Well, US Metal legends Steel Assassin must be one of the best kept secrets in Metal history. Being around since forever, 1984 to be exact, they have managed to release only one (more or less) official CD called "From the Vaults" (on Greek Unisound label) plus their brand new studio album entitled "War of the Eight Saints". Guitarist Kevin Curran is not amused at all about this situation: "The limited release of our material was certainly never an intentional situation. It's just the way the cards were dealt on the table at the time. We were fortunate enough to regroup after twenty some odd years and create "War of the Eight Saints"." Steel Assassin are coming from Boston, which has never been a stronghold for Metal bands in America (in comparism to the once striving Hardcore scene around bands like SS Decontrol or The F.U.'s). Maybe this was one of the reasons for the band not being able to release material on a regular basis. Kevin agrees: "Yeah, that has never changed. It's never been a great scene for Metal. We played with Wargasm last September which was a great time. We also played with Meliah Rage recently which was great as well. Meliah are very good friends of ours. We support each other as much as we can. As far as I'm concerned, they are the only active 'true Metal' band around."

In John Falzone the reformed Steel Assassin have found a new singer, who has breathed new life into the band: "We knew him through friends and from his former band Triphammer. We needed someone committed to the 'second coming' of Steel Assassin, and John had the balls to do it. It was an ideal situation that we had brand new material. His vocals brought a strong metallic presence to the material for "War of the Eight Saints" and the outcome ended up surpassing all of our expectations."

Steel Assassin's brand new vinyl on High Roller Records is more than a one-dimensional "Best of" compilation, as Kevin elaborates: "The title of the new release is "In Hellfire Forged". It's not so much a 'Best of' album, but more of a remake of some of our old favorite tracks. With John singing these tunes they'll have a harder edge, as do the guitar sounds. The cover is the Steel Assassin 'flying shield' being forged in the lava field of hell." And in addition to that there is going to be one brand new track on the vinyl: "That is correct. The name of the new song is 'Breakout at St. Lo'. Stylistically it has more of a Motörhead kind of feel to it. It is a preview of our upcoming WWII album "Metal of Honor"."


Bassist Phil Grasso has his own label called GME. However, things are not looking good for his company at the time of writing: "It's doubtful I will have any more releases. To have any future release would mean I would have the extra 8-10 thousand dollars lying around to do so. And I don't see that happening. But you never know."

Matthias Mader

Genre: US-Metal

Release Dates: 10.11.2009

- John Falzone - vocals
- Mike Monney - guitar
- Kevin Kurran - guitar
- Phil Grasso - bass
- Greg Michalowski - drums

Track Listing:
1. Spartacus 4:17
2. Phaeton 4:04
3. Crusader 4:20
4. Heavy Metal Soldiers From Hell 4:51
5. Burn Witch Burn 3:51
6. Attilla The Hun 5:30
7. Executioner 5:04
8. Breakout At St. Lo 5:31