Unrestrained!
#2 (3150 Spring Creek Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario, L5N-4S2, Canada) $2.50
by Scott Hefflon
In only two issues, Unrestrained! has got me hooked. In a nutshell, they cover heavy/aggressive/grind/ death/doom/whatever music and do it with few holds barred. Being Canadian-based (though distributed everywhere), Unrestrained! pays closer attention to Canadian heavy music than most publications. That may be a blessing to some and a waste of paper to others, but at least they know their focus. Unrestrained! seems to give all sub-genres a fair shake, ripping apart one band and hailing another as Satan’s gift to man. For this reason, I greatly enjoy their review section. Both of their issues list releases alphabetically, offer short, concise reviews with both information and opinion, and while I personally disagree with about 25% of it, they at least have the courtesy to back up what they say. If they like something, they’ll describe it and cross-reference it to other releases of note (always a good way to get turned on to new bands). If they hate it, they’ll pick it apart citing specific inexcusable faults of the release or band. As for the features, I happen to be of the opinion that most bands have little interesting to say in the first place, and it takes slavish editing to separate the profound from the standard drivel. Whether it’s boring, stock answers to boring, stock questions or one of the two just isn’t willing to throw caution to the wind and say some deep shit, most interviews with extreme music bands bore the piss out me. In any magazine. Including my own. But to end on a good note, the review section of Unrestrained! is informative, trustworthy, and interesting. They also include a few demo reviews, live reviews, and ‘zine reviews. You can tell a lot about a ‘zine by the way they review ‘zines. Essentially, they liked us (meaning they took the trouble to discern some method beneath the madness), were fair, descriptive, yet not gushing over a ‘zine called Bite Me! who slagged the shit outta us (meaning they missed the joke), and they loved The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds (a fellow metal-based ‘zine outta Jersey whose schtick is interviewing in preposterous olde English, calling pretty much everyone a fag, and running contests so suburban metal chicks will submit photos of themselves wearing ridiculous and skimpy clothing). In other words, Unrestrained! knows what they’re talking about in the wide world of heaviness, plus they have a sense of humor about themselves, the genre, and this completely nonsensical world in which we live.
