There are always those bands you’ve never heard of, but worth every single note when you do finally stumble upon them. For many readers out there, Quicksand Dream from Sweden might be such a band. Born from the ashes of an old cult act named Epic Irae, Quicksand Dream took shape as duo with Göran Jacobson (vocals) and Patrick Backlund (all instruments) performing music from the heart, inspired by Black Sabbath, Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road and similar iconic legends. Sixteen years after their debut album (that got a proper release years later) they came back with ‘Beheading Tyrants’, without the urge to follow a specific style, but rather give something personal to a dedicated audience. The music of Quicksand Dream has a strong and solid vibe from the past, and Patrick Backlund is here to explain the dream…

Before Quicksand Dream, there was Epic Irae. Give us a brief recap of your early years in music, the creation of Epic Irae and the transformation to Quicksand Dream. Epic Irae was the original name of the band, formed by a bunch of schoolmates in the autumn of 1988 inspired by the likes of Candlemass, Manilla Road, Cloven Hoof, Stormwitch and Celtic Frost to … Read More

Last week, excited by the turning of the clock from one year to the next (and finally rid of our January hangovers) we previewed a brand new song from Finland’s Hard Action.

Promising that we would keep up the pace with a steady onslaught of new bands keeping us on our toes for 2017, we now present you Hard Action’s fellow countrymen, IRON MAGAZINE.

Now it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why a band with a name like Iron Magazine might prick our ears. But beyond the slightly gushing adoration of a name not unlike our own, we would’ve been slathering over this regardless being that it features Mr Jussi Lehtisalo, the mastermind behind Ektro Records and also Aktor, a band that saw Jussi team up with master of modern metal Professor Chris Black to give us a wildly underrated, AOR-tinged, slightly bonkers, time-travelling heavy metal dream back in 2013.

Equally bonkers, nostalgic and oh so mighty, the brand new ‘Queen Of Hell’ EP is out March 17 via Ektro and features the one-and-only Danko and John Calabrese from Danko Jones along with Jussi and his Circle/Falcon bandmate, Tomi Leppänen.

This is sunglasses-at-night rock, leather jacket sleeves rolled up and lasers set … Read More

Sweden’s doom/progressive veterans Katatonia celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2016 with their 10th studio album ‘The Fall Of Hearts’ and a special one-off anniversary show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire, but now the band have revealed that they will tour the UK and Ireland in May.

Guitarist Anders Nyström comments; “We’re really excited to be returning to the UK and Ireland for a proper full headline tour in support of our latest album ‘The Fall Of Hearts’. Last year, we only got as far as playing London where we focused on the 10th anniversary of ’The Great Cold Distance’ by playing the album in full, so this time we’ll be coming back for more! Join us in May and see us deliver the rest of the darkness!”

UK & Ireland Tour dates: 7th May – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 8th May – Marble Factory, Bristol 9th May – Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 10th May – Engine Rooms, Southampton 11th May – Sound Control, Manchester 12th May – Garage, Glasgow 13th May – Limelight 2, Belfast 14th May – Academy, Dublin

Tickets are on sale from January 27 at 10am – www.myticket.co.uk and www.seetickets.com 

Epic hard rockers ASHBURY have been enjoying renewed popularity in recent times, thanks to the rediscovery of their private-press LP from ’83, ‘ENDLESS SKIES’; a true lost-classic of melodic hard rock which marries the melody of Wishbone Ash with the delicate vocal lines of James Taylor and the grandiose scope of heavy metal. In light of this much-deserved renaissance, the band has regrouped for several successful appearances at metal festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. Now, this weekend will see Ashbury tread the boards at Frost & Fire II Festival in Ventura, California. JAMES BLACKFORD caught up with band-leading brothers, ROB and RANDY DAVIS to revisit ‘Endless Skies’ and survey the band’s long history…

ON DISCOVERING MUSIC… Rob: “Our Dad was in the Army, so we moved around a lot, living in France for three years, as well as in Oklahoma and Georgia. Dad played guitar and loved Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Elvis and Fats Domino. He owned a state-of-the-art Telefunken stereo and bought records every week, so growing up we didn’t watch TV, we just listened to music. Music and family were Dad’s passions in life, although his first attempts to get us to play guitar were useless! We had no interest, … Read More

We don’t want to make such a bold statement just past the halfway point, but Jesus H Cobbett, the latest Hammers Of Misfortune album, ‘Dead Revolution’ (via Metal Blade) will be hard to top in the end of year polls. If last album ’17th Street’ was HOM gone even more prog, ‘Dead Revolution’ is the band’s violent kneejerk reaction. It’s thrashy, it’s angry, it’s deadly – and that could be largely down to the fact that the band have been, in no particular order, involved in the Occupy movement which rightly has them mighty pissed-off, involved in a gnarly motorbike crash, losing sleep with the addition of a baby Cobbett, putting out crusty black metal under the guise of Vhöl, being kept busy with incredible death metal side-project Vastum, playing doom with The Worship Of Silence and joining Death Angel.

However all parties have regrouped for album number #6 (well, #7 if you count ‘Fields’ and ‘Church Of Broken Glass’ as two albums) and it’s amazing. Imagine Slough Feg gone even more bonkers; if Pink Floyd had a heavy metal cousin, it would be Hammers Of Misfortune. Mindblown by the layers on ‘Dead Revolution’ we just wanted to find out what the ingredients were … Read More

Better by name and better by nature, the occult clergy known as GHOST are back with their new album ‘MELIORA’, but have they left their underground spirit behind on album number three? The NAMELESS GHOUL doesn’t think so, and tells LOUISE BROWN that their rebellion against religion, society and the constraints of the scene that birthed them inspires them even more than ever

When we put Ghost on our cover of issue #4, two years ago, we already talked about them in terms of being “our band”, but “not for long”. The mysterious entity, who began their mission in 2010 with a 7” on the cult underground doom label, Iron Pegasus were quickly signed to Rise Above for their debut, ‘Opus Eponymous’ and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. Going from strength to strength the band were hailed as a favourite of members of Metallica and Foo Fighters and signed onto Slayer’s management company. They left the underground in their dust, but not its ethos, not its attitude and certainly not its rebellious heart.

With a third album ‘Meliora’ (latin for “better”, an apt name indeed) out this summer, sounding more avant garde tinged AOR than true doom, we met … Read More