It’s apt that issue 4 of Iron Fist came out in that twilight zone between the beginning of Spring and Easter, a time of death and rebirth.

Because that’s what this issue feels like. When we came up with the idea for Iron Fist we knew we would give it a shot at three issues, see what the reaction was and who knew? We might not have even made it this far. But you, the readers, have been so supportive and it’s thanks to you that there is an issue 4, and will be an issue 5 and beyond. We owe you. Remember this is as much your zine as ours so get yourself onto our Facebook page and tell us what bands you want to see interviewed in future tomes.

This is also the most personal issue of the mag so far. On January 22, The Devil’s Blood announced they were calling it a day, and as one of my favourite modern bands I was obviously crushed by the news. But after talking to their founder and architect Selim Lemouchi, he offered the opportunity to give Iron Fist the most definitive interview about their split and give us some hope about … Read More

Welcome to the “difficult third issue” – difficult only because we put this magazine to bed with serious post-festive hangovers – not doing that again in a hurry!!!!

This issue of Iron Fist ended up being actually the most fun to make – and not just because we were still pissed. It had a real spirit of the blitz vibe to it, as our editor Louise and her trusted sidekick Kim knuckled down to some serious pizza eating and sub-editing all-nighters, while our designer Adam told us were we dickheads for keeping him up all night – but the dude is a legend – look at that SAXON cover! The guy’s a genius. I’ve been editing magazines for years and reading them for even longer and that’s seriously the best-looking magazine cover I’ve ever seen.

It was also a bit of a fluke that all the articles in this issue kinda follow the same theme – we didn’t plan it, promise! You got the men that brought us all together on the cover and without knowing Ms Kelly opened her article about the METALPUNK crossover scene with that very sentiment, citing Mr Byford for opening the gates for the myriad heavy metal … Read More

After launching in September we were so inspired by all the killer feedback we got for issue one, that we forged right ahead and here’s issue two of the ULTIMATE UNDERGROUND BIBLE to get your ‘head around.

With the ‘Head on tour around Europe at the moment, we caught up with Lemmy in 2012 AND Lemmy in 1981 (courtesy of the memory of veteran journo Garry Bushell) for our cover story and also delved into the past with FIRST EVER Finnish heavy metal band SARCOFAGUS, Metal Queen DORO, the label that launched Metallica and Slayer METAL BLADE and look at the first TIAMAT album and the legacy of INCANTATION!

Not one to discard the future though we also chat to FUNERAL THRONE, RUINS, DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT, HEXVESSEL, NECROS CHRISTOS, NECROCURSE, VAMPIRE, VEKTOR, WEAPON and much, much more

WELCOME to the first issue of Iron Fist. I can’t believe I’m writing the editorial to this magazine. It’s been an exciting but stressful few months from conception to birth. The magazine was born, like all good things, after some serious drinking and instead of waking up laughing off the insane ideas that were discussed over good wine, good friends and good music, I was encouraged to make a go of it, and here is the first in hopefully many issues of a magazine solely dedicated to heavy fuckin’ metal and its bastard offspring.

The first time I realised this was needed was when watching King Diamond at Hellfest. I was utterly inspired by a man, who despite everything he’d been through, put on a real, old-fashioned triumph of a rock ‘n’ roll concert. He didn’t just play a show, he put on a show. If I could distil just one tenth of that passion, excitement and invention into Iron Fist then I would have succeeded. After much soul-searching (and running away to a beach in Devon!) I decided to get my arse into gear.

I couldn’t have done it without the support of the Iron Fist crew, for whom I now … Read More