I always knew that Laurent was a true underground Metalhead with a massive knowledge about 80s Metal like no other… but this issue finally separates the man from the boys once and for all! Even though I have been an active tapetrader in the 80s myself, there’s lots of bands in this 20th issue of SNAKEPIT that I’ve never ever heard a single note of! You can probably blame it on the growing extreme Metal movement back then, that I was definitely more interested in checking out the newest Speed, Thrash, Black or Death Metal tape than young traditional Metal hopefuls. So, when it comes to the interviews in this issue I was only aware of SACRIFICE, Gary St Pierre (HAWAII / VICIOUS RUMORS), SLAUTER XSTROYES, OBLIVEON (6 pages!!), MERCYFUL FATE (with Kim Ruzz and Timi Grabber – 6 pages!!), HEATHENS RAGE (7 pages!!!) and part II of the in-depth Rick Rozz (MASSACRE) interview (and when I say in-depth, I definitely mean in-fuckin-depth, with no less than 11 1/2 pages!!!!). I probably have heard a song or two by COMMANDMENT, BLACKSMITH (5 pages) and LEGEND, but I gotta confess that the following acts never really made it into my tapedeck or on my record player: STREET CHILD, DARK AGE, STRATEGE, AXE BATTLER, SIGN OF THE JACKAL, WIKKA (this issue also includes a free WIKKA vinyl 7"), Rik Anthony (PATHFINDER / SAMSON / ANTHRAX – 4 pages), SQUADRON (4 1/2 pages), BREAKER (CAN – 6 pages) and most impressive of all, this issue’s cover stars: ASKA (12 unbelievable pages!!!). The thing with SNAKEPIT still is, when I mention the length of those interviews, you could easily double or tripple the number of pages since Laurent still works with a very small letter size, that the content that gets delivered is simply exceptional and certainly leaves no single question unanswered! Just like any other SNAKEPIT issue before also this one comes up with a couple of highly critical reviews, but compared to the rest of the zine it’s of course only a very small part of Laurent’s unbelievable dedicated work (6 pages this time around). As usual there’s no real points of criticism from my side, maybe just the advice to lighten up the background graphics a little bit (since texts are sometimes a bit hard to read in those areas) and to use regular font types for the introductional texts of the interviews as well, in order to make them better readable. I’m not sure if Laurent still sells any copies himself (since Nuclear War Now! took over the printing and stuff), but feel free to check out www.facebook.com/snakepit.mag for further info or email him at snakepit2@free.fr