For the country that gave heavy metal to the world we don’t do so well in the way of big festivals. Gone are the hairspray and cocaine-fuelled glory days of the ’80s when the titans of the genre would descend on Castle Donington for the Monsters of Rock festival and full-scale tours spanning the length and breadth of the island seemed ten a penny. We don’t fare badly but nowadays Donington is more synonymous with the Download Festival than being home to the real heavyweights (bar Sabbath and Maiden naturally), and you’ll be lucky if a UK tour is comprised of more than four or five dates.

Metal is built firmly on its underground scene – this has been the case since time immemorial – and as always it falls to this underground to remind the true of what metal really means. Lucky for us here in the UK then that the fans are taking the power back, and though unable to parade a collection of bands on the scale of Monsters Of Rock, the likes of Brofest in Newcastle and Live Evil Festival in London are standing defiant in the wake of mediocrity and plastic music by showcasing raw talent … Read More

I’ve said this before, when starting Iron Fist I had a dream list of interviewees. It’s been astounding to have the honour of ticking these off the list, from Girlschool to Rock Goddess to Bruce Dickinson and Scott Gorham. Michael Schenker was high on the list, but it’s always nerving to predict which Michael Schenker you’re going to get. Notoriously spiky about his art being at the centre of his world, turning down high profile gigs with Aerosmith and Ozzy, he’s not always been the willing interviewee, but as he’s prepares to embark on a new Temple Of Rock tour, starting today in Bilston, he’s accommodating, chatty and charming. What’s so obviously clear from our conversation is that the former Scorpions, UFO and MSG mastermind has found a new lease of life and of art with his latest project Temple Of Rock.

What started as a solo project in 2011 with friends Pete Way on bass (UFO), and Herman Rarebell on drums (ex Scorpions), with guest vocals from Robin McAuley (ex MSG) and Doogie White (ex Rainbow/MSG etc), Temple Of Rock has become a band in its own right, with Herman, Doogie and Michael joined by formed Scorpions colleague Francis … Read More

Cloven Altar formed in 2012 from their previous band Spellbinder, in which Dustin Altar played guitar and composed the songs. Based in California, Spellbinder had a female singer Lauren Malechek and drums were handled by Michael McNally, but the band never had a complete line-up and only did one demo recording. After that, the band disbanded due to schedule conflicts and lack of motivation. Cloven Altar was the result of Dustin taking some of the Spellbinder material and writing some new songs while also assuming the lead vocal position. Michael McNally came up with the name Cloven Altar (an obvious but cool rip-off of Cloven Hoof and Pagan Altar). Dustin liked the name so much that he hired his friend Chris Horst to design the logo and recorded a bedroom demo under the name. After showing the demo to Cederick Forsberg (Rocka Rollas, Blazon Stone, Breitenhold, Mortyr, etc.) the two agreed to collaborate on a short EP where Ced ended up playing all of the instruments as well as recording/mixing/mastering the final version, while Dustin handled all of the vocals. Danny K of Stormspell Records expressed interest in the project after Dustin emailed him, and has supported Cloven Altar from the … Read More

Last night was surreal. Watching a funeral in a pub? Cheering, whooping, and laughing (a lot of laughing actually) while glued to a big screen TV. What was supposed to be a sombre affair turned to belly-aching chuckles with every wild story or dad joke but you couldn’t resist the devil’s grip of emotion either. The weirdness of watching a webcast memorial as you would a footie match left me reeling but I was so glad I went. Some of the Iron Fist team opted to watch it at home alone so they could let it sink in privately, some chose to not watch it all believing it to be voyeuristic bordering on the tasteless, and some threw parties in Lemmy’s honour, but Jim Martin and I decided to brave the Holloway Road, London’s less glamorous Sunset Strip. As we gathered in front of the screens at the 12 Bar I realised in that instant what impact Lemmy had on such a cross section of music lovers.

When he passed away on December 28, I couldn’t find the words to write a tribute. But that alone felt irresponsible. Here I am, editor of a magazine named after my favourite Motörhead song and … Read More

Lace, chocolate, canals and beer-brewing-monks; Bruges has never been known as a hive of heavy metal activity, yet some 35 years ago a band came crashing through its medieval walls. Rubbing shoulders with Motörhead, Maiden and Manowar along the way, the quintet lived what some might consider to be the ultimate early ’80s hard rock fantasy, yet real success proved elusive and just five short years later, the group disbanded and added themselves to the endless list of metal’s might-have-beens. Now, three decades since their departure, all of ACIDs recorded output is being reissued again, proving that interest in the band is arguably stronger than ever. TOBY WRIGHT was fortunate enough to talk with singer KATE DE LOMBAERT and drummer GEERT ‘ANVILL’ RICQUIER about the pleasures and pitfalls of being in the wrong place at the right time.

“I think it was something magic,” says Kate thoughtfully, as we begin to discuss what gave Acid such cult status. “I don’t know what it was,” she continues, hesitating a little. “When we played together it was like a wall of sound. It was very, very special.” Geert, seemingly jovial at this evening’s trip down memory lane, is quick to confirm the vocalist’s … Read More

With new album ‘Darkness Drips Forth’ out now on Relapse, we sent Kat Gillham to interview Hooded Menace mainman Lasse Pyykkö, also of Claws and Phlegethon. With Hooded Menace clearly his main band these days we asked the Finnish master of doom about letting other people in on his long-running death/doom project and when we can expect his twisted dark vision to hits the road again Your new album ‘Darkness Drips Forth’ was recently released on Relapse Records, please tell us a bit about it? “Well, I’d say ‘Darkness Drips Forth’ is our slowest and heaviest, but also the most melodic work to date. There’s stuff I can’t imagine being put on a record during the early days of the band. I wouldn’t have been ready for it. The new album goes from extreme to extreme, basically. Just don’t expect blastbeats, that’s not our thing, really. We don’t need extreme tempo shifts to be extreme. We play with smaller nuances than that, and as a songwriter, I find this more restrained approach a lot more interesting and challenging. Of course there’s also some stuff to bang our heads to, but compared to the previous albums, this one’s a crawler. And when it’s slow, the … Read More

Majestic hard rock from Tasmania. Not a description we use very often! Formed in 2011, Tarot released three cassette EPs during 2014 and then in 2015 these songs – including two new ones – were compiled for ‘The Warrior’s Spell’ album. “We don’t consider it to be a full-length album, rather a look at the all the band’s output up until that point”, says frontman Will Fried, AKA The Hermit, who also happens to be the owner of Heavy Chains Records.

According to him, the mystical names behind the band, such as The Hermit, The Hierophant and The Magician are taken from tarot card suites and they chose to use pseudonyms so that the listener focuses entirely on the music they play, rather than who is playing it.

Musically, Tarot wants to capture the same mystical atmosphere created by bands like Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash et al, all the while putting their own spin on things. “I think we have our own sound that incorporates these elements”, The Hermit believes, but words are also important. “In my opinion the lyrics of Tarot are better left to the listener to interpret in their own way, as for me they are … Read More

Dutch band Gold unleashed a new video (which you can view below) with “timing” of great joy as we enjoy the true spirit of the festive season – BUY! BUY! BUY!

They said: “‘And I Know Now’ is a key song on [new album] ‘No Image’. Like no other song it unites post-black metal, doom, hardcore punk, despair, humanity and reflection. Such a powerful song deserves a video with a powerful message. The message is to buy our album. Buy it again. Buy more copies of it. Buy it when it’s cheap. Buy it when you think it’s cheap. Buy it when you’re told it’s cheap. Why not buy it? Buy it like other people do. Buy it first. Buy it online. Buy it offline. Buy it now. Buy it and show with it. Buy away that void with it. Buy it and shelve it. Why wouldn’t you buy it? It is fun to have it. It is cool to have it. It is necessary to have it. To have it is better than to not have it. Our album is your album. Buy it and not miss it. Buy it.”

After departing The Devil’s Blood in 2011 (which you can read about in an interview Louise did … Read More

With their recent self-titled album hitting the shops earlier this year, the British rock legends Def Leppard are enjoying an “indian summer” according to guitarist, Phil Collen.

The band who formed in 1977, right at the beginning of the burgeoning post-punk/new wave of British heavy metal movement, are currently on tour around the UK and headline Wembley Arena in London with Whitesnake and Black Star Riders this Friday.

Iron Fist spoke to Hackney-born guitarist Phil, who joined the band in 1982, about their “unnecessary” new album, sounding like Michael Jackson and how music needs a much needed boot in the backside if it’s going to produce future arena-filling headline acts.

Before ‘Def Leppard’, the album, was released singer Joe Elliot said that “It doesn’t sound like any one specific era of Def Leppard. It’s got everything. You’ll listen and go ‘Oh that sounds like Led Zeppelin or Queen’, and he’s right, this is a massively diverse album and sounds like you had so much fun making it. What expectations did you have going in to do this new record?

“You don’t really have to make albums anymore, not in this day and age. They don’t really serve a purpose. A … Read More

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.”