The Netherlands may be small, but this scenic, friendly country has more or less got the market cornered on soul-sucking doom, mind-bending psychedelia and toke-totin’ stoner rock, thanks to the mighty riff Mecca that is Roadburn. There’s plenty of homegrown evil lurking through the tidy streets of Tilburg, Eindhoven, et al, and Groningen collective Herder are a particularly ugly example. Their latest release, the ‘Horror Vacui’ EP, came out on Reflections Records just before the new year dawned and is a nasty chunk of lumbering, miasmal doom that could’ve just as easily clambered out of a Georgia swamp, and should serve them well when they hit the stage come this year’s edition of Roadburn. The understated Southern influence bleeds through in the riffs’ occasional bluesy swagger; the rest of the time, Herder stick to their guns and hit hard, all tense chords, hardcore barks, feedback whine and near-fatal slugs of sludge.

“We are attracted to hard and extreme music, with a fucked up atmosphere. Although most Herder members come from a different musical background whether that’s black metal, death metal or hardcore, we are all attracted to the darkness and what it has to offer,” bassist Blitzer told us of their … Read More

“This album has been a long time coming and it’s very fulfilling to see a project, which was started a long time ago, finally nearing completion,” says a very relieved Age Of Taurus guitarist Toby Wright, fresh from the studio. We’re relieved too – it’s been three years since the then London-based doom mob released their demo ‘In The Days Of The Taurean Empire’. Part Candlemass, part Pentagram, part Sabbath and part Trouble, Age Of Taurus were doing doom the right way, but the demo was rough and ready and we at Iron Fist were eager to see what Toby, along with ex-Mourn guitarist Alastair Riddell, drummer Darius Claydon and bassist Richard Bruce could come up with once they had time, and a record deal, on their side. The wait is almost over with ‘Desperate Souls Of Tortured Times’ due out this Spring on Rise Above.

“The delay was mostly down to my relocation from London to Oslo in 2011,” Toby admits. “It definitely took me some time to readjust and also to find the best way for a pan-European AOT to work.” Three years is more than enough time for the band to hone their chops and find their sound, so … Read More

It’s tough breaking into any scene, but for a fledgling British stoner band, you’ve not just got a rich history of bands that dominate the scene to contend with, you also have to tame those 20 tonne behemoths that they call riffs. Whilst even the most seasoned acts can buckle under the weight, newcomers Throne have taken to it like ducks to water, and they have a very simple method; “We just try to be honest about who we are and write the songs we want to hear,” William Michael admits. Some bands might find it all too easy to ignore those who have come before them, but for Throne it’s about bringing together the new and the old. “It’s like trying to strike a balance between honouring traditions and bringing something new,” the London-based bassist admits. Well, it’s an approach that is working well and 2013 looks set to be a big year as it will see them releasing their as-yet-untitled debut album as well as heading out to Texas for SXSW, “and we’ll have a go at the rest of Europe too, fuck it,” William laughs.

There’s a whole stack of reasons why Throne should be one of your … Read More

That Cathedral mainman Lee Dorrian has a soft spot for hardcore, punk and grindcore is no secret. But on some downtime from writing the last ever Cathedral record he, guitarist Gaz Jennings, bassist Scott Carlson and producer Jaime Gomez Arellano picked up their weapons of choice and a new(ish) band was born. Miles Hackett finds out more…

Late last year, when it was announced that seminal grindcore legends Repulsion were making a rare trip onto UK soil in May there was a wave of excitement at IFHQ, but upon further inspection, who was this band Septic Tank billed as opening up? The press release spoke of Replusion’s own Scott Carlson being a member alongside Cathedral men Lee Dorrian and Garry Jennings alongside music producer Jaime Gomez Arellano. We had to speak to Lee to get the lowdown on this mysterious band that have been under our radar since 1994. Lee tells the story of how it came about: “Well, it dates back to the time that Cathedral were signed to Columbia, we had a lot of line up changes and due to the money we were receiving from the major, we took advantage and hired people from bands like Pentagram and … Read More

Black Magician, a relatively new quintet hailing from Liverpool, craft dark, wicked doom metal infused with folk touches and mind-expanding prog flourishes. Now before you scream, “Not another doom band from the UK!” please allow vocalist Liam Yates to explain.

“Doom for me is the purest form of heavy metal. Bands like Trouble and Candlemass were at one time just called ‘heavy metal’, without the need for the ‘doom’ label. What we do harkens back to the early roots of heavy metal in its rawest, most satisfying form. A simple, powerful riff can create so much more intensity and atmosphere than any fast technical playing. “Black Magician formed a year ago. I was complaining to a friend when my previous band didn’t go anywhere, and asked him if he knew anyone around who was into the same stuff and wanted to do more than drink beer in the rehearsal space. He recommended I speak to Kyle [Nesbitt – guitars] who was looking to get something started. I had seen him around and he certainly looked like the kind of fellow eccentric I would get on well with. I approached him at a gig and a drunken rant about old heavy metal and … Read More

When it comes to heavy metal teaming witchcraft with Lovecraft (Arkham is a place in his books in case you were wondering) is a winning combination, but having a good name is only a small piece of the puzzle – you’ve still got to put together some killer tunes. However, Arkham Witch vocalist Simon Iff? knows that his troupe have a lot of heritage to contest with. “This music has a history, a heart and a substance that has, and will, stand the test of time. It may fade in and out of fashion in the mainstream, but it will always be the backbone of innovation and integrity in any guitar based musical form.”

A legacy like that is hard to live up to, no matter how awesome your band name. Hailing from Yorkshire, a county of doom and gloom so naturally a hotbed for doom bands (there must be something in the water, or is it mead?) Arkham Witch are influenced by a mix of the greats Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Cirith Ungol and of course the mighty Witchfinder General, a splattering of Hammer horror films and HP Lovecraft novels and through it all runs a thick undercurrent of sardonic humour.

With … Read More

“It’s not something you really sit down and decide,” admits Procession‘s Felipe Plaza Kutzbach when asked why he started playing a solemn and slow form of metal in a country mostly known for its rabid and primitive black and death metal scenes. “When I first heard Candlemass ‘Tales Of Creation’, Trouble ‘Psalm 9’ and Solitude Aeturnus ‘Beyond The Crimson Horizon’ in 1997 I was just a teenager obsessed with speed, thrash and death metal and it changed my whole perception of heavy metal. As I grew up and started discovering real life I realised that all those things that tormented me, disturbed me or pleased me had to come out in some sort of form, finding their way in the verminous, crawling, slow, heavy and dark music. Considering that back in 2007 there were no bands playing ‘classic’ doom metal music in Chile, right after we organised Candlemass’ first gig in Chile, we decided to make an unpretentious demo tape, started getting some feedback, an European offer for a vinyl release, etc… I guess we took one step at a time, were in the right place at the right time and realised that as unambitious and as unpretentious as we … Read More

Beware of masked men and strangers bearing knives. A murderous collective, fuelled by drug lust and naked disgust have risen from the North… and the East… and the West. They have no home base, per se, as much as one can imagine them hunkered down in some dank, cracked lair, plastered with lurid murder notices and decapitated starlets. I couldn’t even tell you how many of them there are. They’re fucking with you in those new promo photos, man – no one frame contains the same collection of bodies. The anonymous shtick is nothing new to metalloid scum or hip pretension machines, but with Dragged Into Sunlight, it actually seems fitting. The band thrives on chaos and is run entirely on dirty smoke, coke mirrors and painful feedback. Why should you care who they are? They don’t care about you. It’s DIS versus their audience, and they’ve brought a shiv to the gunfight.

“Dragged Into Sunlight comprises individuals of a very similar mindset and it is a very close knit collective. Anonymity comes with the territory,” according to the vocalist, a slip of a man with hooded eyes and a shifty demeanour. “DIS has no mandate for the reward sought by … Read More

“Doomed to death, damned in hell.” Few have summed it all up quite as succinctly as Japanese burial advocates Coffins, but our own Indesinence have surely taken that tenet to heart on their latest album and Profound Lore debut, ‘Vessels Of Light And Decay’. The album is a desolate affair, downtuned towards the serpent’s lair, littered with pummelling riffs and sepulchral howls, and masterfully executed by homegrown talent. Are Indesinence England’s Great Doomed Hope? You’d be hard-pressed to convince us otherwise.

“Each of us are here to shine, for some length of time, as bright as we are able or as circumstances allow; then we must reach an end to make way for new beginnings, yet still struggle to secure some tiny shot at immortality through our work and deeds. And so do these songs. Much like our previous work, we view the album as an individual take on what are admittedly typically “doom”-centric themes: the passage of time, and the sometimes overwhelming inevitability of the certainties this entails. It could be broadly described as the rude awakening following [2006 debut] ‘Noctambulism’s hazier, dreamlike horrors, to face something more ‘real’ but no less intense,” muses their guitarist and vocalist, Ilia Rodriguez, … Read More

VOIVOD + DOOM LONDON GARAGE Tonight is all about surprises. Special guests Doom surprise by delivering a digestible set. Firmly crust – they lack the necessary graft and craft to be grind – it’s nonetheless obvious why these British veterans influenced so many. Loud and explosive, a battering attack of dreadlocks, black and white newspaper cuttings and walls of guitar noise regularly overloading into feedback, Doom are one noise, one moment in time regurgitated for remembrance. Our headliners are something else. Their creative endeavours now span four decades and still they surprise. Opening with the primal scream of ‘Voivod’, they begin on a chronological path, pulling out rarely aired numbers ‘Ripping Headaches’ and ‘Forgotten In Space’ early, before unveiling the title track to the forthcoming ‘Target Earth’ and later strumming out the recently unleashed ‘Mechanical Mind’. Snake is in fine voice, perhaps his finest since rejoining Voivod a decade ago. ‘The Prow’ (from 1991’s divisive ‘Angel Rat’) evidences this early, but it is after he announces, “We have a surprise for you,” that things really get incredible.

An air of mystery lingers, Snake bows his head – and for a minute, it’s as if Voivod have decided to go drone. Then it hits. … Read More