Depraved Literature part VI – Abyss Ritual 'zine, issue 5

Depraved Literature part VI – Abyss Ritual 'zine, issue 5

Authors: Tshoggua and Putrid

Origin: Colombia

Release date: winter 1996/1997

Interviews: Crimson Midwinter, Choronzon, Nordic Vision magazine, Sorhin, Herodez, Enkil / Undead Productions, Infinite Black, Mortiis, Nordlys, Strid, Full Moon Productions, Skogsposten, Sear Bliss, Golden Dawn, Into the Sunless Meridian / Shadowcaster / Night Conquers Day, Iadanamada, Iudicium

It’s been a longer while (almost two years now!!) since I did the Depraved Literature last time… but damn, I did read some zines, mainly newer ones, but simply did not have time to write about them, focusing on music releases so much. Hopefully though I will remember about this section and make some more updates of zine reviews also. Fingers crossed. Here I am presenting you a fanzine from Colombia, Ancient Ritual, released in 1997!!!

Hmm, I guess I never had a chance to read any Colombian fanzines, expect the killer Bells of Acheron, which is a newer title, with three real nice issues released in last few years. But other than that, I never saw one. So, it’s time to introduce another Colombian title from their history of zine editing; and so here is Abyss Ritual zine #5, released around 1997. Wow, an old title I know, but what a fine piece of reading it delivered! I honestly didn’t even expect high quality from it, don’t even know why, probably due to the whole primitiveness of the South American scene, but I am happy that Abyss Ritual delivered some really nice texts. I suppose the only thing, which I don’t really like about it is the poor layout, so typical for that time I know, but the editors of Abyss Ritual didn’t even try to make their zine look interesting. This is simple text machine, with typical for A5 size two columns page, with some bad quality photos thrown here and there… I guess you can compare it to some early Necroscope zine for instance. But the texts are a great advantage of Abyss Ritual #5. Just read such interview as the one with Crimson Midvinter. Woowwee, those Columbian guys have asked some truly interesting and not so usual questions and the member of the band was able to give some interesting answers also, so the result is very nice! Of course it’s always cool to read such interviews from the perspective of nearly 20 years, which have passed since they were conducted, especially as the reality and the scene has changed so much… Anyway, such chat as this one with Crimson Midvinter is a real highlight of the issue, even if the band is so little known (although they did release an album for Black Mark some time later). Check out also such chats like Choronzon, Nordic Vision magazine (also interesting from the historical point of view of the whole Norwegian black metal scene), Sorhin, Strid, Mortiis, Sear Bliss and so on… all are real cool and informative. As you can see, Abyss Ritual #5 is mainly focused on the European black metal and to some extent also on the US scene (Into the Sunless Meridian) and there’s not so much of the South American scene introduced, which can be a disappointment for some (but there’s Mexican Iadanamada interview and Colombian Mephiztophel presented in form of short bio / band article… plus also Colombian Nebiros talks very shortly about the split up)… But the quality of the writing will make it up for you, I think (it’s awesome that both editors also spoke a flawless English, something quite rare among the Latin American maniacs). Besides, there are several bands, which I’ve never heard of before (like Herodez, Into the Sunless Meridian, Nordlys, Infinite Black, etc) so this zine allowed me to find out their names as well.

I don’t know what was the future like for Abyss Ritual and if issue #5 was their last one or not… but damn, it was really cool to find scans of this old Colombian zine and read them. The scans are to be found on Asmodian Cover blog (http://ascoven.blogspot.com).

Quotations: “It is hard to describe why, but I have believed in vampires since I was young…” (Magnus Thorne / Undead Productions / Enkil)

“The most blaspheme thing I would like to do would be to knock the pope down to the ground, piss on him and laugh when he forgives me. And then I would impale the old bastard “Vlad Tepes” style!” (The Unnamed / Infinitum Black)

“I know nothing about Nazi holocaust; in every war people must die” (Torsten / Nordlys)