Splits, spouses, sludge and selling out… Japanese death doom dealers COFFINS take KIM KELLY to ‘THE FLESHLAND’ to talk their past, present and future

The Land of the Rising Sun has earned its out-there reputation about a billion times over by now, so it’s always a bit refreshing to stumble across an artistic endeavour that sticks to a comfortingly familiar script instead of blasting out into the stratosphere on steel wings of glitter and tentacle porn. That’s how I felt the first time I heard Coffins, anyway, and they’ve done little to disappoint, or deviate, in the ensuing half decade. Not only have they chosen to take a path often traveled, they’ve managed to Godzilla stomp all the way down and back again without seeming to break a sweat or whip off Uchino’s ever-present sunglasses. The trio (now quartet, thanks to new vocalist Ryo) have stayed true to the same ugly, death/doom sound they’ve been peddling for most of their unlucky 13 years, though it took a while for them to arrive at that sickly sweet spot.

“Strictly speaking, we changed three times the sound style,” guitarist Uchino clarifies. “We started from 1996, playing a slow heavy junk style in ’96-’97, then … Read More

“I see the light shining” sung TUDOR SHELDON on Virtue’s 1987 demo ‘FOOLS GOLD’, but it’s us that sees the light now, shining bright from that most sought-after yellow cover. Seek (and destroy) no more, No Remorse from Germany have made VIRTUE readily available and DAVE SHERWOOD tracked down the band to ask if we’ll ever get to see them live… and to give the only mention of Skindred that will ever appear in our pages.

At Iron Fist we are fascinated with the weird and wonderful; from knowing about Phil Lynott’s guest appearance on Heavy Load’s ‘Free’, to discovering Slayer’s first ultra-rare release: ‘Satan Laughing As You Eternally Rot’ which simplifies to SLAYER. So we were ecstatic when we discovered an official re-issue of Oxford’s unsung heavy metal heroes: Virtue. They were active towards the back end of the NWOBHM prime time but were pushed into never ending pit of trend-influenced bands. It has only been in the last four years that their 1985 ‘We Stand to Fight’ single has gone viral in the metal community; and so with its original release (costly and pressed to a minimal number) it was only a matter of time until a label were wanting … Read More

The thrash boom has moshed back to obscurity, but it’s separated the wheat from the chaff in terms of the bands worth giving the time of day. Yorkshire’s EVILE are now on album number four, and with a heavier, more Entombed influence, they tell LOUISE BROWN that they ain’t going anywhere…

The bubble has well and truly burst. And thank fuck, some of you might say. In the mid-2000s it was rad to wear hi-tops, chug beer bongs and sing about zombies. You couldn’t move at metal shows for freshly patched jackets and trucker caps with the flap riding high, but as the new decade dawned the Bay Area beatification died down and the metal labels stopped pecking at the carcass of thrash. Many of those bands hailed as the second-coming of Slayer have disappeared without a trace, drinking their own toxic kool-aid and Milano moshing back from whence they came. But some, like Yorkshire’s Evile have not only stood their ground, but have proven that, four albums in, they were never a novelty throwback thrash band in the first place. Forget the trends, Matt Drake, his guitarist brother Ol, Ben Carter and Joel Graham (who joined in 2009 after the tragic death … Read More

Iron Fist Magazine presents a panel debate at Roadburn Festival, in the V39 venue on Friday April 19 at 2pm. We will ask the questions whether it is possible to make a truly great and classic album in 2013? Roadburn Festival is a community of music lovers and in our record collections there are no doubt albums that are regarded as “classics”, whether it’s ‘Killers’, ‘Rumours’,‘Unknown Pleasures’, ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ or ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’.

However, is it possible to make an album of that magnitude in the modern day music scene? Are the labels supporting truly great artists? When you can record an album in your bedroom in a day are we putting quantity before quality? With digital distribution, is the way an album sounds or presented unimportant today? Should we worry about selling a physical product in a record shop, the old-fashioned way, or through a website only? What will the legacy be of the albums of our generation? What albums will we insist our children listen to?

Moderated by Iron Fist editor, Louise Brown, she will be joined by musician and artist John Baizley, music journalist Jonathan Selzer, record producer Jaime Gomez Arellano, freelance music PR manager … Read More

Formed in 1983 by guitarist Kenny Powell, Omen were part of a thriving scene that included the likes of Fates Warning, Jag Panzer, Helstar, Shok Paris, Virgin Steele, Liege Lord and Queensrÿche. Dubbed power metal years before it became a term of abuse, these outfits played a muscular, aggressive style far removed from the AOR and glam which dominated America at the time. Influenced by British bands and the culture of old Europe, Omen’s epic tales of sword and sorcery never brought them major success, but in terms of kudos, respect and sheer cult worship, they’re as good as Gods. Like many bands of their era, Omen lost their way as the years rolled by and fashions came and went. More than once they tried – and failed – to change with the times. But it takes more than a couple of dodgy albums to wipe out the golden legacy of their early days and in 2013 – thanks in no small part to the Internet and a few thousand Greeks – Omen’s popularity is at an all-time high. Currently hard at work on a brand new album, guitarist Kenny told Greg Moffitt about the highs, the lows and the lessons learned…

How did your … Read More

Imagine if your job was to travel around Europe, drinking beer and playing heavy metal? They might mow Geddy Lee’s lawn and work in a pig-themed toy shop [true stories] when they’re at home but for two months CAULDRON quit life and hit the road – and remembered all the gory details for Iron Fist

BRITISH STEEL Myles [Deck, drums – the new boy!]: “A six week European tour?! Yes please! Having only done a handful of DIY tours in Eastern Canada – not to mention having never set foot on European soil before – I was very eager to hit the road as the new Cauldron drummer and prove my metal to the band and its fans. Spanning from the end of November to the first week of January, I gladly informed my family that they’d have to suffer the holidays without me and set off on a wet and wild, 35 date adventure of heavy metal bliss. When we landed, we met up with our driver and grindcore enthusiast, Luuk and friend Inti who worked the merchandise table for us all tour. Inti is the star of our ‘Nitebreaker’ video and goes by a number of aliases such as Merch … Read More

He was one of the first to come out in support of Iron Fist, sending us constant emails of support (and scoldings when he disagreed with our Attic review), so it was a pleasure to interview the ultimate metal fan FENRIZ. Just so happens he had an album out, too…

Phone interviews can be a bitch for a number of reasons; let me give you a nice little example. So it’s almost 3pm on a dreary weekday afternoon, and I’m swearing like a lovesick sailor at my obstinately blank Skype screen. I’m meant to be calling Fenriz “Rock ‘N’ Roll Gas Station” Nagell for an interview in roughly ten minutes, and nothing’s working. A flurry of frantic emails to him and my long-suffering editor later, I realize – fuck, it’s Wednesday. Our interview’s scheduled for Thursday. I’m what someone on this side of the pond might charitably refer to as “a knobhead”. Fast-forward 24 hours and a few effusive apologies, and I’ve finally got the phone to ring.

“Hey, Fenriz? This is Kim Kelly from Iron Fist.”

“So, Sebastian Bach is quite a character, hey?” an excited, lightly accented Scandinavian voice squawks back at me. Without so much as a “hello”, black metal’s … Read More

Raise hell, get seduced by the dark and shun the light – three things WITCHGRAVE make us want to do in 2013. The young Swedes have just vomited forth their first full-length and it’s not been off the Iron Fist stereo since it landed. Hearing everything from Venom to the blues in there we had to find out more and sent DAVE SHERWOOD to the cabin in the woods to infiltrate the coven.

“Vomit on the fucking priest!” That’s probably the best greeting we’ve had from a band this issue. And it’s no surprise that it comes in email form from Swedish youth gone wild, Witchgrave. Their self-titled full-length arrived in our postboxes like an early “fukk you” from Santa just before Christmas. Fitting since we’ve not exactly been the best-behaved children this year. The album, which contains juvenile blasts of thrashing fury such as ‘Seduced By The Dark’, ‘Raise Hell’ and ‘The Virgin Must Die’, is just the dose of merciless, Venom-ous, old metal brilliance we needed to end the old year, and ring in the new. Witchgrave are inhuman, they’re forged from the molten wax of someone’s complete Neat Records collection which has been burned (and died). A little bit of … Read More

2012 is dead and gone, and by the time you read this, it’ll be as distant a memory as the trees who met their doom to give this story life. It was a good year for a lot of things, and a terrible one for others, of course (the passage of time is funny like that), but, to abandon the bigger picture and hunker down into our black metal bunkers for a few hundred more words, it’s been a goddamn fantastic year for the strange little beast known as British black metal. After years of enduring the dread goblin king Dani Filth’s stranglehold on the title, a good number of UK lads got their collective shit together and released a bumper crop of killer jams that roved from Winterfylleth’s grandiose Northern sagas and White Medal’s crippling Yorkshire steel down into Anaal Nathrakh’s Brummie madhouse and further into smoke with the return of London’s grimiest, Necrosadistic Goat Torture. Toss in Wodensthrone, Code and A Forest of Stars, and Blighty’s not doing too poorly. Now that said banner year has ended, one’s holding onto the hope that the trend will continue to bear fruit, and thanks to the Southern boys in Fen, … Read More

There’s a particular type of scream in heavy metal that sends shivers down the spine. It’s a key signifier – like a yell from beyond that acts like a clarion call to all heavy metal heathens. If you have the scream all is good in the world. Halford had it – he was the king of the sustained “yeaaaahhhhh”. Dio, Kiske, Adams – hell, even Deceptor who are featured elsewhere in this issue have the scream. It’s up there with the Tom G “OOH”. The “yeah” in ‘Number Of The Beast’ takes some beating, but 27 seconds into brand new single ‘Mesmerised By Fire’ by Swedish leather boys Enforcer and we’re won over. We’re home. There’s something so comforting about that high-pitched cry of determination. Fuck the world. We are heavy metal. We are strong.

There’s always that fear of the new. It’s not a worry that’s left only to the metal tribes, all groups of music fan have it we’re sure, but it’s maybe moreso in heavy metal because it’s a love born of passion and, yes, we’ll admit it, ownership; so when a band you’ve loved since you heard their demo in 2006, and who you’ve made a pact … Read More