Ten Things We Learned From Metal Hammer Issue 261

The new issue of Metal Hammer is out this week! Yeah we know, it's a pretty big deal. Not just because one of the biggest rock bands in the world grace our cover – but there's so much to learn! Like...

Pick up your copy of Metal Hammer 261 here

SLIPKNOT ARE BACK

Yeeeeeeeeeeaaahhhh! If you’re not excited by this then you should go and sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done. With so many unanswered questions about the Iowa metal crew, we take a look at the new single and everything that’s been said so far by the band themselves.

THERE ARE TOO MANY AWESOME RIFFS

Hours of discussion and debate fuelled our big feature on the Riffs That Shook The World. You might think it’s easy to come up with 25 life-changing riffs – and that’s because there’s hundreds. We managed to whittle it down to 25 including everyone from Metallica and Slayer to Emperor and Meshuggah.

PHIL ANSELMO HATES LOAD

In the hot seat for this month’s Discs Of Doom is the Pantera/Down frontman Philip H. Anselmo. And not only is he a U2 fan, but he hates Metallica’s Load album. “If you’re gonna put out a record like that, just do a fucking side-project or something, ya know?” Yeah Phil… we know.

TOOL ARE STILL PLAYING THE WAITING GAME

It’s one of the most eagerly-awaiting albums in metal and Tool are still teasing us about the follow-up to 2006’s 10,000 Days. But because we’re so excited we chatted to guitarist Adam Jones about when the hell we can expect some new music from the prog-metallers.

HOW BABYMETAL CAME TO BE

Anyone with an internet connection and even a fleeting interest in metal is surely aware of the Japanese phenomenon Babymetal. But to find out more about where these three girls came from, we sat down with the band’s official mastermind and manager Key ‘Kobametal’ Kobayashi to find out just what the hell is going on…

AC/DC WROTE BACK IN BLACK ON THE FLY

One of the most iconic songs in rock history was basically thrown together. As Brian Johnson recalls, the guys already had the riff and the song title but nothing else. It wasn’t until he started belting out the song title repeatedly that it fell into place. Funny how things work out, huh?

WHAT HAPPENED WITH AS I LAY DYING

Last year As I Lay Dying’s frontman Tim Lambesis was arrested and subsequently jailed for six years after attempting to hire a hitman to murder his wife. The rest of AILD have now started fresh with Wovenwar and reveal all on what happened with Tim and the effect it’s had on them and the metal world.

EDDIE HERMIDA LOVES CANNIBAL CORPSE

Realistically, who doesn’t love Cannibal Corpse? Everyone should be in perpetual admiration of the death metal legends. And one man who kneels at the Corpse alter is Suicide Silence’s Eddie Hermida who gives us his breakdown of why the gods of gore are that good.

HOW AVENGED SEVENFOLD CONQUERED THE WORLD

Long before A7X were anywhere close to headlining Download festival, the Orange County metallers dropped their Waking The Fallen album and their world was transformed overnight. We take a look back at why that album was so special.

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE HATERS

We went to the good ol’ US of A to catch up with Motionless In White as their Warped Tour stint takes an off-day in their hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Having faced adversity throughout their career as a band not be taken seriously, frontman Chris Motionless has some choice words for the “hardcore kids”.

There’s all this plus Alestorm, Betraying The Martyrs, Yob, Arch Enemy, Nine Treasures, Nick Oliveri and more!

And a FREE CD full of killer tracks from the new breed of riffers and TWO MASSIVE POSTERS of Bruce Dickinson mid-dogfight and the new Slipknot nine-pointed star.

And LOADS OF STICKERS including Babymetal, The Hell, Slipknot, Upon A Burning Body, While She Sleeps and more!

CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR NEW ISSUE NOW

Metal Hammer

Founded in 1983, Metal Hammer is the global home of all things heavy. We have breaking news, exclusive interviews with the biggest bands and names in metal, rock, hardcore, grunge and beyond, expert reviews of the lastest releases and unrivalled insider access to metal's most exciting new scenes and movements. No matter what you're into – be it heavy metal, punk, hardcore, grunge, alternative, goth, industrial, djent or the stuff so bizarre it defies classification – you'll find it all here, backed by the best writers in our game.