Nož Nad Lesam - "Масло тебя храни" [2022]

Artist: Nož Nad Lesam

Title: Масло тебя храни

Genre: Minimal Synth, Darkwave, Electro-Industrial

Country: Russia

Release date: 2022

Track List: 

1. Масло тебя храни
2. Оптимизм
3. УМ-1
4. Фон и шум
5. Голова в поводке
6. Мышата
7. Тюрьма (Кооператив Ништяк cover)

I already have mentioned this one-woman industrial project on my blog some time ago, and now I thought her latest full-length release under the moniker Nož Nad Lesam deserves a separate entry. Nož Nad Lesam was started by Natasha Ilminsky in 2014, and changed the name to E-Nitra not long ago (not sure what the former name was supposed to mean - something like "knife over the forest" in Belarusian?) I haven't listened to the full-length album by E-Nitra, which came out around a week ago, yet, but this release surely deserves attention if you like minimal synth and anything that can broadly described as "Russian doomer music" with female vocals. Moreover, I'm tempted to describe some parts of this album as "industrial hip-hop", although that may be far-fetched. And the cover art by @ann_armata is a little masterpiece of industrial/urbex photography.

 

Ventrue + Morpheus @ Cargo Cult, 17 April 2026

Tonight I went to one of the local clubs to see Ventrue - a new female-fronted gothic metal/rock band from Moscow whose style reminds me of famous Finnish bands of late 90's-early 2000s. Unfortunately barely anyone have came (the whole audience, me including, could be counted on the fingers), and the sound quality was less than ideal, but the band members didn't lose morale over it.

The opening act was Morpheus, a local symphonic black metal band whose show was a bit better attended (~20 persons or so). The club itself was a quite atmospheric place but more in the punk/aesthetic (fun fact: the bartender was wearing a Wolfbrigade t-shirt).

Говнилиум - "II (Всё в дерьме)" [2010]

Artist: Говнилиум

Title: II (Всё в дерьме)

Genre: Heavy/Doom Metal

Country: Russia

Release date: 2010

Track List: 

1. Пропердуха
2. Брюшко раскрыл я
3. Чёрная тьма дыры
4. Всё в дерьме
5. Золотой дождь
6. Культ говна
7. Резь после мочеиспускания

For those who don't understand the lyrics, this might be just a "normal" metal release, but taking in consideration both the lyrics and the backstory of the guy behind this project, I can post it only as a 1st April joke. The music itself is actually quite good epic heavy/doom metal inspired by Bathory's "Hammerheart" and "Twilight of the Gods", but the lyrics are what you would expect of your typical toilet porngrind release, and are gross and hilarious at the same time (just imagine Quorthon singing about eating shit and drinking piss). Moreover, the author, who later started recording music under the name "Nikita Kapernaumov", became infamous as a mentally ill incel and online weirdo (for those who are interested, here's his quite comprehensive biography). However, if you don't mind the scatological lyrics, the music itself is better than a lot of much better known doom metal musicians have put out, and this album was even released on cassettes and CDs by Mercy Despise & Extinctionist Records.

Ольга Рожнова - "Дорога" [1990]

Artist: Ольга Рожнова

Title: Дорога

Genre: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock

Country: USSR

Release date: 1990

Track List: 

1. Дорога
2. Грусть
3. К Счастью Путь
4. Белый Снег
5. Мы Все Зависим Друг От Друга
6. Защитить Своей Судьбой
7. Вот И Все

On 8th of March, I traditionally post something with female vocals, and it would be a good idea to post this undeservedly forgotten album that was unearthed and re-released not so long ago by GS Productions. Olga Rozhnova started professionally playing music in 1980 and was a member of a pop-rock band VIA Aquarelle until 1986. Since 1984, she started to write her own songs, and with the help of musicians of a band called "Park", she released her debut cassette album in 1987. After that, she formed her own band called "Voyage", with which she has recorded this album in late 80s. That was the time when Soviet hard rock became hyped in the West (for a rather short time), and it gave them an opportunity for a tour in Germany with the American singer Annie Addington. From 1993 to 1995, Olga was one of the hosts of a TV show called "Rock-n-Roll TV". However, mid-1990's were very bad times in post-Soviet countries in general and for rock/metal musicians in particular, and after releasing one more album in 1995 (which featured mostly ballad-oriented hard rock), Olga has stopped making new music.

This album is easily the best out of everything she has recorded, and one of the best Soviet hard rock/metal albums I've heard. The first half may be 80's hard rock in the vein of Lita Ford, but the second half is definitely metal (if a bit ballad-oriented). I won't be the first to call Olga "Soviet Lita Ford", but I think her voice is even more powerful, and nearly every song on this album is a hit (although the quality of production may vary):

V/A - "Crimean Cult of Rawness vol.1" [2025]

Title: Crimean Cult of Rawness vol.1

Genre: Black Metal, Dungeon/Keller Synth

Country: Russia

Release date: 2025

Track List: 

1. Kurgaan - В тихом омуте
2. Захряпа - Чох, полаз и птичий грай
3. Захряпа - Гугай
4. Doros - There Was Life in The Mansion
5. Doros - The Countess's Lament
6. Slahar - Среди извечных ветров
7. Slahar - Заброшенный дом на отшибе
8. Noire Petre - Никому не нужный хлам прошлого 

"Crimean Cult of Rawness vol.1" is a mini compliation by TemnoRecords, a small underground label rum by a person known as Bisavrük from Krasnodar. Yes, the region isn't the most "trve & kvlt", but Bisavrük's main band Kurgaan surely is. Describing themselves as "steppe black metal", Kurgaan is one of the most interesting new Russian BM projects, inspired by the ancient history and nature of the Pontic steppes. The other projects on the compilation also feature Bisavrük and his friends, and play mostly dark ambient/dungeon synth with black metal overtones. Bisavrük also has several post-punk/goth rock and folk rock projects (, which I haven't checked out yet, but based on what I heard from Kurgaan, I have pretty high expectations for them too.

 

 

Dismal Gateways - "Astral Forge of Supreme Evil" [2026]

Artist: Dismal Gateways

Title: Astral Forge of Supreme Evil

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

Country: Russia

Release date: 2026

Here's the first interesting discovery of 2026 - sympho black metal that feels and sounds like The Kovenant/Covenant or Arcturus on their classic reseases of the second part of the 90s, but it's from mid-2020s Moscow. "Astral Forge of Supreme Evil" is only an 11 minutes long maxi single, but I'm already eager to hear something bigger from Dismal Gateways, since it's cosmic black metal made the way I like it, and it's quite different from most bedroom black metal releases of the last decade:

"Cosmic landscapes appear before us in dreams and myths. Astral planes and stardust castles are our abode. We build our empire from kaleidoscopic fragments of the Black Grail, where we find inspiration. The dark gates by which the Path lies are the myriad stars in the firmament.

He who follows this Path leaves far below him the pitiful chatter of politics and the egoism of nations. He indifferently steps over dreams of glory and recognition. Without debating the usefulness of truth, he boldly enters the realm of the ultimate cold of cosmic space in search of forgotten knowledge and ancient ways. Beyond the North lie ice and death."

Kælan Mikla - "Undir Köldum Norðurljósum" [2021]

Artist: Kælan Mikla

Title: Undir Köldum Norðurljósum

Genre: Darkwave, Post-Punk

Country: Iceland

Release date: 2021

Track List: 

1. Svört Augu
2. Sólstöður
3. Örlögin
4. Halastjarnan
5. Ósýnileg
6. Sírenur
7. Stormurinn
8. Óskasteinar
9. Hvítir Sandar (feat. Alcest)
10. Saman

Pretty sure that many of my readers already know about Kælan Mikla, since this all-female trio from Iceland is (deservedly) one of the biggest internationally known names among the wave of 2010s post-punk bands, so I'll be brief. While I'm not that much into their earlier stuff (mostly because of the vocals), "Undir Köldum Norðurljósum" is one of the best albums I've heard in the last few years, and it's exactly what I'd expect of a goth/darkwave/coldwave album from Iceland, especially fit for listening during winter time (and especially around the time of winter solstice). My personal favourites are "Sólstöður", "Sírenur", "Stormurinn", and "Óskasteinar".

Shamans From Red Forest - "Дикость" [2025]

Artist: Shamans From Red Forest

Title: Дикость

Genre: Industrial Rock, Breakbeat

Country: Russia

Release date: 2025

Track List: 

1. Дикость
2. Дикость (Industrial mix) 
3. Дикость (Breakbeat mix) 

I decided to check out this Halloween single by a Moscow-based trio, featuring the title track along with two heavier sounding remixes, mostly due to the band name and the cover art, which are both 10/10. My feelings about the music itself, however, are much more mixed: while it's nice to see that industrial rock is still a living genre, something definitely should be done about the vocals... Anyway, if you wish to check it out too, pick your platform.

Ködzid Goo - "Дотла (split w/ Kojoohar)" [2021]

Artist: Ködzid Goo

Title: Дотла (split w/ Kojoohar)

Genre: Industrial Hip-Hop

Country: Russia (Komi)

Release date: 2021

Track List: 

1. Сулема
2. Гарь
3. Плоть
4. Полынь 

Another interesting discovery from Komi, this time it's hip-hop but "for people who don't like hip-hop" (originally, it was said about dälek, but it'd strongly recommend Ködzid Goo to anyone looking for something like dälek but with lyrics in Russian). Not much is known about the project except it's from northern Komi and is inspired by other experimental musicians from that region, including Saraf. The style is described as "real шуштӧм (gloomy) shit", which I think is fairly accurate. Those tracks were released on Ant-Zen as a part of split album w/ Kojoohar (kudos to them for being released on a well-known industrial label):

Адаптация - "Так горит степь" [2005]

Artist: Адаптация
Title: Так горит степь
Genre: (Post-)Punk, Depressive Rock
Country: Kazakhstan
Release date: 2005

Track List: 

1. Пепел
2. Феодализм (Навсегда)
3. Голод
4. Так горит степь
5. Ноябрь в окно
6. Заметать следы
7. Иллюзия дней
8. Движется следом
9. Прошлого больше не будет
10. Про море
11. Золотой храм
12. Небо

Since I've mentioned Ermen Anti in my previous entry, it'd be timely to introduce my readers to the best work of his band that has left a big impression on me at the time (and I still consider it to be one of the best punk albums I've ever heard). Ermen "Anti" Erzhanov formed Adaptation in 1992 in aktobe, initially as a typical garage punk band, but their best releases from 2000s have less to do with classic punk and more with post-punk and ballad-oriented depressive rock (which would later be called "Russian doomer music"). Those albums made them the best known rock band from Kazakhstan and one of the best bands adjacent to the Siberian (post-)punk scene, which they weren't too far from geographically as well (although some critis compare them rather to the Moscow-based "Formation" post-punk scene instead). Later they've moved to St. Petersburg, and their sound became more polished but at the same time less interesting (same can be said about the lyrics that took the "literally 1984" direction when it comes to themes). While this album is heavily lyrics-oriented like most of Russian rock in general (with themes being more existential rather than social-critical like on their early albums), the music itself is also very enjoyable, especially if you're a fan of "Russian doomer"-like stuff (but there are enough of more energetic and angry punk songs as well):