Brendan Crabb, Journalist

After enlisting a star-studded cast for his previous solo record, Slash focused on working with one singer on new disc Apocalyptic Love. Brendan Crabb gets in the bunker with rock’s legendary axeman.

It’s inevitable - another Iron Maiden world tour, another double live album documenting it. The legendary heavy metallers don’t have a history of releasing shabby quality though, and the excellent production values and presentation of new live set En Vivo! don’t buck this trend.

Anticipation for this collaboration by these revered prog masterminds is suffocating.

Picasso remarked that good artists borrow, great artists steal; Quentin Tarantino has built a career on that very ideal. Soen are great musicians, but need to take these familiar elements to new or alternative heights if they’re to craft their own masterpieces.

There is noticeably less buzz about DragonForce nowadays, but if you’re seeking metal with more hooks than your grandfather’s tackle box and you can forgive the formulaic elements, get your air guitars ready.

They haven’t accrued the sales figures or enormous crowds of some of their more famous peers, but US metal outfit Darkest Hour aren’t wasting time thinking about whether or not their time is now, vocalist John Henry tells Brendan Crabb.

Equilibrium won’t boost God Forbid’s profile too much.