Teemu ToppinenSince 24 February in 2022, I've been listening to #UkrainianMetal #music. I wanted to keep #Ukraine in my mind, to (in a very modest way) support or promote some of their #culture and #artists, and to learn of some new music, of course. In this thread, I list some cool or interesting bands in alphabetical order (except that the bands with names written using the Ukrainian alphabet will be listed last). 🤘 🇺🇦
1914 are a fairly well-known band from Lviv, playing catchy #BlackenedDeathMetal. The songs deal with World War I in one way or another (the main guy is a war history nut). But their take on war seems nevertheless healthy: "You cannot idealize any war – because war is always about shitty politics and bullshit propaganda, death, mud, mass graves, suffering, broken lives, despair." #1914Band #DeathMetal https://x1914x.bandcamp.com/album/where-fear-and-weapons-meet
Where Fear And Weapons Meet, by 1914
11 track album
#UkrainianMetal 2. #Activated are an energetic #ThrashMetal outfit from #Kyiv. Here’s their recent, first, EP. Play it loud enough. #InThrashWeTrust https://activated.bandcamp.com/album/rise
Rise, by Activated
5 track album
#UkrainianMetal 3. #Afsked is a one-person instrumental project from #Zhytomyr. https://afsked.bandcamp.com/album/aura #instrumentalmusic #metal
Aura, by Afsked
6 track album
#UkrainianMetal 4. #AmberPlatypus from #Odesa are the first band on the list to add some #stoner #sludge #drone #buzz and #hum into the mixture. https://amberplatypus.bandcamp.com/album/bad-trip-still-a-trip
Bad trip - still a trip, by Amber Platypus
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 5. #Anmasker from #Zaporizhzhia play some intense #retro #oldschool #thrash. https://anmasker.bandcamp.com/
How Much Is Your Mask?, by Anmasker
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 6. #AtraMorsKvlt from #Lviv. A little known band, but it's a quite nice mixture of more #gritty #BlackMetal #mayhem and echoes of something #Krallice-ish that they offer. https://atramorskvlt.bandcamp.com/album/the-lance-of-adversity-and-death (I'll also mention here, but not separately post about, 2 other bands: #AnthroHalaust (#Kharkiv) and #Apatia (#Kropyvnytskyi).)
The Lance Of Adversity And Death, by Atra Mors Kvlt
9 track album
#UkrainianMetal 7. #AzathothCircle from #Kiyv. Not my cup of sencha, really, but nevertheless well executed stuff drawing inspiration, self-reportedly, from #Tool, #BlackMetal, #APerfectCircle, #Lovecraft, #Gojira, etc. https://azathothcircle.bandcamp.com/album/siaivo
Siaivo, by Azathoth Circle
6 track album
#UkrainianMetal 8. #BalanceInterruption, also from #Kiyv, are a skillful bunch, playing restless #BlackMetal on the somewhat more #experimental side. Great stuff. Loved the use of 🎷 (e.g., the solo in 1:58-3:15, or thereabouts, in the first track). https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat159-balance-interruption-door-218-2016
SAT159: Balance Interruption - Door 218 (2016), by Satanath Records
8 track album
#Ukrainianmetal 9. #BestialInvasion from #Zhytomyr. I almost stopped listening to this faster than one could say #YngwieMalmsteen, but this is absolutely delightful: a fantastically intense and outlandish mixture of #Thrash, #Prog, #Helloween, #Jazz-ishness, decades of the past, #GuitarHeroism, deadly sins, speed, #Polish, and surprising twists and turns. To top it all, the singer occasionally sounds just like #BruceDickinson. And the #Bass player’s name is #MetalPriest. https://bestialinvasion.bandcamp.com/album/divine-comedy-inferno
Divine Comedy: Inferno, by Bestial Invasion
9 track album
#UkrainianMetal 10. #Bezmir from #Dnipro. Glorious, relentless #BlackMetal perhaps best enjoyed alone in the emptiness of #space. One of #Severoth's projects. He wrote on Facebook in February, right after the start of the war, that there'll be more music by Bezmir if he survives. More recently, he wrote that he's back to creating music after a 6-month break. So perhaps there will be more, at some point. But whether or not that's the case, I hope he'll survive. https://bezmir.bandcamp.com/album/void
Void, by Bezmir
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 11. #CryogenicImplosion are a #DeathMetal outfit from #Chernivtsi. Track number 2, "Delete Humanity," for instance, is quite nice (athough I don't find the relevant course of action recommendable). https://cryogenicimplosion.bandcamp.com/album/creation-of-the-new-world
Creation of the new world, by CRYOGENIC IMPLOSION
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 12. #CryptofSilence from #IvanoFrankivsk start this 2nd album of theirs with a tasty #DoomMetal riff. And it’s all #doomandgloom from there. #DeathDoom #DoomDeath https://cryptofsilence.bandcamp.com/album/awareness-ephemera
Awareness Ephemera, by Crypt of Silence
4 track album
#DriftofGenes hail from #Debaltseve, #Donetsk. There's something oddly peaceful or soothing about this kind of #BrutalDeathMetal. Maybe partly because the growling isn't so aggressive. Perhaps in part because the technicality of the music invokes images and associations of careful craftmanship despite all the speed and chaos. #DeathMetal https://driftofgenes.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-soil
Frozen Soil, by Drift of Genes
10 track album
#UkrainianMetal 14. #Drudkh from #Kharkiv are one of the best known Ukrainian #metal bands. A #warning: one of the other projects of the band leader has been a nazi band. Drudkh draw from #nationalist poetry, etc., but aren't considered similarly problematic. It's #BlackMetal that sounds like summer rain, #sunflowers, and burning wheat fields. I prefer the old more raw stuff over the newer material. https://drudkh.bandcamp.com/album/forgotten-legends
Forgotten Legends, by Drudkh
4 track album
#UkrainianMetal 15. #EndlessBattle. No-nonsense #BlackMetal from #Dnipro. The drums (and the keyboard) are blasted here by #Severoth, whose neat solo project #Bezmir has been mentioned above. https://endless-battle-werewolf-promotion.bandcamp.com/album/roots-of-all-evil
Roots Of All Evil, by Endless Battle
7 track album
#UkrainianMetal 16. #EtherealRiffian is the name of the band (from #Kyiv), and 'Stonezilla' the name of the singer/guitar player. So, strong #StonerRock vibes here. #StonerMetal https://etherealriffian.bandcamp.com/album/legends
Legends, by Ethereal Riffian
10 track album
#UkrainianMetal 17. Couldn't find any relevant 'F' bands, and the 'G' ones I'll pass due to their far-right ideology or connections. So we move on to #Haspyd from #Kharkiv. Not my cup of gyokuro, exactly, but these plaintive melodies should be great for when you're astride a horse, raising your sword with the wind in your hair. Good energy. So, friends of #melodic #FolkMetal #PaganMetal: you might want to give this a whirl. https://haspyd.bandcamp.com/album/--3
Перехрестя двох вітрів, by Haspyd
9 track album
#UkrainianMetal 18. #Helvetus from #IvanoFrankivsk play somehow soothing, folk-tinged, #BlackMetal with some great riffs (e.g., 0:48-1:07 in the first track). https://helvetus.bandcamp.com/album/-
Тьма, by HELVETUS
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 19. #Ieschure is a one-woman #BlackMetal project from #Rivne. Very cool, very #Minimalism; #Music to wrap around oneself for a curious mixture of warmth and hopelessness. This is a recent #Split with #Moloch. The most recent full-length, #TheShadow, is intriguing, too. That's, like, #GhostMusic. Conjured in the #ShadowPlane with intricate #Witchcraft, I imagine. https://ieschure.bandcamp.com/album/ieschure-moloch-among-the-swamps-and-darkness
Ieschure / Moloch - Among The Swamps And Darkness, by Ieschure
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 20. #Jinjer from #Donetsk might just be the most popular or best known Ukrainian metal band right now. While I don't really listen to this kind of #MetalCore #GrooveMetal #ProgressiveMetal, I'll say that they played an incredible gig at #Tuska2022. Massive energy. Moving, too. https://jinjer-jinjer.bandcamp.com/
#UkrainianMetal 21. #Karabiner from #Kyiv, heavily bombed by #Russia today. Proper reckless #Thrash #BrutalThrash #Crossover mayhem. Just three brief songs, and I'm feeling out of breath. Well done. Also, the #AlbumCover seems very fitting. https://karabiner.bandcamp.com/album/speedact
Speedact, by Karabiner
3 track album
#UkrainianMetal 22. #KarmaRage from #Sievierodonetsk in #Luhansk, currently occupied by #Russia. #Thrash #Crossover Lyrical themes: #Politics, #Leftism, social themes. Or so it says on a website. I have no clue about the lyrics, of course. The band has *one* listener on #Spotify during the last month! I suppose that's me, then. https://karmarage.bandcamp.com/album/sociym
SoCiym, by Karma Rage
10 track album
#UkrainianMetal 23. #KasuWeri are an excellent #Sludge #SludgeMetal #StonerMetal band from #Kyiv, where 70% of people still were without electricity this morning, after the #MissileStrikes by #Russia yesterday. #Riff https://kasuweri.bandcamp.com/album/from-soil-to-ashes
From Soil To Ashes, by Kasu Weri
4 track album
#UkrainianMetal 24. #LugburzSleed from #Chernihiv is a currently one-person #Experimental #Electronic #Ambient project, drawing from #BlackMetal. (There was a guitar player in the band, too, but he "plunged into" the #War and lost interest in #Music, or so I read in an interview from 2019.) Some of this sounds like, I don't know, the last, broken, lonely machines on the planet slowly grinding to a halt. Really cool sounds; intriguing stuff. https://lugburzsleed.bandcamp.com/album/m45
M45•ΠΛΕΙΆΔΕΣ, by Lugburz Sleed
8 track album
#UkrainianMetal 25. #MerzotnaPotvora from #Kyiv play ragged, snotty, crusty #BlackenedThrash #BlackMetal #Thrash This is their recent #Split with #Abigail (who dub themselves as #TheMostEvilBandInJapan). The recent full-length #HalasZPekla also contains some nice #BlackenedHumppa. https://merzotnapotvora.bandcamp.com/
Japan Ukraine Devil's Worshipers (Split with Abigail), by Merzotna Potvora
4 track album
#UkrainianMetal 26. #MetalDisease also hail from #Kyiv. Sympathetic no-nonsense #Thrash that almost forces one's (that is: my) fingers ➡️ 🤘 This one-person #Metal #ThrashMetal project would deserve more than the 7 monthly listeners on #Spotify! https://metaldisease.bandcamp.com/
Deadly Attack, by Metal Disease
11 track album
#UkrainianMetal 27. #Moloch from #Rivne (”from the deep woods of Ukraine”) play foul, darker than black #BlackMetal (and, on many other albums, #DarkAmbient). https://molochukr.bandcamp.com/album/verw-stung
Verwüstung, by Moloch
14 track album
darklands@toppinen Thrashy and raw bm ! I like it ! Congratulation for your creation : the blackenedhumpaa's tag. 👌
President Crispy@toppinen Really enjoying this, the production is gorgeous - it sounds really full (if that makes sense?!)