Old school death metallers Memoriam (featuring ex and current members of Bolt Thrower and Benediction) are set to unleash their debut album ‘For The Fallen’ on March 24 through Nuclear Blast Records. It will contain eight tracks, including ‘War Rages On’, ‘Resistance’ (both featured on ‘The Hellfire Demos II’) and ‘Surrounded (By Death)’ (featured on ‘The Hellfire Demos II’).

The album’s impressive artwork was created by Dan Seagrave (Benediction, Dismember, Hypocrisy, Suffocation). He said: “[I started] from the band’s thoughts on visualising a kind of funeral procession with a theme of combat, war and in conjunction with the title ‘For the Fallen’. As with all my works, I then attempted to make the information evolve in my mind’s eye, and allow imagination to take over those elements, but retaining the core concept. The painting thus depicts a funeral procession moving through a long war torn cityscape; twisted shards of towers and buildings. A cathedral facade stands defiantly, yet riddled with destruction and decay. At closer inspection the structures all seem to be infected with an element of natural decomposition, as if organically inclined to fade with the demise of the season.

“The season itself lost in a timeless void. The figures appear … Read More

Nuclear Blast have just announced the signing of Little Rock, Arkansas progressive doom quartet Pallbearer. They commented on the signing: “We are very excited to be working with Nuclear Blast on this record, as so many of the bands that have helped to shape our own artistic pathways have before us.”

Monte Conner, Nuclear Blast Entertainment president adds: “Pallbearer continue to evolve and scale new creative and sonic heights with ‘Heartless’. I am very honoured to be working hand-in-hand with the band, Profound Lore and Oblique Artist Management, and look forward to Nuclear Blast playing a key role in exposing new fans to this incredible band.”

Pallbearer can also reveal today that their highly anticipated forthcoming third record titled ‘Heartless’ is due for release on 24th March 2017. It will be released via Nuclear Blast for the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and via Profound Lore in North America.

Pallbearer commented on ‘Heartless’: “This album finds us exploring new territories; instead of staring into to the void – both above and within – ‘Heartless’ concentrates its power on a grim reality. Our lives, our homes and our world are all plumbing the depths of utter darkness, as we seek to find any … Read More

New York thrash icons Anthrax release their latest album ‘For All Kings’ today via Nuclear Blast and for the band who formed in 1981 and have pushed out 12 of these bad boys, not to mention countless EPs, live albums and singles, they’re well aware of the changing tides when it comes to picking up your favourite band’s new record.

But reflecting their ol’ pals Metallica’s support for Record Store Day, founding axeman Scott Ian has some words to say about people’s attitude towards buying new music. He says in a video shot this week in London, that “Shouldn’t ten or eleven new songs by your favourite band be enough?” He also says that he “stills loves going to record stores” and that he’s worried it’s “an experience that [future] generations will never understand”.

“It’s like pushing your little bird, your little baby, out of your nest,” bassist Frank Bello tells Iron Fist’s Martin Popoff, on making new albums. “You nurture it to this point and then you start doing interviews, people hear it, and hopefully everybody likes it as much as we do. We’re just psyched, honestly, to be at this level in our 30-something year career. People have a real nice buzz … Read More

Grand Magus have announced their new studio album will be titled ‘Sword Songs’. The Swedish heavy metal trio with release their eighth studio album on May 13th through Nuclear Blast. The epic cover artwork was created by acclaimed artist Anthony Roberts (No, not our photographer!).

Frontman JB said: “We put all of our sweat, blood and tears into this new album and I think that you can hear that. For me, ‘Sword Songs’ is the best Grand Magus album ever! The new songs are faster and more aggressive than on ‘Triumph And Power’ and we have also included some more extreme and harder stuff. I’m convinced that there are some future classics on the disc!”

‘Sword Songs’ was produced by Nico Elgstrand at Studio Supa in Stockholm, Sweden with Roberto Laghi at Top Floor Studios in Gothenburg taking care of recording Ludwig Witt’s drums. The album was mixed by Roberto and mastered by Svante Forsbäck in Helsinki.

We can also reveal that the tracklist is as mythical and steeped in Norse lore as we would expect from the wolfpack: 1. Freja’s Choice 2. Varangian 3. Forged In Iron – Crowned In Steel 4. Born For Battle (Black Dog Of Brocéliande) 5. Master Of The Land 6. Last One To … Read More

Teutonic thrash masters Destruction have unleashed the cover artwork to their upcoming album ‘Under Attack’. The apocalyptic vision was created by Gyula from Hungary, who has also worked with Annihilator, Grave Digger and Stratovarius.

The band said: “I had the vision of the exploding earth with the Destruction skull as continents before we even had the title. Never has the earth and every individual been so under attack: whether it’s environmental issues, wars or politics and media madness, we just destroy everything that we love! The cover brings together the classical concepts of the band’s history and fits in well with the discography but unfortunately it also represents the current state of the world today!”

The band started the recording sessions for ‘Under Attack’ after the summer festivals last year and have been recording segments in various studios between September 2015 and January 2016. So far they have completed the drum recordings with Martin Buchwalter at Gernhart Studios in Germany, as well as completing some of the abum, including mixing and mastering with VO Pulver at Little Creek Studios in Switzerland.

‘Under Attack’ will be released on May 13 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Finnish death metal godfathers Amorphis have recently given us the opportunity of seeing them perform material recorded right back in 1994, looking back to their second album ‘Tales Of A Thousand Lakes’ on its 20th Anniversary. Lead guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen has been there all along and one has to wonder if they have everything down to an easily workable formula now that they have finalised their 12th studio album ‘Under The Red Cloud’? How do the road dogs even find the time to record, perhaps they write the material on the back of the tour bus between shows? Esa makes it quite clear that this is simply not an option. “I think it’s an impossible idea. It’s such an uninspiring environment when you are on the tour bus. I don’t know how any musician can do that. Usually what happens is, when we have done enough touring, we start little by little to write new music. In the week we are at home and can concentrate on writing. That’s the way of the business though; you have to be on tour if you want to make a living out of it.”

Forming in 2006, six years after the dissolution of the Swedish hard rock band, Norrsken (who also featured Magnus Pelander of Witchcraft), Graveyard have been on the forefront of the classic rock revival. Four albums in – with the most recent entitled ‘Innocence & Decadence’, perhaps a titular nod to the era of music they heartily worship – the band made up of Joakim Nilsson (guitar/vocals), Jonathan Ramm (guitar), Truls Mörck (bass) and Axel Sjöberg (drums) may have been part of the force behind the current resurgence in rock roots but, as Joakim tells us over a pint, there’s no chance of them slowing down. “We have a lot to do still,” he insists, getting riled at the idea that the band may have lost some of that innocence bands have when they form. “When we started out, we were naive and didn’t know what we were doing, and that can be a really good thing. That’s why there are so many great first records but at the same time, you can get that feeling back.”

That’s what the band have done on their latest album but there is one stand-out track, ‘The Apple & The Tree’, that deviates from their … Read More

Opinions always vary, which is why it’s difficult to say if metal is a festering domain of ageism or not. We’ll cheer Lemmy’s ability to defeat the Grim Reaper in a game of ‘Chicken’, collect mile-long discographies and excitedly praise reunions of ’80s favourites and obscurities. However, cynicism and scepticism rule when a bunch of kids come along who weren’t even born when Metallica was putting out good records. Finland’s Lost Society are one such youthful collective, but they’ve obviously studied thrash and crossover’s nuances and have poured those lessons into two furiously energetic and scorching albums – ‘Terror Hungry’ being their latest. Should it matter if they were the proverbial gleams in the eyes of two strangers during a bathroom tryst during a stop on the 1986 ‘Reign In Blood’ tour instead of actually at the show?

“The songs came the same way as usual, just jamming around riffs and so on,” explains guitarist/vocalist Samy Elbanna, sobering our conversation by discussing ‘Terror Hungry’s writing process. “The difference was the riffs became a bit more technical because we’ve progressed on our instruments. But we didn’t have any plans to make this-or-that kind of song; we just wrote 13 killer tracks that made … Read More

Making it to three decades for any band is a rarity, but when you’ve had to overcome near-death experiences, small-town bullying and worse of all, the grunge boom, 30 years is most definitely something to celebrate. Louise Brown talks to the queen of survival about how there’s 30 more years in her yet

When did you first discover your passion for music? Doro: “I was three-years-old. The first real experience that totally got me hooked was Little Richard’s ‘Lucille’. That song was so high energy. When I listened to it I thought, ‘I want to do that, I want to sing’. Later I had some contact with some older boys. They had posters of Alice Cooper, Sweet, Slade, T-Rex. I was always singing along to their hard rock records and they thought it was very funny. I was screaming my heart out, I could really yell. They were shocked, they said, ‘Wow, how can a little girl make that noise?’. I was fascinated with all the guys with long hair, like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and the glam rock. And then there was Suzi Quatro, the first girl I heard, I loved her. Metal didn’t exist and when I was 15 then … Read More

There’s a particular type of scream in heavy metal that sends shivers down the spine. It’s a key signifier – like a yell from beyond that acts like a clarion call to all heavy metal heathens. If you have the scream all is good in the world. Halford had it – he was the king of the sustained “yeaaaahhhhh”. Dio, Kiske, Adams – hell, even Deceptor who are featured elsewhere in this issue have the scream. It’s up there with the Tom G “OOH”. The “yeah” in ‘Number Of The Beast’ takes some beating, but 27 seconds into brand new single ‘Mesmerised By Fire’ by Swedish leather boys Enforcer and we’re won over. We’re home. There’s something so comforting about that high-pitched cry of determination. Fuck the world. We are heavy metal. We are strong.

There’s always that fear of the new. It’s not a worry that’s left only to the metal tribes, all groups of music fan have it we’re sure, but it’s maybe moreso in heavy metal because it’s a love born of passion and, yes, we’ll admit it, ownership; so when a band you’ve loved since you heard their demo in 2006, and who you’ve made a pact … Read More