I came across this rather new zine from Sweden pretty much by accident. Editor Jesper contacted me about the possibility of a feature on VOICES FROM THE DARKSIDE a while ago, which I agreed on and the result ended up in this issue… I wasn’t aware of DEADBANGER # 1, but as soon as I had pulled # 2 out of the envelope I knew that this way gonna be a feast for everyone into old school Death / Thrash right away as the entire look already reflects that very well. DEADBANGER is one of those zines that still keep the fire of the underground burning, recalling the days when a fanzine was still a fanzine (and not a high glossy, perfectly layouted and printed mag), compiled by mostly still very young, fanatic music maniacs long time before the mainstream took over and destroyed a lot of all that. When going through such zines I always feel reminded on the original Punk scene (because of their similar rebellious, chaotic, yet totally dedicated nature). Content wise you get features on FLESH, ANOINTED, INCINERATOR, KATALYSATOR, DECEIVER as well as a HELLHAMMER biography and a bunch of reviews (all of this unfortunately written in Swedish). Surprisingly there’s also some stuff in English included (TRENCH HELL, THRONEUM, NOCTURNAL GRAVES and BACKYARD MORTUARY), which I found a little bit confusing, but definitely the better way to continue on with. Of course there’s still various aspects about DEADBANGER that could be improved, but on the other hand it’s entertaining the way it is and most important of all: ridiculously cheap (1,- Euro / 20 Swedish Krona)!!! You can order a sample copy from Jesper Ahl, Termometergatan 33, 72350 Västeras, Sweden, metaljeppe@hotmail.com