Here's the second issue of this hardcore/grind zine out of Italy, and it's not unlike issue #1 in both size and scope. This time out things start off with a few articles - one against copyrighting and one about "the stolen generation" - and I've never been a big fan of articles or columns, so I'd be lying if I said I was glued to my seat for the first several pages. All of the band interviews are pretty good (as is the discussion with Zas! Records), though slightly short, because they tend to stray from asking typical questions (usually there are only one or two standards), so it becomes a matter of how far the band is willing to go with their answers when it comes to non-standard queries. I was interested in reading the interviews even if I was unfamiliar with the subjects, so that's very nice. But the real keeper in this issue is the huge Cripple Bastards US tour diary, which is not only lengthy and informative, but highly amusing, as the band member writing it is pissed off and not afraid to talk some shit! I love it... that's good stuff. Definitely one of the best tour diaries I've ever read, because this guy calls it exactly how he sees it. This time around there are a ton of reviews, I think 100 to be exact, which is a step up from the last issue. They still focus primarily on grindcore and hardcore in this section, with the occasional crust or metal release slipping in. It seems as though the reviewers still aren't quite critical enough, but they don't give everything overly positive reviews, and despite the brevity of much of the coverage they do care about lyrics and things of that nature, which is always a plus. There's also one page of zine reviews (most all of which are from Europe) that are a little too short, but I suppose provide just enough information to let you know if you might want to check 'em out or not. For the most part this is another good issue with room to grow. The layout is easily legible and D.I.Y., there aren't too many ads, the content is focused, etc. I'd like to see longer reviews and interviews (or at least more interviews) rather than articles, but unless they increase the number of pages they might be tight on space, as they already use a small font in order to pack in as much as they can. And I can understand that they have political issues that they want to discuss as well, so that's cool... Not bad. It's a relatively quick read, but I still think this zine has potential.
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Perro Maldito - http://www.perromaldito.cjb.net
