Iron Fist Magazine

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

MIDNIGHT INTERVIEW: “THERE IS NO JAMMING WHEN YOU RECORD BY YOURSELF, IT’S CALLED FULL ON MASTURBATION”

The notorious Cleveland-based Midnight recently unleashed another punked-up metal massacre with the ‘Shox Of Violence’ EP via Hells Headbangers. It features four new songs and acts as a stop gap between the last album ‘No Mercy For Mayhem’ (released in 2014) and the upcoming new full-length. There is a compilation with the same title, which has also recently just come out, featuring the new EP plus a veritable feast of bonus cover songs, demo tracks and live recordings, including a couple of Venom covers, a host of covers by punk bands such as The Spits and Pagans, as well as Girlschool, Quiet Riot amongst others, all of which have been given the dirty, unholy and rotten Midnight treatment. We caught up with mainman/guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Athenar to find out more about the EP, compilation and the current activities of the band.

You have a new EP and compilation ‘Shox Of Violence’, can you elaborate on what this new release contains and what the readers can expect in comparison to the last full-length? Athenar: It’s a four song EP of tunes to blast out of your stereo! Please don’t expect much, keep your expectations in life low; it’s much easier that way. I don’t wanna … Read More

ROOT INTERVIEW: “I AM A PROUD EGOTIST AND EVERYONE CAN KISS MY BARE ARSE”

As one of the world’s most groundbreaking metal masters prepare to release a brand new album (see the video below for a sneak peak) we look back to the creation of one of extreme metal’s most influential albums. In 1990 it would perhaps not be as noteworthy were it created in the West, but behind the Iron Curtain, in what was then Czechoslovakia, it faced the threat of arrest and even imprisonment. GUY STRACHAN spoke to BIG BOSS of ROOT about the making of ‘ZJEVENI’

Although ‘Zjeveni’ sees its 25th anniversary being celebrated with a deserved re-release courtesy of the I Hate label and the debut album of long-standing Czech black metallers Root is rightly held up as one of the early foundations of the second wave of black metal, the band’s leader and vocalist, Jiří ‘Big Boss’ Valter, is today less than keen to discuss the work. “You must know I’m 63 [years] old and I forgot a lot of things from that era,” he says by way of a preface to his email interview, “and now we prepare and work on [our] tenth album.”

The son of a university professor, Valter grew up in a musical household in the town … Read More

AGATUS INTERVIEW: “I WAS HIGHLY INSPIRED BY ELOY, RUSH AND BATHORY”

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

TEMPLES FESTIVAL PREVIEW: FUNERAL THRONE TOP FIVE

TEMPLES FESTIVAL returns to Bristol in June and alongside Desertfest, Live Evil and Damnation proves that grassroots, DIY fests keep the wellspring of British underground heavy metal alive and kicking. Settling somewhere between doom pilgrimage Roadburn Festival and extreme grind holiday destination, Maryland Deathfest, Temples is the go to fest in the West (of England!!). Headlined by gore veterans Carcass and black metal cult Mayhem, alongside Melvins, the festival also boasts Iron Fist regulars The Gentlemans Pistols, Iron Reagan, Revenge, Mare and your dad’s favourites, Groundhogs.

Over the next few days we will be running through our tips for the festival. The whole line-up is unmissable and to start with we probed black metal upstarts Funeral Throne bassist and vocalist M (also known as Iron Fist scribe, Jack Welch) to give us his top five tips of bands you need to see…

DEGIAL Uppsala, Sweden: famously home to Watain and a whole host of demons residing in its blood-blackened soil. Uppsala is also home to snot-nosed upstarts Degial who have drawn from this wellspring of Chaos and spewed its black bile into their true Metal of Death. Their first efforts were very akin to Morbid Angel (no bad thing) but last year heralded their second … Read More

HIT THE LIGHTS: MARDUK, IMMOLATION AND ORIGIN LIVE IN BRISTOL

Marduk, Immolation and Origin @ The Fleece, Bristol

Weekday gigs are often strange affairs and especially so in Bristol where the local metal scene will invariably turn out in droves for bands such as Alestorm but often overlook the more extreme end of the spectrum, ironically leaving some gigs as barren as the graveyards and mortuaries that provide a wealth of lyrical inspiration. Luckily for Marduk however, this Wednesday night sees a crowd who are more than willing to have the midweek blues literally beaten out of them, Scandinavian style.

First up is Origin, with their brand of technical death metal that seems to this scribe to be an odd choice of opener for a legendary Swedish black metal band but regardless their ultra-tight, hyper-fast metal elicits a lot of movement from the crowd.

It’s been four years since New York death metal powerhouse Immolation graced UK shores and it’s like déjà vu as that too was in support of Marduk. It might be all genial banter with the crowd between tracks but when it comes to it this band can dish out an arse-kicking. As with every performance of theirs, the group are as tight as the nun’s … Read More

BLACK OATH INTERVIEW: “ITALY IS AN ENDLESS FONT OF INSPIRATION”

One of our favourite new bands (well, they formed in 2006), Black Oath perfectly meet at the cursed crossroads of misanthropic Peaceville death/doom, ancient NWOBHM and, of course, their Italian homeland’s rich history of occult rock. Obsessed with their latest album, ‘To Below And Beyond’ (just released on cassette by Equinox Discos), we sent Kat Gillham to get the skinny on why and how it’s so fucking perfect from frontman A.th.  Hails! Your excellent third album ‘To Below And Beyond’ was unleashed upon mankind recently, how would you describe it for those who perhaps haven’t heard of you… yet… Thank you for appreciation! I would recommend the album for those into old heavy/rock with a strong passion for occultism and a touch of black metal atmosphere. Most describe us as a typical doom band (due to lack of knowledge about music) but we call it Cursed Rock Musick! We are extremely glad how the album turned out as it represents 100 percent of the band and our feelings.

What formats is it currently available on? As of now it is out on CD but soon we will have both LP and tape. We like all kinds of formats and take care of every … Read More

BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS DELIVER THEIR TRIUMPH OF DEATH

The musical spider’s web cast by Black Sabbath 46 years ago has mutated in many directions, and here at Iron Fist we often forget the crawling, deadly, filthy tentacles that became droning, sludgy doom metal. Germany’s Black Shape Of Nexus are here to remind us of the dread and unease that this genre permeates with a cover of Fist favourites, Hellhammer.

From their 1983 demo ‘Triumph Of Death’, this eponymous song reeks of decay and BSON have dragged it even further into the grave.

Featured on their new album, out on March 18 through Exile On Mainstream Records, ‘Carrier’ stinks like hell, as this song dictates. Drenching their songs in atmosphere, aggression and/or even speed, it is described as “a tour de force that will exhaust all but the completely deaf”.

The band said of this cover version: “Chris from Fucking Kill Records asked us if we would be willing to cover ‘Triumph Of Death’ for his ‘A Fucking Tribute To Hellhammer’ sampler 12”. The result was in our opinion so good, that it also deserved to be released on ‘Carrier’. ‘ToD’ (what a perfect abbreviation!) is a typical BSON track, beginning well-structured and ending up in full deconstruction. Our approach to the … Read More

Latest Issue

Facebook