What a big improvement! Can’t exactly recall which the last MYSTICAL MUSIC issue was that I got my hands on, but it seems that editor Ralf has worked really hard ever since those days in order to make it look more attractive, without loosing the original underground charme of his zine. I still remember that in the older issues there were (almost) no columns and the text was simply written from left to right on each page, like in books, letters or whatever. That’s luckily gone now and (apart from the visual plus) makes it a lot easier to read. Also gone is the use of several different font types, which is another plus (also for a better reading) and an improved, yet totally old school underground layout (with sick artwork, borders, skulls etc.). Apart from all that the zine has stayed the same though, which means you still get a very basic b/w looking zine in the tradition of very early Remains (or even Voices…) issues, a style of zines which unfortunately has totally disappeared these days. The contents is of course always a very personal matter as everyone likes / dislikes completely different bands / artists. MYSTICAL MUSIC # 8 at least made me happy as it has (a.o.) cool features on GRAVE, INCANTATION, DEMIGOD, MONSTROSITY, IMMERSED IN BLOOD, SCURVY / REPUGNANT and Thomas "Necromaniac" Westphal as opposed to Ralf’s usual Melodic Death Metal worshipping ; -) Lots of reviews as well as a cool Dragon Design cover artwork complete the picture and easily justify the requested 3,-Euro (ppd. in Germany) / 3,50Euro (rest of the world). But beware: it’s completely written in German! Contact and further info: Ralf Hauber, Emerlandweg 11, 73529 Strassdorf, Germany, hauber@immortalrites.de, www.geocities.com/mysticalmusic_2002