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

In this issue of Iron Fist we celebrate the legacies and careers of two bands responsible for the progression of extreme music as we know it; CELTIC FROST and MAYHEM. Both celebrate 30 years of existence this year and both are still dabbling in the dark arts; Tom G Warrior with TRIPTYKON and Mayhem with their new album ‘Esoteric Warfare’.

In our cover story, Thomas Gabriel Fischer talks to Jim Martin about what drove him to create Hellhammer and the early Frost demos and how those same inspirations are channelled into his current work, while Kim Kelly talks to Necrobutcher and Attila Csihar about the formation, and dogged survival, of one of the most important bands still playing and creating heavy metal music today.

Talking of dogged survival, we also talk to maidens of metal, DORO and Ann Boleyn of HELLION about how they started their respective bands, Warlock and Hellion, and how nothing will get in their way as they continue to make music three decades after they begun. Elsewhere in the magazine we talk to AT THE GATES about their forthcoming album and reveal details of new works by 40 WATT SUN, GEHENNAH, Gaz Jennings (ex-Cathedral) and Phil Swanson (ex-Hour … Read More