Formed in 2014, from a mutual appreciation of NWOBHM and ’80s heavy metal, Lucifer’s Chalice is comprised of Iron Fist’s very own KShevil (also of Winds Of Genocide and Uncoffined) on drums, CW on rhythm guitar and vocals, SRM on lead guitar and DH on bass. Following a couple of live shows, the band are now ready to release debut album ‘The Pact’ via Bandcamp, which was recorded in July 2016. KShevil describes it as “35 minutes of heavy metal darkness”.

Speaking of the band’s sound, she tells us “From the day the idea for the band was conceived, it was to pay homage to NWOBHM and old US heavy metal circa 1979 – 1984, and write and play songs in the vein of Angel Witch, early Iron Maiden, Witchfinder General, early Judas Priest, early Omen, early Metallica (’82-’84 period), Diamond Head and early Mercyful Fate. Nothing more, nothing less; just create some good old ’80s sounding heavy metal with dark and sinister lyrics. So we definitely had a very specific sound in mind from the start.”

Despite the band’s collective love of all things ’80s, as individuals, they all come from completely different backgrounds with an eclectic mix of tastes. KShevil and … Read More

Following on from yesterday’s Top Five TEMPLES FESTIVAL Metal of Death tip top Topcat list by M of Funeral Throne, we asked another Iron Fister on the bill, Birthday girl Kat ‘Shevil’ Gillham, throatscorcher of crusty devil worshippers WINDS OF GENOCIDE to run down the top five bands on the line-up that she’ll be upfront and centre for…

 

 

 

 

SHEER TERROR Because their ‘Just Can’t Hate Enough’ album is one of my fave HC albums of all time and probably my favourite NYHC album. A lot of metal bands would love that totally fierce Celtic Frost style guitar tone!!

GRAVE I’ve loved this band since the early ’90s when I was a teenager starting to discover death metal and starting to delve deep into the abyss that is the underground death metal scene. But I’ve never seen them live in person, so Temples will be my first time.

VICTIMS I haven’t seen these guys live since 2009 but they are such an energetic live band, and their new album ‘Sirens’ is totally awesome so looking forward to checking out some new material in a live environment through a huge PA!

MELVINS I’ve been a huge fan of their older stuff since my younger brother turned me … Read More

We can hear the hound dogs on our trail. All hell breaks loose, alarms and sirens wail, and it gives Iron Fist the utmost pleasure to have THIN LIZZY gracing its cover for issue number 14. Within its pages, we chat to SCOTT GORHAM, the man who helped birth the style of glorious twin-guitar harmony that would resonate throughout so many of our cherished slabs of wax, and resided in the eye of this life-affirming band’s particular hurricane for its glory years and beyond.

For all that band’s turbulent and tragic history, THIN LIZZY’s grit, balls and outlaw chutzpah remain central to Heavy Metal, and there are plenty of other tales of trials and tribulations tackled and often overcome in this issue, and of artists elevated by the all-consuming power of their music to levels bordering on the realm of mythical superheroes. Jon-Mikl THOR’s is one of these, and the legendary thundergod’s story in this issue is proof positive that the love for his chosen steel-bending metier could triumph against all adversity. Similarly stirring is the tale of GIRLSCHOOL’s KIM MCAULIFFE and ENID WILLIAMS, who spill the beans on four full decades of tireless and inspirational hard rocking in often somewhat … Read More

A lot of metal bands have an unconventional tale of how they began, but it’s fairly certain that Durham’s Winds of Genocide are the only group that can boast it being put into motion by a bang on a window. “We officially formed in early 2006, as a two-piece, but it took us until 2009 to find a drummer and begin actively rehearsing,” vocalist Kat Shevil tells us. “A Swedish guy called Linus, studying at the university here, drunkenly walked past my flat one night and saw the Skitsystem sticker on my bedroom window. He banged on my living room window and we ended up going to the local pub for a pint. We soon realised that we had not just a mutual love for crust punk but also for death and black metal; about four months later we were writing our first songs with him on drums!”

Linus has since departed the band, replaced by Ian Hunter and, in the last nine years, the four-piece have put out a demo and an EP, as well as two splits with Abigail and Firstblood, Diskelmä and Satellite. About to release their debut album ‘Usurping The Throne Of Disease’, Kat and co’s self-proclaimed … Read More

Something wicked this way comes, billowing down from the decaying North on winds of plague…or of genocide, as the case may be. Visions of nuclear fallout and apocalyptic raids summon wrenching flashbacks for some, and provide lyrical fodder for others; Durham’s Winds Of Genocide have always fallen into the latter camp, but now, with death/doom project Uncoffined, two of its members have ventured further afield, beyond the outskirts of Chernobyl and down along the cemetery road.

 “The band formed officially in early 2011 after myself and Glynn [Alkohall, guitars] started jamming on doom riffs during breaks at Winds Of Genocide rehearsals, where I would jump behind the drumkit and we would start jamming on Vitus riffs,” Kat Shevil explains. “I personally have always loved the dark, evil, morbid vibe of a lot of the bands who blend such a mix of traditional doom and ancient death metal together, it has a certain atmosphere in it that other styles do not possess, plus the crushing heaviness of such music has always attracted me to it. We are definitely much more inspired by the old school doom metal stuff, old Black Sabbath etc, but there is some ancient death metal, death/doom, Hellhammer, old … Read More