Dear readers,

There’s a show in the United States called “Mythbusters.” Apparently, it deals with proving or disproving various American cultural myths legends, popular beliefs, and old wives’ tales. I don’t watch the show, but my friend does. One such myth was the one that plants thrive when you talk to them or play certain forms of classical music.

So they supposedly set up a bunch of greenhouses under similar environmental conditions. They set up a greenhouse with dead silence, a greenhouse where someone spoke kindly to the plants, one where the plants were berated by a person, one where they played classical music, and one where they played “hardcore death metal,” according to my friend.

Of the plants, the ones in complete silence did the worst. The ones that were talked to lovingly did better, but just as well as the ones that were yelled and screamed at. The ones that “listened” to classical music did even better, but the ones that grew the most quickly and lushly were the ones subjected to death metal. Move over, Mozart, it’s blast beats before final exams for you college kids.

It’s issue #49 of Maelstrom Zine. We’ve got six interviews this month, with Paul Bostaph of Exodus, who discusses his cymbal set-up and his reasons for leaving Slayer; German Viking-themed metal band Thrudvangar; Norwegian extreme metal bands Bloodthorn and Minas Tirith; French black metal band Balrog; and a tech chat with Ron Vento, owner of Nighsky Studios and guitarist for Aurora Borealis.

Our review section features 90 album reviews, including why you shouldn’t buy the new Iron Maiden, and why you should buy the new Dream Evil and many others. We’ve also got a live report from an Enslaved show, and three picks from the Vault.

As of this writing, yours truly is a calendar year older. What will the next year bring me and my merry band of accomplices?

This month, we're giving away some copies of Eyes of Ligeia's black/doom record, A Fever Which Would Cling to Thee Forever. To win, be one of the first to answer the following question correctly:

Eyes of Ligeia takes its name from the titular character of an Edgar Allan Poe story. Name another Poe story named after a woman.

Good luck.

Roberto Martinelli
Maelstrom.nu
1573 Dolores St
San Francisco, CA 94110
USA