Swedish death metal veterans Sarcasm have recently unleashed an album (yes, an actual album!) full of dark melodies, razor sharp riffing, atmospheric passages and catchy hooks. ‘Within The Sphere Of Ethereal Minds’ (recently released on Dark Descent) takes the listener on a multi-faceted musical journey with many twists and turns that takes you right back to the glory days of the early to mid ’90s melodic death metal scene before the genre became oversaturated and commercialised. There is a blackened edge to their aural aggression too much in the same vein as their fellow countrymen Unanimated and Dissection. Iron Fist spoke with frontman Heval Bozarslan to find out more about the album and comeback.
Your latest full-length ‘Within The Sphere Of Ethereal Minds’ just came out, what can we expect and are you pleased with it? They can expect 35 minutes of jaw-dropping, ball-crushing, catchy yet face-melting death metal. I’m more than satisfied, even though I listened to the pre-production demos a thousand times and knew that this material was strong I didn’t know it would turn out this good. All the people involved really gave 100 percent and believed in this. And so far the reaction from people who have heard it … Read More
Get your Scandinavian leather ready, this weekend Desertfest tempt the Norse sexgods TURBONEGRO back to Camden, for their first London show in almost five years. We caught up with apocalyptic bass-dude, Happy Tom to find out what kept them so long, and what tuck shop treat he wants on his rider, and what the hell is he doing in Central America with Mayhem…
Hang on, what’s this? You made a documentary about Mayhem?
No, I mean I’m actually not that much of a documentary maker, I’m more of a talk show host. I have a panel show on national Norwegian television, called ‘The Welfare Office’, because in Norway there is a welfare office. It’s known to be the place where you come with your problems, but when you leave, you have even more. So that’s the concept of this debate show. It’s a pretty serious thing, but we have some funny stuff in there too. That’s been going on for 12 seasons now and we figured there’s so many panel shows, let’s start making documentaries. So we made a documentary about a woman in North London who, by accident, was sent to Auschwitz as a child, which was a fascinating story. And then, I’m an American … Read More
Craven Idol return with a crash of thunder after almost four years of deadly silence. Not only do the London Black metallers have a killer new release, ‘Shackles Of Mammon’ (Via Dark Descent on April 14), they will also open for Nifelheim at the Underworld on May 26. All this with a brand new line-up, as guitarist Scourger and drummer Volgard, have been replaced by Obscenitor (also of Crom Dubh) and Heretic Blades.
“We entered Greg Chandler’s Priory Studios last year and emerged a week later with around 40 minutes of old school extreme metal swearing by the legacy of the first god.” That’s how frontman Wrath starts his epic story about their latest album, which the band launch with a gig at The Black Heart, Camden, this Saturday April 8.
“Our new album ‘The Shackles Of Mammon’ is more varied and way more aggressive than its predecessor ‘Towards Eschaton’,” he continues. “It is a ‘complete’ album with significantly better song-writing and a rawer, old school production. Greg Chandler, from Esoteric, is a brilliant producer and we spoke to him at length during the run-up to the session, and we had a clear vision for the sound. I had in mind the first wave … Read More
There are always those bands you’ve never heard of, but worth every single note when you do finally stumble upon them. For many readers out there, Quicksand Dream from Sweden might be such a band. Born from the ashes of an old cult act named Epic Irae, Quicksand Dream took shape as duo with Göran Jacobson (vocals) and Patrick Backlund (all instruments) performing music from the heart, inspired by Black Sabbath, Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road and similar iconic legends. Sixteen years after their debut album (that got a proper release years later) they came back with ‘Beheading Tyrants’, without the urge to follow a specific style, but rather give something personal to a dedicated audience. The music of Quicksand Dream has a strong and solid vibe from the past, and Patrick Backlund is here to explain the dream…
Before Quicksand Dream, there was Epic Irae. Give us a brief recap of your early years in music, the creation of Epic Irae and the transformation to Quicksand Dream. Epic Irae was the original name of the band, formed by a bunch of schoolmates in the autumn of 1988 inspired by the likes of Candlemass, Manilla Road, Cloven Hoof, Stormwitch and Celtic Frost to … Read More
German death metallers Venenum have recently unleashed their debut full length album ‘Trance Of Death’ upon the extreme music scene via Sepulchral Voice Records, a multi-faceted album full of twists and turns that will slowly coil it’s way around your senses upon listening.
We caught up with vocalist/bassist F.S.A (who joins P.T. on guitars, D.P. on guitars and keys, and F.J.L on drums) to find out more about the album and gain more of an insight into the dark musical world of this very exciting new malevolent force in death metal.
Your debut album is due to be unleashed in the near future – what can the readers expect from your first full-length offering? Immense. Intense. In trance.
Where was the album recorded? The album was recorded at Tonstudio Katzer in Nuremberg, Germany. Our new guitarist suggested Romin Katzer because he did an internship at his old studio once. Since we hadn’t made up our mind on where to record the album, we visited Romin at his new studio, which is close by where we live and instantly knew that we wanted to work with him. At first we only booked one week with the focus on getting the drum tracks … Read More
With Desertfest London coming up soon we thought we would dredge the archives for some interviews to get you in the mood. Back in Iron Fist #16 SATAN’S SATYRS mastermind CLAYTON BURGESS talked with J. BENNETT about Satanic lesbian films, life as Electric Wizard’s bass player and reluctantly entering the 21st Century
Clayton Burgess doesn’t have a smartphone. The Satan’s Satyrs vocalist, bassist and all-around mastermind explains this while apologising for being all of five minutes late for Iron Fist’s call. “I’m holding out for as long as I can,” he says with a laugh. “The funny thing is, I just got my first iPod in my life yesterday, so I’m still coming to grips with that.”
Anyone who’s heard the Satyrs’ howling retro fuzz rock or seen photos of Burgess stalking the graveyards of his Virginia hometown in black flares and battle vest might not be surprised to learn that our man prefers the pre-cell phone, pre-Internet, pre-mp3 good ol’ days, when land lines, the local library and physical formats were the natural world order. “I do buy a lot of CDs – as well as vinyl, of course – but I got tired of bringing them everywhere I went because I’m … Read More
The notorious Cleveland-based Midnight recently unleashed another punked-up metal massacre with the ‘Shox Of Violence’ EP via Hells Headbangers. It features four new songs and acts as a stop gap between the last album ‘No Mercy For Mayhem’ (released in 2014) and the upcoming new full-length. There is a compilation with the same title, which has also recently just come out, featuring the new EP plus a veritable feast of bonus cover songs, demo tracks and live recordings, including a couple of Venom covers, a host of covers by punk bands such as The Spits and Pagans, as well as Girlschool, Quiet Riot amongst others, all of which have been given the dirty, unholy and rotten Midnight treatment. We caught up with mainman/guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Athenar to find out more about the EP, compilation and the current activities of the band.
You have a new EP and compilation ‘Shox Of Violence’, can you elaborate on what this new release contains and what the readers can expect in comparison to the last full-length? Athenar: It’s a four song EP of tunes to blast out of your stereo! Please don’t expect much, keep your expectations in life low; it’s much easier that way. I don’t wanna … Read More
In a statement echoing Iron Fist’s own sadness and anger toward horrific orders passed by the USA’s newest president in his first week of office, online streaming community Bandcamp have announced that all proceeds from music sold on Friday, February 3 will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union, who are “working tirelessly to combat these discriminatory and unconstitutional actions”.
Bandcamp founder Ethan Diamond’s letter called out President Trump for his actions, writing, “Last week’s Executive Order barring immigrants and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries from entering the United States is not simply immoral, it violates the very spirit and foundation of America.”
With its tagline of “Discover new music and the artists who make it”, Bandcamp has become Iron Fist’s go-to source for so many of the bands you read about in our pages, so if you want to support them this Friday (and we urge you do) here a few bands we recommend.
THE ORDER OF THE SOLAR TEMPLE (CANADA) Soundtracking a new era of Satanic Panic, Matt Emery told us in Iron Fist #16 that “All I can say is that I wear my influences on my sleeve. It’s both a blessing and a curse, there’s a lot of ‘70s … Read More
DOWNWARD FACING DOOM: THE ART OF DOOM YOGA
“Meditation is the practice of death” – not a million miles from doom metal then. But seriously what’s the link between doom metal and yoga? Can the two ever happily co-exist? It’s hard to imagine the likes of spindly old Bobby Liebling wrapping his legs behind his head or aligning his chakras, but hey, what do I know? I’m about to find out…
My first encounter with the concept of mixing metal music with yoga came in the heydays of Tumblr, when I saw a post floating around about combining black metal and yoga practice. My initial reaction was to scoff at the notion and had no time for what I considered to be “hippy dippy bullshit”. A few years and a mental breakdown later, I have a different perspective on these things – I regularly practice mindful meditation, to combat my natural dalliance with stress – my calmer mind is a much more open one.
So, when I was offered the chance to partake in a doom metal yoga class, I jumped at the chance, but it wasn’t without apprehension. I have all the flexibility of cheap pine furniture and my idea of a … Read More
German doom rockers Naevus came back this summer with a new album via Bandcamp (and Meta Matter Records), their first since their debut album ‘Sun Meditation’ was released on Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above Records 17 years ago. We got in touch with frontman Uwe Groebel to find out about the new album and what happened to cause the band to split up soon after the release of the debut.
Hi Uwe, Naevus is back with a new album, please tell the readers a bit about your new recording? “Since the release in August we’ve been very pleased with reactions. People seem to like it a lot. It’s a very strong doom metal/rock album, maybe with a slight pop appeal, if I might say that. Some times very melodic. Each song is different in structure and we tried to be creative on this. All in all, it felt so good to write and record as four friends who were together again after so many years. We had a lot of fun.”
This is your first album since the 1998 debut, what are your feelings about that album looking back? “On my side I couldn’t listen to the album for a very long … Read More
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