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

Once upon a time, there were two brothers with a unique musical aura and vision. Archon Vorskaath created Zemial in 1989 and Eskarth The Dark One created Agatus in 1992. They were both swapping ideas and each one helped the other capture their creativity. Starting in Greece, then moving to Australia, back to Greece again, now The Dark is based in the United Kingdom with a brand new album under the title ‘The Eternalist’. Coming out on the mighty Hells Headbangers Records it is already the subject of high-praise amongst those in the know.

This third Agatus installment shows confidence in the marrying of the creator’s two loves; traditional heavy metal and orthodox black metal. From the debut black metal bite (‘Dawn Of Martyrdom’, 1996) to the NWOBHM-tinged progression of the second album (‘The Weaving Fates’, 2002) and now transcending beyond both paths, Agatus in 2016 exercises freedom in expression. We grabbed the opportunity to ask him how and why he chose now to return…

It’s almost 14 years since your last album, with an intermission of two EPs in between. What have you been doing all these years? The Dark: As you may know I have been involved in various projects/bands and … Read More

We love a mixtape here at Iron Fist. The ritual of choosing the track, pressing play and record at the same time, perfectly timing songs to fit on one side of a C-90, doodling your own hand-written cover. Days were endlessly passed doing this in our youth. Bringing back the tradition we ask some of our favourite musicians to make us a tape and let you know, via the magic of YouTube, what they picked for us.

In the first instalment, JB Christoffersson of Iron Willed warriors GRAND MAGUS picks twelve songs that inspired his band’s latest album ‘SWORD SONGS’ in a mixtape called ‘SWEDISH STEEL’.

1. BATHORY – ‘Shores In Flames’ This is the opening song on BATHORY’s masterpiece ‘Hammerheart’ and one of my favourite songs ever. No one combines atmosphere with power like Quorthon did.

2. DISSECTION – ‘Xeper-i-Set’ The Reinkaos album was very controversial when it came out. Personally I think it’s a fantastic album with brilliant playing and songwriting. This is probably the fastest and most aggressive track on that album and it’s ferocious.

3. WOLF – ‘The Bite’ When it comes to proper heavy metal in the modern age, I think that WOLF is one of the best bands … Read More

Gothenburg-based heavy metal maniacs Night Viper are the one of the latest heavy metal exports to come out of Sweden and have released a debut album that is an energetic affair. The up-tempo ’80s heavy metal of early Maiden and Priest collides with the galloping speed metal of ‘Kill ‘Em All’-era Metallica and a duelling twin guitar attack that features the ever-productive Tom Sutton (The Order Of Israfel, Horisont, ex-Church Of Misery). We caught up with Tom to find out more about this exciting new band.

When did the idea for Night Viper first come about? “I have often wished that Metallica and Slayer could have held off from maturing for just one album more each. I love their second albums and what came later too, but I love the freshness of that almost rock ‘n’ roll style of thrash metal that they both had in the beginning. I’d often thought I’d like to do something with that kind of vibe, although I doubted I’d ever get around to it. At one point I was going to ask Sven, the drummer from Antichrist, to just do a single with me so I could get it out of my system. I couldn’t be … Read More

Sweden’s epic doom troupe Ereb Altor have announced they will a release a digital and vinyl-only Bathory tribute “to honour Quorthon with all their heart and soul!”

‘Blot – Ilt – Taut’, which is old Swedish and means “Blood – Fire – Death”, will be released on February 26th 2016 through Cyclone Empire. The album was mixed and mastered by Jonas Lindström at Studio Apocalypse. The cover artwork and layout was done by Robban Kanto.

Mats from the band said: “During the years of Ereb Altor I have often been confronted with these words: ‘You should record some Bathory hymns!’. And recently this has happened more frequently, perhaps due to the fact that we at some rare occasions have done a Bathory song or two live. This has been haunting my mind. If we would do this, how should we do this? There is only one answer to that question: WE WILL DO IT FROM THE HEART! And for us it was also important to put our Ereb Altor touch on these magnificent works of Quorthon. The classic albums that I grew up with are closer to my heart than the post ‘Twilight Of The Gods’ albums. So we decided to do only songs from … Read More

1984, the year of miner’s strikes and Mitsui Miike, the AIDS virus and Band Aid, Richard Ramirez and crack cocaine; not quite the dystopia Orwell predicted (although Mark Zuckerberg was born!) but close. However, amidst the civil unrest, famine and fear, heavy metal thrived, birthing the likes of Nuclear Assault, Razor, Candlemass and Death. This landmark year offered up milestone albums from Judas Priest, Metallica and Scorpions, the return of Deep Purple, debuts from Saint Vitus, Trouble and Running Wild, EPs from Sodom, Slayer and Celtic Frost, AC/DC headlined Monsters Of Rock, Iron Maiden went behind the Iron curtain and Venom made a concept album. All in all, it was a pretty good year, as proved many times in the past 12 months when we’ve published articles celebrating the 30th birthdays of some of our most-played record, from Exciter’s ‘Violence & Force’ to Twisted Sister’s ‘Stay Hungry’. So, in December, when other magazines were busy making their best of 2014 lists, we were too busy listening to ‘Don’t Break The Oath’ and ‘Apocalyptic Raids’. That’s not to say 2014 didn’t have its fair share of Ecstacy & Danger, there was Ample Destruction from At The Gates, Triptykon and Orange Goblin, … Read More

With albums from Atlantean Kodex, Argus and Age Of Taurus riding high in our albums of the year lists, and of course the final ever album from the true masters, Cathedral, it seems that traditional doom, steeped in the roots of heavy metal, is, once again, genre du jour, and now Esslingen’s Mountain Throne are joining the ranks with their debut album ‘Stormcoven’ on Cyclone Empire. Forming in 2009 guitarist A tells Iron Fist that he, “always wanted to have a band playing this ancient kind of metal” and had been writing songs in that vein for years. Drummer J joins A in the doom band Mirror Of Deception, while cracking singer F and bassist S are in the power metal band From Beyond, so the cachet is hot for this German four-piece. When asked what attracted them to the traditional doom genre, A says firmly, “It’s the choice of champions really, isn´t it? There is a sense of a tradition… knowing where things came from and how they developed. Real heavy metal and classic hard and heavy rock are incredibly soulful. In real metal you definitely have that spirit. For me, this magic is epitomised in the songs of … Read More

Pinpointing a certain sound to a geographical place has become almost impossible, mainly thanks to the internet and how it globally manipulates trends. So, it may be with some skepticism that people would meet WHIPSTRIKER, a Brazilian band. If someone told you that some of the most brutally honest metalpunk came from Rio, albeit tinged with the elixir of the metal gods, you’d probably tell them the next classic TNBM record would come from rural Ireland. However, living in Rio seems like living out a Discharge lyrics sheet, and Whipstriker mainman VICTOR took time out from his hectic recording schedule to talk about metal and life in Rio’s favelas. Historians can write what they like in their textbooks, but musicians (usually) tell the truth in their songs…                                                                                                                          

How did you get the name Whipstriker exactly? Victor Whipstriker: “I really don’t remember. I … Read More

As tempting as it was to name every feature in our anniversary issue after Bathory songs, it made sense to title both the Watain feature (‘Wild Hunt’ being an ode to Bathory at their most epic) and this one after the songs of Quorthon. However, we best not call TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, a new band put together by PRIMORDIAL frontman ALAN AVERILL, a Bathory tribute band anymore. They’ve moved on. Get it? The name remains, the story is so very, very different. GUY STRACHAN gets to the bottom of the how a tribute band became a full-on project and gets to grips with his “other” bands while he’s at it

 

“I tried to explain something the other day to somebody who wasn’t remotely into metal, that when you’re inside the bubble you see what other people find curious about it, and the things that they perceive as clichés, you understand that they are borne of the original blueprint of heavy metal; that you didn’t second-guess yourself. There was a naïve bluster and charm because of the era that it was in, so when some kid in 2013 assumes that everything has to be pastiche and parody and they can’t take … 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