Nekraїna - "Смерть у серпні" [2000]

Artist: Nekraїna

Title: Смерть у серпні

Genre: Dark Folk

Country: Ukraine

Release date: 2000

Track List:

1. Святосмерть
2. Руни Та Чоловіки
3. Янгол vs Бог
4. Випадковий Протеже
5. Терамефіста
6. Рожеві Хмари Знищення
7. Руни Та Німецькі Дівчата
8. Кара Кара Карусель
9. Де Мовчать Вітри
10. Тиша Мов Христя
11. Заповіт

Nekraїna was one of the first neofolk acts to come from the 1990s' Ukraine, founded in April 1996 in Odessa by George Charsky, who was listening to neofolk since the beginning of 90s. As evident from his interviews, the band was standing on atheist and anti-nationalist positions, yet they "flirted" a lot with religious/occult and (to a lesser extent) WWII imagery and themes. Their two full-length albums, both released in early 2000s, are now considered to be classic releases of the post-USSR neofolk scene.

"Смерть у серпні" ("Death in August") is a tribute album to Death In June and Nekraїna's full-length release. There were two EPs released earlier in the late 90s, but they consist mostly of the same material that's presented on this album (anyway, you can get them here, if you're interested). The album contains 11 tracks, of which 2 are original (interlude and outro), one is a Current 93 cover, and the rest are Death In June covers - some of which are quite faithful to the original, some are pretty far from the original. Overall, it's a great work of "re-thinking" the neofolk classics which definitely shouldn't be missed, and some of these covers sound better than the original songs (IMO). In case if you're unsure which songs were covered:

1. Heilige Tod
2. Runes and Men
3. Angel vs God (interlude)
4. Accidental Protégé
5. Terra Mephista (She Said Destroy)
6. Rose Clouds of Holocaust
7. Runes and Men ("Runes and German Girls" - female voice & German lyrics)
8. Giddy Giddy Carousel
9. Fall Apart
10. Silence as Christine
11. Last Will (outro)

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