The Cover Story

Higher Power: “We are freaks. We are weirdos. Let’s embrace it!”

With sensational second LP 27 Miles Underwater, Higher Power confirmed UK hardcore could hang with the best in the world. But the events of 2020 – in and out of the band – interrupted their genre-shifting arrival. Now they’re back: ready to go bigger and bolder than ever before…

Enter Shikari: “Performing is, simply, what we were born to be doing”

Left broken and void of their creative instincts, the events of the past two years sucked the life from Enter Shikari. But now that live music is once again in full swing, the touchpaper has been lit, and Rou Reynolds and co. are set to rise from the ashes with more determination, resolve and righteous indignation than ever before…

Scowl: “As much as hardcore is for everyone, not everyone is for hardcore”

Bogged-down, bored and unfulfilled, Scowl vocalist Kat Moss was wilting under the Californian sun until she found her place in hardcore punk. Lockdown might’ve hampered her band’s bottlerocket ascent, but pouring every ounce of frustration into rapid-fire first album How Flowers Grow, life is moving fast again for the Santa Cruz collective. And it’s exactly as they like it…

Static Dress: “This genre has so much to be explored, but no-one wants to do it because everyone’s too scared of not being cool for 10 minutes”

In a world where so many artists are afraid to stray from the norm, Static Dress stand as one of the most inventive and inspiring acts in the burgeoning new wave of post-hardcore, unafraid to push what it means to be a band. Dive into the Technicolor rabbit hole...

Bob Vylan: “The music industry is the wild west… it’s a dangerous place with dangerous people”

Kicking against racism, police brutality and an outdated music business, Bob Vylan are making a vital, visceral noise, and they're doing it their own way. Meet the most exciting and important punk band in the UK...

How Korn finally found inner peace

After the catharsis of The Nothing, Korn have – for the first time – found themselves in a positive space. In a world-exclusive, Jonathan, Munky and Head explore this renewed and refreshed appreciation for existence, plus how it formed the blueprint for their new album and the rest of their lives...

Rolo Tomassi: A kind of magic

Following the huge success of Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It, Rolo Tomassi are back with new album Where Myth Becomes Memory. In a world-exclusive interview, Eva and James explore the album's creation, its meaning and why making music is a truly wonderful thing...

IDLES: The rise and rise of Britain’s unlikely rock heroes

Turning anger into art has made IDLES one of the biggest bands in the country. For frontman Joe Talbot, it’s meant navigating the road to sobriety more than once. As they release their fourth album, the iconoclastic Crawler, he and guitarist Mark Bowen reflect on life at the top, and keeping your head when all around are losing theirs…

Andy Biersack: The rise of rock’s great antihero

For his entire adult life, Andy Biersack has been in the public eye, and it’s not always been a positive experience. Growing up as a Batman-obsessed lone wolf hardened the Black Veil Brides mastermind to any negativity, making his hunger for success stronger. And it still hasn’t abated…

Behind Blue Eyes: The Radical rebirth of Keith Buckley

Battling alcoholism, marriage difficulties and a worsening existential crisis, Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley hit rock bottom just as he crashed into last year’s lockdown. With the Buffalo bruisers’ long-overdue ninth album Radical finally seeing the light of day, he explains how it became a roadmap to get back on track…

“I don’t feel that we belong anywhere, but we belong together”: How Biffy Clyro found their happy place

Biffy Clyro have already released one amazing album in lockdown. But when the isolation continued to pinch, they got to it making another, in secret. This is the story of The Myth Of The Happily Ever After, the record that helped them find balance, and rediscover themselves...

The fun and the fury of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ most aggressive album yet

After lockdown put a halt to music and severely impacted the mental health of millions, Frank Carter and Dean Richardson channelled their aggression and renewed passion for performing into the fun and furious new album, Sticky.

Wage War: How strength and unity shaped their greatest album yet

With the COVID pandemic derailing their momentum following third album Pressure, Wage War had no idea if they’d ever be a proper band again. Having channelled those frustrations into new record Manic, vocalists Briton Bond and Cody Quistad chart the rebirth of metalcore’s brightest hope…

Cristina Scabbia x Diablo: Inside metal and gaming’s most devilish crossover yet

Outstanding hack-and-slash remaster Diablo II: Resurrected isn’t just about polishing up the beloved original’s relentless fire and brimstone. In a striking collaboration with Lacuna Coil songstress Cristina Scabbia and bizarro YouTube star Mark The Hammer, it’s inspired the latest crossover between video games and heavy music, too…

Bring Me The Horizon: The rebirth of rock’s great innovators

Bring Me The Horizon have never let barriers get in their way. But when lockdown hit and put a halt on their momentum, it was an emotional challenge that affected them like never before. As they come out the other side stronger than ever, the band tell Kerrang! just how good it is to be back…

How collective grief shaped Mastodon’s most grandiose, gut-wrenching album ever

The passing of band manager and close friend Nick John in September 2018 was a deep wound for Mastodon. As astonishing double-album Hushed & Grim looms, the Atlanta metal masters explain how they’ve processed that pain into an epic reckoning on life and death, grief and the great hereafter...

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