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 All this with a brand new line-up, as guitarist Scourger and drummer Volgard, have been replaced by Obscenitor (also of Crom Dubh) and Heretic Blades.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

For anyone involved in the underground scene, especially in London, Craven Idol have been impossible to miss. Over the last few years, they’ve been a consistent presence on the live circuit, delivering primitive, atmospheric death thrash. There’s been a marked increase in the quality of their performance over the last few years and they stand on the brink of following up 2010’s ‘Ethereal Altars’ EP with a full-length album. Released on October 15 by the excellent Dark Descent Records, ‘Towards Eschaton’ is a far more varied release than many will have expected with a melodic sensibility that sees the band paying homage to their ’80s inspirations.

Frontman Wrath met Iron Fist in one of Camden Town’s finest boozers to talk through the long road towards the album’s release. “Craven Idol is a brainchild of myself and Scourger, the two guitarists. We met at university and discovered very quickly that we had the same sort of interest in music. We wanted to play old school Sodom, German Poison, and were also big fans of old school heavy metal. The whole Australian black thrash movement was also coming out at the time and we wanted to incorporate all those things and not be too … Read More

“After my old grindcore band split in 2006 (which featured our bassist Necroskull on guitar), I soon tired of not making music and decided in late 2010 to redress the balance with my own take on thrashy, song-based black metal.” Rob Belial of UK-based decrepit black thrash purveyors Cultfinder, who feature two members of British doomers Witchsorrow, has recently followed up his cassette demo onslaught with a CD-release, the EP ‘Black Thrashing Terror’ on Eldritch Lunar Miasma. One of the most exciting EPs to hail from these shores of late, Cultfinder slot right in with the current network of nasty blackened death and thrash in Southern England (Grave Miasma, Craven Idol, Salute etc). Rob says of the growing scene, “It’s definitely got its own momentum, and slowly but surely, it’s own infrastructure and support network in terms of labels. Pretty soon we’ll once again be completely self-sufficient in totally vicious heavy metal, which is nice for those of us too young to remember the last time! I was barely born when Bathory’s debut came out, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise!”