It’s increasingly hard for this life-long psych-doom obsessive to get excited about new bands, but the new generation is starting to spin some interesting tales. One such act is Sussex space rock three-piece Riddles. There is a definite garage-psych vibe going on with catchy raw fuzz leads cutting through some very British vocal delivery. It’s refreshing stuff. “We are definitely influenced by our own sound,” fills in charismatic mainman Jimi Riddle. “But there are some key bands that brought us to find it, like Hawkwind, Stooges, Motörhead, early Sabbath, Pentagram and Orang-utan. But it doesn’t end there, there are so many great genres and powerful bands to come out of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, it’s almost impossible to list every band that made us create the vibe we have.” The broad range of influences seems to have allowed them to create a distinct sound thus far, but are they part-timers or ambitious chaps? “We all put a lot of time and effort into this band and I think we all believe in it as its own entity. You get back what you put in and so we’re putting a lot into it. It’s like a plant, we’re giving it … Read More
“Everything’s good, everything’s fine” so sang Ian Gillan in 1971. And everything’s still good if North Carolinian, dark riffing, blue collar, horror novel rockers Demon Eye are anything to go by. Taking their name from that Deep Purple song, Paul Walz (bass), Bill Eagen (drums), Larry Burlison (guitars) and Erik Sugg (guitars, vocals) play laid-back, bluesy hard rock with more than a nod to their forebears, putting them alongside Orchid and Danava in today’s contemporary scene.
“I was playing with a high energy, MC5 inspired band called the Dragstrip Syndicate. After that I played with some similar styled bands, always tending to borrow from ‘60s Detroit rock or heavy psych groups like Blue Cheer,” explains Erik of how Demon Eye came to be. “When I first met Larry and Bill they were playing with Richard Bacchus from the old New York City rock band, D-generation. Demon Eye was born after the four of us got together to play in a ‘70s rock cover band called Corvette Summer. After about a year of playing tunes by groups like Budgie, UFO and Humble Pie we started writing our own music.
“There are many things that attract me to this music,” he continues of why … 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
Corsair are a rare treat: a classic hard rock sounding from the US (Charlottesville, Virginia to be precise) who proudly wear their influences on their sleeves – think Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden and a hell of a lot of vintage progressive rock – yet they have never sounded like a tribute-in-disguise, but more like a richer and more interesting act that is just getting started. Since forming in 2008 after guitarists Marie Landragin and Paul Sebring met at a local Black Sabbath tribute show they have released two EPs and one self-titled full-length. The latter has just been reissued worldwide by Shadow Kingdom Records, just in time to coincide with Marie and bassist Jordan Brunk’s bass return from a six months stay in France. “Paul has always been into those instrumentals Metallica had on their earliest albums and Marie loved Thin Lizzy so Corsair spun from both,” suggests Jordan, who joined a bit later. “But after we put a lot of effort into being cohesive, we started to branch out and break apart from each other as well. We love getting our guitars to intertwine while playing totally different parts.”
If their name was suggested by Paul “because of his love … Read More
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