Dear Maelstrom readers,

We’ve crept over again. Maelstrom’s late, but this time we’ev got a good excuse. The new issue is a big one. A small gang of new talent has mopped up all the overflow of promo recordings that land at our HQ, bringing our review total this month to 77. Also featured is a drum-centric chat with Peter Wildoer of Darkane, and an interview with Keith Powers of the doom band Aphotic.

Avi Shaked continues to hold up the live review section with a report from a Scorpions show in Israel, along with some smaller shows.

In staff news, Matt Smith has gotten married to his longtime girlfriend, April. Sometimes I forget about Matt’s contributions, but that’s probably because he’s the steadiest and most reliable person on the staff. He also went to one of the best journo schools in the world.

Matt is the ONLY person on the staff (other than me) who has been on board since day one, four and a half years ago, when he debuted with his review of Lamb of God’s first album. In that span, Maelstrom has had 38 writers. Since the beginning, all but of our 36 issues features his work, which to date comprises 196 reviews, five interviews and three live shows. I cherish this fact as it fills me with a great sense of nostalgia for our friendship – which began in Tokyo in 1998 – as well as all of those that Maelstrom has had over the years with writers that have come and gone and came and gone again. I hope that the day Matt quits writing for Maelstrom is the day I decide to end it. We wish Matt and April all the best with their marriage.

In our contest, This month, Flood the Earth Records has sponsored a Vinterriket grab bag featuring the latest Vinterriket album, Der letzte Winter - Der Ewigkeit entgegen, and the VInterriket/Northaunt split.
The contest question is:

How many total Vinterriket releases have there been as of July 29, 2005? This includes all formats, territorial releases, etc...

The first five who either answer the question correctly, or come as close to the correct answer will get the two CDs.

Good luck!

– Roberto Martinelli
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San Francisco, CA 94110