I have to say that I’m very proud to debut in the zine reviewing task exactly with such a historical and brutal zine, totally loyal to the spirit of the underground like this Necroscope! After all, this zine has been active for more than 20 years without any pause, something really admirable in our world! I’ve always loved print zines and they have been my main source of information on the scene since 1988, so it’s a great honor to write about the theme here, and much more when I saw this was a classic photocopied stuff.

The edition #29 brings a lot of interviews with true underground bands such as Glutony (Swe), Satanica (Ita), Whipstriker (Bra), Drowned (Ger), Kratherion (Chi) and several other. What called my attention is that the bands the editor chooses to interview are the ones he likes. He is not worried about the band being known or if it has lots of releases, because his criterion is pretty simple: if he likes the band, it is there on the pages of Necroscope. This is good for the readers, since we can have access to some unknown bands that other fanzines sometimes forget to interview, as if only the bigger bands had something to say. So, this a very positive point about Necroscope. The next edition, #30, is even better than the previous one, especially because it marks its anniversary, delivering excellent interviews with Moloch Letalis (Pol), Terrorhammer, Morbid Vomit (Fin), Slaughtbbath (Chi), Atomik Destruktor (Por) and so on.

Other features which got my attention were the old school artwork, all in black and white, as well as the big amount of reviews, also dedicated to several unknown bands, just the way I like it. I found even some totally underground Brazilian bands which are not known in Brazil! I also loved the Polish Hell section, which is very complete and brings many new bands, as well as a few interviews with some of them, although it’s not present in the last Necroscope edition. Another excellent section is Pearls from the Abyss, which is something I always dreamed to do. It talks about tons of old underground gems which can not be forgotten, simply because they deserve to be remembered by the younger generations. It’s a real history class, mainly based on archaeology, since he really digs up the deepest underworld to find incredibly hidden treasures in the graves of the past. Simply great!

However, the highlights are the inserted CDs that come with both editions of the zine – and both are from live gigs held in Warsaw and I was doubly blown by them, first because of the quality of the stuff and, second, for the excellent choice of the bands. In # 29, we have Empheris (“Ye Olde Varsovia – Live 2015”), a Polish black metal band that I didn’t know so far, but found absurdly astonishing, and in # 30, the chosen group is the Brazilian Headhunter DC (“Death Kurwa!- Live in Warsaw 2013), a legendary death metal band whose members I know since many, many years ago. Indeed, some of them I first got in touch with circa 1988 or 1989! So, even if you don’t know them, you should imagine the respect these guys have gained around the world, especially considering that they have been active since 1987, with no break at all!

Taking into account that Necroscope never stopped during 22 years, Headhunter seems to be very appropriate to celebrate the jubilee with purely true death metal. I can’t hide from you that it’s very good to see a band like this, whose birth I almost saw, featuring a Polish zine. As for Empheris, their members are also on the road since the 90’s in other bands, showing a lot of experience in the music scene. So, the message that these three – Headhunter, Empheris and Necroscope itsel – send here is that persistence and dedication must be the pillars of a band, label or zine which wants to bear a respectful name in the underground. Great stuff, for sure!

Cristiano Passos