The Magazine

The long reads. Genre histories told chapter by chapter, band biographies, the essential albums, the label stories and the portraits, written by the KaosMetal editors.

Narrowed to Heavy Metal. The whole magazine →

Scorpions performing on stage in front of a packed arena crowd, Seattle, 2017

The Voice and the Ritual: Heavy Metal Singing and the Live Show

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Apr 9, 2026

Wolf Hoffmann and Uwe Lulis of Accept live, Nashville, 2024

Heavy Metal Songs About War

Declan Rourke · Apr 8, 2026

Kerry King of Slayer playing guitar live at Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, Wales, July 2025, fretting hand gripping the neck

The Tritone, the Devil's Interval

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Apr 7, 2026

Andy Sneap standing at the mixing console in the control room of his Backstage Studios

Modern Metal Production

Declan Rourke with Curtis Vance · Apr 6, 2026

Mercyful Fate posing together in a backstage corridor, King Diamond in his spiked crown and painted face

Heavy Metal vs Black Metal

Declan Rourke · Apr 5, 2026

Preproduction background painting of the fantasy city of Neverwhere for the Den segment of the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal

The Heavy Metal Movies

Declan Rourke · Apr 4, 2026

Night Demon performing live on the full stage at the Marble Factory, Bristol, 14 February 2025

Traditional Heavy Metal

Declan Rourke · Apr 3, 2026

Dee Snider of Twisted Sister performing live, screaming into the microphone in a black leather jacket

Heavy Metal on Trial: Censors, Courts and the Moral Panic

Declan Rourke · Apr 2, 2026

Lordi on stage at the Electric Ballroom in Camden in April 2024, the band in full monster costume

Halloween Heavy Metal Songs

Declan Rourke · Apr 1, 2026

Oscar Dronjak and Fredrik Larsson of HammerFall raise their instruments on stage, OVO Arena Wembley, London, 7 March 2026

The Heavy Metal Bands from Sweden

Declan Rourke · Mar 31, 2026

Mr. Big on stage under their gorilla-head backdrop, KK's Steel Mill, Wolverhampton, 22 March 2024, The Big Finish farewell tour

The Hair Metal Ballads

Declan Rourke with Saint Sylveszter · Mar 30, 2026

John Gallagher of Raven on stage at the Cart and Horses in London, January 2026

NWOBHM Denim and Leather

Declan Rourke · Mar 29, 2026

ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons (right) and Elwood Francis perform live at OVO Arena Wembley, London, on 11 July 2024

Texas Heavy Metal

Declan Rourke · Mar 28, 2026

Jinx Dawson of Coven backstage at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 1971

Occult Rock and the Occult in Metal Lyrics

Declan Rourke · Mar 27, 2026

Metallica on stage at the Monsters of Rock festival, Tushino Airfield, Moscow, 28 September 1991, a floodlight sweeping across a crowd stretching to the horizon

Heavy Metal Around the World: The Scenes That Shaped the Sound

Declan Rourke · Mar 26, 2026

Lemmy Kilmister playing bass live at Wacken Open Air, Germany, 2013, fretting hand gripping a chord shape on the neck

The Power Chord

Declan Rourke with Julien Vasseur · Mar 25, 2026

Blue Oyster Cult posed in a black and white studio portrait during the 1970s

Martin Birch, the Producer Behind the Sound

Declan Rourke with Curtis Vance · Mar 24, 2026

Chuck Schuldiner rehearsing with Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert during the Human sessions, 1991

Heavy Metal vs Death Metal

Declan Rourke · Mar 23, 2026

Rob Halford of Judas Priest performing live in full black leather and studded boots, screaming into the microphone with arms out, guitarist visible behind him

Heavy Metal Fashion

Declan Rourke · Mar 22, 2026

Unto Others performing live in blue stage light and smoke, O2 Academy Birmingham, 1 October 2022

The Dark Heavy Metal Bands

Declan Rourke · Mar 21, 2026

Doro Pesch singing into the microphone at the Underworld in Camden in March 2019

The 80s Heavy Metal Songs

Declan Rourke · Mar 20, 2026

Sabaton performing live at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, 18 April 2023, band members in camouflage stage fatigues on a war-themed set with a mounted gun barrel, sandbags and flame jets along the barricade

What Heavy Metal Sings About: War, Myth, Madness and the Road

Declan Rourke · Mar 19, 2026

Mastodon guitarists Bill Kelliher and Troy Sanders performing live at Hellfest, 2022

The Heavy Metal Bands of the 2000s

Declan Rourke · Mar 18, 2026

Warrant live on stage under the band's backdrop banner, MGM Northfield Park, Northfield, Ohio, 15 November 2024

Hair Metal in the 90s

Declan Rourke with Saint Sylveszter · Mar 17, 2026