One of the currently most exciting and talented young metal acts is ready to present its new recording on Sonic Attack/SPV: Hammercult, winners of the 2011 Wacken Metal Battle, are set to release their second studio album Steelcrusher on 27 January 2014 (Germany: 24 January 2014; USA/Canada: 4 February 2014). Since their furioso performances at the 2011 and 2012 Wacken Open Air, the thrash metal band from Israel have been considered trend-setting representatives of a new thrash metal generation which has expertly updated the tradition of the metal genre, integrating new and even more extreme orientations such as hardcore, black metal and punk.

"We definitely have European influences and have grown up with bands like Kreator, Destruction and Sodom," says frontman Yakir Shochat. "Lots of important groups signed with Noise Records in their early days. That's why we're particularly happy that Steelcrusher will be out on Sonic Attack, Noise founder Karl Walterbach's current label. So as fans of that great Noise era, we've come full circle in that respect."

Yakir Shochat and his four band colleagues are especially proud of the fact that they have succeeded in enlisting the legendary cover artist Andreas Marshall (the Berlin-based artist has worked for Blind Guardian, In Flames, Running Wild and Hammerfall, among others) for the Steelcrusher artwork. Andreas Marshall professes to be highly impressed by the Israeli band: "I really like Hammercult's amazingly dynamic music," he explains. "In addition, I really enjoyed working with Karl Walterbach again, for whom I designed my first metal covers many years ago. Hammercult are a cool band, very fresh and with a fantastic image."