September 04, 2010

The long silence is finally over! SLAYER MAGAZINE # 20 ("Blood Fire Death") is coming soon! On 100 pages it will feature a lot of sadistkly exekuted artwork and personal photos as well as interviews and articles with WATAIN, MORBID, WHIPLASH (Tony Scaglione), BATHORY (several interviews and reviews in a somewhat big tribute feature), 666, SADUS, KREATOR, SAVAGE THRUST, MEDIEVAL, INVIDIOUS, DEATHRASH, OBSCURITY, NOCTURNAL GRAVES, SADISTIK EXEKUTION, SUNNO)), GROTESQUE, MASTER’S HAMMER, DESTROYER 666, PAGAN ALTAR, STRID, JARBOE, FUNERAL MIST and NIFELHEIM as well as other more or less familiar features. It also contains a A2 poster of Jon Nødtveidt (with the actual cover for SLAYER # 20 on the reverse side) and a mini LP by Swedish legends MORBID, entitled "Ancient Morbidity". Here’s a statement from the band concerning the tracks on this 12" (the whole interview is featured in SLAYER MAGAZINE # 20): "We wanted to offer something special to SLAYER MAGAZINE of course, so we dug deep into closets to get stuff that has never been released before – and pulled out some raw early stuff. ‘Tragic Dream’ was a weird lullaby-esque track that Dead liked a lot, I think it was one of those things that Gehenna came up with when he was drunk and Dead then bugged him remember the riffs when he was sober. ‘Tragic Dream’ was later on used as an intro to ‘Disgusting Semla’, but originally it was used as a beginning to ‘From The Dark’. The track ‘From The Dark’ went through many many different arrangements, and all four guitarists contributed to it various ways. It proved very difficult to arrange, and one member even claim it should have been divided into three songs! This is an early recording, and as such it differs quite a lot from later versions. This version of ‘Wings Of Funeral’ predates the contributions later made by Napoleon Pukes, such as the guitar intro to the track that was added on "December Moon". The live track ‘Necrodead’ is taken from the very first gig (Ultrahuset – April 26, 1987), it is an encore version that never has been released and that will never be released anywhere else but through this SLAYER MAGAZINE release… The 12" is finished off with some true words spoken by the one and only Dead. It is taken from a SCAPEGOAT recording done by Dead and Gehenna – presumably in the bed room or something, (SCAPEGOAT later turned into MORBID) and is most likely recorded in ’85. The front cover is a slightly altered version of Dead’s suggestion for cover for the reunion 7" that was planned to be recorded upon his return in ’91. The back of the cover is Dead’s poster for the cancelled reunion gig, that Dead and I tried to pull together in ’89. Both back and front have been skillfully retouched by Erik Danielsson. The insert has the original art work by Dead." Erik Danielsson not only did the the design of the MORBID 12" but also the front and back design of SLAYER # 20 as well as contributing several written pieces. There are 2000 copies made of the whole package so there are no limited releases or die hard versions. All previous issues are completely sold out. Nuclear War Now exclusively handles the distribution, so check out www.nwnprod.com for further information. No copies will be sold through Metalion directly.