Many bands out there claim to be “fucked up and twisted” but Gothenburg’s Karnarium truly are. Almost as if they wanted to ruin the reputation of the world’s melodeath capital all by themselves, since their inception in 1998 this mob, who shelter various ex-members of Pagan Rites, Devil Lee Rot and Kill, have churned out some of the most noisy and bizarre death metal Sweden has ever given birth to, leaving a trail of drug-fuelled madness and experimentation behind them without never toning down the bestiality factor. Yet, somehow for their second proper full-length, ‘Otapamo Pralaja’, they seem to have straightened themselves up a little bit. Still, according to the collective voice of the band, nothing could be further from the truth: “I think we are a bit weird as people, no matter where we were based, but the aversion held towards melodeath surely worked as an incentive to make twisted music. Karnarium does not wish to be dualistic in that sense, even though we are mere humans. First and foremost, our initial plan was to make a sick twisted form of death metal with a sense of chaos that at the same time didn’t sound too much like the … Read More

Necroblood’s story reads as a kind of war metal fairytale. Small band from Paris comes together, records a demo’s worth of filthy, VON and Archgoat-worshippin’ tunes, then gets swept off its feet by French black metal royalty MkM and signed to his newly-resurrected label in order to release their debut EP, ‘The Rite of Evil’, in 2011. “MkM offered this deal after stumbling upon our demo and seeing us play in Paris,” an unnamed ghoul intones. “He really liked the music and atmosphere of Necroblood and he honoured us with the resurrection of Spikekult to release an EP. I have to admit that being on a label that released material such as Demoncy or Grand Belial’s Key, and that was obviously only resurrected for us and an Aosoth release, is very flattering. It’s an incredible promotion, which isn’t offered to everybody in this particular black metal scene, and especially for a small local band!” Humility is a virtue, but that’s about the only virtuous thing about this blasphemous horde. Alongside Ritualization, Necrowretch, Affliction Gate, Perversifier and Cadaveric Fumes, Necroblood are leading the charge for a new wave of French extremity. With Deathspell Omega out searching for the philosopher’s stone and Alcest … Read More

Within ten seconds of pressing play our immediate thought was, “Damn, these dudes got some swagger.” That’s not a typical thought to bubble up when you’re confronted with the kind of grinding hardcore/desperate sludge alloy that Liverpool’s Corrupt Moral Altar have banged out on their first EP, but, there it was, just the same. “I guess a lot of that comes from our love of rock ‘n’ roll,” guitarist John shrugs. “Just trying to keep it super simple and have catchy songs. We all come from backgrounds of playing in super fast, technical bands and the whole idea of this band is simplicity, and being able to play the tracks when pissed out of our heads: playing brutal music and having fun with it!” They certainly nail the “brutal” part. ‘Luciferian Deathcult’ (out January 8 via Baitin’ The Trap Records) is positively rank, browbeating its poor listener into an absolute pulp. Ten seconds after first blush, we needed a drink – and so did they, probably. “The four members got together through their mutual love of getting fucked up and cider,” we’re told. “The band was formed in Merseyside in 2012, all members have been around for years in various other bands, some … Read More

Comprised of four London-based devils, namely Peter Benjamin, David Gray, Samuel Loynes and Dan Abela, Voices set out to become “a diverse and experimental black metal band,” so says bassist Pete, although he now admits that “there is no telling where we may end up musically speaking.” These are names you might recognise; David and Peter played together in gentlemanly black metal outfit, Akercocke, while Dan has played with Cradle Of Filth minx Sara Jezebel Deva on her solo work and Samuel jammed with Peter in Diminished Fifth. But this is no supergroup. “We don’t want to be restricted creatively by any scene or genre of music,” scolds Peter. “We want to create cold, unusual and extreme music. From initially just jamming, we quickly moved into a deeply intense improvisational stance within the rehearsal space and then began to piece songs together, which happened naturally.” Elsewhere in this issue of Iron Fist we describe 2012 as a banner year for British black metal; bands like Fen, Winterfylleth, A Forest Of Stars and Wodensthrone breathed life into a scene that had been on its deathbed since, well, Akercocke. So how do Voices feel to be joining this band of blackened brothers? “There seems to … Read More

Forming in 1993, it took Yorkshire, UK’s traditional metal mob ASOMVEL 16 years to put out their debut full-length, but 2009’s ‘KAMIKAZE’ was the attack British metal needed. Four years on and the band are not resting and in the wake of the death of founding frontman JAY-JAY WINTER they are fired up and ready for their next onslaught. 

Forming in the early 1990s and almost adopting the name The Hairy Mary’s, Songs Of Praise were never really on the agenda for this Yorkshire outfit. Luckily the band conceived by Lenny Robinson and Jay-Jay Winter chose the less hirsute moniker of Asomvel and another classic UK heavy metal group slowly emerged. Asomvel, which actually has no significant meaning, saw a band with no real goals or direction forming from humble origins as Lenny reflects: “I asked Jay if he wanted to start a band, ‘cos I got on with him. He was the coolest bloke in town and we seemed to have the same attitude to things. I was gonna play bass (‘cos I had one) and Jay was gonna sing and we were gonna have two guitarists. Of course, nobody else was interested, so Jay ended up with the bass … Read More

We wanted to make plain death metal with some doom influences,” says Chapel Of Disease singer Laurent Teubl matter-of-factly. “We wanted to make the sort of music that we would listen to at home and that only few still do. We missed that old Tampa sound, where death metal was still very close to aggressive thrash and it didn’t have to be clean or technical. [We wanted to] summon the ancient gods of death metal.”

It would seem that Cologne, Germany based death cult Chapel Of Disease are not only using their sound to summon the ancient gods of death metal, but also their moniker, which appears to be a mash-up of Morbid Angel’s “Chapel Of Ghouls” and “Angel Of Disease” – arguably two of the greatest death metal songs ever written.

“I think it isn’t to deny that somehow we threw those two song titles together,” Laurent laughs. “But I think it’s a good band name, since it is nothing complicated. It gets stuck in one’s head easily. ‘Altars Of Madness’ is an all-time favourite for the whole band. It’s an amazing album that easily beats the aggression and madness of many later recorded black metal albums… It simply is and … Read More

NUCLEAR WAR! NOW FESTIVAL III BERLIN POSTBAHNHOF-FRITZCLUB

So here we were, apostles at the altars of madness. And thanks to a queue snaking the building’s length, Knelt Rote are missed by most. Anatomia quickly make up for any loss and summon a good start to the festival with their deathly doom. These Japanese magicians have a great sound for so early on and put on an impressive display, knocking out last night’s pre-show cobwebs. Pseudogod’s unholy black death calls the masses once again, but dogged by sound problems from the start, they fail to recover and are plagued until the end with a high end sound, which is inaudible from certain parts of the venue, and no doubt the stage. A real shame, as they are one of the bands with high anticipation surrounding them. Onwards we march, into the shadows, as Antediluvian take us further down into hell. Their ominous sound reverberates from the walls like a swarm, surrounding everything within their dark veil. Clad all in black, their presence is akin to their sound; one of the weekend’s most crushing performances. As the day becomes more chaotic, so does the music and the Italians in Blasphemophagher deliver it by the truckload. Their frantic black/thrash … Read More

“Twin guitar harmonies,” is what Hakim, lead vocalist and guitarist replies when asked what prompted the foundation of Dead Lord, a new revelation in hard rock from Stockholm only founded in January of this year and currently entrenched in Sun Studios in Dublin recording their debut album, slated for an early 2013 release through Germany’s High Roller Records. Stylistically Dead Lord have it down, completely, bringing into the 21st Century all that made classic rock so interesting, vital and vibrant with a slick amalgamation of Thin Lizzy, Scorpions and Kiss as well as The Hellacopters, who upon further prodding certainly come out as being somewhat of a standard bearer and ‘go to’ reference point for a whole younger generation of Swedish hard rockers. “Yeah, Nicke Anderson would certainly be a big influence on us when it comes to exploring deeper into music and he has generally been a measure for good music,” is Dead Lord drummer Adam’s view on the matter, which is reinforced by a collective of nodding heads.

So what then of the emergence of a whole new wave of bands rooting deeper into the recesses of rock’s turbulent history, particularly in Sweden? “There’s a much better situation now … Read More

Famously previously for being home to the first spinning frame, which we can tenuously link to the mass production of heavy metal t-shirts (okay, so not really) and a thrash cover of the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme Preston has hardly given us much of worth. So no wonder that Alex Varley, bassist of steel warriors Ascalon told us that, “We started as an answer to the lack of proper metal in our area. It really is worrying how neglected the glory era of metal has become outside of the capital.”

Since forming the band with Vince Scott (drums), Chris Marsh (guitars) and Matt Gerrard (vocals, guitars) Preston, however, has acquired a record label, Flash Of The Blade, whose first release was the recent four-way split between Ascalon, Asomvel, Eliminator and fellow Prestonians Wytch Hazel.

A metallic triumph for the North then? All four bands on that limited 12” are mighty indeed. “I find it difficult to describe our sound beyond classic metal,” Alex continues. “I’d like to think we’re quite a ballsy band that have a sound not too different from the best British bands like Saxon and Diamond Head. The band is an important tool to preach our elitism. On a serious note, … Read More

After launching in September we were so inspired by all the killer feedback we got for issue one, that we forged right ahead and here’s issue two of the ULTIMATE UNDERGROUND BIBLE to get your ‘head around.

With the ‘Head on tour around Europe at the moment, we caught up with Lemmy in 2012 AND Lemmy in 1981 (courtesy of the memory of veteran journo Garry Bushell) for our cover story and also delved into the past with FIRST EVER Finnish heavy metal band SARCOFAGUS, Metal Queen DORO, the label that launched Metallica and Slayer METAL BLADE and look at the first TIAMAT album and the legacy of INCANTATION!

Not one to discard the future though we also chat to FUNERAL THRONE, RUINS, DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT, HEXVESSEL, NECROS CHRISTOS, NECROCURSE, VAMPIRE, VEKTOR, WEAPON and much, much more