Iron Void

Iron Void
Background information
Origin	Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Doom Metal Traditional Doom Metal
Years active	1998 - 2000, 2008 - Present
Labels	Doomanoid Records, Barbarian Wrath, Fear Me! Music, Shadow Kingdom Records
Associated acts	So Mortal Be, Solstice, The Lamp of Thoth, Spirit Descent, Earthen Ritual, The Albion Codex, Workshed, Desolate Pathway, Peacemaker, Sermon of Hypocrisy, Girth, Black Maria, Scion, Tomb, Atra Mors, Reign of Erebus, Dyscaphia, Forneus, Heathen Deity, Necrogrinder, Hamerex, Dead Party Scene, Jezebel
Website	Iron Void Facebook
Band Logo

Iron Void are a traditional doom band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Forming in 1998 though not releasing an album until 2014, Iron Void would exude a mix of Maryland traditional doom and NWOBHM to compose a sound they refer to as "True Doom Metal" or "Classic Doom Metal". The band draws heavily from the Maryland doom scene such as Revelation, Unorthodox, Wretched and Iron Man among others but also heavily draws from classic doom such as Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus and Pentagram.

To date the band has three studio albums and has managed to tour throughout the UK and Europe, performing several doom festivals with the past and present stalwarts of the doom world while establishing themselves as a top doom act in the UK.

History

Iron Void was formed in November 1998, founded by Jonathan Seale and Andy Whittaker. Attaining a vocalist and drummer in Paul Wale and Sharif Dyson respectively this quartet began performing old-school doom with influences of NWOBHM. However the initial run of the band was completely short-lived as Iron Void would disband sometime in 2000. Whittaker would move on to perform in The Lamp of Thoth while Seale would perform in a host of other bands. In 2007 Seale would join So Mortal Be though ultimately that group would disband by July of the next year. Seale and Wilson would work with original Iron Void drummer Dyson, rehearsing both So Mortal Be songs and Iron Void songs, ultimately giving a rebirth to Iron Void in July 2008. In an interview with The Sleeping Shaman, Seale explains the band's origins and reformation:

“	"Iron Void was originally formed by myself and Andy Whittaker (current Solstice guitarist, ex-The Lamp of Thoth) way back in November 1998 in order to create an old-school Doom Metal band. The original line-up split after a couple of years (1998 – 2000). Following this, I played in several bands over the next seven years or so, including Tomb (featuring Jamie ‘Boggy’ Sykes of Burning Witch / Thorr’s Hammer), Black Maria (Sludge), Sermon Of Hypocrisy (Black Metal) and Scion (Death / Thrash Metal). I wanted to improve my playing and I was into Death Metal since I was a teenager. However, my heart lies in Doom Metal and I longed to play this style again. I joined Steve’s band, So Mortal Be, in 2007 on bass initially. The line-up was unstable for a while but when Diz (original Iron Void drummer) joined on drums we started to play some old Iron Void songs again as well as a couple So Mortal Be ones and we just agreed to change the name to Iron Void. We released our first official demo in October 2008, entitled ‘Live 2008′. This was followed in 2010 by the EP, ‘Spell Of Ruin’, released on Steve’s (current IV Guitar/ Vocals) label, Doomanoid Records. This was re-released in 2012 with two bonus tracks via Doomanoid once again and Barbarian Wrath recently released our self-titled debut full-length."	”
	— Jonathan Seale, The Sleeping Shaman

Iron Void's earliest known gigs in their second run were on 14 and 16 August 2008 in Doncaster. The band would record a September gig and release it as a CD-R entitled Live 2008, featuring new Iron Void songs along with covers of So Mortal Be and Saint Vitus. Over the next couple years the band would perform regular gigs sharing the stage with the likes of The Lamp of Thoth, Witchsorrow and Pagan Altar just to name a few.

For a brief time the band would become a quartet with Simon Guy as a second guitarist. This lineup would record an EP in what would be the band's first studio recordings, ultimately released as Spell of Ruin on 28 April 2010 via Doomanoid Records (Wilson's personal label). Eventually following more gigs in 2011 the band would record a new song that fall, releasing it on their bandcamp as The Mad Monk. Work was intended to begin on a debut studio album in 2012 but was delayed once new drummer Tom Hey was fired and returning original member Paul Wale would leave. The band would work briefly with a session drummer in Dan Mullins to record the album but due to his commitments with Thine and My Dying Bride his tenure with the band would be brief. However he would suggest a drummer in Damien Park who would join the band in 2012 and perform at Malta Doom Metal Festival at the end of the year, among other shows. Reverting back to a power trio, Iron Void would tour Europe in 2013 and begin proper recording of their debut album along with a second album. In an interview with No Clean Singing, Steve Wilson explained how work and recording on a second album was in the makings parallel to the first:

“	"The plan was to release Doomsday through Barbarian Wrath, the label who released our debut CD. An EP seemed difficult to sell as it would cost them the same to press and us the same for mastering and artwork. That’s when we extended it to a full album. We wanted to record at least eight tracks if we could manage it. When we started going through older songs and re-learning them with Damien on drums, it soon turned into eleven tracks! We’ve been talking about the next album for several years. It’s been roughly planned out and we have one full track that just needs arranging and lyrics, plus lots of riffs and fragments. There will be a lot of work and more expense involved, so it will definitely take longer to record than Doomsday."	”
	— Steve Wilson, No Clean Singing

The eponymous debut that is Iron Void would be released on 13 June 2014 via Barbarian Wrath and limited to 666 CDs, with a vinyl edition via Fear Me! Music the next year. An album release party would be held at The Hop in Wakefield on 21 June. In support the band would tour the UK with the Swedish doom band Goatess. Iron Void would tour every Autumn around this time and the years after, working in several festival appearances including Doom Over Edinburgh, Dutch Doom Days and Day of Doom Barcelona among others. Iron Void's second studio album Doomsday would see it's release via Doomanoid Record on 5 October 2015.

2016 would see a new drummer in Richard Maw (Damien Park would leave the group to concentrate on Dead Party Scene) as work began on a third record following a tour supporting Beastmaker and an appearance at Hammer of Doom Festival. A launch party for the vinyl edition of Doomsday would also be held on 15 October 2016 at Asylum 2. The band would spend eighteen months composing a third studio album in between dates with Wretch and festival appearances. On 22 December 2017 the band would announce a worldwide deal with Shadow Kingdom Records, along with unveiling a new song in "The Coming of a King" from the forthcoming album and it's details. In an interview with It's Psychedelic Baby the band would explain the concept in mind for the third album:

“	"[Sealey] It took around 18 months to compose the music and write the lyrics. However, from the initial idea to finished product it took 10 years! I visited Tintagel Castle (the supposed birthplace of King Arthur) in Cornwall, UK while on holiday and it blew me away! Such a dramatic place with breathtaking scenery, I left very much inspired and this initial idea grew into the final concept presented on the album. We had some very grand ideas during the writing process, we were going to include female vocals, flute and perhaps a lute but we soon realised this would probably alienate our fanbase so we distilled our ideas into what you hear on the album which is more in line with our previous works while still pushing the envelope in terms of musical and vocal progression. I personally did a lot of research and reading during the writing process to immerse myself fully in the Arthurian legends, taking influence from the classic film,‘Excalibur’ (1981, Directed by John Boorman), ‘Le Morte D’Arthur’ by Sir Thomas Malory (the book the film is based on) and other Arthurian literature such as ‘Idylls of The King’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson and others. [Steve] In the end, we just put together nine songs from the best riffs and song fragments that we had and it all came together. We’ll never know how the original concept would have sounded. We did keep the gong and spoken word intro, though. We had the vocal harmonies for ‘Dragon’s Breath’ worked out and the others were the result of experimenting in the studio and going along with some of Chris’ suggestions on how we could use the dual-vocals in more songs."	”
	— Iron Void, It's Psychedelic, Baby!

Initially planned for a spring release and a concept album based on the Arthurian legend, Excalibur was released on 26 October 2018 to extensive critical praise among the doom circles. The band also notably hosted a 20th anniversary show on 13 October 2018 and a short UK tour in support of Excalibur and the band's 20th anniversary. In 2023, Iron Void would tour the UK with Orodruin in lieu of their 25th anniversary.

Discography

• Live 2008 (Live Album) (2008, Self-Released)
• Spell of Ruin (EP) (2010, Doomanoid Records)
• The Mad Monk (Single) (2012, Self-Released)
• Iron Void (Studio Album) (2014, Barbarian Wrath)
• Doomsday (Studio Album) (2015, Doomanoid; Fear Me! Music)
• Excalibur (Studio Album) (2018, Shadow Kingdom Records)

Members

Current Members

• Jonathan "Sealey" Seale - Bass, Vocals (1998 - 2000, 2008 - Present)
• Steve Wilson - Guitar, Vocals (2008 - Present)
• Scott Naylor - Drums (2018 - Present)

Former Members

• Sharif Diz Dyson - Drums (1998 - 1999, 2008 - 2010)
• Andy Whittaker - Guitar (1998 - 2000)
• Paul Wale - Guitar, Vocals (1998 - 2000, 2011 - 2012)
• Russ Thompson - Drums (1999 - 2000)
• Simon Guy - Guitar (2009 - 2010)
• Tom "Dexta" Hey - Drums (2011 - 2012)
• Dan "Storm" Mullins - Drums (2012)
• Damien Park - Drums (2012 - 2015)
• Richard Maw - Drums (2016 - 2018)

Tours

• Autumn/Winter Tour 2009/2010 (2009/2010)
• Doom Metal Trident Attack! (With Hooded Priest, Arkham Witch) (2013)
• Iron Void/Goatess UK Tour (With Goatess) (2014)
• Doomsday UK/Europe Tour (2015)
• Beastmaker European Tour (With Beastmaker, Blood Ceremony, With The Dead) (2016)
• UK Tour 2017 (With Wretch) (2017)
• 20th Anniversary Tour (With Serpent Venom, Famyne) (2018)
• 25th Anniversary Tour (With Orodruin) (2023)

External Links

• Iron Void Bandcamp
• Iron Void Twitter
• Iron Void MySpace