As the celebrated Geordie folk song ‘The Lambton Worm’ kicks off; “Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs, I’ll tell ye aal an aaful story”.

Or for those of us who don’t speak Geordie, the awful story we’re asking you to hold your mouths for concerns an early-‘80s period in which the North-East was an epicentre for a shockwave of pulse-racing Heavy Metal whose influence can still be felt in extremis some thirty-five years on. Whereas The Lambton Worm was a mythical beast that rose to terrorise the North-East, a certain strain of terror was spawned in just such territory by three Tyne & Wear lads ripping apart the metal rulebook in search of shocks, horror and glory galore. This band, of course, was VENOM, and in this issue Iron Fist talk to Cronos on a four-decade mission of life as a blasphemous iconoclast and full-throttle Black Metal bezerker.

What’s more, we travel back in time to the dawn of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal to chart the roots of NEAT RECORDS, harking back to an era in which the upstairs of a bingo hall in Wallsend was the launchpad for a strain of supercharged audial aggro that would inspire a generation. … Read More

Formed as a result of a drunken party, ACID KING existed in the brain of vocalist and guitarist LORI S long before she met her musical companions. Her singular vision has not waned since and 20 years after inception she is still searching for the CENTER OF EVERYTHING

“I’ve had too many shitty beers for any words of wisdom!” laughs Lori S, vocalist and guitarist of doom band Acid King after their show at Desertfest London. Right from the beginning it’s apparent that this vibrant and charismatic woman has a no nonsense attitude that she carries over into her approach to music. From Acid King’s very beginnings in the early 1990s Lori was the driving force behind its inception, with a clear vision of what she wanted and where she wanted it to go. The tenacious frontwoman had even picked a name before she’d even thought about band members; “I read this book called ‘Say You Love Satan’ – a true crime book – and there was a bit about Ricky Kasso. I remember on one of the pages, which we have a song about (‘One-Ninety-Six’), it said ‘Nobody messes with the Acid King!’ When I read that, I said ‘I’m … Read More

Halfway to the North Pole on the Norwegian coast, Trondheim seems to be the least likely place to shelter a band like High Priest Of Saturn. And indeed, stuck between a vivid pop/rock scene and a hardcore black metal movement, the power-trio, led by foxy vocalist Merethe, stick out. Openly inspired by stoner and doom, their 2011 two-track demo was a revelation, an epic trip drowned in echoes and menacing organ lines. Fast-forward a year and a small line-up switch later and the trio’s self-titled album picks up where things were left and goes totally berserk… or should we say cosmic? “Regarding the name, we wanted an aesthetic related to Saturn, both on an astronomical and mythological level. We do like the symbolism attached to it and believe it fits our music well. And, most importantly, we just think the name sounds cool,” Merethe laughs. “Musically, Acid King is one of our main influences, next to other classic stoner doom bands such as Sleep and Om, but also ’60s and ’70s bands like Pink Floyd, The Doors and of course Black Sabbath. We also used a keyboard player for the album and his organ paints the walls in psychedelic colours; the … Read More