London metallers Rock Goddess are currently working on a new album – their first in over 30 years!

The trio – Jody and Julie Turner and Tracey Lamb – are currently working with Pledge Music for the release of ‘This Time’.

Via the Pledge Music site, the band says: “We’ll be going into a London studio with the award winning Wes Maebe, who’s worked with the
 likes of Robert Plant, UB40, New Model Army and Praying Mantis. Wes has been our sound guy at recent London shows and I’m sure you’ll agree gets the best out of us on stage.”

Check it out on Pledge Music

Formed in 2014, from a mutual appreciation of NWOBHM and ’80s heavy metal, Lucifer’s Chalice is comprised of Iron Fist’s very own KShevil (also of Winds Of Genocide and Uncoffined) on drums, CW on rhythm guitar and vocals, SRM on lead guitar and DH on bass. Following a couple of live shows, the band are now ready to release debut album ‘The Pact’ via Bandcamp, which was recorded in July 2016. KShevil describes it as “35 minutes of heavy metal darkness”.

Speaking of the band’s sound, she tells us “From the day the idea for the band was conceived, it was to pay homage to NWOBHM and old US heavy metal circa 1979 – 1984, and write and play songs in the vein of Angel Witch, early Iron Maiden, Witchfinder General, early Judas Priest, early Omen, early Metallica (’82-’84 period), Diamond Head and early Mercyful Fate. Nothing more, nothing less; just create some good old ’80s sounding heavy metal with dark and sinister lyrics. So we definitely had a very specific sound in mind from the start.”

Despite the band’s collective love of all things ’80s, as individuals, they all come from completely different backgrounds with an eclectic mix of tastes. KShevil and … Read More

Iron Maiden will return to North America this summer. Their ‘Book Of Souls’ world tour opened in Florida last February playing 14 sold-out shows in the USA and Canada along with a further 58 concerts in 34 other countries around the globe.

After ripping through Europe this Spring they’ll touch down in Bristow, VA on June 3 with Swedish occult doom cult Ghost.

The full list of dates are at www.IronMaiden.com

Steve Harris commented; “We are really looking forward to returning to North America for a full tour. We had always planned to go back there and to the UK as last year, due to the global nature of the tour and the period it took, we just didn’t have time to cover them properly and we do still like to get to fans in as many places as possible! So this year we’re able to reach many more cities in America, including a return to places Maiden haven’t played for many, many years like Lincoln Nebraska, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Oakland, California. We also welcome playing in Brooklyn for the first time. We will, of course, be bringing the full production with us including all the Eddies and the Maya-themed stage sets. … Read More

Last week, Black Country heavy metal minstrels Dark Forest unveiled their fourth album ‘Beyond The Veil’ (Cruz Del Sur). Whipping up stirring paeans to nature, the seasons and the mighty, gallant genre of power metal, these Brits deservedly took their place among the great and the good who are putting the traditional metal values at the heart of their song-craft.

Falling in love with each and every song on the album, we cornered main song-writer, lyricist, guitarist and all-round English eccentric to find out what was on the Walkman on those long meanders through the woods to inspire such an collection of heavy metal anthems. Here is the tape he made for us, if you need us we’ll be in the forest…

Side A

Isen Torr – ‘Mighty & Superior’ This is heavy, thundering metal at its best from the genius that is Rich Walker (Solstice). Full of energy and power!

Blind Guardian – ‘The Soulforged’ I always loved the way Blind Guardian infuse elements of medieval and folk melodies into their music, great example here.

Forefather – ‘Miri It Is’ A brilliant take on a Middle English poem written in 1225.

Iron Maiden – ‘Dance Of Death’ Maiden always has to be in there! I chose ‘Dance Of Death’ … Read More

IRON MAIDEN FORT LAUDERDALE BB&T CENTER Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the members of Iron Maiden are in their late 50s-early 60s. However, compared to the majority of their contemporaries, the band still has plenty of energy, which is especially evident here, on the first show of their massive The Book Of Souls World tour. The band get the audience pumped up by playing AC/DC’s ‘Powerage’ over the PA, but when the ‘Strangers In The Night’ cut of ‘Doctor Doctor’ starts up fans know exactly what’s coming. A new CGI animation that sees Ed Force One marooned in a Mayan desert, only to be rescued by the hand of Eddie, is followed by the opening strains of ‘If Eternity Should Fail’. The excitement gets the blood boiling; you might recall how ‘Satellite 15’ had the same vibe when the ‘Final Frontier’ tour begun. From the moment the band comes on stage they command it. Each of the guitarists nail their parts, and share that famous chemistry with each other, and the rhythm section is still heavy metal’s finest. Steve Harris’ gallops rarely steal from the shredding, but he always holds his place, as Nicko hammers every beat down perfectly. Bruce Dickinson is undoubtably the night’s VIP. He allows a quick joke with … Read More

Ultimate heavy metal tribute act, The Iron Maidens have been forced to change venue for their debut London show on April 14 to the 02 Islington Academy as the Shepherds Bush Empire remains closed for further roof works, it has been reported.

Following the closure of O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in December 2015 and further inspections, structural engineers have advised that works to the roof structure will extend into April 2016. All shows will be moved to other venues in London or rescheduled as necessary.

The world’s only all-female Iron Maiden tribute band The Iron Maidens will now play their one-off London show at the O2 Islington Academy on April 14. Tickets for the Shepherd’s Bush Empire show are valid for the new venue

Singer Kirsten Chickinson said: ‘For years people have been asking when we’re coming to the UK so it feels almost surreal that it’s finally happening. To play London – the city where Iron Maiden actually began in 1975 – is thrilling and also daunting; I expect the ‘home’ fans to be the most discerning but we are definitely up for the challenge! To see where it all began, this is hallowed ground.”

Formed in 2001 in Southern California, the Iron Maidens … Read More

The torture never stops over here at Iron Fist and Issue #16 is finally ready to be unleashed like the unruly wild child it is. With the ballcrushing tormentor himself, Blackie Lawless on the cover we are on our knees (okay, enough W.A.S.P puns now) with pride to have the veteran rock journalist, Martin Popoff on our team. He talked to Mr Lawless about new album ‘Golgotha’, his faith and how a career breeding horses was not to be.

Elsewhere, Louise Brown met the ultimate polymath and heavy metal hero Bruce Dickinson to talk about being utterly unstoppable and Guy Strachan talked to Big Boss from Root about the making of black metal blueprint ‘Zjevení’, while Toby Wright tracked down two founding members of Belgian heavy metal maniacs, Acid.

Black Trip told Kevin Stewart-Panko that they should be played on the radio (we agree), My Dying Bride confirmed they’re still as miserable as ever (we wouldn’t have it any other way) and we caught up with Dead Lord, Satan’s Satyrs, Black Breath, Christian Mistress and many more bands old and new in this issue – from Flight and Honeymoon Disease right through to Saxon and Denner/Shermann.

It’s sad that Iron Fist … Read More

Bruce Dickinson tells This Is Rock that it was Steve Harris who came up with the idea of basing the next Iron Maiden opus on the Mayans but it was Dickinson himself who wrote the opening track ‘If Eternity Should Fail’. In fact, he’d written it for an upcoming solo album, but when Harry heard it he knew he wanted it to open ‘The Book Of Souls’. And it’s so perfect, because if ‘The Book Of Souls’ is Maiden marching upon the Mayan ruins of Mexico, then it’s this opening number that will take them there with its eerie introduction, luring you once more to “Speak with the Shaman again”, travelling down a desert path to the Mexican border, through desolate Texan ghost towns, followed by a supernatural mariachi band. This is Iron Maiden perhaps at their bluesiest, this is their crossroads, this is where they swap their souls for passage to their next great achievement (of which there have already been so many). When the guitars kick in and that infamous galloping rhythm takes control you are immediately entranced by the Shamanistic Eddie of the album’s front cover. Iron Maiden have always been magical, possessing the voodoo to make … 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