K!1753 – Ghost: Christmas Past, Present And Future…

What reason have Ghost to be merry? Well, having utterly conquered the metal mainstream in 2018, quite a big one actually. With the congregation finally spilling into arenas, however, and dark superstardom calling the Swedish spooks, frontman Tobias Forge kicks off our nightmare before Xmas by explaining there’s no rest for the wicked…

On top of that, with Christmas being a time of giving, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t pass on a little present to you, right? So we've got a killer Ghost print, by artist Xavi Forné. See more of xavi’s work at error-design.com.

Elsewhere in this week's massive 84-page issue, we look back on 2018 month by month and examine the events that shaped the past 365 days, before twenty one pilots, Parkway Drive, Slipknot, Black Veil Brides, Metallica, Fall Out Boy, Beartooth, Halestorm, Mike Shinoda and Greta Van Fleet tell us all about their years. On top of that, the results of the Readers' Poll 2018 arrive from you guys, and we also take seven Kerrang! rockstars to the pub to put the world to rights.

If that's not enough for you, we test out our braincells with an extra-difficult version of the annual Kerrang! Christmas quiz (so you can feel doubly proud should you be able to conquer it…), The Darkness dude Justin Hawkins tells us what festive tunes have inspired, angered and moved him, and Andrew W.K. explains how Christmas is the partiest time of the year.

There's a massive Shots Of The Year poster special, too, featuring Marilyn Manson, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Palaye Royale, Paramore's Hayley Williams, Behemoth, Deftones, The Xcerts, Greta Van Fleet, blink-182 and MAN WITH A MISSION.

All this and more is available in the new issue of Kerrang! – which you can get anywhere in the world when you order online through Newsstand. But for UK residents, it hits the shops on Wednesday, December 19 from all good newsagents.

And that's everything until January 2. See you next year!