Fuck yeah! Lamentations of the Flame Princess is back in action as a regular old zine, you know, it comes free when you order from distros or you can order it for really cheap and stuff like that! No more tiny weekly newsletters! Awesome. Of course, there has been another change, it's not back to its massive old newsprint self, instead opting for a compact half-sized xerox format, but that's better than nothing, so welcome back! This issue is no great change: The interviews are still very long, the reviews are still finicky, the layout still basic, the editorial content still amusing, and so on. But I've always liked Lamentations of the Flame Princess basically exactly how it is, so any changes I would make would be very minor. Aside from the interviews, this issue features a great little intro that includes The LotFP Metal Genre Guide ("Technothrash - Thrash metal that you can really dance to, like Mordred.") and the LotFP Glossary of Terms ("Diddly-Doo (noun): Guitar lead/solo work with so many notes that it sounds like a laser fight."), both of which are pretty damn hilarious if you ask me. The interviews are typically in-depth and stray from any bland standard questions, and the Pharaoh interview is an enormous nine pages! Not only does the interviewee talk at length about Pharaoh, but also his former stint as a writer for Metal Maniacs, etc. Of course, I disagree with some of the points discussed (sorry, the Pharaoh record is boring as shit, and Tim Aymar's vocals are not by any stretch better on the Pharaoh record than they were with Control Denied), but it's still an incredible interview. The other discussions are great as well, always keeping me interested even if don't know about or dislike the band being interrogated. As for the reviews section, my only complaint is that each review is prefaced by the logo of the band being reviewed. This is a problem for two reasons: 1. It looks like crap - cropping band logos down to tiny sizes and clipping them onto a white background almost never looks right, and 2. It's a waste of space - dump all of those logos for the tiny font used elsewhere and you could likely fit in a good five or so more reviews. It's no big deal, but it is something to consider. Want to know how critical the reviews are? I'll cite this fucking classic line from the review of Darkthrone's "Hate Them": "'Hate Them' was recorded and mixed in 26 hours, December 2002 in Pan Lydstudio. 'Hate Them' was also listened to for exactly 38:30 (just in case, you understand) on April 11, 2003, and never again..." That's some comedic mastery right there. Most of the other reviews are serious and more productive in their criticisms, but such a bitter tongue is more than welcome when the writer feels it necessary. Good work. I can't wait to see more new issues!
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Lamentations of the Flame Princess - http://www.lotfp.com
