Zommm - "Reality Is An Illusion" [2018]

Artist: Zommm

Title: Reality Is An Illusion

Genre: Post-Black Metal

Country: Azerbaijan
Year: 2018

Track List:

1. Lights
2. The Shining Of The Solar Moon
3. Losing Myself In A Green Desert
4. Reality Is An Illusion
5. Dust

Azerbaijan definitely isn't a "metal" country by any means, yet there is a relatively significant and tightly knit experimental black metal/shoegaze scene, consisting of such projects as Violet Cold (probably the only Azeri metal project that's well known worldwide), Sumgzeit, Sukkkgall, Brokenchelust, and now Zommm, who are an experimental black metal/post-rock duo from Baku, started in 2017.

If you love "cosmic" post-black metal in the vein of Violet Cold, their debut EP (as well as the subsequently released acoustic single "Starfall In Her Eyes") is definitely for you. Moreover, it also features some folk instruments like tar that gives some "oriental" feel to the music. There's not much info about the band in English (I managed to find only one interview with them in Russian), but they surely have the potential to become the second Violet Cold, Let's wait for their upcoming full length album "Fundamental Of The Universe".

Violet Cold - "Magic Night" [2016]

Artist: Violet Cold

Title: Magic Night

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Rock

Country: Azerbaijan

Release date: 2016

Track List:

1. Everything You Can Imagine Is Real...
2. Magic Night
3. Warm Winter
4. For Amelie (Polish Lullaby)
5. Sea
6. Drowned In The Lights
7. Silver Moon (Pt. I)
8. Silver Moon (Pt. II)
9. Last Day On Earth

New album of Emin Guliyev (Violet Cold), released literally just a few hours ago, features exactly what this project is famous for: a mix of atmospheric black metal with instrumental post rock and ambient piano parts. While this album generally belongs to the post-rock scene (both musically and aesthetically), the black metal influence is strong enough too. You can call it "hipster black metal", yet this is awesome and I'd trade this album for 1000 generic "tr00" black metal albums. It's certainly no worse than Deafknife or Toluca, and just a couple of years ago I couldn't even imagine that something like this exists in Azerbaijan. Now let's hope that Violet Cold would get even more recognition worldwide than it currently has (very deservedly), as it's definitely one of the finest projects of this kind from ex-USSR... not to mention that the atmosphere in most of Emin's works matches my usual mood quite well.

Violet Cold - "Lilu" [2014]

Artist: Violet Cold

Title: Lilu

Genre: Ambient, Electronic, Post-Rock

Country: Azerbaijan

Release date: 2014

Track List:

1. Morning
2. Lilu
3. Sea
4. Sky
5. Sun
6. Dream
7. Hope
8. Serenity

For some reason, this project is currently absent from the list of Azeri rock bands I've posted here a couple of days ago, even if it recently became a sensation far beyond the borders of Azerbaijan. That said, the early works of Violet Cold are indeed far from rock or metal. For instance, this EP (which is probably the first more or less lengthy release of Violet Cold, before which were only singles) is fairly soft-sounding instrumental space ambient / new age music. While Emin Guliyev aka Violet Cold gained international recognition by his later later works which are much heavier, this album is worth listening as well. Even if Emin (according to his own words) don't have any musical literacy, he surely has a talent of composing very beautiful atmospheric music.

Sirr - "Yoruldum" [2014]

Artist: Sirr

Title: Yoruldum

Genre: Heavy Metal

Country: Azerbaijan

Release date: 2014

Track List:

1. Yaşamaq Gözəldir
2. Yaşa Ruhumda
3. Bir Payız Səhəri
4. Şamdan
5. Adın Nədir
6. Ömür
7. O Deyir
8. Yoruldum

Sirr were formed in early 2004 by a former bassist of Yuxu, one of the best known bands in the Sumgait rock scene. Sumgait is known for being a home town for a relatively high amount of rock bands in a not very "rocking" country (here's a more or less comprehensive list of all known rock bands in Azerbaijan, it's up for you to decide if it's a lot or not). Initially they were playing blues, but later shifted to a heavier kind of sound (but still very melodic). The material presented on their first (and only so far) full-length album "Yoruldum" is fairly traditional melodic heavy metal, albeit with a noticeable amount of folk motives which make the band's sound easily distinguishable from numerous European bands of the same style.

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Mechanic Fist - unreleased tracks

Artist: Mechanic Fist

Title: unreleased tracks

Genre: Electronic/Industrial

Country: Azerbaijan

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Eugenics
3. (new EP demo preview)
4. Sith Lord
5. Funky Shit (Prodigy cover)

Unfortunately, Mechanic Fist doesn't exist as a band anymore. Mikail Rafiyev (their lead vocalist) has quit the project, and Farid Aslanov is now composing a more ambient/soundtrack-ish kind of music under his real name. It's a pity that the fist and only industrial band from Azerbaijan was so short-lived, but it was fully expectable - Farid himself often complained that a band like MF has no future in Azerbaijan, as there's simply no sufficient audience for this kind of music. Anyway, I liked their aesthetics a lot, and think that they could have a great future if only their records were produced slightly more professional... Here are several instrumentals recorded by Farid & Mikail in 2009-2012, but not released as proper songs:

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Возмездие - "Хаос" [2012]

Artist: Возмездие

Title: Хаос

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Azerbaijan

Release date: 2012

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Обречённые от роду
3. Закопан
4. Возмездие
5. Гильотина
6. Книга смерти
7. Крестовый поход
8. Хаос
9. Snowfall (part II)
10. Outro

Возмездие ("Retribution") were a 3-piece black metal band from Baku, active through 2007-2012. Don't know why their albums receive mostly negative reviews, they're not particularly worse than those of any average black metal band (however, this album would be better without intro and outro). Their image and lyrics are pretty much stereotypical black metal stuff; however, they deny being theistic Satanists, because "Satan is as fictional as God". When asked how it is to play black metal in a Muslim country, they answered: "And how it is to play black metal in a non-Muslim country? We personally don't know. The goverment here doesn't give a shit about us, and the ordinary people don't listen to our lyrics anyway - the distorted guitar sound is enough to scare them away".

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Overkill For Profit - demo [2010]

Artist: Overkill For Profit

Title: demo

Genre: Hardcore

Country: Azerbaijan

Release date: 2010

Track List:

1. Призрак свободы
2. Право на выбор

The only hardcore punk band in Azerbaijan (and probably in all the neighbouring regions, formed in October 2008. They're one of very few (2-3) punk bands currently active in Azerbaijan (all of them are from Baku). According to their last.fm biography: "Their music can be characterized as melodic oldschool hardcore. Band’s lyrics touch upon such themes as religious fanaticism, social problems,sell-out politics and also feelings and life of ordinary people". They planned to release a full-length album this month, but apparently the release had been delayed to the 1st of June.

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Ad Gloriam - demo tracks

Artist: Ad Gloriam

Title: demo tracks

Genre: Alternative Rock

Country: Azerbaijan

Track List:

1. Yalnız
2. Save You (feat. Orhan Tagizade)

 The one and only all-female rock band in Azerbaijan, no official releases so far. Unsurprisingly, the musicianship isn't perfect (especially the drumming), as well as the vocal work. However, it's still quite good for an young band from a country with a very small rock/metal scene, so check this out if you have nothing against Evanescence-like rock (with lyrics both in Azeri and English).

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Orient Xpress - "Flying / Falling / Diving" [2008]

Artist: Orient Xpress

Title: Flying / Falling / Diving

Genre: Alternative Rock, Folk-Rock

Country: Azerbaijan

Release date: 2008

Track List:

1. Diving
2. Ancient Hero
3. 57 A
4. Change Your Life
5. Falling
6. Dreamer's Turn
7. Flying High
8. Mear
9. Hatebreeding
10. Flying Machine
11. Happy High
12. Space
13. Piss Off
14. Seashore

Probably the most interesting rock band originated from Azerbaijan, currently relocated to Czech Republic). Orient Xpress' history is quite lenghty, so I won't copy/paste it here (you can just follow this link if you're interested).

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Farid Aslanov - "Planetary Shift" [2012]

Artist: Farid Aslanov

Title: Planetary Shift
Genre: Ambient/Electronic, Soundtrack
Country: Azerbaijan
Release date: 2012

Track List:

1. Passive
2. Long Journey
3. Lost In Time
   

The latest release from Farid Aslanov up to date, this time more "cosmic" in atmosphere (as opposed to his previous EP, "War With The Z", which was intended to resemble a soundtrack for a zombie movie). As for me, it's too soundtrack-like, which makes it a little boring for ordinary listening, but I can't blame Farid for this - I understand he has a family and a lot of work which leaves little time for making music, plus he lives in a country where underground music scene barely exists. Perhaps I should try to contact him once again and ask him about his future plans and the current state of his main project, Mechanic Fist (I heard they've split up...)

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Mechanic Fist - "Electroconvulsive Therapy" [2010]

Artist: Mechanic Fist
Title: Electroconvulsive Therapy
Genre: Industrial Rock / EBM / Dark Electro with oriental folk overtones
Country: Azerbaijan
Release date: 2010

Track List:

1. Ice-Cold Hell
2. Armageddon
3. Invisible Bonds
4. S.A.W.
5. Industrial Revolution
6. Unplug
7. The Last Sunset
8. The Choice

...and after I posted Farid Aslanov's last release, I thought I should also post the full-length demo of his other project, Mechanic Fist. When I talked to him a few months ago, he was against posting these songs, regarding them as low-quality material and promising to release a lot of better stuff in the future. But as of today, Farid is busy on his solo project, so I don't think we can expect any new releases from MF in the near future, and I'm posting this old demo instead. Actually, it isn't that bad... moreover, it isn't bad at all (for a demo made in a country where the industrial/gothic scene is almost completely absent). Some vocal work could be better, though, but overall it's very promising stuff. Check out the track "Last Sunset", it's a melodic ballad-type song which really stands out of the whole demo. Other good tracks include "Ice-Cold Hell", "Armageddon" and "Industrial Revolution". Don't know if you'd like the elements of Middle Eastern folk music on this demo, but for me it's what makes MF's music unique -they're probably the first Middle Eastern industrial/EBM band, and not just a clone of some famous Western project... Good start.

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Farid Aslanov - "War With The Z" [2011]

Artist: Farid Aslanov

Title: War With The Z
Genre: Electronic
Country: Azerbaijan
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. Horrorbox
2. Pandemia
3. Rising Dead
4. The Last [And Lost] Battle

You may know Farid Aslanov as a founder of the first industrial rock band in Azerbaijan, Mechanic Fist, whose 2-track demo I've posted before. Now he's working on his solo album, which expects to be sounding not so "harsh" as the demos by MF, as the target audience for industrial music in Azerbaijan still isn't that big. This short EP is his first solo release, and it features mostly "soundtrack"-sounding instrumental music, inspired by post-apocalyptic and (especially) zombie movies. Sounds good for a debut release, although the beat seems to be a bit off at times...

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The Midnight - "23:61" [2010]

Artist: The Midnight
Title: 23:61
Genre: Progressive Metal
Country: Azerbaijan
Release date: 2010
Size: 100 mb

Track List:

1. Ease
2. Splitting World
3. Escape
4. Red Haired
5. Unudulmuş
6. Reincarnation Pt.1
7. #4
8. Infinity

The Midnight are a new progressive metal band from Azerbaijan, recommened to me by Farid (see my previous post). They gave away their debut album for free on rutracker.org, and I decided to cross-post it to my blog. It's really very good stuff, feel free to download it ;) The Azeri metal scene is still very small, so any kind of your support is welcome.

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Mechanic Fist - demo [2009]

Artist: Mechanic Fist
Title: demo
Genre: EBM / Dark Electro with oriental folk overtones
Country: Azerbaijan
Release date: 2009
Size: 15 mb

Track list:

1. Armageddon
2. Industrial Revolution

Mechanic Fist is the first and only industrial (EBM/Electro-Industrial/Industrial rock) band in Azerbaijan, and probably one of very few industrial projects in the whole Middle East. The Azeri rock scene is extremely small, and the metal scene in Azerbaijan is almost non-existent (if not to take in account one or two bands like Fatal Nation), so it was at first very surprising for me to hear even some Azeri industrial/EBM.

Mechanic Fist is a duo formed in 2008 in Baku by Farid Aslanov and Mikail Rafiyev. Farid, the founding member of MF, is a system administrator in Baku, a fan of anime (by the way, we have very similar tastes - both he and I like NGE, Elfen Lied and Wolf's Rain), Star Wars, and post-apocalyptic art (be it movies or games like Fallout). This 2-track demo is the only release by MF that I have, and it's really worth attention, despite its very raw quality of production. Of course, don't expect anything comparable to Funker Vogt or FGFC820, but it's not bad for a first industrial/EBM demo release from Caucasus. They probably also are the first to mix EBM/dark electro with oriental folk (yes, I know about Muslimgause and Fun-Da-Mental, but they both are far from EBM).

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