July 1997,
88/A5, xeroxed, Polish, hand-numbered, interviews: PARRICIDE, NOMAD,
PSYCHOTRON, CRIMSON MIDWINTER, MESSERSCHMITT zine, INCARNATED, NIGHT GALLERY /
CORRUPTION, PASCAL, ARKONA, FROST, ASCARIS, NECROSCOPE zine, DEMISE, ISLAND,
TRAUMA, SACRUM, DAMN NATION, DEVILYN, BLASPHEMOUS DEGENERATION.
This double
issue of Bytom based Silent Tears was my first meeting with Mr. Kreator
zine-making. Quite positive I must say, yet I have no clue why it has been
marked as a double shot. Anyway, the whole is provided with standard
contemporary norms, executed with a help of typewriter. Layout seems to
overcome the age-long battle with chaos, it is pretty clear with good quality
of Bytomian xerox machine. Kreator put on Polish bands mostly, and only two
bands come from abroad (Crimson Midwinter and Damn Nation, both dissected in a
good style by Adam / Necroscope zine). The editor-in-chief is an experienced
freak and it’s easy perceptible through the pages. Nevertheless the bands set
isn’t nothing extraordinary (I mean, well known names from other Polish zines),
the interviews flow smoothly, sometimes with needful sense of humour and some
insertions here and there. Kreator managed to gain no lame answers where the
most shining stuff is Trauma, shortly after releasing their debut “Comedy Is
Over”, Mister speaks in a really demonstrative and brainy way, even if topic
grabs the eighties among other things. Good stuff, indeed. Then, even as I said
earlier, this pair is rather on the end, comparing mysterious, reticent Arkona
(the only black in the menu…) and Pascal, flavoured by absurd humour. Great
that Kreator gives a chance to his severe competition (?) and provides exciting
chats with Szymon (Messerschmitt zine) and Adam from Necroscope zine.
The number
of musical reviews doesn’t lay me low: 24 pieces only, contrary to zines
section bringing 20 considerations. But I like the way Kreator tries to describe
what the thing is all about. It’s rather deep, hearty. In this moment I have to
mention about small articles on another crews: Auri Sacra, Cryptic Tales,
Hell-Born, Nightly Gale, Aion, Offense, Gandalf, Lux Occulta, Beheaded,
Mythological Cold Towers, Scarve, Serenade, Moonstruck, Drunemeton, which are
rather more complex reviews with additional remarks. What else? Four live escapades,
one report from Białystok, three short non-musical pieces and “Garbage of the
Underground” part 2. It makes the zine complete stuff.
To sum this
review up: Silent Tears is a decent piece of underground press, even nowadays I
had a good time while reading it, however the final mark is a bit lowered by
many serious spelling errors making my tired eyes open fucking wide. I know it
wasn’t possible to have a spell-checker in the typewriter, but the orthography
basics are minimum to make a zine, right?
7/10
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(written in May, 2016)
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