Ministere Des Anciens Moujahidine, Ministere Des Actuels Serakine
Seb3iyem
Sonatrach Etrih Khra
BMP (Beghlerized Mass People)
Legal Prostitution
Nigrou Genocide 2
Madrasset L'Ehlak
To be honest it isn't my favourite kind of hardcore, but a band from Algeria playing such kind of music with highly political lyrics definitely deserves some attention. "Bled El Petrole Takoul Lekhra" ("Country Of Petrol And You Eat Shit" or something along these lines) is the first Algerian punk albumthat was released on vinyl (by France-based Darbouka Records). However, it looks like they aren't the only punks in the Algerian underground - Beghlerass and As We Fuck are from Algeria too:
Here's another one of the bands that made me interested in the obscure punk scene of the late 70's, along with Crisis, NY Niggers, and Aryan Disgrace. As far as I know, the first song on this 7'' is considered one of the all time classics of Swedish punk, but I personally prefer the second one, Vild I Skogen - a quite catchy song with energetic female vocals. Unfortunately, not much is known about the band. Here's all I could find:
"Sissi and Göran (who did the songs on the single) was added after some controversy about the music. Maybe it's time to present what they're called, set that was on the single were: Janne (Drums), Peter (Bass), Sussi (vocals), Torsten (Organ) and last but not least, Göran (Guitar & Vocals). Dr Zeke was formed in February '79 and played out in mid-March at Konstfack in Stockholm, the gig went pretty well. Then it was three girls, but two of them disappeared after a while, they had nothing else to stand in. The single recorded Dr Zeke in October 1979, and both songs are high energetic punkrock and their only output and it's a shame because I think that Dr. Zeke was damn good. The band recorded more songs but nothing happened so they remain missing"
Finally, a long-awaited full-length album from this Siberian post-hardcore/black metal band, which turned out to be a total masterpiece - easily the best ex-USSR metal release of 2012. Now I have two favourite Russian metal releases of all times - "Planeshift" by Rakoth, and this one. What's interesting - both Rakoth and Deaknife have their roots in black metal scene, but the final result is relatively far from "true" black metal (in terms of both sound and lyrics/ideology). "VI ER DØDE" LP mostly consists of remastered songs from their early demos, with improved quality of recording. However, I still think the demo version of "Kings Don't Reign Forever" is better:
The "Lovecraftian" atmosphere of their early demos is almost completely gone, and replaced with the rebellious spirit of (post-)punk/hardcore which strangely goes well with the overall depressive mood of the album. The lyrics are great too, I can try to translate some of them into English if you want. Overall, an awesome release, definitely recommened if you like Amesoeurs, An Autumn For Crippled Children, and post-metal/shoegaze in general. I'll certainly buy it on CD at first opportunity, such a band surely deserves to be supported.
P.S. For those who don't know: Urfin Joos is a character in a very popular series of fantasy novels by Alexander Volkov. The books are loosely based on F.Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" (see here for more info). Urfin Joos is probably the most popular character in the whole series - a charismatic and misanthropic dictator in the earlier books, and a reclusive farmer/amateur astronomer (no longer a villain) in the later ones.
Artist: Kurgal / Annorkoth Title: Through the Woods And Mountains Genre: Ambient / Neoclassical Country: Iraq / Russia Release date: 2011
Track List:
Kurgal - Sada Emedu
Kurgal - Līlīṯu (ki-sikil-lil-la-ke)
Kurgal - The Hanging Gardens
Kurgal - End
Annorkoth - Memories I
Annorkoth - Memories II
Annorkoth - The Last Day
Annorkoth - Grey Skies (piano version)
Two piano-based ambient/neoclassical projects, one from Iraq and another one from Russia. Kurgal is a side project of Lord Erragal, who also has a dark ambient/DSBM side project called Almenakru. Unlike Janaza, whose authenticity is very dubious, Erragal is a legitimate black metal/ambient/neofolk musician from Baghdad, whose primary sources of inspiration are classical music and Mesopotamian (Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian) history and folklore. Annorkoth's side of the split is also good, but not quite as good as Kurgal's.
Another dark folk project with a quite exotic place of origin - this time it's Algeria. Azar is listed as a folk/black metal project on most sites, but this particular demo is pure instrumental neofolk. There's one more demo of Azar called "Izorane" which actually does sound like folk/black metal, but I didn't like it as much as this one. The person behind Azar describes his music as "Amazigh/Berber Metal", where "Amazigh peoples" refers to the pre-Arab population of the North Africa (known as "Berbers" in Europe). It's really refreshing to hear some good neofolk based on non-European tradition (leaving aside the Chinese scene), as I'm tired of these "neofolk is fundamentally European genre!"-claims. Yes, it looks like Berbers/Kabyles/Amazighs are traditionalists too, but their ideologies doesn't look as reactionary as those of many European neofolk bands. Their place in the history of North Africa is akin to the place of Celts and Basques in the European history - but Basques and Irish Republicans are known all around the world, while the Berbers aren't...
Artist: Agnivolok & Chaos As Shelter Title: Henbane Genre: Dark Ambient, Experimental, Neofolk Country: Israel Release date: 2009
Track List:
Agnivolok - Volka
Chaos As Shelter - Alien
Agnivolok - The Heart And The Hunter
Chaos As Shelter - Purgatory
Agnivolok - Belena
Chaos As Shelter - The Sacrifice
Agnivolok - Black Forest
Chaos As Shelter - Silver Lips Of Tomorrow
Agnivolok - Volka Volka
This album is a product of collaboration between Vera Shapiro aka Agnivolok (guitar, lyrics, female vocals) and Vadim Gusis aka Chaos As Shelter (arrangements, everything else). If I'm not mistaken, it was recorded in the late 90's, but released only 10 years later. Stylistically it can be described as something in between of dark ambient, experimental/noise and neofolk with lyrics in Russian. While it isn't a music for everyday listening, it's quite good, and remarkable for coming from a region that's not rich with industrial acts. Here you can read an interview with Vadim Gusis, if you're interested (nice to see RIO/zeuhl along with punk and early industrial on his list of influences, BTW).
Artist: Gevolt Title: AlefBase Genre: Folk/Industrial Metal, Neue Deutsche Härte Country: Israel Release date: 2011
Track List:
Hakdome
Trinken A Bisale Vayn
Der Rebe Elimelekh
Sha Shtil
Tum Balalayke
Shpil Zhe Mir A Lidele In Yiddish
Mayn Rue Plats
Zog Nit Keyn Mol
A Mol Iz Geven A Mayse
Sheyn Vi Di Levone
Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn
Tshiribim Tshiribom
Der Alefbeys
Probably one of the most interesting releases of 2011 - the first album in the history of metal with all the lyrics in Yiddish. Who might have guessed that there'll be a band playing NDH in Israel... however, Yiddish sounds very similar to German, so the choice of genre doesn't look odd. The band exists since 2001 and released their first album (with lyrics in Russian) in 2006. I found "AlefBase" much more interesting than their first one, though. It entirely consists of cover versions of various well-known Yiddish (Klezmer) songs, some of which ("Tum Balalayke", for ex.) sound quite funny in this "Rammstein-esque" arrangement. IMO it's a really original release, and not only because they're singing in Yiddish. Since they're officially giving it out for free on rutracker.org, I think it'd be OK to post it here as well.
Artist: A Drama Radio Title: Virtual TV Test Label: Mental Excitement Genre: Dark Ambient / Experimental Country: Russia Release date: 2012
Track List:
The Snow (TV Startup)
Mourning (TV Morning)
Amber Nip Nature (TV Pain)
The Spill Song (Extended TV Bug)
Brave Old World (TV News)
Nurses Love The Worms (TV Values)
Spectral S.O.S. (TV Host)
The Bloom Ocean (TV Sleep)
Parasomnias Parasuicide (TV Death)
Icy Cacophony 2009 (TV Help)
Ann Reprise (TV Bye)
Test (TV Shout)
Waitfall (bonus)
Script (bonus)
A Drama Radio is an experimental music project started by Nazar Markov in 2008. I think he knows about my blog (because of Cracked Core and his label), though I'm not sure if he reads it on regular basis. While I didn't like his debut album ("Perdition Signals", 2010), "Virtual TV Test" is definitely interesting, although not easy to get into. While it still can be classified as dark ambient, it's quite experimental and obviously influenced by the classic industrial scene. Just like all the other Mental Excitement releases, this album is distributed completely for free.
