Oyme - "Vaya" [2017 single]

First off: I'm finished with posting everything I planned, so I can lay this blog to rest until the end of this summer. If there will be any new posts in the next couple of months, there will be very few. I have a lot of travel plans for this summer, and I don't want to turn this place into a travel blog (I already use my Instagram account for it). The first destination on my list is Mordovia, to where I hopefully will go tomorrow. This time I plan on visiting some rural areas where the Erzyan culture (to which my ancestors almost certainly have belonged) is still alive and well, and right now there will be a few words about a band who did a great work to preserve that culture.

The regular readers of my blog might be already familiar with Oyme (which means"Soul" in Erzya), a Moscow-based all-female group with Mordovian roots who performs mostly authentic folk songs in Mordvinic and other Finno-Ugric languages. This song, however, while being based on a traditional Erzyan wedding song, has a modern electronic sound arrangement, and it's described by the band as "industrial folk", which I find to be very accurate. It's also their first song to get a proper music video, which touches on the subjects such as ecology and the fate of the minority ethnic cultures in the era of globalization. It was shot on a very cold day near Moscow and took a lot of effort from the band, but the result was worth it.

Oyme's frontwoman Ezhevika is a very interesting person who as a professional ethnomusicologist has done a lot to collect the obscure folk music of various (mostly Finno-Ugric and Nakh-Dagestani) minorities in Russia, which otherwise might vanish into oblivion in the near future. While I don't agree with some of her depictions of the traditional Finno-Ugric cultures (which more resemble the idealized view of "Old Europe" by Marija Gimbutas), her dedication to her work is remarkable. I was very happy to see Oyme live last summer, and I still maintain contact with Ezhevika via social media.

By the way, Ezhevika is also an amateur model, and her main point of pride is her long legs. Interestingly, the beauty of female legs is a major theme in Erzyan folklore, which was already noticed in the XIX century by ethnographers such as Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky (and I also find it far more attractive than the current mainstream beauty standards promoted by the likes of Kim Kardashian). The musical instrument in first two photos is called "gaitjamo", in case if anyone's wondering:

 

 

The last photo was made in my city BTW, and now it's time for me to pay a visit to Mordovia too. Wish me luck in my travels!

Perihelion - "Hold" [2016]

Artist: Perihelion

Title: Hold

Genre: Post-Rock, Post-Black Metal

Country: Hungary
Year: 2016

Track List:

1. Feneketlen
2. Szárnyakon
3. Hold
4. Sycamore Trees (Twin Peaks cover)

For some reason, EPs by Perihelion are more insteresting than their full-length albums. I already have posted one of their EPs on here a few years ago, and now it's time for their arguably best release up to date, which is firmly in my top of the best albums of the last 2-3 years, and which I was listening to on a repeat for a quite long time. Very catchy and exceptionally beautiful music, especially the cover of "Sycamore Trees" which is better than the original.

In terms of sound, it'd be best described as post-black metal with clean vocals, although it has very little to do with black metal in its pure form. The most similar sounding release that comes to mind is "Rengeteg" by their compatriots Thy Catafalque, as well as some later tracks by TG like "Mezolit" (which features Gyula Vasvári of Perihelion as a guest vocalist), but "Hold" can be recommended to the fans of projects like Deafknife, Violet Cold or Lonely Star as well. Regardless of what you might think, the title is in Hungarian and means "Moon" (by the way, another reason why I love Hungarian bands is the extensive use of astromonical themes which is so common in their music). Highly recommended!

CD-R - "Hide and Seek" [2005]

Artist: CD-R

Title: Hide & Seek

Genre: Ambient, Noise, Musique Concrete

Country: Russia
Year: 2005

Track List:

1. Dusty Field
2. Winter
3. Still Remains
4. Remote Control
5. Demolished Surface
6. Connector
7. Punkt
8. Metro
9. Plateaux
10. Untitled

Have you heard about that band called CD-R whose album "700Mb" became a best seller of all times? Jokes aside, CD-R is a Moscow-based experimental music project started by Nikita Golyshev in 2003:

"Use of old soviet synth sand effects combined with modern techniques and laptop makes an interesting combination of different styles of noise music - "fusion noise." Noisey, fractured soundscapes transform into broken rythms and melodys..."

While I certainly wouldn't call "Hide & Seek" harsh noise (it's more on the ambient / field recordings side of things), it's an awesome release that's quite original and not boring at all (unlike many many other noise albums), and the vintage-style cover art is interesting as well. The atmosphere on "Hide & Seek" has been descibed as "futuristic emptiness with human face", which in my opinion is quite accurate.

"CD-R are Nikita Golyshev and Stas Bobkin from Moscow, and their music is much more noise related, but they never go for the full blast of things. They built the tracks with care, but end up in quite forceful sound patterns, where high pitched sounds and feedback work alike. It is worked out quite nicely." - Frans De Waard, Vital Weekly

Download

Gultskra Artikler - "Industria" [2015]

Artist: Gultskra Artikler

Title: Industria

Genre: Ambient, IDM, Percussion Industrial

Country: Russia
Year: 2015

Track List:

1. Distortion
2. Melted Percussions
3. Thunderfall
4. Phone Hum
5. Short Circuit
6. o---o------o--------o
7. Exercise With Metal
8. Rust and Drop
9. Savage Mechanism
10. Beams of Light Through the Cloud of Dust
11. Shipping Details to Track 1
12. ------o-------o---o-o

Gultskra Artikler is an experimental electronic music project started by Alexey Devyanin in 2003 in Novosibirsk (later relocated to Moscow). It was highly praised by many revievers, yet I haven't listened to any GA albums until recently. "Industria" has an insteresting concept, and after reading the release notes I expected it to be similar to early 80s' percussion industrial mixed with IDM in the vein of Rad Machine:

"Neo-folk cyber-psychedelia. Gultskra's music is always the unique mixture of brutal and honest vibes of mysterious Siberian soul and hi-tech technologies, some unpredictable electro-acoustical and avant-garde instrumental movements and precision electronical manipulations, strange field recordings..."

"For this album, before making it, I spent few times in some empty factory not far from Moscow. just to get the feel of the machines left alone in darkness. i had a friend who worked there, allowed me to stay for a while after a work day is finished and everybody's went home. I recorded some of the factory sounds, empty echoes, but mainly I just got the right atmosphere and mood to make these tracks later at home.

On few tracks I used contact microphones recording water drops interacting with metal in different ways, processing the signal of drops through effects i got some crazy results! the way real life (as water) interacts with metal, mechanic structure made by people, makes great contrast between so different substances, i try to reflect that in my music. contrast is one of the main themes. that's why I had to use some melodies, ambiences, Soviet synths.

I found some new techniques of sound processing to represent the rhythmic structures as some primal music beats, played by machines. as if machines were exploring percussions played by primitive humans and trying to imitate it. imagine a ritual in a factory where machines dance in a circle playing simple but meditative beat structures. this is so unreal" - Alexey Devyanin

While I coudn't hear any neofolk on "Industria" (maybe the earlier albums had more of it), it turned out to be a definitely interesting (albeit a bit short:) sound collage:

Author & Punisher - "Beastland" [2018]

Artist: Author & Punisher

Title: Beastland

Genre: Industrial Doom Metal

Country: USA
Year: 2018

Track List:

1. Pharmacide
2. Nihil Strength
3. Ode to Bedlam
4. The Speaker is Systematically Blown
5. Nazarene
6. Apparition
7. Night Terror
8. Beastland

Author & Punisher is an one-man industrial doom metal band from San Diego, that has been creating music since early 2004 but came to my attention only not long ago. The description of this album surely sounded quite interesting:

"Author & Punisher is an industrial doom and drone metal, one man band utilizing primarily custom fabricated machines/controllers and speakers called Drone/Dub Machines. The devices draw heavily on aspects of industrial automation, robotics and mechanical tools and devices, focusing on the eroticism of the interaction with machine...

Drawing inspiration from his career as a mechanical engineer, Tristan Shone (the creator and sole artist behind AUTHOR & PUNISHER) forged a relationship with design, sound, and fabrication that ultimately yielded his hand-built “Drone Machines” which mapped the journey away from traditional instrumentation towards custom made "precision machinery." A robotic experimentation in industrial metal, noise, doom and drone, AUTHOR & PUNISHER recalls Nine Inch Nails channeling Godflesh, traversing through dark, uncompromising, and often disturbing soundscapes with occasional detours into rich melodies and splinters of light. Armed with newly built “Drone Machines” and a new label, Beastland is AUTHOR & PUNISHER’s career-defining statement and a powerful listening experience that further blurs the line between man and machine"

Well, good industrial doom metal is definitely a rare beast, and Author & Punisher manages to do it good. While it doesn't sound quite like anything else, A&P reminds me of Zaraza (another obscure industrial doom act that deserves more attention) and La Torture des Ténèbres (not doom metal, but no less "inhuman" music). Like in case with "Memoirs of a Machine Girl" by LTDT, I'm not sure if I'm going to listen to "Beastland" once again any time soon, yet this album is surely worth checking out.

Cop Shoot Cop - "Ask Questions Later" [1993]

Artist: Cop Shoot Cop

Title: Ask Questions Later

Genre: Post-Punk / Noise Rock / Industrial Rock

Country: USA
Year: 1993

Track List:

1. Surprise, Surprise
2. Room 429
3. Nowhere
4. Migration
5. Cut to the Chase
6. $10 Bill
7. Seattle
8. Furnace
9. Israeli Dig
10. Cause and Effect
11. Got No Soul
12. Everybody Loves You
13. All the Clocks Are Broken
14. Untitled

bonus:

1. Nowhere
2. Days Will Pass
3. We Shall Be Changed
4. Suck City
5. Fragment
6. Shine On Elizabeth

"When living is for learning, and dying is forgetting..."

 Cop Shoot Cop were a relatively well known band from New York that existed from 1987 to 1996. Their song "Room 429" was covered by Devin Townsend on the album "City" by Strapping Young Lad, and that's how most younger fans of experimental music (me including) found out about CSC:

In fact, it's my favourite track by SYL. The original song is far less heavy, but the atmosphere is still there:

And a spot-on comment from YouTube:

Moreover, it's a love song, and while my usual attitude towards love songs can be best described by the very first line in "I Hate Love Songs" by GWAR, this one is quite original and touching when it comes to lyrics:

"They were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed. Tod A.'s lyrics were clever, snide and evocative (Art Black and David Sprague suggest that "Black humor beats black metal any day") and their "weirdly catchy" music which drew "on hot jazz and swing as much as clanging rock, emphasizing the group's stand-apart attitude."" (last.fm)

While the early, noise rock-ish albums by Cop Shoot Cop are not too easy to get into, this one (being the first album by CSC released on a big label) is probably the best in their discography along with "Release" (1994), and I certainly would recommend it anyone who's into Swans-influenced bands. You can get "Ask Questions Later", along with bonus tracks from "Suck City" and "Room 429" EPs here (by the way, that post is from 2007, yet the download links are still working).

Barracuda - "Glyba" [2004]

Artist: Barracuda

Title: Glyba

Genre: Industrial Death Metal

Country: Belarus
Year: 2004

Track List:

1. Glyba
2. BT-34
3. The Spider
4. Techno Kill
5. CFC3
6. Dark Cult
7. DC40
8. Eat Dust, Swallow Dirt!
9. Death Dance
10. F-25
11. Zabiw!
12. The Mirror of My Soul

Like in case with many other metal bands from early 2000s Belarus, I found out about Barracuda long time ago thanks to the "M" magazine, but until recently I didn't known they have released one more album besides their debut "In Carna" (2003). This album turned out much more interesting and industrial-oriented than their first one. While "In Carna" was more standard death metal (or death'n'roll, acoording to the band's mastermind Bes Trefoil), "Glyba" is rich in electronic sound which was quite innovative for the ex-USSR metal scene 15 years ago. The lyrics are a bit ridiculous at times, but otherwise it's a quite decent release for its place and time. Took me a while to find it, so it's quite rare as well.

Download

V/A - "Terror - An Industrial Metal Compilation" [1993]

Title: Terror - An Industrial Metal Compilation

Genre: Industrial Metal/Rock

Year: 1993

Track List:

1. Die Krupps - Dawning Of Doom
2. Godflesh - Mothra
3. Ministry - Stigmata (Live)
4. Treponem Pal - Radioactivity
5. Einstürzende Neubauten - Feurio
6. Swamp Terrorists - Braintrash
7. Consolidated - White American Male
8. Killing Joke - Age Of Greed
9. Scorn - Scorpionic
10. Excessive Force - Worship Me
11. Chrome - 3rd From The Sun
12. Prong - The Coliseum
13. Skrew - Gemini
14. KMFDM - Money
15. Wiseblood - Motorslug

A good early industrial rock & metal compilation released in 1993 by a German label Mental Decay Records. Most of the bands featured on there are already well familiar to me, yet I did make some interesting discoveries - like Wiseblood, an obscure band which mixed industrial rock with swing and blues rock. I found out about this compilation thanks to Archive Industrial Rock & Metal, an awesome page dedicated to obscure industrial rock/metal from 80s and 90s (lots of very rare and undeservedly forgotten stuff on there!).

Download

The Electric Hellfire Club - "Electronomicon" [2002]

Artist: The Electric Hellfire Club

Title: Electronomicon

Genre: Industrial Metal

Country: USA
Year: 2002

Track List:

1. Into Thee Abyss
2. Wired in Blood
3. Sons of the Serpent
4. Hypochristian
5. Stockholm Syndrome
6. Whores of Babylon
7. Broken Goetia
8. I Dream of Demons
9. Nordland
10. Tannhäuser Gate
11. This is the Zodiac…
12. Hymn to the Fallen
13. Keys to the Kingdom

I found out about EHC long time ago after reading the infamous "Lords of Chaos" book, and they quickly became one of my all-time favourites on the industrial rock scene. While their early albums (including their best one "Calling Dr. Luv") aren't metal, this album definitely is, and it's much better than the previous one ("Witness the Millenium"). Just like all EHC albums, it's full of cultural references (Blade Runner, the Zodiac Killer etc.) and occult imagery that's too over the top to be taken seriously. According to the release notes, it was recorded at the Abyss Studios in Sweden (the first American band ever to do so) with producer/engineer Tommy Tägtgren and guest appearances by the members of well-known Scandinavian metal bands such as Hypocrisy, Dark Funeral and In Aeternum. Too bad it was the last album they've recorded, although the band still seems to be active.

There's a very good review of "Electronomicon" on metal-archives.com which deserves to be quoted extensively on here:

"Industrial metal is essentially divided into two categories: stupid bands that inadequately use samples for the sake of doing so, and intelligent groups that know what they’re doing with programming systems. The number of acts that mindlessly poop out electronic noises is measureless in number, yet only a few factions could be considered good at what they do...

...I’m actually a fan of The Electric Hellfire Club’s bizarre discography, and it’s quite interesting to experience the identity transformation they underwent during their decade of activity. The Electric Hellfire Club started out as an industrial gig during the early 1990’s before acquiring a metallic edge with the critically-acclaimed “Witness The Millennium” in 2000. The group’s anomalous theorem of industrial-laced heavy metal was certainly an absorbing metamorphosis, but The Electric Hellfire Club had no sign of stopping their special blend of electronic heaviness. In 2002, the futuristic faction had opened the metal aqueducts, and the unearthly liquid once again flowed into industrial streams on their final record entitled “Electronomicon.” Now this album might seem like an ordinary pseudo-Ministry plunder at first gaze, but it’s actually one of the best industrial metal albums ever made on several levels. It has everything that makes industrial metal fantastic: heavy riffs, crushing drums, strange vocals, amazing samples, trippy keyboards, and a unique atmosphere that only computerized effects could make.

Anyone looking for insight about “Electronomicon” can obtain a decent understanding of its ingredients by viewing the image on the record’s cover. The art is simply a demon with a normal half and a robotic half, but each hemisphere gives key indications about this CD’s sound. On the right side, we have the beast’s normal skin that clearly represents the metallic nature of The Electric Hellfire Club. Fantastic riffs and solos that are intact with traditional heavy metal are commonly used with a clear emphasis on crushing guitar distortion while great double bass hits and steady snare beats echo underneath the guitars...

...This disc isn’t just The Electric Hellfire Club’s finest hour, but a landmark release in industrial metal and how such diverse ideas can turn heavy music into something universally exclusive. A must have for fans of Ministry, Godflesh, or other industrial metal acts"

L'Acéphale - "Malefeasance" [2009]

Artist: L'Acéphale

Title: Malefeasance

Genre: Noise/Black Metal, Dark Ambient, Neofolk

Country: USA
Year: 2009

Track List:

1. Väinämöinen Nacht
2. Hitori Bon Odori
3. A Burned Village
4. From A Miserable Abode
5. Sleep Has His House

After a decade of waiting, the new full-length album by L'Acephale is finally out, and it's quite good (just as expected). Today, however, I'll post a much earlier release, recorded during 2001-2007 when L'Acephale was an one-man project of Set Sothis Nox La. While L'Acephale is primarily known as a black metal band (albeit a very unorthodox one), "Malefeasance" has little to do with black metal in terms of sound.

The only song that can be called black metal (with a healthy dose of noise, not unlike the tracks on "Mord & Totschlag" which was the debut demo by L'Acephale) is "A Burned Village" which is a cover of an obscure French band A.A.A./Sadastor. All the other tracks on "Malefeasance" are covers/remakes as well, and they delve much further into the industrial/noise territory. "Väinämöinen Nacht" is a dark ambient/drone piece based on Finnic folk chants by Veljo Tormis, and "Hitori Bon Odori" is a rather repetitive (yet not boring) instrumental acoustic track based on a song by a famous Japanese "acid folk" singer-songwriter Kazuki Tomokawa. (I've listened to Tomokawa's full discography, and while it's quite interesting and unusual stuff, it certainly requires a good knowledge of Japanese language and cultural context, not unlike the songs by Soviet/Russian singers-songwriters).

The second half of the album is significantly more noisy, with "From A Miserable Abode" (which is very loosely based on the song ‘Mi Peublo’ by Japanese doom metal band Corrupted) being a lengthy power electronics piece with black metal style shrieking vocals. You probably already have guessed that "Sleep Has His House" is based on an eponymous song by Current 93 which is performed in the same style as the previous track. Overall, "Malefeasance" is a highly experimental concept work which would rather appeal to industrial fans, but open-minded fans of black metal are going to find it interesting too. If you want to learn more about the concept behind this album and other works by L'Acephale, here's a lengthy interview with Set Sothis Nox La where he discusses his influences (from early 80's metal and punk to industrial and classical music) and his fascination with Georges Bataille's writing (where the name "Acephale" came from) in detail.

Schiz - "Voj Pyr" [2016]

Artist: Schiz

Title: Voj Pyr

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Russia (Komi)
Year: 2010

Track List:

1. Pemdöm
2. Kor loktöny najö
3. Antus
4. Us'ködchöm
5. Kulöm gizhöd
6. S'öd pytshkös
7. Jöktöm bipur doryn
8. Sin'töm yaj
9. Yuköm
10. Kyk dzhyn
11. Enlön chuzhöm
12. Yugdöm
13. Me tehnö lyja (bonus)

Schiz are a death metal trio formed in 2012 in a small village in the far north of Komi Republic, near Izhma (one of the few places where the Komi language is still spoken daily). Other than being probably the only metal band with lyrics in Komi (Vör's lyrics are in Russian), they're not partucularly original when it comes to music, but good to know that people from such a remote area are trying. "Voj Pyr" (which means "Through the forest" if I'm not mistaken) is their 5th album, so they're quite productive as well.

Download

Beati Mortui - "Let The Funeral Begin" [2010]

Artist: Beati Mortui

Title: Let The Funeral Begin

Genre: Dark Electro, Harsh EBM

Country: Finland
Year: 2010

Track List:

1. Painting...
2. Vision of Hell
3. Prey
4. Let the Funeral Begin
5. Deathrow (feat B. Kramm)
6. Sanctimonious
7. Soulreaper
8. All Is Good (The Demon)
9. Touch Me Not
10. Alone
11. Musta Surma
12. ...Obsequiae

Finland is primarily known for producing a lot of metal, not dark electro (unlike, say, Mexico), yet DE sounds great with lyrics in Finnish - just check out the track "Musta Surma" off this album. The rest of the tracks are in English, but it's still very high qualty "hellectro" with great fmale vocals (both clean and distorted). Unfortunately nothing new came out from Beati Mortui after 2010, apart from one song on some Finnish gothic compilation in 2014.

Dai Kaht - s/t [2017]

Artist: Dai Kaht

Title: Dai Kaht

Genre: Avant-Prog, Zeuhl

Country: Finland
Year: 2017

Track List:

1. Karaouh
2. Wakü
3. Helvet Sttröi
4. Gnyynlaggör
5. Addurrenn
6. Kadett Mozamï 
7. Advent
8. Doover Üouh

This new avant-prog band from Kajaani, Finland, proves that not only French and Japanese bands can produce good Zeuhl. Unfortunately most of the info about Dai Kaht is in Finnish, but here you can find a very lengthy and interesting English-language interview with their vocalist/bassist Atte Kemppainen, and here you can find some reviews.

Syncopated Silence - "Idem" [2010]

Artist: Syncopated Silence

Title: Idem

Genre: Avant-Prog, Zeuhl

Country: Russia
Year: 2010

Track List:

1. Bytovaya
2. Gusi
3. I Yo Mave
4. Se-Tu-A!!
5. Silence

A trio from Moscow that's closer to Zeuhl than any other Russian prog-rock band I've heard so far. I found out about them thanks to this video (unfortunately, this song isn't included in the EP):

...Well, Christian Vander should be proud of such followers :) On RYM, they're being described as brutal Zeuhl in the vein of Runaway Totem (not familiar with this band, perhaps another one to check out) and Koenjihyakkei:

"When drummer Olga Nosova starts singing, This trio from Moskow sometimes sounds like a stripped down version of Koenjihyakkei. Along with the interesting Fedor Fokin on guitar and Anton Kolosov on bass and various effects, the pieces have a more experimental character, without improvising too much. A mostly noisy brew with a penchant for Zeuhl"

Antillia - "Последний звездопад" [2013]

Artist: Antillia

Title: Последний звездопад

Genre: Power Metal

Country: Russia
Year: 2013

Track List:

1. Шаман
2. Последний звездопад
3. La diosa fredda (Metal cover)

Antillia was started in 2009 by two members of Butterfly Temple (both of which are no longer in the band). Their style is fairly straightforward symphonic power metal, but even if you think you've grown out of such music and already have heard it all, I still would recommend this EP since it features surprisingly good songwriting, and powerful female vocals by Elena Belova. I personally like this one more than their full-length album that came out in 2015.

Download

Avercage - "Hyperpolis" [2012]

Artist: Avercage

Title: Hyperpolis

Genre: Prog/Power Metal, Alternative Rock

Country: Russia
Year: 2012

Track List:

1. Hyperpolis
2. Ultra Sonic
3. Fjordborn
4. Jinna
5. In My Dream
6. Wind Against

Another band which I was initially sceptical of because their genre description contained "Russian Alternative", but turned out better than I expected. While their later EPs are indeed close to alternative rock than to anything else, this debut album is pretty interesting progressive/power metal with beautiful female vocals. The band themselves describe their style as a mix of "Nordic severity, southern ardor, oriental depth and western energy".

Mezolit - "m13" [2012]

Artist: Mezolit

Title: m13

Genre: Alternative Metal, Metalcore

Country: Russia
Year: 2012

Track List:

1. Intro
2. История
3. Дай мне день
4. На краю земли
5. m13
6. Дотла
7. Помоги мне
8. Падаем
9. Нас больше нет
10. В моих руках
11. Outro
12. На краю земли (acoustic)
13. Падаем (acoustic)
14. Море (2016)
15. И вспыхнет пламя (2016)

I usually avoid listening to anything that has "Russian alternative" in the genre description, because it's more than likely to be another poor Linkin Park clone for teenagers. However, I checked out this band solely because of the name, and wasn't disappointed. "M13" turned out to be alternative metal / melodic metalcore of the variety that was very popular during the first half of 2010s, with dual male and female vocals. The female vocals, performed by Polina Sitnikova, are predominant, and they're quite good. The quality of production is a bit poor by 2010s' standards, but still okay.

No idea if the band is still active by now, when this sort of melodic metalcore is largey out of style. The last news from them were from 2016, when they recorded two new tracks which were much better produced than the early ones, and in my opinion are the best out of all they have recorded. I decided to include them too:

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