The Metal Hammer Podcast

We're feeling nostalgic on this week's show, so we thought we'd take a trip back twenty whole years to 2002! Merl and Steve discuss what was a unique and rather transitional year for heavy music - nu metal had peaked, the metalcore and emo explosions hadn't properly begun yet, and few metal heavyweights released brand new studio albums. And yet, there was still some cracking music,

And the big releases keep coming! Merl and Steve sift through some absolute bangers this week as we discuss whether the new Zeal & Ardor album has brought Manuel Gagneux's vision to new heights, whether Cult Of Luna's The Long Road North is up to their usual impeccable standards, how Amorphis have proved they're folk metal's most reliable band with Halo and why Bloodywood may have

It's the first of what we can safely assume is going to be a large number of absolutely stacked review round-ups for 2022! Merl and Steve get stuck into new Korn album Requiem and discuss why sometimes less is more (and why, all these years later, no one does Korn like Korn); we also heap praise on what is surely the best metal album of 2022 so far in Venom Prison's masterful new o

It's finally here! Part 2 of our big 2022 preview has arrived, and on this week's show Merl and El answer all your burning questions about the year ahead. Questions such as: will touring really come back to life this year? What are the best festival lineups of the year? Why can't anyone clash with Iron Maiden at Download? And what's gonna be the Metal Hammer album of 2022?!We also

With everyone upset by the untimely and, let's be honest, pretty messy demise of Every Time I Die, we decided to push Part 2 of our 2022 Preview to next week and instead have Merl and Steve pay tribute to the career, influence and legacy of one of modern heavy music's very greatest bands.From debut album Last Night In Town setting them up as one of the more promising hardcore bands

Happy New Year! Merl and El kick off 2022 with a preview of the year ahead - and what a massive year it's shaping up to be.Did Avenged Sevenfold's comments about Kanye West give us any clues on their new music? Will we really get new Slipknot and Rammstein albums this year? Who else is in the studio that has us excited? And what does the future of festivals like Download, Arctangen

It's the FINAL final episode of 2021! Merl, El, Jonathan and Steve analyse numbers 10-1 on the Metal Hammer 2021 Critics Poll, and hand out some fun end of year awards.Did Gojira's majestic Fortitude merit a runaway victory? Did Trivum make the best album of their career with In The Court Of The Dragon? Was Limp Bizkit's triumphant return the comeback of the year? And where the hel

The Podcast so big they had to cut it in two! Our huge look back at the last twelve months in metal has arrived as Merl, El, Jonathan and Steve dissect the Metal Hammer 2021 Critics Poll, discussing the first half of the magazine's official top 20 albums of the year.With heavyweight releases from the likes of Wardruna, Helloween, At The Gates, Sleep Token, Architects and more makin

It's the final Reader Q+A of the year! Merl and El tackle questions about their favourite recent memories at Metal Hammer, who they'd want to get in a Metallica Secret Santa, the best metal band of the 21st century, what surprised them most about metal in 2021, whether the world is becoming more metal and much more.Order the latest issue of Metal Hammer at bit.ly/BUYHAMMER

Tetrarch guitarist Diamond Rowe stops by the Metal Hammer Podcast! Merl and Diamond discuss her journey to becoming a modern day guitar hero, what it was like growing up in Atlanta as a metal fan, the amazing circumstances that saw Tetrarch support Avenged Sevenfold in their early days, how they're channelling nu metal for a new generation and why nu metal is getting so much love a