So, here we are, issue 7, a whole year survived, and in a certain respect we’re back where we begun. Erik Danielsson of Watain is back on the cover, marking the completion of a circle that begun when he and I first discussed the idea of Iron Fist back in June 2012. When Erik moved back to his hometown of Uppsala earlier this year our awesome photographer Ester Segarra and I were invited to hang out and meet the bands of the Uppsala Metal Of Death circle, including Degial, Reveal and the incredible In Solitude, who just served up an album of the year contender in ‘Sister’. We got a chance to talk to Erik and Pelle and Gottfrid Ahman about creating both the new Watain and In Solitude albums at the same time and how it helped cast in stone two vital slabs of contemporary heavy metal.

Motörhead, the band that gave us our name, are also back within our pages, this time thanks to Paul Schwarz’s fantastic interview with Phil Campbell about their new album ‘Aftershock’. Hell, even Kim pulled off an amazing coup in interviewing Mystifier, something she told me she wanted to do when I asked her … Read More

When we knew MOTÖRHEAD were coming out with a new album, despite all the rumours of Lem’s ill health, we knew we wanted to catch up with the band that gave us our name for our birthday issue. PAUL SCHWARZ got to talking ‘Head with guitarist PHIL CAMPBELL and found out that nothing will tear ’em down

It all starts a bit uncomfortably. Upon arriving at Gibson’s offices – what better place to stage an interview with a guitarist than surrounded by 100-plus guitars? – I am grilled about what I will ask Phil Campbell. I blather that I will ask about the new record, touring plans, how Lemmy is getting on… “No, do not start by asking about Lemmy. Ask about the All-Stars,” recommends Ute Kromrey, Motörhead’s independent PR for the past 15 years (she coordinates press for the band worldwide and you can see why they’ve stuck with her: not for nothing does Lemmy call her The Germanator). At the time I feel silly – I’d quite forgotten about the All-Stars, who just played Bloodstock. Quickly reading up on the Motörhead guitarist’s covers combo while waiting for Campbell to finish his preceding interview, I am intrigued to note that … Read More

According to their Facebook page, Segregates play “Motörpunk rock ‘n’ roll straight outta Jorvik” and they ain’t wrong! Motörhead worship is an understatement when it comes to this band. These amphetamine-paced punkers are headed by Smell on bass/vocals and Fast Elliot on guitars, who at the end of last year went around Europe in a beaten van, staying in the dingiest hotel rooms money could buy, following Lemmy and Co on AAA passes. Meeting them on their journey when Motörhead rocked up in Wolverhampton it was easy to see they meant business. A homemade copy of their EP was handed over straight away and the drinks began to flow.

Authenticity and honesty is clearly something important to this band; it’s audible in their loose playing style and is carried through to the production of their four-track EP ‘No Regrets’, which we’re informed is an “all analogue” affair. You can almost smell the sweat and puke in their music, it drips from the riffs. Fusing the speed and energy of bands like Discharge with an old-school attitude and rock and roll excess make it a heady mix, and a catchy release.

As if their credentials weren’t solid enough, Smell and Elliot are paid-up … Read More

“We had been discussing a name change for a couple of months prior to playing the Noctis festival,” muses Lester Skelter, drummer and vocalist for Western Canadian traditional metallers Spell. A continuation of the NWOBHM metal lineage begun by the young trio’s previous act Stryker, Spell is the sum of this basic equation: Stryker + ‘70s prog + ‘60s psychedelic imagery. Confused yet? So were we…

“When it turned out that Striker from Edmonton (they were featured in Iron Fist Issue 9) got booked on the same show… that was kind of the final thing that made us go ahead with the name change,” says Skelter. Indeed, the act played the final Noctis 666 in September of 2013, and was somewhat humorously double billed by a cheeky promoter.

“Although really, underneath that, the name change had been a long time coming as well, because the initial name reflected more of the ‘80s heavy metal style that we started playing. We’ve taken on a lot of new influences and gone in a new direction and become better and more capable players, and so we thought the new aesthetic and direction we were going in needed a new name.”

Far from embarrassed by their initial … Read More

After launching in September we were so inspired by all the killer feedback we got for issue one, that we forged right ahead and here’s issue two of the ULTIMATE UNDERGROUND BIBLE to get your ‘head around.

With the ‘Head on tour around Europe at the moment, we caught up with Lemmy in 2012 AND Lemmy in 1981 (courtesy of the memory of veteran journo Garry Bushell) for our cover story and also delved into the past with FIRST EVER Finnish heavy metal band SARCOFAGUS, Metal Queen DORO, the label that launched Metallica and Slayer METAL BLADE and look at the first TIAMAT album and the legacy of INCANTATION!

Not one to discard the future though we also chat to FUNERAL THRONE, RUINS, DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT, HEXVESSEL, NECROS CHRISTOS, NECROCURSE, VAMPIRE, VEKTOR, WEAPON and much, much more

FULL MOON DOG FESTIVAL LEEDS COCKPIT Once again held in memory of Asomvel founder and frontman Jay-Jay Winter, the second annual Full Moon Dog Festival also honours the spirit of the ’80s, or as the organisers themselves put it: “The days when hordes of metal fans would cram into local venues to see their favourite bands for a meagre couple of quid and ‘social networking’ meant actually getting off your backside and leaving the house!” I’m sure we all raise an iron fist to that.

In what’s a less than ideal start to the day, last-minute ‘logistical difficulties’ prevent your humble correspondent from witnessing either Mercenary or Screaming Eagles in what was surely their unfettered glory. It falls instead to West Midlands trad metallers Dark Forest to open our account and, as one of the most promising UK newcomers of recent years, they do not fail to deliver. Decked out in some choice old-school clobber and armed with a luridly-hued and suitably spiky selection of vintage axes, they launch into a scintillating set of heavy/power somewhere between the NWOBHM and the European trad scene of the same era. There are touches of contemporary power metal too, but they steer well clear of anything … Read More