May 2015,
60/A4, printed, English, hand-numbered, interviews: TEMPLE OF ADORATION zine, INFERNAL
CURSE, SARTEGOS, ABYSMAL GRIEF, AGGRESSIVE MUTILATOR, GRAVEYARD, FISTBANG
RECORDS, VEINEN, PARAGON RECORDS, SWAMP, EVIL MACHINE, DET GAMLE BESATT.
This name is
known to me quite well, but issue #9 is my first encounter with it. Man, ninth
number… I feel like a rookie and have nothing in self-justification. What’s
more, if my mind doesn’t play a trick, I didn’t read any low-marked review of
Mateusz work in underground press / webzines so far, however it refers to this
and the previous one. Well, I decided to give it a chance eventually, and the
zine landed on my desk. And you know what? My final opinion won’t be different
than those read days ago. All right, fast glance on front-cover, an old Eire
graveyard that looks mysteriously and perfectly fits to the whole. What’s about
the content? The layout, made in old-school cut’n’paste method and showing
triumphant struggles with empty spaces, is definitely strong point of editor’s
vision: seemingly in claws of swarming chaos, decorated by each kind of font
ever invented and many various horror-like graphics is very nice and friendly
for my eyes. As a language itself, Mat who is my countryman, did a really good
job. It means Forgotten Chapel is probably the best English written zine by
Pole. It’s not exaggeratedly complicated and supported by words I cannot
understand even in Polish, it has a kind of flow I dive into without any
problem, yet I have been caught in associative trap in Pathogen “Lust of Evil”
review when Mat compares it to Autopsy and Europe type of thing. Ha, Pathogen
and creators of “The Final Countdown” put together to one mortar? Uff, anyway,
the lecture is just like a cold beer in very hot day, fortunately not a concern
one. Thoughts are committed to paper with ease, sense of humour and accumulated
knowledge. These used elements raises the final mark beyond doubt.
And if the
chapel is opened by really interesting chat with Phil / Temple of Adoration
zine, Spanish Graveyard was the thing I wanted to be familiar with. The band
belonging to one of the best crews that came into being this century, doesn’t
disappoint me again. This is the next interview with Javi (and Julkarn from
time to time) I read with the highest pleasure. Interesting questions =
interesting answers. The recipe for a success is really simple, isn’t it? Thus
we travel from sunny Catalonia to the land of Galicia. Rou from Sartegos gives
another fine piece of reading, however in this case it is not a surprise for
anyone in underground press as well. Of course, not only Spain has a good
position in chapel walls. Just take look on Evil Machine from Poland which
turns out into one of the highlight of the issue. About any weak or lame answering?
No, I didn’t find such ones. But there are two controversial, strange things to
me. First, in Abysmal Grief chat, Regen admits to committing the thefts all
attributes they use from churches and graveyards. I missed the point here, as stealing
is always stealing, no matter the motives you follow! The latter Aggressive
Mutilator matter, you know, old-school to the bone, strictly limited demo
tapes, hand-written letters and when it comes to the general feedback on this
band, Mikael says how many times his songs have been played on… Bandcamp. Then
he mentions about good review in the webzine. Is there something I cannot go
through? Anyway, the last thing concerning the interview section is pretty long
chat with the owner of Paragon Records Mike Zanchelli. Probably the best one in
Forgotten Chapel family, great, in-depth, and fully absorbing with fifteen
notes and observations on nowadays (not only underground) metal scene, sometimes
it turns out even to be a kind of commandments. Anyway, Mike is simply right
with his opinions.
As for
reviews, Mat is without any mercy and attacks with huge amount of them: 191 of
music (plus some short reviews from Evil Spirit Distro) and 34 of press,
surprisingly without Polish Necroscope. To visualize the hard work with all
this stuff, Mat placed his picture after 168th review (page 13).
Believe me, there’s nothing enviably. But what about its style? Well, it’s good
enough to travel through the wall of text smoothly. Some of them are rather
short straight-forward shots, the other kept in more complex way, sometimes Mat
gives few ending words prior to the final mark. For sure, most of zine reviews
are longer than musical ones, yet I couldn’t find any signs of boredom or
redundant verses and I simply liked the way Mat examines it. Reading his
opinion on Usul demo, I found out he has own zine-room, hope to see a picture
of it featured in #10. What else in menu? Typical stuff for zine: interesting
article on trades and short story about zine making, tiny poll on first
encounter with printed metal press, an obligatory Old, Rotten, Not Forgotten
column, one gig report from Redemption Festival fueled by plastic cups of beers
with a sentence I really liked a lot: “only cassette passed the test of time
and keeps up the shape”! Of course, it’s impossible to overlook three pages
story titled Horror in Cinema and Heavy
Metal written by Nathan Surface. And even if it is not my cup of tea as I
watched last such a movie in the eighties, I found it highly interesting and noteworthy.
This completes a chapel into strong fortress. Did I find any drawbacks? Yes,
there are typos and demons of misprints (aaarrrghhhh!), sometimes orthography
of adjectives is wrong and in Hegemoon review new band has been invented
(Sacrelligium), although it hasn’t any crucial impact on my final rate.
Summing up
the thing, this is definitely top-league zine, bringing the interviewing
ecstasy in 91,667%. Yes, such a score, because even if I always read the stuff
from cover to cover, simply I’m not interested in Det Gamle Besatt creation. And
one thing on the end, page number three contains of an opinion of Dr. Edmund
Carter on any possible side effects concerning reading the zines. This
authority, imagined in sick metal injected Mat’s cerebrum, or not, gives an
answer I wanted to read about, but the most revolutionary idea refers to
gestation period. All the gynecological associations should be informed
immediately. So, pregnant women, not only folic acid supplementation, but zines
and classical metal too. Anyway, I’d like to see an interview with this doctor
in next issue, it would be a highlight, I guess… All right, my review says it
all, so don’t hesitate to order a copy for yourself. And paraphrasing some
sentence from Maniac Butcher’s review: this zine is not to be elaborated about,
this zine is to be experienced. Am I clear?
forgottenchapel@gmail.com
9,4/10
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(written in July, 2016)
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