With our fearless leader swamped by an inconvenient midsummer workload
peak, it was decided by way of lead pipe threats that the privilege of
writing CoC's eleventh anniversary editorial should be passed on to
me. So this year you get Pedro instead of Gino to tell you what's been
going on in the world of CoC lately.
First of all, while I wouldn't like to attribute too much importance
to the fact that another year has passed, I do think it is a good time
to reflect upon the past and ponder the future. For eleven years now
CoC has been producing the goods, always striving to maintain the
level of quality that we hope our readership has become accustomed to
over the years -- and no, we're not quite finished yet.
Speaking of looking back at our past, we have decided to start a new
feature (exclusively on our website) titled Classic CoC. The objective
is simple: to highlight old articles from our extensive archive that
might provide a fun read today for some reason or other. Of course by
using the word "classic" we're not implying that we consider the
articles literary gems of enormous value -- it could be an ancient
review or interview that for some reason benefits from being
revisited, or it could be an underground feature that is unique in
some way. Ultimately, we will simply aim to highlight some dusty,
forgotten old articles that might bring a smile to the face of some
longtime readers and provide a (hopefully interesting) glimpse of the
past to newer ones.
So what about the future then? Well, there's actually a lot going on
despite the passing of years and the toils of daily life. The big
novelty is something that had been missing from our website for a long
time, until Chris Flaaten tackled the job superbly. As you may have
noticed if you read Todd DePalma's Demilich gig review and Autopsy DVD
review on our website, we now have an integrated gallery engine for
displaying pictures associated with various types of articles.
A lot is also happening under the hood of CoC though; we are currently
planning and developing processes to help us become more efficient in
a number of ways.
Also with a view to building a dynamic twelfth year and continuing to
improve, CoC is currently open to the possibility of bringing another
writer or two on board. It helps if you're already a regular reader
and know the kind of standards we expect; if you feel you have what it
takes, then get in touch with us: auditions@chroniclesofchaos.com.
You all have the opportunity to influence the future of CoC however,
by e-mailing us at suggestions@chroniclesofchaos.com and letting us
know your thoughts: what you think is right or wrong in what we're
doing, and what you would like us to do in the future that might help
improve CoC.
Meanwhile, for those of you reading CoC by e-mail, there's also
something to celebrate: this is no less than the 100th issue of our
magazine. Next month you can expect in-depth articles focusing on the
new Slayer and Deicide albums, including a retrospective of Slayer's
career and a double interview with Deicide, in addition to the reviews
themselves -- or you can check them out right now with a quick visit
to our website.
I hope you have enjoyed these last twelve months, and that you will
continue to enjoy the next year at least as much.