It’s great to see that there’s still some old school print zines out there, especially in times like these, when everything else seems to be so incredibly fucked up and heavily pushed into a completely digitalized world. Yeah, I know that Voices From The Darkside is also part of that fucked up world for several years already, but that doesn’t mean, that I have lost my enthusiasm for zines like the Lima, Peru located PAINLESS, which was totally new to me. Editor Mauricio Garcia Castro, who does everything on his own, seems to be a true underground warrior for several years already and his zine also must have been around for a while by now, considering that this new (third) issue was released no less than seven years after its predecessor. Unfortunately I never saw any of his previous issues, but the overall quality of this new one definitely impressed me right away. Despite its content and country of origin, PAINLESS almost looks like a professional magazine. It’s got a glossy black and white cover (featuring a killer logo and artwork) and overall a great layout. The printing quality is also above the average and there’s nothing to complain about, when it comes to certain parts that in other zines are often hard to read, because of too dark background graphics or the use of stupid fonts that just look like shit… or something like that. All those mistakes luckily haven’t been made in PAINLESS # 3. Everything is definitely done with a lot of taste, but there’s still pure underground sweat dropping from every single page. And if you have a look at the bands, that got interviewed this time, you’ll easily notice, that this is by no means a zine for the trendy Wacken Festival audience: ARKHON, AUTOPHAGY, BEGRÄBNIS, BLASPHEMOUS DIVISION, CALIGULA, EVIL DAMN, FETID, GRAFVITNIR, IMPURE, INSANITY CULT, KATARI, KURNUGIA, NARCOLEPSY, PAGANFIRE, PODRIDAO, PROFESSUS ABOMINARI, PUTREFIANCE, RETCH, SARTEGOS, SPECTRUM MORTIS, THY DOMINION, VERTHEBRAL and the last interview with former SHUB NIGGURATH vocalist José Arturo Álvarez Sánchez (also known as Transcosmic Blasphemizer or Hongo), who sadly passed away at the end of 2019. I also like the idea to spread the approximately 60 reviews across the whole magazine in four different sections (tapes, CDs, vinyl and fanzines), instead of presenting them all together. Usually I could easily live without posters (blame that on my age), but since the included one of Thailand’s Black Metal cult SURRENDER OF DIVINITY is meant to be a tribute to their former vocalist / bass player Avaejee (who was stabbed to death in early 2014), I think it’s a nice idea, no matter what. Ok, to sum it up again, short and painless (did you notice the play on words?): PAINLESS is a highly recommended zine that you definitely shouldn’t miss out on! So, if you tasted blood now (which I suppose you did!), contact Mauricio for prices (including individual postage rates) or ask him for a list of distributors (you might be able to purchase a copy through one of them in your own country a bit easier): painlesszine@hotmail.com