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E d i t o r i a l
This editorial is about most people's attitude towards ABM. Ocassionaly I am in a chat room on America On-Line called "Unholy Metal". Usually it is nothing but rants and raves about what is "Metal", "this is gay", "your gay", etc. It might be humorous a couple of times but it gets old, quick. One night I was in this chat rooms discussing some USBM music with some of the regulars in this room, when some pompous person asked me "Why do you spend time on a zine about USBM?, There is no American Black Metal..." Usually I ignore people on the computer since it is, after all, a computer chat room. The reason I decided to write the editorial about these comments though, is because many other people echo his feelings as well.

I told him the reason that I write this 'Zine is to try and unite some great music that we have here on our own shores. I said to him that there are tons of American Black Metal bands and it's a shame he can knock his own scene and he does not even know about it. Then I was asked " Name me a well known American Black Metal band then." I named him ABSU. Since they have been around a good amount of time, put out many releases, and have done many shows in Europe. Most people I have talked to don't even realize ABSU is from the U.S.! He then replied the profound statement "They suck". I then said "Well you asked me to name a well known ABM band, obviously if you think they suck you must have heard them before!" Obviously he did not even read his question right. From this point onward I knew he would not have any substance to his opinions/statements. I was then asked "Well if there is a scene in America, why have I never heard anything about it?" Then I said, "Well, maybe because you need to get your face out of Europe's ass to see what is going around in your own country for Black Metal!"

There are multiple reasons, in my opinion, why the scene is not to the same strength as Europe. First it has to do with geogrpahic location, and how this country is. I write this 'zine mainly to focus on the entire ABM scene but also my home state as well, Pennsylvania. Most of the states in this country are the size of European countries. So putting that into perspective, each individual state as a whole does have a strong scene, where bands help eachother out...for example PA, TX, and CA. Of course a band such as BLOODSTORM from PA would not have the chance, or money to play shows often with say THORNSPAWN in TX or NOCTUARY in CA. The distance is just so great, about 3000 miles. That is like ABRUPTUM trying to do shows with SIGH. It just won't happen, maybe once a year for fests and thats about it. Of course the internet helps out a lot, but it is not the same as members from 10 diffrent well know ABM bands hanging out at the same local bar every friday night, as they have in Norway. Obviosuly when you have that you can form a strength and a comradiere with each other, and do shows very easily. Most Europeans focus on the U.S. as a whole of course, and don't understand how big this country really is. For me to drive from Philadelphia, PA to Erie, PA it is at least 8 hours. That is just one state! So location does have a lot to do with it.

Another reason, I believe, is because we really have no solid base for metal here. Metal is huge in Europe as I am sure most of you know, and of course when Death and Black metalheads from our country see bands like SLIPKNOT, KORN, and STAIND advertised as "Extreme Metal", I don't blame them for looking to Europe for the true extreme metal scene, but most then automatically think our scene sucks, and that is just ignorance. I have a friend from Germany, and she tells me that even young children know who bands like MARDUK and EMPEROR are. Here we have rock stations mostly, not even metal stations. They sometimes have a program on once a week, if that, from say 12am-2am with some decent metal bands. That will do nothing to help the scene really. Some college stations do play extreme metal and that is great, but the radius of what radio's that station can reach is usually small. I am glad though, that our scene is not commercialized like it is in Europe. We all know how bad the U.S. can rape an art/music form. To me it is more personal and magical to have the majority of USBM bands "in the dark". Not to say it wouldn't be nice to have them recognized worldwide, but you know what I am getting at. The discussion I had with our friend here just then led to bickering and belittling, eventually he told me that he was from Europe. To think...someone from another country telling us how OUR scene is? Yes, it's true. It happens all the time.

I really want to hear what some of you have to say about this. Agree or disagree, it is something that is pertainent to the scene, so don't hesitate to write or email me. Thanks for hearing me out with this, and as always...HAIL USBM!!!

Sedit