"Eternal Dagger" marks your return after a significant gap. How did the writing process for this album differ from your previous works?
Writing songs for Iron Kobra has never followed a certain scheme. With everything we did before, be it the demos, albums, or anything in between, the process of songwriting was massively different. While we wrote our first songs together in front of a screen with primitive digital recording technology, we later turned to writing songs together in our rehearsal-space based on ideas each band member brought to the table. After that we went through a phase of writing songs in tabs and sending them around between the bandmembers, which led too many unused ideas and riffs. For “Eternal Dagger” some of the songs are rather old and have been written in a different line-up than we are now. But the bulk of the material on that album was composed during the pandemic by Ela. He started doing some home recordings, writing jingles or intros for podcasts and alike and at some point, funnily enough everytime, he was sick with CoVid and quarantined, he started to compose and record Iron Kobra songs. The rest of the band added some of their own influences to the tracks and that’s what resulted into “Eternal Dagger“.
The new album seems to lean into sci-fi themes. What drew the band toward this aesthetic for the new songs?
We’ve always had an edge for sci-fi themes before. Looking back at our earliest songs we had “Rocket Raiders“ for example and later “Watch the Skies“ on “Might & Magic“. We simply like the aesthetics of that weird era in pop-culture where fantasy, sci-fi and horror merged into something crazy and haywire artistically. Also being faced with the end-times as close as we are now makes it easy to fall for fantastic sceneries offering a gateway into escapeism from the shitty reality we have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. And sci-fi as well as fantasy has a really wide spectrum ranging from sloppy but entertaining stories of absurd heroism to highly sophisticated works of art challenging philosophical questions and ideologies. Maybe the impression of us leaning more towards sci-fi comes from the artwork by Mario Lopez we used for the record. When we thought about a new album, the first thing we had in mind was the title: Eternal Dagger, which is the name of an old SSI-roleplayinggame. But we didn’t really like the game‘s story, so we constructed our own lore around the “Eternal Dagger“. It is a space vessel controlled by unknown beings coming from a world far beyond our imagination scanning the universe for valuables, ruling the fates of planets by the value they have to their ultra-capitalist overlords.
Working with Stefan Castevet has brought a specific edge to the production. How did his vision align with the band's goals for the sound of "Eternal Dagger"?
Working with Stefan Castevet was a gamechanger for us. His work ethic and precision is something that we really needed to record this album. He is a super-talented musician and a mastermind when it comes to details or spontaneous ideas during recording sessions, giving honest feedback when it’s needed and pushing musicians forward to be a little braver or bold. As we have been friends for years he understood what Iron Kobra is about and how to reach the band’s full potential. It was also the first full-length he produced which led to him being extra-thorough during the whole recording-process. Never have we been happier with the production of anything we did before as our vision as well as ours matched instantaneously.
Iron Kobra has always stayed true to a raw, unpolished sound. Why is maintaining this aesthetic important to the band in today's digital age?
From the beginning up until now Iron Kobra has always been and will always be a band of fans. We don’t see ourselves being highly-professional musicians but rather a bunch of dudes that like to rock on as well as in front of a stage. And we think this mindset leads to sticking to that rawness you mentioned. On the other hand Iron Kobra is also a band that doesn’t shy away to point towards what influences us musically. Being not exclusively into heavy metal but also other subgenres as well as having a softspot for punkrock might also have an influence on our sound and songwriting. Exaggerated polish leads to a lack of authenticity and there is nothing we despise more than that.
The album was recorded between August 2025 and February 2026. How did that long stretch affect the way the songs took shape in the studio?
The long stretch was the result of a shortage in time, sounds kinda paradox, haha. “Eternal Dagger” was recorded in two main recording sessions in different places. Konrad aka Goat Primator (drummer of Ch’ahom, Sadistic Goatmessiah and many more) handled the drum recordings in August 2025. He’s a wizard when it comes to squeezing out the best sound possible concerning the drums and we asked him to record the drums for that album with Björn, something we are super grateful about. When those recordings were done he went on tour, so he didn’t have the time to edit the drums for us. It took a while and as we needed the drums as a baseline for the rest of the recordings we simply had to wait which resulted in the long stretch of the recording process. But that gave us some time to rehearse the songs and prepare better for the rest.
"With Iron Kobra we don’t like to stick to a certain subgenre of metal as our taste in music is too diverse to coop up our songwriting into a certain set of borders."
The songs on "Eternal Dagger" range from speed metal to anthemic headbangers. How do you decide on the direction for each track during the writing phase?
By pure chance, haha. Like mentioned before, we never hid our influences when it comes to songwriting. “Shibuya Nights” for example is highly influenced by NWOBHM-bands like Trespass, Bashful Alley and Praying Mantis, while “Silver Strings & Iron Wings” may be written during a time when a lot of early Blind Guardian was blasting from our stereos. With Iron Kobra we don’t like to stick to a certain subgenre of metal as our taste in music is too diverse to coop up our songwriting into a certain set of borders. When there are any ideas for songs we usually just weigh up if it fits the band, if it’s not too conventional as well as too weird. It’s not like there’s a council to decide upon the faith of a song, haha. It’s more of a feel mostly directed but what we like to listen to ourselves in that moment.
Iron Kobra has always had links with fantasy games, old metal, Japanese culture and underground weirdness. Which of these sources fed the lyrics and atmosphere of the new album the most?
I guess the biggest influences might have been fantasy games, be it board or video games. The nerdy aesthetics of the old stuff fuels our imagination, but on the other hand we also have a few very different lyrics on this album as well. “Forbidden Fruits” for example deals with deception and the feeling of guilt, “Shibuya Nights” tells the story of a person lost somewhere in the unknown, following the light to find back home, “Fliehen” deals with the urge to leave everything behind and the fear of uncertainty that results from that and “Silver Strings & Iron Wings” is an anti-war song. Being fond of high strangeness, weird fiction and cosmic horror we also wrote a song about Lovecraft’s “Mountains Of Madness” being titled accordingly.
With the current global climate, do you find that your music has taken on a different meaning or significance for you?
Looking at current world events as well as what might stand before us in the near future makes you appreciate what you have at this very moment even more. It’s a privilege to spend your time with something that you love like making music without being under a consistent threat of hunger, destruction and death. Due to social media and globalization the whole music community moved closer together than when we started with Iron Kobra. This makes it easier to promote your music to a wider audience. On the other hand you are also confronted with what happens with the scene outside of your own country. Some of our friends for example got their artist visas rejected under the Trump administration shortly before departing to the United States even though there was no apparent reasoning for that. It’s weird and alarming being able to take a peak into the whole wide world widening your own perspective and personal horizon while also witnessing an international rise in nationalism.
The two previous albums are being reissued along with "Eternal Dagger". Looking back at "Dungeon Masters" and "Might & Magic", what do you think of them back in the day?
Maybe it’s a personal thing, but we rarely listen to our own music after it has been released. So listening to the albums again to approve the remasters was kinda funny. It made us remember the recording sessions as well as the writing processes, something that was dissimilar to how “Eternal Dagger” developed. “Dungeon Masters” was our first time as Iron Kobra going to a studio, so it was really exciting and we behaved like stupid teenagers in the studio, joking around the whole time, shit-talking and all, haha! “Might & Magic” was a very different story, less memorable for us as the whole recording and writing was very composed. Looking back at the material itself, there are some great tracks on those albums that might get underappreciated and that we never or very rarely played live: “Thousand Fire City”, “Cult Of The Snake”, “Druid’s Call” or “Spirit Archer”. We hope that some of our fans might find new interest in those songs with the reissue.
"It’s weird and alarming being able to take a peak into the whole wide world widening your own perspective and personal horizon while also witnessing an international rise in nationalism."
What does the "Cult Of The Snake" represent to the band and your fans in 2026?
The pure dedication to heavy metal in all its facets. “Cult of the Snake” is no religions movement and not a sect, as this implies the worship of a higher being; it is a mindset, an attitude towards the art of heavy music, the greatest form of audio artistry.
Are there any specific plans for a tour to support "Eternal Dagger," and what can fans expect from the live shows?
As we’re all pretty settled with our daytime jobs and responsibilities it’s tough for us to plan a whole tour. Three out of four of us are loving and proud fathers and although being on stage is one of the greatest feelings in the world, it doesn’t compensate for the chance of missing your child growing up. So no consecutive tours for us, but we play selected shows all throughout the year, being part of the United Forces, Stormcrusher, Erntedrunk and Metal Forces festivals in Germany in 2026. Also got some gigs booked for 2027 that aren’t released yet, so yeah, selected shows it is for us now. And what is there to expect? Absolute Heavy Metal Mania, of course. We’ve always been a band that works best in a live setting, so if you haven’t checked us out yet, take your chance. The setlist will of course be focused on “Eternal Dagger”, but we’re still gonna play all the “classics” that you expect from us.
Looking at the heavy metal landscape today, what do you think is the biggest challenge for bands trying to stay authentic to the genre's roots?
AI is one thing, although it doesn’t play such a big role in the underground scene. Especially the visual side of heavy metal might suffer from the upcoming AI-craze that kills artists in the scene and makes anything look boring and uniform. Rock music has always been non-conformist, handmade and that’s what makes it authentic and relatable. We would have never started Iron Kobra if we compared ourselves and our skills to the big players in heavy metal. When you start a band you can’t honestly think you’d ever reach the same status, finesse and success of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. You don’t do it for the money, you do it out of passion and out of love for the music, the scene. Never let go of that, stay true to yourself and don’t follow the common path, as this makes your music sound plastic, lame and weak.
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