Iron Fist Magazine

ISSUE 20 – BLACK MAGIC RITUALS & PERVERSIONS

Heavy Metal is our religion and as the season of goodwill is truly upon us, we bring you Iron Fist Issue 20 in its full glory!

“I don’t want people to chin stroke, I want people to lose it!” Doom veterans Electric Wizard grace our cover and their leader Jus Oborn talks to Jim Martin about the creation of their epic opus ‘Wizard Bloody Wizard’ and what it means to play doom in 2017.

To commemorate it’s 30th anniversary, Tom G. Warrior looks back at the creation of ‘Into The Pandemonium’, still one of the most forward-thinking and adventurous albums to birth from the fertile spawning ground of 1980’s heavy metal. More importantly though, Tom also talked to us in order to pay his respects in a tribute to the passing of Martin Ain. Elsewhere Messrs Oliver & Dawson spread their wings again to talk about the early days of Saxon and the heavy metal crusades of yesteryear; we get the beers in with Tankard who simply cannot remember the old days, and talk to Steve Ramsey about the formative years of UK folk metal legends Skyclad.

“What was it like having Tony Iommi as your manager?” Frank Hall from riff-lords Necromandus reveals all, and … Read More

ISSUE 19 – WHERE THE ACTION IS

Heavy metal will never die and because of this – neither will IRON FIST (although we almost did)

From the depths of hellfire and brimstone, Iron Fist 19 is finally out – only print is real and only Iron Fist can give you the best in all classic, and brand new, heavy metal thunder!​ This issue’s cover star is one of Sweden’s most prolific and long-standing characters, Nicke Andersson.

We discuss all aspects of Nicke’s career, leaving no stone unturned. From his early memories of what kickstarted his love of music, Nicke talks frankly about the revitalised Entombed and just why he felt he needed to go back to his death metal roots; the Hellacopters; and of course his latest band Imperial State Electric. To coincide, we also have a killer chat with celebrated artist Dan Seagrave about his own career as one of metal’s most renowned and distinguished artists. Dan of course worked on Entombed’s ‘Clandestine’ masterpiece and has also reworked the artwork for the year 2017. See both of these pieces in their full glory inside Iron Fist – side by side, just as Dan himself requested, to enjoy the visual experience even more. Issue 19 features brand new and in-depth interviews with … Read More

SARCASM INTERVIEW: “IN UPPSALA AT THAT TIME MOST PEOPLE LIKED EUROPE OR HAPPY THRASH!”

Swedish death metal veterans Sarcasm have recently unleashed an album (yes, an actual album!) full of dark melodies, razor sharp riffing, atmospheric passages and catchy hooks. ‘Within The Sphere Of Ethereal Minds’ (recently released on Dark Descent) takes the listener on a multi-faceted musical journey with many twists and turns that takes you right back to the glory days of the early to mid ’90s melodic death metal scene before the genre became oversaturated and commercialised. There is a blackened edge to their aural aggression too much in the same vein as their fellow countrymen Unanimated and Dissection. Iron Fist spoke with frontman Heval Bozarslan to find out more about the album and comeback.

Your latest full-length ‘Within The Sphere Of Ethereal Minds’ just came out, what can we expect and are you pleased with it? They can expect 35 minutes of jaw-dropping, ball-crushing, catchy yet face-melting death metal. I’m more than satisfied, even though I listened to the pre-production demos a thousand times and knew that this material was strong I didn’t know it would turn out this good. All the people involved really gave 100 percent and believed in this. And so far the reaction from people who have heard it … Read More

BIG TEASER: STREAM ‘MERCILESS HAMMER’ FROM OCCVLTA’S BRAND NEW ALBUM ‘NIGHT WITHOUT END’

Although this horde of black metal brothers have existed as a unit for 13 years, OCCVLTA have two short recordings to their name, the 2010 ‘We Command The Wolves’ demo and a 2012 split 7” with the UK snarlers Salute. Having existed mostly as a live unit, with legendarily primal, in-your-face appearances at Live Evil, Muskelrock and Metal Magic, the time has finally come for Occvlta’s first full-length to surface from the depths of the German underground. Iron Fist have been given an exclusive stream of ‘Merciless Hammer’ so we caught up with vocalist Hord to find out more about the song and upcoming album ‘Night Without End’…

“‘Merciless Hammer’ was our first attempt at writing a d-beat song. Most of the album comes in at a much slower pace. None of us were ever into d-beat punk bands but we are all big Motörhead fans, so when Torm [drums, brother of Hord] came up with the main riff we decided to write a whole song in that punk style. It just felt right. It gave some sort of primal satisfaction. I had the title in my head for a while and wanted it to be primitive and brutal. Occvlta is evil … Read More

TURBONEGRO INTERVIEW: “THERE’S A LOT OF LIFE WITHIN THE MAYHEM STORIES, BUT THE MYTH IS MORE ABOUT DEATH”

Get your Scandinavian leather ready, this weekend Desertfest tempt the Norse sexgods TURBONEGRO back to Camden, for their first London show in almost five years. We caught up with apocalyptic bass-dude, Happy Tom to find out what kept them so long, and what tuck shop treat he wants on his rider, and what the hell is he doing in Central America with Mayhem…

Hang on, what’s this? You made a documentary about Mayhem?

No, I mean I’m actually not that much of a documentary maker, I’m more of a talk show host. I have a panel show on national Norwegian television, called ‘The Welfare Office’, because in Norway there is a welfare office. It’s known to be the place where you come with your problems, but when you leave, you have even more. So that’s the concept of this debate show. It’s a pretty serious thing, but we have some funny stuff in there too. That’s been going on for 12 seasons now and we figured there’s so many panel shows, let’s start making documentaries. So we made a documentary about a woman in North London who, by accident, was sent to Auschwitz as a child, which was a fascinating story. And then, I’m an American … Read More

CRAVEN IDOL INTERVIEW: “IT IS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR NOT ACTING LIKE A TREND-WHORE OCCULT DEATH METAL BAND”

Craven Idol return with a crash of thunder after almost four years of deadly silence. Not only do the London Black metallers have a killer new release, ‘Shackles Of Mammon’ (Via Dark Descent on April 14), they will also open for Nifelheim at the Underworld on May 26. All this with a brand new line-up, as guitarist Scourger and drummer Volgard, have been replaced by Obscenitor (also of Crom Dubh) and Heretic Blades.

“We entered Greg Chandler’s Priory Studios last year and emerged a week later with around 40 minutes of old school extreme metal swearing by the legacy of the first god.” That’s how frontman Wrath starts his epic story about their latest album, which the band launch with a gig at The Black Heart, Camden, this Saturday April 8.

“Our new album ‘The Shackles Of Mammon’ is more varied and way more aggressive than its predecessor ‘Towards Eschaton’,” he continues. “It is a ‘complete’ album with significantly better song-writing and a rawer, old school production. Greg Chandler, from Esoteric, is a brilliant producer and we spoke to him at length during the run-up to the session, and we had a clear vision for the sound. I had in mind the first wave … Read More

QUICKSAND DREAM INTERVIEW: “WE ARE GETTING TOO OLD TO HAVE DREAMS”

There are always those bands you’ve never heard of, but worth every single note when you do finally stumble upon them. For many readers out there, Quicksand Dream from Sweden might be such a band. Born from the ashes of an old cult act named Epic Irae, Quicksand Dream took shape as duo with Göran Jacobson (vocals) and Patrick Backlund (all instruments) performing music from the heart, inspired by Black Sabbath, Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road and similar iconic legends. Sixteen years after their debut album (that got a proper release years later) they came back with ‘Beheading Tyrants’, without the urge to follow a specific style, but rather give something personal to a dedicated audience. The music of Quicksand Dream has a strong and solid vibe from the past, and Patrick Backlund is here to explain the dream…

Before Quicksand Dream, there was Epic Irae. Give us a brief recap of your early years in music, the creation of Epic Irae and the transformation to Quicksand Dream. Epic Irae was the original name of the band, formed by a bunch of schoolmates in the autumn of 1988 inspired by the likes of Candlemass, Manilla Road, Cloven Hoof, Stormwitch and Celtic Frost to … Read More

VENENUM INTERVIEW: MUSIC SHOULD GIVE YOU GOOSEBUMPS

German death metallers Venenum have recently unleashed their debut full length album ‘Trance Of Death’ upon the extreme music scene via Sepulchral Voice Records, a multi-faceted album full of twists and turns that will slowly coil it’s way around your senses upon listening.

We caught up with vocalist/bassist F.S.A (who joins P.T. on guitars, D.P. on guitars and keys, and F.J.L on drums) to find out more about the album and gain more of an insight into the dark musical world of this very exciting new malevolent force in death metal.

Your debut album is due to be unleashed in the near future – what can the readers expect from your first full-length offering? Immense. Intense. In trance.

Where was the album recorded? The album was recorded at Tonstudio Katzer in Nuremberg, Germany. Our new guitarist suggested Romin Katzer because he did an internship at his old studio once. Since we hadn’t made up our mind on where to record the album, we visited Romin at his new studio, which is close by where we live and instantly knew that we wanted to work with him. At first we only booked one week with the focus on getting the drum tracks … Read More

INTO BATTLE: DEMON HEAD

Danish sinister hard rockers Demon Head are about to unleash their second full-length album ‘Thunder On The Fields’ via The Sign Records and Caligari Records (it will also be available via Crypt Of The Wizard in London!). Their sound is a marvellously memorable mix of rockin’ riffing, Danzig-esque vocals and heady hooks, which will embed themselves into your memory, plus there’s an occult, organic nod to the past without sounding like a retro throwback. Their upcoming album has already caught the attention of Darkthrone drummer Fenriz, who recently made them a band of the week, and they’re set to turn more heads. We caught up with the band to find out more about this still quite mysterious musical entity.

You have a new album due out soon, what’s up with that? B.G.N (guitar): You can expect a very generous and honest record that mostly take use of guitars, bass, drums, voice and words as instruments of expression. M.S.F (bass): Real music for real people.

Are you chuffed with the end result?. M.F.L (vocals): Yes, as Birk says it has been a lot of hard work; recording it ourselves, making the artwork (luckily with help for the final layout part). We are perfectionists about the songwriting and … Read More

SATAN’S SATYRS INTERVIEW: “IF LIZ BUCKINGHAM OF ALL PEOPLE TELLS YOU TO GET AN IPOD YOU’RE REALLY BEHIND THE TIMES”

With Desertfest London coming up soon we thought we would dredge the archives for some interviews to get you in the mood. Back in Iron Fist #16 SATAN’S SATYRS mastermind CLAYTON BURGESS talked with J. BENNETT about Satanic lesbian films, life as Electric Wizard’s bass player and reluctantly entering the 21st Century

Clayton Burgess doesn’t have a smartphone. The Satan’s Satyrs vocalist, bassist and all-around mastermind explains this while apologising for being all of five minutes late for Iron Fist’s call. “I’m holding out for as long as I can,” he says with a laugh. “The funny thing is, I just got my first iPod in my life yesterday, so I’m still coming to grips with that.”

Anyone who’s heard the Satyrs’ howling retro fuzz rock or seen photos of Burgess stalking the graveyards of his Virginia hometown in black flares and battle vest might not be surprised to learn that our man prefers the pre-cell phone, pre-Internet, pre-mp3 good ol’ days, when land lines, the local library and physical formats were the natural world order. “I do buy a lot of CDs – as well as vinyl, of course – but I got tired of bringing them everywhere I went because I’m … Read More

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