Slipknot, Ghost, Nightwish, Gojira and more star in Metal Hammer’s blockbuster end of year issue, which comes with an Iron Maiden Powerslave patch, a Nightwish notebook and a 2025 heavy metal calendar

The year’s already over! Boo! But that means we get a spectacular new issue of Metal Hammer celebrating all the amazing things that happened in metal this year! Woo! From the best albums and gigs to the comebacks and all the chaos, we dig into it all in our special look back at the last twelve months.

But there’s more! The magazine also comes with three official gifts: a Nightwish notebook for your scribbles and secrets, an Iron Maiden Eddie patch to commemorate 40 years of Powerslave, and a 2025 calendar featuring Sleep Token, Ghost, Bad Omens, Slipknot, Metallica and other metal heavyweights.Inside the issue itself, there are new interviews with Gojira, Slipknot, Nightwish, Ghost and more. What can we say? It’s been a busy 2024…

This was the year Gojira performed at the Paris Olympics Games Opening Ceremony, atop a former prison, accompanied by an orchestra and an opera singer.” For three minutes, Paris was vibrating with our sound,” says Joe Duplantier. “We’ve never blasted across a whole city before. That alone was incredible.

It was also the year Ghost released an actual movie, Rite Here Rite Now, with mastermind Tobias Forge revealing that he’d love to act again.“It would be amazing,” he says. “After doing this film, I really got a blooded tooth, as we say here in Sweden.”

Plus, we take you inside the other big stories of the last 12 months, including Slayer making a surprise comeback, Linkin Park returning with a new singer, Metallica taking over Fortnite, Lzzy Hale fronting Skid Row and much, much more – killer clowns, anyone?

And our end of year issue wouldn’t be complete without our annual countdown of the best albums of 2024, as chosen by our esteemed scribes. But who’s No.1? That would be telling…

All this, plus Ice-T, Brat, Mastodon, Kalandra, Big Brave, Devin Townsend, Julie Christmas, Gatecreeper, Knocked Loose, Patriarkh, Mimi Barks, Cradle Of Filth and a ton more.Only in the new issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.

Eleanor was promoted to the role of Editor at Metal Hammer magazine after over seven years with the company, having previously served as Deputy Editor and Features Editor. Prior to joining Metal Hammer, El spent three years as Production Editor at Kerrang! and four years as Production Editor and Deputy Editor at Bizarre. She has also written for the likes of Classic Rock, Prog, Rock Sound and Visit London amongst others, and was a regular presenter on the Metal Hammer Podcast.