In this issue of Metal Hammer, we sit down with ex-Him frontman Ville Valo to get the inside story of his solo project. It’s a tale of self-discovery and, er, eggplant emojis. We also bring you our huge 2023 preview. Find out what your favourite bands will be up to in the next 12 months, and let us introduce you to the newer artists who will be rocking your world and wrecking your necks.
Elsewhere in the mag, Kerry King talks life after Slayerrrrrr, In Flames tell us why they’re bringing back the melodeath (YES!), and Katatonia convince us they’re not all doom and gloom ahead of their awesome new album. Max Cavalera and Corey Taylor reflect on the making of Soulfly’s Jumpdafuckup, Epica’s Simone Simons answers your questions about corpsepaint and spaghetti, and we check out a new documentary series exploring the life-changing impact of our beloved metal.
We hit the studio with Tesseract, Machine Head’s Robb Flynn gives us his life lessons, and Jonathan Hultén walks us through the music that changed his life. We meet Taipei Houston (sons of a certain Mr Ulrich), Backxwash’s Ashanti Mutinta talks horror movies, dream collabs and history’s greatest trilogies, and to celebrate the announcement of Las Vegas’s Sick New World festival, we revisit a classic Korn interview from 1996. All this, plus all the essential news and reviews from the world of metal.