FUCK KEITH RICHARDS!
…and other patently absurd musings you had to offer on the return of Megadeth to the cover of Hammer, our tributes to Trevor Strnad and Chester Bennington, and more.
HELLA-MEGA TOUR
Megadeth need to sack off touring with flavour of the month bands like Five Finger Death Punch and do arenas themselves. We demand another Clash Of
The Titans! Oonagh Giblin (Facebook)
Count us in! Though we must say, Five Finger Death Punch? Flavour of the month? Really?!
99 WAYS TO (NOT) DIE
Fuck Keith Richards, surely by this point Dave Mustaine is the ultimate metal survivor? He’s beat addiction, beat being booted from Metal’s Most Overrated Group™ and now he’s beat cancer. Stick this lad in a ring with Putin and watch him stop WW3 on his own! Joe Gnall (Twitter)
Yeah there’s no denying it, Mustaine is a stone cold badass. Not sure we’d want to be picking a fight with Keith Richards though, Megadeth or no.
WAIL-STORM
Just saw your Alestorm piece - what a pathetic excuse of a review. I own a dog and can tell you they take TREMENDOUS enthusiasm in licking their balls. Georgia Thompson (Facebook)
We must admit, though we knew the Alestorm review was provocative we weren’t expecting the response it got.
But there have been many discussions internally, and we now all agree – dogs do seem enthusiastic about cleaning their gonads. We hope to hold ourselves to higher standards in future.
RIP CHESTER
The Chester Bennington feature in the last Metal Hammer was wonderful. It still doesn’t feel real that he’s gone, but getting some stories that confirmed what an absolute genius he was is the best tribute us fans could hope for. Matt Broadhead (email)
We can scarcely believe it’s been five years either, Matt. Chester was indeed one of a kind and we knew we had to commemorate him somehow, so we’re glad you loved Dannii Leivers’ excellent tribute.
TREVOR FOREVER
Trevor Strnad was one of us. I was so happy to see a full feature on him in the new mag, I worried he’d barely get any mention. John Cole (Twitter)
It’s like you said, John – Trevor was one of us. His compassion is something we should all aspire to if we want to live in a better world and his legacy as an artist is untouchable, so there was no way we could let his passing go un-commemorated.
THE HYPE IS REAL
Not gonna lie, I saw Conjurer get mentioned in Hammer a lot and thought, ‘Great, here we go again – Metal Hammer are shoving some new band down our throats.’ Then I heard Páthos. Fuuuuuucking hell. The hype is well deserved. Will Cartwright (Facebook)
We don’t champion bands like Conjurer for nothing, Will!
Almost like we’re a magazine with eyes (and ears) firmly fixed on the hottest new things in the scene, you might say…
MEGADAVE
David Ellefson didn’t do anything wrong. Dave was not right in firing him. But.. Dave does as Dave pleases. Josh Rowe (Facebook)
That’s an awful lot of Daves for one short letter, Josh. We think you might need a sit down.
BIGGER ISN’T BETTER
Mötley Crüe are back out playing stadiums and here you are putting Killswitch Engage and Meshuggah on the cover. Great bands and all, but no wonder metal is dying. It’s not 2006 anymore - where’s the BIG STUFF? Niall Weston (Email)
For someone who has a hang-up on times, you’re a bit behind there,
Niall! We’ve had ascendant stars Halestorm since then, and the return of Megadeth and Maiden. How’d you like that for BIG STUFF?
KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
It was so weird/brilliant being back at Download festival this year. Seeing bands like Skindred and Korn pull absolutely massive crowds (bigger than at least one of the headliners!) I did think, will those bands ever headline? They really deserve to! Kimmi Westbrook (Email)
Going purely on how well they go down at festivals, we can’t argue with what you’re saying, Kimmi – Korn and Skindred were both incredible, but then we’d expect no less having seen them countless times over the years. Maybe someday they will get their shot – we would love to see it.