The two editors of Metal Horde fanzine, namely Nuno and Inês, bring out a new issue every year, which nowadays, in the borderless world of the internet, is considered a very nice achievement. Number 26 has 68 black & white pages and, as I can see, was reproduced with a low-resolution printer or a risograph. Thus the graphic elements, photos and texts are also of rather poor quality, which is not such a big problem, of course, in 2020 this could have been done better. From the content, the following interviews were included in this issue: Basalto, Cathartes Aura, Paganfire, Toxaemia, Terozin, Corpsefjord, Paradox, Luvart, Undead and Repulsive Vision. What I really like is that it is full of not only CD reviews, but also many fanzine reviews (I counted 27), which is quite rare these days within the columns of underground 'zines, plus there are also three book reviews. In other words, if the visual quality is not, but the content turned out to be very interesting. The A5 issue is entirely in English and was even published in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that the 'zine originated in Portugal. I don't know if this number is still available, but I highly recommend it in terms of content. This is an underground publication exclusively created for the underground metal music fans! That's it, enjoy!

The 27th number of Metal Horde 'zine is the first really high-quality issue, printed on silk paper, and I don't need to say how much this increases the quality of the already familiar design. In this issue of the A5 format 'zine, written entirely in English, you can find the following interviews: Grief Collector, Writhing, Maestus, Vrag/WitcheR, Amken, Gorod, Nuclear Warfare, Nekromant, Wayward Dawn, Askö, Autopsy, Lady Beast, October Falls, Megaton Sword, Vectis, Bleed This Earth & Orthodoxy. These are well-structured interviews, with exciting questions and, of course, good answers from the hordes mentioned above. The photos are of high quality and the text part is easy to read. You can also find many vinyl, 'zine, CD and tape reviews in the 68-page issue. The given fanzine, as befits the underground publications, concentrates to the maximum on bands that are hard to come across in bigger magazines. That's what makes it good and what makes it 100% underground, but I think anyone who reads this really understands that. So, a word like a hundred, this is a highly recommended reading!!! Order now, while you can...

The latest 28th issue also symbolizes the 15th year of Metal Horde Fanzine's existence, which testifies not only to the perseverance of the editors, but also to their commitment to the underground. The 'zine originally comes from Portugal, but the latter issues have already been published in the United Kingdom. The parameters of the current issue are as follows: A5 format, 80 pages, English-written, professional black-and-white offset printing. The content is very well developed and reflects the true underground attitude, which I think is quite rare these days. In short, it was a good feeling not only to read, but also to flip through the new issue of Metal Horde 'zine, which featured the following interviews: All Against, Cogas, Halter, Fatal Underground 'zine, Jade, Sarkasm, Imago Mortis, Scordatura, Nordicwinter/Kalseroth/Sinistral Doom and Black Flare. The interviews are interesting and mostly quite informative, as are the reviews of the following underground products: CDs, 'zines & tapes. I counted 125 in total. The design is also true to the spirit of the underground, the font is easy to read, neither too small nor too big. There are also a few pages of advertisements, mostly related to concerts and underground releases. I can only recommend this flawless underground publication. Order from one of the addresses below, because it's worth it, that's for sure!!!

The next mini fanzine, so to speak, comes from the creators of Metal Horde and fills the gap between issues 28 and 29. In this second edition you can read the following interviews: Svet (atmospheric black metal from Greece), The Peregrine (progressive/post black metal from Australia), Rage and Fire (heavy metal from Portugal), Korseld (doom/death metal from Sweden), Buried by Lava (heavy metal from Portugal), Tomb of Minerva (death metal from the US) and Warsarius (symphonic death metal from Georgia). In addition, you can find many short but pretty interesting bios of maximally underground bands there. All this on 20 printed black and white pages, in A5 format and with the design Metal Horde is known for. As I understand it, the New-Born Patrol publications are distributed as a kind of bonus with the current number of Metal Horde 'zine. Thus, the second issue was limited to 50 copies. It's not a great throw in terms of quality, but it goes as a bonus, so no more complaints. If you see your favorite band among those mentioned, then feel free to ask the Metal Horde crew on how to get this number.

And voila, as they promised earlier, the 9th issue arrives in connection with the fanzine's 10-year anniversary. The high-quality publication in A4 format contains 154 pages with the usual visual design, in black and white mode. This time interviews were made with: Brygmus, Cadaveric Possession, Attila Csihar (Tormentor, Mayhem, Plasma Pool, Void ov Voices, Hiedelem, Saturnus Productions, etc.), Cryptworm, Diabolizer (Throneum, Hell-Born, Mordhell, Moloch Letalis, Distres, Zmora, Worship Him fanzine and many more), Diecold, Fadheit, Gargoyle, God's Funeral, Her Highness, Humanoise, Impure Declaration, Nagy Károly Róbert aka MirrMurr, Mistcavern, Moroii fanzine, Necroratory, Paediatrician, Putrid Cult, Satan's Cross, Unpure Records, Sanguinary Misanthropia & Mörbid Carnage. All these chats were conducted precisely, but somehow two of them stood out to me in particular, the one with Attila Csihar (it contains many facts, details, future plans and the interview itself is 15 pages long) and the other with MirrMurr (a Hungarian metal fan, collector, previously participated in the Otomicosis fanzine). Of course, the other interviews are interesting reading as well, plus there are plenty of reviews of vinyl, cassettes and CDs, so you won't be bored, that's for sure. What else? Well, a few articles about live rituals, label advices for underground warriors and four pages about different coffees. The latter was an unexpected topic in a fanzine, but it turned out well in the end, ha-ha... Obviously, it's all in Hungarian, as we were used to before, spiced up with black humor here and there. It's a great anniversary issue, but I can't wait for the next one!!!

"Залізні артефакти українського року. 1991 – 2021" is the title of Igor Simonenko's new book. It's an informative publication dedicated to the recordings of Ukrainian hard rock/metal artists made during the first 30 years of independence. This is a huge 424-page A5 format book with premium quality hardcover with silver hot foil printing. The book begins with a three-page preface and three-and-a-half pages of how to read this book or how to deal with the information it contains. As it is written there, this is not an encyclopedia in its traditional form, since it mostly focuses on those recordings that left a mark in the history of Ukrainian hard rock/metal music. I counted 1409 bands, but of course I may have been a little wrong during the counting, as I had to flip through too many pages, ha-ha-ha... Needless to say, this book doesn't include all bands and releases, but it was still a lot of work to review the work of so many bands. Sometimes the author only writes 2 sentences about a particular band, sometimes 20-30 sentences, I think it mainly depended on what he actually knew about the band, so no complaints about that. I found a lot of mistakes and misinformation while reading, but most of them are not necessarily the author's fault, since it is impossible for him to own all the physical materials of the given amount of bands or to keep them in mind. For example, some of the errors and fake releases were simply copied from online databases such as Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives and Discogs. Unfortunately, nowadays it is too easy to supply the environment with false information, which is why there are materials in the book with incorrect release dates, or for example, information about its format, or the material itself was not published at the time, but this fact was later falsified in this regard. In short, it is very difficult to compile such a book flawlessly by yourself, and unfortunately I have to agree with that. In spite of all these, this publication is honestly pretty cool! I mean, if you can do it better, let's see! Many thanks to Igor for his great and persistent work towards the Ukrainian extreme music scene! I think it goes without saying that the book is written in Ukrainian, but I'll mention it just in case. Attention, this book contains no illustrations inside, only text! A total of 500 copies were printed, so if you're interested, you'd better hurry and get your own!!!