Zine Review: Strig:Oi! #4

When I wrote about the 3rd issue of Strig:Oi! fanzine from Romania, I opened with a rant about the enshittification of digital platforms, how AI is continuously ruining the internet, and how even the most poorly formatted print zines feel more authentic than all the slop poisoning the worldwide web.

Strig:Oi! #4 starts in a very similar place. The introduction recounts a recent case of a Romanian webzine publishing an AI-generated gig review by someone who apparently wasn’t there, e.g. praising a band that didn’t even play that night.

For that matter, Strig:Oi! remains a great zine, one that’s genuinely fun to read and pulls you away from your “smart” phone for a while. The interviews still come across unedited, just as they’re sent back from the bands, and every review, whether it’s a vinyl, tape, book or another zine, is based on something Cezar actually owns in its physical format.

I also love Strig:Oi!’s strong visual identity, the cover artwork and the ongoing comic series by MissRhyne give the zine its distinct Romanian charm (now it’s the old socialist panel building blocks, the legendary Dacia 1300, etc.) It’s the kind of consistency that I really love since the first issue. As usual, this one also comes with a poster, stickers, and a card featuring the artwork.

One of the things that came as a surprise is that the fourth issue is noticeably shorter. While Strig:Oi! #3 expanded to 128 pages, this one comes in at “only” 76 pages. I picked it up on a Friday morning and got through it over the weekend. That actually worked in its favor. The past issues could feel a bit exhausting at times, especially with metal bands I don’t care about that much. Here, it’s all punk, Oi!, and hardcore, and it’s a tighter, more enjoyable read.

So these new Strig:Oi! interviews are pretty solid, featuring bands like An Slua, Red Bricks, Lazy Class, Direct Action, Sempre Peggio, Proleterror, Take No More, Hostile Ones, and the young Romanian d-beat raw punk band Insurrection, who turned out to be much younger than I expected. The reviews, scattered throughout rather than grouped in a single section, were also an interesting read that directed me toward a few things worth checking out.

There’s also a clearer political direction here. While the zine has always been antifascist in spirit, the Oi! bands featured here lean more explicitly left-wing, which makes for more interesting conversations compared to some of the more apolitical bands, who talk about drinking, featured in past issues. Add to that a couple of venue reports from Romania and Austria, and this issue really rounds things out nicely.

Strig:Oi! #4 also closes with a short story about the draculesque acorn that came as a bonus with the third issue, and ending on a sadder note about a massive forest area planned to be bulldozed for a new Dracula Land amusement park. And while I really enjoy the music stuff in Strig:Oi! fanzine, it would be great to see Cezar bring some Romanian folklore into future issues.

All issues of Strig:Oi! fanzine are available from its BigCartel shop.