Z.A.S.T. Zine

 oh this is a good one. delicately named zombie anal sex terror, this was the old school cut and paste style fanzine from none other than mortiis. he managed to get two editions out before the whole murders and arson stuff went down in norway and his parents basically got rid off everything connected in fear of getting involved with the police, i suppose. 

but at least we have these two! and i cannot thank cult never dies enough for publishing those. it would be such a shame to not have those around! first of all, mortiis made the most hilarious questions ever to the bands. i could not contain the laughter, chuckles and the occasional absolute what the fuck face. because some of those sound like straight from fear and loathing in las vegas. xD absolutely silly stuff, and i love it!

there you have the stark contrast between some oh so serious black metal bands (back then all of them were still death and thrash, basically, before the scene diversified) and then.. håvard!! haha! i must say i enjoyed this immensely, most of all the fanzines i have read about that era. also he included a huge scene report of finland, and boy, did i enjoy that. was so great to read about so many known names. 

so yea.. go buy this! you shall not regret it :D 

Batushka

 what can i say here.. i have seen batushka before and i loved them very much. back then they had only yekteniya out, they played that and left. it was short but fantastic. then after that the band split up after some disputes and quarrels. i admit i did not give them much attention back then because i wasn't sure which side i should be on, haha!

so now after some years, albums from both batushka camps, they would visit athens again. and i decided a bit last minute to go. oh what a great decision! this time they played 1,5 hours and the whole show was a treat for ears, eyes and the soul, haha. it was like a true liturgy, the dark and black metal kind of course.

the background singers were superb. for me they made the huge difference. you felt like truly inside a orthodox church, during unholy mass. what a fantastic sound, the notes vibrating through your body, almost like a meditation, a trance, a ritualistic instinct.. and then the guitars crash in and knock you out, the priest's screams and howls, his slow deliberate movements to light candled, show icons.. perfection. 

batushka have made this into a very distinct art form and have given the whole stage show much thought. it is a fantastic experience and i am very glad i went to see them.