Features

“Modern society suffers from a serious lack of love”: Inside Higher Power’s surprise new album

Disillusioned with the transactional nature of the music industry and disconnected from life at home after 10 years of hard grind, Higher Power needed to step back, reconfigure and reclaim control. Frontman Jimmy Wizard explains how that decision made superb, surprise-released third album There’s Love In This World If You Want It truly essential…

“My friend put his headphones on me, and I was hooked”: Stray From The Path’s Tom Williams on the album that changed his life

Stray From The Path guitarist Tom Williams explains how a sixth-grade encounter began a life-long love for Rage Against The Machine – and how it led to Tom Morello inadvertently sticking up for him…

Spiritbox: “Every time I walk out onstage, I can’t believe this is my life”

With a career already full to the brim of bucket-list moments, this weekend Spiritbox are taking things to a whole new level by opening for Linkin Park at a sold-out Wembley Stadium. As well as pondering “what Cellar Door sounds like when it’s blasted” to a whopping 90,000 people, Courtney LaPlante talks success, self-belief, and letting art speak for itself…

From Dio to Sleep Token: The icons who inspired Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale

For more than 15 years, Lzzy Hale has been a hero to a whole generation of rock’n’roll fans. So we asked the Halestorm star who she looks up to…

The rise of ADTR, as told through their most important gigs

A Day To Remember have been one of the best live bands on the planet for a long, long time now. Despite a “mortifying” first show all the way back in 2003, Jeremy McKinnon reveals – through 10 key gigs – how they’ve shot straight to the top.

GRAMMYs, glory and “the absence of God”: The story of Ghost’s Meliora

Tobias Forge had long wanted to do an album set in the future. With Meliora, he had the tools and freedom to follow in the footsteps of his heroes in Iron Maiden and make a full-on heavy metal concept record. Within it, he questioned the nature of contentment in a modern world. But its runaway success would also prove to be the making of Ghost…

In pictures: Nine Inch Nails’ mind-blowing Peel It Back Tour 2025

Nine Inch Nails’ stunning Peel It Back Tour landed in Ireland and the UK this week to mark the start of several months on the road for the industrial legends – here’s what it looked like…

13 bands you can’t miss at RADAR 2025

Next month, RADAR Festival will bring a banging bill to Manchester for three days of music and bants. The line-up is stacked, but here’s a baker’s dozen to have on your radar…

“Someone threw a frog at me and I fell off a trampoline”: 20 Questions with BEX

BEX tackles our quick-fire question machine to fill us in on accidents, pukey puddings and the true identity of BIG BEX…

JPEGMAFIA: “People have this idea of me, but it’s a projected image”

From walking around school “screaming Numb like an asshole” to supporting Linkin Park at Wembley Stadium later this month, JPEGMAFIA has been on a genuinely breath-taking journey. Joining the alt. hip-hop superstar on the road, we get to know the man behind the music, and learn that his time is very much now…

“It ain’t about the machine that’s behind you, it’s about how long you can stay in the ring”: How Skindred and Those Damn Crows played the long game and won

Celebrating hugely successful chapters in their respective bands’ lives right now, we bring together Benji Webbe and Shane Greenhall to reflect on Skindred and Those Damn Crows’ journeys, how British music is thriving, and why “rock’n’roll is not a 100-metre dash but a marathon…”

“The world is a crazy place – come and escape with us”: Inside the glorious return of Motion City Soundtrack

As Motion City Soundtrack reveal details of their long-awaited album The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World, Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain talk 2016’s hiatus, overcoming burnout, working with Patrick Stump, and why they’ve always had “f*cking cool” fans…

“I wanted people to throw themselves into the vision”: The story of Ghost’s Infestissumam

Already spreading far beyond the underground, by the time of 2013’s second album Infestissumam, Ghost had signed to a massive label and were working with Foo Fighters’ producer. This wasn’t without its problems for the clergy, but even a cautious name tweak and issues getting the album’s racy sleeve pressed couldn’t stop a Swedish Grammi coming their way…

Green Day: “This has been one of my favourite eras that we’ve ever had”

Green Day are finally, finally coming to Download. Which, as festival experts, is long overdue. Fresh from their spell at Coachella, Billie Joe Armstrong looks forward to making their mark at the home of rock, recalls the madness of their first Brit fest experiences, and how they’re ending Saviors soon to preserve it…

Malevolence: “Bands come and go, and it’s really nice to believe that we’re still on the up”

Lately, Malevolence have been able to do no wrong – well, apart from in the eyes of the National Trust. With new album Where Only The Truth Is Spoken almost here, the Sheffield stars talk pressure and pride, having the “best job in the world”, and taking the leap towards even bigger things…

Lowen: “I want to explore the edges of discomfort in what we do”

Barnstorming breakthrough Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran has already catapulted London prog-doomsters Lowen onto some of metal’s biggest stages. But as bewitching vocalist Nina Saeidi delves into her fascinations with Middle Eastern culture and esoteric teachings, arcane weaponry and the deadly arts, they’ve got fathomless depths still to explore…

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