Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman's cause of death has been established by a coroner as alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver – and not as a result of flesh-eating disease Necrotizing fasciitis as previously reported.

Outlook We humans have a biological need for narrative explanations, for meaning. We instinctively dislike the idea that things just happen. We want to know why they happen. It makes us feel better. Take the gold price crash.

Alice in Chains are taking promo to a whole new level. The American heavy-metal band have produced a polished mockumentary, titled AIC 23, to promote their new album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, which is out next month. In the 11-minute film, the four band members talk about the band disguised as spoof musicians, with the help of prosthetics by the Oscar-winning make-up artist Matthew Mungle, who worked on Edward Scissorhands, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Schindler's List.

The band are back on tour with a new album

It's appropriate that Adam Ant should feature his name in the title of this sprawling comeback album, as many of its 16 songs are plainly autobiographical, from the affectionate paeans to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, to the digs at psychiatry in “Shrink”.

Dig out your Doc Martens: grunge is back, with new releases from stalwarts of the scene and a host of young pretenders

There's been increasing traffic between the folk and classical fields of late, though it's rare for a contemporary songwriter to be the focus, as in this "Elizabethan Tribute to Nick Drake".

All Tomorrow's Parties' spring seaside festivals have stalled, but their hearty alterna-spirit parties on in this London spin-off, a three-day event thin on the chalet front but crackling with cult bands, rare reunions and evangelists of noise.

Garbage have always been prime sci-fi enthusiasts, so it's apt this comeback album suggests a hiatus spent in a cryogenic freezer.

Starring: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand

What's hot on our playlist

A study in elegance: Montreal's latest digs

It's as if poodle rock never went away when Mötley Crüe and the hair metallists get together