Iron Fist Magazine

INTO BATTLE: METAL GRAVE

If you’ve been paying any attention to the bludgeoning South American underground there is a fair chance you’ll be able to name one or two Chilean black or death metal bands such as Pentagram, Death Yell, Force Of Darkness or Unaussprechlichen Kulten. But heavy metal warriors? Okay, we’re stumped. “It’s true that the genre has always been under-represented over here,” agrees Metal Grave‘s bass player Christopher Falk. “In the ’80s there was only Tumulto, Feedback, Panzer or Vastator to speak of. Then later on Inquisicion, but that’s about it. But, even though there are few of us, each one is unique and very dedicated!”

Formed in 2010 by the two guitar players of local thrash heroes Sacrilegio and influenced by “Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden and Running Wild”, but also more obscure doom outfits, after two demos in 2011 and 2012, they’re about to release their debut full-length ‘The Eternal Flame Of Deception’, a seven tracker that includes a re-recording of their nearly ten minute epic ‘Journey Into The Unknown’. A conceptual album inspired by Dante’s ‘Inferno’, it tells the story of “one crusader knight, led by Richard Lionheart, who dies on the battlefield. However, unlike all his beliefs, he wakes up facing the gates of hell and ends up being put on trial by King Minos, condemned for all eternity to burn on the Phlegethon, the river of boiling blood. The album’s title refers to how people are being deceived by their religious beliefs, leading them to a dead end where all their hopes vanish into nothingness. And that’s exactly what happens to our character through his travel.”

After a huge delay with the album’s release (“the artist we initially chose for the cover couldn’t express what we wanted and eventually, we decided to let our singer Bastian do it instead”), they are really moving forward with their next release, a split 7” with Axe Battler in March.

 

Latest Issue

Facebook