Category Archives: music ‘zines

Uniforce ‘zine #6

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uniforce #6_0001

Uniforce was a fairly long running (for an underground ‘zine) hardcore and extreme metal ‘zine put out by Mark Sawickis, guitarist for cult horror obsessed grind/ death band IMPETIGO.  It was an underground mainstay in a time when ‘zines were the veins that spread the blood of music information to the underground fans and people who were into it.
It always featured a lot of interviews (including some with bigger bands that often didn’t answer interviews with little ‘zines) and reviews; and included reviews of albums, demos, and even music that a lot of underground ‘zines ignored (more commercial metal and rock bands).

This issue was a return to a full-size ‘zine after trying out a digest sized one (that was incredibly thick), and featured a bunch of ads (mostly for other ‘zines), and some show reviews, but mostly it contained interviews and reviews (no frills no filler).  The reviews were earnest and unpretentious and honest (but positive- I never saw him rip on something, even if he didn’t like it much).  The layout was unspectacular, but like I said the music was the #1 focus, everything else was unimportant.

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Poison Planet ‘zine #2

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Poison Planet was put out by Ty Smith (who I recently found out passed away a couple of years ago- R.I.P.) of the old hardcore band RESIST (as well as the short-lived but awesome NAMLAND with members of IMPULSE MANSLAUGHTER), and featured a good mix of hardcore, punk, grindcore, straight edge, and death metal.  Most every band he featured was pretty bad ass, and he also did show and ‘zine reviews, had some funny art and comics (mostly stolen from other sources), and did longer reviews (and even reviewed a few more mainstream things like RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and FAITH NO MORE- he has a very broad musical taste and his own unique opinions, even giving good reviews to things that a lot of underground ‘zines panned like VOIVOD’s Nothingface and later DIE KREUZEN (yuck!) ) that seemed pretty thought out.  The interviews were fairly short (tho he did some with bands you didn’t see interviewed much, such as BROTHERHOOD, who featured a young Greg Anderson who went on to found Southern Lord records and play guitar in the bands  GOATSNAKE, SUNN 0))), THORRS HAMMER, and a bunch more) and he also did a few articles on bands where he wrote a longer bio for them.

 

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Invincible Force ‘zine #6

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invincible force 6_0001

Here is another ‘zine that was absolutely packed to the gills with content.  It focused on grindcore and black and death metal, and featured interviews with bigger bands (MORBID ANGEL, DEATH) as well as smaller ones (PAINEATER, MILK AND COOKIES), but editor Bryan Daniel had a knack for getting awesome bands to do interviews.  The type was tiny, so even more was crammed in.  A lot of the interviews were short, but that made room for more.  It also had an extensive reviews section with (mostly) longer reviews (not just short blurbs like most ‘zines).

I know a lot of people who were very influenced by this ‘zine.  I’m not sure when this issue came out (’89 to ’91 I’d think), but it was good stuff.

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U.S.D. ‘zine #3

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usd3_0001

 

U.S.D. was a thick (tho half size) ‘zine full of death, black and thrash metal, crossover, and grindcore from France.  It was put out by Laurent Merle, who went on to do Peardrop ‘zine and form Listenable Records (who put out records by such notable bands as IMMOLATION, GOJIRA, ABORTED, SOILWORK, GENERAL SURGERY, INCANTATION and tons more).  They crammed so much in that it was a bit cramped, and didn’t have much in the way of aesthetic or design appeal, but when it came to exposing underground bands to it’s readers, it definitely got the job done.  I discovered several awesome bands by reading it, and tho the English isn’t so great that really just adds to the charm (he’s a pretty funny writer, in a kind of hokey way.  Example (from the demo reviews): “…let’s continue with a French band: MUTILATOR… oh!  Excuse me!  I want to say MUTILATED… I forgot to mutilate the “OR” hihi”
The one thing it doesn’t have much of is ads, probably because it’s so packed full of real content (tho back in those days the ads were just as much a way of finding out about music and ‘zines as anything else).
This was a cool little ‘zine, and I got a lot of tapes because of it…

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Godvomit #1

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We’re going to start off bursting out the gate with a huge 80 page monster of a ‘zine that specialized in underground hardcore and metal music with a few pages of book and movie reviews thrown in for good measure.  Some might wonder why I’m starting with such a huge but not very famous or wide-spread (compared to other underground music ‘zines of the time like Slayer, Morbid, Uniforce,  MRR, etc) ‘zine.  The answer is because I know the creator/ editor very well.  It’s me.
Godvomit issue 1 came out in 1990, after I had put out a couple of issues of another music ‘zine called Hatefilled (which has been lost to the sands of time, but was basically the same format as Godvomit but smaller and featured interviews with bands such as CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, FEARLESS IRANIANS FROM HELL, PISSED HAPPY CHILDREN, IMMOLATION, FATAL, CURRICULUM MORTIS, BACCHUS, and New Jersey’s HATRED). Godvomit got it’s name from something it says in the Bible about how God regurgitates every time a Christian follows his rules only because they are afraid of the punishment of hell if they don’t, which leads me to believe that heaven must be knee deep in God’s vomit.  It was purposely chaotic and sloppy looking as an antithesis to all the generic looking desktop publishing fanzines that were coming out at the time.
Unlike the other ‘zines I’m going to take a look at on here, I have permission to scan and post this one in it’s entirety, so I won’t go on much about it, and just let the magazine speak for itself (warts and all)…

Includes interviews with IMPETIGO, MORTICIAN, THERION, WINTER, DEAD HORSE, THE ACCUSED, DEVOID, HIDEOUS MANGLEUS, SPLATTERREAH, NUCLEAR DEATH, SOCIAL DECEIT, NECRO-SCHIZMA, DERKETA, EXIT 13, NUNSLAUGHTER,  and FUNEBRE.

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Godvomit issue #1