Innehållsförteckning för January 2026 från Metal Hammer UK

THE BIGGEST EVENT on the calendar this year was undoubtedly Ozzy and Sabbath’s farewell show, Back To The Beginning. Not only did we get final fist-pumping and tear-jerking sets from both, we got to see some of metal’s most prestigious artists, from Metallica and Slayer to Halestorm and Gojira, get onstage and perform in tribute. That once-in-a-lifetime day showed not only the debt we owe to metal’s founding fathers, but how vibrant our community really is. Sadly, two weeks later, we lost Ozzy. The outpouring of love, not just from metal but the whole world, showed how much he meant to people. Inside this issue, we remember that gig, while Rob Halford remembers The Prince Of Darkness himself. You’ll also find a bunch of features that shine a light on how…

JESS ALLANIC KNEW she wanted to be a musician from a young age. Growing up in Guarenas, on the outskirts of Caracas in Venezuela, her mum enchanted her with stories about rock legends. “She told me these amazing stories of going to see Queen, Van Halen, The Police, Guns N’ Roses… all these amazing bands who came out there to play,” she says. “I was 10 or 11 years old, and I would just study everything I could about it. At school I did a presentation about Black Sabbath! I knew I wanted to move to the UK… that’s where my heroes were from.” But Jess didn’t move straight to the UK. First, she persuaded her parents to let her relocate to France when she was 16, and lived in…

IF YOU’RE A GUITARIST looking to start taking on frontman duties, there aren’t many better mentors to help you make that transition than Zakk Wylde. But while most don’t have Zakk on speed dial, Dario Lorina had something of an edge, having played guitar in Black Label Society since 2014. “He’s been so supportive since day one,” Dario says. “When I first thought about putting the band together, he’d sit on the back of the bus with me and give me ideas, band names, those kinds of conversations.” Dark Chapel might have had plenty of advice from a high-profile source, but the band are definitely Dario’s baby. He’s been working on songs with a bunch of “phenomenal musicians” from his native Las Vegas for the last few years, resulting in their…

“It felt like I always knew Ozzy. I wish I could tell you for certain the first time we spoke – I reckon there’s probably a few nights where I met him at [late-60s Birmingham club] Henry’s Blueshouse, but didn’t know I’d actually met him. “Our first proper chat was something daft like, ‘Are you sleeping alright?’ We’d both been on the road a few years by that point, and both of us had terrible insomnia. We would be talking about our voices – usually complaining! ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do this tonight’, just very casual banter. I have to stress, I wasn’t in the inner circle like Zakk Wylde was, but we had a very close relationship when it came to music, our love for metal and…

Steve Harris was still a teenager when he formed Iron Maiden. This year, they celebrated their 50th anniversary with the massive Run For Your Lives world tour. Kicking off in May in Budapest, it marked the debut of new touring drummer Simon Dawson, brought in from Steve’s side-project, British Lion, following the news that Nicko McBrain would be stepping away from the road after 42 years. The run also included a stop at London Stadium, home of Steve’s beloved West Ham, and boasted a setlist featuring rarely played favourites such as Murders In The Rue Morgue and The Clairvoyant. Oh, and did we mention they released a huge, glossy book called Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams? But ’Arry isn’t done yet. He takes us inside the band’s whirlwind 2025, and their…

Maynard James Keenan was a young kid when he first heard Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley. “I can’t even count how many times I’ve listened to Strange Ways on the Hotter Than Hell album,” the Tool frontman tells Metal Hammer, referring to Kiss’s classic 1974 LP. “Ace’s solo is otherworldly. It’s an out-of-body experience. I could listen to that, Cold Gin and Parasite on loop forever.” Ace, who died in October aged 74 following a fall at home, was more than just the guitarist and co-founder of one of America’s most famous rock bands. To a generation of kids whose eyes were opened and minds were blown by the cartoon Technicolor circus that was Kiss in the 1970s, he was a living, breathing comic book hero: the former street hoodlum-turned-Space Ace…

Proving that the appetite for masked bands shows no sign of abating, it took less than a year for President to emerge from nowhere and sweep triumphantly into metal’s own Oval Office. All of that on the back of a triumphant Download appearance, a three-track EP, a handful of ‘headline rallies’ (aka gigs) and a lot of speculation as to who is behind that mask. We catch up with the President. Good afternoon, Mr President. How has it been adjusting to your new role? “It’s been fucking crazy. I didn’t have any grand expectations – I’d hoped we might have enough fans to put on a few shows, maybe. I’d never have guessed this is how people would respond.” What does President mean to you? “It’s the most important thing…

For many black metal purists, a band dubbing themselves ‘ecstatic black metal’ will serve as instant rage bait. It is, after all, not a genre well known for levity and lighthearted ribbing. While they’re not intentionally trying to put anyone’s corpsepainted nose out of joint, Agriculture nevertheless know how it all looks. “Giving yourself a genre name is one of the most annoying things a band can do,” laughs vocalist/bassist Leah B. Levinson, speaking today from her LA home. “It gets misinterpreted by people who think ‘ecstatic’ just means ‘happy’, but I don’t think any of our songs are just about, like, feeling good. We’re talking about ecstasy in a spiritual sense; there are spiritual connotations to that word, and there are also more embodied ones. You say the word…

The last time Hammer spoke to Tobias Forge, back in February at a posh hotel in London, he revealed he was recovering from a period of extreme burnout. It turned out that juggling an exhaustive world tour, a concert movie – Rite Here Rite Now – and writing/recording sessions for the next album was a lot, and the ever-ambitious Ghost mainman explained that, come the end of 2024, he had “hit a wall”. At the end of 2025, Ghost now have another acclaimed album under their belt – the bombastic and fantastic Skeletá, released in April – along with another couple of legs of another world tour, with more dates already announced. So, to ask the obvious question: how is he handling it all? “I feel like I’ve committed to…

Where EP is short for ‘Epic Potential’ COLDRAIN Optimize CENTURY MEDIA A headrush of whirling electronics, J-rock riffs and gut-punching metalcore. Right up to the scathing closer, Free Fall, this is a non-stop dopamine trip urged on by sonic chaos – and it’s marvellous. EMILY SWINGLE SUMMONING HELLGATES Spear Of Conquest OSMOSE Violent and merciless, SH are blackened militants on a runaway train to Hell. This EP offers 22 minutes of feral blasting and incensed polemic, as the Spaniards revel in metaphysical horror. DOM LAWSON VOWER A Storm Lined With Silver SELF-RELEASED Ex-Palm Reader and Black Peaks luminaries combine with incredible effect, channeling their respective chaotic hardcore and angular yet anthemic grandeur. A full album can’t come soon enough. STEPHEN HILL…

MEGADETH UTILITA ARENA, BIRMINGHAM Nu metal nostalgia trumps outrage in the Midlands “THE REPORTS OF the media have been greatly exaggerated,” declares David Draiman. “By the look of this pretty much slam-packed arena tonight, there’s still a lot of love for Disturbed in Birmingham.” David is feeling vindicated. In July, he was booed when stepping out as a guest vocalist at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham. There was no mystery as to why. A year earlier, he’d waded into the Israel-Gaza conflict with all the restraint and nuance of an oversized toddler with a sledgehammer. On Instagram, he shared a picture of himself signing an artillery shell while visiting the Israeli Defence Forces. It’s had far-reaching consequences, including a mayor in Belgium cancelling a show over threats of “violent…

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR / UNPEOPLE O2 BRIXTON ACADEMY, LONDON Prog metal visionaries bring their sci-fi saga back to vivid life DESPITE A QUEUE that stretches around the block well before doors, a solid amount of people have made it inside for UNPEOPLE, appearing tonight only. Opening with the towering Waste, their three-part harmonies and party-starting metal riffs are coupled with lyrics lamenting the state of the world and mental health. Despite this, there’s an uplifting spirit of togetherness to their songs that makes for a rambunctious start to the night, including a circle-pit for closer The Garden. AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR are markedly different sonically, their instrumental post-rock more intricate and full of ebb-and-flow dynamics. Tonally, though, there are similarities, the band offering…

OBITUARY / DESTRUCTION / NERVOSA O2 FORUM KENTISH TOWN, LONDON The Bay Area’s thrash titans carry a torch for the dark ages THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ON from the legendary Clash Of The Titans tour, one quarter of that original entourage are back with another killer package. Kicking off at an unfashionably early 6.30pm, Brazilian death/thrashers NERVOSA still manage to play to close to a full house, frontwoman Prika Amaral leading the charge through the battering-ram riffs of Behind The Wall and more, as the band go about things with the confidence of the headliners that they undoubtedly soon will be. Hitting the stage with Curse The Gods, DESTRUCTION bring the big thrash guns, and some pretty big flash bombs to boot. Early tracks Mad Butcher and Bestial Invasion were considered key…

AMORPHIS / ELUVEITIE / GATECREEPER EVENTIM APOLLO, LONDON Sweden’s melodeath masters go on the rampage in London KICKING OFF TONIGHT’S metal extravaganza are Arizona’s GATECREEPER, who bring monolithic riffs and a buzzsaw guitar tone. Frontman Chase Mason is the most metal man in the room, his cavernous growl and grunts of ‘Ough!’ punctuating their thunderous death metal. From opener Dead Star to the rampaging Flesh Habit, they set one hell of a bar. Folk metallers ELUVEITIE are certainly a change of pace, considering they come bearing a violin, a flute and even a hurdy gurdy. Interspersed with their catchy melodies is a sometimes-frantic strain of melodeath that gets the pit moving. It’s still the likes of the towering Call Of The Mountains and the jaunty Inis Mona that draw the…

VANESSA THORPE PRODUCTION EDITOR Vanessa works tirelessly to crack whips and keep people in check so you can read these pages every month! She also runs far too much, for which she only has herself to blame. We love you, Vanessa. LIZ SCARLETT WRITER Liz took a break from running our socials to speak to Glasgow’s Cwfen over Zoom (p.73), and they held kittens up to the camera! Best day ever. She likes cats, witchcraft and pretending to be Stevie Nicks. MERLIN ALDERSLADE WRITER He’s our former editor and current executive editor of our parent website, Louder, but he’s also our Official Ghost Correspondent. Merl spoke to Tobias about becoming Papa V and what’s next for the greatest showman in metal (p.84).…

HEALTH Conflict DLC “More world-weary nihilism for underground clubs – or your bedroom, if you can’t be bothered leaving the house” ELEANOR GOODMAN EDITOR THE DEVIL’S TRADE Nincs Szennyezetlen Szép “A fusion of dark folk and crushing doom that sounds like it’s been granted extrasensory powers” JONATHAN SELZER REVIEWS EDITOR CASTLE RAT The Bestiary “I admit, I was a little wary, having seen the costumes before hearing the music, but I’m 100% sold. Fetch my sword!” VANESSA THORPE PRODUCTION EDITOR GHOST Skeletá “Hands down, the album, gig and band of the year for me” LOUISE BROCK ART EDITOR CONJURER Unself “Seismic and crushing, but also beautiful and oddly fragile” RICH HOBSON STAFF WRITER KREATOR Krushers Of The World “Late-career brilliance from the enduring German thrashers. Who needs retirement?” DAVE EVERLEY…

SINCE BREAKING INTO music in the 90s, John 5 – John William Lowery to his mum – has refused to box himself in. A country-influenced, Tele-slinging, metal-playing virtuoso, he’s played with everyone from Lita Ford to David Lee Roth, Rob Zombie and, most recently, Mötley Crüe. What’s more, he refuses to even consider a break. Between working on his latest solo album, Ghost, and a demanding Las Vegas residency with Crüe, John 5 dialled in with Metal Hammer to look back on what he’s learned along the way. YOU CAN ALWAYS GET BETTER “I always try to improve on what I’m doing. That’s the truth. Literally, I am learning things every day, like, all the time. And also, just trying to be an outsider looking in… don’t look at the…

Every Ghost album means a new lead character, and in Papa V Perpetua, we got Tobias Forge’s most dazzling protagonist yet. In an unusual turn, Papa V’s identity was revealed when it was confirmed he’d be appearing at Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning farewell show in Birmingham. The gig, where he sang Bark At The Moon, officially put Papa V on the world stage – and gave Tobias the chance to meet a hero. You previously said that you didn’t know what kind of frontman Papa V would be until he was “one with the people”. What can you say about him now? “I don’t really have a better answer now! I’m not one to ‘explain’ him actually, and I’ve never been fond of trying to explain what the…

As the summer of 2025 drew to a close, we received the shocking news that Brent Hinds, one of metal’s most inventive guitarists and the mercurial heart of Mastodon, had died, aged 51, in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta. Brent co-founded Mastodon in 2000 with Troy Sanders, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor, and together they released eight albums of sprawling, progressive metal before he left the band in March. Brent’s playing fused classical technique, bluegrass picking and psychedelic daring, while his stage presence and creativity made him a singular figure in heavy music. Offstage, he was a woodworker, hunter, fisherman, motorcyclist and fearless experimenter with mind-expanding substances. His influence and vision remain embedded in Mastodon’s music and the wider metal world. Before joining Slipknot, Alessandro ‘V-Man’ Venturella was Brent’s guitar…

In October, Aussie metalcore legends Parkway Drive brought their 20th anniversary celebration tour to UK arenas. They always impress with stunning shows, but nothing could’ve prepared us for this latest spectacle. Fire, dancers, a string section, b-stages, rising platforms, rain, more fire… it was a bar-raising, jaw-dropping display of power that touched on every era of the band’s career. Vocalist Winston McCall, guitarist Luke Kilpatrick, and their tour manager/pyro guy/general go-getter Fishy tell us how they pulled it off. So, where did you even start when it came to putting this show together? Luke: “Winston usually has crazy ideas and then we try and build it. We had an idea of what the stage should look like, then [performance design company] Vision Factory came up with the aesthetic, and we…

CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33 If you think RPGs were better back in the day, Clair Obscur is for you. This turn-based RPG was heavily inspired by old-school Final Fantasy games, merging an excellent story and lush visuals with an expressive battle system. DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima gave us this wild adventure that refused to conform to traditional expectations. Packed with famous faces and a brain-frying cinematic storyline, this PS5 exclusive could not be ignored. DOOM: THE DARK AGES Doom has always been the most heavy metal of videogames, and that wasn’t lost with a shift into a medieval setting. It was energetic, it was brutally violent, and it was FPS action at breakneck speeds set to a thunderous soundtrack. HOLLOW KNIGHT: SILKSONG Hollow…

CARACH ANGREN The Cult Of Kariba The Dutch symphonic black metallers didn’t stint on the ambition for their first EP in 20 years. Fusing Cradle-esque gusto and Arcturus-challenging batshittery, it was a veritable whirlwind of commotions. GORE. If You Do Not Fear Me… Gore.’s second EP was filled with techy, bouncy riffs, while Haley Roughton’s ethereal vocals elevated it into dreamy, shoegaze-y areas, without skimping on the heaviness. PRESIDENT King Of Terrors President’s debut EP came loaded with expectation. Fusing lush, yearning modern pop with thunderous payoffs, it lit a bright new beacon on the post-Sleep Token landscape. TRIVIUM Struck Dead After celebrating 20 years of Ascendancy, Orlando’s finest said they’d channel the album’s spirit into this EP. Struck Dead was nostalgic in parts, but it was also a promising…

BACK TO THE BEGINNING VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM The homecoming that heavy metal so desperately needed. Metal’s biggest bands paying tribute to the genre’s architects was momentous enough, but there were few dry eyes in the house when Sabbath bowed out. GHOST O2 ARENA, LONDON Confetti cannons! A Grucifix lighting rig! Papa up a pole! With a phone ban in place, all eyes and all ears were on this arena spectacle for the ages. IRON MAIDEN LONDON STADIUM, LONDON Celebrating 50 years of service, Maiden delivered a show for the ages. A scintillating old-school setlist, a dazzling production, new drummer Simon Dawson on top form… The Irons don’t really do shit gigs, do they? LINKIN PARK WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON In their new incarnation with vocalist Emily Armstrong, Linkin Park played London’s…

CEMICAN U k'u'uk'ankil Mayakaaj M-THEORY AUDIO Mayan folk metal mystics seek a route to world domination Hailing from Guadalajara and looking like Mayan warriors encountered on a peyote bender, Cemican are determined to take you back to their ancestral roots. Kicking off on a Heilung-esque 4/4 beat, their fourth album proves they’ve got the ambition to match. Ranging across 66 minutes, its core mid-paced stomp branches out into ceremonial digressions, tribal chants, Trivium-style melodies and moments of wild, irrational energy from the dawn of South American metal. It’s a scenic if exhausting ride, robbed of some of its dynamic potential by a muddy production and wind instruments that can sound listless through over-use. This is all going to sound phenomenal live, though. FOR FANS OF: The Hu, Alien Weaponry, Trivium…

VII SELF-RELEASED London’s ‘Goth Metal Mommy’ gets hot under the spiked collar IN A SURPRISE to no one, metal’s latest latex-clad temptress has channelled the Seven Deadly Sins for her first full collection of tracks. Writhing with thumping beats, debauched vocals and a lick of industrial grit, VII feels like stepping into the depths of a fetish dungeon. Right out the gates, there’s no mistaking that sex is woven into the core of VII. The instantly raunchy Inferno sets the tone, Harpy’s darkly downpitched vocals asserting her menacing demeanour. There’s a reason the singer has earned the label of ‘Goth Metal Mommy’, and she’s happy to play into the fantasy; cuts like Call Me Mommy submerge listeners into a submissive goth-club haze of ‘touching, tasting, blood, sweat, vomit’, Harpy maintaining a…

CO-OP LIVE ARENA, MANCHESTER Brighton’s metalcore overlords reveal their masterplan in Manchester SAM CARTER IS visibly overwhelmed as he looks out at a sea of glowing phone torches raised in tribute to a friend and former guitar tech of theirs, Miles Kent, who passed away just days before. It’s a bittersweet moment in the biggest headlining show of their career to date, and it also serves as a moment to catch their breath in a full-pelt set where the circle-pits don’t stop, even during the chat between songs. Earlier in the show, Sam yells: “For the next hour and 20 minutes, your arse belongs to me!” and he’s not wrong – the entire venue is at his command as he runs, dances and prowls along what is essentially a catwalk…

BEAST IN BLACK EVENTIM APOLLO, LONDON Germany’s power metal pioneers embody the spirit of unity IT’S A FITTING pairing: Beast In Black, spun from Anton Kabanen’s split with Battle Beast, opening for Helloween, a band once too divided to share a stage. There’s something satisfying about seeing two groups who’ve weathered their own storms now thriving. That shared resilience sets the tone as the house lights dim and the night begins. You’d forgive the crowd for having a cheeky snifter in the local ’Spoons before two hours of Helloween, but they’re too busy devouring BEAST IN BLACK. Anton’s creation has grown into a well-oiled monster – all synth-drenched riffs, synchronised theatrics and enough cheese to sink a fondue fork into. Yannis Papadopoulos leads the charge, hitting skyscraper notes while the…

MASTER BOOT RECORD / IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON France’s genre-mashing maniacs bring a full banquet to West London RESPLENDENT IN THEIR art deco masks, New Yorkers IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT waft onto the stage like gilded phantoms, before opening proceedings with an elemental force. Coming hot off their new album, Goldstar, their short set of jazz-infused black metal pandemonium may not generate enough energy in the crowd for a pit, but is still the ideal pick-me-up for a gloomy Wednesday evening. People desperately wish to bob their heads along, only to be repeatedly betrayed by the band’s demented rhythmical acrobatics as this ceaselessly aggressive group transmute Charles Mingus into madness. Italian ‘computer metal’ maestros MASTER BOOT RECORD’s blend of intense shredding over bit-crushed MIDIs is a revelation. The spectacle…

You’re out on tour with Mudvayne and Static-X at the moment. It feels like the classic nu metal bands are really popular with a younger audience these days. “Yeah, I think you have to look at what this younger generation is. A lot of them grew up with their parents’ music, like Pantera or Rob Zombie, so, with tours like this, it’s like a new generation getting to see their parents’ music the way their parents did. Mudvayne and Static-X are classic, old-school metal bands to people like me!” Young people used to rebel against their parents’ music taste! Although when your dad is the singer in Slipknot, I guess it’s quite hard to do that. You ever buy a Backstreet Boys album just to wind him up? “Ha ha!…

In April, Babymetal finally brought some of the eye-frying production of their Japan shows – Fireworks! Lasers! Moving stages! – to London’s 20,000-capacity 02 arena, and became the first Japanese artist to sell it out. In August, they released their bold fifth album, Metal Forth, featuring seven high-energy collabs with some of metal’s hottest modern artists: Poppy, Electric Callboy, Slaughter To Prevail, Bloodywood, Polyphia, Spiritbox and Tom Morello. It went Top 10 in the US – another first for a Japanese band. We caught up with the trio to find out more about their banner year. With Metal Forth, you became the first Japanese group to get a Top 10 album in the US. What does that mean to you? Moametal: “I’m not overly concerned with numbers myself; I view…

It was the year Sleep Token headlined Download, becoming one of the youngest bands to do it, and with a stage set so intricate it even incorporated a waterfall. It was also the year they released fourth album Even In Arcadia, another offering filled with cryptic writings. But something else signalled the phenomenal rise of Sleep Token: the establishment of their own tribute band. Calling themselves Sleep Broken, and with a frontman called Bessel, they adhere to their heroes’ policy of anonymity. We contacted them about an interview, and to protect their identities, they requested to do it via email. Here’s what we received. How did you first hear of Sleep Token, and what was your reaction to the band? Bessel: “Bessel’s initiation into the realm of Sleep Token began…

If you’re going to pop your Metallica cherry, there are worse places for it to happen than in a tent in the backyard of a small local bar on Long Island, alongside Paul McCartney, Sylvester Stallone and 500 other people. “That was the first time I’d seen Metallica,” says Nick Kraus, co-manager of the Stephen Talkhouse, a local venue in Amagansett, in the affluent New York seaside resort of The Hamptons, where the gig took place on August 28. “We’ve had people like Ed Sheeran and The Killers. Nothing against anybody else, but this was just a different level of show.” The invite-only gig was Metallica’s smallest since they rocked up in Antarctica in 2013 to play for 120 people and some penguins. It was held to launch a new…

50 SLOMATICS Atomicult MAJESTIC MOUNTAIN Twenty years and eight albums in, this Belfast sludge trio know their strengths, and deployed them all here with satisfying force and seasoned discipline. Cosmic void-headed lyrics, heaving dinosaurian riff constellations, mad-professor synth experiments, stretchy fuzz tones, hammering backbones: all forces aligned to help Atomicult’s 40 minutes fly by, however slowly. The nasal operatics of Marty Harvey’s shamanic wail took us even further into the ether, the singing drummer whacking the high notes with both emotional intensity and a cool poise. 49 LACUNA COIL Sleepless Empire CENTURY MEDIA Three decades in, Lacuna Coil are still finding new weight in their sound. Sleepless Empire deepened the shadows they reclaimed with Black Anima – a confident stride into heavier, more cinematic territory that played to all their…

It was during a midnight drive through the storm-lashed Scottish wilderness in 2022 that frontwoman Agnes Alder decided to turn Cwfen from a synthwave project into a metal one. “I remember very distinctly, travelling from Glasgow to Fife – a place steeped in witchcraft history – looking out at that great, flat expanse,” she recalls. “At The Stake by Melvins came on the radio, and there was fork lightning around me. I knew then that I wanted to make music that sounded like that. You could almost feel the weight of the horror that had happened in that landscape.” Fast-forward to 2025, and Cwfen’s deliciously doomy debut, Sorrows, has struck the metal scene with a similar kind of thundering blow. At its heart, the album is a powerful lament echoing…

OVO WEMBLEY ARENA, LONDON Massachusetts’ metalcore linchpins take their arena status in their stride JUST BECAUSE YOU can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. This evening Killswitch Engage headline London’s Wembley Arena for the first time in their career – it’s a moment that a band who have been so influential, consistent on record and reliably brilliant undoubtedly deserve. But stepping into the venue just after doors, the sight of endless rows of seats covered by black drapes is the first indicator that, although the theory of Killswitch being an arena band is a nice one, the reality is that this is not an easy time to be shifting tickets in such quantity. The other factor is that Wembley is not, and never has been, the ideal venue…