Iron Fist Magazine

Spiral Skies premier ”Danse Macabre”

Swedish quintet Spiral Skies are set to release their long-awaited debut, full-length album, ‘Blues For A Dying Planet’, on May 18th via the German imprint AOP Records.

With influences ranging over decades, Spiral Skies has created a sound that can most easily be described as “Rock from another planet.” A unique blend of folk, doom and 70’s inspired rock music. The band has been compared to band such as Jefferson Airplane, Curved Air and as well as more modern outfits grouped under the Occult Rock tag.

Check out “Danse Macabre” here

 

INTO BATTLE: DEMON HEAD

Danish sinister hard rockers Demon Head are about to unleash their second full-length album ‘Thunder On The Fields’ via The Sign Records and Caligari Records (it will also be available via Crypt Of The Wizard in London!). Their sound is a marvellously memorable mix of rockin’ riffing, Danzig-esque vocals and heady hooks, which will embed themselves into your memory, plus there’s an occult, organic nod to the past without sounding like a retro throwback. Their upcoming album has already caught the attention of Darkthrone drummer Fenriz, who recently made them a band of the week, and they’re set to turn more heads. We caught up with the band to find out more about this still quite mysterious musical entity.

You have a new album due out soon, what’s up with that? B.G.N (guitar): You can expect a very generous and honest record that mostly take use of guitars, bass, drums, voice and words as instruments of expression. M.S.F (bass): Real music for real people.

Are you chuffed with the end result?. M.F.L (vocals): Yes, as Birk says it has been a lot of hard work; recording it ourselves, making the artwork (luckily with help for the final layout part). We are perfectionists about the songwriting and … Read More

INTO BATTLE: RÄMLORD

Rämlord from Finland deliver a very eclectic mix of styles with their recently released EP ‘We Are The Night’. Featuring veterans of the Finnish metal scene including Jarno Anttila, former guitarist in black metal pioneers Impaled Nazarene and underground black/death cultists Belial (the latter being no strangers to mixing diverse influences), that bravery comes across strongly in the music of his latest band. Combining a memorable mix of deathrock, ’80s heavy metal, Amorphis style folk, hard rock and black metal, the result is a versatile recording, which transcends any basic genre boundaries. Jarno answered our questions about the EP and their latest 7″.

Hi Jarno please give us a brief history of the band… what instigated the initial idea to form Rämlord? “After I left Impaled Nazarene I started to warm-up an idea about a old school metal band. I have been listening to that stuff since I was kid, but never really played in a heavy metal/hard rock band. I really wanted to finally play the music I love the most and Rämlord was born out of that idea. I joined forces with my old partner-in-crime, drummer Janne Mannonen, with whom I played in a rock band in late-’90s. After that I … Read More

INTO BATTLE: LUCIFER’S CHALICE

Formed in 2014, from a mutual appreciation of NWOBHM and ’80s heavy metal, Lucifer’s Chalice is comprised of Iron Fist’s very own KShevil (also of Winds Of Genocide and Uncoffined) on drums, CW on rhythm guitar and vocals, SRM on lead guitar and DH on bass. Following a couple of live shows, the band are now ready to release debut album ‘The Pact’ via Bandcamp, which was recorded in July 2016. KShevil describes it as “35 minutes of heavy metal darkness”.

Speaking of the band’s sound, she tells us “From the day the idea for the band was conceived, it was to pay homage to NWOBHM and old US heavy metal circa 1979 – 1984, and write and play songs in the vein of Angel Witch, early Iron Maiden, Witchfinder General, early Judas Priest, early Omen, early Metallica (’82-’84 period), Diamond Head and early Mercyful Fate. Nothing more, nothing less; just create some good old ’80s sounding heavy metal with dark and sinister lyrics. So we definitely had a very specific sound in mind from the start.”

Despite the band’s collective love of all things ’80s, as individuals, they all come from completely different backgrounds with an eclectic mix of tastes. KShevil and … Read More

INTO BATTLE: LUNAR SHADOW

Among the countless new metal bands, there are few of them that build their reputation on true passion and great music. LUNAR SHADOW from Germany have readied their first album ‘Far From Light’ and be sure that their regressive metal is more inspired than most bands out there, both new and old. Lead guitarist Max ‘Savage’ Birbaum tells Andreas Andreou about how he raises his Iron Fist against the modern mediocrity.

First of all, let me tell you that the improvmement from your debut EP ‚ ‘Triumphator’ (2015) is astonishing. The EP was killer and was welcomed in the underground metal scene, but your debut full-length sounds as close to the “real” thing as we’ll get in 2017. Give us a brief heads up on the making of the album, the recording and partnering up with Cruz Del Sur for the release. Max: Thank you. The improvement you spoke about was, on one hand, the logical result of just taking our time. ‘Triumphator’ was recorded in three or four single sessions, often in a hurry, and our singer [A.Vornam] was relatively new to the band back then too. This time we took our time to record everything properly, all the small details, vocal harmonies and drum rolls. Only … Read More

INTO BATTLE: SEVEN SISTERS

London’s SEVEN SISTERS have been kicking around since 2014, steadily building a fanbase and receiving no small share of critical acclaim for their high-energy, NWOBHM-inspired heavy metal. After extensive gigging both in the UK and across Europe, the band have finally released their much anticipated eponymous debut album on High Roller Records.

The album is an extremely polished piece of work, paying homage to early Iron Maiden, amongst others, while avoiding the trap of derivation or the tiresome “tribute” sound. IRON FIST sat down with guitarist GRAEME FARMER to get the skinny on the origin of the band, what inspires them and why the hell they’re named after a nondescript tube station in North London.

Tell us how Seven Sisters got started. How did you all come together as band? Graeme: Me and Kyle had been talking about working on a project together for quite a while, but never really got around to doing anything about it until late 2013/early 2014. I went round his for a jam, and we ended up writing ‘The Warden’ and ‘No Guts, No Glory’ in the space of a few hours. After that, the rest of what became our demo tape came together pretty quickly and we recorded … Read More

INTO BATTLE: THE DAHMERS

“We were formed after a wild halloween party in late 2011. Karlsson [vocals/guitar] had a couple of songs recorded that I thought sounded cool and suggested that we rehearsed them to see how it all sounded with a full band. We met at a garage the next day hungover as hell and that’s it.” Tobias Augustsson is explaining how garage rock, horror punk, biker exploitation movie, booze hounds The Dahmers came into being. Last year’s debut ‘Demons’ twists The Stooges, Misfits, Thin Lizzy and Motörhead with fellow Swedes The Hellacopters.

“We have always listened to a lot of different music so we never decided that we should stick to one kind of genre or try to sound just like a specific band,” Tobias says of their pick ‘n’ mix punk rock sound. “The basic idea was to play loud and have a good time while doing so. We find inspiration in everything from old punk and ’70s rock to ’60s pop songs and much more. “There has always been bands around that aim towards sounding old school and that’s usually fine and we dig a lot of them as most of our favourite bands are old bands,” he continues of his homeland’s revolving … Read More

INTO BATTLE: SALEM’S POT

Using an asylum as their rehearsal and recording space, and citing influences such as horror movies and Black Sabbath, you can almost imagine what Salem’s Pot are going to sound like before you even hit play. However, there is a rough charm to these Swedes that urges listeners not to dismiss them as just another trend-hopping ’70s garage rock rip-off just yet.

“It all started with just two of us watching old horror movies and listening to ’60 and ’70s music all day and night. We figured that we had to do something creative together since there wasn’t much more to do in a small, doomed town where no one wants to know you”, they explain when elaborating on how it all began. “There was only one of us who could play an instrument [that would be Knate on guitar!] and the other took care of the visuals and artwork. Along the way we stumbled over two freaks that could play bass and drums [that would be Direktörn and Peter] and then we recorded a demo [‘Sweeden’] at the asylum where we rehearse. Eventually the other one picked up an organ and some synthesizers and learned how to use them.”

A lack of … Read More

INTO BATTLE: THE GOLDEN GRASS

With The Golden Grass playing in London tonight and their new album ‘Coming Back Again’ recently released via Listenable Records, we revisited the time we put them in our Into Battle section way back in Iron Fist #10

Adam Kriney is the epitome of the modern and urban bohemian. A proud NYC-born and bred artist with a zillion ideas yet, first and foremost, a drummer he nevertheless has an extremely versatile musical pedigree that saw him hijacking free jazz, heavy rock, stoner, psychedelic rock, electro and everything in between. Until last November, his ticket that connected all those dots was La Otracina, whose career culminated in 2012 with their first, and so far only, DIY 46 date European tour and a storming Roadburn appearance.

However, upon their return another addition to their already long list of line-up overhauls knocked the wind out of Kriney. So despite being seated on a stack of unreleased recordings that could fill up “something like five albums” according to him, he put the band on hiatus and chose to focus on his other two musical activities, the instrumental kraut-rock inspired Zoned Out and Grateful Dead tribute band, the Dead Tapes. Only when those two also ran into … Read More

INTO BATTLE: MONASTERIUM

Doom Metal has its roots way back in early ’70s and Black Sabbath (the masters of all), followed by bands like Pentagram, Trouble and Saint Vitus. But the origins of epic doom metal are traced back to ‘Epicus Doomicus Metallicus’ of Candlemass, who along with Solitude Aeturnus, are the most iconic bands of the sub-genre. Monasterium, a new band hailing from Poland, are following the path of epic doom and Iron Fist is honoured to introduce them to the metal battlefield.

Introduce yourselves, ye humble knights of doom… Hails Iron Fist! We are Monasterium – a brand new Polish band formed in 2014 and dedicated entirely to epic/heavy doom metal. Doom metal in its traditional form has always been our passion and we believe it’s actually one of the noblest genres of music in general – that’s why we follow this path. How did you come up with the band’s name? We longed for a name that’s meaningful, powerful and at the same time carries all the mystical and spiritual vibes present in our music and lyrics. Unfortunately Candlemass has already been taken, so out of all the ideas we came up with, Monasterium seemed like the best choice.

Your first same-titled album is coming on … Read More

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