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

Apologies to the guy in Black Viper who our editor attacked outside The Little Devil in Tilburg during Roadburn Festival. She overheard him telling some guys in the smoking area that he was in this “new band called Black Viper” and she just sort of grabbed him and scratched him, which is kind of her way of saying ‘Your band is fucking great’. They are. Marek Steven is less violent so we sent him to find out more about them.

Storming With Vengeance demo is great. Can you introduce us to Black Viper? Cato: The band actually started around 2012 as a one-man project because I made some riffs which didn’t fit into [his other band] Deathhammer, but I thought they were good enough to make something out of. I then made some demo tracks without vocals but didn’t release them. I also started to record an EP in 2013 but that also didn’t get finished. Then I moved to Oslo in 2013 right where Arild and Christoffer live. I hooked up with them and Black Viper finally became a full band. Then we rehearsed without vocals for a while – as we couldn`t find anyone who could sing – and we … Read More

Initially a part of the Crusher Records (Spiders, Dead Man, Troubled Horse) roster, Horisont were originally perceived as another of those retro-rockers from Sweden, seemingly happy to surf on the nostalgia wave and have an excuse to wear bell-bottomed jeans. Except that there’s always been something a tad weirder and out-there with them and not just due to their occasional Swedish lyrics. Still, many will be surprised by their fourth full-length ‘Odyssey’, a 65-minute tour-de-force that sees them coming out of their shell and heading for the stars with space rock and classic prog influences abound and a solid dose of vintage synthesizers. Blasphemy? No, a simple and very human longing for evolution says their frontman Axel Söderberg.

Two years ago when you promoted your third full-length ‘Time Warriors’, you made no secret that it was style-wise very close to its predecessor and your Rise Above debut, ‘Second Assault’. Yet ‘Odyssey’ doesn’t follows the same pattern does it? “Indeed as the previous two full-lengths were kind of made in a rush. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great as they are but after ‘Time Warriors’ we knew right away that we would need more time for the next one so we could do the … Read More

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

Flight is the latest collaboration to emerge out of Norway’s ‘Kolbotn Thrashers Union’; a comical term invented some time ago to support the mass of talent in this mystic part of Norge. Flight shares its members with those in Condor, Gouge, Purple Hill Witch, Mion’s Hill and Mabuse. Bass player and co-founder, Jonas Bye tells us about the formation of the band: “We always drink beer and listen to Judas Priest. I guess the idea of Flight came naturally because we weren’t playing in a heavy metal band at the time. It wasn’t really a conscious choice.” After having the pleasure of listening to Flight’s un-released rough demos, it is safe to say they are far more enriched in the rocky pre-NWOBHM sound. Jonas elaborates on their less-common played style of heavy metal; “We play what feels the best for us and we try to experiment a bit in that frame. It’s not like we try to make a blueprint of ’77 heavy metal. We are gripped by influences from all over. Nobody except Iron Maiden can be Iron Maiden”.

Talking with Jonas about the lack of distinctive band names today, unlike the original and self-explanatory bands such as Saxon … Read More

Disgusting, crust-ridden speed thrash. From the North of England. Utter scum. We can’t get enough. Al Osta (vocals), Oliver Turner (guitars), Callum Cox (drums) and James Lawrence (bass) admit they have a “penchant for all things heavy and fast” but that’s an under-fucking-statement, for sure. With a nod from Fenriz on his blog, Satanic Dystopia are heading for the big smoke and Live Evil Festival. “We were nothing more than some frosty dudes bonding over a few choice bands whilst yearning to play evil and fast music,” they admit of their formation. “It clicked from the off and we just started writing. Satanic Dystopia was birthed into this wretched world.

“It invokes the feeling of post-apocalyptic wastelands and horror, something all good thrash is about,” they continue of the name choice. “The song titles and lyrics give the feeling of total annihilation and violence, something that will play a big part in our artwork and overall aesthetics.”

Cult movie fans, SD write songs like ‘Double Denim Shotgun Massacre’, admitting that “the band is all about paying homage to films of lesser quality, but brilliant films in their own right. There is an incredible world of crazy horror, sleaze and action beyond the … Read More

When Live Evil was launched in 2010 it made the crazy decision to base its booking policy 100 per cent on the acts picked by Fenriz’s then-new Band Of The Week blog. It’s a policy that they’ve stuck to through to the third edition this month – if he keeps unearthing great new bands they’ll keep booking them. But of all the bands that have trod the stage at Live Evil, it’s Swedish thrash pack Antichrist that have played every single edition… it’s become a tradition. On the eve of Live Evil Attack III Dylan Hughes of A Fist In The Face Of God blog along with Brad Smith of Nocturnal Cult blog tracked down the hard-to-reach band for Iron Fist zine…

A few years ago on an email to a certain Mr Gylve Nagell I was warned to check out a new thrash band from Sweden called Antichrist. I never heard of this band and there was nothing about them anywhere online. I was ordering the Bastard Priest demo from Blood Harvest at the time and noticed they had Antichrist’s ‘Crushing Metal Tape’ demo so I added it to my order. Fuck it, a recommendation of anything with a hand-drawn cover should … Read More

He was one of the first to come out in support of Iron Fist, sending us constant emails of support (and scoldings when he disagreed with our Attic review), so it was a pleasure to interview the ultimate metal fan FENRIZ. Just so happens he had an album out, too…

Phone interviews can be a bitch for a number of reasons; let me give you a nice little example. So it’s almost 3pm on a dreary weekday afternoon, and I’m swearing like a lovesick sailor at my obstinately blank Skype screen. I’m meant to be calling Fenriz “Rock ‘N’ Roll Gas Station” Nagell for an interview in roughly ten minutes, and nothing’s working. A flurry of frantic emails to him and my long-suffering editor later, I realize – fuck, it’s Wednesday. Our interview’s scheduled for Thursday. I’m what someone on this side of the pond might charitably refer to as “a knobhead”. Fast-forward 24 hours and a few effusive apologies, and I’ve finally got the phone to ring.

“Hey, Fenriz? This is Kim Kelly from Iron Fist.”

“So, Sebastian Bach is quite a character, hey?” an excited, lightly accented Scandinavian voice squawks back at me. Without so much as a “hello”, black metal’s … Read More

Raise hell, get seduced by the dark and shun the light – three things WITCHGRAVE make us want to do in 2013. The young Swedes have just vomited forth their first full-length and it’s not been off the Iron Fist stereo since it landed. Hearing everything from Venom to the blues in there we had to find out more and sent DAVE SHERWOOD to the cabin in the woods to infiltrate the coven.

“Vomit on the fucking priest!” That’s probably the best greeting we’ve had from a band this issue. And it’s no surprise that it comes in email form from Swedish youth gone wild, Witchgrave. Their self-titled full-length arrived in our postboxes like an early “fukk you” from Santa just before Christmas. Fitting since we’ve not exactly been the best-behaved children this year. The album, which contains juvenile blasts of thrashing fury such as ‘Seduced By The Dark’, ‘Raise Hell’ and ‘The Virgin Must Die’, is just the dose of merciless, Venom-ous, old metal brilliance we needed to end the old year, and ring in the new. Witchgrave are inhuman, they’re forged from the molten wax of someone’s complete Neat Records collection which has been burned (and died). A little bit of … Read More

Norway’s Black Magic are one of the best kept secrets in the metal underground. The exceptional three-piece was formed in 2006 after drummer Cato Stormoen (also of Deathhammer) approached singer/guitarist Jon Henriksen to form a new act (they later added Daniel Salsten on bass duty). Their first self-released demo ‘Raise The Dead’ showed they had a real talent for raw Hellhammer’ing but it was the 2010 ‘Reap Of Evil’ demo that caught many a tuned-in metaller’s ear. This three-track affair added more straight-ahead heavy metal elements into their evil attack, mixing a variety of styles into one of the best heavy metal tracks released in the last ten years. The key weapon in the bands arsenal is Jon’s fantastic vocals and incredible axe-work; the naturally charismatic Ralph Macchio-looking frontman has a mean set of warm heavy rock pipes and a loose way of both singing and playing guitar that is rare in the modern age. His natural charisma and ability results in that rare mix which comes along only so often, while the live show is highly entertaining, unpredictable and punctuated by fantastic covers of Rush, Uriah Heep and Quartz. The band have done no interviews and you shouldn’t expect … Read More