Devil’s Grip, The Iron Fist!: Issue 3 of New UK Metal Mag Now Available
Full disclosure! I write for and help edit this magazine, and am therefore totally, utterly biased towards it. However, I do genuinely believe that it’s worth bringing to your attention (and Axl said it was okay) so off we go.
There are so few print magazines left, (especially in the States – we’re down to the mighty Decibel, and, er, that’s about it, save for independent zines), that it’s encouraging to see mags like this one flourishing. Iron Fist was started by former Terrorizer editor Louise Brown in mid-2012, and it’s gotten a killer response so far. Issue 3 is hot off the presses, and featured a tantalizing array of features, reviews, and news about the kind of heavy metal bands that most glossy metal magazines wouldn’t know to cover. The focus is on heavy metal, death metal, black metal, thrash, and doom – it’s a wide net to cast, but those margins are narrower than you may think.
Brown described her editorial vision in an Invisible Oranges interview and summed up the idea behind Iron Fist quite nicely:
“Iron Fist is for the die-hards, yes. It’s just that it’s for one type of die-hard. I’m narrowing the pool of potential readers, which some might say is suicidal, but by catering to one sub-section of the wider heavy metal sphere, I will hopefully build a readership that share our passion and values. It doesn’t mean we can never deviate from that template, but becoming a name they can trust is very important to me… I want to do a mag that is on fire because of a band we just discovered, y’know? My favourite film is Almost Famous. Sapphire’s line, “They don’t even know what it is to be a fan. To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts” has always meant a lot to me. So I want to cover bands that play like their life depends on it. You can tell which bands burn with a fire they can’t put out, and Iron Fist won’t be defined completely by genre, but more with the attitude of the bands. We don’t care whether it’s black, death or classic heavy metal – if it has the fire, then it’s for us.”
The first issue had Watain on the cover, with features on Sarcophagus, Doro, Incantation, Necros Christos, Vampire, Weapon, Hexvessel, and Dragged Into Sunlight. Issue #2 boasted Lemmy’s iconic sneer alongside stories on Sarcofago, Sodom, Grand Magus, Degial, Sabbath Assembly, Derketa, and Bedemon, and this time around, tribute’s paid to denim’n’leather demigods Saxon (and Raven, Darkthrone, Repulsion, Voivod, Midnight, Witchgrave, Chapel of Disease, and loads more!). You get the idea!
Check it out and spread the word!
