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NATHIAS (Malaysia)
Issue #8, April 2001
I received issue #6, #7 and #8 just couple of days before D. Legions
dateline and I don't have time to read them all. Although issue #6 (1998)
and #7 (2000) are still available but for me (after looking through the
pages), issue #8 is much better layout-wise. NATHIAS is one of Malaysia's
long running Extreme Metal underground publication and getting better every
issue. I last read issue #5 in 1997 (I think, I can't remember) but I did
not hope much to see another issue of this zine since I heard a lot of
Suffian's projects has been stopped due to career commitment, relocating,
etc. And suddenly, I received 3 issues and I am shock at first. First it is
great to know NATHIAS is still alive and secondly the first editor that sent
their zine for review! This issue is very well layout, clearly xeroxed and
he understand the limitation of a xerox publication i.e. avoiding the
background image and know the right tone when he use it. Interviews are in
the same style that I remembered, questions are long where 1 question
consists of couple of questions. Interviews are quite interesting although
the questions is just the ordinary questions about music but the band know
how to answer it well. Interviews with CIMMERIAN PATH (Lebanon), CRANIAL
TORMENT (Greece), DAWN OF APOCALYPSE (Hong Kong), DEFORMITY BR (Brazil),
DEVASTATION INSIDE (Italy), FUNERAL RITES (Japan), KORIHOR (Philippines),
KRATORNAS (Philippines), KREMATION (Malaysia), KULT OV AZAZEL (USA), MAGANE
(Japan), MOONSHINE (Korea), MYSTERIIS (Brazil), SANATORIUM (Slovakia),
SCARED (Yugoslavia), SEASONAL ABYSS (Malaysia), SWORD OF DARKNESS (Vietnam),
VINTAGE SOLEMNITY (Turkey), and VRYKOLAKAS (Singapore). 5 informative scene
reports i.e. Arab Countries, Denmark, El Salvador, Peru, and Uruguay. 2
music-oriented articles entitled 'Exposing the Selfish Gene in Metal' and
'The Problems of Power in Extreme Metal'. There are also some interviews
where Suffian put it into some column to make it interesting but honestly it
does not matter if he added them to the regular interview section. For
example in 'Rare & Exotic' has the profile on NAHUAL (Peru). The other
band in this column CRYPTIC FATE (Bangladesh). Other
'interestingly named' column 'Archipelagic Supremacy' covers the metal scene
in South East Asia region, 'International Highlight' provides updates of the
worldwide metal movement, 'Nathiasifieds' advertises metal/underground
related stuff, huge list of contact addresses in 'Hail Metal Hail',
recommended websites in 'Metal Links', and some great poems in 'Gallery Of
Poetry'. The price is RM7.00 (Malaysia) / USD4.00 (South East Asia) /
USD5.00 (Rest of the World).
4/5 |
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NATHIAS (Malaysia)
Issue #7, 2000
An old issue, which I got together
with issue #8. Layout-wise, #8 is much better but this doesn't mean #7 is
bad. Just the typography here is not as neat and as the new one. Interview
with; Via Dolorosa, Morbifik, Immolation, Reign Of Terror, Gematria,
Tristania, Godblood, Testament, Limbonic Art, Exkrement, Amon Amarth and
Sinister. Other features; (outdated) news, Peruvian scene report, poetry and
reviews (mostly with front cover artwork). The interviews are done by
several contributors so the level of 'interestingness' differ from one
another but content-wise, they are quite interesting (even reading the old
news). Beside the layout, the print quality is not top notch. Canon Bubble
Jet printer (I definitely sure he use this) sucks! This issue is still
available and a must-have for fans of NATHIAS (among Malaysian longest
running zine!).
c/o Sufian Mohamed Salleh,
No.10 Batu 20 1/2, 71500 Tanjung Ipoh, N.Sembilan, Malaysia.
nathiasmag@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/nathiasmag
3/5 |