“We had been discussing a name change for a couple of months prior to playing the Noctis festival,” muses Lester Skelter, drummer and vocalist for Western Canadian traditional metallers Spell. A continuation of the NWOBHM metal lineage begun by the young trio’s previous act Stryker, Spell is the sum of this basic equation: Stryker + ‘70s prog + ‘60s psychedelic imagery. Confused yet? So were we…

“When it turned out that Striker from Edmonton (they were featured in Iron Fist Issue 9) got booked on the same show… that was kind of the final thing that made us go ahead with the name change,” says Skelter. Indeed, the act played the final Noctis 666 in September of 2013, and was somewhat humorously double billed by a cheeky promoter.

“Although really, underneath that, the name change had been a long time coming as well, because the initial name reflected more of the ‘80s heavy metal style that we started playing. We’ve taken on a lot of new influences and gone in a new direction and become better and more capable players, and so we thought the new aesthetic and direction we were going in needed a new name.”

Far from embarrassed by their initial … Read More

Fans of witchy, haunting traditional metal, come take THE OATH, a new band formed by Linnéa Olsson of Sonic Ritual and DJ/Promoter, JOHANNA PLATOW SADONIS, who explains the creation of this new vision and the making of their debut single ‘NIGHT CHILD/BLACK RAINBOW’

Johanna Platow Sadonis is known to the Fist through her work as a heavy metal promoter and DJ in Berlin, so when we found out that she’d started a new band with Sonic Ritual guitarist Linnéa Olsson we couldn’t wait to hear it. “The stars aligned when Henke [Palm, Sonic Ritual/In Solitude] wrote me a mail that Linnéa had moved to Berlin and was looking to play. He suggested that we should meet. I say the stars aligned ‘cos he did not know I was looking for a guitarist at the time. I’d never met her but the moment we sat down it was sealed. We have so much in common. People ask if we are sisters all the time and in a magical way we are. Soon after my boyfriend, Simon Bouteloup, quit as bassist for Aqua Nebula Oscillator in Paris and moved to Berlin to join us. On a magical side note, before meeting me, Linnéa … Read More

“HIGH SPIRITS. HIIIIIIIIGH SPIIIIIRITS”. It was a simple demo that caught the attention of half the Iron Fist team back in 2009 and we’d been waiting for them to come to Europe and bring their positive heavy metal vibes ever since. Finally, they came, and we despatched DAVE SHERWOOD to get HIGH.

Lurking in the backstreets of Chicago is a positive energy bursting out to infect the city and beyond. That energy is heavy metal and the rabid carriers are High Spirits, one of the forerunners of the US heavy metal movement. Since forming in 2009, High Spirits have released the independent ‘Let’s Rock/Running Home’ EP and one full-length album, ‘Another Night’ (High Roller, 2011). However it was their first two demos that got them recognition. Their tunes and vibes have been well-received throughout Europe and they went down a storm on their recent UK tour.

Spreading their message of freedom and dreams, High Spirits are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Calling themselves “100 per cent high energy rock music”, they take the listener back to the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when Deep Purple and Steppenwolf assured us everything was free and hot rockin’, before the clouds turned … Read More

From the dark heart of England’s Midlands comes Antinomian, a sinister and mysterious orthodox black metal cult. Born from the sacrificial fires of the now defunct underground band Subvertio Deus, the Antinomian sound is at once reminiscent of Deathspell Omega, Svartidaudi and Malign, while at the same time presenting a uniquely intellectual aesthetic and a complex, compelling experience. Antinomian’s clandestine leader, Malaghod explains the origins of the project: “Shortly after the recording of Subvertio Deus’ ‘Psalms Of Perdition’ I withdrew from the metal scene. Antinomian was brought about from the sense of reinvigoration and illumination I had upon returning to it with a new perspective; I had looked into the eyes of death, humbled and reverent.” Debut album ‘Nihilum Infandum’ (on N.C.U Productions) presents four tracks of maddening and terrifying black metal. Describing the concept as Apophatic death worship, Malaghod again elucidates, “Antinomian is an exploration of the holy and terrible metaphysical nothingness, the divine absence of being.” A cut above the usual level of cult black metal releases, ‘Nihilum Infandum’ is a masterful example of black metal done right.

“Keep it simple, keep it old-school” is a pretty simple mantra, but Mausoleum Gate founder and guitarist Count LeFay makes sure his band lives by it. Sure you’ve heard that one a thousand times, but these Finnish worshippers of all things old school and heavy as hell really do mean it. Speaking to Count LeFay, he explains that their sound and approach to music harks back to years gone by; “We bring in quite a different approach to metal. For example, songs on our new 7” ‘Obsessed By Metal’ are pretty much driven by guitars instead of drums and bass. The rhythm section is floating on it, that’s quite uncommon in metal these days. Of course back in the ’70s it was different.” With that 7” out earlier this year with two brand new tracks, what can you expect to come thundering from the speakers? “Old school metal has lot to give and for me it has been a great part of my life”, says LeFay, but this is no straight-laced, by-the-book affair; “Sabbath, Deep Purple and Zeppelin are great influence for me and all the NWOBHM stuff of course. Then there is Mercyful Fate. We have a lot of different … Read More

From the mean streets of West London come Hundred, a band with a passion for balls out NWOBHM and a love of the old gods. With a style influenced by Iron Maiden, Manilla Road Mercyful Fate and Bathory, Hundred are right up Iron Fist’s street. While they might still be in college, they’re clearly no slouches with regular gigs happening in Kingston and beyond. Guitarist David Pike gave us the details; “We formed in 2006 as Gravstead, just Adam, Patrick and Myself, with no real direction – we just wanted to get a band together to play metal!” explains David. “We had difficulty finding a committed drummer and vocalist. After a couple of years we had some luck, we hooked up with Eddy Knight through the Kingston Youth Service! He isn’t into metal, but he’s a great Drummer and he’s passionate about any projects he’s involved in.” It was a triumph of the internet that gave Hundred their distinctive vocals. “An ad we’d placed on the Gumtree website yielded a response from Alex Storrsson, very talented and reliable; our line-up was now complete and we became Hundred! Having brought together all of the elements, our direction was clear. Fast-paced, riff-based heavy … Read More

“The Tower is a musical and spiritual expression stemming from the need to express and articulate the otherworldly, but also the need to groove and need to make common things magical.” Sweden is utterly relentless in its output of traditional hard rock, and the newest band bringing the summer of love (love of the devil, that is!) vibes to the Iron Fist stereo is The Tower. “Let that boy boogie-woogie; it’s in him and it’s gotta come out,” screams drummer Tommie. “We see ourselves as a cult, gang or family, and a strong bond is necessary if one is to move into the other worlds, and also the world of music. The Tower embraces the timeless, and thus we have no idea how long we have been doing this. The myth says we started in 1938, but our friends say we begun in earnest last summer. We see life as a magical theatre, and it gives us plenty of inspiration. We are also very influenced by old blues records and Link Wray, The Doors and Hellhammer. Fuzzed up guitars, ’60s bass and pounding drums. Soulful cacophony. We are working hard to capture the vibe that we create, and the dirt, … Read More

The neo-thrash trend fronted by the likes of Municipal Waste and Evile may be waning but there are still many clinging on to the roots of the genre and resurrecting it with equally ancient, scuffed up hi-tops. Cue Southampton’s Desolator, who despite only starting two years ago have made quite a name for themselves. The trio made up of Jamie Brooks (vocals/guitar), Felix Dock (bass) and Sam Talbot (drums) love playing fast and Brooks sums up their sound perfectly; “Speed thrash ‘n’ roll! Thrash for us should be unhinged and fun, stripped down with every instrument being pushed to excite!” Desolator’s consistent desire to party has done them favours, with a constant flow of gigs around the country, gathering a mental mass of followers. Their first gig was at one of the UK’s many thrash all-dayers back in 2011 and despite only having two songs written, the band invited eager ears. “We couldn’t believe our luck, it was an unbelievable way to start,” recalls Jamie. From then on there’ve been support slots with the likes of Cannabis Corpse, DRI and Sacred Reich, giving the three-piece more opportunity to showcase their energetically live shows. “Our recent show in Belgium at Thrash Till … Read More

Australia’s metallic supremacy is no surprise to anyone who’s ever nodded sagely along to the explanation behind ‘We Are Death… Fukk You!’, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awfully nice to discover yet another gem from under the Southern Cross. Anonymous entity Lampades have been established since 2012, but arose last year to deliver one of the most crushing demos of 2012. They’re already off to a good start for 2013, too, with an upcoming split with fellow Aussie destroyers Bleakwood under their belts Their style of death is familiar, as they churn out wilfully primitive, visceral and dark metal of death and lightless decay, inspired by the spirit of the underworld from whence they drew their name. “This style of music is what we all grew up listening to, and is representative of our earlier years of musical influence; it is easier to write and perform in this style than what we do with our other bands, and thus not suitable for use as it would be very much out of context. It’s basic and primitive – a simple release of dark energy,” an unnamed source explains, keeping tacitly quiet about who those “other bands” may be. The ‘IX’ compilation demo … Read More

Halfway to the North Pole on the Norwegian coast, Trondheim seems to be the least likely place to shelter a band like High Priest Of Saturn. And indeed, stuck between a vivid pop/rock scene and a hardcore black metal movement, the power-trio, led by foxy vocalist Merethe, stick out. Openly inspired by stoner and doom, their 2011 two-track demo was a revelation, an epic trip drowned in echoes and menacing organ lines. Fast-forward a year and a small line-up switch later and the trio’s self-titled album picks up where things were left and goes totally berserk… or should we say cosmic? “Regarding the name, we wanted an aesthetic related to Saturn, both on an astronomical and mythological level. We do like the symbolism attached to it and believe it fits our music well. And, most importantly, we just think the name sounds cool,” Merethe laughs. “Musically, Acid King is one of our main influences, next to other classic stoner doom bands such as Sleep and Om, but also ’60s and ’70s bands like Pink Floyd, The Doors and of course Black Sabbath. We also used a keyboard player for the album and his organ paints the walls in psychedelic colours; the … Read More