica Rage and Fozzy on our pre-awards show boat party – and none other than the brilliant Evil Scarecrow, who we’re stoked to announce won our huge Hobgoblin Band Search competition to play the Gods! Yes boys!

This year’s Metal hammer Golden Gods will be presented by Fozzy frontman and WWE icon Chris Jericho, and will take place on June 11 at the Indigo2 in the O2 complex – and don’t forget that you can still vote in this year’s Golden Gods and win tickets to the event get involved!

As a part of this year’s immense Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards and the tenth ever Download festival, you still have time to vote for your favourite Download moment in history!

To find out the nominees and cast your vote, click on the link below:

Vote for the best Download moment ever

This year, the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards reaches its tenth incarnation (yes, really!), and voting has officially opened! We’re looking to make it the biggest and greatest awards bash of them all and we are looking for you to not only vote for the bands you think are most deserving of these most heavy and prestigious of gongs, but by voting, you could actually win tickets to the show!

Coming straight after this year’s Download festival (because, you know, we’re well hard like that), the Golden Gods will land at London’s Indigo2 on Monday June 11, preceded as ever by our special pre-show boat party that’ll be cruising up the Thames to the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year

We’ll soon be announcing which iconic acts will be playing this year’s awards, but for now, enough hyperbole. Time to get to the important bit. Here’s the list of nominations for this year’s Golden Gods (sponsors in brackets):

Best UK band (Roadrunner)

Saxon

Fields Of The Nephilim

Tesseract

TRC

Black Spiders

Best International Band

Opeth

Meshuggah

Lamb Of God

Five Finger Death Punch

Nightwish

Best Event (Alchemy)

Manowar Returning To The UK

Iron Maiden’s UK Tour

Mustaine Playing With Metallica

Devin Townsend’s DTP London Shows

Tommy Lee Bringing His Drumcoaster To The UK

Best Live Band (Koppaberg)

Iron Maiden

Metallica

Rammstein

Skindred

Watain

Dimebag Darrell Shredder

Satchel (Steel Panther)

Devin Townsend

Dino Cazares (Fear Factory)

Adam D (Killswitch Engage)

Ol Drake (Evile)

Metal as F*ck (World Of Tanks)

Zoltan Bathroy (Five Finger Death Punch)

Hell

Sabaton

Anthrax

Nik Kai

The following awards will also take place on the night, as voted for by the esteemed team at Metal Hammer:

Drummer of the Year (DW Drums)

Album of the Year (Jackson)

Riff Lord (Zippo)

Icon (Encore)

The Golden God (Orange)

Get voting and register your votes and you could win a pair of tickets to come and party with us at the event itself! Let’s go!

British thrash titans Evile will soon be unleashing their brand new video ‘In Memoriam’!

Check out a cheeky behind-the-scenes look at the video below. Cheers lads!

Evile King Ov Shred Ol Drake is nominated in the Dimebag Shredder category in this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. There’s still time to win tickets if you vote now!

Five Serpent’s Teeth is out now on Earache.

The Darkness tour with Lady Gaga in September

The Darkness have finally announced the details of their long-awaited new album! The Lowestoft rock gods – who tour with Lady Gaga this Autumn - will release ‘Hot Cakes’ on August 20, and we’re just a little bit excited about it.

The band recently released their new video ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us’. Check it out below…

Chris Jericho Golden Gods

Metal Hammer Golden Gods host, Fozzy frontman and WWE icon Chris Jericho has talked everything from lower abdominal areas to the band’s new album in a new video.

Check it out below:

Chris Jericho will be hosting this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods – also featuring Anthrax, Biohazard, Shadows Fall, Attica Rage and Fozzy themselves – and when we caught him a few hours before appearing at WWE Raw live in London, he seemed as excited about it as we are.

The Metal Hammer Golden Gods take place June 11 at the IndigO2. It’s gonna be messy.

Marilyn Manson in Metal Hammer 231!

Face to face. No holds barred. All guns blazing. For the immense new issue of Metal Hammer – which features a FREE NEW GUARD CD featuring tracks from Hellish Outcast, Evil Scarecrow, Deadly Circus Fire and more – we demanded an audience with none other than MARILYN MANSON, sitting down with the God Of Fuck for his first Metal Hammer cover story in almost a decade. We step around the bullshit and ask the hard questions: Are we ever going to get another classic Marilyn Manson album? What the fuck was going on at Download 2009? Is this a man back on form? And exactly just how much does the world need Marilyn Manson in 2012? It’s a monster of a feature and deserves your attention.

We get candid with Mazza in the new issue

Also in the new issue, we celebrate over 25 years of SLAYER’s masterful, game-changing Reign In Blood, discovering the truth behind the making of one of the greatest metal albums of all time and why the band’s epic set at this year’s ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror festival will be unmissable. SLIPKNOT have put out a memorable set or six in their time too, and with Clown’s new photography book and movie both out soon, we grabbed the man himself for a chat at this year’s SXSW festival.

Kerry King gets bloodied

That wasn’t all we did at SXSW 2012, though. In our special feature, we take a look at one of the most awesome festivals in the US, kicking it with SKINDRED, THE DEFILED and SHINING at our special showcase and, you know, sampling some barbecue and that.

SXSW ruled!

Does ZAKK WYLDE like barbecue? Almost definitely. At the moment, though, we’re more concerned with his ace new book, his incredible legacy as one of the finest metal guitarists ever and his role on the upcoming Ozzy And Friends European tour. Which, so we’ve heard through the grapevine, is also gonna feature the legendary SLASH, who talks us through everything from Velvet Revoler and Axl Rose to his stonking new album and the life of a rock star. It’s a must-read.

Slash gets real in the new Metal Hammer

Plus, we chat to Swedish tech metal demi-gods MESHUGGAH in the wake of the immense ‘Koloss’ to find their stance on the amazing legacy they’ve built, and bring even more heavy with the incredible HIGH ON FIRE and their brilliant frontman, Matt Pike. We also look back at the impressive and thoroughly widdly career of CHILDREN OF BODOM, head to Germany with KORN and THE DIRTY YOUTH and find out how ORPHANED LAND managed to bag themselves a prestigious peace award.

Want more? Go on, then. We find out what Dream Theater legend MIKE PORTNOY has been up to recently – and trust us, he’s been a busy boy – talk to Jay And Silent Bob icon JASON MEWES about his favourite albums, get STEEL PANTHER’s Satchel to explain why modern rock stars fail hard, talk guitar with GUS G and hail the return of modern heavy metal kings 3 INCHES OF BLOOD!

We also review new albums and gigs from MARILYN MANSON, SLASH, GRAND MAGUS, SABATON, KORN, BLACK BREATH, ELECTRIC WIZARD and ARCHITECTS, celebrate new blood in the form of BLACK MOTH, CONAN, LAST WITNESS and PALM READER and salute the underground in this month’s Subterranea with LITURGY, UNSANE, BURZUM and this year’s INFERNO FEST!

You just cannot afford to miss out on this one.

ORDER THE NEW METAL HAMMER!

Soccer Six Rock 2012

Reading bruisers Malefice are the latest band to join the lineup for this year’s special Soccer Six Rock And Metal charity event – also featuring Metal Hammer!

Fancy watching us put a few goals past the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Heights, Architects and more?

Yeah ya do! This year, Metal Hammer will be putting out a team – AKA whoever isn’t the most out-of-shape/hungover/rubbish/unavailable at short notice – to take part in the rock and metal edition of Soccer Six 2012!

A huge six-a-side football tournament will be going down at Leyton Orient’s ground on Brisbane Road in London on Friday May 11 with all proceeds going to charity, and we’ll be pitting our sick tekkers (which in our case means below average footballing skills) against a number of bands, industry types and whoever else turns up.

It’s all in the name of cha-ree-tee, with tickets going on sale Monday April 16 from the link below:

Soccer Six tickets

We’ll be revealing our totally pro and not at all flung-together team shortly. Watch this space…

Soccer Six Twitter

Come along and show your support. No seriously, please do, we need it. We’re fucking rubbish. We’ll be revealing who’s forming team Hammer very soon, too…

Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engage, Trivium And More Kick Off Trespass

We were beyond excited to announce the Metal hammer Trespass America Festival earlier this week, and we can now show you the full press conference from the event!

Check it out:

For the first time in history, we’ll be teaming up with some of the biggest and bestest metal bands on the planet to take over the US, taking in over 15 states, 25 dates and so much ass-kicking, ball-bursting, face-melting metal that America might just never be the same again.

Headlining this most epic of treks will be none other than Five Finger Death Punch, also nominated for a Metal Hammer Golden God award, while joining them will be metalcore legends Killswitch Engage, thrashy rifflords Trivium, modern metal heavyweights Emmure and God Forbid and the excellent Pop Evil and Battlecross!

“We will carry the flag into mainstream territory; we will trespass on their turf all across America,” says Five Finger Death Punch’s Zoltan Bathory, who helped spearhead the festival concept. “The combined power of Metal Hammer and all these bands enable us to make a statement, a really loud one. Heavy music wants its place back in the limelight, so get ready, because we are coming, and we are coming in numbers.”

“By bringing the Trespass Festival to North America,” adds Metal Hammer’s editor Alexander Milas, “we’re not only promoting the music we believe in, we’re investing in it. We’re now doing in America what we’ve done for years in Europe and the UK. It has become increasingly apparent to us that supporters of Metal Hammer stretch well beyond the U.K. Thanks to the iPad, American metal fans can now get the magazine at the same time U.K. fans do, but by taking on this tour, we’re moving beyond our physical borders.”

“When you walk through the Trespass America gate, you will be in a different territory, a new environment,” explains Zoltan further. “You’re not just coming to see a band. It’s going to be a travelling circus that has all the attraction and excitement that creates an experience. We wanted to build the biggest stage we could and make this festival as visually unforgettable as possible, really give fans their money’s worth, give them an experience where they will want to say, ‘I was there.’ We also wanted to play as many indoor venues as possible so all bands on the bill, no matter how early they play, would have a full light show with full production. We want to make Trespass America a theme-park-thrill-ride for metalheads.”

Like we said, this has “FUCKING AWESOME” written all over it.

With more to be announced, confirmed dates for the Metal Hammer Trespass America Festival are as follows:

JULY
13 Broomfield, CO – 1st Bank Center
15 Billings, MT – MetraPark Arena
16 Bismarck, ND – Bismarck Civic Center
17 Sioux Falls, SD – Sioux Falls Arena
19 Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
21 Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County Expo Center
24 Lubbock, TX – Lonestar Amphitheatre
25 Belton, TX – Bell County Expo Center
27 San Antonio, TX – Freeman Coliseum
28 Beaumont, TX – Ford Pavilion
30 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
31 Evansville, IN – Ford Center

AUGUST
3 Battle Creek, MI – Kellogg Arena
7 Syracuse, NY – SRC Arena and Events Center/Onondaga Community Center
8 Glens Falls, NY – Glens Falls Civic Center
10 Scarborough, ME – Scarborough Downs
14 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
15 Hartford, CT – Comcast Theatre
17 Worchester, MA – DCU Center
18 Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
19 Philadelphia, PA – Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier
22 Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Civic Coliseum
25 Rio Rancho, NM – Santa Ana Star Center
26 Phoenix, AZ – Comercia Theatre
28 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium

And as for UK fans feeling left out, we suggest you watch this space…

Download 2012 Logo

As a part of their ongoing Download 2012 coverage, Scuzz TV will be airing the first in this year’s The Lowdown series at 1pm this Saturday – and it’ll be featuring none other than Fozzy frontman, WWE icon and this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods host, Chris Jericho!

Tune in to Sky channel 374 or Freesat 503 on Saturday at 1, with repeats showing all weekend.

Download 2012 takes palce from June 8-10 at Castle Donington and features the likes of The Prodigy, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, Machine H-oh for fuck’s sake as if you haven’t got a ticket already.

Download tickets

Lemmy And The Boys

Motörhead frontman and certified rock ‘n’ roll god Lemmy has spoken about Motörhead’s iconic sound, women in rock music and more in a new interview.

“If you have a good sound, why fuck with it?,” he asks Punk News. “I always thought that we sounded good. We’ve done some experimental pieces. ’1916′ is experimental. We did that track with Ozzy [Osbourne]. Mostly rock and roll is what I wanted to do, so I did it. It’s what I want to do, so I still play. We’ll always do what we want to do. I don’t give a fuck about what other people think we should do.”

Other whether someone can appreciate a female musician’s attractiveness without objectifying her:

“Well, why the fuck can’t you do it? Is that impossible? There are certainly people who have an axe to grind. Someone might be bitching about it, but I don’t care. I never objectified women. I’ve always been honest. I treat people as I expect to be treated. Women, they’re the same as me with tits. If they want to be crazy, well, that’s all right, because I’m a little crazy myself, sometimes. If they want to play rock music, that’s great, because I like to play rock music, too. You should treat people the way you like to be treated. If it’s good art, then it’s good art. Shit, I like women.”

Fair point, well made. Right? Read the rest of the interview at PunkNews.org

Motörhead hit the road with Anthrax for a UK tour later this year. Get your tickets below:

Motörhead Anthrax tickets

Anthrax also play this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards and Download 2012.

Vote in the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and win tickets

Metal Hammer Trespass Festival

Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engage and Trivium were joined by none other than Metal Hammer’s own editor Alexander Milas to officially launch the Metal Hammer Trespass America festival in Hollywood yesterday!

Check out the video below…

For the first time in history, we’ll be teaming up with some of the biggest and bestest metal bands on the planet to take over the US, taking in over 15 states, 25 dates and so much ass-kicking, ball-bursting, face-melting metal that America might just never be the same again.

Headlining this most epic of treks will be none other than Five Finger Death Punch, also nominated for a Metal Hammer Golden God award, while joining them will be metalcore legends Killswitch Engage, thrashy rifflords Trivium, modern metal heavyweights Emmure and God Forbid and the excellent Pop Evil and Battlecross!

“We will carry the flag into mainstream territory; we will trespass on their turf all across America,” says Five Finger Death Punch’s Zoltan Bathory, who helped spearhead the festival concept. “The combined power of Metal Hammer and all these bands enable us to make a statement, a really loud one. Heavy music wants its place back in the limelight, so get ready, because we are coming, and we are coming in numbers.”

“By bringing the Trespass Festival to North America,” adds Metal Hammer’s editor Alexander Milas, “we’re not only promoting the music we believe in, we’re investing in it. We’re now doing in America what we’ve done for years in Europe and the UK. It has become increasingly apparent to us that supporters of Metal Hammer stretch well beyond the U.K. Thanks to the iPad, American metal fans can now get the magazine at the same time U.K. fans do, but by taking on this tour, we’re moving beyond our physical borders.”

“When you walk through the Trespass America gate, you will be in a different territory, a new environment,” explains Zoltan further. “You’re not just coming to see a band. It’s going to be a travelling circus that has all the attraction and excitement that creates an experience. We wanted to build the biggest stage we could and make this festival as visually unforgettable as possible, really give fans their money’s worth, give them an experience where they will want to say, ‘I was there.’ We also wanted to play as many indoor venues as possible so all bands on the bill, no matter how early they play, would have a full light show with full production. We want to make Trespass America a theme-park-thrill-ride for metalheads.”

Like we said, this has “FUCKING AWESOME” written all over it.

With more to be announced, confirmed dates for the Metal Hammer Trespass America Festival are as follows:

JULY
13 Broomfield, CO – 1st Bank Center
15 Billings, MT – MetraPark Arena
16 Bismarck, ND – Bismarck Civic Center
17 Sioux Falls, SD – Sioux Falls Arena
19 Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
21 Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County Expo Center
24 Lubbock, TX – Lonestar Amphitheatre
25 Belton, TX – Bell County Expo Center
27 San Antonio, TX – Freeman Coliseum
28 Beaumont, TX – Ford Pavilion
30 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
31 Evansville, IN – Ford Center

AUGUST
3 Battle Creek, MI – Kellogg Arena
7 Syracuse, NY – SRC Arena and Events Center/Onondaga Community Center
8 Glens Falls, NY – Glens Falls Civic Center
10 Scarborough, ME – Scarborough Downs
14 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
15 Hartford, CT – Comcast Theatre
17 Worchester, MA – DCU Center
18 Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
19 Philadelphia, PA – Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier
22 Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Civic Coliseum
25 Rio Rancho, NM – Santa Ana Star Center
26 Phoenix, AZ – Comercia Theatre
28 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium

And as for UK fans feeling left out, we suggest you watch this space…

Metal Hammer Trespass Festival

Holy shit, this is big. Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Emmure and more will all be tearing their way through America on the first ever Metal Hammer Trespass America Festival!

For the first time in history, we’ll be teaming up with some of the biggest and bestest metal bands on the planet to take over the US, taking in over 15 states, 25 dates and so much ass-kicking, ball-bursting, face-melting metal that America might just never be the same again.

Headlining this most epic of treks will be none other than Five Finger Death Punch, also nominated for a Metal Hammer Golden God award, while joining them will be metalcore legends Killswitch Engage, thrashy rifflords Trivium, modern metal heavyweights Emmure and God Forbid and the excellent Pop Evil and Battlecross!

“We will carry the flag into mainstream territory; we will trespass on their turf all across America,” says Five Finger Death Punch’s Zoltan Bathory, who helped spearhead the festival concept. “The combined power of Metal Hammer and all these bands enable us to make a statement, a really loud one. Heavy music wants its place back in the limelight, so get ready, because we are coming, and we are coming in numbers.”

“By bringing the Trespass Festival to North America,” adds Metal Hammer’s editor Alexander Milas, “we’re not only promoting the music we believe in, we’re investing in it. We’re now doing in America what we’ve done for years in Europe and the UK. It has become increasingly apparent to us that supporters of Metal Hammer stretch well beyond the U.K. Thanks to the iPad, American metal fans can now get the magazine at the same time U.K. fans do, but by taking on this tour, we’re moving beyond our physical borders.”

“When you walk through the Trespass America gate, you will be in a different territory, a new environment,” explains Zoltan further. “You’re not just coming to see a band. It’s going to be a travelling circus that has all the attraction and excitement that creates an experience. We wanted to build the biggest stage we could and make this festival as visually unforgettable as possible, really give fans their money’s worth, give them an experience where they will want to say, ‘I was there.’ We also wanted to play as many indoor venues as possible so all bands on the bill, no matter how early they play, would have a full light show with full production. We want to make Trespass America a theme-park-thrill-ride for metalheads.”

Like we said, this has “FUCKING AWESOME” written all over it.

With more to be announced, confirmed dates for the Metal Hammer Trespass America Festival are as follows:

JULY
13 Broomfield, CO – 1st Bank Center
15 Billings, MT – MetraPark Arena
16 Bismarck, ND – Bismarck Civic Center
17 Sioux Falls, SD – Sioux Falls Arena
19 Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
21 Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County Expo Center
24 Lubbock, TX – Lonestar Amphitheatre
25 Belton, TX – Bell County Expo Center
27 San Antonio, TX – Freeman Coliseum
28 Beaumont, TX – Ford Pavilion
30 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
31 Evansville, IN – Ford Center

AUGUST
3 Battle Creek, MI – Kellogg Arena
7 Syracuse, NY – SRC Arena and Events Center/Onondaga Community Center
8 Glens Falls, NY – Glens Falls Civic Center
10 Scarborough, ME – Scarborough Downs
14 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
15 Hartford, CT – Comcast Theatre
17 Worchester, MA – DCU Center
18 Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
19 Philadelphia, PA – Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier
22 Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Civic Coliseum
25 Rio Rancho, NM – Santa Ana Star Center
26 Phoenix, AZ – Comercia Theatre
28 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium

And as for UK fans feeling left out, we suggest you watch this space…

Motorhead

Fuckin’ A! Rock ‘n’ roll legends Motörhead will be heading out for their yearly November UK tour – and bringing Anthrax along for the ride!

Check out the dates below:

NOVEMBER 2012

MONDAY 5 WOLVERHAMPTON CIVIC HALL
TUESDAY 6 02 APOLLO MANCHESTER
THURSDAY 8 NEWCASTLE CITY HALL
FRIDAY 9 02 ACADEMY GLASGOW
SUNDAY 11 LEICESTR DEMONTFORD HALL
MONDAY 12 CAMBRIDGE CORN EXCHANGE
WEDNEDAY 14 PORTSMOUTH GULIDHALL
THURSDAY 15 BOURNEMOUTH SOLENT
SATURDAY 17 LONDON 02 ACADEMY BRIXTON
SUNDAY 18 BRISTOL COLSTON HALL

Tickets will be available from the link below this Friday (April 27) at 9am:

Motorhead Anthrax Tickets

Anthrax also play this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards and Download 2012.

Vote in the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and win tickets

Killswitch Engage Jesse Leach

Massachusetts icons Killswitch Engage played their first set with Jesse Leach since the singer returned to the fold earlier this year!

The metalcore heavyweights played a set featuring both classic Alive Or Just Breathing material and more recent tunes at the New England Metal And Hardcore Festival on Sunday, and you can see the whole setlist and a video of the show below:

01. Numbered Days
02. Self-Revolution
03. Fixation On The Darkness
04. Rose Of Sharyn (dedicated to ex-KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Howard Jones)
05. This Is Absolution
06. Take This Oath
07. Prelude
08. Vide Infra
09. Temple From The Within
10. The Arms Of Sorrow
11. My Curse
12. The End Of Heartache
13. A Bid Farewell
14. Life To Lifeless

Encore:

15. My Last Serenade
16. Holy Diver (DIO cover)

Killswitch Engage play Download this June.

Download tickets

Vote in the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and win tickets

Metallica 2012

In our exclusive Metallica feature in the new issue, we found out that the Biggest Metal Band On The Planet are looking to be involved in the upcoming Dio tribute – also featuring Anthrax, Rob Halford, Lemmy and more.

“We reached out to Wendy Dio [wife of Ronnie] about wanting to be a part of the Dio tribute that’s getting put together,” says singer James Hetfield. “We’re very honoured to be a part of that, and to be a part of a celebration of Ronnie’s life and his great contribution, man.”

“We’re definitely looking to do the record Wendy’s putting together for Ronnie,” adds Lars. “We were asked if we’d contribute to the anniversary of [classic Deep Purple album] ‘Machine Head’, too – we can’t turn that down. We’re circling the Dio and Purple catalogues and hopefully we’ll come up with something that is worthy of these wonderful men.”

Sounds good to us.

Metallica front the amazing current issue of Metal Hammer – also featuring Slipknot, Slash, Manowar, Periphery, DevilDriver, TWO free CDs and much, much more!

Metallica also play ‘The Black Album’ in full at Download this June, and it’s gonna be fucking massive.

Download tickets

Machine Head

According to a video interview with Machine Head, there will be a Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival Cruise featuring Machine Head, Lamb of God, Anthrax and Suicide Silence!

Erm, can we come?

Machine Head, Lamb Of God and Anthrax all play this year’s blinding Download festival, while Anthrax and Lamb of God have both picked up nominations in this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards!

Download tickets

Vote in the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and win tickets

Check it out below:

TRC are nominated in the Best British Band category at this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards. Want them to win? You know what to do.

Vote in the Golden Gods!

Chris Jericho Golden Gods

WWE superstar and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho will be hosting this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods – also featuring Anthrax, Biohazard, Shadows Fall, Attica Rage and Fozzy themselves – and when we caught him a few hours before appearing at WWE Raw live in London, he seemed as excited about it as we are.

Check it out…

Vote in this year’s Golden Gods and you could win tickets to the event, and don’t forget that thanks to our Hobgoblin band search, you could even end up playing! Get stuck in.

This year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods take place on June 11 at the IndigO2 in London.

Angela Gossow 2012

Ever wanted to know a little more about metal maiden and Queen Of Scream Angela Gossow’s musical influences and inspiration? Yeah ya do. Metal Hammer caught up with the Arch Enemy singer in the amazing new issue to discover just what makes her tick and which albums have helped shape her world.

Here’s a sneak preview of what we found out…

“The first CD I bought was Carcass’s Symphonies Of Sickness, “Anglea admits, “and obviously, I never regretted that! I’m surprised that it can still play, because I must have played it about 1.5 million times.”

Angela also reveals that she was a bit of a skater girl (not the Avril Lavigne kind), trying to get her mates into metal and listing Anthrax’s Fistful of Metal as the album that reminds her of her schoolyard days. “I skated a lot with friends from my school, and they were one of the few bands I could share with those guys,” she adds. “Normally they didn’t like much metal, but this is a bit of a crossover album.”

For Angela, the defining album of metal is Death’s Leprosy. She explains: “Leprosy encompasses everything I think extreme metal should be. Chuck [Schuldiner] just excels in everything on this album, and the vocals are out of this world.”

Grab yourself a copy of the new issue for the full article and more of Gossow’s metal album musts.

Check out Gossow’s tones on Arch Enemy’s latest album Khaos Legions, out now via Century Media.

Friday 13th 2012

Now, we couldn’t let Friday 13th slip by without injecting some metal themed horror into your day, could we? Here is our top ten list of horror movies with metal soundtracks… not exactly catchy, but to be honest, we threw this together pretty quickly at quite short notice. And don’t worry, you won’t find any sparkly Twilight vampire shit here.

Freddy vs Jason

It wasn’t perfect, but it was fucking good fun – and let’s be honest, in a world that has since seen Alien vs Predator: Requiem, this doesn’t seem so bad now, right?

Soundtrack:
‘How Can I Live’ by Ill Ninõ
‘When Darkness Falls’ by Killswitch Engage
‘Beginning of the End’ by Spineshank
‘Sun Doesn’t Rise’ by Mushroomhead
‘Condemned Until Rebirth’ by Hatebreed
‘Snap’ by Slipknot
‘Army of Me’ by Chimaira
‘The After Dinner Payback by From Autumn To Ashes
Leech’ by Sevendust
‘Bombshell’ by Powerman 5000
‘Welcome to the Strange’ by Murderdolls
‘Out of My Way’ by Seether
‘Inside The Cynic’ by Stone Sour
‘Swinging the Dead’ by DevilDriver
‘The Waste by Supultura’ with Mike Patton
‘Middle of Nowhere’ by The Blank Theory
‘Ether’ by Nothingface
‘Trigger’ by In Flames
‘11th Hour’ by Lamb of God
‘(We Were) Electrocute’ by Type O Negative

Scream 3

Originally made as a cliché of slasher films like Friday The 13th, the Scream franchise quickly became a cliché of themselves and then by Scary Movie…pretty embarrassing, really.

Soundtrack:
‘What If’ by Creed
‘Wait and Bleed’ by Slipknot
‘Suffocate’ by Finger Eleven
‘Spiders’ by System of a Down
‘Automatic’ by American Pearl
‘Fall’ by Sevendust
‘Time Bomb’ by Godsmack
‘Tyler’s Song’ by Coal Chamber
‘So Real’ by Static-X
‘Crowded Elevator’ by Incubus
‘Debonaire’ by Dope
‘Sunburn’ by Fuel
‘Get On, Get Off’ by Powerman 5000
‘Wanna Be Martyr’ by Full Devil Jacket
‘Dissention’ by Orgy
‘Crawl’ by Staind
‘Click Click’ by Ear2000
‘Is This The End’ by Creed

Resident Evil

Based on the Capcom video game and starring Milla Jovovich stalking around with a massive firearm, obliterating flesh-eating zombies to a backdrop of heavy metal soundtrack Resident Evil is pretty god damn bad ass. Although the game is still way better.

Soundtrack:
‘Red Queen’ by Michaela Dicker
‘My Plague’ by Slipknot
‘The Fight Song’ (Slipknot Remix) by Marilyn Manson
‘Something Told Me’ by Coal Chamber
‘Name of the Game’ by The Crystal Method
‘Everyone’ by Adema
‘Invisible Wounds’ by Fear Factory
‘Anything but This’ by Static-X
‘Halleluja’ by Rammstein
‘Dirt’by Depeche Mode
‘What Comes Around’ (Day of the Dead Mix) by Ill Niño
‘Dig’ (Everything and Nothing Remix) by Mudvayne
‘Release Yo’ Delf’ (Prodigy Remix) by Method Man
‘800’by Saliva
‘The Infinity’ by Five Pointe O
‘Resident Evil Main Title Theme’ (Film score) by Marilyn Manson
‘Seizure of Power’ (Film score) by Marilyn Manson
‘Reunion’ (Film score) by Marilyn Manson
‘Cleansing’ (Film score) by Marilyn Manson

Saw 1-7

The Saw franchise began in 2004, with twisted serial killer Jigsaw making his victims pawns in his gruesome game. Plenty of gore and self-harm, which is nice. Over the seven films, there are some heavy horror tracks from the likes of Fear Factory, Slayer, Lamb of God, Meshuggah and Megadeth.

There is a massive influence on the first by music mogul Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails. Clouser has worked with Marilyn Manson,, Killing Joke, Rammstein and Rob Zombie and worked on dozens of otter movie soundtracks including Underworld, The Matrix, The Crow and Resident Evil.

Underworld

Hard as nails female vampire, Kate Beckinsale, clad in leather, falls in love with a human. But this aint no Twilight crap; full of gore and set to a gothic backdrop, the soundtrack was distributed by Roadrunner Records by metal man Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson). Plus, Kate makes a much better vampire that than bell end with the big eyebrows.

Soundtrack:
Awakening by The Damning Well
Rev. 22:20 by Puscifer (performed by A Perfect Circle)
Throwing Punches by Page Hamilton
Rocket Collecting by Milla Jovovich and Danny Lohner
Now I Know by Renholdër (Danny Lohner)
Bring Me the Disco King by David Bowie
Optimissed by Skinny Puppy
Down In The Lab by Renholder
Judith (Renholder mix) by A Perfect Circle
Suicide Note by Johnette Napolitano
Baby’s First Coffin by The Dillinger Escape Plan
Hover (Quiet Mix) by Trust Company
Falling Through The Sky by Renholder
Weak and Powerless by A Perfect Circle
Worms Of The Earth by Finch
From A Shell by Lisa Germano
Death Dealer’s Descent by Renholder
On The Lash by The Icarus Line
All Of This Past by Sarah Bettens

A Nightmare On Elm Street

Wes Craven is the creator of the classic A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which clawed killer Freddy Kreuger stalks kids in their dreams. Scary shit. The fifth instalment, The Dream Child, featured a song written for the film by Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson. Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter was later released by Maiden and became a number one single. Other notables on the soundtrack include W.A.S.P. ‘Savage’, Mammoth ‘Can’t Take The Hurt’, and Slave Rider ‘What Do You Know About Rock ‘n’ Roll’.

Queen of the Damned

AKA that slightly dodgy sequel to Interview With A Vampire that did admittedly have some wicked tunes on.

Soundtrack:
Not Meant For Me by Static-X
Forsaken by Disturbed
System by Linkin Park
Change (In The House Of Flies) by Deftones
Redeemer by Marilyn Manson
Dead Cell by Papa Roach
Penetrate by Godhead
Slept So Long by Orgy
Down With The Sickness by Disturbed
Cold by Static-X
Headstrong by Earshot
Body Crumbles by Dry Cell
Excess by Tricky
Before I’m Dead by Kidneythieves

The Crow

Still a classic and boasting an equally legendarily atmospheric soundtrack, The Crow has so many cool bits in we could probably do a Top Ten Cool Bits From The Crow list if we fancied. In fact, we might…

Soundtrack:
Burn by The Cure
Golgotha Tenement Blues by Machines of Loving Grace
Big Empty by Stone Temple Pilots
Color Me Once by Violent Femmes
Dead Souls by Nine Inch Nails
Darkness by Rage Against The Machine
Snakedrive by The Jesus & Mary Chain
Time Baby III by Medicine
After The Flesh by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Milktoast by Helmet
Ghostrider by Rollins Band
Slip Slide Melting by For Love Not Lisa
The Badge by Pantera
It Can’t Rain All The Time by Jane Siberry

Dracula 2000

Er okay so this film really is a bit naff. Sorry.

Soundtrack:
Ultra Mega by Powerman 5000
A Welcome Burden by Disturbed
Bloodline by Slayer
Metro by System of a Down
Heads Explode by Monster Magnet
Break You Down by Godhead feat Marilyn Manson
One Step Closer by Linkin Park
Avoid The Light by Pantera
Otsego Undead by Static-X
Swan Dive by (hed)p.e.
Day By Day by Taproot
Malice by Endo
Blind World by Flybanger
Sober by Half Cocked
Your Disease by Saliva

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The original will never be topped, but as far as remakes go, this one wasn’t actually too bad. Although it helps when you have a few metal rippers backing things up.

Soundtrack:
Immortally Insane by Pantera
Below The Bottom by Hatebreed
Pride by Soil
Deliver Me by Static-X
43 by Mushroomhead
Pig by Seether
Down In Flames by Nothingface
Self-Medicate by 40 Below Summer
Suffocate by Motograter
Destroyer of Senses by Shadows Fall
Rational Gaze by Meshuggah
Archetype (Remix) by Fear Factory
Enshrined by Grace by Morbid Angel
Listen by Index Case
Stay In Shadow by Finger Eleven
Ruin by Lamb of God
As Real As It Gets by Sworn Enemy
Five Months by Cortez

Feature By Kelly Lazarus

Download have added a host of new names and revealed that this year’s main stage will be named after legendary Marshall Amps founder Jim Marshall, who passed away earlier this month.

Joining the lineup will be none other than Ghost, Saint Jude, Shadows Fall, My Passion, The Dirty Youth, Feed The Rhino, La Dispute, Lawnmother Deth, Six Hour Sundown, Silent Descent, With One Last Breath, The Union, No Americana, Royal Cartel, Tyla, Yashin, Breed 77, Voodoo Johnson and Sanguine. with Anthrax – who also play this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards – moving up to the main stage on the Sunday.

Those bands join The Prodigy, Black Sabbath and Metallica, as well as the likes of Machine Head, Lamb of God, Anthrax, The Devin Townsend Project, Soundgarden, DevilDriver, Megadeth, Black Label Society, Slash and many more!

Day Tickets are on sale now from the official Download site and priced at £75 (plus booking fee). Weekend tickets for Download 2012 are also on sale right now, also from the link below:

Download tickets

And, just as a cheeky bonus, there will also be a host of Download club nights taking place up and down the country in the lead-up to the festival! Check it:

Fri 20 April London, Sin @ The Electric Ballroom (10.00pm)
Sat 21 Newcastle, Legends (from 9.00pm)
Sat 21 Birmingham, Vudu (from 9.30pm)
Sat 21 London, Decadence @ St Moritz (from 10.30pm)
Sat 21 Nottingham, Rock City (from 9.00pm)
Sat 21 Manchester, Satan’s Hollow (from 9.00pm)
Sat 21 Liverpool, Krazy House (from 9.00pm)
Sat 21 Norwich, Meltdown @ The Waterfront (10.00pm)
Sat 21 Sheffield, Reservoir Rocks @ The Corporation (from 10.00pm)
Sat 21 Glasgow, The Cathouse (from 10.30pm)
Sat 21 Cardiff, Bogiez (from 10.00pm)
Sat 21 Wolverhampton, Corrosion at The Wulfrun (from 10.00pm)

Download 2012 takes place from June 8-10 at Donington. Oof!

Soccer Six Rock 2012

Fancy watching us put a few goals past the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Heights, Architects and more?

Yeah ya do! This year, Metal Hammer will be putting out a team – AKA whoever isn’t the most out-of-shape/hungover/rubbish/unavailable at short notice – to take part in the rock and metal edition of Soccer Six 2012!

A huge six-a-side football tournament will be going down at Leyton Orient’s ground on Brisbane Road in London on Friday May 11 with all proceeds going to charity, and we’ll be pitting our sick tekkers (which in our case means below average footballing skills) against a number of bands, industry types and whoever else turns up.

It’s all in the name of cha-ree-tee, with tickets going on sale Monday April 16 from the link below:

Soccer Six tickets

We’ll be revealing our totally pro and not at all flung-together team shortly. Watch this space…

Soccer Six Twitter

Come along and show your support. No seriously, please do, we need it. We’re fucking rubbish.

The Prodigy 2012

With Download Festival 2012 on the horizon, Metal Hammer grabbed Prodigy’s Maxim to talk pre-show nerves, the new album, and strangely enough, wildebeest. Yes, we know, “Not Da Metulz” and all that, but they’re headlining Donington, and we have a few pressing issues to bring up.

Here’s what went down…

So, Download is getting close now…nervous?

“No. [laughs] I don’t really get nervous. Never have. It’s more excitement you know.”

Do you feel any added pressure given the size and stature of the other headliners this year?

“No not really, well… you know there are certain expectations, but we always go out there and make it massive. However big the show is, or the other bands. We always go out and give it.”

Now that you are main stage headliners, how do you plan to step it up?

“We’ve been doing this for twenty years and we always go out there and give it everything. Obviously now there is more pressure because we are headlining Download, it’s one of the biggest UK festivals and one of the best. But we just go out and do our thing, make the people dance and go crazy.”

Do you have any favourite memories of the other two times you have played at Download?

“We really enjoyed both times at Download ‘cos the crowd are just mad. They go wild. One year we were playing on a really dry day and there was this dust cloud right in the middle of the crowd where everyone was moshing and going crazy. Like a wildebeest in the dust [laughs[. That’s what I love about Download you know; the people just go crazy.”

Chase and Status are supporting you guys, how do you see them going down?

“Yeah, hopefully they will go down well. They are doing a similar thing to us; we put down the beats but still have that rock edge, and I think they have the same. So yeah, hopefully people will get into their stuff.”

There are still a few cynics who aren’t sure that The Prodigy belong at a festival like Download. What do you have to say to them?

“I’m not going to disrespect anyone or their opinions on music, but I think people can judge it by the crowd reaction on the day. If people like it and they go fucking crazy, then who cares what other people say?”

Do you think it’s important for festivals like Download to expand their line up and the kinds of bands they put on?

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, we never thought we would be headlining Download - it was never on our radar before, you know? But I think that says something about music, and the way it is changing. And you don’t need to put a ‘rock’ or ‘dance’ label on things any more.”

Can we expect some especially heavy new material?

“The thing with The Prodigy is, there’s always a foundation, there’s always beats, bass, it’s always heavy, and it’s always in your face, and those are always gonna be the elements in The Prodigy's music. But, you know, I think when bands try to diversify and think ‘Oh yeah let’s try and do something else’, it doesn’t [always] work. You know Rage Against The Machine don’t try and write a ballad. Rage Against The Machine is always Rage Against The Machine, and the foundations are the same on every album and that’s the same with us. It’s always music that moves the crowd, it’s party music. That’s what we’re good at.”

The Prodigy headline this year’s Download festival, also featuring Black Sabbath and Metallica, as well as the likes of Machine Head, Lamb of God, Anthrax, The Devin Townsend Project, Soundgarden, DevilDriver, Megadeth, Black Label Society, Slash and many more!

Day Tickets are on sale now from the official Download site and priced at £75 (plus booking fee). Weekend tickets for Download 2012 are also on sale right now, also from the link below:

Download tickets

Interview by Kelly Lazarus

Anthrax 2012

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian joins has joined the likes of Metallica, Dave Grohl, Rob Halford, Lemmy and Alice Cooper as a contributor to the upcoming Ronnie James Dio tribute album.

Ian tweeted yesterday (9th April):

“Studio today with Jay Ruston. Tracking for the Dio tribute album! And a few other songs as well. Going to be a fun day.”

Put together by Dio’s wife and long term manager Wendy, the album will be a star-studded tribute to the metal god that once fronted Black Sabbath, Rainbow, and of course, Dio, who lost his battle with stomach cancer in May 2010.

Ian is among a list of massive names that have been allowed free reign by Wendy, who has allowed the contributors to pick the songs they want to cover, and record it in whatever style they want.

The release date of the album is yet to be announced, but Wendy Dio assures us it will be before the end of 2012. With all of the awesome names on the track listing, We’re sure it will be well worth the wait.

Chris Jericho Golden Gods

Fozzy frontman, WWE legend and officially one of the Top Ten Most Metal Wrestlers Ever Chris Jericho will be hosting this year’s Golden Gods awards!

“I’m totally stoked to host the Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards and to bring my ridiculous metal knowledge and even more ridiculous sense of humour to all of you nutters in the UK!,” says the man himself, who actually wrestled in front of nearly 80,000 people at Wrestlemania this past Sunday. “I’m also excited to return to Europe with the WWE in April, where even though I play the nastiest of villains, it’s always a blast to hear the “FOZZY” chants coming from our European family, as I’m getting booed out of the building by 10 yr olds!”

Fozzy themselves will also be rocking up to London that night to play our special pre-show boat party with Shadows Fall and Attica Rage, with Anthrax and Biohazard playing the awards show itself!

We still have plenty more bands and special guests appearances to announce, so watch this space…

The Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2012 take place on June 11 at the London Indig02, and you could be there by voting now to stand a chance of winning tickets! Plus, your band could play the Golden Gods, so if you think you have what it takes to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the biggest legends of the game, get involved. We cannot fucking wait for this.

Fozzy’s full UK dates for this summer are as follows:

06. June 2012 (UK) London – Underworld (with Ugly Kid Joe)

07. June 2012 (UK) Wolverhampton – Slade Rooms (with Soil)

09. June 2012 (UK) Donington Park – Download Festival

11. June 2012 (UK) London – Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards (riverboat performance) Indigo (O2 Arena)

Download festival has added another 13 acts to what is pretty much decided and consolidated as its greatest lineup ever.

Joining the lineup will be reunited hardcore icons Refused, modern punk heroes Gallows, rising UK rockers Black Spiders, plus Don Bronco, Lower Than Atlantis, Kobra And The Lotus, Four Year Strong, Edguy, Rival Sons, Fearless Vampire Killers, Porter Robinson, T. Mills and Kids In Glass Houses.

Those bands join The Prodigy, Black Sabbath and Metallica, as well as the likes of Machine Head, Lamb of God, Anthrax, The Devin Townsend Project, Soundgarden, DevilDriver, Megadeth, Black Label Society, Slash and many more!

Day Tickets are on sale now from the official Download site and priced at £75 (plus booking fee). Weekend tickets for Download 2012 are also on sale right now, also from the link below:

Download tickets

Download 2012 takes place from June 8-10 at Donington. Oof!

Chris Jericho Golden Gods

He made our Top Ten Most Metal Wrestlers Ever list last week, and we’re now stoked to also reveal that Fozzy frontman and WWE legend Chris Jericho will be hosting this year’s Golden Gods awards! Fuck yes!

Fozzy themselves will also be rocking up to London that night to play our special pre-show boat party with Shadows Fall and Attica Rage, with Anthrax and Biohazard playing the awards show itself!

We still have plenty more bands and special guests appearances to announce, so watch this space…

The Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2012 take place on June 11 at the London Indig02, and you could be there by voting now to stand a chance of winning tickets! Plus, your band could play the Golden Gods, so if you think you have what it takes to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the biggest legends of the game, get involved. We cannot fucking wait for this.

Golden Gods headliners Anthrax recently smashed Jakarta to bits, and we spotted guitarist Scott Ian rocking what looks like one of the most badass beards we’ve seen this year.

Fair play, Scott. Fair play.

This year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods take place on June 11 at the IndigO2 in London, and by voting, you could win tickets!

Plus, your band could actually play the Golden Gods! Yes, really. Get stuck in and we’ll hopefully see you in June.

Anthrax 2012

We’re beyond delights to confirm that thrash metal titans Anthrax will return to the UK fresh from their set at this year’s Download festival to headline the main stage at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards 2012!

The iconic New Yorkers stunned us with the comeback to end all comebacks with last year’s electric ‘Worship Music’, and now they’ll top an unbelievable twelve months that also saw them hit Sonisphere Knebworth as a part of the first ever UK Big 4 show and headline this year’s Hammerfest by closing the proceedings at the biggest and baddest metal awards show of them all!

We’re also absolutely psyched to confirm that hardcore icons and general legends Biohazard will be opening the main stage at the awards, which, after their awesome UK mini-tour earlier this year, is bound to be amazing. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Fozzy, Shadows Fall and Attica Rage will all be playing the pre-awards show boat party, which your band can also play!

Coming straight after this year’s Download festival (because, you know, we’re well hard like that), the Golden Gods will land at London’s Indigo2 on Monday June 11, preceded as ever by our special pre-show boat party that’ll be cruising up the Thames to the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year

You can still vote for your favourite bands and win Golden Gods tickets, so get voting and prepare to party hard this June. It is so on.

VOTE IN THE GOLDEN GODS

…and don’t forget to come back early next week to find out who will be hosting this year’s event.

Carl McCoy 2012

Fields Of The Nephilim will play a special Halloween show in London at Shepherd’s Bush Empire!

The show (on October 31, obviously) will be their sole UK date this year after Sonisphere cancelled their Knebworth festival earlier today.

“As with any unfortunate cancellation we were disappointed to hear that this year’s Sonisphere Festival in the UK has been called off as we were very much looking forward to performing there,” says Fields Of The frontman Carl McCoy. “However we are now pleased to confirm that we are returning to one of our favourite remaining London venues on October 31st.”

Fields Of The Nephilim Halloween show tickets will be released Friday March 30th (so, tomorrow), and for more info you can check the link below…

Fields Of The Nephilim London tickets

Fields of the Nephilim release their much-anticipated ‘Ceromonies’ project this April via EMI. ‘Ceromonies’ is released as a 3-disc digipack, featuring the double CD live album and DVD, a two-disc vinyl album, a digital download album featuring the bonus track ‘Last Exit For The Lost’ and as a limited-edition ‘Collector’s Box’ featuring all of the above and a wealth of extra artefacts, presented in a lush, branded wooden box. It’s proper nice.

Don’t forget that you can vote for Fields Of The Nephilim as Best UK Band in this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods! If you vote, you could win Golden Gods tickets. Which is nice.

Avengers Assemble

Reunited grunge gods Soundgarden are recording a new song – and even more badass-ly, it’s gonna be for the new Avengers film (or Avengers Assemble, as it’s called over here).

‘Live To Rise’ will be the band’s first new song in 15 years, and will join a solid lineup of bands contributing to the Avengers Assemble soundtrack.

Soundgarden

“We’ve been hard at work on our new album, which will come out this Fall,” say the band in a statement. “When the opportunity arose to write an original song for ‘The Avengers’ film came our way, we thought it could be a cool match. We are excited to release our new song ‘Live To Rise,’ which is also the only new song in the film. Here’s a taste. Loudest of Love.”

Check out a snippet of the track below:

You know that shit sounds tight.

Here’s the full Avengers Assemble soundtrack:

1. Live to Rise Performed by Soundgarden
2. I’m Alive Performed by Shinedown
3. Dirt and Roses Performed by Rise Against
4. Even If I Could Performed by Papa Roach
5. Unbroken Performed by Black Veil Brides
6. Breath Performed by Scott Weiland
7. Comeback Performed by Redlight King
8. Into the Blue Performed by Bush
9. A New Way to Bleed (Photek Remix) Performed by Evanescence
10. Count Me Out Performed by PUSHERJONES
11. Shoot to Thrill Performed by Theory of a Deadman
12. Wherever I Go Performed by Buckcherry
13. From Out of Nowhere Performed by Five Finger Death Punch
14. Shake the Ground Performed by Cherri Bomb

Avengers Assemble is released in the UK on April 26, and features loads of freakin’ sweet superheroes kicking the crap out of stuff.. It goes without saying that we cannot fucking wait.

Soundgarden also play Download in June. Funnily enough, we cannot fucking wait for that either.

Al Jourgensen

Industrial metal gods Ministry will have their long, long, long-awaited film released on April 10!

‘Fix: The Ministry Movie’ documents the band’s infamous ‘Sphinctour’ in 1996, with director Doug Freel and a single camera capturing a band on the verge of breaking into the mainstream while legendary frontman Al Jourgensen’s was trying to stop himself going off the rails completely through his now notorious drug abuse. In other words: it looks batshit insane and riveting viewing, so you’d be a wally to miss out.

The likes of Nine Inch Nails icon Trent Reznor, Lemmy, Skinny Puppy’s Ogre Nivek and Jane’s Addiction man Dave Navarro also appear on the film, which can be ordered alongside a CD featuring the soundtrack, as well as a t-shirt and poster. Not bad. Not bad at all. Order your copy at the link below:

‘Fix: The Ministry Movie’

We have an immense Ministry feature in the current issue of Metal Hammer, in which Al Jourgensen talks through the band’s unexpected but welcome reunion and the fire in his belly he still manages to keep raging. It’s a monster of a read.

ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE NEW ISSUE NOW

Five Finger Death Punch

LA groove metallers Five Finger Death Punch have recently kicked off the next leg of their Share the Welt tour in Las Vegas, Nevada!

Their album, American Capitalist, debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 when it was released in September, and the band have been charging hard ever since, recently spending a chunk of free time by playing a series of shows for US troops stationed in Kuwait. The band returned to the States to resume their tour with Soulfly in the support slot, and they will soon be announcing their summer plans, with rumours of headlining a very big festival, along with possible further European dates later in the year surrounding their set at Download in June.

Metal Hammer caught up with the band before the second stop of the tour in Pomona, California and asked how it felt to be nominated for Best International Band for Metal Hammer’s 2012 Golden Gods Awards.

“Man, it’s really cool,” said drummer Jeremy Spencer. “We’ve been a part of that awards show before and any time you get recognized for something that you do and that you’re proud of, it’s really special. So I think it’s awesome and we’re very grateful to the fans and the readers.”

Damn straight! And you can vote for Five Finger Death Punch and grab your chance to win tickets to the Golden Gods 2012 by clicking on the link below!

Golden Gods

Props to our boy Joe Daly for the interview.

Steel Panther

Fuckin’ ‘ell, they don’t hang around, do they?! LA glam metal heroes Steel Panther haven’t even finished their current UK tour, but they’re returning to our shores in November for another run of dates!

As well as hitting up Download festival this June, the band will be playing some of their biggest ever shows this winter, including a date at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. The fiends.

Vote for the Best Download Moment Ever to stand a chance of winning tickets to the Golden Gods!

The full Steel Panther UK tour dates for this November are as follows:

November 2012
Nov 5 Nottingham Rock City
Nov 6 Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Nov 7 O2 Academy Newcastle
Nov 9 Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Nov 10 O2 Apollo Manchester
Nov 11 Norwich UEA
Nov 13 O2 Academy Bristol
Nov 14 Southampton Guildhall
Nov 15 Hammersmith Apollo

Tickets go onsale this Friday (march 30) at 9am and will be available from the link below:

Steel Panther tickets

See you there, right? Right.

In the Maiden corner: Metal Hammer News Editor, Kvelertak lover and wearer of beanies, Merlin Alderslade. In the Metallica corner: professional stand-up comedian, hardcore follower and Dillinger fanboy, Steve Hill.

This could get messy (although please note that both are huge fans of both bands so please don’t hate us or send us nasty messages. Cheers).

Also covered in today’s Metal Hammer Podcast: Why Korn have swagger, Hammerfest reviewed, the Download festival announcement — Europe, Halestorm, Firewind, Turbonegro, Theory Of A Deadman, Stellar Revival, Anti-Nowhere League, Turbowolf, Mallory Knox, The Safety Fire, Emmure, Broken — rated, KISS and Motley Crue US tour analysed, Johnny Depp being on the new Marilyn Manson album, new recommendations for The Charm The Fury and the new 3 Inches Of Blood album and much, much more.

Don’t forget that you can vote for both Iron Maiden and Metallica in this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods! Voting can win you tickets and everything. True story.

It’s the Big One. The Metal Hammer Podcast: Iron Maiden vs Metallica Part II is here, and the gloves are definitely off. In the Maiden corner: Metal Hammer News Editor, Kvelertak lover and wearer of beanies, Merlin Alderslade. In the Metallica corner: professional stand-up comedian, hardcore follower and Dillinger fanboy, Steve Hill.

This could get messy (although please note that both are huge fans of both bands so please don’t hate us or send us nasty messages. Cheers).

Also covered in today’s Metal Hammer Podcast: Why Korn have swagger, Hammerfest reviewed, the Download festival announcement – Europe, Halestorm, Firewind, Turbonegro, Theory Of A Deadman, Stellar Revival, Anti-Nowhere League, Turbowolf, Mallory Knox, The Safety Fire, Emmure, Broken – rated, KISS and Motley Crue US tour analysed, Johnny Depp being on the new Marilyn Manson album, new recommendations for The Charm The Fury and the new 3 Inches Of Blood album and much, much more.

Don’t forget that you can vote for both Iron Maiden and Metallica in this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods! Voting can win you tickets and everything. True story.

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON UNDER THIS MESSAGE TO HEAR THE NEW METAL HAMMER PODCAST

Unbelievable. 30 fucking years since one of the single greatest and most influential metal albums to ever be recorded was first released, and we still can barely go a week without playing it.

On March 22 1982, Iron Maiden released ‘The Number Of The Beast’; an album that has come to be seen by many as not only the definitive Iron Maiden album, but a record that remains as influential, relentlessly epic and flawlessly brilliant as ever.

Memorably, ‘The Number Of The Beast’ served as Maiden’s first album with new singer Bruce Dickinson, whose arrival helped to propel the band to incredible creative heights and saw a subtle shift in sound that led to their eventual world domination as one of the biggest and greatest metal bands of all time.

From those spine-tingling opening moments of ‘Invaders’ to that spoken-word through to the final, crushing, career-defining notes of ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’, each and every song remains as heart-wrenchingly affecting now as they did three decades ago.

30 years, and still an absolute beast. Pun definitely intended.

Let’s crank that bad boy up, shall we?

Oh, and don’t forget that if you think that Maiden deserve to be crowned Best Live Band at this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, you can still vote and grab your chance to win tickets!

VOTE IN THE METAL HAMMER GOLDEN GODS

We’ll have a brand new Podcast coming Friday – and it’s an Iron Maiden vs Metallica special. Get ready.

30 years ago today, one of the greatest heavy metal guitarists of all time lost his life in a tragic accident that shocked the metal world and took from us an unbelievable talent.

Randall William “Randy” Rhoads is known by many for being a founding member of US rockers Quiet Riot, with whom he recorded their self-titled debut and its 1978 follow-up, but his lasting legacy will surely always be the two seminal albums he released with Ozzy Osbourne.

Randy’s unmistakable tones reinvigorated the Ozzman after his messy departure from Black Sabbath, resulting in two of the greatest metal albums ever released in 1980′s ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’ and 1981′s ‘Diary Of A Madman’, not to mention the incredible, posthumous live album, ‘Tribute’, dedicated to his memory and featuring some of the most spine-tingling live moments ever to be recorded to disc (and picked by Hammer’s Merlin as one of his top five live albums only last week).

It was on March 1982 that Randy lost his life at the age of just 25 in a bizarre plane crash that also took the lives of pilot Andrew Aycock and hairdresser/seamstress and friend of the band Rachel Youngblood. There are few musicians in history that have had such a profound influence on guitar music and heavy metal in such a short time with us, and his memory lives as strongly now as it did the day he left us.

RIP Randy. Legend doesn’t cover it.

The new Iron Maiden live DVD ‘En Vivo!’ is released Monday March 26, and the iconic metal legends will be featured in a special ‘Behind The Beast’ documentary to be included in the package!

Don’t forget that you can vote for Iron Maiden as Best Live Band in the Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2012 and win tickets to the event! Get on it.

Check out an awesome trailer for the ‘Behind The Beast’ documentary below…

The DVD ‘En Vivo!’ was filmed at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile, which basically means we get to see Iron Fucking Maiden do their thing in front of one of the most legendarily mental crowds in the world. Oh yes.

With the awesome new Metal Hammer issue, we’re giving away an amazing free Iron Maiden bonus mag to celebrate the tour and the DVD, featuring brand new photos, exclusive behind-the-scenes access of the Final Frontier tour and thoughts from the people on the frontline that helped to make it all happen!

“For The Final Frontier Tour it was really important to me that we filmed in South America as we’re always so overwhelmed by the fans’ reaction when we go to that part of the world and I wanted to reflect that in the filming,” says iconic Maiden bassist Steve Harris. “After much consideration we chose the Santiago show as we felt it was one of our best performances of the entire tour and to play at the prestigious Estadio Nacional was a landmark moment for us. For reasons known to our fans, it took a long time before we got to play our first show in Chile, and once we did get to play a show, the response was so phenomenal we just had to keep coming back and it’s got better and better each time!

This show also features the gigantic new Eddie. He wasn’t due to make his appearance until our European leg of the tour later in 2011, but we managed to transport him across the sea in a special huge container just in time for the latter end of the South American dates so it was great we were able to immortalize him for the DVD as he really has to be seen to be believed!”

As well as the full concert, Disc Two is a Bonus Disc containing an 88-minute documentary, ‘Behind The Beast’, showcasing all the magic and mayhem that goes on when putting on an Iron Maiden show and including interviews with members of the band and crew!

The tracklisting for the set is as follows:

DVD DISC ONE “LIVE AT ESTADIO NACIONAL, SANTIAGO” (approx running time 120 mins)

1. Satellite 15
2. The Final Frontier
3. El Dorado
4. 2 Minutes To Midnight
5. The Talisman
6. Coming Home
7. Dance Of Death
8. The Trooper
9. The Wicker Man
10.Blood Brothers
11.When The Wild Wind Blows
12.The Evil That Men Do
13.Fear Of The Dark
14.Iron Maiden
15. The Number Of The Beast
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name
17. Running Free

BONUS DISC – DVD DISC TWO “BEHIND THE BEAST” (approx running time 102 mins)

1.Behind The Beast documentary
2.Satellite 15…The Final Frontier promo video (director’s cut)
3.The Making of Satellite 15…The Final Frontier promo
4.The Final Frontier World Tour Show Intro

As well as a DVD and CD release, there’ll also be a Blu-Ray edition and a digital download available.

We’ll have six of each, cheers. ‘En Vivo’ is released March 26 via EMI. MAIIIIDDDEEEEENNN!!!

As expected, Hammerfest 2012 was an absolute blinder. We came, we saw, we drank, but most of all, we bowed our heads and raised the horns to another outstanding weekend of heavy fucking metal and disgusting hangovers.

Here are ten of the many reasons Hammerfest 2012 was the best yet…

1. Skindred Putting On The Gig Of A Lifetime

We all knew that Golden Gods nominees Skindred were one of the very, very best live bands on the planet, but holy fuck did they manage to outdo even themselves on Saturday night. From the opening notes of ‘Rat Race’ to a heavy metal robot dance and a Metallica drop to a crushing encore that featured the return of the Newport Helicopter and Benji Webbe getting everyone in the crowd to get down on the floor, Corey Taylor style, it was not only one of the best Skindred gigs in history, but one of the top festival headline sets you’re likely to see this or any year. Epic doesn’t cover it.

2. Anthrax Completing The Mother Of All Comebacks

As if coming back with a storming, career-best-rivalling new album in last year’s immense ‘Worship Music’ wasn’t enough, Anthrax cemented their back-to-their-best status with a blinding headline set on the Friday night that saw new numbers and classic oldies alike being embraced by a rabid and packed-out thrash hungry crowd.

3. This Guy

4. Chimaira Packing Out The Main Stage

Proving that they remain as vital as ever, Chimaira brought one of the biggest Hammerfest crowds in history when they arrived for a typically crushing set that had the entire arena from front to back banging heads and raising fists.

5. Evil Scarecrow Bringing The LOLS

Proving that Hammerfest is ultimately first and foremost about having fun, Evil Scarecrow drew a room-filling second stage audience for their hilarious and invigoratingly gnarly Friday night set. They went down a storm at Bloodstock last year, and on the basis of this, their momentum is only going one way.

6. These Guys

7. Lawnmower Deth’s Heavy Metal Conga

Because no one – and we mean no one – who isn’t Lawnmower Deth could get a heavy metal conga line going. Plus, they got their trampoline out (not a euphemism) and were kicking pilates balls about. Total heroes.

8. We Won An Eeyore

9. Evile Repping For British Thrash

It takes a brave band to come on after an awesome Anthrax set but that’s exactly what Evile did on the Friday night; unleashing anthem after anthem to a splendidly big late night/early morning crowd and further cementing their status as one of the UK’s most awesome bands. Nicely done, lads.

10. Chalet Parties

If you were there, you know why. Amazing scenes. See you in December for Hard Rock Hell, folks!

Evile guitarist Ol Drake has given us his thoughts on being nominated in the Dimebag Darrell Shredder category at this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards!

Check it out…

Total legend.

Check out the full list of nominations for the Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2012 below – and vote now to win Golden Gods tickets!

Best UK band

Saxon

Fields Of The Nephilim

Tesseract

TRC

Black Spiders

Best International Band

Opeth

Meshuggah

Lamb Of God

Five Finger Death Punch

Nightwish

Best Event

Manowar Returning To The UK

Iron Maiden’s UK Tour

Mustaine Playing With Metallica

Devin Townsend’s DTP London Shows

Tommy Lee Bringing His Drumcoaster To The UK

Best Live Band

Iron Maiden

Metallica

Rammstein

Skindred

Watain

Dimebag Darrell Shredder

Satchel (Steel Panther)

Devin Townsend

Dino Cazares (Fear Factory)

Adam D (Killswitch Engage)

Ol Drake (Evile)

Metal as F*ck

Zoltan Bathroy (Five Finger Death Punch)

Hell

Sabaton

Anthrax

Nik Kai

The following awards will also take place on the night, as voted for by the esteemed team at Metal Hammer:

Drummer of the Year

Album of the Year

Riff Lord

Icon

The Golden God

Get voting and register your votes and you could win a pair of tickets to come and party with us at the event itself! Let’s go!

Coming straight after this year’s Download festival (because, you know, we’re well hard like that), the Golden Gods will land at London’s Indigo2 on Monday June 11, preceded as ever by our special pre-show boat party that’ll be cruising up the Thames to the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year

We’ll soon be announcing which iconic acts will be playing this year’s awards, but for now, enough hyperbole. Time to get to the important bit. Here’s the list of nominations for this year’s Golden Gods!

And, don’t forget that we’re running a special competition where you and your band can play the Golden Gods! Get involved.

Friday is Podcast day. So it is written. So it has been recorded.

In this week’s Podcast. Hill and Merl cast their brains over the Reading Festival announcement (don’t worry, we’ve not gone indie), how your band could play the Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards, look at the awesome free Iron Maiden magazine in the new issue, demand everyone check out Conan, discuss the art of Dappy and why Kyuss’ name is being taken to court, and compare our top five live albums!

Shit’s getting real, people. Check it out the Metal Hammer Podcast on the little play button thing below…

This year, the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards reaches its tenth incarnation (yes, really!), and voting has officially opened! We’re looking to make it the biggest and greatest awards bash of them all and we are looking for you to not only vote for the bands you think are most deserving of these most heavy and prestigious of gongs, but by voting, you could actually win tickets to the show!

Coming straight after this year’s Download festival (because, you know, we’re well hard like that), the Golden Gods will land at London’s Indigo2 on Monday June 11, preceded as ever by our special pre-show boat party that’ll be cruising up the Thames to the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year

We’ll soon be announcing which iconic acts will be playing this year’s awards, but for now, enough hyperbole. Time to get to the important bit. Here’s the list of nominations for this year’s Golden Gods!

Best UK band

Saxon

Fields Of The Nephilim

Tesseract

TRC

Black Spiders

Best International Band

Opeth

Meshuggah

Lamb Of God

Five Finger Death Punch

Nightwish

Best Event

Manowar Returning To The UK

Iron Maiden’s UK Tour

Mustaine Playing With Metallica

Devin Townsend’s DTP London Shows

Tommy Lee Bringing His Drumcoaster To The UK

Best Live Band

Iron Maiden

Metallica

Rammstein

Skindred

Watain

Dimebag Darrell Shredder

Satchel (Steel Panther)

Devin Townsend

Dino Cazares (Fear Factory)

Adam D (Killswitch Engage)

Ol Drake (Evile)

Metal as F*ck

Zoltan Bathroy (Five Finger Death Punch)

Hell

Sabaton

Anthrax

Nik Kai

The following awards will also take place on the night, as voted for by the esteemed team at Metal Hammer:

Drummer of the Year

Album of the Year

Riff Lord

Icon

The Golden God

Get voting and register your votes and you could win a pair of tickets to come and party with us at the event itself! Let’s go!

The new Metal Hammer video Podcast is here, people.

Hill and Merl run through this year’s Golden Gods Nominees, which include the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Rammstein, Tesseract, The Defiled, Five Finger Death Punch, Devin Townsend and many more! Oh and we also get our awesome free Ghost hats on – free with the new Metal Hammer issue!

Also grilled: the brand new Metal Hammer issue, the updated Sonisphere lineup, the Top Five Essential heavy metal starter albums, plus Black Moth, Kylesa, Uneven Structure, The Dillinger Escape Plan and much, much more. Have a looksie…

The Metal Hammer Golden Gods are alive and waiting for your votes!

Hill and Merl run through this year’s Golden Gods Nominees, which include the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Rammstein, Tesseract, The Defiled, Five Finger Death Punch, Devin Townsend and many more!

Also grilled: the brand new Metal Hammer issue, the updated Sonisphere lineup, the Top Five Essential heavy metal starter albums, plus Black Moth, Kylesa, Uneven Structure, The Dillinger Escape Plan and much, much more.

Check it out for yourself in our neat new little widget below, and don’t forget to vote in the Golden Gods to win a pair of tickets to the event! Ya dig?

CLICK THE LITTLE PLAY BUTTON THING UNDER THIS MESSAGE TO PLAY IT. SIMPLES.

Fancy joining the biggest and greatest heavy metal awards show on the planet? Here’s how your band could play this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards!

This year, the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards reaches its tenth incarnation (yes, really!), and along with our friends at Hobgoblin, we’re looking to make it the biggest and greatest awards bash of them all! Coming straight after this year’s Download festival (because, you know, we’re well hard like that), the Golden Gods will land at London’s Indigo2 on Monday June 11, preceded as ever by our special pre-show boat party that’ll be cruising up the Thames to the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year!

Thanks to our friends at Hobgoblin, if you think your band deserves to be a part of the festivities this year, you can actually win a spot playing on our special pre-show Boat Party, bringing the noise alongside some huge names as we ferry the Hammer faithful to the main event! It’s an amazing opportunity to bring your band to the very forefront of the metal scene and share the stage with some brilliant artists, and all you have to do to enter your band for consideration is send your band name, website and a video/audio file to heresies@futurenet.com by May 1 (over-18s only). No matter what end of heavy your band plays in, we want to hear from you, so get involved and grab your chance to be a part of heavy metal history.

Stay glued to www.metalhammer.co.uk for further announcements in the coming months, but for now, we’ll see you in June! Epic won’t cover this one.

Terms and Conditions:
By taking part in this competition you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions below and the Competition Rules which can be viewed at www.futuretcs.com. Entries must be emailed to heresies@futurenet.com and be received by 12.pm on Tuesday May 1. Entries must be in one of the following file formats: mpg, mpeg, avi or wmv and have a maximum file size of 2MB. Open to all United Kingdom residents over the age of 18 years. Bands may enter whether signed or unsigned. There will be 1(one) winning band entitled to play on the Metal Hammer Boat prior to the Golden Gods 2012 Awards to be held at the London IndigO2 on Monday June 11. The set length will be 20 minutes with a set up and line check of 30 minutes. The winning band will be required to use the backline and technical specification of Future Publishing Limited.The prize includes a maximum of five VIP tickets to the Awards, a crate of ale, 1 night in a hotel (to be decided and booked by Future). Some complimentary food and drinks may be available throughout the trip at Future’s absolute discretion. The winning band must be available to attend on the above date. The prize does not include any transportation costs, meals, drinks, entertainment, spending money, personal insurance or any other costs not specifically mentioned in the above paragraph. Future shall appoint a judging panel to determine the winning entry. The decision of the judges is final and Future will not enter into any correspondence regarding the judging of the competition. The winner shall be notified by email or telephone. The prize is non-transferable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative.

This year, the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards reaches its tenth incarnation (yes, really!), and voting has officially opened! We’re looking to make it the biggest and greatest awards bash of them all and we are looking for you to not only vote for the bands you think are most deserving of these most heavy and prestigious of gongs, but by voting, you could actually win tickets to the show!

Coming straight after this year’s Download festival (because, you know, we’re well hard like that), the Golden Gods will land at London’s Indigo2 on Monday June 11, preceded as ever by our special pre-show boat party that’ll be cruising up the Thames to the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year

We’ll soon be announcing which iconic acts will be playing this year’s awards, but for now, enough hyperbole. Time to get to the important bit. Here’s the list of nominations for this year’s Golden Gods!

Best UK band

Metal occultists GHOST haunt the cover of the brand new issue of Metal Hammer! We dig deep to find the amazing truth behind one of the most unique and mysterious metal bands of the last twenty years, speaking to both master preacher Papa Emeritus I and A Nameless Ghoul (though we weren’t sure which one) to bring you one of the most fascinating – and terrifying – features of the year. And, you can even pledge allegiance to their most Satanic of causes with your own FREE GHOST MITRE (that’s the pointy hat thing) free only with the new issue!

Plus, we have an amazing FREE IRON MAIDEN BONUS MAG detailing their incredible Final Frontier world tour and the making of brilliant new live DVD, En Vivo! Featuring exclusive photos and comments from those on the frontline of the tour itself, it’s a 24-page heavy metal mini-Maiden Bible. Seriously.

Also in the new issue, legendary heavy metal icon KING DIAMOND talks us through the incredible ordeal he had to go through undergoing heart surgery that could have not only finished his career, but taken his life.

We also get an exclusive interview with a reborn KILLSWITCH ENGAGE – reunited with Jesse Leach and ready to tackle what might just be the biggest challenge of their career as they prepare to unleash their brand new album – and MINISTRY being a comeback of their own, as we find out why the mad prince of industrial Al Jourgensen has decided to resurrect his iconic crew for another round.

Also in our explosive new issue, Canadian ragers CANCER BATS explain what the hell they were playing at when they decided to play six London gigs in one day, Dutch symphonic metal masters EPICA talk us through their new album, death metal gods CANNIBAL CORPSE explain their unlikely longevity and Max Cavalera opens up on what caused him to create the most brutal, harrowing SOULFLY album yet.

What happens when you mash together IRON MAIDEN and SIKTH? PRIMAL ROCK REBELLION, that’s what! We sit down with both Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith and SiKth frontman Mikee Goodman to work out what brought two such unlikely allies together – and why their new album Awoken Broken is bloody brilliant!

And speaking of bloody brilliant, how about the party-hard ethos and maddening revival of ANDREW WK, who has perhaps made one of the most unlikely comebacks of all time as he prepares to invade the UK for one of the most anticipated tours of the year. We get the skinny with the man himself and find out what the fuck is going on, and why people need to Party Hard more now than ever.

Plus, mighty tech metal metal groovesters MESHUGGAH explain what powered their amazing new album and debate their role in the rise of djent, SKELETONWITCH frontman Chance Garnette gets his tatts out for the ladies and TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy describes what happened when his mum, Pantera’s ‘Cowboys From Hell’ and his car (almost literally) collided. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds

And speaking of ridiculous, we were on board the outrageously fun 70,000 TONS OF METAL CRUISE, sharing the high seas with the likes of NIGHTWISH, ALESTORM, MY DYING BRIDE and many more for one of the most ridiculous festivals in history!

Not only that, but gnarly punked-up underground heroes BLACK BREATH demolish this month’s Subterranea, joined by NWOBHM legends ANGEL WITCH, who tell us the story behind their long-awaited new album, and SHINING frontman Niklas Kvarforth, who is back and ready to destroy once again.

There’s also reviews of the new IRON MAIDEN DVD, plus new efforts from MESHUGGAH, VAN HALEN and OVERKILL, as well as live reviews from TOOL, LAMB OF GOD and THIN LIZZY!

Oh, and we meet Playboy personalities-turned heavy metal stars BUTCHER BABIES – featuring studs, nipple tape and lots and lots of blood. You haven’t seen anything quite like this.

METAL HAMMER 229 IS ALIVE! BUY YOUR COPY AND JOIN OUR CULT!

Bow down, mortals! The most incredible extreme metal bill ever to hit the UK lands this week, and oh, you better believe shit’s going down when it down.

Death metal Gods Cannibal Corpse, Tom G Warrior’s mighty dark doom warriors Tryptikon, Norwegian progressive black metal icons Enslaved and modern death metal heavyweights Job For A Cowboy will smash the following venues to bits:

Mar 7 Bristol O₂ Academy (tickets/0844 477 2000)
Mar 8 Glasgow O₂ ABC (tickets/0871 200 2233)
Mar 9 Manchester Academy (tickets/0161 275 4278)
Mar 10 London HMV Forum (tickets/0843 221 0100)
Mar 11 Birmingham HMV Institute (tickets/0843 221 0100)

We’ll be representing across the board, so it you see us at any of the gigs, come and grab us a beer and bang heads with us! Bring it on.