Fanzines pt2
Greetings Hinsiders! Today we continue to share some reviews of contemporary fanzines that has caught our interest in one way or another. Both of these reviews are to be found in the first number of Hinsides Magazine, together with a lot of other interesting examinations of both music, art and literature. All made with the ambition to inspire likeminded people to be creative at their own terms and to find each other across real or imagined borders. Enjoy!
Bardo Methodology #6 (2020)
Remember that rabbit hole I was babbling about on the editorial page? Well, even though the extreme metal scene that this entrance led to were quite obscure back then, I was not alone down there and I guess it´s fair to say that the attention of this particular publication is very much focused on the ripple effects of what happened during that time. Started as a Blog with the attempt to offer in-depth conversations with the originators and torch bearers of todays underground culture, the editor Niklas Göransson did the right thing and decided to materialize his work back in 2017. His intense investigations of what hides in the shadows has since then resulted in no less than six meaty offsprings that covers a lot of interesting aspects of life, death and the struggle to make some remarkable noise.
I appreciate this paper for many reasons of which the most prominent would be Timo Ketolas involvement with the graphics and the overall reading experience. The aesthetics align with the content in a way you hardly ever come across while reading about underground metal music, and this quality makes Bardo Methodology stand out. With this said there´s a bit of sensational urge behind the writing sometimes. Like in the Ofdrykkja article in this number. A revel in destructive behavior if you like. At the same time there is no hiding from inconvenient subjects so I guess you just have to make up your own mind about different things while reading this magazine. Fair enough.
I would not recommend this tabloid especially for those with no interest to examine what the fear of being politically correct looks like, though.
Anyway, what I was looking forward to read about the most in this issue was the article about Metalion. If you haven´t read his anthology ”The Slayer Mag Diaries” I hope you will because it provides a very good and personal view on the notorious days of the early black metal cult. I was hoping for a more updated coverage of what´s going on with this man today so this feature was actually a bit disappointing to me but I´m sure many others will find it interesting. The highlights for me this time around were the chat with Melissa Jaded; singer in British Black-Metal band Adorior+ shaRds, and the feature of the Dutch ”Iceman” Wim Hof were also a nice surprise as well as the many accurate statements by Lisa Gerrard in the Dead Can Dance article. Interesting reading for sure, and you also get Michael Denner (Merciful Fate) telling anecdotes about ancient times + alot more.
What strikes me while reading this fresh prince is that it still holds it´s standards and does not seem to slow down just yet. Regardless of what you think of the content Bardo Methodology is undeniable both well written and good looking. It´s a paper that might challenge your views and values, but perhaps that´s not a bad thing sometimes, and luckily enough you don´t have to agree on everything you read, right?
Farbror Bardo.
Bardo Archivology Vol 1 (2020)
Bardo Archivology is a periodical anthology with selected texts from the blog archives and this is the first issue of this compliment to the regular Bardo printed press.
As always, the interviewees belongs to the more or less obscure fractions of the darker metal genres and this time we´re treated with a lengthy Irkallian Oracle interview to begin with. A good start indeed, but it´s really the articles about Ehlder, Armagedda and Nordvis that for me represents the highlights of this first archeological showcase. Not so much because of the detailed mosquito definitions but merely due to the different perspectives on life that these guys has from living so far up north close to the wild. It´s also quite refreshing to take part of their life journeys in this context as they seems to have moved on and found new creative outlets since the Armagedda days. You also get more of Bardo favorites Clandestine Blaze and Deathspell Omega and it´s quite interesting to see how differently these conversations became even though being given the same prerequisites. I guess that shows one of the benefits from giving the participants enough space to fully speak out in the way they feel suits them best.
The beauty of this approach is that it provides you as a reader a sense of hearing the voice and getting close to the ones who are being answering the quetions here. To me this complimentary leg came as a nice surprise and I do think it serves it´s purpose as the reading experience surpasses the digital equivalent by far. I also love the black and white costume that suits this feature perfectly.
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