This issue, Nightwish’s unstoppable frontwoman, Floor Jansen, explains why she’s had a rollercoaster couple of years - and why she’s starting a brand new chapter. We also make Tuomas Holopainen rank every single Nightwish album from worst to best, because we’re mean like that.
On the subject of symphonic metal, we meet one of its future stars, Beyond The Black’s Jennifer Haben. But it’s not all symphonic goodness this issue! We look back at the 10 gigs that changed our world – from Sabbath giving birth to a genre, to Mayhem igniting the black metal scene, these are the shows that really counted.
We also investigate metal’s longstanding love affair with Dungeons & Dragons, and sit down with legendary composer Danny Elfman to talk about Tim Burton, collaborating with Trent Reznor, and THAT Coachella performance! Elsewhere, we find out how Bad Omens grew from an average metalcore band to a fast-rising phenomenon, and sit down with Holy Fawn, the Arizona quartet taking metal in divine new directions.
Beat the winter blues with our Iron Maiden activity pages, then read our interview with Employed To Serve’s Justine Jones, as she talks record labels, TikTok and playing massive arenas. Obituary explain why they’re doing their bit for cats, we put your questions to Ville Valo (plenty of sex, death and, er, sheep there, weirdly), and Cassyette shows us her record collection.
We hit the Studio with Pupil Slicer, Napalm Death’s sonic architect Shane Embury gives us his life lessons, and Dream Evil reminisce about making their epic song, The Book Of Heavy Metal. All this, plus the essential news and reviews from the world of metal.
