With Bad Omens turning into a metalcore phenomenon, we chat to frontman Noah Sebastian about the dark side of fame. Straight outta Tokyo, Hanabie are brash, bold, colourful and chaotic – exactly what the world needs right now! New Jersey quintet Lorna Shore are reinventing deathcore – could they be on course to headline arenas? Meanwhile, Scene Queen’s ‘bimbocore’ genre fuses Y2K culture with metalcore and a message of empowerment.

Elsewhere in the mag, we name the 50 albums you need to hear in 2024, and speak to the likes of Bruce Dickinson, Kerry King, Mike Shinoda, Heriot and Vended about what we can expect. We look back at the career of Finnish metal superstars Children Of Bodom, and remember their incredible frontman, Alexi Laiho; ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson talks addiction, sex scandals and starting afresh; and the dark prince of love metal, Ville Valo, relives the incredible highs and crushing lows of rock stardom.

We hit the studio with Finnish Eurovision stars Blind Channel, Escuela Grind’s Katerina Economou invites us into her record collection, and Tesseract’s Dan Tompkins answers your questions. We bring you all you need to know about Iron Maiden’s new Piece Of Mind graphic novel, Sevendust reveal the truth behind controversial hit Enemy, and we meet horror-Brits South Of Salem. Dying Fetus’s John Gallagher talks South Park and #WhyNotDyingFetus, Babymetal hit London, and Napalm Death’s Shane Embury takes us inside his life story.

All this, plus all the essential news and reviews from the world of metal!