Features

The XCERTS: “We wanted to write songs like we were 14 again – nothing was off the table”

After five years away The XCERTS are back with new album Learning How To Live And Let Go: a record that originally saw the trio tackle their sense of identity and worth head-on, but has ultimately led the Britrock underdogs to find inner peace.

Urne: “Somebody said this is the most ‘human sounding’ metal record they’ve heard in years. That meant a lot”

Reckoning on death, degenerative illness, and the darkening of the mind, Urne’s incredible second album A Feast On Sorrow is one of the most wholly heavy records in recent memory. Frontman Joe Nally explains how the London trio teamed up with Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier to work through one of the darkest periods in his life…

20 bands you need to watch this weekend at ArcTanGent

A decade since it first arrived on the festival calendar, Bristol’s ArcTanGent has become an essential destination for fans of alternative music from far leftfield. Beyond headliners Converge, Heilung and Devin Townsend, and there are a whole galaxy of sounds to discover...

Caskets: “If this band didn’t work out, I wasn’t going to bother again. It’s really cool to have a buzz around us now”

With the UK continuing to produce some of the very best modern metalcore on the planet, Leeds quintet Caskets have quietly – but forcefully – also thrown their hat into the ring in recent years. Frontman Matt Flood once considered giving up on music entirely, but now he’s coming to terms with a firmly upwards trajectory…

The Armed: “This was always supposed to be magical and bizarre, but never just f*cking pretend”

After years as the slipperiest enigma in alternative music, The Armed are finally setting the story straight. Well, kinda. Strapping ourselves to the anarchic collective as they kick off celebrations for fifth LP Perfect Saviors, K! finds there’s still no easy way out once you’ve fallen into their intoxicating tangle of politics and philosophy, muscle and mayhem…

Killswitch Engage: “A few things might blow up during our Bloodstock set”

Ahead of their first-ever UK festival headline performance, Killswitch Engage’s Adam D shares some secrets on what their Bloodstock set might contain, as well as looking ahead to new music…

Hot Milk: “I want to put a bit of reality back in, a bit of bite, a bit of f*cking attitude…”

If you haven’t caught Hot Milk yet, it’s because the Manchester outfit are already zooming upward faster than most can keep up with. Ahead of the release of their debut album, they tell us the story so far: touring with Foo Fighters, writing with blink-182, appearing on America’s biggest talk show, and how they’re preparing to clean up the music industry…

Teenage Wrist’s track-by-track guide to new album Still Love

Teenage Wrist are awesome. Their new album, Still Love, is also awesome. So here’s Marshall Gallagher to tell you everything about it…

Voice Of Baceprot: “Metal raises our adrenaline and makes us more confident”

Indonesia’s Voice Of Baceprot came up against naysayers – including their very own parents – when they first started playing metal. But in fearlessly forging ahead and releasing their debut album Retas this year, the trio have realised that they’ve got what it takes to change the world through music…

NAUT: “You need to savour each moment intensely for what it is, then move on and do the same for the next”

With long-awaited debut album Hunt, Bristol post-punk quartet NAUT confirmed themselves as moody masters in a new wave of goth-inflected heavy music. As vocalist Gavin Laubscher and guitarist Jack Welch explain, however, it’s only through darkness that we can find the light…

In the studio with Svalbard: “It’s us walking down a dark path together and confronting our demons head-on”

Svalbard have spent the past year working on their highly-anticipated fourth album, The Weight Of The Mask. You’ll have to wait a bit longer to hear it, but vocalist/guitarist Serena Cherry gives a peek at what to expect. Spoiler: violins…

“Helping the audience take a risk is what Supersonic Festival is all about”

Every year, Birmingham’s Supersonic puts together the most eclectic and unconventional festival bill in Britain. As it prepares to celebrate 20 years, organiser Lisa Meyer talks us through two decades of musical madness, and helping to put the city’s musical legacy on the map…

“I had a little shoplifting phase in high school”: 13 Questions with Maggie Lindemann

Maggie Lindemann takes on Kerrang!’s 13 Questions and shares some secrets – from her party trick to illegal activity…

YONAKA: “If I can share my experience and someone hears it and understands, that’s a big deal for me”

As YONAKA return with new EP Welcome To My House – which welcomes listeners into vocalist Theresa Jarvis’ life through seven unique songs – the band talk mental health, not being pigeonholed and becoming a trio…

Stephen Brodsky: “Mutoid Man helped me find my confidence again as a writer”

Growing up in the Massachusetts hardcore scene, a life in music was inevitable for Stephen Brodsky. From his game-changing metalcore outfit Cave In to the heavyweight sludge of Mutoid Man, the lifelong Metallica fan has long become a cult hero. Here he reflects on a life in the loud lane…

Beartooth: “Life is about loving the process, loving all the different seasons and the ups and downs”

Ten years in the making, Beartooth’s fifth album finds Caleb Shomo coming face-to-face with something that’s eluded him all this time: self-love. Having always used music as an outlet for his pain and depression, today we find a man at peace with himself, having finally escaped the depths and ready to breach the surface…

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