Talking in the new issue of Metal Hammer, the lead guitarist, who joined San Francisco’s metal giants in 1983, explains that he loves his job too much to willingly walk away from it. He also considers making music professionally too great a blessing to abandon.
“I don’t believe in retirement,” he tells us. “Retirement is something that’s been forced onto people; I don’t believe musicians are allowed to retire!”
Hammett backs up his stance by looking back at musicians “in the 30s and 40s and 50s”, during which time he says “the goal was to die onstage”.
(Image credit: Future)
“This was the thinking of musicians of all musicians for the last century: because you’ve earned the right to be up there, you have to fulfil that responsibility to the very end,” he says.
He goes on to add: “Playing music is a gift, a blessing and a privilege. I love what I do and it’s magic – it helps people. So I can’t walk away from that.”
Hammett’s comments follow his recent declaration that he never wants to step down from Metallica, even if he continues to have the odd argument with the band’s co-founders James Hetfield (vocals/guitars) and Lars Ulrich (drums).
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“Leaving Metallica is not an option,” the guitarist told The Telegraph. “If I ever left Metallica, everyone in the world would remind me that I used to be in Metallica!”
Hammett released a coffee table book, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, via Gibson Publishing in March. The book features new pictures by longtime Metallica photographer Ross Halfin and explores the guitarist’s famously extensive collection of instruments. In 2017, he estimated that he owned around 150 guitars.
Metallica are currently touring North America and premiered their new documentary, Metallica Saved My Life, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City this week. The band will play a series of shows in Europe next summer. See dates and details below.
As well as the interview with Hammett, the new Hammer features an in-depth conversation with cover stars Babymetal about their collabs-heavy new album, Metal Forth. We also talk with Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen and The Conjuring actor Vera Farmiga about her new rock band, The Yagas. Order your copy now and have it delivered directly to your door.
May 09: Athens Olympic Stadium, Greece* May 13: Bucharest Arena Națională, Romania May 19: Chorzów Stadion Śląski, Poland May 22: Frankfurt Deutsche Bank Park, Germany* May 24: Frankfurt Deutsche Bank Park, Germany+ May 27: Zurich Stadion Letzigrund, Switzerland* May 30: Berlin Olympiastadion, Germany* Jun 03: Bologna Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Italy* Jun 11: Budapest Puskas Arena, Hungary+ Jun 13: Budapest Puskas Arena, Hungary* Jun 19: Dublin Aviva Stadium, Ireland+ Jun 21: Dublin Aviva Stadium, Ireland* Jun 25: Glasgow Hampden Park, UK* Jun 28: Cardiff Principality Stadium, UK* Jul 03: London Stadium, UK* Jul 05: London Stadium, UK+
* Gojira and Knocked Loose support + Pantera and Avatar support
Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.
Last year, in front of 65,000 people in Germany, Shane Greenhall hit his stride. His band Those Damn Crows were on tour with Böhse Onkelz – virtually unknown in the UK, massive in their homeland – and mega-crowds were the norm. The Crows had German fans from past shows, but they still faced a mammoth task: converting an audience that wasn’t there for them. By this point they were accustomed to playing for thousands, and tens of thousands, across Europe. It was an intense period. They missed Wales. Arguably, though, it was the making of them as a proper big-stage band.
“I think I’m better being a bit uncomfortable,” singer Greenhall muses. “I think that brings out something in me, performance wise, a determination, this focus. I don’t get wound up in the emotion. It’s about proving yourself. I kind of like that battle.”
If there’s one thing Those Damn Crows do really well, it’s proving themselves when the odds are stacked against them. Resilience in the face of personal losses. Commitment to their fans. Closeness as a group with years of shared history, setbacks, the natural beauty and turbulent times of their home town.
On their new album, God Shaped Hole, they meet all that with some of their biggest music yet. A varied, taut, punchy selection (by turns meaty, pop-geared and dreamlike), it confronts the searches and existential fears we all go through at one point or another – relationships, religion, science, drugs, technology. The things we look to for meaning. For answers in uncertain times.
For Greenhall, after years of “overthinking everything”, there’s now a joy in not knowing.
“The best bit of this [life] is the process,” he says, “trying to work it all out, that’s what makes us human. There’s a danger of losing that, because AI can do so much now. But you won’t learn from life experiences unless you do it yourself.”
(Image credit: Rob Blackham)
Sitting across from us at a gastro pub in Laleston, a village in South Wales, Greenhall has a strapping but gentle presence – tall and barrel-chested, with big, tattooed arms, wearing a black cap and T-shirt. He orders fish and chips and a coffee, serious but relaxed on home turf. He knows all the bar staff (he and his girlfriend live locally), having grown up a short drive away in Methyr Mawr, close to the beach of Ogmore-By-Sea.
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It was, he says, an idyllic childhood. His father grew fruit and vegetables. In school years Shane played football for Bridgend Town. Crows drummer Ronnie Huxford, guitarist Ian ‘Shiner’ Thomas (‘Shiner’ is a hangover from adolescence, after an unfortunate collision with a lamppost) and bassist Lloyd Wood are all old school friends from the Valleys – guitarist David Winchurch was “a townie”. They all still live locally, and their bonds with the area run deep.
“I get homesick really quickly these days,” Greenhall admits. “There’s no substitute for home. I can go to amazing places, and we have as a band, but there’s just something about Wales. I just love it.”
There’s sadness, though, in these images. The suicides that drew national attention to Bridgend in the 00s. The death of Greenhall’s father, his first musical role model, from cancer. Similar losses suffered by his bandmates. Yet there’s a sense that their home town has their back; friends and family who keep them as down-to-earth as they all are, whatever successes happen elsewhere.
“But that won’t ever stop us from having drive and aspirations,” he adds. “I remember saying to Ronnie, before the band had even done anything: ‘Look, man, if I’m in this, I’m in, there’s nothing else.’ That’s the only way I do things.”
Those Damn Crows – No Surrender (Official Video) – YouTube
Greenhall grew up in search of God – or rather, his dad did. A naturally sociable guy, Greenhall Snr took his children to different Christian churches and befriended the local Mormons.
“He called himself a spiritual man, as opposed to religious,” Shane explains, “but he went through all this navigating, like, is there a god? What type of god? So I was always around this idea of a god, this idea of a higher being, and a better way to be a human being.”
In some ways that search has lingered. Grieving for his father left a fingerprint on all his songs. He habitually listens to podcast theories about the universe, technology, the nature of people. As someone who never really stops writing music (on the go, at home watching TV…) it’s been easy to filter these things into his band’s new songs, some based on demos and voice notes from years ago.
“The truth is we know very little,” he muses. “Yet with that information we could be on the verge; I think with AI in particular, we could cross a line where we can’t go back. It could be a real positive thing, or super-negative.”
Earlier in Those Damn Crows’ lifespan, Greenhall wrote a song called God Shaped Hole. It was never released, but the title stayed with them all. Come 2024 – with debate about unpredictable world leaders, conflicts and technological advancements reaching a new apex, alongside seas of individual crises in an increasingly complicated world – it felt like a timely sentiment. One that spoke to global concerns as well as hopes, fears and questions on a more intimate, personal level. The ‘god-shaped holes’ in all our lives.
“That’s it,” he says. “Because you can’t control the bigger things, but if you apply that in your own way of thinking and being, I guess you’ve got a chance to dream any world you want. You can decide what you want to do.”
Those Damn Crows – The Night Train (Official Video) – YouTube
The Dali-esque album cover contains an image for each song. No Surrender, a beefy ode to never giving up, is the tree. Gorgeous, Stone Temple Pilots-esque grunge anthem Dreaming is the figure rowing a boat up a road (dream logic, like flying off a building or running through sinking sand – here a metaphor for making what you want of reality). The metallic Let’s Go Psycho is the jester, a character from a disturbing DMT (dimethyltryptamine, a powerful psychedelic) trip that Greenhall experienced years ago.
Following a powerful dream about his late father and grandparents, he’d wanted to regain that feeling of connection – of answers that seemed clear in the dream, but faded upon waking. “They were holding hands,” he recalls of his grandparents in the dream. “They were so in love. And all I used to remember [was] my grandma and my granddad bitching to one another; they were really heavy smokers.”
DMT ingested, it all got very macabre. After three puffs, Greenhall felt himself falling into a dungeon, the Hindu deity Ganesha in one cage, a jester hurling insults from another. “And this jester is saying: ‘You’re pathetic, you’re an idiot, you thought you could come here and get all the answers…’ and other horrible things. I felt like I was trapped in this place for years,” Greenhall stops, then laughs, “until I heard my friend’s voice saying ‘I think you took too much!’”
Initially that experience left him lost. In time, though, he revisited it with a sense of acceptance. Facing the murky sides of life with open eyes.
“We’re almost fuelled by fear right now of the unknown,” he says, Disco Inferno playing over the pub speakers. “But I think that’s a good place to be. You can’t react until you know. For someone who overthinks everything, that’s been quite freeing. So I’m almost more relaxed now. I’m still curious, always will be. But it’s more [about] gratitude now than ever.”
He thinks about this, then: “But at the same time I do think about my kids a lot, thinking: ‘What world are they gonna grow up in?’”
Those Damn Crows – Dreaming (Official Video) – YouTube
On the God Shaped Hole cover, Still is represented by a man on a pew. The album’s closing track – a deceptively simple ballad, its gentle, major-key fragility complemented by heartbreaking lyrics – it’s strummed on an old £120 Fender guitar that Greenhall had had for years. An effective vessel for one of his darkest memories.
“That’s what it should be, good music,” he says, recalling the more expensive gear they tried recording the song on. “It doesn’t matter what instrument you use, what producer, what studio you’re working in. If you’ve captured something, you’ve captured it.”
This particular ‘something’ happened 10 years ago. A lot had come to a head. Greenhall’s first marriage was over, and his father had died. His music career was yet to happen. For a while, a part of him went somewhere else. On Still he sings: ‘No one will know if I disappear.’
“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he remembers. “I didn’t know I was going to be touring, didn’t know I was gonna be writing my own music. I felt like I’d failed, like I’d let my children down. My life was literally gone – that’s how it felt.”
One night, he drove to the edge of a cliff at Southerndown Beach in South Wales. Much of his childhood was spent running riot on the dunes there. His father’s memorial bench sits a few paces away at Dunraven Castle. He walked to the edge and looked down.
“I’ve told almost no one this, because it sounds like I made it up,” he half-laughs nervously. “It’s pitch black, freezing cold. My car lights are on, beaming out to the sea, and I get out of the car and I can’t, I’m not…”
He searches for the right words, as many who have contemplated suicide do.
“I’m not sitting here talking about depression. I had no idea what I was doing, so it wasn’t a premeditated thought. I was just…” he shrugs. “I don’t know, I didn’t feel like I was going there to do something. But at the same time, if it happened, I didn’t care. I wasn’t thinking of the consequences. I could feel the wind sort of swaying me, and I thought: ‘Yeah, I’m going to.’”
Those Damn Crows – Glass Heart (Official Video) – YouTube
Greenhall was 13 when his own parents divorced. It changed his relationship with his younger siblings, putting him in a protective authority position. “I became like ‘the man of the house’. It killed my sister and brother when my mum and dad split up. That’s why it [my own divorce] hit me so hard, because I didn’t want that for my family.”
But then, out of the blue, a huge seagull landed on his car. Greenhall tried to shoo it away, but it didn’t budge. For three minutes it stood, fixing him with a piercing stare. It was enough to shift Greenhall’s focus away from the cliff edge. From that night onward he became conscious of certain turns in his life – the presence of something like fate.
“You know, it could have gone anywhere, but he sat on my bonnet, and he looked at me as if to say: ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Honestly, this bird was fucking enormous.” He shakes his head. “It’s just all these little nuances of life, something else happens and puts you in a different mindset, completely. If you’re lucky enough to stick around, these experiences change your life. And if you can have a few of them that don’t break you – that can break you as a person, but not break your spirit – I think that’s a good thing.”
Our empty plates are taken away. A group of women with birthday balloons arrive at another table, otherwise we’re the only customers. “I think that’s the best thing we can do as human beings: look at something slightly differently,” he concludes. “Yes, it’s a shame it did happen, but what can we do about it? How can you think about it differently? That’s an amazing power to have.”
Those Damn Crows – Still (Official Video) – YouTube
Afterwards, Greenhall drives me to the train station, en route to rehearsals at the Crows’ headquarters on the outskirts of Bridgend. On Sundays they all play football nearby, when time allows. We talk about the industry, the recent Trump/Zelensky fall-out, his 18-year-old daughter’s musical ambitions.
“She loves all the West End musicals stuff,” he says proudly. “She’s finding her voice but, man, it’s… There’s very few people that make me cry every time. Every time she sings, it’s like that. It’s amazing seeing her having the bug.”
At the Crows’ Cardiff Arena show last year, Greenhall met his daughter’s eyes from the stage. All his children were in the balcony. Emotions ran high.
“Afterwards my youngest son said: ‘Dad, I can’t believe how cool you are!’ And then my daughter was hugging me, saying: ‘I’m so lucky to have you as my dad.’ I was like: ‘Holy shit, this is unbelievable. Waited my entire life for this.’”
His face breaks into a smile. “It don’t get better than that.”
On the train station platform it’s quiet and still. Grey skies are punctuated by tall cranes, seagulls swoop overhead. An enormous one lands on the footbridge.
God Shaped Hole hit number one on the UK album chart on April 18, 2025.
Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock’s biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she’s had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women’s magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.
You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
“You deserve more,” the posters promoting tonight’s concert at the O2 Arena read. It’s pretty fortunate, then, that Pulp are giving us plenty of that. Last week, Jarvis Cocker’s Britpop-era misfits released their first album in 24 years, aptly entitled More, and now London is getting a pair of back-to-back concerts, each one offering two sets of gloriously awkward anthems.
All those things together would be enough to satisfy any fan, but when the velvet curtain inside the venue peels back, it reveals just how extra Sheffield’s finest are being. In front of a mammoth video screen is a four-tiered staircase of a stage, plus an expanded lineup with a string section. Then, Cocker rises out of the floor during opener and recent comeback single Spike Island, one verse of which sees him sing, “I was born to perform.”
For 135 minutes (interval not included), that showmanship never dips, with classics, deep cuts and new tracks getting showcased with equal pomp. Of course, the crowd is nowhere near as electric for the likes of Tina as it is for Disco 2000, but everything is presented as a spectacle. This Is Hardcore finds Cocker lounging on a throne-like armchair, Sunrise sees a ‘sun’ made out of lightbulbs ascend, and Got To Have Love uses the backdrop to hammer home its spell-along refrain.
Through it all, Cocker treads the line between magnetic rock star and affable everyman. He bounds around the stage and flails his seemingly elastic limbs, while sporting his now-signature charity shop chic. At intermittent points, he tosses fudge and grapes to people near the front.
Before Help The Aged, the singer admits he’s muddled the setlist. But, he turns it around, blaming the mix-up on getting older to connect with the song’s themes and encourage some ‘help’ singing. It’s that ability to blend honesty with crowd-pleasing pop chops that’s made Pulp so special for so long, and it continues through Farmers Market (dedicated to Cocker’s wife on their anniversary) and an all-acoustic Something Changed.
After a fan vote adds Party Hard to the running order for the first time since 2012, the latter half of the second set is a conveyor belt of hits. Do You Remember The First Time?, Babies and, naturally, Common People prove to be tonight’s peaks, as it sounds like everyone in attendance knows every line to each number. Pulp pledged to give people “more” – but, after such a maximalist extravaganza, it feels like we’ve received “the most”.
Set 1: Spike Island Grown Ups Slow Jam Sorted For E’s And Wizz Disco 2000 F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. Tina Help The Aged Farmers Market This Is Hardcore Sunrise
Set 2: Something Changed The Fear O.U. (Gone, Gone) Party Hard Acrylic Afternoons Do You Remember The First Time? Mis-Shapes Got To Have Love Babies Common People
Encore: A Sunset
Contributing Editor, Metal Hammer
Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.
Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has thanked the stem cell donor who helped him get the cancer all clear.
Campbell, 62, has revealed his cancer is in complete remission for the first time since he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2013.
Following an unsuccessful transplant of his own cells and further disappointment when a new donor didn’t work out, Campbell was finally lined up with a perfect match late last year.
The procedure went well and he is now in complete remission as he joins Def Leppard on their summer tour.
And he’d love to thank his donor in person.
He tells Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk: “I lost my donor 10 days beforehand, so that was a kick in the nuts. But I was very fortunate that they found me another one in December. And on New Year’s Eve, I went into hospital. I was in for about three and a half weeks, and I did what has turned out to be a really, really successful transplant.
“I did a PET scan in the middle of April, and I’m 100% clean, completely in remission for the first time in 12 or 13 years. And I’m obviously overjoyed. You couldn’t ask for more than that.
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“There are 10 genetic markers, and this donor was 10 out of 10. A young man, actually. I don’t get to know who he is for a couple of years, but a 21-year-old man. Obviously, I’m gonna buy him a beer or two or three.
“He put his name on the donor registry, for no reason other than he’s a good person. There are a lot of good people out there, I’m glad to say.
“After two years, they give you the option to contact your donor, so you can reach out to them. I would imagine in this day and age it’s via e-mail.
“If they want to correspond with you they can. They don’t have to. But obviously, it’s a life-saving proposition, so I’d certainly want to express my gratitude.”
Jun 19: Milwaukee Summerfest, WI Jun 21: Thackerville Lucas Oil Live at WinStar World Casino and Resort, OK Jun 23: Rogers Walmart AMP, AR Jun 25: Birmingham Coca-Cola Amphitheater, AL Jun 28: Atlantic City Borgata Event Center, NJ Jul 01: Bangor Maine Savings Amphitheater, ME Jul 03: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT Jul 06: – Québec FEQ 2025, Canada Jul 09: Winnipeg Princess Auto Stadium, Canada Jul 10-13: Craven Country Thunder, Canada Jul 11: Edmonton Rockin’ Thunder, Canada Jul 16: Ottawa Blues Festival, Canada Jul 18: Mount Pleasant Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, MI Jul 20: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, NY Jul 22: Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, NY Aug 12: Albuquerque Isleta Amphitheater, NM Aug 14: Des Moines lowa State Fair Grandstand, IA Aug 16: Springfield Illinois State Fair, IL Aug 20: Highland Yaamava’ Theater, CA Aug 26: St Paul Minnesota State Fair MN Aug 29: Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, FL Aug 31: Virginia Beach Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, VA
Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock’n’roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.
Roger Daltry has been awarded a Knighthood in King Charles III’s Birthday Honours list. The frontman been recognised for his services to charity and music, having co-founded The Who in 1964 and been a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust for more than two decades.
“It is a wonderful honour for me and especially for Teenage Cancer Trust,” says Daltrey. “I accept this award not only for myself but on behalf of all the unsung heroes who have given their energy towards making the Teenage Cancer Trust the success it has become.
“The likes of The Who and their fans, Angie Jenkison, Lindsay Hughes, Des Murphy, Rob Ballantine and the late Chris York are some of many who have done so much to elevate the charity, to the point where it now has 28 specialist units in NHS hospitals across the UK.”
In a separate statement, Daltrey told the Press Association, “It’s kind of weird, but I am deeply honoured to get this, especially for the charity for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and I accept it on their behalf really, because this honour is really for all unsung heroes. It’s a dream come true for me, but it’s especially a dream because the charity means so much.”
Other musicians to be honoured in King Charles III’s Birthday Honours list this year include singer Elaine Paige, who receives the Order of the British Empire for services to music and charity, 10cc‘s Graham Gouldman, who receives an MBE, and Steve Winwood, also an MBE.
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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazinesince 2014. 39 years in music industry, online for 26. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.
You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
How has it been a decade since Within Temptation actually headlined a UK festival? The symphonic metal giants have only gone from strength to strength in recent years, undertaking two massive arena runs – including a co-headline run with Evanescence – and continued to push boundaries and use their platform to fight the good fight and rally behind worthy causes.
But, gratifying as it is seeing them jump up to second stage headliner here at Download – they subbed to Evanescence last time around in 2023 – you can’t help but feel like they’ve been done dirty, if only a bit. The crowd amassed at the Opus Stage is respectable, but with Weezer hammering out the greatest hits of 90s alt rock just down the hill, the crowd doesn’t swell to its full force until later in the Dutch band’s set. Which is a shame, because they’re phenomenal. Decorating the stage like some ancient amphitheatre, there’s a touch of former tourmates Iron Maiden to the scale of what Within Temptation do, and even if it’s not quite matched up to some of the more dazzling visuals of their headline gigs, it still feels colossal.
Early on, Sharon wears an opera-style mask that heightens the sense of theatricality and while she’s been a metal icon for going on 20 years today, her sheer charisma and commanding presence help make WT feel a cut above. Weezer might be knocking out the nerd rock bangers, but WT are no slouches in the huge singalongs department. Bleed Out, Shot In The Dark, Supernova and Paradise (What About Us) have the crowd roaring and clapping with joyous exultation, the band’s shift away from their symphonic roots more apparent in the instantaneous hookiness of each fresh tune.
The baby’s not been thrown out with the bathwater though; there’s still plenty of gorgeous, grandiose melodies and Sharon’s more operatic stylings at times make the set feel especially potent. As ever, she uses her platform to highlight global issues facing us in 2025, not least the Russian war with Ukraine – at one point Sharon makes a point of mentioning the documentary on the conflict the band released a few weeks back. By the time they close out on the Celtic-flavoured Mother Earth, there’s little argument to Within Temptation feeling like a band reaching the apex of their powers.
“The first time we played Download, we played six songs,” Sharon admits. “Now it’s more like sixteen.” Heres hoping it won’t be another decade before they get the chance to shine on the big stage again.
Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.
You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
Rivers Cuomo doesn’t look like your typical metalhead, but the Weezer frontman has made no secret of his love of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne and all the other classic heavy metal bands that have graced the turf of Donington Park over the years.
So maybe that’s why this afternoon, the notoriously awkward, difficult, frustrating, yet enigmatic character is beaming from ear to ear after smashing through a near perfect greatest hits set on his band’s first ever appearance here.
There’s possibly no band in rock just as capable of greatness as they are disappointment as Weezer; the highs of their 90s output, 1994’s The Blue Album or its 1996 follow up, Pinkerton, are utterly sublime, perfect pop-rock genius. Yet when Weezer are bad, from Raditide and Hurley to pointless, memeable pop covers, good god they’re hard work.
So, what a relief it is when they wander on sheepishly (this is Weezer, after all) and proceed to plough through Hash Pipe, My Name is Jonas, Perfect Situation, Come Undone (The Sweater Song) and Island in the Sun – an opening five songs stronger than most bands’ encores. Rivers even introduces the whole band and actually waves at the crowd! He looks like he might smile at one point. This truly is a momentous occasion.
True, Weezer might not be the most energetic or charismatic band. But they succeed on the strength of their songs, and the songs they choose for this set are rarified air for this type of music. It’s almost as if, a mere 48 hours after the news of the passing of Brian Wilson, they have remembered that at their best they are the closest thing the 90s had to the pure, Technicolor pop joy of The Beach Boys.
Only In Dreams is like floating on a sonic, sugary cloud; Say It Ain’t So is proto-emo magnificence, Pork And Beans is 50s doo-wop put through a grunge filter and the closing Buddy Holly is every inch the genre-defining classic song it has grown to be. A peak at early geek chic.
Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.
With grey skies overhead and showers threatening across the weekend, that can only mean one thing: Download Festival is upon us. But come rain or shine, the UK biggest rock and metal fest is sure to offer up plenty of chances to discover brilliant new bands, and even as we hit the main stretch of festival season new release announcements are coming thick and fast.
Before we get stuck into that though, the results of last week’s vote! There was a healthy showing from power metal’s elite and it’s reflected in the final three, with Battle Beast securing a healthy third place in the poll. Breaking up the plastic swords and horns brigade were returning doom metal legends Paradise Lost, whose return with Silence Like The Grave took second place, but our overall winners – and you’d not wanna argue when they’ve got a tank to back them up – was Sabaton. Huzzah!
There’s more power metal fun to be found this week, with our top line of Helloween and Burning Witches representing two very different eras of the genre. But that’s not all we’ve got; there’s nu metal flavours from Code Orange guitarist Reba Meyers and Gore., stoner/doom brilliance from Castle Rat, symphonic metal from Blackbriar and so much more besides.
As ever, we need you to tell us which songs excite you most, so don’t forget to cast your vote below – and have an excellent weekend, come rain or shine!
Helloween – This Is Tokyo
There’s a proven track record for power metal love in Japan, but it turns out that love goes both ways. German power metal legends Helloween are pinning their colours to the mask with new single This Is Tokyo, a loving tribute to the Japanese city delivered with typical gusto and fist-pumping choruses. Taken from new album Giants & Monsters, due August 29, it’s a colourful first taste of what may lie in store.
HELLOWEEN – This Is Tokyo (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Sticking to the realms of power metal for a moment, Switzerland’s Burning Witches have announced their sixth studio album Inquisition for an August 22 release. The title track and lead single lays their stall out ably: classic heavy metal motifs with thumping beats, wailing leads and despairing howls of “Inquisition!” that come off like a head-on collision between Warlock and King Diamond. It’s ace, naturally.
2025 is shaping up to be a seriously big year for Orbit Culture. In January, they were openers on the epic Trivium/Bullet For My Valentine double-bill, and they’ll be opening the Main Stage of Download on Sunday before limbering up for more tour dates towards the end of the year. Apparently not content with just popping up on massive bills, the Swedes have also announced new album Death Above Life for an October 3 release, the title-track and lead single all pummelling beats and massive melodeath grooves.
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ORBIT CULTURE – Death Above Life (OFFICIAL VIDEO) – YouTube
Hardcore is on a real tear right now. Outbreak might be bringing Turnstile and Knocked Loose back to the UK this weekend, but there’s plenty to be excited about later in the year with the announcement of a new Drain record in …Is Your Friend, which comes November 7. Lead single Nights Like These is exactly what you’d expect of modern hardcore: chunky riffs, bouncy beats and throat-shredding vocals that command total excitement.
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since Ho99o9 released their debut album. The LA/New Jersey group are still proving impossible to neatly classify on new single Upside Down, a track which combines crunching industrial guitars, hip-hop flows and flecks of electronica to create something grimy and exciting. The first single for new album Tomorrow We Escape, out September 9, it’s a handy reminder that this band are still pushing boundaries.
Ho99o9 – Upside Down (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Encroaching dread rules the day on Witch Fever’s latest single The Garden. Typically immersive melodies drift beneath slamming alt/doom riffs, offering an introduction to the band’s upcoming second album Fevereaten with a refinement of the elements that made their debut so brilliant. Keep your eyes out for Fevereaten on its oh-so-appropriate release date of Halloween.
Witch Fever – THE GARDEN (Official Video) – YouTube
And now for something completely heavy. Self-styled “Aztec-metallers”, Mexico’s Cemican combine lurching grooves, explosive blast-beats and light flute work on new single Táan Ti Le Xibalbá, taken from their forthcoming new album expected later this year. It’s a brilliant and unique mix, yet more proof that extreme metal continues to thrive as its sound diversifies and it draws in different cultural influences.
Cemican – Táan Ti Le Xibalbá (Official Music Video) – YouTube
While it’s anyone’s guess what’s happening in the world of Code Orange right now, guitarist Reba Meyers certainly isn’t standing idle. Clouded World is her third solo single and was recorded by legendary noise rocker Steve Albini before his passing in 2024; don’t let the Albini credit fool you though, this isn’t a departure from the nu metal inspired bent Reba explored with both Code Orange and her previous two singles.
Reba Meyers – Clouded World (Official Video) – YouTube
Speaking of nu metal influences… Gore. offered up a fascinating mix of metalcore and R&B with their debut EP, but new single Sepsis seems to be pushing their sound in a heavier direction that actually feels akin to what Code Orange were doing with Underneath, albeit with Gore.’s own sonic footprint stamped all over it. Making their Download Festival debut this weekend, this lot are worth keeping eyes out for.
Sturle Dagsland – Galdring
The world of Nordic folk has often intersected with metal, making the likes of Eivor, Wardruna or Heilung popping up at a festival like Download or Bloodstock feel completely natural. Forged in that same spirit is Norway’s Surle Dagsland, a more frenetic take on the style that feels like the folk equivalent of jumping from Black Sabbath to Napalm Death. Taken from new album Dreams And Conjurations, due October 10, it’s an energetic showcase that Nordic folk can be just as sonically diverse as the metal world it so often crosses over with.
Sturle Dagsland – Galdring (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Rising stars of symphonic metal, Netherlands’ Blackbriar are spreading their grandiose vision on new single Harpy. There’s a natural inclination to bombast within the genre, but its the subtle swells of what sounds like decidedly Celtic folk influence and vocal melodies that could come from fellow Dutch symphonic forebears Within Temptation that help sell this as something truly epic.
Castle Rat – Wizard
We all know that heavy metal loves a bit of theatricality. It doesn’t come much more epic in scope than newcomers Castle Rat though, the high fantasy heavy metallers fully committed to the bit with live shows that include a lurking grim reaper and a sword battle. Latest single Wizard shows their music is just as grand as their show; Sabbathian riffs and rhythmic struts that call back to the stoner/doom greats.
Castle Rat – “WIZARD” (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Clattering, hammering riffs and soaring vocals make for a potent brew in Pinkshift’s new single Anita Ride. Taken from new album Earthkeeper, due August 29, it’s an explosive first taste of what the band are aiming to do this time out and a perfect introduction if you’re not already familiar. Stick it on loud and hav at it.
Pinkshift – Anita Ride (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.
(Image credit: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush wanted Pearl Jam to be in the submersible that imploded en route to the Titanic, according to a new documentary.
A talking head in Netflix’s Titan: The OceanGate Disaster film, which came out on Wednesday (June 11), says that Rush mentioned getting Eddie Vedder’s grunge icons into the craft in a bid for publicity.
The submersible was ultimately crushed underwater following a technical failure, killing all five people onboard including Rush.
Joseph Assi, a videographer that Rush recruited to film the trip, claims (via Loudwire): “They needed more exposure, that’s why we came along. The sub they were making was very basic, so the idea was – ‘Make us videos so we can catch the attention of people.’”
He adds: “They had wild ideas, like they want to take Pearl Jam in the submarine, or he talked about some floating city that could also submerge.”
The Titan submersible imploded during its 12,500ft (3,810m) descent from the ocean surface to the resting place of the Titanic on June 18, 2023. Joining Rush onboard were French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
The craft lost contact with OceanGate crew at around 10,825ft (3,300m), less than two hours into the dive. After four days of searching, its wreckage was found on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean. The documentary reveals that the Titan was quickly crushed by the intense pressure beneath the sea, killing everyone inside instantly.
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Though Rush made 13 successful trips to the Titanic in the Titan, there were concerns about its safety. “Banging noises” against the hull were heard by passengers on previous dives. A similar noise was heard by OceanGate’s crew shortly before they lost contact with the craft.
Titan has received broadly positive reviews since coming out, scoring an average of 6.7/10 in reviews on IMDb and a 69 percent approval score on Rotten Tomatoes at time of publication.
Pearl Jam released their latest album, Dark Matter, in April 2024. The band will perform at Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California on September 26.
Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.
The latest issue of Prog honours the memory of former Yes bassist Chris Squire, who died ten years ago. Squire wasn’t just a fantastic musician; he really was a larger-than-life character. His sense of musical adventure went a long way to help make progressive rock such an enduring art form, but so did his wholehearted embracing of life itself.
We have teamed up with Squire’s estate to create this special and exclusive Chris Squire memorial t-shirt to honour him further still. The design, which you can see below, echoes the manner in which Yes paid tribute to their former bassist and de facto leader after he sadly died on June 27 in 2015, where they placed his trademark Rickenbacker bass guitar under a spotlight as Onward played over the PA whilst pictures of Squire were displayed on screens
You won’t be able to buy this anywhere else apart from through the Prog’s online store.
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Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.
