Our truth lacuna coil

Discoballs! Foxes! Monsters! Babymetal, their guests, and a Harvard music lecturer break down every track on new album Metal Forth

From unexpected triumph to unimaginable tragedy and an unlikely resurrection, this is the rollercoaster story of the band that defined the sound of the 21st century

From Poppy to Spiritbox, new album Metal Forth features seven collab songs with modern metal royalty. Welcome to Babymetal’s next chapter of world domination

CONFESS

Reeling from illness and uncertain times, Skunk Anansie ’s future hung in the balance. But with new album The Painful Truth, they “stood on top of the cliff, held hands and jumped into the clouds”.

This trio of Los Angeles musicians fuse the rhythms of Havana, Medellín and Lima with the sounds of 60s surf music – though their sound has more in common with Latin folk music than Dick Dale. We join them to talk about their debut album, fibreglass guitars and tropical psychedelia