SCRIPTORIUM Zine #16 review

SCRIPTORIUM Zine #16 (Cuba)
August 2008
38 pages A4 Spanish written
Cuba is not the best place in terms of freedom of speech however some people manage to cover their musical passion and support the underground worldwide scene as well. Alexander, the editor, has a wide taste in metal and he supports foreign bands but also those from Cuba; yes there is an existing scene out there.
Well the major trouble for me is that my spanish is quite limited so I sadly can't read through the zine properly and that sucks because there are some nice reading I think. In those pages you can read about some mainstream stuff like SEPULTURA (interview and article),GOD FORBID or EPICA (do they have really their place in this publication?), some more underground stuff like BLOODY SIGN, MODER, SEPSISM and more interesting are the chats with Cubean bands like CONGREGATION, AKUPUNKTURA , QUANTUM, POSTMORTEM (short presentation for these two lasts), Cuba Metal Webzine and Brutal Beatdown Records.
You can find very few reviews at the end of the zine, (8 reviews) that's the weak point according to me, I personally would have read about Cuban bands instead of shit like CUBENSIS (from France).
Articles about drummers in Cuba, about censorship, about the band MEDULA can be found as well as a report from Brutal fest in La Habana.
The whole lay-out is computerized with clear and spaced set-up, sometimes a bit lacking of atrocities visually speaking but I guess Alexander would get into troubles adding horror, gore or sexually explicit content.
A nice zine and an obvious way to promote your band/zine/label in Cuba.
Contact: Alexander Sanchez Salazar – Apartado 14083 cp. 11400 – Mnao. 14 C. Habana CUBA scriptorium@gmail.com