In a statement echoing Iron Fist’s own sadness and anger toward horrific orders passed by the USA’s newest president in his first week of office, online streaming community Bandcamp have announced that all proceeds from music sold on Friday, February 3 will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union, who are “working tirelessly to combat these discriminatory and unconstitutional actions”.

Bandcamp founder Ethan Diamond’s letter called out President Trump for his actions, writing, “Last week’s Executive Order barring immigrants and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries from entering the United States is not simply immoral, it violates the very spirit and foundation of America.”

With its tagline of “Discover new music and the artists who make it”, Bandcamp has become Iron Fist’s go-to source for so many of the bands you read about in our pages, so if you want to support them this Friday (and we urge you do) here a few bands we recommend.

THE ORDER OF THE SOLAR TEMPLE (CANADA) Soundtracking a new era of Satanic Panic, Matt Emery told us in Iron Fist #16 that “All I can say is that I wear my influences on my sleeve. It’s both a blessing and a curse, there’s a lot of ‘70s … Read More

Dutch band Gold unleashed a new video (which you can view below) with “timing” of great joy as we enjoy the true spirit of the festive season – BUY! BUY! BUY!

They said: “‘And I Know Now’ is a key song on [new album] ‘No Image’. Like no other song it unites post-black metal, doom, hardcore punk, despair, humanity and reflection. Such a powerful song deserves a video with a powerful message. The message is to buy our album. Buy it again. Buy more copies of it. Buy it when it’s cheap. Buy it when you think it’s cheap. Buy it when you’re told it’s cheap. Why not buy it? Buy it like other people do. Buy it first. Buy it online. Buy it offline. Buy it now. Buy it and show with it. Buy away that void with it. Buy it and shelve it. Why wouldn’t you buy it? It is fun to have it. It is cool to have it. It is necessary to have it. To have it is better than to not have it. Our album is your album. Buy it and not miss it. Buy it.”

After departing The Devil’s Blood in 2011 (which you can read about in an interview Louise did … Read More

Even if their main composer and guitar player Ola Blomqvist – former head honcho of Sweden’s I Hate Records – strongly affirms this is no public relations masterplan, because ever since their inception back in 2004 the epic doom defenders of Griftegård (old Swedish word for ‘graveyard’) have been cultivating a certain aura of mystery around them with only a handful and carefully selected number of shows and even fewer releases. With Thomas Eriksson from Year Of The Goat fronting, they got started right after the premature demise of the greatly promising yet desperately short-lived The Doomsday Cult with whom they initially shared three members. “It’s funny you’re mentioning this because these days, people rarely mention the two bands in the same sentence and if it happens, it is old school people like yourself,” Blomqvist shrugs. “Now, would Griftegård have existed if TDC continued? The answer is yes, simply, because I needed to express that specific concept.” Heavily mystical in its lyrical approach, their 2009 debut album ‘Solemn. Sacred. Severe’ was sometimes mistaken by some as Christian metal while as Blomqvist clarifies that it’s true he’s “truly fascinated by the religious aesthetics and their inherent effect on the human psyche/soul and … Read More

It’s apt that issue 4 of Iron Fist came out in that twilight zone between the beginning of Spring and Easter, a time of death and rebirth.

Because that’s what this issue feels like. When we came up with the idea for Iron Fist we knew we would give it a shot at three issues, see what the reaction was and who knew? We might not have even made it this far. But you, the readers, have been so supportive and it’s thanks to you that there is an issue 4, and will be an issue 5 and beyond. We owe you. Remember this is as much your zine as ours so get yourself onto our Facebook page and tell us what bands you want to see interviewed in future tomes.

This is also the most personal issue of the mag so far. On January 22, The Devil’s Blood announced they were calling it a day, and as one of my favourite modern bands I was obviously crushed by the news. But after talking to their founder and architect Selim Lemouchi, he offered the opportunity to give Iron Fist the most definitive interview about their split and give us some hope about … Read More