Apologies to the guy in Black Viper who our editor attacked outside The Little Devil in Tilburg during Roadburn Festival. She overheard him telling some guys in the smoking area that he was in this “new band called Black Viper” and she just sort of grabbed him and scratched him, which is kind of her way of saying ‘Your band is fucking great’. They are. Marek Steven is less violent so we sent him to find out more about them.

Storming With Vengeance demo is great. Can you introduce us to Black Viper? Cato: The band actually started around 2012 as a one-man project because I made some riffs which didn’t fit into [his other band] Deathhammer, but I thought they were good enough to make something out of. I then made some demo tracks without vocals but didn’t release them. I also started to record an EP in 2013 but that also didn’t get finished. Then I moved to Oslo in 2013 right where Arild and Christoffer live. I hooked up with them and Black Viper finally became a full band. Then we rehearsed without vocals for a while – as we couldn`t find anyone who could sing – and we … Read More

…MORBID SAINT are back and Century Media have dusted off their arsenal of thrash classics for all you vinyl fiends. With debut album ‘SPECTRUM OF DEATH’ on wax again and a deluxe CD reissue that includes unreleased demos and the remastered version of lost album ‘DESTRUCTION SYSTEM’, GUY STRACHAN tracked down guitarist JAY VISSER to find out how it feels to be Morbid again…

“It truly is incredible that after all these years this band is where it is. We never played or wrote these songs with the intent that 25 plus years later we’d still be playing them, talking about them, or performing them live all over the world. We were just a bunch of kids hanging out that sucked at playing our instruments, without any direction or too much thought about what we were doing other than we were having a lot of fun doing it.”

Despite their stated lack of knowledge about what they were doing, Morbid Saint would go on to become one of the thrash underground’s best-kept secrets for many years after their initial tenure. Formed in the small town of Sheboyhan, Wisconsin in November 1984, the quartet of guitarists Jay Visser and Jim Fergades, drummer Lee … Read More

Speaking to RAM in Iron Fist issue #16, who formed in 1999, it’s clear that they were teenage fans of heavy metal but came of age – and started a band – when it was the unwanted guest at the table of the fickle music industry. Their frustrations were enough but spare a thought for the bands who had found fame and success at heavy metal’s height and soon found themselves floundering as the hours counted down toward the end of the century. Many of these bands played catch-up, reinventing themselves to adapt to the ever-changing trends. Many packed away their gear for good (or until big budget festivals goaded them out of retirement). But some, like New Jersey’s thrash titans Overkill, did only what they could; carry on regardless.

Their debut full-length ‘Feel The Fire’ came out in 1985 and subsequent albums ‘Taking Over’ [1987] and ‘Under The Influence’ [1988] helped lay down the thrash metal template. They may not have been Big Four but they were influential none the less. When thrash metal started to enjoy a resurgence in the mid-2000s thanks to younger bands obsessed with the speed and aggression of these elder statesmen, the rock music magazines … Read More

Gothenburg-based heavy metal maniacs Night Viper are the one of the latest heavy metal exports to come out of Sweden and have released a debut album that is an energetic affair. The up-tempo ’80s heavy metal of early Maiden and Priest collides with the galloping speed metal of ‘Kill ‘Em All’-era Metallica and a duelling twin guitar attack that features the ever-productive Tom Sutton (The Order Of Israfel, Horisont, ex-Church Of Misery). We caught up with Tom to find out more about this exciting new band.

When did the idea for Night Viper first come about? “I have often wished that Metallica and Slayer could have held off from maturing for just one album more each. I love their second albums and what came later too, but I love the freshness of that almost rock ‘n’ roll style of thrash metal that they both had in the beginning. I’d often thought I’d like to do something with that kind of vibe, although I doubted I’d ever get around to it. At one point I was going to ask Sven, the drummer from Antichrist, to just do a single with me so I could get it out of my system. I couldn’t be … Read More

Born out of the West Coast thrash metal scene of the ’80s, Metal Church quickly became one of the standout talents of US metal. The journey started in 1982 and after all these years, countless line-up changes and some of the best US metal albums, singer Mike Howe (1988 – 1995) returns to the Church with new album ‘XI’ and some unmissable live shows. Iron Fist grabs the chance to speak both to Mike Howe (vocals) and Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitars) about the new album, almost hiring Lars Ulrich and going back to being DIY

Welcome back, Mike! When did this famous phone call happen that brought you back to the fray? Mike: “I received a phone call from Kurdt in the fall of 2014. It took many conversations about how we would approach the new album before I would agree to do it and I am very happy that it has worked out and we are incredibly happy with the end result of our collaboration. I hope the fans agree.”

What have you been doing all these years? Mike: “Living a happy life with my wife raising two boys.”

When and why did you decide that you should rejoin Metal Church? Mike: “After Kurdt and I … 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

Metallica have just announced that they will reissue ‘Kill ‘Em All’ and ‘Ride The Lightning’ on April 15. Both albums have been remastered and will be available in three formats – CD, vinyl, and Deluxe Box set. Both Deluxe Box sets include original source material from the band’s personal collection with many never before heard or seen recordings, along with a book including rare photos and essays from those who were there.

The deluxe numbered box set of ‘Kill ‘Em All’ includes four vinyl records, five CDs, one DVD, a deluxe book including rare photos and a patch, while the deluxe numbered box set of ‘Ride the Lightning’ includes four vinyl records, six CDs, one DVD, a deluxe book including more of those unseen photos, a mini-book of lyrics handwritten by James Hetfield and a set of three posters.  The Deluxe Box sets are limited edition collectors’ items. Check out metallica.com for the full package details and track listing.

Fans can pre-order both Deluxe Box sets at the Met Store now and all six new items will be available on Friday April 15, just in time for Record Store Day.

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.

Black/thrash tyrants Ketzer (German for ‘Heretic’ in case you needed to know) will release their brand new album ‘Starless’ on January 29th through Metal Blade and have teased us with a brand new video. 

The band have said “It is just now that we are realising what we have done during this summer: we recorded an album which is very free from any boundaries and pre-conceived notions that you can find ever so often within the genre of heavy metal. From sounds of raging fury, to the echoes of calm and cleansing waves – ‘Starless’ is an album that will take you on a journey that is unexpected, yet familiar at the same time. ‘Starless’ is going to explore the crack between religion and reality. Is there a truth in between? Centuries ago, humankind looked up into the star filled night skies, questioning the universe and their lives within it. In order to find answers, mythology was born. But religion and myths cannot connect to the world we live in today. They have blinded the night skies – hence, we have become ‘starless’. Join us to sing songs of the universe and play tunes of the spheres!”

Certainly no space cadets, Vektor‘s 2011 album ‘Outer Isolation’ was one of the most exciting metal releases of 2011, but things were set to go hyperdrive for the band in 2013. Jeff Wagner interviewed them for our second issue back in 2012 and met a band determined to go boldly where no band has gone before. We decided to unearth this interview from the now sold-out #2 in time for their London show on Sunday at The Underworld in Camden.

Not a fan of any of this retro-thrash stuff. How did cloning become acceptable in a style born as an outcast spinoff of traditional heavy metal? Thrash metal, in its prime, was a defiant gene splice of individuality. All the worthy bands of the 1980s put their own unique stamp on the form. Yeah, there were clones even back then, but in 2012 we get nothing but clones. Where is the modern band with lyrical depth and multi-dimensional music on the level of a Holy Terror? Where are the outliers like Blind Illusion and Realm? Where are the visionaries? To my ears, there’s but one modern band pushing the form forward, and that’s Vektor. Vektor is bad ass. Drawing from the glory days of … Read More