The founder of CoC has seen a lot in the 10+ years since the inception of this magazine. Being a 30 year old software engineer working ungodly hours usually doesn't afford Gino the luxury of much free time. As a result, his contributions to the magazine focus more on administration and leadership as opposed to trying to keep up with CoC's incredible cadre of talented writers. Gino's musical interests are varied and diverse. Given his sole criterion of originality, his tastes span a wide spectrum. To name a microscopic sample, Gino regularly listens to Absu, Judas Priest, Gorgoroth, The Future Sound of London, Carcass, Bob Dylan, Darkthrone, Bob Marley and Drudkh. The past 10 years have seen many changes in Gino's life. From starting Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto through to graduating. From getting married and leaving Toronto to settle on the seacoast of New Hampshire working for a start up company to leaving that company to join the sales organization of another wildly successful software company. Through it all, the one constant has been CoC and its unwavering commitment to quality and longevity.

December soul, born three decades ago. Spellbound by music, Pedro was the first European contributor to be brought through the gateways of CoC, back in January 1997. In addition to his work as reviewer and co-editor, he implemented the engine behind this website; a gallery of living chaos...

Chris Flaaten, '78, has recently completed a Master's Degree in Business and Economics at BI, Norwegian School of Management. A look in his CD-shelves reveals a taste going in many directions. From wanting to rock with Twisted Sister at the age of six through digging the theme from "Transformers - The Movie", pure '80s metal, and counting down with Europe, it was clear which direction Chris' taste in music was taking. From a base of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Testament things started to happen in the early '90s. Dream Theater would lead way to bands like Spock's Beard, Spastic Ink and Spiral Architect while Death sparked a heavy interest in melodic death metal. Anathema and My Dying Bride also made a big impact in the first half of the 1990s and are still two of his favourites. Being Norwegian, a strong appreciation for black metal should be no surprise, and it is perhaps mostly Scandinavian extreme metal that piles up in the shelves. Melancholic intensity is what counts the most, it seems, as his favourite albums are Anathema's _The Silent Enigma_ and Opeth's _My Arms, Your Hearse_. Apart from metal, Chris also enjoys various classical and jazz music, expecially Vivaldi and Pat Metheny, respectively. Chris has earlier contributed to Norwegian Scream Magazine and, after finally getting on the Internet in '98, a few obscure webzines. Chris can also be found on EFnet as CF.

Finding himself in a part of the United States considered to be somewhat “less-than-metal”, Aaron McKay has enjoyed his tenure with Chronicles of Chaos since his first contribution back in issue #33. Having had close ties with the Florida death metal scene, McKay's taste for extreme music flourished unabated. Aaron currently embraces his position as contributor to the world's finest internet magazine, CoC. Reveling in nearly all styles comprising the metal community, specifically, he can be observed gorging on a regular diet of Summoning, Massacre, Nasty Savage, Dark Tranquillity, Death, Macabre and Obituary. Now playing:

1. Denial Fiend - _Horror Holocaust_
2. Legions of Crows - _Stab Me_
3. Skinny Puppy - _hanDover_
4. Agnostic Front - _My Life My Way_
5. Death Angel - _Frolic Through the Park_

"I like big ass vicious noise that makes my head spin. I wanna feel it whipping through me like a fucking jolt. We're so crushed by our pathetic existence we need it like a fix." Crude but rightful words by the young Steve Albini -- back then an underground devotee and soon to become guitarist, producer and one of the most prominent figures on today's underground. This definition reflects the way we all fall in love with extreme music -- the pure rush of adrenaline, the obsession that is to last a lifetime. Hard rock, blues rock, black metal, death metal, industrial, ambient, neofolk -- these have all proven to be much more than a passing interest. Extreme music has provided catharsis, mystique, power, enchantment, joy and burning passion. From all time favourites Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden to Norwegian black metal masters Emperor and Burzum to the December songs of Katatonia and the bleak beauty of Tenhi and Forseti, it has been quite a journey. And it goes on and on.

Kostas was born in a misty Greek town next to a lake, but just before he became a man, he moved to England to study. After a degree in Electronics and a Masters in Software and Algorithms, he started working as a software developer. Some years later, fed up being a slave, he took his fate in his hands and started freelancing in the London financial market as a software contractor. Having been neck deep in this music that forms our lives since the age of sixteen, at some point he swam out to get rid of all the crap polluting this scene, masquerading as music, gave a long hard shake and emerged clean. Now, he scouts the labels, the bands, the 'zines and the Internet for what is quality, heaviness, meaning and innovation in the metal scene. He still occasionally gets a whiff of the bad stuff, but that is what 'delete' is for.

In his 39 years on this Earth, oscillating between rotting and flourishing on a daily basis, Chaim has learned that there are no absolutes; no ideals, no principles. Everything is negotiable; today's villains are tomorrow's saints, and vice versa... As soon as he's given up on his life's love for the passing 20 years, namely metal, it pulls him right in again, with another mind blowing, mind boggling musical artistry. So scarce they are -- these masterpieces of emotion and dim light -- but so invigorating, wonderful and awe-inspiring; the essence of life... For these fragile rays of light in the infinite darkness he lives and struggles and hopes; a wanderer, a sewer-poet, pretentious and discouraged. All dichotomies lie within this flesh, all extremes and contradictions. This is how he lives, this is how he writes...

A cynic at heart, Alexandra has been outspoken for many of her 22 years, the past 7 of which have been metal-centric. One of the newest and youngest contributors to Chronicles of Chaos, she has plenty to say. From the USBM v. Euro-BM tirade to the impact the internet has made on metal, Alexandra stays close to the music she knows and loves. Her Swedish heritage keeps her close to black and folk metal, but hailing from Texas opens the thrash and new power-violence communities. When she's off her soap-box she's dragging her way to an eventual degree in anthropology and history. Just recently stumbling upon the seemingly [and ever so hopefully] growing Texas black metal community, she hopes to help hone it's abilities and find a way to satiate the thirst of a worldwide black metal drought. When not trying to become the Joan of Arc de métal noir, Alexandra is on a crusade to save the face of women in metal. From knitting to video games to Russian lit, she's always open for intelligent conversation. But be forewarned; this little one packs a punch.

Colleen was actually never passionate about music whatsoever until she discovered metal; a boy she met at university gave her At The Gates' _Slaughter of the Soul_ . . . and it's been a long and interesting journey since then. These days, she is more often than not spinning some old school thrash, atmospheric / pagan black metal, trad doom, and hilariously upbeat folk metal. Infatuated with Northern Europe, she has relocated from her hometown in Buffalo, New York to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where she is working towards an MSc by researching the installation of information / communication technologies in the developing world, whilst studying electronics part-time. While an enthusiast of really good literature and abysmally bad B movies, she is usually off hiking or doing battle in roller derby -- (and listening to something suitably grim, of course).

Aly was born in Cairo in the summer of '87; a year when thrash metal became well established on the pros list of "Why humans walk the earth?". As opposed to popular belief, life in Cairo is no longer camel dependent. Cairo is the biggest city in the Middle East and Africa, with an approximate population of 18 million; just imagine how many camels would be needed. Aly holds a bachelor's degree in Materials Engineering and currently works at an Engineering firm. He ironically realized right after graduation that Geography or maybe Philosophy could have been a much better major to study which is why he buys introductory books and attends night classes. In his head, the world of comedy is the Kingdom of Carlin where Jerry Seinfeld is the eternal Prime Minister and the wholesome quality of the Looney Tunes is an integral part of everyone's life. Extreme metal, post-rock and progressive rock is what he enjoys most and if there's something in that vicinity you think he might enjoy, feel free to pass on the recommendation. Now playing:

1. Lamb of God - _Resolution_
2. Immanu El - _In Passage_
3. Moonsorrow - _Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa_
4. Loss - _Despond_
5. Rush - _Hemispheres_

Mark S. Dolson was born in London, Ontario, Canada. Mark's interest in metal began in 1987 when he discovered Metallica's _Garage Days_ EP. "An amazing EP, and my first taste of real metal", Mark recounts. "I'll never forget the look on my parents' faces when I played the "Last Caress / Green Hell" cover for them on the family stereo -- it was utterly priceless". 1990 was a watershed year for Mark when he discovered Annihilator's _Alice in Hell_ (1989), Nuclear Assault's _Survive_ (1988) and Megadeth's _Rust in Peace_ (1990) -- all of which are consummate thrash albums. After purchasing Entombed's _Clandestine_ on cassette tape in 1991, Mark became a loyal devotee of all things European death metal. Some of his all time favourite albums are: Kreator's _Extreme Aggression_ (1989), Carcass's _Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious_ (1991), Entombed's _Clandestine_ (1991), Disharmonic Orchestra's _Not to Be Undimensional Conscious_ (1992), Gorefest's _False_ (1992), Edge of Sanity's _The Unorthodox_ (1992), _The Spectral Sorrows_ (1993), and _Purgatory Afterglow_ (1994), My Dying Bride's _Turn Loose the Swans_ (1993), Obliveon's _Nemesis_ (1993), Novembre's _Arte Novecento_ (1996), Mental Home's _Upon the Shores of Inner Seas_ (2000), Omnium Gatherum's _The Red Shift_ (2008), Synestesia's _Feeniks_ (2009), along with many others. Mark attended the University of Western Ontario, where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology. He went on to study at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in the Anthropology of Medicine. Mark briefly studied at the University of Toronto, where he started a Ph.D. in Public Health Sciences, but soon decided to return to the University of Western Ontario in order to pursue a Ph.D. in Anthropology.

Johnathan Carbon began music criticism as a whimsical side project to a much larger obsession with painting and photography. Since then, he has been trudging further into the haunting world of extreme metal, befriending trolls and possessed pieces of furniture. Current metal styles of interest include traditional doom, Swedish death, crossover thrash and North American black metal. In addition to afternoons of swooping shrieks, Carbon also enjoys collecting tea, science fiction novels, comic books and fantasy magazines from the 1980s. Curling is a recent fascination for Carbon as the intensity of an afternoon match revitalizes his wary soul. In addition to metal, Carbon's vinyl collection includes lounge from the 1950s, psychedelic rock from other countries and an unhealthy amount of late '90s trance. Carbon lives in Washington DC and is studying to become a space pilot for the future colonial expansion into space.

In 2001, Dan Lake entered the extreme music realm through the gateways of Faith No More and Tool, wandered a courtyard guarded by Merzbow and John Zorn, roamed the thorny gardens kept by Neurosis and Converge, lost his footing and slid into the oubliette of all things Relapse and Southern Lord, and eventually stormed the citadel to join in the blackest, doomy, deathly rites being performed there (with an occasional Devin Townsend break out on the balcony). Finding time now to indulge his shadow side can be complicated, but somehow between the responsibilities of teaching high school math and raising two young children, Dan makes time for aural punishment, reading fantastically strange stories, taking in the odd zombie film, and making some semi-brutal noise of his own. Dan hopes that his writing and his frequent use of metal in the classroom will infect others with his passion for sonic savagery, aiding in the inevitable devastation (and hopeful end) of lesser musics, played by people who deliberately gel-spike their hair in front of their eyes. Now playing:

1. Pyrrhon - _An Excellent Servant but a Terrible Master
2. Elm - _Nemcatacoa_
3. Rorcal - _Heliogabalus_
4. Medeski, Martin, Wood, and Scofield - _Out Louder_
5. Goatwhore - _Carving Out the Eyes of God_

Not much is known about St. John Satansson. And what they do know is probably wrong. They say he's British, and hails from the rural Midlands, although he's been sighted as far north as Scotland, and was last rumoured to be in London.

They say that where he goes the beer runs dry and men spontaneously drop trou. It's thought that he was once a microphone cleaner for Tygers of Pan Tang. Other sources mention that he was once Rohypnol'd by Judas Priest, and woke up naked on a traffic island in Birmingham. His name is mentioned in hushed tones on the toilet circuit, where his presence is felt rather than acknowledged.

He's the shattered, vandalised, mensroom bog the drummer needs to use. He's the soundman high on dope that couldn't give a fuck about your shitty band. He's in sudden burst of feedback, the ripped drum skin, the broken guitar string, the sudden onset of onstage vomiting. He's in he disinterested crowd, the muddy sound, the other bands mates that fuck off within seconds.

What does he want? They might well ask. St. John Satansson wants to feel like he did when he heard metal for the first time. St. John Satansson wants to sift the underground to judge of who have not yet been deemed worthy. St. John Satansson wants your demos. Because bands that get signed just aren't true enough.