Voices Wake Us... "#14" magazine
[Voices Wake Us…]
As the cover proudly displays alongside a collage of record covers and a rather hilarious (and shirtless) Rob Halford, there is "now 20% more metal" in this D.I.Y. xerox cut and paste review zine of "raw punk" and "kult metal".  Don't be misled by the crude presentation, however, because this is a great little zine.  What you get are eight black and white pages for the price of a stamp, jammed with lengthy reviews of some of the latest in hardcore/punk vinyl (like many in the hardcore/punk scene, the dude behind this zine finds CD's to be an inferior format).  The best thing about these reviews, aside from the fact that they're completely honest, is that the author doesn't bullshit around with fancy words or any nonsense, he cuts to the chase and describes what the music sounds like, the recording quality, etc. all with a great sense of humor and a conversational tone that certainly hits home with me.  The reviews range from one long paragraph to as many as five or six paragraphs, and despite the fact that the guy has a major penchant for comparing bands to other bands (which is less helpful to the masses when he's pointing to more obscure material like Crow or Moment Maniacs), he does so in an excruciatingly specific fashion.  So... it doesn't just sound like Celtic Frost, it sounds particularly like "Dethroned Emperor" or "Return to the Eve" on the "Morbid Tales" record.  By far my favorite moment in this issue is the review of the self-titled EP from I Accuse!, in which a prior comparison of the band to Youth of Today is tossed off due to the fact that Youth of Today is simple "endearingly inept", whereas I Accuse! is "totally great".  Brilliant, really.  I absolutely fuckin' love that!  So... you'll get everything from Nasum and Darkthrone to Zoe and Forward.  There are also new reviews of "classic" albums for Sacramentary Abolishment's "The Distracting Stone" and Warcollapse's "Divine Intoxication", and the last page of the zine is made up of reprinted reviews of "classic" hardcore records that originally appeared on the Kill From the Heart website, which I believe were written by the same guy as the rest of the zine since they're both named Ben?  Regardless, it's nice to know that despite what anyone says, I'm not the only person on the planet who thinks that the two songs on Discharge's "Price of Silence" 7" are two of their very best ever!  Good stuff.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I love this kid's attitude, so get in touch and send him a buck or a couple of stamps to check it out for yourself. (7/10)
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Voices Wake Us… - misfitsfan@gmail.com

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