There’s a little tragedy mixed in with the monthly Maelstrom.nu triumph.

First, the bad news. We were super pumped to unveil our chat with producer extraordinaire Andy Sneap in this issue, but... the file has disappeared from our hard drive. Luckily, we can re-transcribe. Oh, the pain.

Luckily, our staffer Larissa Glasser saved the day with a truly outstanding spotlight on a metal sort-of musician, Brendon Small, of DethKlok fame. Who’s DethKlok? Watch “Adult Swim” or read our interview to find out.

But any good zine worth its salt is about the album reviews. And we’ve got 98 of them, as usual honest and with the best interests of you, the consumer, in mind. Also featured is a live show review and a From the Vault Pick.

This month, we're giving away some copies of ENSLAVED's new album, Ruun. To win, correctly answer the following question in a timely manner.

Who on Ruun remains as a founding member of Enslaved?

good luck!

– Roberto Martinelli

----Original Message Follows----
From: kevin <funeralgrave@yahoo.com>
To: giorgio75@hotmail.com
Subject: Bolt Thrower interview
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 08:59:22 -0700 (PDT)

Dude,
what happened to the Bolt Thrower interview? I was
told the actual interview was much longer and more
importantly detailed.
Bolt Thrower is one of the few bands which have stood
the test of time amongst all the other bullshit bands
out there. It was uncool to have trimmed down the
interview to only a few paragraphs. So many people
were looking forward to that interview only to be let
down when it actually hit print.

www.gravewurm.com

www.myspace.com/gravewurm

Dear Kevin,

You’re not nearly as bummed out as we were. We had a full interview with probing questions that cut to the bone. Since it was by email, there was nothing we could do about Karl Willetts deciding to answer only certain ones. That’s why the live-er the interview is, the better it is.

But take heart, you can still read our unadulterated, uncensored Bolt Thrower interview from 2002 with Gavin Ward. Look for it in our search engine.

----Original Message Follows----
From: Mladen Skot <mladen666@vip.hr>
To: <roma@maelstrom.nu>
Subject: Forum talk
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 16:22:10 +0200

Hi Roberto
I'm a 31-year old Metallectual from Croatia who has bought his first real computer a couple of months ago. As I was looking for some Darkthrone interviews I downloaded one from Maelstrom site and (luckily) bookmarked the page so one day not so long ago I went to see what was it that I have bookmarked and WOW. This is just what I've been looking for!

It's hard (and expensive I might add) to get Metal - related magazines here though I have a pen pal in Northern Ireland who used to send me Terrorizers, Hammers etc after he had read them... until he lost his job, just like me. So, I was outta news for a couple of years (except for a badly written Croatian mag) and lo here they are. The interviews are very well written and from a fan perspective (sort of like the Metal Maniacs ones) and reviews are not exactly Terrorizer-quality but not of Kerrang-quality either - anyway they too are well written, sometimes funny and from reading them I can tell whether I'd like the album or not and that's the only thing that matters. Well, not exactly to me because with all the bootleg mp3s exchanging here I'll probably be getting the album first and then trying to find out something about it BUT if and when I do have a choice I'll know what to grab. Yes, I know mp3 is illegal but when I get a job I'll be buying CDs again... where was I?

Ah here. I have an ordinary internet connection but after I checked the first 50 pages of the issue I downloaded I went back and downloaded all of them (except for numbers 1, 12 and 17 - why are they inaccessible?) so now I have a nice Metal reference library. Though I don't agree with some reviews (ie Rotting Christ) I find it quite hard to believe that you're an...
a) American and
b) a drummer
...you must have had a serious trauma sometime in your life to get you on this path >:-)

Forum? Why not, if someone likes your 'zine then he or she probably knows something about the music as well so this probably wouldn't end up being one of those "what did you eat today" or "how much did you drink last night" type forums. BUT it wouldn't be a good idea to add comments at the ends of the reviews because that would mean too much to download, skip, erase etc. Just create a standard forum-dedicated space and I'll know where to find it. Huh look at me - sorry to bother you this long. I better go pick one of my 1288 albums and see what's new in this issue...
Cheers

Mladen

Hi, Mladen

Thanks for your mail. I'm also forwarding it to the Maelstrom staff so they can enjoy your comments.

First off, I was concerned about your not being able to see those three specific issues. I checked them and they worked out for me with no problem. Please re-try going to Archives--> Previous Issues--> Issue 1, 12, 17. Issue 12 is an especially great one as it features our chat with Bathory.

I must take you to task about not being as good as Terrorizer. Although we can't touch that mag's presentation, I think we're better in terms of coherence and coverage. Yes, Terrorizer razzle dazzles you with impressive vocabulary and interesting angular writing that is indeed talented. But at the end of it all, you read a review that, if it weren't for the number rating, will often leave you wondering, "so, is the album good, or not?" It can often seem like nerdy, erudite showing off at the expense of supplying valuable information. At least, that's how I feel.

Now, I have to know more about your sense of mystery of my putting out Maelstrom in connection with being an American drummer.

regards,

Roberto Martinelli
Maelstrom Zine (http://www.maelstrom.nu)
1573 Dolores St.
San Francisco, CA 94110 USA