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It's been a while since I last reviewed a fanzine. This one is a bit special in that it is produced locally. Hell, the Canadian Parliament buildings in the background on the cover, it doesn't get more metal than that! :) So anyway, when I met one of the two authors at a show a couple of months ago and she told me they were working on the first issue, I had the feeling that it would be worth the read, solely based on her enthusiasm and knowledge of old school metal. Well, issue #1 does live up to my expectations, and more. It's a half-size format (i.e. xeroxed 8.5x11in pages folded in two) and the layout if the old school cut-and-paste type that was the norm for fanzines in the 80s. In fact, my first reaction when I saw the layout was that it reminded me a lot of Leather N' Spikes fanzine (R.I.P.) - all black and white, text cut and pasted over pages full of B&W photos (lots of cool ones!) and drawings with some occasional humouristic one-liners here and there.

The zine is about 40 pages including the front and back covers. There are very cool interviews with Impaler, Sabbat (Japan) and the Canadian war metallers Blasphemy. Yep, that's it, three interviews. But they're lengthy and interesting, so stop whining! :) The Sabbat interview is a bit difficult to grasp at times since the guy from Sabbat has some difficulties with the English language, but it is very interesting nonetheless. There's a local (Ottawa area) listing of upcoming shows, as well as some recommended stores for metal in both Ottawa and Montreal (we often end up in Montreal, since it is the closest place for us to catch the majority of metal shows that don't stop in Ottawa.) That section will surely hurt my bank account, as it has a few stores I didn't know about listed in there. Damn. There's a little rant relative to "glam metal" vs. "some other forms of metal" that is bound to generate some varied reactions - I won't say more, you can read it for yourself. ;)

Finally, there are two review sections, each written by one of the two editors. If you're expecting reviews of the latest Nightwish or N*FLAMEZ, you're screwed: The section is filled with old school stuff - either released in the 80s, or more recent stuff that has an old school touch to it. The two sections are quite different in style, especially since Black Metal Jo seems to have some problems with grammar and spelling (hey, they don't call me the Grammar Nazi for nothing - beside, he says so himself as an introduction to his review section! :)) But that's a bit like the production on an album: Get past that and focus on the content, as he does give good descriptions of the albums (and he's reviewing some killer material.) From what I can see, they've stuck to reviewing stuff they liked - either because they don't have any junk in their respective collections, or simply because they didn't want to waste zine space with junk! Hehehe What's common to both is the enthusiasm with which they describe some of their favourite albums - you can almost headbang to the words for fuck sake! (I'm not kidding.)

This zine is a poseur-crusher. So if you're into posing, stay away from it, or if you want to stop posing, then get this as a guide to a new start in life. :) It's very low-priced at 50 cents (Canadian), although you'll have to e-mail one of the editors to inquire about cost with shipping to your location, which can't be that much anyway. Even with shipping, your money will be well spent. It is more reasonably priced than many fanzines of its size, and better done too. Very good start for this one. I'm now looking forward to more issues. (Hey, gotta put some pressure on them!)

Additional Information

Black Metal Jo's e-mail: theamebix@yahoo.com