The Metal Cell Podcast

It was a pleasure to welcome back Alex and Kieran of TOOMS to the podcast. TOOMS have released a killer 3 song ep that literally will make you smash stuff up! Myself and Evan chat to the lads about the ep and cover alot of topics including touring, music influences on 'The Scmeckoning'. We take a look forward in relation to what to expect from TOOMS for the rest of 2023 and as usual there's plenty...

It was a pleasure to welcome Daire, John & Lachlan of Fornoth, Brendan from Black Shuck and Praetorian from Eternal Helcaraxe to the show. They were all on the show to discuss the upcoming Four Provinces Tour in May, which features seven bands and different line-ups every night over five shows in Dublin, Belfast, Galway twice and Limerick. A tour featuring this amount of heft plus the fact tha...

The Forums: Join myself, Danielle, Evan & guest co-host Steve Walsh (Grey Stag) as we talk about topics related to our favorite music...METAL! We reviewed five new tracks from Cursed Sun, Tusk, Settler, Shadows Calling & Outsound. There was a few topics that came up during the night, we took a look at digital fanzines and Sarah Nuttall work Machina Kore (link below). Naturally we re-visite...

It was a pleasure to welcome back Aaron Loughnane (Vox/Guitars) & Eoghan Galligan (Bass) of sludge/stoner band Slung From A Tree. The four piece which is made up of fellow members; Andrew Hayes (Drums) Steve Loughnane (Guitars) have finally got their debut release out called 'Voyage Into Cosmos' on the Cursed Monk Records label. Trying to capture Slung From A Trees live sound was always going...

It was a pleasure to welcome Nathan (Vocals) & Ocean (Guitars) of War Of Attrition to the show. The band play a ferocious mixture of thrash, groove and gritty metal that hits all the sweet spots especially when witnessed live. I caught up with the lads just before they do their debut EP launch of 'The Social Apocalypse' in their favourite city, Limerick. Having blasted their way through a seri...

The bi-yearly Siege of Limerick EARRACH MMXXIII is almost upon us! Hosted in Dolans on the Dock Road of Limerick, it is always the first important festival date on every Irish Metal fans calendar! I was delighted once again to welcome John Real of Bad Reputation/Siege of Limerick onto the show, joining John was Jamie Clarke, vocalist with Razor Sharp Death Blizzard from Edinburgh, Jack O'Neill, gu...

It was a pleasure to welcome back Roni MacRuairi (Vocals) & Jason Christy (Drums) of Words That Burn to the podcast. The four piece from Dundalk which also feature Ger Murphy (Bass) and Shane Martin (Guitars/Synths) have released a blistering follow up to Pyres which came out in 2019. 'Mixed and mastered by Josh Schroeder [Lora Shore, King 810], ‘Cut Throat Culture‘ sees the rising Irish four-...

Declan Beare (Bass/Vocals/Drone Zone) & Charlie Appleby (Drums/Percussion) of True Home, blend the perfect mixture of psychedelic doom, drone and ambient music to create their own niche in the Irish Metal Scene with plenty of support slots racked up. An invitation to play at next months Siege of Limerick festival and progressing to the next round of Metal 2T Masses certainly has them showing u...

It was a pleasure to welcome sludge merchants, Steve (Riffs), Matt (Bass/Vocals) & Daragh (Drums) of Grey Stag to the podcast, their debut album 'Call of the Mountain' drops on St. Patricks Day. 'Grey Stags raw and stony dark riffs and crushing percussions seem to interweave and rumble through each and every knot that Colin Bolger of Dabulga Design carves into paper, becoming an aural tapestry...

It was a pleasure to welcome Dave Slattery of instrumental Tech Metal band Ropemaker to the show. Dave, a multi-instrumentalist enrolled the talents of former Ilenkus drummer Rory Guyett for an instrumental album that's laden with huge slabs of riffs and unpredictable arrangements. 'Interwoven' is Ropemakers debut LP and certainly caused a stir in the Irish Metal Scene, myself and Danielle have a...

After some great interviews over the last few weeks and some chart success as well it was nice to kick back and relax with Evan and Joe on The Forums. Unfortunately Danielle had to drop out, due to work commitments but as they say the show must go on! We reviewed four new tracks from Collapser, Ropemaker, Terror Syndrome and Nebularis. The topic of the night was a really interesting chat about the...

The Metal Cell Podcast and The Smashing Skull Sessions have come together once again to showcase yet another one of Ireland's metal powerhouses. Raum Kingdom are one of the finest sludge/post-metal bands on the scene today, and have been causing rumblings within music circles right here at home and further afield as well. Since the release of Everything And Nothing back in 2019, a lot has happened...

It was a pleasure to have Conor McGouran (Guitars/Keyboards) & Ronan Burns (Bass/Keyboards) of The Enigma Division on the Podcast. The lads along with Ben Wanders (Drums/Vocals) have unleased one of the best debut albums onto the Irish Metal for many a year! Self released on the 27th January of this year, it's a musical odyssey that defies categorization however their influences range from 80s...

Max (Vocals), Tristan (Guitars) and newest members Deb (Bass) & Tonci (Drums) join me as we go over a busy twelve months for Cell Games. Having won their first heat of Metal2TMasses blasting out their mix of Nu-Metal/Hard Rock and releasing their well received new single 'Here's to your Bones' I felt it was the perfect time to catch up with the band to discuss their formation, recording new so...

It was a pleasure to welcome Ewan (Guitars/Backing Vocals) and Zack (Drums) of Scottish Doomsters, Dusk Amadeus onto the podcast. The four piece which are completed by Sasha (Vocals/Guitars/Cow Bell) and Morris (Bass) certainly impressed me when I saw them opening 'The Crypt of the Riff' festival in Belfast last December. The band play this sublime blend of Doom, where the influences of Monolord g...

It was great to be back doing the first Forums of the year with Danielle and Joe. Unfortunately Evan had to drop out, literally at the last minute, due to tech problems but as they say the show must go on! We reviewed three new tracks from Cell Games, Machina Kore and Raum Kingdom. The topic of the night was a really interesting chat about the formation of Bandcamp, the advantages and disadvantage...

I was delighted to welcome Aaron (Vocals/Guitars), Sean (Guitars) & Jake (Drums) of thrash/groove metal band Unmaker to the show. The three piece have had an incredible year with plenty of gigs under their belts. An impressive debut on the main stage opening up The Siege of Limerick, releasing three singles, completing an album and being awarded 'Best New Metal Act' from us here at The Metal C...

It was a pleasure to welcome Fredy (L.Guitars/Vocals), Neil (R.Guitars), Carl (Bass) & Brett (Drums) of Nomadus on to the Podcast. When Nomadus unleashed their crushing thrash infused debut album 'Axis Primordial' on November 25, 2022, it was the album I always hoped they would make! With stellar performances from all the band members it quickly jumped up to number one on my album of the year...

It was a pleasure to welcome Jim Hodge (Vocalist) of sludge, grind and hardcore band Mastiff. I witnessed Jim and his band Mastiff put on a face melting performance at Damnation Festival in 2022. Mastiff have had the music press across the UK bestowing praise on them for the 2021 release, 'Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth'. It's a crushing mixture of raging doom/hardcore/sludge that builds upon all...

The best of Irish Metal in 2022! This episode was pre-recorded on the 12.12.22. Join myself, Danielle, Joe & Howard as we try to figure out who impressed us the most in the various categories listed below, throughout the year and what an incredible year it was! There was absolutely loads of releases, gigs and activity in our scene in 2022 compared to the previous problems through Covid related...

It was a pleasure to welcome back Molarbear on the podcast. Adi (Drums), Andy (Riffs), Dave (Bass) & Rowan (Vox/Riffs) have released one of my favorite albums of the year 'You will need Gods'. The five piece completed by Darragh (also Riffs) smashed 'The Crypt of the Riff' festival in Belfast with huge slabs of riffs, infectious grooves, a rhythm section like a Panzer tank division and vocals...

Kevin Byrne it's fair to say is a veteran of the Irish Metal Scene stretching back to the formation of Valediction in 2005. Myself and Kevin cover those years leading up to the release of their acclaimed debut album 'The Primitive Architecture' recorded in 2010/20011, by a relatively young Mick Richards at Track Mix Studios. In fact that bond with Mick was to prove fruitful when Valediction went t...

James McBain of Hellripper makes a welcome return to The Metal Cell Podcast. Myself and Joe have a great chat with James about the latest Hellripper tour, which included seventeen dates across Europe and of course the tour Hellripper did around the UK supporting Joes band, Gama Bomb. It's been an incredible 2022 for Hellripper with the band getting some incredible write ups and shirt sales in the...

The first part of two episodes with bands from Scotland that have formed strong bonds with Irish Metal bands. This episode myself and Evan catch up with Keith and Luke of Dog Tired. The band have announced two dates in Ireland with local supports from Nomadus, Gravity Well & Lock Horns (The Deers Head, Belfast), Slung from a Tree & TOOMS (Dolans, Limerick). They have also been busy complet...

It was a pleasure to welcome back Jack Penders of Rotlaust to the podcast. Jack's an incredible musician and we talk about his new release 'The Dirge' which will be up there competing for the Irish Metal album of the year for me. A lesson in sheer brutal Death Metal and a sharp contrast to his last compelling release 'Covenant' which dwelled a lot in the post rock genre. I talk to Jack about this...