Tenochtitlan - "Tezcatl" [2007]

Artist: Tenochtitlan

Title: Tezcatl

Genre: Industrial Folk/Doom Metal

Country: Russia
Year: 2007

Track List:

1. Nemiliztli & Miquiztli
2. Teokalli
3. Ix Chel
4. Печаль Тонатиу
5. Fatal Xihupohualli
6. Lament Ol'antay
7. Kal'Yal'Yapi
8. Inti Raymi
9. Haa-Ma Chah'-Been-Tzil
10. Повелитель Майяпана
11. Xayacatl
12. Ayhara killa
13. Quetzali Dance
14. Mihtohtli Citlalin
15. Падение Ахау Ягуара
16. Chanin Tiqsimuyu
17. Tutamantan
18. Icxiohtli
19. Aymarkayi
20. 2012

I already have mentioned Tenochtitlan in the context of Senmuth's numerous side projects, but, in my opinion, this album deserves a separate entry. Unlike Senmuth's solo albums, which are mostly inspired by the ancient history of Egypt, Tenochtitlan is focused solely on the culture and history of pre-Colombian Central America. It's not easy to find musicians interested in this particular topic enough to form a band, even in a city as large as Moscow, so all the members of Tenochtilan live in different cities far away from each others, and coordinate their work via internet.

This album is very original; at least I can't think of any other band which sounds like this. Yeah, I know of Yaotl Mictlan and some other Mexican "pre-Hispanic metal" bands, but they all play more or less folk-influenced black metal. On the other hand, the music of Tenochtilan is based on the same kind of industrial/doom metal which can be found on Senmuth's solo works, with a healthy dose of folk (of course they don't claim it to be the authentic Mesoamerican folk music... but still). The vocals are highly diverse, from growls, to clean (male & female) voice. Same can be said for the languages they're singing in: the lyrics are mostly in Russian, but Mayan, Aztec (Nahuatl), and Quechua languages are also used. To my shame, I'm not very familiar with the history of the Aztec Empire, so I can't comment on the historical accuracy of these lyrics (for instance, I'm not sure if the use of the word "legion" therein is justified - since it comes from the Roman Empire, not Aztec). The quality of production isn't excellent, yet still quite good.

If you found this album interesting, there are 3 more full-length releases by Tenochtitlan, but they aren't as rich musically as this one. The latest album ("Сотворение Мира", 2012), however, is better produced than the rest, and more influenced by doom metal, so I think it's their second best release after "Tezcatl".

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Senmuth - "ΑiΣΘΗΣΙΣ INTEGRA" [2014]

Artist: Senmuth

Title: ΑΙΣΘΗΣΙΣ INTEGRA

Genre: Ambient, Industrial, Ethnic

Country: Russia
Year: 2014

Track List:

1. ΑiΣΘΗΣΙΣ
2. Roman Road
3. In Garganta Del Diablo
4. The Rustle Of The Petrified Forest
5. Mahabalipuram
6. Lament Integra
7. Iguazu Falls Dreams
8. Merops Orientalis Cleopatra
9. The Two Ladies, Divine Of Body

Speaking of industrial metal with folk/ethnic elements, there's another project of this kind which was already mentioned on my blog a few times before. Senmuth is an one-man project started in 2004 by Valery Av., an extremely prolific composer and multi-instrumentalist from Moscow, whose main source of inspiration was (and still is) everything that has to do with the Ancient Egypt. He's sometimes seen as a Russian counterpart to Muslimgauze, since both projects have VERY vast discographies, and extensively use oriental motives in their music. However, unlike Muslimgauze, Senmuth doesn't have any apparent political agenda. According to his own words, his music is indended for "educated, socially active and intellectual development of young and mature individuals who know how to conduct self-identity and criticism surrounding reality, capable of resisting the imposed priorities and the impact of the media".

"Aisthesis Integra" was released in February 2014, shortly before Senmuth decided to put his project on hold due to serious health issues (right now he's back on track, but I haven't listened to any of his newest releases yet). It's pretty representative of his music in general, except maybe for his earliy industrial/doom metal works. This album is entirely instrumental (just like the majority of his releases) and consists mostly of ethno/ambient with some "heavier" parts. The last track - "The Two Ladies, Divine Of Body" - is the longest on the whole album, and represents the whole diversity of styles on there.

The problem with Senmuth's music is that he releases quite a lot of it (about a dozen of albums per year), which makes a lot of his works too lengthy and forgettable - maybe good as a soundtrack to some movie about ancient mysteries or exotic lands, but a bit dull for a stand-alone work. Anyway, if you're interested, you should feel free to check out Senmuth's full discography on his official site. If you want to start from something that sounds similar to "Aisthesis Integra" and has an "oriental" feel to it - I'd recommend "Madinat al-Mayyit". Want some cosmic ambient? "RXG-242-11", "Exouniverse" and "Expanding Architecture" are quite fine. A mix of industrial metal and folk? Check out "Neocortex". You might also like "Bark of Ra" or "Hexeractime" (which are among the most popular works of Senmuth), or "Kemet High Tech" (the album which I started listening to Senmuth from). Either way, it's worth to give "Aisthesis Integra" (or at least its closing track) a listen, and after that it's up for you to decide if you want to further explore Senmuth's huge discography. Senmuth also has a "Mesoamerican folk metal" side project called Tenochtitlan, which is very interesting too.

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Gire - s/t [2007]

Artist: Gire

Title: Gire

Genre: Industrial Metal, Avant-Garde Metal

Country: Hungary
Year: 2007

Track List:

1. Zöld zivatar
2. Aranyhajnal
3. Hét madár
4. Éjmély
5. Az őzek futása
6. Törjön testünk!
7. Bábel
8. Eocén expressz
9. Nyártáj
10. Trans Express
11. Nádak, erek

After listening to the whole Gire discography, I can safely say they were one of the best Hungarian metal bands ever. They already were mentioned on my blog in connection with Thy Catafalque, the other project by Tamás Kátai which is industrial/avant-garde metal too, but has roots in black metal (Gire's music is based mostly on death metal, but I don't think they fit in any particular genre). The early Gire demos from the late 90s ("On dist.", "Energire") are more or less regular death/thrash metal, yet they already were innovative enough to expect something big in the future.

Here you have it: the one and only full-length release from Gire, mostly consisting of re-recorded demo tracks from the 1st half of 2000s. Nearly every song on this album is great, it really sounds more like a "best of" compilation rather than an ordinary album (which actually makes sense, since it includes only the best tracks composed by Gire during 1995-2007). Another pecular feature of this album is that it contains a lot of folk elements, which isn't very typical for industrial metal. Unfortunately, Gire doesn't exist any more - they have split up shorly after this release came out, due to Zoltán Kónya's lack of motivation, and the relocation of other two members to Scotland. That said, they definitely have left their mark in the history of Hungarian avant-garde music, and this album is well-deserving its 1st place in Hungarian Metal Awards 2007 chart. By all accounts, Gire were an unique band, but if you liked them, there's a probability that you'll like Guilthee and Watch My Dying as well.

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The Moon And The Nightspirit - "Of Dreams Forgotten And Fables Untold" [2005]

Artist: The Moon And The Nightspirit

Title: Of Dreams Forgotten And Fables Untold

Genre: Neofolk, Ethereal

Country: Hungary
Year: 2005

Track List:

1. Égi Táltos
2. Lullaby (The Final Gyre of Suns)
3. Beloved Enchantress
4. The Secret Path
5. In Gardens of Worlds Undreamt
6. Holdanyánk
7. Echo of Atlantis
8. Pagan
9. Of Dreams Forgotten & Fables Untold

Here's a band that quite similar (both musically and conceptually) to Romowe Rikoito, but comes from a different cultural background. The Moon And The Nightspirit is a pagan folk duo that was formed in 2003 by Ágnes Tóth and Mihály Szabó. Their sound is mostly based on medieval Hungarian folk music, but they're also interested in traditional music of other Turanic countries (i.e. Mongolia). "Of Dreams Forgotten And Fables Untold" is an excellent release, especially for a debut album. They've released 3 more albums since then, which all are very good too, but the music on them isn't as accessible for an average listener as on this one. "Of Dreams Forgotten And Fables Untold" is also the only their album where they sing mostly in English (7 tracks out of 9; their other albums are entirely in Hungarian). As far as I know, their new (5th) album is expected to be released within next two weeks, hope it'll turn out to be no worse than the previous ones.

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Romowe Rikoito - "Austradeiwa" [2005]

Artist: Romowe Rikoito

Title: Āustradēiwa

Genre: Neofolk, Neoclassical

Country: Baltic Lands
Year: 2005

Track List:

1. Etbaudisna
2. The Quest
3. The Rose and the Cross
4. A Sea-Spell
5. Song Of Proserpine
6. Blueberry Song
7. Artémis
8. Austras Swaikstan

Romowe Rikoito, formed in 1995, are the pioneers of post-Soviet dark folk scene (which is and always was quite small), along with Neutral. If I'm not mistaken, they're originally from Kaliningrad, but have strong ties with Lithuania, and prefer to call their location just "East Prussia" or "Baltic Lands". Everything they've composed sounds quite beautiful, but I personally find their first two albums a bit boring. "Austradeiwa" is their 3rd album, which I consider to be their best (even though it has some boring parts too - but what album hasn't?) In particular, "Austras Swaikstan" is one of the best neofolk compositions I've ever heard.

The most interesting part of this album is a couple of tracks with lyrics in Old Prussian language ("Austras Swaikstan" and the opening track). To my knowledge, the only other band to sing in Prussian was Kūlgrinda (on the album "Prūsų Giesmės"), but their music is authentic Lithuanian folk which is much harder to get into than Romowe Rikoito's neofolk

As it's evident from my blog, I listen to a lot of music with lyrics in exotic languages, but RR are one of the few bands that really managed to surprise me. In fact, my only thought during my first listening to "Austras Swaikstan" was: "Wait... what language is it?!" If you're interested what they're singing about in that song, here's an English translation of the lyrics (can't guarantee its accuracy, though):

"I live as if I just died. No blood in my veins, but darkness. I'm not from here, embodied outcast, a stranger to everybody, the one who does not belong to anyone in the world. I was looking for access to the utopias and found solace only in the Apocalypse. Every minute I'm covered with one thing: a lost paradise. How would I live, what would I do without these clouds? The brightest time of my life is when I'm looking at them. Melancholy is a longing for another world. Although I never knew what kind of world it is. Fatal melodious emptiness in every cell of the body - it is melancholy. My places, my homeland is the non-existence, which, according to the mystics, was found before God. My constant passion are forgotten gods and empty sanctuaries. The collapse of my grandfathers and great grandfathers I bear in blood, that absorbed all these fragments. Dark cloudy sky looks as if my consciousness personifies the firmament. We all live in a longing for death, and wait for the light the dawn."

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Rajfajh - "Ambient Collection" [2011]

Artist: RAJFAJH

Title: Ambient Collection

Genre: Dark Ambient, Industrial, Noise

Country: Russia
Year: 2011

Track List:

1. Technogen
2. Nastika (pt.I)
3. Fatum
4. Plato
5. Psychedelic Holes

RAJFAJH claim to be one of the oldest Russian experimental music projects in existence. The project was founded on 29th January 1991 in St.Petersburg by Dmitry and Victor (although they knew themselves at least since 1989). Dmitry did some experiments with noise even before that, using a reel tape recorder and all the other hardware that was available to him back then, but it's unclear if these recordings will ever be released to public.

The first demo, recorded in 1991, was named "Радость Покойника". The band members claim it to be black metal; it'll make Rajfajh the very first black metal band in USSR, if true. However, I seriously doubt it, especially since not a single track from this demo is available anywhere. So far, the earliest black metal demo from Russia to my knowledge is "Unholy Glory Of Ancient Rossa" by Winter Majesty (1994). The members of Satarial claim to be playing black metal as early as in 1989 (under the name A.M.S.G.) - but then again, there are no proofs for that, and the band itself has quite bad reputation, so I don't think these claims are trustworthy.

This compilation, released in 2011, is a selection of industrial, noise and dark ambient tracks recorded by Rajfajh during 1995-2009. They actually tried quite a lot of different genres - grindcore, black metal, doom metal - but I consider their industrial and ambient works to be the best, and not only because I prefer industrial over all other genres. If you're more interested in metal, I'd recommend to check out their latest full-length album, "Cult of Cthulhu" (2013). It's black/doom metal, quite good, but nothing particularly outstanding. The current lineup of Rajfajh consists of Dmitry Evgenin (the only original member), Alisa Rozanova (guitars/keyboards since 2006), and Dmitry (their new drummer since this year). They're also an active live band, and have toured all 3 Baltic states in May 2011, but I have no idea if they're ever going to tour anywhere in the Western Europe.

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Velehentor - "Sak-Yelga" [2005]

Artist: Velehentor

Title: Сак-Елга

Genre: Dark Ambient, Industrial, Noise

Country: Russia
Year: 2005

Track List:

1. Сак-Елга
2. Гной Земли

Since I have mentioned the projects of Anton "121" Shafarostov (Velehentor, Nuclear Winter, Closing The Eternity) quite a few times on my blog, it'd be natural to post at least one of his works - even if I think he's more of a musical critic rather than a musician.

Velehentor was founded in 1998, initially as a dark ambient side project by the members of Valhalla - one of the very first black metal bands to come from the Urals region (formed in 1996 in Ekaterinburg). A.Shafarostov was the vocalist/keyboardist of Valhalla, and was known under the moniker "Satt" back then. In 1998, Velehentor recorded their first live demo cassette, consisting of 3 untitled track, each over 10 minutes long. Valhalla broke up in 2000, and Velehentor became Anton's solo project after that. While his another solo project, Closing The Eternity, is mostly pure cosmic ambient/drone, Velehentor offers a wider range of genres: from minimalistic dark ambient (mostly earlier releases) to power electronics and industrial noise. The latest release from Velehentor up to date is a short EP called "Ceremonial Death" (2011).

As far as I know, Anton now is a high-ranked official in Ekaterinburg, and isn't very active as a musician anymore - maybe because of a lack of free time, maybe because he doesn't want his public career to be associated with his underground works... who knows? At least he still writes reviews for his webzine "Twilight Shadows", and that's my favourite part of his creative output - I love the sarcastic style of his reviews, as well as his extensive knowledge of underground black metal and music in general. I think he easily could start an avant-garde black metal project on the level of Arcturus or Ved Buens Ende, if he wanted to - but alas, he doesn't like progressive black metal, and most of his releases are quite minimalistic (be it metal, ambient, or noise).

"Саг-Елга" is a bit more varied than Velehentor's early releases, though - it's a mix of dark ambient and industrial/noise, with some spoken word vocals (which makes it one of the very few Velehentor/Closing The Eternity releases that aren't purely instrumental). As opposed to Valhalla, whose music was said to be influenced by "the dark aspects of Urals' nature", this cassette by Velehentor is rather influenсed by Urals' "anti-nature" (if I may say so). The ideology of Velehentor is generally based on the standard "anti-human / anti-life" black metal ideas, and this particular album is inspired by numerous industrial and environmental disasters that happened in the Urals region. The cover photo shows the vicinity of Karabash, a town on the Sak-Yelga river in South Urals which is known for very high levels of pollution caused by a copper smelting plant. From what I've seen on the photos from there, it's literally a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie came true. I also live not far from a very polluted industrial zone (Dzerzhinsk), but it's nothing compared to Karabash:

 

(the last photo is taken from a gallery which you can view here; photographer - Ilya Yakovlev, model - nich_ya)

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Vergeltung - "System Overload" [2008]

Artist: Vergeltung

Title: System Overload

Genre: Industrial Black Metal

Country: Russia
Year: 2008

Track List:

1. Alarm
2. System Overload
3. Spatial Cold
4. Arzamas-16
5. Electromagnetic Impulse
6. Gravitational Phantom of Deceased Nova
7. Interstellar Voidblast
8. Victims of Technology
9. Stalingrad
10. Cold War
11. Werk

One of the most professional and talented Russian industrial metal projects, Vergeltung, was formed in St.Petersburg in 2005 (metal-archives.com says 2002, but it's most likely incorrect). "System Overload" is their debut album, released by CD-Maximum in 2008. It was produced by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Axxis, Krokus, Angra) and recorded in a Swedish studio "Cutting Room", so the quality of production is up to the best Western European standards. The music of Vergeltung is quite complex (of course not to the extent of causing a sensory overload, but it isn't "easy listening" either), so even the most demanding fans of avant-garde/industrial metal probably won't be disappointed.

Out of 9 tracks prestented on there (+ a short intro and a lengthy noisy outro, which is pretty much a filler track), my favourites are "Stalingrad" and "System Overload". Most of the tracks are instrumental, since the band doesn't have a proper vocalist - although there are some distorted vocals (or more like recitation) performed by their keyboardist. All the lyrics were witten by 121 (a member of Velehentor, Nuclear Winter, Closing The Eternity and several other projects, and a cult personality in Russian industrial & extreme metal underground). As you can guess from the song names, the main themes of this album are quite natural for a Russian industrial metal project: 2nd World War, the Cold War, the USSR's technological advances and the exploration of space. As it was stated by the band members themselves: "...social collapse, civilization's demise, global war and universal cataclysm; humanity's self destruction and non-existence - all that shape the concept of VERGELTUNG's work. The very name of the band embodies the cruel truth about the technology progress driven by the development of arms that bring mass destruction and death. It's not a secret that first rockets were built not to explore space and travel to the moon but rather to attack England and the US".

They've released a follow-up album, titled "Exploration of Space", in 2012, but it isn't as good as their debut. It isn't easy to buy "System Overload" on CD, and it isn't available on bandcamp either, so I hope it'd be OK to post it here:

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Infestum - "Monuments Of Exalted" [2014]

Artist: Infestum

Title: Monuments of Exalted

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Belarus
Year: 2014

Track List:

1. Void Of Nebulae
2. Ordo Infestum
3. Iron Hammer Upon The Skull Of Slave
4. Temples Of Mirrors
5. The Art Of The Beast
6. The Evil One (Venom cover)
7. Zero Beyond
8. Obsidian Exile
9. Renaissance
10. Monuments Of Exalted

Infestum are one of those bands which I discovered more than 10 years ago while familiarizing myself with the Belorussian metal scene (see my previous entries under the "Belarus" label). Back then, they were playing very standard black meta, and while their first EP (released in 2001) was good by the standarts of that time, it was nothing original/groundbreaking. They weren't very active in the mid-2000's, so I ceased to follow their news at some point - so it was suprising for me to know, that they're back with a new album, which doesn't sound much like their early releases.

The shift from "true" black metal to the more "industrial-esque" type of sound is easily explainable, though. The only original member of the band still remaining in their lineup is Ion, the lead singer and the founder of the band. All the rest are former members of ID:Vision (which, unfortunately, have split up an year after the release of "Destination Cybermind"). So you can guess what kind of music they present on this album - call it "industrial black metal", "cosmic black metal" or whatever, it sounds good either way, and for me it's one of the best black metal albums of 2014 I've heard up to date.

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Nutrition - "Dusk Of The Hunter" [2012]

Artist: Nutrition

Title: Dusk Of The Hunter

Genre: Industrial Black Metal

Country: USA
Year: 2012

Track List:

1. Forbidden Moon
2. Dawn of the Harvest
3. R-Complex
4. Dragon Kings
5. Castle of Cold

If you want some "cosmic"/sci-fi themed black metal, but you prefer it to be rather raw than atmospheric, check out Nutrition. I don't know much about them, except they're a duo formed in early 2009, and released their first LP "Terminus Occultus" in 2013. I personally recommend listening to this EP first, though.

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