Disgrace’s ‘Debts Of God’ EP, Convulse’s ‘World Without God’, Funebre’s ‘Children Of The Scorn’ and Demigod’s ‘Slumber Of Sullen Eyes’, without knowing it, were albums that shaped the sound of what would later become tagged as the ultimate Finnish death metal sound. Alas this early-’90s scene’s most important players were already rotting six feet under, after only one demo and an EP. Abhorrence‘s short-lived tenure survived the years because over the course of only 13 minutes, their sole self-titled 7” laid down the foundations upon which not only the highly-successful Amorphis was built but a large portion of the Finn-death movement as well.

Over the years, rumours of an official re-release of the band’s scarce recordings were floating around while, in the meantime, their former vocalist Jukka Kolehmainen set to open an official memorial website where one could download for free their two official recordings to counterfeit bootleggers. That is until May this year, when Svart Records finally released their officially-sanctioned 16 track (21 if you fell for the vinyl version) discography ‘Completely Vulgar’, compiling both their EP and demo plus live and rehearsal odds ‘n’ sods. Thus, Jukka Kolehmainen agreed to take us back to those sweet teenagers years when … Read More

It may be a common thing in jazz or blues circles but there’s no precedent for it in heavy metal. We’re talking about a 56 year old musician putting out his debut LP, more than four decades after he first picked up an instrument. Bedemon, which initially started as a Pentagram offshoot in 1973, finally release their first proper album ‘Symphony Of Shadows’ this year and it means much, much more to drummer Geof O’Keefe than simply making his childhood dreams come true. It’s the culmination of ten years of hard work and grief, his way of staying true to a promise he made to a dear friend whose only passions in life were horror movies and playing guitar. Alas, Bedemon’s founder and one-time Pentagram guitarist Randy Palmer died in tragic car accident on August 8, 2002, four months after he, Geof and bass player Mike Matthews recorded the basic tracks of what would become, a decade later, ‘Symphony of Shadows’. Iron Fist talked to Geof about the sadness and the story behind one of metal’s forgotten bands.

Last time we spoke, it was in 2002, to promote Pentagram’s ‘First Daze Here’ compilation. Back then, you revealed that Pentagram’s alter-ego Bedemon … Read More

Alongside Bolt Thrower, Mythic and Nuclear Death, Derkéta are one of the longest-running and most well-respected female powers in extreme metal, and for good reason. The music created by these four women from Pittsburgh isn’t just dark, it’s downright oppressive: no light, no hope, no compromise. Their pummelling take on death/doom was restricted to a series of demos, an EP, a split and a compilation, but never came to fruition on a proper full-length album. That is, until now. They’ve just self-released their first-ever full-length, a massive slab of cavernous death/doom perfection titled ‘In Death We Meet’ and have already been plotting their next moves. The band parted ways in 1997, so to see them not only return, but to come out swinging, armed with one of the best death metal records of 2012 and a packed schedule of upcoming live gigs, is a wonderful sight indeed. Fifteen years is a hell of a long time to spend away from the metal world, though, so vocalist and guitarist Sharon Bascovsky filled in some gaps for us.

“Well, it’s a bit of a story, but this is the short version. Back in 1997, Don [Of The Dead, vocals/bass] from Nunslaughter had asked Terri … Read More

In fair Sweden is where we set our scene. Two cities, both alike in dignity… you know the story. You’re either Stockholm or you’re Gothenburg, and this isn’t an article about football. Sweden may have taken the crown (no Johan Lindstrand related puns please!) when it came to Europe’s burgeoning death metal scene but the line was drawn depending on if you preferred the melodic thrash of Dark Tranquillity and At The Gates (in the red corner… Gothenburg) or the buzzsaw, Sunlight sound creeping out of the darkness in Stockholm thanks to bands like Entombed, Dismember and Treblinka.

But 45 miles north from the Swedish capital lies a previously untapped pool of death metal nihilism. In a university town of 140,000, Uppsala is the religious capital of Sweden so it’s unsurprising that it gave us early progenitors of Swedeath in Sarcasm and black metal bastards Unpure and later Watain. But the spotlight has turned away from the old guards of the major cities and is glaring on this unassuming hub of metal mania. Invidious, Graveless and Degial have put Uppsala on the death metal map and it’s showing the big boys of Stockholm and Gothenburg that the sounds of the suburbs … Read More

The first time Iron Fist laid eyes on Hekz, back in 2005, they were playing a sports centre in the arse-end of Middle England, and despite being school age were churning out Maiden-friendly riffs with a progressive edge a la Fate’s Warning that completely belied their youth. Four EPs later and we’ve been keeping an eye on this Bedford mob. Recently released debut full-length ‘Tabula Rasa’ proves how far they’ve come. “The current line-up is very different from when we started,” Matt explains of how they’ve grown since inception. “Kirk [drums] and Al [guitars] came on board in late 2008, Tom [guitars] joined us in May last year and was plunged headfirst into the pre-production for our album. Career highlights thus far have got to be playing Bloodstock Open Air.” Playing traditional heavy metal at such a young age must have had something to do with great parenting, is that true, Matt? “My dad’s got a lot of obscure, eclectic stuff like the Groundhogs and Black Widow, which caught my interest, as well as stuff like Uriah Heep and The Edgar Winter Group. I remember him doing me a copy of Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ by burning the audio from his vinyl onto a … Read More

Bastard Sapling could easily be described as the best American black metal band you’ve never heard, but this would be selling them short, they’re the best black metal band from anywhere that you’ve never heard of. Formed in 2007 by ex-Cannabis Corpse guitarist Drew, who was in need of a new direction to channel his energy and aggression after being left without a band and living in squalor, He was joined by drummer Elway (ex-Celebrity Murders, ex-Murdock and ex-War Torn), guitarist Steven (Inter Arma), vocalist Mike (Inter Arma, ex-Dick Butkis) and bassist Peter (Battlemaster). The quintet plays brutal black metal in the truest of senses, stripping away all pretence, gimmicks and other nonsense that gets in the way. The raw beauty of Drudkh, Immortal and early Enslaved pulses through their veins, but these Yanks they have their own voice, and it’s fucking loud. They’ve spared no time in tearing the scene apart since they made their first unholy appearance at 2008’s Heart Of Winter festival in Richmond, Virginia. Here they made available a raw rehearsal demo and this exposure saw them head off on a nationwide tour, to conquer new turf and corrupt the minds of the innocent. They quickly followed … Read More

It’s rare to find one-man projects in the death metal scene, especially one as technical as Willowtip’s latest protégé Sophicide. The German lone ranger Adam Lazslo was just 19 when he formed the project, with EP ‘The Art Of Atrocity’ only showcasing half his potential. With Sophicide meaning “murder of wisdom”, it’s clear what the themes are. “It’s about failures of modern society and the misery it brings, value systems that try to impose their ridiculous ideas, like religion and in general things that one should worry about nowadays. [This is] my humble attempt at musically executing these ideas”, explains Adam.

To go solo so young is a brave move; however debut ‘Perdition Of The Sublime’ proves Adam’s technicality and songwriting is close to challenging already credited artists. “I didn’t have fitting band members at that time, so I decided to start on my own.” he says. “I also found it easier to realise my musical ideas without having to make compromises.”

Adam’s influences are prominent throughout – the brutality of Bloodbath, the technicality of fellow countrymen Necrophagist and the even the guitar wankery of Animals As Leaders. ‘Perdition …’ challenges both your brain and brawn and despite the isolation, a live … Read More

Accurately labelling themselves “Old Metal”, that broad but effective term came when Natur overheard an old rocker trying to describe their sound to a friend. The New York via Rhode Island four-piece formed in the dark days of 2008 when only a valiant few were playing unapologetic straight ahead heavy metal in the US. On top of the band, two of the guys run a weekly classic metal radio show called the Metal Inquisition and you can safely predict that they will spend any spare cash on vinyl, you can certainly hear in the music that the band have a broad knowledge of heavy rocking history.

The band’s charmingly raw and heavy self-released CD demo stood out immediately from the increasingly genre specific metal world. Darkthrone’s Fenriz noticed and gave his seal of approval early, which led to a slot at London’s Live Evil Festival supporting Ghost and Angel Witch back in 2010. Featuring the highly entertaining Tooth Log on drums, main axe attack from Dino Destroyer and lead bass now coming from recent addition, Henry Yuan, aka Sound Mound, who replaced the brilliantly-named Damien The Mexicutioner. Singer/guitarist Ryan Weibust adds a natural, cool vibe and a fittingly underpowered NWOBHM-style vocal. The eponymous … Read More

What, wait, no Jessica? When news of a second Sabbath Assembly album dropped earlier this year you could count the minutes between the moment their fans were psyched and the disappointment when finding out that their vocalist was no where to be heard (or seen). The hot-blooded males among us lamented the therefore lack of further photos of her cavorting in a lake, while the more musical of us cried foul at the omission of her lush vocal divinity. After all, would we, the heavy metal community, have cared for an album of hymns from a long-dead religious cult if it were not for the doomy presence of Jex Thoth’s elfin princess? Maybe not, but we’re glad she got us hooked. 2012’s ‘Restored To One’ may have not been metal, per se, but we were transfixed. Now the cult are back with a new album in ‘Ye Are Gods’ and a new line-up including Throbbing Gristle pioneer Genesis P-orridge, Hammers Of Misfortune and Wolves In The Throne Room collaborator Jamie Myers, “death folk” guitarist Imaad Wasif and Sunn O’s violinist Eyvind Kang. You can’t argue with a line-up like that, chalk us up for another dose of Processian theory please…

For … Read More

It starts with a catchy riff that immediately brings to mind the opening section from ‘Hells Bells’. ‘Full Pull’ salutes those about to rock and before you know it ‘All Fired Up’ has you just that; fired up for the Växjö, Sweden quintet who are most definitely on their highway to hell.

To be fair, Bullet were heading to the top (every pun intended) back in 2004 when Hell Hofer (the evolutionary link between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson), Gustav Hjortsjö (drums) plus guitarists Hampus Klang and Erik Almström released their debut album. Their first album made the top 40 in the Swedish charts, saw them open for their Aussie idols and it’s been rumoured that the five Swedes (who at the time included bass player Lenny Blade) inspired a similarly-minded group of DC fanatics down under who formed a band called Airbourne.

But while Airbourne have been touring the world and touted by the likes of Lady Gaga as the greatest band out of Australia since Young, Young and co, Bullet have been quietly chugging along on the rock ‘n’ roll train. When Blade upped sticks and moved to Thailand, gun for hire Adam Hector was called in to man the … Read More