Brent Hinds RIP: The world of music pays tribute Former Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds has been killed in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta - Tool, Slash, Trivium, Opeth, Zakk Wylde and more pay tribute Metal Hammer · Aug 22, 2025
"Nine Inch Nails made me quit my day job." Zeal & Ardor's Manuel Gagneux picks the 10 songs that changed his life From discovering black metal through Darkthrone to being inspired by Mike Patton for Stranger Fruit, these are the 10 songs that have shaped Zeal & Ardor's Manuel Gagneux Metal Hammer · Aug 14, 2025
Watch Opeth pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with heartfelt cover of Black Sabbath’s Solitude The prog metal mavens offered an excellent tribute to the Prince Of Darkness at a festival last weekend Metal Hammer · Aug 4, 2025
“A lot of metalheads wind up finding prog – but it’s in a lot of their favourite bands already”: Progressive metal has never been healthier, and here’s why Members of Jinjer, Blood Incantation and Rivers Of Nihil explain the current rapid evolution of a genre that broke out 40 years ago Metal Hammer · Jul 4, 2025
"You want a smack in the face in the beginning." How Ghost Of Perdition went from a concept about Satanism to the defining Opeth anthem Opeth might've ditched the concept record idea for Ghost Reveries, but Ghost Of Perdition still tells a story Metal Hammer · Jul 2, 2025
“When are we going to stop with this Pink Floyd stuff and start playing some metal?”: The story of the most ambitious song in death metal history In 1996, Sweden’s Edge Of Sanity filled an entire album with one winding track, inspired by black metal, melodeath, prog and plenty more. It remains a towering achievement long after the band’s break-up. Metal Hammer · Jun 11, 2025
"Five middle-aged, slightly hungover geezers miming along to something." Opeth share new band performance video of §1 Swedish prog metallers Opeth share a performance video for The Last Will And Testament's opening track §1 Metal Hammer · Jun 5, 2025
Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt explains why Steven Wilson stopped producing their albums: “I could hear some ideas in my head that I like to think he would have brought up” Prog idol Steven Wilson co-produced Opeth’s Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation albums – Mikael Åkerfeldt explains why he didn’t return for Ghost Reveries Metal Hammer · Jun 3, 2025
“All the time he was ill, he had it in his head that he was going to finish it when he got home. He never made it home. I guess we owed it to him”: Tim Smith’s Cardiacs story will end with final album LSD Members of the band who influenced Steven WIlson, Radiohead, Opeth, Andy Partridge and more explain what they did and why it mattered Louder · May 5, 2025
“He says he’s mediocre. I understand – I say the same thing. But he’s a great musician, and that has nothing to do with ability”: What Mikael Åkerfeldt’s peers really think of him Steven Wilson, Mike Portnoy, Steve Hackett and Arjen Lucassen list the reasons they like and admire Opeth leader Mikael Åkerfeldt Louder · Apr 17, 2025
These 2005 metal albums are so incredible that they should have been chart-toppers The likes of Trivium and Opeth had banner years in 2005, but these master-strokes proved there should have been a bit more room under the spotlight Metal Hammer · Apr 14, 2025
We got rock and metal's best bands to pick the greatest Ozzy Osbourne (and Black Sabbath) songs ever Members of Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Halestorm and more choose the best songs featuring the Prince Of Darkness Metal Hammer · Apr 11, 2025
“We wanted to feel that we weren’t in a rush – even though we were. That’s how you end up singing in a sleeping bag”: From a mountain monastery to a cold bus in a snowstorm, the Von Hertzen Brothers’ Nine Lives was tough work The Finnish brothers created a different working method for their fifth album, but to their surprise the results weren’t much different from the previous four. Which was no bad thing Metal Hammer · Mar 18, 2025
“It’s difficult to hear bass playing in metal, but players like Geezer Butler stand out – they try to do something different with their parts. If they don’t, I usually find it a bit boring”: Opeth’s Martín Méndez names the 5 albums that shaped his sound The low-end maestro for prog titans Opeth digs deep into fusion and soul as he names his favorite bass records Guitar World · Mar 16, 2025
Metal Hammer · Mar 12, 2025 “It’s a really good album, but I’m not sure it’s better than the ones that came before. You ask, ‘Why didn’t this happen sooner?’” Many consider Blackwater Park to be Opeth’s masterpiece. Opeth don’t The classic line-up had assembled, Steven Wilson was contributing and Mikael Åkerfeldt was mining songwriting gold – but you can’t convince him the 2001 release was their magnum opus
Metal Hammer · Mar 11, 2025 “It was s***. The singing’s s***, the playing’s s***”: Opeth covered a beloved Iron Maiden song – and Mikael Åkerfeldt really, really doesn’t like it The Opeth frontman also reveals which of his songs he feels are overrated in a new interview with Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer · Feb 27, 2025 “Haven’t we been f***ing great tonight?!” Prog metal legends Opeth bring a career-spanning setlist, staggering visuals and more than a little self-confidence to sell-out London show Rejuvenated after latest album The Last Will And Testament, the prog/death metal masters honour both sides of their sound with cinematic accoutrements
Metal Hammer · Feb 12, 2025 "It was the ‘giggle grass’, so everything struck me as hysterically funny for about three hours." Grand Magus frontman J.B. Christofferson on laughing fits, Beowulf and heavy metal's next generation With a stable line-up since the beginning, Sweden's Grand Magus have been staunch defenders of the faith for over 25 years
MusicRadar · Feb 11, 2025 “I’m a Nirvana fan, but it was just a regular guitar to me”: Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt left unimpressed by Kurt Cobain’s “haunted” Martin acoustic Åkerfeldt got a chance to play the late Nirvana frontman’s 1953 D-18, aka Grandpa, in a recent visit to the Martin Museum
Metal Hammer · Feb 10, 2025 “It didn’t feel that good. There was nothing special about it, other than it had belonged to Kurt Cobain.” Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt wasn’t impressed when he got to play the Nirvana frontman’s guitar The Opeth mainman admits he wasn’t that wowed when he recently got his hands on Kurt Cobain’s “haunted” guitar
Metal Hammer · Feb 4, 2025 “Pigeonhole this band at your own peril”: Why you should adore Katatonia – and where you should start with their enormous back-catalogue From death/doom majesty to streamlined, melodic metal, this is your whistlestop tour through the best of Katatonia’s 12 albums
Guitar World · Feb 3, 2025 “Someone told us that guitar was haunted – people who had it had accidents. I’m a Nirvana fan, but it was just a regular guitar to me”: Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt said the Martin museum felt like the “Holy Land,” but one guitar he played there left him cold Åkerfeldt was decidedly more moved when handed a 19th century Martin, a guitar so pristine he was scared to play it
Metal Hammer · Feb 2, 2025 “It had a 13-minute spoken-word black mass on the B-side”: The mysterious late 60s album that Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt says invented Satanic rock Six months before Black Sabbath released their landmark debut album, another band were praising Satan
Metal Hammer · Jan 21, 2025 "After shaking her hand, I went out and had like five cigarettes in a row just to calm myself down. I get starstruck easily": Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt on the time he met ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog and had dinner with her Mikael Åkerfeldt looks back on the time he was starstruck after meeting fellow Swedish legend, Agnetha Fältskog from ABBA
Metal Hammer · Jan 13, 2025 Feel old yet? These classic metal albums turn 20 in 2025 Trivium’s Ascendancy, Bullet For My Valentine’s The Poison and Avenged Sevenfold’s City Of Evil are 20 years old now, and your knees aren’t what they used to be