BURNING ABYSS 8 (2015)

January 2015, 68/A4, printed, English, interviews: NECROS CHRISTOS, MEDICO PESTE, STEVE “ZETRO” SOUZA, IMMOLATION, DOMAINS, WATAIN, DESOLATE SHRINE, SARTEGOS, ETHELYN, OMINOUS DOMAIN.

I would be a liar claiming I have known Burning Abyss since the very beginning. One issue from the nineties (#3), number #7 and the newest hot number eight. But I have to admit I lost this title from my radar after #7 three years ago, probably due to it didn’t discover any new lands nor shake my zine world so drastically. It was just decent one however I still cannot forget about lame Tomas (Mr. Yes / No) Skogsberg answers. Inferno wasn’t better. But from the beginning, Maciek, the chief executive of the abyss, decided to reduce quantity of contributors. He hoped to make a better issue… and he succeeded. The first thing which can be noticed is mature and more complex English especially in Andrew’s reviews and his intie with Zetro. The whole is fluent in reading, and I have clear impression that Burning Abyss pretends to be one of the best Polish English zines. Another positive sign is professional layout and lack of any typos or spelling mistakes, but the name of Exodus / Hatriot vocalist Zetro should be spelled Souza, am I right?

To start the extraction of the interviews content, I’d like to present the things I dislike. Firstly, too much pages of advertisings, seven and a half is an exaggeration. Maybe in 100+ pages fanzine I wouldn’t arrest my attention, but in the case of #8 it is impossible. Next, the Sartegos chat seems to be incomplete as it ends too suddenly. I know Rou from his dedication to the underground, he is always pretty gushy. 18 very interesting (!) questions didn’t satisfy my reading famine. Or should I treat it as a first part of Galician word in the abyss? All right, let me jump into Necros Christos that opens the whole. And what? I would be red-faced answering in such a way. Highly interesting and well-thought questions didn’t strike a root unfortunately showing Mors Dalos Ra pretty tired and bored. Or maybe Maciek attacked with too hard and penetrating subjects? Then I can understand.

Now, let me point the better side. A huge amount of reviews: 192 with music and 26 with press plus two short reports from Fallen Temple Records and Till You Fukkin Bleed Records are great fingerpost to know what the underground is currently about. I like the way the reviews have been given, however some Maciek offers should be longer. He is supported by Astus once again, pretty active guy in writing, so know-how is guaranteed. In addition Sascha from Mandatory brought 17 very short memories-like about slabs coming straight from the nineties. As far as the interviews are concerned, the best one here is Immolation chat. Maciek prepared 47 questions and even if I read many talks with this US legend, I was consuming it with a real pleasure, making my mouth waters and putting some classic Immolation records in my disc player. And I can confirm Maciek’s opinion about similar talk in R’Lyeh. Despite of a dozen or so questions, Erik from (mainstream) Watain did provide quite good answers. The same with Zetro, long bifarious insightful chat conducted by Andrew is a good example of famous but modest musician with full boundless dedication to the thrashing scene. The remainder definitely with no such well-known names rules as well. Domains, Desolate Shrine, friendly Maciek’s time with Ethelyn or Ominous Domain smoothly marched before my eyes due to good both questions and answers. And last of all, the case of Medico Peste, and as Maciek signalized in the introduction, interviewing a black metal band in Burning Abyss death metal oriented piece of paper means something. Well, I don’t know the music itself of this Cracow band, but it’s great seeing such an interesting answering from black metal person. I mean, it is neither stupid nor infantile, mostly concise yet absolutely with not boring decorated with megalomania considerations. And Silencer, when asked about religious black metal, gives a smart advice: Clopixol injections as a drug for retarded and deranged ones. And my question is: should it be reimbursed by NFZ?

In a foreword Maciek marks that this issue will be the last one, although any comeback isn’t the impossible. And I understand all his arguments about nowadays metalcore or symphonic avant-garde black metal. What is more, he speaks courageously about making this release mainly for his own need. And even if underground depths won’t enrich with another Maciek paper work, I’ll remember it as a good, sometimes impressive, thing. 

b_abyss@interia.pl

9/10

-Tlacaxipehualiztli

(written on February, 2015)