The Nermun #7 (2003)

The Nermun #7 (2003)

52 pg, A4, xerox, English/Malay

Interviews

Argon, Grundar Production, Inhumate, Cicatrix, Isolated, Kilatus

Articles

Yawar Inti Production

Aftermath Zine

Cromok - Lagenda Thrash Yang Diabaikan (in Malay)

Iron Maiden

Unholy Black Metal (taken from The Unholy B.M. Book)

Gig Report

Choice Of A New Generation (in Malay)

Guitar Hero

Max of Barbalans (in Malay)

The second last zine from Grundar mailorder.

Also, another zine which I already read their latest issue and then to old one.

The layout is not a great as the eighth issue. But is also not that bad. 2 or 3 columns per page with multiple font sizes/types being used. I like the Argon interview layout. I wish more can use this style and with better xerox quality.

Review covers music and zine. The music review @ Rotten Reviews are not rated and not alphabetically arranged. After the zine review there is a section on zine news. Just like you can see it issue #8.

I don’t remember seeing "Guitar Hero" section in their latest issue. Anyway, Max is not new in the scene especially in Sabahan metal scene.

Metalwarpage #1 (April 2003)

Metalwarpage Issue 1 (April 2003)

52 pg, A4, xerox, Malay/English

Interviews

Khurafat, Violator, Nermunist, Damokis, Kemenyan Fanzine, Marasmus Zine

Bio

Damokis, Radiata, Hellimunan, Tussock, Sardotical Scoundrel, Argon, Hirax, Nermun Zine, Krout Zine, Mandatory, Sins

Article

Underground - Sejarah dan Falsafah Vol.1

DIY Course - Silk Screen T-Shirt Print, Newsletter making

Another one from Grundar sale.

I have their 5th issue reviewed here. This issue comes in thick paper which make it look nice. However, in terms of layout, issue #1 is not match with #5 which their best issue so far I have witnessed.

3 columns per page, the pages are numbered, have table of content, using several font types and the size is quite big on some pages. Xerox quality can be better too.

There are lots of bio (or short article) so I just choose some of it up there. Some names do bring some memory from the past like Krout zine from Sabah.

Review only on music and they are all in English, not alphabetically arranged and not rated.

Latest check, they have Fb page now but last updated in 2019.

Fb: metalwarpage

Hellawaits #1 (2003)

Years ago, Grundar Production made some discounts for their mailorder and bought some zine and tape. Hard to resist "Buy 2 free 1" offer especially for old local zine as old as 2002. I immediately send my orders. Not sure what has happen that make them these zine still available there. Some zine are wrapped in plastic wrapper which preserved the zine in a good condition. 

So all zine bought from them is also tagged/labelled as Grundar and I suggest you check this label out, releasing some good grind/brutal death stuffs.

Hellawaits  #1 (2003)

52 pg, A5, xerox, English

Interviews

Manggas, Bilharzia, Destinity, Dhemit, Kekal, As Sahar, Negation, Nosferial, Korihor, Abvul Abashy, Crimson Fall, Rudra, Pyron, Narcotic Greed, Kult Ov Azazel, Violator, The Ravens, Mantak, Arkhaytulmayt, Raspatul, Demonification, War666, Darkfall

The best layout for a local zine released at the time. I was surprised at this when I first bought this issue many years ago. Like reading a small version of Terrorizer. Very consistent and fancy layout. The editors Vorn Azazeal and Aliv Khafankalust did a very good job here. Have table of content, page number, 2 columns, small fonts.

The interviews are OK. The has a section called "Hellish Reveal" which is band's biography. You can find bio of well-known and underground bands including their own band, 'Dark Invincible'.

Reviews (cassette/CD) are rated. Not many getting the 'poison skull' (the graphic which you can normally see on poisonous stuff) which means 'killer release'. There is also zine review. They are very specific on the review. I think I need to find Steel Madness #2 to find out what are the mistakes on page 34 & 79. Anyone can lend me your copy?

There is a 'special report' which they compile answer from bands and individuals on the topic "Can black metal exist without satanic ideology" but I don't read them till the end because I don't care about this ideology thingy.

My copy is hand-numbered #190.

Brutallica #8 (2003)

Brutallica #8 (2003)

60 pg, A4, pro-printed, English

Interview

Alienation Mental, Primordal, Rot, Red Harvest, Lividity, Cock And Ball Torture, Bleeding Black, Spite Extreme Wing, Squash Bowels, Bard Eithun, Crypthowl, Severe Torture, Mustan Kuun Lapset, Bloodshed, Taetre, Vader, Hagalaz Runedance, Avulsed, Unsilence, Repudiate, Blackseed Boys, Gerbe Of Life, Running Wild

This is very old magazine. It smells ‘old’ too but I have smelled far more worse than this and even my fingers starts to feel itchy when I flip the pages.

Not sure if Chavdar still do the magazine. Layout-wise, not much to complaint (yes, I complaint a lot here, right?). Good layout like most professional mainstream magazine but Brutallica features more bands from the underground. Some pages are in full color.

Interviews are OK, out-dated of course if you read them now. The one I really enjoy is Faust, made by deputy editor Vanya Marinova which focuses more on lyric writing and drumming.

CD reviews are rated but not in alphabetical order and mostly have their front cover. Meanwhile "The Real Underground" which is demo reviews are not rated and also not alphabetically arranged. Found Bilharzia review here.

There is also 1 page full of news from the metal scene.

This issue comes with free CD sampler.

Web

http://www.printhouse.brutallica.com/

http://www.brutallica.com/

Encylopedia of Heavy Metal

Encylopedia of Heavy Metal (2003)

300pg, 29cm x 29cm, English

Author

Daniel Bukszpan

ISBN 978-0-7607-4218-1

I found this huge book on the shelf. Thinking I can get income tax rebate for book purchase, I bought the book although knowing most probably the book will be shitty in content. The book was in shrink-wrap so I can't flip through before purchasing.

Encyclopedia for heavy metal music? That is a very big words. Can you really make an Encyclopedia for heavy metal? I don’t think so. If you can do it, it will be more than just 300 pages. The author acknowledges this. He has his own criteria on selecting the bands such as Him as heavy metal. You can also see Katatonia, Napalm Death, Opeth, The Sweet and even Immortal from Norway in the list.

According to the book there 200 bands and 600 color photos. Info about the band including line-up, short bio and discography but not all has photos. There are some some indicators or icons are given to the band members and the lyrics. Example a 'syringe' indicates 'notorious drugs use' and inverted pentagram represent satanic. For band members, will have 4 maximum icons and lyrics will have 7 maximum. So I think if a band can score 4 + 7, then it must the truest heavy metal band. The highest is Black Sabbath (9) and then Type O Negative (7) 

Beside this there are also sections on info on genre of Heavy Metal, infamous band rivalry (example Mustaine vs Metallica), Heavy Metal fashion, Heavy Metal magazine (no Terrorizer?), Record label, Radio show, Drugs & intraband conflict (example Richie Blackmore). And not to forget the Top 10 best selling metal artist, Top 10 most essential album, Top 10 best album of all time and many more 'Top 10' according to the author.

To help you out, there are bibliography, index and appendix. This is a must for all books

The problem with this book is the size. I don't like it because it's not in the normal shape. I am having problem in putting it on the shelf at home.

The author founded the label call “Smoking in Bed” and has some tips from the late Ronnie James Dio (which also made the foreword) on vinyl playing.\

Overall, not really important to have this in your bookshelf. You can skip this. But honestly, I only like looking at the pictures. There are plenty.

Web

www.sterlingpublishing.com

Abysmal Scripture #2 (Jan.2003)

Abysmal Scripture #2 (Jan.2003)

60pg, A4, xerox, English

Interview
Atheist Fanzine, Suicidal Winds, Ghouls, Despairance, Agathocles, Surgical Dissection, Chainsaw, Shrunken & Mummified Zine, Bloodthirst, Noir Atasya, Juglans Regia, Maelstrom666 Zine, Dogface, Crystal Tears, Vrykolakas, Deadhead Zine

Scene Report
Thailand

I got contacted by a distro and mentioned they have some copies of Abysmal Scripture for sale. That is a surprise for me. So here I am presenting another old issues here (even the staples have rusted badly) . I bought the debut issue when it was released many years ago. If my memory serves me right, the layout is pretty much the same. For your info, the editor of the zine is also in a thrash metal band called Beast Petrify.

The xerox quality is not at the best quality and I think the master copy are printed using bubble jet printer which does not give a sharp printing quality. The layout is made using standard MS Word functions (3 columns per page). The font size are small, the kind that I like. The pages are numbered and have table of content.

His English are great. Look at the name of the review section; Expressive Life Visionaries (video reviews), Bloodlusting Hunger for Dissection (horror/gore films), Ear Pleasure (music reviews) and Visional Thoughts (zine). The reviews are not in alphabetical order and they are rated. There is also a news section at the last pages of the zine and the scene report accompanied by band's logo and pictures.

If you look at the front cover, it is using laser color xerox/printing which I think a very rare at the time. And yes, you need full color if not the splatter for pictures on the back cover will lose it 'goriness' :-)

For contact address, read the review of the latest issue.

Morbid Noise #9 (2003)

Morbid Noise #9 (2003)

48 pg, pro-print, Indonesian

Interview
Fermento, Brodequin, Wicked Innocence, Cephalic Carnage, Spinecast, Damnable, Psychoroptic

I did mentioned somewhere in this website (or blog, whatever you want to call it) that I don't review every issue of a publication released on monthly basis. I think I can make some exception if there is something new to talk about. This time around the magazine is more 'open-minded' (no more censoring pictures that shows nudity which I didn't mention in the previous review).

There are some changes on the layout. They removed the line between the columns and reduced the font size. It looks better now especially the new font size.

I notice there is a Metal Crossword and Morbid Letter in this issue which I think you can guess what they are. No need for me to explain that here. Other 'morbid' content are similar like in the previous issue. The 'Morbid Angel' section this time features Lena Soraya Watulingas.

This issue come with free sticker & Six Feet Under poster. I don't have the CD sampler. It is mentioned in the previous issue but I'm not sure whether it was release at all since I got this from a trade. Anyway, the magazine is much more important.

At the moment, I still have these 2 issues. Interested to trade? Drop me an email.

Morbid Noise #8 (2003)

Morbid Noise #8 (2003)

48 pg, pro-print, Indonesian

Interview
Traumatism, Inhumate, Gods Of Emptiness, Pyamia, Vrykolakas, Bastard Saints, Atavism, My Self Am Hell, Mental Abberation, Dalmation Records, Gerilyawati Bawah Tanah

The first issue was released as xerox format zine in 1997. Then it became a monthly publication. That is what the ambition initially but magazine ceased to exist since 2006 (at issue #11). I got few issues from a trade. Some info that I know if not mistaken, the editor is a member of the death metal band TRAUMA, the Indonesian one ofcourse and also run a label called Morbid Noise Production. The band and the label still exist active.

The layout of the magazine is simple; 3 columns per page for the interviews but the size of the fonts are quite big. There are some obvious typo error which is hard to ignore since it is written big at top of the page. The review section have much better layout as you can see from the picture above.

About the content, every thing are 'morbid' here;
Morbid Profile (band bio. There are plenty of them here),
Morbid Classic (article on classic albums),
Morbid News (also a lot of news. As oppose to most mag/zine which put the news at front pages, they put it at the back),
articles (Music Extrim Untuk Berpola Fikir Maju),
cartoons and some advise ('Stop Terrorism', 'Stop Racism', etc). Beside Morbid News, there are also "Flash News" whereever there are empty spaces in the magazine.
The review section only covered CD format and zine only. The reviews are not arranged in alphabetical order and not rated.

There is also a section for female in underground called 'Morbid Angel'. In this issue only have one interview with a lady named Titie. I'm not being a sexist here but honestly, it is not important to have this section in the magazine.

They also give free full color poster & (bands circa mid to late 90's). It is also mentioned in the magazine from issue 9 onwards will come with a CD sampler.

The language use is understandable for a Malay like me unlike Arus Bawah. It's great to have this kind of professional magazine covering the local extreme metal scene.

There are some infos available from Morbid Noise Facebook page. Check it out the photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.341933142512340.79671.335843496454638&type=3
If you can't access this, try searching for Morbid Noise Production in Facebook.

Grrrl:Rebel #4 (2003)

Grrrl:Rebel #4 (2003)
78 page, A5, xerox, English

Interview
Unrest, The Phoebes, Hell-Sister, Lady! Die, Apocarypsticks, Damn Right, Peace Of Mind, Rai Koris, Goofban, Snap Her, Vandemonium, Bitchcat, Pothole, Astrear, Foamy Ed, The Official, Cobrachicks

Excellent xerox quality! A total makeover on the layout which is a vast improvement compared with the previous issues. I asked around about the type this zine used to bind the pages. Some shop said this is "gluebind" (bind like a book). Anyway this is the first time I see this kind of format used for a DIY publication. I never imagine the layout can be made like this for such a small size publication. Articles are plenty like the usual punk/HC zine. Some of the articels I like are "Columns by The Inspiring Musicians for the inspiring others" (musicians voicing their views on how they got involved in the scene), "Grrrl Rocks: The Male Perspective" and "10 Essential Female-Driven Albums", "Learn From The Expert" & "Sonique Quote". "I Hate Mail" section is still there (mail from the readers with their comment). Also presented here scene report on Brazil HC/Punk. It is quite enlightening for me discovering the scene which I'm not into. I didn’t know there's also lesbian punk zine existed. Other content are reviews on CD & zine and a classified section.

Chaos #12 (2003)

80 page, A4, pro-print, English

Interview
Krisiun, Blood Red Throne, The Crown, Vomitory, Setherial, Grosteque, Kataklysm, Eternal Lies, Callenish Circle, Immolation, Maze of Torment, Nail Within, Hearse, Fragments of Unbecoming, Necrophobic, Neuraxis, Dimension Zero

My first issue of this mag starts with issue #13. That issue totally blow me away! When I know issue #14 is on sale, I asked Shenck (the editor) for back issue and to my luck #12 is still available (and also save on postage when buying 2 copies, #14 & #12 at the same time). So I am now reviewing the old issue after reading the new one. Issue 12 is the 10th anniversary so it means it is quite special issue for them. There's a page featuring the front cover of all the issues released, good for us to know some history of mag. If you seen the layout for the issue after #12, this is kind of a letdown hehe. The layout for the interview are OK but for the review, its the boring style column by column on white background which we can do using MS Word. But still, the interviews are as interesting as usual. As you can see from the band featured here, the mag is more into DM. Another interesting part of the mag is the reviews are separated by genre, not by format like most of the mag/zine do. The reviews are separated to Black Zone (black metal), Death Zone, Grind Zone, Thrash Zone (unfortunately metalcore is grouped in this zone) and my favorite "Hail To Sweden" (all stuff from Sweden). Since Sweden produce great bands in almost all metal genre, the decision to put all reviews in one section is good and not to forget, very original idea too. Whether its true or not, there's 666 reviews in this issue! This issue also comes with 2 free CD sampler (from Displeased Records & Voice of Life Records). Normally the sampler comes separately but here, 2 page (1 for each sampler) dedicated for this sampler with some info and the CD is glued to it. So this will make it hard for the news stand or distro if they want to sell them separately haha. At the time of this review is made, issue #15 is already out!

Contact
P.O.Box 7020
72734 Reutlingen
Germany

Email
chaosmagazine@gmx.de

Web
http://www.chaosmagazine.de/