Ok.Sa - "Awake!" [2012]

Artist: Ok.Sa

Title: Awake

Genre: Synthpop/Darkwave

Country: Belarus

Release date: 2012

Track List:

1. O.K.S.A.
2. Wings(Up To The Sky)
3. Golden Hoops
4. Awake
5. Just Another Winter
6. Behind The Wall
7. Mourning

One more female-fronted synthpop/darkwave project from the ex-USSR (this time from Belarus). Personally I found this demo a little boring (except for the last track), but the band clearly has potential, and it's good to see Belarusian scene becoming more diverse.

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Suicidal Romance - "Love Beyond Reach" [2007]

Artist: Suicidal Romance
Title: Love Beyond Reach
Label: Infacted Rec.
Genre: Darkwave, Electrogoth
Country: Estonia
Release date: 2007

Track List:

1. Love Beyond Reach
2. Not Alone
3. Will It Be (For Us)
4. Call Me
5. Angel Of Love
6. White Snow
7. Poisoned Kiss
8. Lonely Tears
9. Prince Of The Darkness
10. Star
11. In This Night (Lullaby)
12. Not Alone (Blutengel Remix)
13. Star (Lost Area Remix)

I discovered this band in 2007, when I was a big fan of L'ame Immortelle and wanted to find something similar to them, but from the ex-USSR. Suicide Romance are a Russian/Estonian project based out of Tallin, consisting of composer Dmitry D. (also in Freakangel) and two female vocalists (Viktoria and Maarja). "Love Beyond Reach" is their first release, sounding a bit naive and simplistic, but that's what is good about it. I for one don't like their consequent releases at all (especially "Memories Behind Closed Curtains"), despite much more professional production - they're just too boring for me. It also should be noted that "Love Beyond Reach" is their most melodic and least "aggressive" release, which I think goes well with the lyrical content. The lyrics on this album are mostly about love and sexual relationships, which aren't my favourite subjects in general, but in this particular case I found the lyrics quite touching. Overall I'd compare SR with Blutengel, in terms of both music and band's image:

P.S. Don't know if their label is OK with this album being available for download, so I won't post the direct link... but anyway you can search for it on filestube, if you wish.

Neurotech - "Transhuman" [2008]

Artist: Neurotech

Title: Transhuman

Genre: Industrial Metal

Country: Slovenia

Release date: 2008

Track List:

1. Impakt
2. Transhuman
3. Down the Drain
4. Subsonic Omega
5. Nex

Although a small country, Slovenia gave the world an impressive amount of excellent industrial projects - Laibach, Coptic Rain, Borghesia, and now Neurotech, an one-man band started by Wulf in 2007. Here's his debut EP "Transhuman", released in 2008. Didn't chech out the subsequent releases yet, but anyway all of them are available off Neurotech's bandcamp page for free (just set the price to 0).

Oversun - "Pinnacle's Obsession" [1998]

Artist: Oversun

Title: Pinnacle's Obsession
Genre: Industrial Rock
Country: Russia
Release date:1998

Track List:

1. Burn In The Night
2. Niya (Burn Mix)
3. Test Behind
4. Torture Tower
5. Lullaby
6. Pleasure Of Lust (Burn Mix)

Oversun were an industrial rock/metal project started by two members of a relatively well-known Russian progressive metal band Ens Cogitans in late 90's. The name "Oversun" is apparently taken from the sci-fi novel "Destination: Amaltheia" by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. 

They're largely forgotten by now, even though their second album, "Tragedy of Time", received an award from DarkCity magazine, and there were even plans to release it on Metal Blade Records. As for this album... well, it isn't a masterpiece, but it isn't a bad debut either, especially if we consider the time it was released.

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The A.I. of Rah - "RahZoom" [2003]

Artist: The A.I. of Rah
Title: RahZoom
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Electro-Industrial
Country: Russia
Release date: 2003

Track List:

pt.1: "Яд"

1. Разум
2. Странный Сон
3. (Яд)
4. Спираль Огня
5. Всегда ("The A.I. Of Rah" vs. "Время Сумерек")

pt.2: "Зеркало"

1. Мона Лиза Овердрайв
2. Ржавый Рассвет
3. Прозрение
4. Вечная Ночь
5. Зеркало
6. Радостные Кибернетические Пляски

часть 3: "Тишина"

1. Тишина - 1 (Спокойствие)
2. Tишина - 2 (Голос Памяти)
3. Тишина - 3 (Голос Забвения)
4. Тишина - 4 (Люди)

+ bonus: (techno-mockery something) 

One more The A.I. of Rah's album from 2003, this time a full-length release of 3 parts (last one is my favourite). The album name is a word play: "Rah" + "Zoom" = "Разум" ("mind" or "consciousness" in Russian), and the lyrics are mostly cyberpunk-influenced (especially by Gibson's novels). I have a lot more releases by Dominatrix (not only from The A.I. of Rah, but from other Dizorder's projects as well: Наташкин Атомный Мусоропровод, Shakram Rogue, The End Of The Cyberworms, Maitreya Dusk), but I haven't listened to the majority of them yet. So if you're interested - have some patience until I'll have the time to review them.

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The A.I. of Rah - "Sintetika" [2003]

Artist: The A.I. of Rah
Title: Синтетика
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Electro-Industrial
Country: Russia
Release date: 2003

Track List:

1. Радуга
2. Мечта О Сверхчеловечестве 
3. Синтез - Бог
4. Восхождение К Гармонии 
5. Преображение
6. Новый Мир

The A.I. of Rah was one of the numerous projects started by Dizorder, an experimental/industrial musician from Ryazan. Out of all his projects, it has probably the least "noisy", and the most "electro"-like sound. The EP "Синтетика" ("Synthetic") was released in 2003 on Dizorder's DIY label "Dominatrix", and it's my favourite Dizorder's work so far. The lyrics are mostly transhumanism-themed, based on an futuristic idea of a technologically enhanced posthumanity vastly superior to modern humans in terms of its almost godlike abilities. There's also a GITS AMV for the track "Синтез-Бог" made by Dizorder, which I think well reflects the ideology and atmosphere of the song:

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Cracked Core & Sergrunt - "Between Solstice and Equinox" [2012]

Artist: Cracked Core + Sergrunt
Title: Between Solstice and Equinox
Label: Mental Excitement
Genre: Industrial / Ambient
Country: Russia
Release date: 2012

Track List:

Solstice:

1. Cracked Core & Sergrunt - Rising Up
2. Cracked Core & Sergrunt - Sunlight After Rain
3. Cracked Core & Sergrunt - Blue Warm Water
4. Cracked Core & Sergrunt - Twilight Of Burning Madness
5. Cracked Core - Solar Rad (Bonus)

Equinox:

1. Sergrunt & Cracked Core - Betweens Solstice And Equinox
2. Sergrunt & Cracked Core - Following The Waveriders
3. Sergrunt & Cracked Core - Birds From Empthy North
4. Sergrunt & Cracked Core - In The Night
5. Sergrunt - Officer Child (Bonus)

"Between Solstice and Equinox" is a product of collaboration between two Russian industrial musicians, released on the eve of Autumnal Equinox '12 by Mental Excitement (Cracked Core's DIY netlabel). This will the 66th and the last album released by ME, because CC now has neither the desire nor the energy to run the label. R.I.P. :(

P.S. "And I thought I'll never release an album with a swastika-like symbol on its cover..." - CC. I don't think it resembles swastika, though (at least not any more than any other solar symbol).

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Cracked Core - "00×0" [2012]

Artist: Cracked Core

Title: 00×0
Genre: Industrial / Harsh Noise / Ambient
Country: Russia
Release date: 2012

Track List:

1. End is High
2. Black Days / Dog days
3. ACAB (part 1: SPMU)
4. ACAB (part 2: Abuse of authority)
5. Hate / Fear / Death
6. City Without Drugs (Roizman)
7. True Drama (Booze)
8. Debug Mode
9. Stand Alone
10. Achievement Unlocked (Game Over)

"00×0" is the newest solo release by Cracked Core, and according to his own definition, his" nastiest" release. I think he meant the harshness and "noisiness" of the sound (it applies only to several tracks, though - not to the whole album), regarding which "00×0" is on pair with CC/Brandkommando split. It also contains a lot of samples from movies ("[Anti]Killer", "The Inhabited Island", and some other movie which I don't know), video games (Deus Ex, CoD: MW3), and news reports from the recent political demonstations in Moscow. I'm afraid the concept of "00×0" would be hard to understand for those of you who don't understand the Russian language and aren't familiar with the context of recent political events here - just like in case with МП44. However, if you don't mind politics and just want some good noisy/experimental stuff - "00×0" is for you. It's also worth mention that it was recorded during a quite hard period of CC's life (family problems, health problems, etc), which is obviously reflected in the music.

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