The Opening of the Mouth...

It seems fitting to compare my first blog on this site to the Egyptian preparation ritual for afterlife. In re-opening the mouths of the deceased, they appear as if they were to perform a silent scream - not dissimilar at all to current affairs.

My colleague Patrik has recently posted a blog introducing himself, and has highlighted some of the cons of running a site in demand, such as this one.
I'll add some of my opinions to the census, as from the PR/Social/Administrative side of the zine, there's very little glamour and debauchery to be found.

Firstly, no one here earns any money at all for doing this - when every day is spent working on the site (at best I'm promoting us 5-6 hours a day seven days a week), it's incredibly demotivating to see nothing but complaints made about a certain item on the site. Ok, music journalism is, and has always been about opinions, but there's a difference between expressing dissatisfaction and outright boycotting us. I've had several recruitment drives, and in each case had to re-open them within a month due to writers backtracking and dropping out. We may have people with strong opinions, but those people are keeping us alive right now. Respect them for offering their time, if not their opinions please.

Now, i'd like to give an insight for how we work here, as a few people have shown an interest. Every day, I send an e-mail out to various labels (I have 102 labels that I liaise with), and over 700 artists have been contacted by me alone this YEAR. That's right, I exhaust our supplies monthly to make sure that my staff (there are a dozen of us) don't run out of things to do. They could scout around the net and contact bands, but I do it. I go onto Bandcamp, Myspace, Youtube, (and various other sources that I'd prefer to keep secret), find unsigned bands, contact them, and get demos to review, just to give them an audience.

I've always felt that in this scene, as with any music scene, the onus should be on the upcoming - if it means we don't write about Grendel, Nachtmahr, Combichrist etc every day then so be it - I have great respect for the above acts, but we are not a zine that panders to the already successful. This takes a tremendous amount of effort, along with managing all of my staff. I'm also a homehusband looking after two kids, and I'm involved in two projects (Cortex Defect, and I'm soon to be teaming up with Michael Davis and reinvigorating the Digital Hardcore genre).

I guess I'd like to just reveal my involvement to you all - I've had downers and blocks, and recently took a month out of the site completely. That being said, I LOVE what I do, and the difference I make. I've personally gotten three bands signed this year, and one of them has taken me on as their manager - free of charge, on my insistence. If, as so many of you are happy to claim often, the scene really is dying, then let us stand up as the last bastion of hope.

Despite all the backstabbing, moaning and internal politics that comes with any smaller scene, 2012 has been without doubt the finest year in a long long time, and the amount of unbridled talent to reveal itself is almost offensive.
Recently, Bruce and Alex from Canada have launched "I Die : You Die", and I can honestly say that i'm jealous for every day I don't get to work with them. To me, they're the finest writers out there right now, and even by my high standards, I wish I could match some of their articles. On top of that, small labels like Engraved Ritual are flourishing, Deathwatch Asia are growing into an absolute Juggernaut, and sites such as Music Non Stop and Poponaut are making it easier than ever to get hold of CD originals.

It may be 'culture' for many people to pirate music these days, but I can't remember a time in the last 15 years when prospects were so high - think about your actions - we've never had it so good, and you're shooting artists in the foot at the click of a button.

Finally, We are one of a very small number of zines who are still accepting Digital promos, as well as CD. Personally, I'd rather only review CDs, but as my stance is to promote the new and unsigned, as well as smaller labels, I will happily show my solidarity and accept mp3 collections.

With that, DO NOT BRIBE ME, OR MY STAFF!. A certain nameless band have recently offered me their entire catalogue on CD to give their review a 9, instead of the 5 I drafted. This has infuriated me to the point of rage quitting. These guys are lucky I even accepted their digital album in the first place, but to ask me to lie to my loyal audience is UNACCEPTABLE. As a result, I have dropped the album. Patrik has offered to review it instead, but he will not give them the courtesy I have.

In closing, thank you all for listening and your loyalty to the site. Many of you have shown us a great deal of support, and it's nice to know that for many, this is the only site that is frequented for reviews and opinions. More great things are to follow, and as Patrik said, please give us feedback, regardless how big or small.

I've been your Co-Editor and Chief Administrator since 2011. I'll be happy to carry on giving you all what I believe to be the most thought-out, detailed, investigative and unique journalism out there.

Brutal Resonance stands for three things :

Honesty, Integrity, and Accessibility. Results may vary depending on what you read, but everyone of us genuinelly believes what we say.

Thanks to everyone who has clicked on an article here, whether by mistake or not, and looked around afterwards. The lounge is always open for you.

Nick